My Final Post

Dear "Ben's Egyptian Adventure!" blog-readers,

Can you believe that this is my last post? In just a few hours I will be leaving the place that I have called home for the last nine months of my life. It is quite sad to say good-bye to this phase of my life.

There are several things I need to mention in this post. First of all, I want to say thank you to all of you who have been so faithful in following my journey to the Middle East. Over the span of 9 months, as of today, there have been 4,774 visitors to my site from 22 countries and from 6 continents (thank you Google Analytics)! I am so grateful for all of your support and your interest in what I've been experiencing over here; it's been very encouraging and has kept me motivate to regularly update you with pictures and videos and my random thoughts. I hope that I have entertained you. And maybe you learned something. And maybe your perception of the Middle East has changed slightly--I know mine has.

Yesterday I ate with some friends at the Cairo Hard Rock Cafe. On one of the walls, in huge lettering I noticed the phrase "Love All. Serve All." as we were discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I thought it was an excellent phrase, and I hope that those who go into the restaurant think about it. At the same time, I remembered hearing an astronaut describe his view from the space shuttle of our planet. He noted that in outer space you cannot see borders among all the countries of the world. We are all here together. This one of the most important things I've learned while I've been here.

For those of you who are able, if your in college or still in high school, I have to say that studying abroad was absolutely, unequivocally, one of the best decisions I've made in my life. And definitely the best decision that I've made while in college. If you're beyond "study abroad age," I highly recommend taking a vacation to the Middle East. And if you do decide to come here, please feel free to ask me for more pictures or advice or Arabic survival phrases!

Now that I have tasted what it is like to travel and live in another country, don't be surprised if in the future there is another "Ben's ________ Adventure!" blog that you can read...I'm pretty sure travel is contagious. For now, it's time to get back to Purdue to finish my degree. And where do I go from there? Your guess is as good as mine.

Sincerely,

Ben

Awesome Video #3

I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This video features me wearing one of those neck brace things and a headscarf...while attempting to snap my fingers. It turned out pretty good.

Have a good Thursday!

Awesome Video #2

This one features Lucy...

School progress: 1 more day, 2 more exams!

I'd have to say that the video that I'm going to upload tomorrow is the best one. And I also went around campus taking pictures of things because I realized that I had never done that before. Those should be up tomorrow as well. I'm on a roll!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Awesome Video #1

Video featuring Rachel...part of a series of short, fun videos...more to come very, very soon!

2 more days of school. 3 more finals. And then I'm done! Then we're going to make a quick trip to the Red Sea and hang out in Cairo for a little bit before I leave on Monday night (Cairo time). I shall be in the U.S. Tuesday afternoon (Ohio time). But I'll be putting up several more blog posts between now and then, so stay tuned!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Armed Forces Day

Guess what? Today is Armed Forces Day in the U.S. You probably didn't know that, and I definitely wouldn't have known it either if it weren't for the little note that is written on my daily planner. I guess not many of us will really do anything to commemorate Armed Forces day; maybe some will fly that "star spangled banner" (hint to Mom and Dad) today. But I thought it would be a good idea to mention something about a sense of national pride and unity in both the U.S. and in Egypt.

I think that the sense of "being an Egyptian" surpasses what seems to deeply divide this country, namely the differences in religion. Practically every day on my way to school I see someone's car or motorcycle broken down on the side of the road. If that person needs a ride, I doubt they would have to stand there for more than 5 minutes before someone comes along and takes them to wherever they need to go. Or another example is if you get on the metro and it's packed full of people and there's no seats left, the Egyptians will move from their seats without hesitation if an elderly person or a woman with a child gets on.

While I think there is a strong national unity among Egyptians, I've also encountered many Egyptians who have expressed their desire to leave Egypt and go to America. Usually this makes me proud of being an American, but sometimes it is also very sad. For example, once when I was on a felluca (boat) ride in Aswan, the felluca driver was telling me about how much he wanted to go to America to work...doing anything from working in a restaurant to being a cab driver. He kept asking me about how to get a visa, and since I've never looked into getting a U.S. visa, I really couldn't tell him. In the end he took my phone number just in case I was able to help him make his way to America. This is one of the times that you really feel good to be an American--people want to go there (LEGALLY) so that they can fulfill their dreams.

Then there have been other Egyptians who have wanted to go to America to work or to study but they are afraid. Last semester I was at a restaurant with Henry and after we were done ordering, the guy who took our order asked us where we are from. After we told him, we asked if he would like to go to America. He said yes, but also then said that it wasn't possible because Americans think that Arabs are terrorists. Or even when I was talking to a Muslim friend on campus, she said that she would like to go to business school in the U.S. but wasn't sure where she should go because she didn't want to be a social outcast for being Muslim. It's times like these that I've felt sad that the Arab people perceive all Americans in this way. But I can't lay all the blame on the Arab, it's also Americans' fault for being largely unaware or misinformed of the Middle Eastern world and culture (one of the main reasons why I've been here for a year), thereby propagating more inaccurate information.

Anyway, I hope that when I get back to America I notice the unity that I've noticed here. I hope we aren't too busy "social-networking" to actually spend time together, face-to-face. I hope that when we see someone who needs help, we take the 5 minutes to actually help them.

