What's in A Sign?

Among all the craziness of the soccer games this week, AUC did not fall short of their usual standard of entertainment. The first thing that grabbed my attention, and the attention of most American students on campus this week, was a sign recruiting people to the Model UN Club. The sign featured pictures of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and (sandwiched between the two) George W. Bush. Under the picture, it says "What do these three have in common?" The answer, under that, is, of course, "None of them were Model UN members." And the sign concludes with, "Join Model UN. Meeting on..." And...this is incredibly offensive. Bush...to Stalin? To Hitler? Seriously?

This is offensive for several reasons. First, I know he wasn't great, but the presidency of George W. Bush is in no way comparable to the rule of Stalin in Russia or Hitler in Germany. Bush may have declared war on an Arab, Islamic nation, but he was not a maniac who systematically killed people and it is wrong, even jokingly, to compare him to leaders that did this. Next, before Egyptians criticize American leaders, maybe they should re-evaluate their own leaders and their own political system. How would they feel if there was a sign made featuring the pictures of Hossni Mubarek, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jung-Il, with the question, "What do these three have in common?" And the answer, "they are repressive authoritarian leaders!" This might even be a more acceptable sign because it would be closer to a representation of true fact. Not only would Egyptians be angry with this and offended by it, they would be concerned by it. Such a representation in their country would not be tolerated. And it bothers me that they criticize our leaders even though they are politically and structurally incapable of criticizing their own. They are so blinded by their hatred of George W. Bush and the America he has come to represent that they do not realize it is American democratic values and norms that would allow them the right to criticize their own leaders in the way they are criticizing ours. That they don't see the need to criticize their own rulers, but don't give a second thought to criticizing our leaders, leaders who try to promote these democratic values and norms both within and outside the nations they lead, is offensive to me. And most Americans on campus agree with me.

Thankfully, the signs have been taken down. And apparently, the president of AUC, who is American and was out of town this week, would have never let the signs be put up around campus. This is comforting, but it is still, beyond being somewhat comical and just illogical (really how, in any way, are Bush, Stalin, and Hitler similar...if you think about it from one regard Bush and Hitler are almost opposite considering their relationship to Israel, in Bush's case, and the Jewish people, in Hitler's case), but it is still a source of concern to most American students.

The other way AUC has managed to not let us down on the entertainment front this week has been through its crafting of its new policies regarding swine flu. First of all, all Egyptian public schools have been ordered by the government to be closed for an extra five days after out break from November 26th until December 1. This would only close AUC for an extra two class days, the way our schedule is set up, but AUC, in direct defiance to the government, has vowed it will reopen on December 2 as scheduled. As for what will actually happen, we have no idea. We may go back on December 2. We may go back on December 6. We may not go back. (Some people are saying the rest of the semester will be cancelled. I don't think this will happen, but you never know. At this point, I hope it doesn't. We're so far behind already, I just want to finish the semester out under as little confusion and frustration as possible). It's a guessing game at this point.

Also regarding swine flu, AUC has advanced a few new preventative policies which rival, as far as logical thinking is concerned, the Egyptian government's policy of preventing an epidemic earlier this year by killing all the pigs in the nation. It is now necessary that all buses transporting students to AUC drive with their windows open at all times. This is because if someone on the bus were to have swine flu and the the windows were closed, the air that they breathed and contaminated would be recirculated throughout the bus, making other passengers sick. Opening the windows will cause the contaminated air to leave the bus before it is able to contaminate anyone. Opening the windows also causes Cairo city air to constantly enter the bus, maximizing the time we breath this air, and maximizing our chances of being diagnosed with lung cancer in the future. I'm not sure of the truth of this statistic because I read it on a leaflet distributed by an AUC anti-smoking club (so it may be completely made up for shock value), but I read that living in Cairo is equal to smoking one pack of cigarettes per day. Even if this is not true, breathing the heavily polluted air here cannot be beneficial to anyone's health. AUC has also decided that any classroom of any student who is infected with swine flu will be quarantined. This means that all the classrooms of an infected student can no longer be used. I am not sure what the exact reasons are behind this because I thought germs did not live on inanimate objects, but I am sure AUC has their reasons. And at this point, I don't even think it is worth questioning them.

So, it's been an entertaining week, much thanks both to African national soccer and, as always, to quote our study abroad advisor at Notre Dame, "the powers that be at AUC." It is finally the weekend though, thank goodness. And next week is a short week due to the break beginning on Thursday. This is good news, as the break is definitely much anticipated by all of us here and will be a welcome hiatus from the craziness of Cairo and the, I'll call it, entertainment, constantly put on by AUC.

Egypt 2, Algeria 0; Algeria 1, Egypt 0

Less than half a mile away from where I sit right now in the Zamalek dormitories, there is apparently currently rioting in the streets. And though I have not seen it with my own eyes, I absolutely believe that this is true. Before I continue with the background information that has led me to this conclusion, I should say that I and everyone else here in Zamalek is in no form of danger. Still, we've chosen to stay in the dorms tonight and watch a movie. This is partially die to exhaustion and partially due to the fact that we're going with the idea, "better safe than sorry."

The story leading up to the current riots begins on this past Saturday. On Saturday, November 14, 2009 at 7:30PM the Egyptian National Soccer Team played the Algerian National Soccer Team in Cairo Stadium. I am not sure of the exact stipulations of the game, but I know that if Egypt won the game by a margin of three goals, they were guaranteed a spot at the 2010 World Cup, which will take place in South Africa this summer. (Whether this excluded Algeria from going to the World Cup, I am not sure). We had originally thought it would be fun to go to the game, and we tried to get tickets, but we were unable to. I did not go to the ticket booth the day the tickets went on sale but apparently it was a scene of mass hysteria. Apparently, the tickets are not so much sold form the booth, but rather by 'policemen' who boy the tickets and then sell them at at least triple their value. The people there said there were Egyptians all over the place, and a lot of yelling, and very little order. I guess government corruption in the form of police corruption can breed that.

