Well, I'm waiting a few minutes while trying to connect with my friend Julie on MSN Messenger. She seems to be ignoring me at the moment. *frown* I also had problems connecting, so...
I had a good day of weights, chatting with Mike, studying, and then my Arabic tutorial tonight.
Sunday morning, I'm meeting up with Mike for a grocery shopping at one of the bigger Western-style places near him that I haven't been to yet. I'm curious to see what they have. We're also going to get ingredients for spaghetti sauce. He makes it from scratch and he's going to show me how he does it.
I'm hoping to put a longer entry in here tomorrow and tell a story or 2. You've been warned.
Saturday, June 07, 2003
Friday, June 06, 2003
I'm glad that people still appreciate good music! (and they buy it, too!)
See: Led Zeppelin rules the Charts
See: Led Zeppelin rules the Charts
Ran into Heather Berlin from Albion again today. So silly!
She does work for one of the guys at my church, so he asked her to join the worship band this morning! There she was, playing guitar and singing (very well, I might add).
That's my random bit of Albion-connected life. These things always happen to me, don't they???
Now if I meet someone randomly in _Tanta_ once I move on June 16th, then that will be impressive!!!! *laugh*
She does work for one of the guys at my church, so he asked her to join the worship band this morning! There she was, playing guitar and singing (very well, I might add).
That's my random bit of Albion-connected life. These things always happen to me, don't they???
Now if I meet someone randomly in _Tanta_ once I move on June 16th, then that will be impressive!!!! *laugh*
Thursday, June 05, 2003
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Staying up late tonight to type in my thoughts from the day…I wrote while on the train to/from Tanta.
Deep thought for the day:
Everywhere here, people have copies of the Koran open. They read on the bus, on the train, etc and sometimes even chant/sing verses. What would America (or any other heavily-Christian country) be like if more Christians did that? (the reading in public, not necessarily the chanting)
Barely made my train (5 minutes before it left). Lots of traffic, then I took time to grab breakfast. *smile* Pancakes covered in powdered sugar and rolled up. Tasty ad filling but not very healthy. On that note…
I think my legs are getting shorter!!! *smirk*
All my dress pants seem to be longer than usual, this past week or so. Ah, it’s b/c they’re slipping off my waist now that I’ve been exercising a lot! Time to start wearing a belt, I guess!
Today I saw the classrooms, found out about printer/photocopier, grabbed a textbook, and talked with my teacher/director. I was able to wander the neighborhood where I’ll be living for about an hour before I caught the train back.
Yesterday, I had 2 decent (but short) conversations in Arabic. One with a taxi driver tnd the other to buy my train ticket. I should have been talking with the guys who work in my building and taxi drivers all along but I let my lack of confidence hold me back. Now I have the desire and a bit of confidence.
One other conversation…I was waiting for the tram to come home after Arabic and I got surrounded by a pack of teen-aged schoolgirls! I’ve heard about this happening with talkative girls chatting with male foreigners, but this was the first time it happened to me. “Do you speak English?” then on from there. “Where are you from?” “What’s your job?” Their English wasn’t very good, but it was better than my Arabic! Still, I tried to mix in some so that I could practice.
When getting ready to leave Tanta today, I stopped to ask for help and to make sure I was walking the right direction to the train station (I wasn’t). A helpful guy said he’s walk with me, since he lived near the station. People in Egypt will often offer to do this. We chatted a bit in Arabic and English.
His name? Mohammed. Of course… The odds are pretty good, but it’s reassuring that even though I’ll be in a heavily-Christian setting with my teaching, I will still be able to have random contact with Muslims.
My neighborhood seems alright. Not a lot of action, but a few restaurants and a coffee place or 2 for playing backgammon.
Deep thought for the day:
Everywhere here, people have copies of the Koran open. They read on the bus, on the train, etc and sometimes even chant/sing verses. What would America (or any other heavily-Christian country) be like if more Christians did that? (the reading in public, not necessarily the chanting)
Barely made my train (5 minutes before it left). Lots of traffic, then I took time to grab breakfast. *smile* Pancakes covered in powdered sugar and rolled up. Tasty ad filling but not very healthy. On that note…
I think my legs are getting shorter!!! *smirk*
All my dress pants seem to be longer than usual, this past week or so. Ah, it’s b/c they’re slipping off my waist now that I’ve been exercising a lot! Time to start wearing a belt, I guess!
Today I saw the classrooms, found out about printer/photocopier, grabbed a textbook, and talked with my teacher/director. I was able to wander the neighborhood where I’ll be living for about an hour before I caught the train back.
Yesterday, I had 2 decent (but short) conversations in Arabic. One with a taxi driver tnd the other to buy my train ticket. I should have been talking with the guys who work in my building and taxi drivers all along but I let my lack of confidence hold me back. Now I have the desire and a bit of confidence.
One other conversation…I was waiting for the tram to come home after Arabic and I got surrounded by a pack of teen-aged schoolgirls! I’ve heard about this happening with talkative girls chatting with male foreigners, but this was the first time it happened to me. “Do you speak English?” then on from there. “Where are you from?” “What’s your job?” Their English wasn’t very good, but it was better than my Arabic! Still, I tried to mix in some so that I could practice.
