Lots of studying today. Oh my, the studying. *grin*

I'm getting ready to teach Wednesday afternoon and also for my Arabic tutorial on Wed. night

But I did take a few minutes to check out my Detroit/Michigan news in the Free Press and what did I find???
An article, about Genesis, the church I used to attend and still keep tabs on through friends in the area.

Check it out!!!

Long day at class today (10am-9:30pm) so I rewarded myself with some ice cream. In the stores, there aren't really the cheap quarts of ice cream like in the U.S. It's either ice cream bars or "premium ice cream". The premium stuff is really tasty, but fairly expensive at 15LE for about a quart. That's about $2.50 --Darren and I discovered this really rich chocolate mocha type made by Nestle. Yum!

Today it was really hot out, even when I came home from class at 9:30 -- we had an extra observation of one of the "real" teachers at ILI.

Planning to do some lesson plans and Arabic study on Tuesday.

Is everyone out there really busy? I've been getting emails from my core group of folks (parents, David, and a couple of others), but not many comments in the journal or on pictures. Am I getting boring? *frown*

Nah, never!!!

*laugh*

My 4 major accomplishments for today were:

1) doing my assignment for class that is due on Monday
2) going to church
3) making garlic cheese bread
4) burning a couple of CD's for Darren

So, it's been a fairly quiet day. This week will be busy. This week will be a bit hectic, getting ready to be gone Thursday afternoon through Sunday for MCC Retreat.

Off to bed...

I stand corrected…yesterday’s celebration was for the liberation of Sierra Leon, not Liberia. My apologies to all those reading this from those countries. *grin*

But the party was good. Quite lively. We arrived a bit after 11pm and things were just getting started. It turns out that one of my friends Charlie is going home to the U.K. today, so it was a bit of a send-off for her. The dancing was good, with an interesting mix of music. Lots of American R&B/rap but also some Ethiopian, Sudanese, and other assorted African music.

Plus, a healthy dose of Bob Marley. What’s a party without some heavily-politicized Reggae to dance to??? *smile*

So last night, there were 5 of us Westerners in a crowd of around 200 Africans, mostly men. Would I ever feel comfortable in a setting like that in the U.S.?? Not likely. But here, it’s totally natural and fine.

We were there until about…2am I guess and things were still going strong. I think people were probably there until dawn. The location was the top floor of a decent hotel downtown and the view was really nice!

I got up blurry-eyed for church this morning, then came back home for a quick nap. Well, that’s what I intended, but I woke up 3 ½ hours later! Oops!

Off to Frisbee at that point. Fun to play but my left knee always hurts and creaks for about 24 hours. *sigh* Am I starting to get old?

Then, we went over to Annie and Charlie’s to borrow some CD’s for Darren and say goodbye to Charlie. Darren is trying to get lots of Arabic music around to take home with him. So I’m converting the songs to MP3 right now and then I’ll burn them to a CD for him.

In exchange, I’m going to give Annie the complete 3rd Season of South Park. *laugh* Thanks to David for providing me with those! I forgot I had them and then Darren found them on my computer yesterday. We watched the one about the “Sexual Harassment Panda”. So silly!

But it’s a quiet night here. Darren’s reading and we’re both digesting the pizza we had for dinner.

Happy Liberian Liberation Day!!!
Happy Egyptian Labor Day!!

What?? Aren’t these holidays on _your_ calendar? *smirk*

As is the tradition on labor day, people have the day off. I’ve always thought of that as an odd way to celebrate, but oh well!

I need to find out more about Liberation Liberation Day, but I presume it’s celebrating the overthrow of their previous government. A friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend here is from Liberia, so I guess he’s having a bit of a celebration tonight, so that’s why I know about this…

Arabic tutorial was rough last night. I’m trying to put lots of things together and realizing what I’ve already forgotten, just because I don’t use/practice some vocabulary enough.

Today, I’m working on some MCC paperwork, but this morning I took a bit of time to sit in the sun and start _The Return of the King_.