As American citizens we should be very, very happy for our citizenship. And we should be extremely grateful for those who have fought and given their lives for our freedom, as there are many people in the world who would give up so much just to have the freedoms and rights that we have as citizens of the United States of America.

Happy Saturday! Happy Armed Forces Day!

Nearing the End

How in the world is it that I have less than 2 weeks until I'm back in the U.S? It's very hard to believe that I've been in Egypt for so long (9 months). I really want to get back home, but in a way, I've been able to make Egypt my home, at least temporarily. So, for that reason, I'm also not looking forward to leaving.

Next week is finals week (even though I'll still have classes on Sunday and Monday), and then I'll have 4 days off to do whatever I want before I leave. I still need to see a couple more things in the greater Cairo area and buy souvenirs. Honestly the only thing I've bought for myself is an Arabic/English dictionary and a couple of kids' books written in Arabic. If you have any special requests for something you'd like, you'd better let me know soon so I can get it for you!

It has been really warm recently, reaching to 109 F a few days ago! This is one thing that I don't think I'll miss. However, I think I'll have to wear sweatshirts for awhile when I get back to Ohio...mid-50s just isn't going to cut it for me.

Last weekend we went to the Giza zoo, and I took some pictures, which follow.

Johan, Lucy, and Rachel enjoying the Giza zoo, despite the heat

Egyptian children gathered around the employee feeding the seals

At the elephant house

What's a trip to the zoo without some cotton candy?

Rachel in front of the crocodile

Lion cubs

Well, I think I've done a fairly effective job and procrastinating--2 hour nap, making pancakes, and updating the blog...I suppose I should do some homework!

Have a good Wednesday!

Video Summary of Year

I have picked out some of my favorite pictures from my year in the Middle East, from all over Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. I hope you enjoy it!

Have a wonderful Friday!

NYT Article about AUC

Here's a link to an article written in today's New York Times about AUC.

I should have a real update up sometime tomorrow!

Have a good Thursday!

America : Iran :: AUC Administration : AUC Students

In case you never had to do these analogies in high school, the title would read, "America is to Iran just as the AUC Administration is to the AUC Students."

The parallels are just too striking for me not to write about this...

As I'm sure you've read, and as we have read plenty of times in my Arabic media class, Iran is just rolling right along with their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On the other hand, our fearless leaders in Washington, especially Hilary Clinton, are warning Iran about the "biting sanctions" that are sure to follow...as she's been saying for months now. Congress is debating unilateral economic sanctions as the UN appears to be totally unable to hammer out anything. But are sanctions really going to do anything? This is a small excerpt from yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

In Congress, sanctions legislation also creaks along, but that too is simply going through the motions. Russia and China have already rejected key proposals to restrict Iran's access to international financial markets and choke off its importation of refined petroleum products, which domestically are in short supply. Any new U.S. legislation will be ignored and evaded, thus rendering it largely symbolic. Even so, President Obama has opposed the legislation, arguing that unilateral U.S. action could derail his Security Council efforts.

The further pursuit of sanctions is tantamount to doing nothing. Advocating such policies only benefits Iran by providing it cover for continued progress toward its nuclear objective. It creates the comforting illusion of "doing something." Just as "diplomacy" previously afforded Iran the time and legitimacy it needed, sanctions talk now does the same.

So essentially there are 2 scenarios: Iran gets what it wants, or someone strikes their nuclear facilities, slowing them down for awhile. Nuclear Iran will create lots of problems in the Middle East, but it appears that the US in incapable of doing anything (like other countries in the Middle East starting their own nuclear programs, a.k.a. Egypt, Saudi, Turkey...)

Now for the analogy part...

Last month AUC students decided to "demonstrate" their frustrations, under the leadership of the AUC student council president, by breaking down a gate on campus because this gate is closer to the parking lot (instead of having to walk an extra 2 minutes). Anyway, they broke it down because apparently diplomacy between the AUC student council and the administration had failed. The administration said that having an extra gate open would be too expensive and requires 27 more security personnel to be hired. The students, who collected signatures, want to have the gate open so that they don't have to walk as much.

After the demonstrations, the AUC administration threatened the student council president with community service and possible suspension. Yesterday I read in the student newspaper that all punishment has been lifted. The student council president and all his fellow demonstrators, who call the event "monumental" and "historical," are let completely off the hook because they were able to "write a petition" to the administration saying why they shouldn't be punished for their damage to the school.

I think the administration appears weak and spineless.

(P.S.--Writing petitions is one of the most popular things to do on campus. I actually saw a banner flowing in the breeze the other day announcing that students should write petitions. Johan has gotten into this activity and now AUC actually owes him money instead of him paying AUC!)

Anyway, I think Iran is going to get what it wants, just as AUC students get what they want.

That's my analysis, at least...

Happy Monday!

oh, and another p.s--I FOUND MY ERASER!!!!

Cairo Cave Church

Yesterday we went to one of the Christian parts of Cairo, called Garbage City, in order to see a church carved into a cliff. You may remember I wrote about the Egyptian trash collectors who live in Garbage City back in November (check the archives if you'd like), but I'd never actually been there. I've seen a lot of very poor areas, but this was unquestionably the most humbling area that I've ever been through. The insides of the buildings are filled to the ceilings with trash, the streets are incredibly narrow and lined with huge bags of trash. This is where the "zebaleen" people live, making a living out of sorting the trash.

