We've been busy since my last post. Last night, we met up with some previous DukeEngagers who just graduated from Duke and are in Cairo doing a year-long Arabic program, and they told us about a concert happening in Zamalek (the posh island in the middle of the Nile). The band, Wust El-Balad, was awesome - I'll upload a video as soon as I can get more reliable internet. It was also great to get out and see Cairo at night, and trust me this city literally never sleeps. Seriously, it's as busy during the day as it is at night, I think.
Today, we broke off into separate groups because some of us have completed different levels of Arabic. So the intermediate students (including me) went to the Arab Academy, where I'll be taking classes here, to do a placement test. Woo, that was fun. The test is 3 hours long and impossible, like most language placement tests, and we'll be doing the second half of it tomorrow.
Real quick breakdown of programs and stuff. So, not only do we split up based on our level of Arabic, but also there are 2 different organizations which we chose to work with. So, on top of taking classes and working with refugees through the St. Andrews Ministry, we're also working with either Cairo street children through an organization called Ana el-Misri (the one I'm doing) or children with special needs (both physical and mental) through Al-Keyan. More about that in the DukeEngage Cairo 2010 blog (see the link on the right!).
So, the Ana el-Misri kids had some time off today, so I went with a few others to find street food and wander around Zamalek. We tried Koosheri for lunch and chicken from some hole-in-the-wall street vendor for dinner, and, guess what! It was all delicious. We also tried fruit juice from a street juicer, and it was so sweet and fabulous. I swear, it should be illegal for food to be this good.
After dinner, we joined up with those former DukeEngagers and played backgammon and drank tea - a staple here in Egypt, especially for old men. It was really fun, and we made friends with Hussein who ended up buying all of our tea after teaching Andi and Maheen how to play.
Some girls have also started doing Pilates from a video one of us brought, which would probably be hilarious to watch. So yeah, still having fun, still eating delicious food, and our schedule is starting to pick up!
(also, woah! long post today. enjoy!)
Today, we broke off into separate groups because some of us have completed different levels of Arabic. So the intermediate students (including me) went to the Arab Academy, where I'll be taking classes here, to do a placement test. Woo, that was fun. The test is 3 hours long and impossible, like most language placement tests, and we'll be doing the second half of it tomorrow.
Real quick breakdown of programs and stuff. So, not only do we split up based on our level of Arabic, but also there are 2 different organizations which we chose to work with. So, on top of taking classes and working with refugees through the St. Andrews Ministry, we're also working with either Cairo street children through an organization called Ana el-Misri (the one I'm doing) or children with special needs (both physical and mental) through Al-Keyan. More about that in the DukeEngage Cairo 2010 blog (see the link on the right!).
So, the Ana el-Misri kids had some time off today, so I went with a few others to find street food and wander around Zamalek. We tried Koosheri for lunch and chicken from some hole-in-the-wall street vendor for dinner, and, guess what! It was all delicious. We also tried fruit juice from a street juicer, and it was so sweet and fabulous. I swear, it should be illegal for food to be this good.
After dinner, we joined up with those former DukeEngagers and played backgammon and drank tea - a staple here in Egypt, especially for old men. It was really fun, and we made friends with Hussein who ended up buying all of our tea after teaching Andi and Maheen how to play.
Some girls have also started doing Pilates from a video one of us brought, which would probably be hilarious to watch. So yeah, still having fun, still eating delicious food, and our schedule is starting to pick up!
(also, woah! long post today. enjoy!)
Lindsey - Tell me about the climate. I just watched the video of y'all trying to get to Cairo Tower and it looked like everyone was wearing warmer clothes than I would have expected.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's definitely hot. Like really hot. Especially when the sun is strong - we arrived in a dust storm and it stayed cloudy for a day or two, but today was really sunny and we just stayed inside in the middle of the day.
ReplyDeleteBut we wear warmer clothes for modesty's sake, really, and out of respect for the culture. Some obvious foreigners don't bother because they're not gonna blend in anyway, but we try.
Also, since we're going in a lot of areas of Cairo where foreigners don't normally venture, we'd rather get curious looks instead of glares resulting from us dressing immodestly.
ReplyDelete