WARNING – good story, but scary visual images ahead. Read through to the end…

Finishing up the summary of Dahab, it should be noted that Darren and I were mistaken for Israeli tourists! *laugh* We heard that they were coming back by the thousands to the area, but this was confirmed when we were greeted with an enthusiastic “Shalom!” by a hotel manager! *smile*

Monday was Sham el Nessim. In Egypt, Sham el Nessim is a national holiday, where Christians and Muslims alike enjoy the Spring breeze while eating onions and special fish. Wherever people can find a bit of grass – they set up a picnic and spend the day. This includes the grassy strips between very busy highways!

One of my classmates, Caroline, invited the rest of my teaching class to a Sham el Nessim party that her family was having. This was quite the bash – live music, dancers, and a belly-dancer! I went with 2 friends from class and we ended up getting the royal treatment – practically becoming part of the family!

According to the invitation, we were supposed to bring our own food and we did, but then we were asked to eat what the family was eating – great roasted chicken, fresh bread, watermelon, and stinky/salty raw fish.

Guess what I ate just a little taste of? Correct! I merely sampled the fish. *grin*

*** So here’s the big story for the day! ***

The first entertainment was some traditional dancing with the band playing and that was pretty cool. Then came the belly-dancer. She stayed over by the band for awhile and then started moving around by the crowd. Uh oh!

We were seated in a high-profile area right out front, so eventually she came around to our table.

…and then she pointed at me…and motioned for me to join her out in front of everyone. *blush* At first, I refused…but with the second request…I decided that it was time to become part of the entertainment!

So there I was – out in front of a crowd of about 200 Egyptians, trying to follow what the belly-dancer was doing. She wanted me to dance beside her and mimic what she was doing! Let’s just say that I need some lessons!

The highlight (??) of the dancing were when she had me lift up my shirt to show my belly as I was dancing.

Strange, but I thought of my friend Mark while I was out there. He used to do this trick with his stomach where he could roll it in all sorts of funky ways and that skill would have come in handy!

Yes, there are photographs to be used as evidence and possibly for blackmail purposes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me so I’ll have to wait until my classmates get theirs back. There was also a professional photographer wandering around, so maybe he got some good pictures.

This was quite a day! The location of the party was on a farm and a villa about 30 minutes outside Cairo. Apparently the family hosting does all sorts of business and marketing, so they are definitely “upper class”.

My classmate has a driver who takes her to/from class. Yeah, that kind of set-up. So things were really nice and it’s probably the only time in Egypt I’ll have the chance to see how this minority of the population lives.

I’m back from Dahab! I have a much better tan now, but a bit less money in my pocket! Actually, things were reasonably priced. Bottles of water are about the same in Cairo and nice dinners were about 20 LE ($3-4 US) They had really good chocolate milkshakes, too!!!

Darren (my flatmate) and I made it on our night bus and got to Dahab around 10am on Friday morning. A bit tired, but we made it. We started walking down the boardwalk to check out places to stay. We saw a few places that were alright, but nothing that really grabbed us. So we ended up walking all the way down to the far end of the strip (about a mile, maybe?) to a place he saw on his last trip.

Since this is the end of Darren’s time in Egypt, we decided to stay somewhere nice, so we got a room in a 3-star hotel. 2 nice beds, good bathroom, a fan, a view of the water, plus breakfast everyday. We each paid 40LE per night so that’s about $7 U.S. Not bad!!!

I decided to walk around to see some different stores and within an hour, I ran into a group of people we knew from Cairo!! *laugh* So silly to run into people everywhere. At first, I just saw 4 people that I recognized, but they were part of a bigger group of people who all work together – 9 of them total! I joined their gang in some serious relaxing on the beach!

Everyone in the group volunteers for an organization called Legal Aid which works with refugees, mostly from Somalia and the Sudan.

Friday, we all went snorkeling and swimming, plus we ate a lot of food! The snorkeling was great! Clear water and comfortable to be in with just a swimsuit – no wetsuit required! It was hot and we all were careful not to get too much sun!