As recorded on the cave church website:

Some 7,000 rubbish collectors get up at the crack of dawn every morning at Manshiyat Nasir. They go to blocks of flats, hotels and other parts of Cairo and collect Over 2,000 tons of rubbish. They take this home, emptying their carts in the backyard or in front of their shacks. The women and older girls sort the rubbish into organic and inorganic refuse, and the edible leftovers go to their pigs and cattle. They then sort the durable Waste materials according to type and color.

The rubbish collectors gather the secondary materials such as glass, paper, plastic, tin, rags and bones into big bundles in front of their dwellings. They then sell them to the middlemen from the oases, who come with their vehicles to collect them. In turn, the middlemen sell them to factories for recycling.

In the midst of all of this is a magnificent church, which seats 5000, carved into a "mountain" and serves as a testament to the Christians' faith and dedication despite their living conditions.

This next picture is just outside of the church. Do you see that platform-like thing at the top of the cliff? I'm not sure what it's used for, but my guess is bungee jumping. I'm guessing that once a person accepts Christ into their life they head up to the top of the mountain and are given their first "test" of relying on God...hahaha! How would you like to have one of those at your church?


I have just one other comment, regarding "appearing religious"...

Many of the Coptic Christians have a cross tattooed onto their wrists when they are very young. We actually saw this tattooing booth just outside the church where a dad and a young child were getting their tattoos in front of a group of other Christians. Many other people simply have a cross necklace to make their religious affiliations public. This is well and good, but should not be something exclusive.

There are Christians in Egypt, and those who no longer live in Egypt, who hold the same beliefs (essentially and fundamentally) as the Coptic Christians. Christians can still be "good Christians" even if they don't perform the sign of the cross before praying or have a cross tattoo on their wrist. To question someone's faith based on mere physical characteristics is, well, dumb, and should not take place within a community of believers.

The same holds true for Muslims. If you are walking the streets of Cairo there are certain things that you can look for to determine who the Muslims are. But there are plenty of other people who are Muslims that don't have these characteristics. Just because they don't have these characteristics doesn't mean that they should be called menial Muslims.

I suppose the same could be said for just about any religion...

Randomosity

3 topics for today's blog post:

1) I lost my eraser. Yes, this is a really big deal. I freaked out in the past because I lost it, but then I found it the next day, exactly where I had left it in class. I'm hoping the same thing will happen this time. But, I need to have a contingency plan, so, dear blog readers, if any of you would be so kind as to go to your local Walmart to pick up this eraser for me (in case they suddenly stop making them or something...), that would be awesome.



These things are awesome. The best eraser ever, especially if you have to erase very small things, like the dots on Arabic letters. I don't know how I'll manage for the last month of classes.

Note, I think I'll have to have a more utilitarian eraser when I get back to Purdue and have to erase more like 3/4th of a page instead of just single dots...

2) I've been trying to use up the nearly 3 pounds of ground beef that we have in our refrigerator. Last night I decided to make spaghetti with meat sauce. I was trying to brown some of the meat, but it seemed to be taking forever. Eventually it got to the point that the meat started sticking to the bottom of the pan...but the meat was still red. So I added some water and continued to cook. It hardly changed color at all. Eating red meat freaks me out, so after standing there for a really long time hoping the meat was done, I decided just to pour the tomato sauce over it and pretend like it really was browned.

But next day I still had nearly 2 pounds of meat to use, so I decided to make a meatloaf. After getting the recipe from my mom, I put the concoction in the oven (at the proper temperature), and cooked it for "just under an hour," like my mom told me. That way it wouldn't get too brown on top. Well, at 45 minutes, I decided to see the progress, but it was still bright red! The onions in it were black, but the meat was still red!

Eating red meat freaks me out. I don't want to get some weird Egyptian cow disease. Anyway, if I get sick tonight, then I will know the reason why...

Has anyone else ever had this problem with meat before?

3) Speaking of being sick, for some reason I've been in pain for the last 3 days right under the bottom of my rib cage (both sides). I don't know what the problem is, but it really hurts to laugh or sneeze or breathe deeply, to the point that when I feel a sneeze coming, as I'm breathing in right before, I wince in pain so that the sneeze never happens. Anyone had anything like this happen before? I haven't exercised in a really long time, so there's no way it's a pulled muscle...and I drink nearly 3 liters of water a day...I don't know.

WebMD has told me that it could be diverticulitis, an ulcer, various kinds of cancer, or gall stones...

I'm hoping that it's something that will go away with a little bit of Advil.

Oh, and just one more thing:

1 MORE MONTH FROM TODAY (MARCH 24) THAT I COME HOME!!!

Can't believe it!

Have a nice Saturday!

Profile: Lucy

To give you a better idea of who some of my friends are in Egypt, I thought I would create a short profile of one of my friends, Lucy. Johan, Rachel, and I love to make fun of Lucy, and I suppose this profile is just a slight continuation of that...

When you meet Lucy, you will probably first notice that she is rather short. But I guess calling someone short is demeaning, so she likes to refer to herself "fun-sized." This is Lucy...

Lucy wearing my gigantic shoes

Lucy laughs a lot. She also freaks out a lot, especially when there are bees or moths in the apartment (which, by the way, are HUGE...we've had 3 bees in the apartment that were about an inch long. They actually ARE terrifying)

Lucy reacting to the attack of the killer...moth...