Anyway, I knew around ten people, study abroad students, who were successful in obtaining tickets. They paid unbelievable prices for them, but they are huge soccer fans so they thought it was worth it.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that we were not successful in getting tickets. The day of the game featured craziness all over Cairo. In Zamalek, people went into the streets, painted their faces, wrapped themselves in flags, honked horns both in cars and outside of them, and danced and cheered all day long, literally beginning in the morning. Apparently, the situation at the stadium was ten times more crazy than this. The boys we know who were there described to us what it was like entering the stadium, which they did around 2PM, over five hours before game time. They went into the stadium through the third class entrance, although they did have first class tickets. They said riot police lined the entrance and were letting only a few people in at a time. Because there were huge masses trying to enter the stadium, it turned into a situation where a mob of people was crushed in between a bottle neck created by two rows of riot police at the entrance to the stadium. One boy said that for the hour during which he was in this situation, he was not moving under his own command at all. He was simply being moved by the crowd. The boys said that when they finally neared the entrance, they were somewhat separated in between all the craziness. Two of them managed to hang onto each other though. One got through the entrance, and over the crowd, he was pulling the other one toward the entrance, when all of a sudden the policeman nearest to him took his club and hit the Egyptian man next to the boy not yet into the stadium. This man started bleeding from the head, and our two friends (one inside the stadium and the other still outside) basically had nothing to do but stare at each other with "Oh no!/Oh my God!" expressions. Both boys eventually got into the Stadium and said that the cheering was constant not only during the game but for the five hours before it. I believe this because they were showing the stadium on TV throughout the day, at by 3PM it was packed!

Back in the comparatively less insane environment of Zamalek, at around 7PM, the streets became completely deserted as anyone and everyone either returned to their homes, or more likely went to cafes and restaurants, to watch the game. Luckily one of my friends had her family visiting last week and she invited us to watch the game with them in their hotel room. This was a nice atmosphere to watch the game in. It was not wild, but there were enough of us there that it was a lot of fun.

The game itself was a great game. We had expected more fighting between the players because apparently the teams have battled in the past, but it was a relatively clean game. This was probably partially because Egypt scored within the first few minutes. Algeria was basically concerned with playing defense after that. After all, Egypt winning by one goal meant nothing. And it looked like this might happen because after ninety minutes the score was still 1-0 Egypt. Somehow, miraculously, about half way through the six minutes of extra time added to the second half, Egypt scored again. The stadium erupted! The announcer was yelling, "Allah, Allah, Allah!" over and over again. The game ended about two minutes later. Egypt winning by two goals meant that a tie-breaker game between the two teams would be played in Sudan on Wednesday night.

By the celebrations all over Cairo however, you would have thought Egypt had won the World Cup, not just forced a tie-breaker game to possibly go to the World Cup. In Zamalek, people again were cheering and dancing in the streets. Now, they were also lighting aerosol cans on fire and setting off fireworks. From the looks of things on TV, they were doing similar things all over the city and even more so downtown. We stayed in the streets for a while, even participating from time to time in the "Masr!" chants. ('Masr' means Egypt in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. In modern standard Arabic, the name of the country is pronounced 'Misr.') We then headed back to the dorms. This is where our night got interesting.

Just beyond the cheering in the streets, the riot police were assembled and ready to enter into the crowd at the first sign of violence. This was a daunting enough sight, but nothing prepared us for what we would see next. The Algerian Embassy is in Zamalek and we need to walk by it on the way back to the dorms. For the several days before the game and particularly on the day of the game, there was increased Egyptian security around the Embassy. Now the Embassy's perimeter was lined with riot police and armored cars. The street was completely barricaded and all of the lights, which aren't many to begin with, were off. As Americans, we were permitted through the barricades. It was a little unsettling being on the street with so many policemen focusing on us, but they seemed to be leaving us alone. As we reached the second barricade, which we would have to cross to get to the dorm, there was an Egyptian trying to get through the other way. He was telling the policeman, I think, that he lived on the street and the policeman was not letting him through. In fact, he was pushing him back. At the same time, we were trying to get the policemen to move the barricade over for us. It was a tense moment, and we even debated going through the barricade the other way, but eventually we were let through while the Egyptians were still forced to wait. To make a long story short, we made it back to the dorms alright and slept while the rest of the city celebrated. There was evidence of this the next morning as the smog was particularly intense, most likely for the setting of fires. There was also more evidence that we were lucky to have not been at the game. Apparently there were almost no women there. And another boy that we know broke his leg there. He was hoping a fence for some reason and did not realize it was twelve feet high. He was also wearing cowboy boots. He now has to have his leg set somewhere, and he's thinking that Egypt might not be the best place for that. All in all though, everyone survived, which, as the night played out, we thought was becoming less and less likely. And we were still not in the clear. There was one more game to go...

The game on Wednesday produced the most national pride I have seen the whole time I have been in Egypt, and that is saying a lot considering I was here on the 6th of October, which is an important national holiday commemorating an important date in Egyptian history. Students were cheering all day on campus and most were dressed in red and black. In a way it was kind of nice to see the Egyptians take pride in something and unify themselves behind it. Despite the game not actually being in Cairo (it was in Sudan), the city was just as crazy if not more so. To illustrate this, I will reference the traffic my bus hit on the way home from school. On Wednesdays, I take the 5PM bus home. It usually leaves a little before 5PM and arrives back in Zamalek between a little after 6PM and 6:15PM. The bus left on time, but I didn't step foot back into the dorm until around 7:20PM. It was incredibly frustrating, but at least I made it back in time to see the game begin. This time, we watched the game at the dorms. They set up a game watch in the lobby. This game featured more fighting between the players at first. This ended however when Algeria scored about half way through the first half. Unfortunately, Egypt was never able to overcome the deficit and lost the game 1-0. Everyone is the dorm was devastated. And we were worried about rioting. After all, the Egyptians had thrown rocks at the Algerians' bus when it arrived in Cairo before the game. Some of the players had been injured and had to play with bandages on their heads and arms. (The Egyptians formulated a story that the Algerians had actually hit themselves with the rocks and then threw the rocks threw the bus windows because they wanted to make it look as if the Egyptians had attacked them. This story was spread not only by students and young people. Some of our professors told the story as well).