I saw eels and lots of different fish, but I don’t know what they are. I should do some checking.

After food and resting up, we went dancing that night. This was nice just to be silly and hear all sorts of music – some Arabic, but lots of American/European stuff.

Saturday involved more sun, water, food, playing backgammon and a few games of Connect 4, plus some shopping. I bought a really nice silver ring to wear. I should take a picture sometime.

Saturday night, most of the group went to climb Mt. Sinai, but I really wasn’t up for it this trip. It was really windy, so I knew it would be quite cold, and I thought it was odd timing since it was going to be Eastern Easter on Sunday.

Sunday – guess what I did? I spent more time in the sun, in the water, reading, and shopping. Noticing a theme here? Darren and I both bought nice, soft long-sleeved white cotton shirts. They should be really comfortable.

Since there were so many of us (11 people) coming back to Cairo that night , it worked out just as cheap for us to get our own little bus as to get on a bigger bus. So we booked a 22-seater and set off! Very comfortable! Most of us could stretch out in our seats and then we had our bags in the aisle. There’s a picture posted of this…

We left about 12:30 and made it to Cairo around 7am. Much quicker than the big bus, too b/c we could drive faster and didn’t make stops to pick people up – just for bathroom breaks.

I slept a bit here in bed and then got around for a party one of my classmates and her family were having on Monday. But that’s a story for another day…

Back from Dahab -- with pictures!

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See:
Fun People and Beautiful Scenery

and if you really have some time to kill:
Cute kids and animals

Tomorrow...stories from my days away and Monday.

More pictures!!! Today’s trip was to Maqhatam and the Citadel. Maqhatam is where all Cairo’s garbage goes and people live there to try to find stuff that's still worth something and sell it. There’s also this amazing Monastery there – built into the side of a mountain.

See:
Maqhatam and Citadel Pics

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So we’re going tonight on the 12:30am bus to Dahab. (Dahab is about 9 hours in a bus from Cairo – on the Sinai Peninsula, near Saudi Arabia)

The trouble is, there isn’t a 12:30am today.

Tonight is the night in Egypt to “spring forward” and that happens at 12am. So 12am becomes 1am and that means there’s no 12:30. *laugh*

It’s very silly to think about and it amuses me a lot! We’re presuming that the bus will leave 31 minutes after 11:59pm. Odd way to think about it.

Holiday time!!!! I have 11 days away from class! Now, what to do??? Answer -- relaxing a bit today then taking a night bus tonight with Darren to Dahab. We’re just going to hang out on the beach Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

*smile*

I think this is a good time to leave town b/c it’s starting to get really warm!

On an unrelated noted, what’s the deal with the movie Bend it Like Beckham? How many of you out there have seen it? From what I can tell, it’s a British indie comedy that’s gaining popularity in the U.S. Check out the trailers, if you're interested. I had seen one awhile back, but forgot about it...

I first heard about it from British friends in my teaching class. After that, my friend Julie wrote to say that she went to see it and then David mentioned in his Blog that he had gone… I guess I’ll have to check it out sometime. I’m pretty sure it won’t make it to Egypt, so I’ll probably have to wait a couple of years!

Leaving Thursday night for a couple of days in the sun by the Red Sea!

So many comments in the photo albums! Keep 'em coming!!!!

Screwed up my Journal, so I'm trying to fix it. Hopefully you can read this. I promise improvements soon!

Good enough for now, I guess...

Had a nice Easter service on Sunday. We took a very formal communion at the end, which was somewhat unusual. Especially for me -- this was complete with kneeling down at the front of the sanctuary with a group of 5-6 other people to take the bread and juice/wine.

On the way back home, however, I felt like I was a walking target!

Why?

Well, at the end of the service, they encouraged us each to take a flower home. So, I was carrying a 3 foot long stalk of Easter lily down the street as I was walking home. Quite the way of saying “hi, I’m a western Christian!” *grin*

But that’s an exaggeration – most of the population here wouldn’t make the connection between the flower, Easter, and me. However, I was amused while thinking about all this.