Lucy loves rice. She also loves to make LOTS of rice. We never, never have to worry about not having enough rice to eat.

Who wants some?

Lucy is a musician and a dancer. Random playing of the "drums" and random dances are common.

Lucy dancing and playing the "drum"

Lucy says a few phrases at least once a day. These include but are not limited to:

1. I just want to dance
2. I just want to play the piano
3. I wish I had my harmonica
4. I want to go to ______ (a baseball game, Dahab, the beach...)
5. Let's do something
6. I'm bored
7. Talk to me
8. I'm so over this
9. نعم؟
10. So my friends Wes and Lauren...

Lucy also likes to make lists when she talks. For example, if I say, "I want to go to the movies," Lucy will say, "I don't want to go to the movies because 1) that sounds boring 2) it's too far away 3) ..."

Lucy in her blanket

I suppose I could write a bit more, but Lucy is currently telling me, "Ben, I'm bored. Let's do something," so I need to go!

Have a good Thursday!

Oh, Technology...

Last summer when I worked at Gulfstream I was in the loads & dynamics group. There were about 15 of us in that group, 5 of us under the age of 30 and the rest older than that. Those of us who were under the age of 30 did all of our computer programming using the “new” computing package MATLAB, while the older folks used the “ancient” FORTRAN. All the “young” guys used the sleek, black Dell computers, but some of the “old” guys used those big, clunky 1990 computers.

Where am I headed with this? Well, yesterday I read an interesting article about technology and how rapidly it is changing…and how it is changing our lives. Some people are apparently predicting that the use of a physical keyboard and mouse is going to become a thing of the past as the current youth of the nation use touchscreens instead on things like the iPad.

I like to think of myself as someone who embraces technology. I think the capabilities we have already are simply amazing, and I’m looking forward to see what is developed in the future. BUT what about the human factor? How much does technology affect your life? Well, if you’re reading this, then you can’t say that you’re totally technologically incompetent and unaffected by technology. And if you’re around my age, then you’re probably even more techo-savvy/literate/dependent (???) than most people.

What concerns me is how this infiltration of technology will affect the youth of tomorrow (and future parents who raise them). Pretend, for example, that I have a 5 year-old son who wants to play a game. I have just gotten home from work and am tired. Will I go out and play catch with him in the front yard or will I just tell him to play Wii baseball? Or pretend that your young daughter wants to paint a picture. You know that painting means paint is going to get all over the kitchen table. Wouldn’t you rather have her just paint on her iPad instead? It’s much easier and takes no supervision or clean-up. There’s also no need for bookshelves for bedtime stories when you can just pick from the many stories on your Kindle instead…

Are you starting to see the challenge that we face? Technology does make our lives easier (sometimes). And I really do love it! But I feel it is becoming increasingly more important to limit its reach in our lives.

I could tell my son to play the Wii instead. Which is showing love to my son: spending TIME with him or letting him entertain himself? Which is showing love to your daughter: spending TIME with her or letting her entertain herself? We must not allow technology to come in between us and what is most important in our lives—real, meaningful relationships. Relationships take time and effort. We CANNOT depend on technology to build and develop these relationships.

Maybe one day I will be the old engineer using a computer with a non-touchscreen keyboard…

I'm a Celebrity

There are certain things that I will not miss about Egypt when I leave next month (hard to believe it's coming so soon), but there are certain aspects that I will miss. One that comes to mind right away is how a lot of Egyptian teens treat me as some sort of celebrity.

Today Dad and I were visiting a fort of the Mediterranean and a Roman theater, and it didn't take long for the group of teen-aged girls to start speaking in their limited English to me...and me in my limited Arabic. A little later as we were looking at some other things, the girls got the courage to ask for a picture with me (usually when I take a picture with people I put my arm around them, but I am careful not to do this in Egypt). One picture turned into quite a few pictures since all the girls wanted one.

Later today two Egyptians guys asked to take a picture with me because they said I look like some famous DJ they know. No problem. I really should start riding around Egypt in a limo.

Sometimes there can be so many kids/teens that it becomes almost impossible to move in the direction you want because there's just so many of them asking "Where are you from" and "What's your name." And if you start talking in Arabic with them then they get even more excited. Oh, the pangs of being a tall, white American guy in Egypt...

I think I'll miss having girls randomly asking to take pictures with me when I get back to Purdue. For some reason I just don't think that is going to happen.

But I don't get the full extent of the stardom--Johan is tall, white, and BLONDE! People started clapping for him when he walked onto the metro train one day! I'm going to have to step up my game...

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Ben

Spring Break Pictures

Here's some pictures from my trip around Egypt with my dad. If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger.

2 Obelisks in Luxor; Karnak Temple

At a train station somewhere between Aswan and Luxor

Sun setting over a hazy Luxor

Oh, just the view from our hot air balloon in Luxor (you can see Hatshepsut's temple)

Balloon near the Nile, over the farm land

Pretty dead tree in Abu Simbel

Souq in Abu Simbel

You aren't seeing things. That really is a mirage!

Philae Temple, near Aswan

Peaceful twilight in Aswan. This is my favorite picture.