Needless to say, there was potential for huge trouble. Throughout the night we heard stories of Algerians being harassed at a market in Zamalek. If the conflict was physical, it was limitedly so. And my guess is that both sides were equally at fault. I believe the Egyptians probably instigated the flight, but what were the Algerians doing out in Cairo at this time? That could be called instigation. This morning, it appeared the city had made it through the night, though again the smog was particularly intense. Today, we heard that some Egyptians had been attacked and possibly some killed in Sudan after the game by Algerians. For this reason, people were trying to riot in the streets outside the Embassy. I saw the Embassy today on my way home from school. The street was closed and it was PACKED with riot police and armored trucks. It was a scary thing to see. Though, I actually think it makes Zamalek one of the safer places to be. There's definitely an increased police presence here now and it looks like there are even some higher-ups who have been brought in to oversee the operation. So I am totally confident that whatever is happening in front of the Embassy not is well under control. I think the increased police presence will probably last a few days, at least through the weekend. It may last through the week, but I think once the Hajj holiday begins on Thursday, thoughts about the game will subside and the danger of an attack on Algeria by way of the Algerian Embassy in Zamalek will subside.

However, this sentiment was running high today. The Egyptians in one of my friend's classes talked about the national pride that the game inspired. And they compared he game to a war between Egypt and Algeria. They said for this kind of national pride to be inspired in Egypt, the country would have to go to war. This is logic that is interesting and scary at the same time. There are also other political implications of the game. One of my professors said that the game was so promoted by the government's of Algeria and Egypt because it diverted both national and international attention from the real political, economic, social, etc. problems in the two nations. This is also logic that is interesting and a little extreme, but it is an idea worth considering. If nothing else, it shows that the game, besides being one of the greatest events I have witnessed in Egypt, did have implications far beyond soccer.

The Greatest Stories Ever Told

Before beginning this entry, I'd like to thank everyone who has been following my blog. The feedback that I have received has been much more than I expected, and I appreciate this. Thank you so much to all my family and friends for your readership and for all the kind words you have said, both online and in the letters and cards you have sent me. It's great to hear your feedback, but it's also great to get a taste of home through the letters and cards. I miss you all very much and I cannot wait to see everyone over Christmas.

This week, I'd like to write about the English class I have been teaching. It's easy to get frustrated with the class because, like most things in Egypt, the STAR program (through which we teach) is fairly unorganized. I try not to be too critical however because I realize the challenges it faces in establishing itself as an organization in this country and also that its goals are important, noble, and definitely worthwhile. This is difficult sometimes though. For example, two weeks ago, the car that is supposed to pick us (me and my teaching partners) up from the AUC campus and take us to the teaching facility never arrived. By the time we contacted someone from STAR, the car would not have arrived to pick us up until after 6PM, and considering that the ride takes over and hour we would not have arrived to begin teaching until almost 8PM. Class is scheduled from 6PM to 9PM, so it did not make sense for us to go. We would be unnecessarily keeping the students there waiting for us for almost two hours and then only give them an hour of instruction.

This was frustrating for several reasons. First of all, the hour long ride each week is the most difficult part of teaching and something my teaching partners and I dread each week. By the time we make it out to the spot where we are supposed to meet the driver though, we have mentally resigned ourselves to the fact that we are going to make the trip. This is one of the hardest parts of the ordeal. To then have the car not arrive is disappointing. Also, and more importantly, we put many people in a bad position by not arriving to teach. The students are obviously disadvantaged by this, and they are legitimately upset when they don't have a chance to have class. (On several occasions, they have asked us if it was possible for them to have more classes than the one per week that they do have. As I have said before they truly love to and are eager to learn). The director of the center where the classes are taught was the one who had to tell the students that we were not coming for class. There are language barriers and she was concerned that the students would be upset with her. I can see why she would be upset about this as they did not completely understand what happened and were upset with us. One e-mailed us, and the rest questioned us about it when we had class the following week, even after we had explained the situation. I think they are confused about what we are doing in Cairo; the fact that we are students, that we rely on the organization for transportation, that we do not know our way around to transport ourselves, etc. We apologized however, and I think, at least I hope, that all of them accepted our apologies.

Class this week, when we actually had class, went very well. Over the weekend, we had had a meeting with the directors of the program about the final exam for the students. As teachers we are responsible for making the exam. This makes the most sense because, although we were given a grammar book to work from, we have the best idea of what the students have learned and should be tested on. The test will consist of grammar questions, a listening section, and a reading section. We will also be grading the exams and we will determine who should move on to the next level based both on the exam and class performance. After learning that the exam would be formatted in this way, we decided that we had reached an appropriate in the grammar concepts and drills. So this week, we did not focus on grammar. Instead, we read a considerable amount from the Matilda book and also focused on things the students had suggested we focus on.

The things the students wanted to work on included conversation and writing. For homework, we asked them to write about their childhood or a memory from their childhood. At class this week, we assembled them into groups of three and told them to discuss what they had written with each other. They would then present each other's stories to the class. (We do this often in Arabic. It ensures that we both understand and speak). They understood the concept, but all of them were so excited about what they had written that they wanted to share their own stories as well. So we heard each story several times, but it was well worth it.