On the plus side, the lily seems to be surviving quite well. I put it in some water right away and now 2 days later, it’s looking good! Some additional buds have opened up and I put it out in the sun today to try to perk it up a little more.

Pictures of Plants on the Balcony and the Easter Lily

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I've been eating lots of leftovers or food here at the flat, lately. Part of that is I'm realizing how much food I have sitting around that I should try to eat before moving to Tanta! *laugh* Not really that much, I guess -- mostly bags of pasta and some tomato paste to go with it. I could give it away to other MCC'ers, but it just seems easier to eat it!

Pictures of Baking and Food Items

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Everyday that I have class, I eat lunch in the cafeteria there. The food is pretty good and a bit more expensive than on the street, but it's really convenient to stay there, chat with people, etc. Now that we are getting to know some of our students better, we talk with them too -- especially our "Upper-Intermediate" group because they are fairly good at conversation, but still want/need more practice.

I had class on Monday and taught a lesson. It definitely went better than the one I did last week, but I still messed up in a few areas on the Language Focus and showing the form of the Present Continuous verbs. It was better than last week, but I still got the same grade. *laugh* Grade = Pass, but edging toward a Weak Pass. That's just for the individual assignment. Overall with the class, I still think I'm at a Pass with no danger of going lower, but also not much opportunity to get a Strong Pass. That's reserved for people who are really, really impressive and they don't give that high mark very often. Maybe 1 person out of my class will get that as an overall grade.

Getting ready for class again on Wednesday. I don't officially teach, but one of our classmates isn't teaching anymore b/c of health problems, so 2 of us are going to split up her lesson and teach it. Not for a grade, just to get more experience, so our tutors are helping us more with the preparation than they would with our graded assignments. They really are requiring us to be much more independent now.

Too bad we're not going to be using the same textbooks when I'm in Tanta! I have all these plans together and some materials. *smile* Well, they'll be good for reference!

Happy Easter!!!!

Well, Western Easter, that is… There may be some drawbacks to being a Western Christian in a country with mostly Muslims, but in this case there is an advantage. I get 2 times to celebrate Easter! Yeah, today is Easter like many of you are celebrating, but then next Sunday is “Eastern Easter”. No, I haven’t found out yet why we celebrate on a different day. But hopefully, I will.

It’s a gorgeous, sunny day but I’ve been inside studying so far this morning. I’ll make a break for it and be outside a bit later!

So in case any of you have been wondering, “Jason, is it a bad idea to leave your laundry outside on the line for 4 days?”, the answer is “yes”.

*laugh*

I put sheets out to dry on Thursday and just remembered to bring them in. With the wind, they were all wrapped around each other and the other drying lines, so it took awhile to get them untangled, while making sure that they didn’t fall to the ground.

Everyday is a learning experience. For me…and for all of you… Remember that.

On this day, remember to think about more than chocolate rabbits.

For those of you within reasonable driving distance of Albion, check out:

Salman Rushdie to Present Isaac Keynote

Salman Rushdie is speaking on Thursday night!! This is apparently causing lots of issues/questions on campus, so there are pre-Rushdie sessions, too:
Albion College Muslims Offer Perspective On Rushdie Visit


Interesting stuff...

I just got back from a performance at my church of the "Combined Churches Choir". People from different English-speaking churches around Cairo get together for this traveling group. They're good!!! The music to go with them is on tape, but their voices area amazing. The only song I recognized was "I Lift Your Name", but they were all really good.

One called "My Holy Cry" really struck me, so I want to share the lyrics:

I'm poisoned by the lies this world's been feeding me.
It's no longer an avoidable reality.
Self-centered living never leaves a heart at peace.
I must cut my ties with this world, repent, and turn and flee.

I cry out to You Lord. Will you answer me?
Holy Spirit, flow; come and set me free.
I lift my eyes to see Your face.
Lord, I worship You on high and in Your grace,
I seek Your will. This is my holy cry.

The decadence around me wants to put my soul to death.
And I know full well this compromise
Has caused my soul's distress.
I'm hearing hatred raging like a lion's roar.
Lord, I am for peace, but what they speak is only war.