Visitors at the Great Temple at Abu Simbel

Once again, Abu Simbel

I hope you liked the pictures! Dad and I are having a fun time and seeing a lot of stuff. We'll be in Dahab for the next day or so and then we're headed to Alexandria for 2 days. I'll probably post again when we get to Alexandria! Since I'm not going to post tomorrow and I really want to type it, you're going to get it a day early:

Have a good Good Friday!!

That was so worth it...

Guest Blogger: Dad!

I decided that it would be fun to have my dad write a little something for my blog since he is with me for the next few days. This is what he has to say...

Greetings from Dahab (on the Red Sea) - Most of you thought the marathon was a Greek thing, well opa! the Greeks never travelled with Ben in Egypt...we’ve been on the go now for 7 days almost non-stop. An observation of one who is growing old - I see a right of passage. When Ben was young he would always follow behind me wherever we went. The tide has now turned! Ben has taken the reigns and I am following his lead. I am so proud of his ability to blend into this chaotic culture. He negotiates with a smile and knows when a deal cannot be made and walks away. There are always hungry taxi drivers and the negotiation restarts all over again. We have never been stranded! I will note, with careful instructions he let me travel to downtown Cairo to visit the Egyptian History Museum. I rode the metro train and made it back without a hitch.

Speaking of taxi drivers, Egyptian cabbies truly know the dimensions of the Fiats and Peugots. I've gotten over the madness of the driving here but I still have yet to break the code on how they use their horn. It’s an almost constant beep-beep communication for all maneuvers (Planned & unplanned). There are horns blaring from all directions all the time.

Ben also stops and strikes up conversations with locals to practice his Arabic. I was a little concerned when he struck up a conversation with a security guard - automatic rifle included. I joined the dialog more or less to listen in, sure enough the clip was filled with shells but they both had a smile and were carrying on enjoying each others company. Truth be known the guard was practicing English while Ben did the same with Arabic.

The sights are amazing – I’ve touched things 3000 years old. The food is good. The fruit juices are out of this world. There is a whole different world of smells from incense to spices to some obnoxious stuff. It’s not too hot but it is really dry. Ben keeps watch to make sure I am drinking lots of water. It’s almost never quiet in Egypt. The locals are night owls and as soon as everyone is asleep the morning call to prayer starts things rolling again.

It has been great to see Ben more than anything else. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, quoting Calvin & Hobbs – ‘the days have been packed’ (Trains, planes, boats, hot air balloons, cabs, buses and sights galore) but this guest blogger will be glad to see simple Wadsworth again in 4 more days.

I should have a link to some of our pictures sometime today or tomorrow, so be expecting it!

Have a good Thursday!!!

SPRING BREAK

...is here.

Yesterday my dad arrived in Egypt. Unfortunately my mom got sick and wasn't able to come. But today we forged on without her. We spend all day in Islamic Cairo, and now that Dad is worn out, I have a chance to put up an update.

In case you haven't seen my pictures that I posted on Facebook, here is a link to see them.

I've been counting down the days until Spring break for the last 4 weeks and am really glad to have a bit of a break, even though my teachers all gave us homework to do while we're "vacationing." Oh, well. I think I will be able to handle it as I'm sitting in the shores of the Red Sea...

Tomorrow Dad and I are headed down south to Aswan and such; hopefully it won't be too hot! But I'm so happy that he is here to see what I have been writing about all semester.

Have a good Friday!

Comparison of AUC and Purdue

***Warning***Sarcasm reigns in this post...though it's not too far from the truth.

(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger so you can see my awesome sketches)

Game! Guess where the following conversations would take place:

Conversation #1 (anytime, anywhere on campus)

I'm so happy it's March. I love March Madness...Boiler Up!

Conversation #2 (anywhere crowded)

I wish my daddy would buy me a new Mercedes.

Conversation #3 (while walking to 7:30 a.m class)

I was up until 5 a.m finishing my 27 pages of dynamics homework

Conversation #4 (under the no-smoking sign in food court)

Oh, man, that was my last cigarette. Do you have any more?

Conversation #5 (in the aerospace building)

I've decided that the size of girls' sunglasses are inversely proportional with their intelligence.

Conversation #6 (Gucci corner)

I want those new Gucci sunglasses.

***End Sarcasm***

Now don't get me wrong, I love both Purdue and AUC. But sometimes the differences between the two are just too astounding to not mention to anyone.

Only one more week until SPRING BREAK!!!!!

I hope you have a great Friday.

Party in the Elevator

• This week the elevator in our apartment was rigged so that every time it goes up or down a recording of a man reciting the Qur'an plays. Not only do we get to hear it when we're actually in the elevator, but our apartment is close enough to the elevator shaft that we get to hear it when we're in our apartment! Johan has proposed that we re-program it so that it plays Miley Cyrus' song, "Party in the USA."
• If you've ever rented an apartment in the US before, then you probably know that the owners of the apartment like to get their payments on time. Well, I guess things work a little differently here--our landlady thought it would be good to come collect our rent 2 weeks after it was due...at 1 A.M.
• No more being locked in the apartment this week, but we did have a little bit of a fiasco with the light in our hallway. It looked like it was going to fall off of the ceiling, so I grabbed a kitchen chair and was going to screw it back in, when it completely fell out of the ceiling. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but I couldn't get the screws back into the ceiling...and we have no tools. So, since the light was really heavy, made of glass, and was hanging from its wires, I decided I should build a tower to hold it up until we could get our bowab (fixer-guy) to fix it. Eventually some random guy came, took the kitchen scissors and cut the electrical wires, and ran off with our light. It's fixed now.