More of our students than we had originally thought are from Sudan. Most of them described their childhood in Sudan. They said the name of their home villages and the regions where their villages were located. Most of them spoke about their families, farming and animals, and swimming in the rivers. Most of them spoke about attending school also. They spoke very well, but beyond speaking, I was captivated by what they were saying. It was heartbreaking in a way. Most of them said at some point that they left their villages "for fear." I know that there are obviously developmental differences between Sudan and the US, and this impacts the way people live in the two societies, even before the escalation of the conflict in Sudan, but I thought of their childhoods as parallel to my childhood. And I thought about how I would feel is something like that was taken from me, or not necessarily taken from me, but made into a distant concept in my mind to be never attained again (because it is undeniable that the Sudan of today is not the Sudan they described). It was a little overwhelming to think about. Every time I meet with these students, I gain an even greater admiration and respect for them.

I had a favorite story. I got chills when the student told it to the class. He told about his childhood in Sudan, spoke about going to swim in a river. Apparently, there were animals in the river (another student said there were often snakes in the rivers and sometimes hippos), and because of this the children's parents thought it was dangerous for them to swim in the rivers and forbid them from doing so. The student said his parents would beat him (I don't think he meant this with quite the negative connotation with which an American would take it, I think he basically meant his parents would punish him) when he came home without dirt all over him because they would know that he had swam in the river. He said that one day he and his friends swam in the river but then rubbed dirt all over themselves, hoping to fool their parents. Apparently, the plot failed because his parents could tell he had swam in the river by the fact that his eyes were bloodshot! He meant this as a comical story and it was. It was amazing that he conveyed this in English, and, as I said, heartbreaking that such a childhood anecdote is not tainted by the current situation in Sudan. As I have said before, this experience teaching English, if nothing else, has made the conflict in Sudan much, much more real for me.

The last student to present was not from Sudan, but from Saudi Arabia. He is not in a refugee situation. He is an interesting man. He is probably not supposed to be in our class. He apparently is a level below our class, but he goes to every class he can. This shows his desire to learn but it is also a problem because he sometimes takes attention from other students. This aside, he is pretty funny because his grasp on the English language is probably the worst in the class. However, when we called him up to present, he began his presentation in front of the class by scolding us, as teachers, for not coming to the class the previous week. (He came late so he didn't hear our apology). We explained the situation to him, but he didn't understand very well, and, although smiling, continued to criticize and question us. And what was most interesting was he was doing it in the name of the entire class, saying things like, "We were all here..." It was like he was trying to lead a revolt in the class! So it was a little scary, but we noted later, it was probably the best English he has ever spoken in class. We decided it might be a good idea to enrage Abdullah more in class. It would probably be beneficial to his learning of the English language!

Like I was saying, it is a struggle to get to teaching each week and we really do dread it all day on Monday, but once we are there, there is no where else we would rather be. Although teaching is a struggle in some ways, it always puts me in a great mood on Monday nights, which is the opposite of what you might expect considering my Mondays last from before 7AM until after 10PM and I usually feel like I get nothing done on these days. This has helped me realize that sometimes, especially in the situation I am in here, it is worth the struggle for the eventual benefit. I think it might be useful for me to adopt this attitude regarding more aspects of my life. It is clear that although I am the one teaching English, I have also learned things that I will keep with me for the rest of my life.

Alexandria

So, I realize that my posts will be a little out of order, but I thought it was necessary for me to post about my internship while the ideas were still fresh in my head. As a result, this post about our weekend trip to Alexandria is a little late. Hopefully, I remember all the details!

We left for Alexandria on Thursday night (not last Thursday, the Thursday before), and the trip got off to what you could call a rough start. Our tickets were for a 7PM train, but some people were not due back to the dorm until after 6PM. We planned that these people would basically grab their things and we would immediately get into a taxi (or two, there were 8 of us leaving on the 7PM train, 4 people were leaving on the 6PM train) and head for the train station, which, depending on traffic, can be a ride as long as a half hour. We knew we'd be cutting it close. However, when I arrived back at the dorm, I was pleased to find out that the people who were due back after 6PM had decided it was safer to skip their 3:30PM classes. Everyone was back to the dorm by a little after 4PM. So, we planned to meet for dinner in the lobby at 5:30PM and leave from there at a little after 6PM. No later than 6:15PM was out plan. Well, you know how things always happen. You give yourself more time and then you think you have given yourself more time than you did. Needless to say, we were piling into cabs just after 6:30PM, putting us in a prime position to miss our train, and for no apparent reason!

Traffic was not great but not bad and the cab I was in arrived at the train station with just under ten minutes to spare. And when I say arrived at the train station, I mean arrived across the street from it. And when I say across the street, I'm using Cairo's definition of street, which means a series of roads with traffic going any and all directions on each one of them. Nevertheless, it is easier to cross these streets on foot than it is in a taxi, so we figured we were saving time (and this was something we very much needed to do) by walking the last leg of the trip. (I was a little nervous about this considering that we had just seen a woman holding a baby hit by a taxi cab on our way to the station. She was just bumped. She was fine, we are almost sure. However, being that my seat in our cab was the closest to the incident, I was terrified and less than thrilled about the dodging of traffic with luggage that we were about to be doing). Miraculously, we made it across the street. Somewhere in out journey we hopped a fence of sorts. This is normally something I'd be much more concerned about doing, but considering our lateness, I just kind of threw my bags over and then jumped without a second thought. I should be incredibly late more often. I'd worry far less about the little things.

