Life and Politics

This week I've taken a bit of time in the afternoons to catch up with my news/website reading. My friend George has a computer company and he allows me to bring my laptop to use his DSL connection. If he is free, we talk while I'm online or sometimes I just have an uninterrupted stretch of a couple of hours.

What I try to do is open about 20 different windows with various websites that I enjoy. Then I disconnect and take the time to read them offline at home in the evening.

One thing I found was a lively discussion of the World Cup television coverage in the U.S. (via Kottke).

By the sounds of things, I'm lucky to be watching the Arabic broadcast. It's on a special subscription satellite sports channel, but all the cafes around Tanta have it this month so that people will come in to watch the matches and eat/drink while there. No special graphics or anything – just the bare essentials of the clock and the score and sometimes a window about the percentage of possession for each team and number or shots on goal. That's it!

As to the audio, I can't say that I follow all of it (because of my level of Arabic and because the Arabic they're using is from the Gulf, which is very different)...but it seems to be fairly plain play-by-play. People's names as they control the ball or pass, criticism when someone makes a mistake, praise for good plays and some discussion when the referees make their calls or when players flop.

It's fun to be watching in public places b/c I can get a sense for who people want to win here. For example, there was no question on Tuesday that the crowd was rooting for France to beat Spain. I don't there were any Spain fans in the place where I was watching. Or maybe they were just keeping quiet b/c of the energy of the France fans? *laugh*

As some of you may know, the environment has become a topic that I spend quite a bit of time thinking about here in Egypt. I think there are 2 reason: 1 is that I see what a mess Tanta is – trash everywhere, mostly disposable items (cups, spoons, bottles, etc) and it comes from economics and lack of awareness. Last night, I tried to convince a friend that it's cheaper in the long run for him and better for the environment to buy a Gillette Sensor razor and then just replace the head when he's finished (after using the blade for a month or more), instead of getting cheap plastic razors that he only uses 2 or 3 times and then throws away the whole thing, handle and all.

Not sure if I succeeded. I may have to make the purchase myself and give it to him as a gift.

On this note of the environment, I came across an interesting suggestion about the U.S. government implementing a lightbulb exchange program and how much money/energy it would save each year to eliminate inefficient bulbs. Have you changed all your bulbs yet?
(via Kottke)

Now, to politics...I won't comment much about these b/c I think the articles speak for themselves.

1. Sane comments about war in Iraq (from the Detroit Free Press):

2. 1 Israeli soldier kidnapped, bombings result in loss of electricity for nearly 1 million Palestinians in Gaza strip: (from AP): The Story

What kind of person am I?

(edited, as requested)

I'm not very nice to my students sometimes. *frown*

But they forgive me.

If only I could so easily forgive them for the small things that agitate me and make it hard for me to enjoy my time with them.

I had a great, fun group of students these past 10 weeks. They loved to talk with each other in class, gathered outside after to talk more, and were just great people. But I just let the little problems bug me and ruin our days sometimes. The heat was difficult and I was not sympathetic. I need to “let things roll off my back” more, but I seem to hold onto little things. A few of the students came in late and I always made some comment or gave them some look of disapproval. It's a small thing, but it's important and some of the students never quite “get it”.

B/c it's summer and this last course was difficult, most/all of these students will take a break and then come back to our courses in the fall (I hope) Maybe that's a good thing. I want to encourage them to come to our once-a-week Conversation course on Saturday nights and then hang out sometimes after that class. I hope they like the idea.

Tuesday night was our final class and I wanted it to be really nice. Yet from the beginning, I was upset. See...the new air conditioners weren't working yet b/c the electrician hadn't finished his work. I had been looking forward to using them and having a nice, comfortable class. The students were thinking the same thing. So it was a big disappointment when we couldn't do that. They let it go. I didn't. *sigh* It's one of those frustrating things that I've never gotten accustomed to in Egypt – work of low quality, unreliable schedule/appointments, people not respecting time.

But...even after all that, we had an OK class and then we went out for a simple dinner and cold drinks after class to celebrate and to see the 2^nd half of the Brazil/Ghana World Cup match. Not much of a match, but nice to all be together.

Then I came back to my neighborhood to see people at church and then continue a long conversation with a friend. I've known this friend for a long time, but we really don't have anything in common. Anytime we talk about life/religion/politics, we clash and neither of us really changes our view of things.