• There are officially 13 more days until Spring break, which means 13 more days until I get to see my parents!!! I'm so excited for them to get to Egypt!

Have a good Friday!

Locked In...

This weekend Lucy and I decided to go to Family Fun Land, or something like that. When our taxi drive dropped us off in the general area of Family Fun Land, we were kind of concerned because the area didn't look all that family-friendly...it was kind of run down and trashy. But then we wandered around for a little bit and eventually found what we were looking for--the ice skating rink! It was definitely not like the nice rinks we have in America, but it was still fun to go skating for 30 minutes. We may have skated long if 1) the rink didn't smell like there were 1000 cats living there 2) the ice wasn't bumpy and 3) the skates weren't from the 1950s and had a little bit of padding in them...it was painful.

But I went ice skating in Egypt. That's all I really wanted to do.

Sunday morning as I was getting ready to leave for school, Lucy decided to take out the trash. Normally when you unlock our door you have to turn your key 3 times before it's completely unlocked. I noticed that she kept turning and turning and turning. Then she tried another key and kept turning and turning and turning. Then I tried my key. It wouldn't open. We tried putting pressure on the door, but nothing helped. We were locked in.

I saw from the 5th floor of our building the bus that I was supposed to be on leave without me.

We called our landlady and she basically said that there was nothing she could do. We called the man who lives in our building and takes care of things like jammed doors. Fortunately he was wake and was able to come up and get us out. Just had to break a small piece of wood off the frame and tighten up a screw. But at least we're not locked in our house.

Have a good Monday!

Mosab, "Son of Hamas"

Over the last week, the story of the oldest son of a Hamas leader becoming a spy and converting to Christianity has been making international news. And I think rightly so--it's a good story. If you haven't read about it, here is the link to the story.

The other day Christian author and speaker Joel Rosenberg was able to interview Mosab. You can read more of the interview here, but I wanted to share just one question Joel asked Mosab (I highlighted in green some my favorite parts of the answer):

JOEL: What can followers of Jesus do in real and practical ways to love the Palestinian people and reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

MOSAB: This is an excellent question, thank you. Christians have a huge duty to love his neighbor and his enemy. Every Christian needs to carry this heavy cross. Loving Muslims and Palestinians is our responsibility. And our duty as Christians to show God’s love toward Muslims is more important than governments, the United Nations and the international community. All of those don’t have a clue how to deal with the Islamic problem. We know as Christians that the conflict is spiritual and ideological. You can’t kill an idea. You have to replace it. Governments can send troops to change a regime or kill terrorists, but they don’t have the type of weapons that we have — love and hope and grace.

Today, I need from my Christian brothers and sisters to understand the sensitivity of our mission of hope, love and forgiveness. Without these values humans will self-destruct everything beautiful. Be proud of our God and take Him to the Muslims. How come Christians are ashamed of such a loving, forgiving God? Our God is sending a great message of hope through my experience with Him. He is telling the Israelis, my people and everyone who is involved in the Middle East conflict that unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness through the example of Jesus Christ in our lives is the only hope for peace in the Middle East and the entire world — peace with God, peace within, and peace with others.

Love is not an idea, it is a reality. Our Lord showed us His love through the shedding of His innocent blood. His love is a reality we live in everyday of our lives. We can’t be perfect, but if we show the world the minimum of our Lord’s love we will be able to change the entire world in few years. Get out of your churches! Remove the dust of religion and human traditions and go out to the world. Show humanity who we are in Christ and who our God is. Humanity is hurt and its wounds are bleeding. Let’s heal it with the cure of love, the love of Jesus!

Have a good Thursday!

The Storm

Just this morning I was thinking about how I miss having thunderstorms. Every once in awhile it's nice to have a good round of thunder and lightning. Well, my wish was granted this evening. Take a look at the video, taken from our apartment during the sundown call to prayer:

Earlier this week there was a bomb that went off in Cairo at a synagogue. Don't worry, though, it didn't hurt anyone. The authorities expect that the man who detonated it did so as a sort of retaliation for Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. You can read an article about it here.

For the last 2 days I've had a fever and haven't had too much energy. It's no fun being 5,000 miles from home and being sick. Hopefully I'll be up to snuff later this weekend so I don't have to miss any more classes.

Have a good Thursday!

66.6666%

I'm pretty sure I'm 66.666% of the way through my time in Egypt already (meaning I've been here for 6 months); it's hard to believe. Today as I was walking to class I realized that I've already been in class for 3 weeks. It seems like it was just last week that I was wandering around Turkey.

Other than that little announcement, there's not much else to be said...except that tonight I made popcorn on the stove in a pot, which is so much fun. Instead of salting it, I added sugar. It was awesome and helped me memorize all the 5000 plurals and verbal nouns I need to know for tomorrow!

Have a good Sunday/Monday!

Wilted and Gone

I checked on the plant (see previous post) this morning to see its progress. The problem is, it wasn't there! I don't think anyone picked it. I think it just kind of disappeared because we never gave it any water. So much for saving money on produce...