-----quite a song, eh? Comments???

Our minister and one of the women from our church who is in the choir both asked me if I wanted to sing with them next year, when I told them how wonderful it was... Is that weird, or what? I'm guessing that they really need male voices, since out of a group of about 70, only about 20 were guys. They only perform at Christmas and Easter, so I have awhile to think about it and with me in Tanta, it would be difficult (bordering on impossible) to do, but I might look into the possibility.

After that, I watched a bit of soccer on TV. The 2 big Egyptian teams were playing each other, so I looked at the TV in a coffee shop to see the end.

Arabic is going well, but I've devoted time to it today that I wish I could have given to my teaching course. I need to look things over tonight and then spend most of tomorrow on a lesson plan (for Monday), meeting with my classmates, and working on an assignment (for Wednesday)

----Thinking about fun things…I got to chat with my good friend Mike for about 30 minutes last night on MSN Messenger. Among other things, he told me that I should think about making one main “pictures” page with the links to all my different photos. It’s an idea I had been thinking about, so when I have a bit of time, I’ll try to add that. Maybe on Tuesday?

But now, it’s time for some email and studying…

I went to a really good Tri-lingual Good Friday service tonight. Arabic, English, and Sudanese. Very energetic! Good music and such a variety of people.

This morning, I went to the regular service at my church and heard a good message. Talking about how other religions admire Jesus for his acts, but don’t recognize him as the Son of God. That’s all well and good, but if you don’t believe that part, then your kinda missing the point. If you don’t believe in the crucifixion and rising from the dead, then you’re lacking the most important bit!

Not much today, beyond the Church services, Frisbee, and making some molasses cookies. *yum* I asked my mother for the recipe and when she wrote back, she told me that one of our neighbors brought these cookies over when I was born. That’s a new story for me to hear!

So…looking back at the week.

Monday night, I got to party!!! It was my friend Annie’s birthday and some friends of ours had moved into a new flat, so they had a combination birthday/housewarming. There were about 50-60 people there. Of that group, less than 10 were “Westerners”. The rest were Sudanese. Fun!

Guess what kind of music we listened to and danced to? American R&B/Rap – Usher, P Diddy, etc. *laugh* I was the white boy out there trying to dance with people who can seriously move! I caught one woman laughing at me, but some of the guys thought I had potential!

Tuesday I visited Tanta!!! That’s where I’ll be living, starting at the beginning of June. Then, it’s 2 years and about 8 months after that! It should be alright, but definitely a culture shock after being in Cairo. Where I’m living in Cairo, I see KFC, McDonald’s, Dominos, etc everywhere – it’s really Western. I also see more BMW’s and Mercedes here than I did back in Royal Oak.

That won’t quite be the case in Tanta. It’s still a couple of million people, but more conservative and not as influenced by the West.

Guess where I’ll be living when I first get there?

An old people’s home! *laugh* 15 old grandpas/grannies and me! Why???? It’s right across the street from where the director of the English program lives, near where we will have the classes, and they want me to be “safe and comfortable”.

There will be someone to clean for me and I’ll be able to have my meals there so that will give me more time for teaching. The people we talked to on Tuesday don’t know me, so I think they’re going to be overprotective at the beginning. I’ll just take it slow and show them over time that I’ll be alright.

After awhile, I might move into a flat on my own. We’ll see…

The current plan is that I’ll finish up my teaching class in mid-May, have about a week to do some intensive Arabic study and then move to Tanta after that. In the long run, being in Tanta will be really good for my Arabic, but right now I still need to study/learn a lot in preparation for going.

Wednesday’s teaching preparation never quite came together, so my lesson was rough. Oh well, I still got a “pass” on it and it’s a reminder that I need to keep working hard.

Wed. night and Thurs. night, I had Arabic tutorial. Wednesday’s went alright and Thursday went really well. I’ve been frustrating for my tutor with not having time to study enough, but she said that she was encouraged by these past couple of days. Me too!!