Fortunately we already had tickets, so we booked it to our car and jumped in. However, we were not in the clear. From a call to people in the second cab, we learned that they were just now beginning the process of crossing the street. It seemed imminent that they would miss the train. We sent one person back onto the platform to watch for them, but decided once the train started moving, regardless if our companions were there or not, he should jump back on the train. We then decided at around 6:58PM to call the people in the other cab and tell them to just get on the first car they could and then walk through to our car. They said they were already planning on doing this. By the end of the conversation, they told us they had stepped onto the train. No sooner had the words come out of our mouth then the train started moving. Everyone had made it! We had a sense of relief that lasted all of about ten seconds before we collectively panicked that the person waiting on the platform for the other group had not seen them since they got on the first car and had missed the train. Trying to call him, we held our breaths until we saw him walking down the aisle of the train. We actually had all made the train. I don't know how. It was a miracle. (Had we missed the train, we could have taken one at 9:30PM or 11PM, but we ran the risks of these trains being sold out and we would have had to pay for new tickets. I don't think the Egypt rail system would have been that accommodating and I doubt any of us is proficient enough at Arabic to have explained our situation to them. So thankfully we didn't have to deal with this).

The train ride took about three hours. When we arrived at the train station, we first bought return tickets for Saturday at 11:15AM (and vowed we'd leave for the train station with plenty of time to spare). We weren't sure exactly where the hotel was, but an Egyptian security officer on our train said he would guide us there. We were skeptical, but were delighted when he took us to the hotel and then refused a tip. We've become so accustomed to everyone wanting a tip here, it was nice for us to have an experience with a genuinely nice person. Our hotel was very nice. A few of us were hungry and went into the restaurant, where we were told that, despite their extensive menu, they were only serving fried fish and would not have desserts until the morning. This was interesting. I settled on a glass of orange juice and then went to bed early because we planned to wake up early to see everything we wanted to see.

We woke up the next morning around 8:30AM and were having breakfast at the hotel by 9AM. The breakfast was decent, and as promised there were desserts, though I'm not much of a dessert person at 9AM. We left around 10AM and headed to Pompey's pillar. It's a large column and a sphinx-like statue. The architecture at the site was very Roman and very pretty. We then headed to the Catacombs, which are a series of underground Egyptian and Roman tombs. They were very interesting. We thought it was funny that in one room, one wall of tombs was built by the Egyptians and one was built by the Romans. The Egyptian side was missing several 'boxes' while the Roman side looked like a perfect graph. Typical. After the catacombs, we went to a restaurant for lunch. Several people got pizza, which the restaurant is famous for. I got a vegetable oriental pie, which I was a bit skeptical about, but was overjoyed to find out was actually a Middle Eastern version of a quesadilla, my all time favorite food. It was delicious. Who would have thought I'd find a quesadilla in Alexandria.

After lunch we took a quick break at the hotel and then headed to the library, or Biblioteca Alexandrina. There was a library in Alexandria in ancient times, but this library is in no way ancient. It's huge and very modern, and an actual functioning library. I could have spent all day there. We only spent about two hours there though. We looked mostly at the art exhibits, and spent a lot of our time in the Manuscripts Museum. It was so amazing to see the Arabic translations of manuscripts dating back to the earliest centuries. I particularly liked the translated works of Christianity and Judaism. I also thought the translated works of mathematics, philosophy, and medicine were interesting. The earliest versions of the Qu'ran translated from Arabic were also very interesting. And early Islamic scholarship and Qu'ranic studies was great for me to see considering I have learned so much about it in my classes, particularly Islam last year. It's almost unreal to me that I am having to opportunity to match a real life picture to the things I have learned about. And of course, Muhammad's letters to sultans and an early papyrus scroll from the days of the Pharaohs were unbelievable as well. We also spent some time in the portion of the Museum dedicated to the history of Alexandria. This portion of the museum explained the French influence on the region after the French invaded Egypt in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Most of the architecture of the city shows this influence still today. The drawings and maps in this section were very interesting.

After we finished at the library, we went back to the hotel for a bit and then planned to go to a famous fish market for dinner. At a fish market, there is no menu. You choose your type of fish by pointing to it. We took two taxis to a market in an ally. Our taxi got there fine. The same could not be said for the other taxi. We had the owner of the fish market talk to the taxi driver on a cell phone. There was still obviously confusion. When we thought we had at least gotten the other group on the right track, the fish market closed. We did not think of the fact that the market would close when it ran out of fish. We decided to go to a restaurant with a similar dining style but with more of a restaurant atmosphere and less of a likelihood of closing early. We told our friends, still in another cab (well actually a second cab, apparently the first driver they were with got frustrated and told them they had arrived at the market, which they clearly had not), the name of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant has two locations in Alexandria. This confused even our cab driver so we were dim on the prospects at this point of possibly ever seeing our friends again. That is why we were pleased that when we arrived at the restaurant that the owner said our friends had already arrived. And then we were dismayed that the friends he meant were not actually the friends we were looking for, but another group of AUCians also in Alexandria for the weekend. It was funny that they were so happy to see us and our reaction, considering the events of the night, was "Oh no!" Eventually, our friends in the other cab did arrive, everyone chose fish, and everyone was very pleased with their meals.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and spent some time on the roof before going to bed. We got up the next morning in time to eat breakfast and make it to the train station. We actually had some extra time at the station because the cabs we took took us to a different station in Alexandria which the 11:15AM train arrived to a littler after 11:15AM because it was the second stop. We were pleased to find that we had somehow bought first class tickets. (On the way there we sat in second class, which was fine). We were able to turn seats around so four of us were facing each other. The whole thing was very Hogwarts' Express, and we had a lovely three hour ride.

We took a taxi back to the dorm after the train ride. It was a quick weekend and it definitely had its points of disorder, but it was a lot of fun and a weekend I very much enjoyed. It's a shame we were only able to spend such a short time in Alexandria. We really are so busy now though that it's an accomplishment just to manage a weekend trip. We're definitely getting ready for our upcoming break. We've been in school now for over a month, which by Egypt standards and especially Egypt-in-the-time-of-swine-flu-standards, is a lot! The break in two weeks will definitely be a welcomed time to relax and travel.