One of my friends asked me an interesting question the other day about what I have learned since getting to Egypt. You may remember my list of things that I've experienced a few posts ago, but I thought maybe I should post something a little more serious, too.

Yesterday we were walking home from dinner and decided to stop by McDonald's to get a McFlurry, which is, for those of you who don't know what that is, an amazing combination of ice cream and Oreo cookies. After getting our dessert, we headed off in the direction of our apartment, just like normal.

By the time we were done with our dessert, we were about halfway through the park that's located right next to our flat. At this point three little girls came running up to us, wanting to get food from us. I didn't feel like it was right for me to give one of the girls my trash and kept hoping that if we just walked faster, they would realize that they weren't going to get anything. But she was more insistent than most of the kids who run up to foreigners to get money. In the end, I gave her a little bit of money and she gladly took it and ran back off into the park.

There are many, many people who live on hardly anything. I don't know how the man who sells bunches of bananas for 70 cents from his cart all day is able to feed his family. I don't know how all 80,000+ taxi cab drives are able to afford payments on their car loans AND feed their families.

In America do we consider going to McDonald's a luxury? I don't think so. I never, ever go to McDonald's when I'm back in the states. Why? Because, even though it's cheap, there's better food options for us. But in Egypt being able to afford McDonald's for a family of 4 isn't easy; it's a place for the elite. It's truly a luxury.

Thinking about these things has just reminded me again how nice we have things in America. We have been blessed beyond measure. Next time you're eating fast food, remember to thank God for the blessings in your life.

Have a good weekend!!!

Apartment Life

It seems like there's snow all over the place in the US. Well, let me tell you, I woke up last night at 3 a.m because I was really hot. So I had to turn on my air-conditioning. I don't know what it's going to be like in May...

Since I get up before the sun rises every morning, I usually get to see the sunrise. There was one particular morning a few days ago that was especially beautiful. Here is the sunrise that I saw from my bedroom window.

The quality of life this semester is much better than last semester. It's nice to live off campus because it makes it easier to realize that there is a life that exists outside of school...however, that life isn't anything too big because I pretty much only eat and do homework when I get back from school. In order to liven things up yesterday while we were eating our shrimp scampi (yum!), Rachel and I decided to have Lucy prove that "she is not weak" by having her eat a tablespoon of salt. I'm not sure how much of it she spat out and how much of it she actually ate, but needless to say, it must have tasted pretty bad.

Today in my Arabic listening class--which is going to give me stress ulcers--we learned the vocabulary for Eskimos living in the North Pole who kill a polar bear and then use the skin as a "beautiful carpet." Some vocabulary is just so beneficial to my life...

One other random thing--this is the plant that is growing out of one of our bathroom's sink (we never use this bathroom so I was really surprised when I found it a few days ago). I'm hoping that before too long we'll be able to pick produce from our bathroom. Wouldn't that be great?!

Have a good Tuesday!

Here at Last

It's the weekend!!!

This semester I'm much busier than last semester, hence the lack of updates throughout the week. I usually wake up at 5:30 (when the call to prayer goes off for the second time), eat breakfast, check my mail, work on Arabic for an hour, get on the bus to school, study Arabic in school from 9:30-3:00, go to the gym, come home by 5, eat dinner, work on Arabic until 10, and then go to bed. That's just about every day. Not too exciting. So until the student newspaper starts coming up with articles that I can comment about or something funny happens on campus, my weeks just don't have enough blog-worthy material...

My hardest class so far is my Arabic listening class. I knew I was a visual learner before this semester started, but this class has confirmed it all the more. Here's a sample of what we listen to in class (first 2 minutes only)...

This video we only watched 100 times (we weren't supposed to read the subtitles, which was really tempting for me). We also watched one about a train from Beirut carrying flowers and candy. It was pretty awesome. We also listen to BBC news headlines in Arabic, which are really hard since the people talk so fast. It's difficult, but hopefully the more I hear the easier it will get.

I'm also taking a written media class where we have to read newspaper articles and translate them. This is also very difficult. I've decided that if I have to learn words in Arabic that I'm not familiar with in English, then the class is getting pretty hardcore. I have no idea what an "eminent delegation" or "International Monetary Fund" are. But I'm learning them in Arabic! Haha...

Apartment life is still wonderful. There's nothing like coming home for the weekend and having some fresh-baked banana bread...

Have a good Friday!

The Apartment

So you can get an idea of what our awesome apartment is like...

Location: Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

Residents: Lucy, Rachel, Johan, and Ben

Bedrooms: 3 (4 beds)

Bathrooms: 2.5

Extras: Balcony, washer, dryer, dishwasher, King Tut rug-turned-wall decoration

First row (left to right): Lucy.

Second row: Ben, Johan, Rachel.

--Rachel, you didn't have a copyright on your picture, so I snagged it for my blog...

The living room/dining room area

The mosque that's 25 feet from our window. Also serves as our alarm clock at 5:30 every morning as well as our dose of theological teaching in Arabic every Friday. (I don't know why the picture seems to be messed up). There are also pyramids in the background, but they're really hard to see. BUT THEY'RE THERE!

Tonight's sunset from our apartment balcony. Awesome.

There's also an English-speaking church within a 10 minute walk from our apartment, which we went to for the first time yesterday. It was nice to go to church for the first time in over 5 months.