Alright, that finally gets me caught up on what’s been going on!

I’m a putz. I had plenty of time to study my Arabic today, but I didn’t do it! *shakes head*

Instead, I read more in “The Count of Monte Cristo”. What a great adventure/mystery. I highly recommend it.

But now it’s story time for me. To tell a story, that is. This is the story of my new #2 “Small World” experience. It’ll make more sense to the Albion crew, but should be ok for everyone.

Let me start out by saying that I went to Albion College from 1993-97 and each year, there were 1,500 students on campus.

So…

I’m at my teaching class on Monday evening. We were there late b/c it was the evening when we observed some “real” teachers doing their stuff. We watched 2 classes and at the break between the 2, I was waiting to get a cup of tea…

My friend Mark and I were standing there and I say to him,

“Wow, that woman over there looks really familiar, but not from here – I think I know her from somewhere else.”

Mark gave me the typical, “oh…she just has one of those faces” responses, but I’ve had enough coincidences in my life, so I don’t accept that.

So, I went over to talk with her…

We started chatting about where she was from and she that she was American and that she had been living by Detroit (Plymouth) until that last year.

“Yeah, but that’s not it – tell me more”, I said.

Her response?

“Well, I went to Albion College…”

*jaw drops*

It turns out she graduated in 1995 and was in the choir. Her name was Heather Berlin. Anyone remember her?

She’s been working here for about a year or so and is taking Arabic classes where I am doing my teacher training course. *laugh*

What are the odds?

Well, I have a pizza on the way, so I should go.

I’m so far behind! It’s been a week since I made a proper entry in here, with details and everything… Terrible!

I’ve already written a bit about my trip to the pyramids last week, but here’s some more about that. I had no idea what I wanted to do there, other than “see them”, so I just went and did whatever struck me. Of course, I got pestered by guys wanting to do horse rides, so I went with one.

It was alright, but it took me a long time to get the feel of the horse. My guide also took great humor in making the horse go faster than I really wanted to go! *laugh* This included the time that we were going along at a good gallop and I fell off the horse! *laugh* Fortunately, I managed to miss all the rocks that were around me and just land on the sand!

We didn’t get right down on the pyramids plateau, so that will be a future trip. Instead, we went along the edges, to some of the smaller pyramids, and got a decent view of the Sphinx.

I was sore! After all the riding, my butt was sore for days!

But no rest for me. It was an early morning on Friday, as Darren had made plans to go with some Sudanese friends to the Burkesh Camel Market. Thousands of camels bought and sold, several days each week. Friday is one of the main days, so things were busy. It took awhile to get there and several busses, but we made it. *grin* The Sudanese guys were named Iha and Amel. Two of Amel’s uncles are camel merchants, so we went to see them while we were there. They let us touch the camels, get lots of pictures, and all that fun “tourist” stuff, without really having to be a tourist!

Here’s a bunch of recent pictures:

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Password: easy

pics of Alex at:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290375505

and the Pyramids:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290375445

...and I haven't even sent out the mass email yet for:

Camel market pics:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290365449

It’s late now, but Thursday will be a quiet day. That means I might have time for more journal writing.

I still need to write about the party on Monday, my “small world” story, and my visit to Tanta! So much to say!!!!

I found my funny!!!! *laugh*

That's either a quote or a paraphrase from a movie, but I have no idea what.
Anyone???? Help me out here!

A crisp 10 piastre note to the first person who can tell me...

At any rate, I feel like my old self again, even though I didn't know until today that I wasn't feeling like myself. Basically at class and with my classmates today, I was cracking jokes and acting like my usual, cynical self. *grin*

Must sleep now, for on Tuesday morning, I go to visit Tanta and get a glimpse of what the next 2 1/2 years will hold for me.

Plus, it's story time! Most Albion folks remember my #1 "This is a small world" story from Australia, right?
Well, I now have a good #2 that comes in fairly close behind. Sorry, but it'll only make sense to the Albion-related folks. Hopefully I'll post that story on Tuesday night or Wed.