Yesterday, the best way I can describe our talk is to say that it was about “personal safety and violence”. To make a long story short, a strange man came to my friend's apartment at midnight on Monday and talked with my friend's adult sister and wife while my friend was in the bathroom. The man left, but then my friend chased after him with a gun and then hit him repeatedly.

*frown*

My friend's view is that he did this to teach the man a lesson and now the man will never come to the building again to bother people. My friend thinks that the man was knocking on every door to see if people were home and then was going to break in and rob apartments if he found them vacant.

Maybe this was the case, but I tried to get my friend to see past this and to see that there were other options in this situation and things that can be done to protect yourself. He has a peekhole in his door so that you can look out to see who is at your door. But his sister didn't use it. He has a chain on the door too, but she just opened the door. His explanation is that she was expecting her husband to return, so she was opening the door for him in a natural way. I tried to get my friend to see that it's each person's responsibility to do these basic things to protect themselves.

I'm not sure he was convinced.

At one point, my friend said “you sound like a monk”. (this has been a comment from him in the past, also)

My response: “thank you”.

I've been thinking about this conversation and about why I'm friends with this person. I'm praying for God to work on both our hearts, that I may learn patience and perspective from him and the he sees a way to peace and satisfaction. Please pray for this.

Blog Visitors

Hmmm...fun to see who visits the Blog.

Now I'm really curious who the people are that go with these locations from yesterday:

Bloomington, IN
Rochester, MI
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA

I have some guesses, but I'd like to hear from you to say "it was me". Who are you???

Please comment on the Blog or send me email.

Statistics!!!

Finally got around to adding SiteMeter to the Blog here. (thanks to David for pointing me to that site).

What that means is that I can now get statistics about visitors to my Blog. It shows all sorts of things, including where you are connecting from in the world, what pages you visit, etc.

Check out Jason's Stats.

Food, Glorious (?) Food

One thing about my Palestine/Israel trip. There's a lot to be said, and maybe it's better if people write me with question. Then I'll try to respond here with answers.

A question came from my mother and she asked: “What kinds of foods did you eat while you were there?”

Answer:

Palestine – the only similar food to what they eat in Egypt that I had was falafel. I say similar b/c it's made in a different way and with some different ingredients, but then the process of frying in oil and putting in a sandwich with some veggies and sauce is the same.

Beyond that, the food of Palestine is much like that of Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. By that, I mean it's much, much better than what we eat in Egypt! *laugh* Garlic and yogurt go along with sandwiches, which is a nice addition. They also have small 8” pieces of bread that are baked and covered with cheese. Great for any meal!

I had sweets just 1 time b/c they were really expensive and most things were the same as in Egypt.

Israel – the only real meal I had there in a restaurant was Thai food. Kosher Thai, of course!

I also had 2 meals in a home when I stayed with a Jewish guy in Tel Aviv. Of all things, he had an Indian-style Chutney from his cousin to have with bread, along with fish. For breakfast, we had omelets.

Aside from that, I ate from the bakeries I talked about in an earlier ent

On a related note, I had the same food for 3 different meals yesterday. Sad, but true! The dish was fuul, which is a very cheap bean in Egypt. You mash them up and eat with bread/veggies, or in a sandwich. For breakfast and lunch, I had bowls of the stuff and then a sandwich for dinner.

And more tonight for dinner. I think I'll take a break tomorrow and get something different!

But this evening, I made a special treat. In my continuing effort to use things up from my apartment before I move (t-minus 5 days), I made a cake from a mix that I brought back from America. I found this nice white cake mix on sale for $.47 and brought back 2 boxes. At that price, it's probably about the same price as what I would pay at my local bakery for a few small cupcakes, but they are a bit heavy and this cake is nice and light. Yummy!

Off to bed. I have to be awake in about 5 hours to play tennis with a friend. He's just learning, so I'll be trying to help him with a couple of things. Mostly it's social. He's someone I met a long time ago, but never really became friends with. Recently, we talked at church and he invited me to play tennis. I'm looking forward to it!

Back from Alexandria!

Ah, Coptic Christian weekend trips -- gotta love 'em!

Basically, you go off for a couple of days in some sort of "retreat center", have meetings, praying, fun/games, talking, visiting monasteries, and then not much sleep!

Got back Sat. night and slept a lot to catch up on my rest.

Class, quiz, and party tonight!