Round Table Discussions

I know that I said I wanted to blog about my internship only on the blog set up for my class, but yesterday's experience, I think, is something I'd like to describe in better and different detail on this blog. Yesterday began the first of several "round table discussions" that I am participating in with Cairo University students. The aim of the discussions is to foster a place where the students can be comfortable with practicing English. Because we have been learning in my development classes that development works best when it is participatory, I decided I would let the students dictate the subjects we discussed. I figured that if they were talking about what they wanted to talk about, they'd talk more, and this would obviously be beneficial to the development of their language skills.

The discussion began with the students wanting to talk about cultural stereotypes. They asked me what I thought about Egypt before I came here. I wanted to play things safe considering the group consisted of me and four male Egyptian students, so I said that most American people I talked to about coming to Egypt had a picture in their mind of Egypt as a desert filled with camels and tents and snake tamers. They thought this was very funny. They asked me what I thought of Egypt after coming here. I told them AUC certainly didn't give me a great picture of Egyptian life. I said I realized it was a stereotype that all AUC students were rich kids buying their degrees, but that it many cases I had seen behavior indicative of this. They agreed with me that some AUC students did not truly care much about their education. I said that it why it is nice for me to be working at Cairo University, where I am exposed to students actually taking an interest in their studies and their future. (The students I was talking with not only attend classes, but are volunteers at the office and participants in its classes and programs.)

I then asked them what they thought of America. One student said he used to hate America because of our foreign policy (referencing Palestine), but after he met some American students in Alexandria this summer, he came to realize that a people should not be categorized by the policies of their government. Everyone agreed that this was important. I decided to bring up the fact that one of my friend's roommate's, an Egyptian, recently wrote an article in the school paper claiming that from her study abroad experience last year in Portland, Oregon, she learned that America was 50% anti-religious. I asked the students if they thought this was true, and I was shocked that they said yes. I do not know the exact numbers, but I find it hard to believe that half of all Americans classify themselves as athiests. I explained to them that religion in the US often looked different than religion in the Middle East because it is not such a dominant force in society. I said this was for two reasons. First, Christianity is more individually based where Islam is more community based. Also, the complete separation of Church and state in the US makes it look different than at least some nations where Islam is the dominant religion. They agreed that it was important that the government, especially a democratic government, not be influenced by religion. But their understanding of this concept was superficial at best, I think, because they said this meant that religion should not be a determining factor in appointment to government positions. I think this says something about the Egyptian government (and the corruption there, as government is associated with appointment) and also something about the understanding of a true distinction between politics and religion.

The students agreed with me that Chrisitanity was not as community based as Islam, but they say this as a downfall, claiming the community based character of Islam gives nations where Islam is the dominiant religion a system of values. I told them there were other ways in which values could be present in society that did not relate to religion. They disagreed, saying that the US was seen as a nations lacking in values and morals because it is seen as an irreligious nation. On this point, we needed to agree to disagree.

We talked about politics aside from the religion and politics debate as well. They told me they loved Barack Obama. This is common here in Egypt. One student went so far as to ask me if people who did not vote for Obama had realized their mistake and were now supportive of him after he has done so much good? I was taken aback by this question. I explained that in a two party system, there will always be those extremists who are upset with a leadership that is not from their party regardless of what the leader accomplishes or achieves. I also tried to explain in the nicest possible way that Obama has not really done anything yet. I said he had made an economic plan, and it was being implemented but only time will tell of its success. I told them that the President's popularity in the US has a cycle. It's usually high during election times (be they presidential or congressional) and lower at other times. I said Obama had actually peaked and his popularity was probably now on the down swing. I don't think they were satisfied with this answer. However, it made more sense to them when I referenced the Nobel Peace Prize. One student actually agreed that Obama did not deserve the prize, yet. This also got him to admit that Obama and more particularly the Obama administration has not been as conciliatory to the Arab side of the Arab/Israeli conflict as it previously presented itself. This student referenced Hilary Clinton's weak stance with the Israeli government on the questions of settlement. I explained that it's difficult to implement completely changed foreign policy in the American democratic system, and I said I though this was something Obama was naive about. I said I thought he was now realizing that he could not actually make all the foreign policy changes he originally intended. This sparked the question of why the US was supportive of Israel. This was a huge question for me to tackle. I said something vague about it relating to history, the population of American Jews, which is a small but influential one, and, connected to these two and most importantly, financial matters. They seemed to accept this answer.

It was then my turn to ask them about the Egyptian government. They had trouble answering, so they asked me my perception of it. I said I was in no way an expert, but thought it was anti-democratic. They seemed upset by this. I referenced the fact that earlier they had told me that the government prohibited the organization of and recruitment by political parties on college campuses. They were quick to point out that the government's party is subject to these same restrictions. I tried to explaint to them that the government's presence at public schools is undeniable and that the no organization rule seems like a guise the government uses to prevent other political parties from becoming strong and influential. They claimed that political parties were allowed to organize elsewhere. I said this was still one party, the government's party, controlling any and all political activity in the system and this was anti-democratic. They told me the government's reasons were related to the dangers of violent protest by political parties. I said I understood this security risk, but I also said it was important that they understood why a ban on the organization of opposing political parties on college campuses was anti-democratic, especially from an American point of view, taking into consideration that college campuses in the US are major centers of political activity.

Along these lines, they were also critical of opposing political parties, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, of which the Egyptian government is probably most challenged by and therefore most suspicious of and controlling toward. They called the Muslim Brotherhood violent, and despite their claim before that Islam was important to society, said that the Brotherhood was using Islam as a guise to promote their political message. One student told a story about a Brotherhood member lying about who he was and his purpose on campus to try to recruit students, which, they reminded me, is illegal. The student said he found it troubling that this Brotherhood member was willing to go against the principles of Islam (by lying) and was undermining the slogan of his party, which is "Islam is the solution." This seemed like a logical argument, but it was not until later that I realized the Brotherhood member had lied so as to get around the government's political oppression. It was almost as if the government had forced his hand. He faced the choice of complying with laws and having his party cease to exist, or breaking laws and appearing to those he was trying to recruit as anti-Islamic, promoting a contradictory message. In my opinion, it is safe to say that the Egyptian government completely controls the political process in Egypt. The Egyptian system is not representative of an open political system. It is not a democracy.

