A Bustling Twenty-Four Hours

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!).

Oh, Those Are Pyramids

Ahlan from Cairo! Marhaba! Okay, so transliterated Arabic looks weird, but it's all good. I'm currently sitting in the girls' apartment (which has already become the hangout pad because it's bigger and has more couches) leeching off a neighbor's wifi. We should eventually get our own.

But you don't want to hear about technology!

Cairo is... different. Parts of it are beautiful, parts are extremely foreign, parts are dilapidated and very third-world, and all of it is dusty. The streets are insane - anything remotely considered a traffic law is promptly ignored, and crossing the street requires a lot of nerve and occasionally prayer. And we get stared at a lot, especially since we've so far been all moving in our large group and several of us are very obviously foreign and new. But everyone we've interacted with so far has been so nice, and all the food so far has been so delicious, and no one's gotten sick yet and we've only seen one traffic accident! In short, we're all still adjusting but really enjoying ourselves.

None of us are very good at communicating yet, however. We study formal Arabic (Fushah) in school, but colloquial Arabic (A'miya) is much different. But I have a feeling we'll all get better in time, as we practice and adjust and learn some new, more applicable vocab.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well. Let me know somehow (via comment, email, facebook message) if you want to hear more about a specific topic or something.