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!).
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!).