It was interesting to me that the students at Cairo University were so supportive of the government (though they did reference the existance of corruption) and critical of other parties, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood. In much of the political science material I have been reading, there is the emerging idea that maybe Islamists, moderate Islamists, need to be given a chance to participate in politics (representing a democratization of political systems in the Middle East) and consequently possibly rise to power. Although the West is suspicious of this still, liberal intellectual literature is supportive of the idea, referencing the success of Hizballah as a participant in the increasingly democratic Lebanese political system. They present this as something the people want, but it seems that it again is Western intellectuals deciding what is good for the Middle East. There are obviously Egyptians who do not support the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, so I wonder what the benefits or the consequences will be if these parties are helped to power by groups outside the Middle East. In my opinion, such an occurance will, if designed and implemented correctly, as in Lebanon, foster democratization consistant with Islam, and I think this will be ultimately beneficial.

I think the students at Cairo University are less critical of the government than the students at AUC because of their position in Egyptian society. The wealthy are not hurt by the actions of the government, so the AUC students realize the corruption and lack of democracy and they talk about this but because they are largely unaffected by it (especially economically) there are no steps taken by them to change the situation. The government has obviosuly been successful in brainwashing the sector of society that it is hurting, the less wealthy and the poor. Students as Cairo University may be aided by government subsidies or may be attending school with scholarships from the government so they are less likely to be critical of it. Aside from those who do involve themselves in oppositional parties, most Egyptians are unwilling to challenge the government, for the variety of reasons mentioned above. This makes it increasingly difficult for movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, which is already subjected to political oppression by the government, to find support among the population. This is why a change in the Egyptian system has been difficult and, even with a succession crisis looming, may not be something seen in the near future.

Though our discussion was incredibly illuminating and very interesting to me, it was very, very serious and heavy. Thankfully, not all the topics we discussed or all the topics we will discuss will be so serious. I think I was successful in breaking some other stereotypes they held about America, such as the one that racism was still prevalent in America, and, related to this, that only black people joined gangs and for the most part were "bad." I think they get this idea from the media, so that is something that should be increasingly among the American media. We also talked about the differences in cultural standards. They complained that at Cairo University boys could not wear shorts but girls could wear short skirts. I was confused as most of the girls I had seen had been dressed very conservatively. I told them I had not seen any short skirts, and they told me I was wearing one. My skirt was well past my knees! I said the definition of "short" in America was a little different. They said they knew this and we all thought it was funny. For next time, we planned to discuss more things like this. They are important because they are cultural differences but they are definitely not as heavy as religion or politics. Though, if the discussion drifts there again, I don't think I would be upset. It was incredibly interesting for me, and because it was something the students were passionate about, they spoke a lot and were not embarrassed about attempting to communicate in English. This was the goal of the activity, so I think it was beneficial towards this goal. However, the other benefits of the activity, both to me and to them, I think, far exceeded this one.

If Classes Weren't Periodically Cancelled, I'd Never Get Anything Done

I am writing this post in the library at AUC because the class that I am supposed to be in currently, was cancelled for today. Classes are cancelled more often here than at home. It's sometimes annoying, but mostly I am embracing the time to finish things on my seemingly never-ending to do list!

So when I last posted, I think I had just finished watching the ND v. USC game. The two weeks since then have been generally uneventful (with the exception of Halloween, which is shockingly more of a big deal here than I thought it would be. I wore a crazy Egyptian dress (gypsy dress maybe?) that I bought from a crazy Egyptian store. It was red with gold beads. I worse red lipstick, tied a gold feather necklace around my head with a red headband, made a smoking stick with a straw and a black sharpie, borrowed a cigarette from someone, threw it all together and called myself a flapper. It worked and it was fun, though explaining "flapper" to the Egyptians we interesting. I just said ended up saying "American dancer." I thought that was sufficient). I've been in Cairo the whole time attending classes, working at CEDO (my internship, which I am writing about on another blog that I think I already linked to this one, if not there should be an "other blogs by this author" link in this blog that will take you there), and teaching English.

As far as classes go, I am starting to receive my grades from some of the midterms and tests I've had. They've been fine; some really good, others just OK, but I am fine with that. I am definitely less grade conscious here than I am at home. I'm not really sure why that is because these grades do transfer to ND (that's kind of annoying, most study abroad programs let students take classes Pass/Fail). I think it's for one of two reasons of a combination of both. First, I realize that there are other more important things than school here, such as learning the culture or simply getting by day to day in a country that is less than modern in many respects. Second, with having more Arabic class, I've had more Arabic work, and to learn Arabic and become better at it, it's something that you need to spend time with. I've been doing this, both by trying to and just by wanting to. I rush through my other work sometimes because I want to spend time on my Arabic work and know that not only to get it done but to understand what we are doing, I need to spend the time on it. I figure if there's any prime time to neglect the rest of my work to devote time to Arabic it's now when I'm in Egypt.

Even though midterms just ended, we are aleady talking about term papers in most of my Political Science classes. I have one due in two weeks! I was a bit afronted when one of my professors denied me the right to write on a certain topic because what I was saying (or what my paper would probably end up saying, as of right now I was very clear to him that I was not taking a side until I had done the research) was not convergent with his opinion. I tried to explain to him that my paper would evaluate both my opinion and his reagrding the topic, but he still seemed skeptical. Whereas at home, I'd probably still write the paper, here I am changing my topic. This may seem like a prejudice, but in the US I feel that most professors grade the content of what you write and whether the theory that describe and the position that you take are clear and sensible. Here I think there may be more of an opinion bias, and although I am less grade conscious here, I do not want to risk sabatoging my grade when I could just as easily write on another topic. I may be able to use my original topic for another term paper, which is good considering it was really something I was interested in and hoping to research and write about.