When getting ready to leave Tanta today, I stopped to ask for help and to make sure I was walking the right direction to the train station (I wasn’t). A helpful guy said he’s walk with me, since he lived near the station. People in Egypt will often offer to do this. We chatted a bit in Arabic and English.
His name? Mohammed. Of course… The odds are pretty good, but it’s reassuring that even though I’ll be in a heavily-Christian setting with my teaching, I will still be able to have random contact with Muslims.
My neighborhood seems alright. Not a lot of action, but a few restaurants and a coffee place or 2 for playing backgammon.
Sunday, June 01, 2003
The first of June!!! How is that possible???
Well, probably because I’ve been staying really busy lately!
Let’s look at the highlights.
On Saturday, I spent the day at “Aqua Park” – a nice waterpark with pools, waterslides, etc. The main reason for the trip was to have a day of fun for Craig and Karen’s boys, but the rest of the MCC group was invited along, too. It’s been really hot lately, so it was a great break from the heat. Price was good too. 45LE ($7) for the full day and that included a sandwich, small pizza, and a drink!
I haven’t been to a waterpark since the party for some baseball team! That’s over 15 years ago! Great fun. Everything worked out ok, except for the small hole I now have in the back of my swimming suit. *frown*
The place had some pretty big waterslides, including one that you went down in the dark! In that one, you were also sitting on a big inner-tube, or on a double-tube with someone else. You could go forward or backwards! I guess they had about 5 different slides and a nice area for the kids, too. Since Egyptian schools are still in session, it wasn’t very busy. A few Egyptians, but mostly expats (including lots of Russians).
I feel odd when I do such fun things but in talking with Craig, I decided that part of what I’m learning about Cairo (and what I should be conveying to people) is that it _is not_ this really exotic place. Sure, you’ll see odd things here (carts pulled by donkeys, women carrying large objects on top of their head, etc) but you also get many things that could be part of life in N. America (like taking kids to a waterpark).
Every MCC’er has a different experience and each country/city where we serve plays a big part in that.
This weekend, I also watched 2 movies. Friday night, I saw my first “western movie” in an Egyptian cinema. 10LE (less than $2) to see “The Hours”. Has anyone else seen it? Apparently, it was nominated for many awards and I can see why. I really enjoyed this film. The performances were excellent by Nicole Kidman, Julian Lewis, and Meryl Streep. Ed Harris and Jeff Daniels were good too, but the ladies stole the show!
The cinema was nice, if a bit run-down. Comfortable seats, decent sound, a normal-sized screen, and even a guy who escorted us to our seats (requiring a small tip, of course)
We were an international group that went after Frisbee. 2 Americans, 2 Sudanese, and a young woman from Turkey.
On Saturday after Aqua Park, I met at the office with Mike and Carmen to watch “Chicken Run” from Nick Park, the guy who made the Wallace and Gromit . Funny and filled with so many puns! References to Star Trek and everything!
Well, probably because I’ve been staying really busy lately!
Let’s look at the highlights.
On Saturday, I spent the day at “Aqua Park” – a nice waterpark with pools, waterslides, etc. The main reason for the trip was to have a day of fun for Craig and Karen’s boys, but the rest of the MCC group was invited along, too. It’s been really hot lately, so it was a great break from the heat. Price was good too. 45LE ($7) for the full day and that included a sandwich, small pizza, and a drink!
I haven’t been to a waterpark since the party for some baseball team! That’s over 15 years ago! Great fun. Everything worked out ok, except for the small hole I now have in the back of my swimming suit. *frown*
The place had some pretty big waterslides, including one that you went down in the dark! In that one, you were also sitting on a big inner-tube, or on a double-tube with someone else. You could go forward or backwards! I guess they had about 5 different slides and a nice area for the kids, too. Since Egyptian schools are still in session, it wasn’t very busy. A few Egyptians, but mostly expats (including lots of Russians).
I feel odd when I do such fun things but in talking with Craig, I decided that part of what I’m learning about Cairo (and what I should be conveying to people) is that it _is not_ this really exotic place. Sure, you’ll see odd things here (carts pulled by donkeys, women carrying large objects on top of their head, etc) but you also get many things that could be part of life in N. America (like taking kids to a waterpark).
Every MCC’er has a different experience and each country/city where we serve plays a big part in that.
This weekend, I also watched 2 movies. Friday night, I saw my first “western movie” in an Egyptian cinema. 10LE (less than $2) to see “The Hours”. Has anyone else seen it? Apparently, it was nominated for many awards and I can see why. I really enjoyed this film. The performances were excellent by Nicole Kidman, Julian Lewis, and Meryl Streep. Ed Harris and Jeff Daniels were good too, but the ladies stole the show!
The cinema was nice, if a bit run-down. Comfortable seats, decent sound, a normal-sized screen, and even a guy who escorted us to our seats (requiring a small tip, of course)
We were an international group that went after Frisbee. 2 Americans, 2 Sudanese, and a young woman from Turkey.
On Saturday after Aqua Park, I met at the office with Mike and Carmen to watch “Chicken Run” from Nick Park, the guy who made the Wallace and Gromit . Funny and filled with so many puns! References to Star Trek and everything!
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