Tomorrow starts the 2nd week of school!

Have a good Saturday!

Ephesus Pictures

The few pictures that I've posted here cannot come close to depicting how amazing Ephesus is. It was especially nice to visit it when we did because there weren't swarms of people there. Any visit to Turkey, I'd say, should include a trip to this city (another one of the churches mentioned in Revelation 2 as well as the city where Paul lived)...

Looking at the agora (marketplace) through the Gate of Augustus, near the library.

There are statues of the 4 virtues at the front of the library. I believe this one is wisdom, but right now I just can't remember if that's correct or not...guess I should have chosen a different virtue to sit in front of...

Oh, you know...Johan's just eating a Turkish delight in the Roman bath house (toilets in the background). It was quite a nice view of the city from here. It would have been a nice place to hang out...

This is the view of the theater from the stage. This theater is huge--seats approximately 44,000 people. It was neat because the stage had been renovated so you could see pretty clearly how they spiced things up with trap doors and such.

Of course, besides just having fun acting, speeches, and meetings, there were also times when the entertainment included gladiators. These are the halls underneath the stage where the gladiators waited before headed out to fight. I can't imagine the emotions they felt while waiting here.

In its prime, there were about 450,000 people who lived in Ephesus. Here you can see the library in the background.

The Library of Celsus was one of the largest libraries in the ancient world, holding 12,000 scrolls.

Classes are in full-swing now. It's a lot of Arabic all the time.

Have a good Tuesday!

Oh, Egypt

I thought it would be kind of fun to list things that I've learned/experienced/come to expect with regards to living in Egypt...

1. Your cab drivers whips out a newspaper to read while driving.
2. You have accepted that each breath of air reduces your lifespan by, I'd say, 10 seconds
3. Traffic jams can happen any time of the day
4. Sand storms are no fun and mean that traffic moves very slow
5. Littering is the fast and easy and is, unfortunately, commonplace
   
6. Going to the movies is cool except when the actors do a lot of speaking in foreign languages and the subtitles are written in Arabic
7. You've been asked for backsheesh (tipping money) in church
8. You've been called Santa Claus because you're American
9. A horse and carriage is referred to as an Egyptian Ferrari
   
10. You pretend to be a dumb tourist so you get what you want
11. You get on trains after the man at the ticket counter tells you that the train is full, hoping you will make it somewhere North
12. You feel naked if you wear shorts, even if it's uber-hot outside
13. You get used to the 24 hour clock and metric units
14. Lunch is at 2ish and dinner is around 8 or later
15. Bedouin guide tend to not realize that tourists on Mt. Sinai don't like to run up mountains at 3 in the morning; walking is just fine.
16. The most important phrases in Arabic to know are "I don't want anything" and "No thank you" and "Praise be to God"
    
17. Winter in the desert means cold temperatures
18. Large signs that say "handmade" are a dead give-away that the products are imported from China. The larger the sign, the bigger the selection of imported goods.
19. You realize the miracle of good earplugs
20. Seeing tourists in shorts and tank tops annoys you
21. You realize that you can go through a metal detector wearing sheet metal without anything happening
22. If your cab doesn't look like a disco and have a furry animal skin on the dashboard, then your cab is totally lame
23. You avoid public bathrooms at all cost
24. Bathrooms are called water closest, abbreviated W.C.
25. Americans like toilet paper, not little spray guns
26. Cheesecake and milkshakes just aren't the same
27. Broccoli pizza usually doesn't include broccoli
28. You like how pop cans open better than the American pop cans
29. Plain pizza usually includes peppers and olives
30. You have a list of excuses to get out of going to someone's restaurant or store that you hold near and dear to you

That's my education for the first semester. We'll see what all I learn this upcoming semester, which starts tomorrow!!!!

Happy Saturday!!!

Pamukkale & Cappadocia Pictures

More pictures...

In Cappodocia there are a lot of cave churches and homes where Christians used to live, some up until the 1950s when the government said that they're unsafe. Some of the churches are no longer very nice inside, but some still have really nice paintings, like the frescoes inside this church. Since it is a cave, these churches are very small...I wouldn't think you'd be able to have more than 30 people in one of these at a time.
Here's what the caves look like from the outside. Cappadocia has tons of these. The strange rock formations are the results of volcanic explosions. Over time, and with erosion, these are what remain. Besides churches and homes, many of the caves are used as pigeon homes by the local farmers who then collect the droppings for fertilizer (they grow a lot of apricots and grapes here).

This is another picture from the springs in Pamukkale. The calcium deposits are why the rocks are white. It felt good on a cold, winter afternoon.

In Selcuk there is an annual camel wrestling contest the weekend after we left. Don't worry, the camels don't actually hurt each other...they just have to knock the other camel over. The owners parade the camels through the street beforehand. This is the time of year for camel mating, so the males are especially aggressive, making for some good entertainment, I guess...

Another picture of the strange rock formations in Cappadocia.


Many of the hotels in Cappadocia are made out of caves. This is our cave hotel. It was super-awesome.

That's all for now. I still have more pictures to upload at a later time....

Yesterday I took my Arabic placement exam, which was impossible. Tomorrow I find out my class schedule, and then on Sunday we start school again.

We found a nice apartment that we're going to sign for on Thursday!

That's all for now, have a good Wednesday!