My internship is progressing nicely. I'll be getting more directly involved in the coming weeks. I speak about this in more detail in the other blog.

I can't believe we are half way through our English course. What we have been doing has not been easy. I'll admit that I have to check the meanings of things like adjective clauses and adverb clauses, and that I still get some of the example exercises wrong! (Thank goodness for the teacher's manuel). It's a challenging thing to explain, but I think we have been doing OK, especially considering that we've had 8 and 11 students respectively the last few times. There's three of us and because of the difficulty of the material, we try to explain it to the class and then go around and give individual help with the exercises. This works best, but we worry that people are left out. This week two of us went around helping and one of us did one sentence from the exercises with each student on the board to make sure that everyone was understanding. After this we do a few sentences as a class on the board. Both weeks, it seems like everyone is getting it at the end, and I give them a lot of credit. As I said it's not easy!

It's also interesting to see them help each other. Sometimes what I am saying in English is just not getting through so one student will explain it to another in Arabic. I like when this happens for two reasons. First, if I explain something in English to someone and then they understand it well enough to explain it in Arabic, I know that they are definitely understanding. Also, I want to make sure that they are explaining it correctly in Arabic so I really pay attention to what they are saying and need to translate it quickly in my head to make sure they have the right idea. This is one of the first times I've felt forced (and not in a bad way at all) to translate quickly on the spot and (even though it was just in my head), I think I did OK. It was exciting and re-affirming that I am actually becoming better at at least understanding Arabic. With all the Arabic we are studying, it sometime seems like we are getting nowhere and never will!

We've also decided to change the structure of the class a little. Some students expressed a desire to us to learn how to do practical things like write e-mails. They see this as important to procuring jobs. So we've started giving homework assignments in the form of writing prompts. Our first prompt was write about something that you like, write about your favorite food, or write about a person you know. Our plan was to correct the writing and also reformulate some of the sentences they wrote so they include some of the grammer structures we've been learning in class, such as the adverb clause. We think that it might be hard for them because by just doing exercises from the book, the adverb clause has no meaning to them. When they see that they can write using it, and write about things familiar to them using it, they will hopefully understand it better and utilize it more. The first writing prompt was a success on many levels. Their writing is actually very good. It was also interesting how many of them wrote about loving their country. One man wrote about Sudan. I was almost in tears reading it. He wrote about the beauty of the country and the beauty of the name Sudan, which means "black people."He wrote about the villiage where he was born. He's been back to the villiage three times when there has been peace in the villiage. He was disappointed he could not stay in the villiage longer the last time he visited becasue the situation there was escalating and dangerous. His piece finished with a discussion on how the government was formulating and promoting the crisis in Sudan and what a shame this was. This was unbelievable to read. This man is just learning English, but he is learning it because he has important things to say. He's not trying to be political. He's simply describing what has happened to him, his family, and his country; saying why this has happened; and expressing his sorrow about the situation. My heart goes out to him. I want now so much more to help him in any way I can. I want to make him confident to write and speak in English about the things he wants to say about the Sudan crisis because he and people like him are the people that need to be heard if there is any hope for a resolution and a renewed and prolonged peace in the area.

Next week, we have decided to ditch the grammer book altogether (just for next week though) and have a class where we focus on just things the students want to learn. They want to write e-mails. They want to tell time. They want to practice general conversation. This is just as important to learning a language as the grammer rules. We'll have some say in what the students are tested on in their final exam (which determines whether they advance to the next level), so when we plan the exam with the program coordinators, we'll definitely need to make a point of explaining what we did with the class and why we did it. I think what we have decided to do with the class will be ultimately beneficial. At least I hope it will be.

Other than that regarding teaching, I had a harrowing experience taking the Metro. I won't go into detail, but I ended up stuck on the train for an extra stop by myself. It was more terrifying as it was actually happening. It was actually fairly easy to sort out and all the Egyptians, who definitely took pity on me, the sole American girl freaking out on the Metro, were very, very helpful. Everyone had a good laugh about it in the end, especially my family who I related the story to in detail. They love that stuff! That was two weeks ago. This week thankfully everything went smoothly.

I guess I'll wrap up by saying I've found ways of dealing with the fact that I am sports deprived. I watched the ND v. BC game on Gametracker and checked the ND v. Washington St. score and summary in the morning. Both wins, both good things! I've also been watching more baseball than I had anticipated (and by baseball I mean computer animated baseball on Gametracker). The World Series games are still going on when I wake up at 6AM. (With daylight savings time in the US, we're now seven hours ahead here). I've seen, or seen parts of Yankee wins in Games 3 and 4 and a Yankee loss in Game 5. Sometimes I have to leave for the bus at critical moments in the game though so that is stressful and makes me annoying to anyone with internet access on their phone on the bus. I'm hoping tomorrow to wake up to the Yankees winning and winning decidedly. (I didn't need to wake up quite so early on Tuesday, but I did because I knew it was a possible series winning game and then not only did I see that they were down 8-5, but I saw the top of the 9th which was not pretty and which prevented me from being able to go back to sleep. So I'm more tired than I need to be, and I want to Yankees to make up for that tonight. Waking up to a win would definitely make losing a little sleep this past week worth it.) So, GO YANKEES!

I have to go to my next three classes now. One is a make-up and the other two are scheduled. I guess with having one class cancelled and one make up class today I'm breaking even so I really can't complain. I need to make it through these three classes and three classes tomorrow and then it will be the weekend, which I am very excited about because we are going to Alexandria! We've heard from people who have gone that it is a great trip. I will definitely take lots of pictures and write about it when I get back!