3 Weeks Down...

I have taken a short hiatus from blogging since when I think about the fact that I am blogging, I second guess myself. Me? I don't blog. But that is silly, right? Just gotta do it. Or maybe I can just use the Yavneh-ite Byte forum? Ay, Julie?

So now that I am 3 weeks into CASA I can fill y'all in a little bit more about what my life has looked like over the past weeks.

I wake up everyday around 7:45-8ish. Class begins at 9 and it is about a twenty minute commute to my classes in Zamalek so I have some time in the morning to check my email and catch some headlines. With the buildup to the June 30th protests here in Egypt I have been trying to stay relatively informed in order to both to help fuel conversations with Egyptian friends and also to help me figure out how to spin the stories when talking to my parents. Jokes, jokes. More on June 30th to come.

AUC Zamalek Dorms

My typical school day is 9-1:20. Really not bad. Kind of reminds me of my schedule in first and second grade when living in Jerusalem. I have two hours of MSA (Fusḥa) in the morning and then two hours of Egyptian Colloquial in the afternoon. Which is really still morning since my days are so short. Classes on a whole are very solid. I am definitely learning and I still love learning the language, but I am somewhat underwhelmed by the program itself. At the end of the day, it is just another Arabic program. I am not quite sure what I expected, but even in terms of its intensity, it doesn't feel all that different than previous Arabic classes I've been in, with the exception of Arabic 402 this last semester. That was just absurd. I hear things pick up in the Fall Semester so I guess I am looking forward to that, mish kidda? (lit: is it not so? but used all the freakin time somewhat rhetorically for emphasis. It is also used when arguing with someone and you want them to acknowledge your point and concede that you are right.)

Since classes end early and the workload has not been terrible, I have been exploring different ways of getting back home in the afternoon. The two best options have been microbuses and walking. I am not sure if microbuses are a real thing, but here they are basically shitty vans that shuttle people around the city for half an Egyptian pound. That is 7 pennies. Absurd. Once in a while it gets pretty crowded so you end up hanging off the side a bit and holding on real tight. Good thing my elbow is rock solid. The warm, fresh Cairo breeze is always welcome though. Nope, it's disgusting. 

A fleet of Egyptian microbuses

My alternative to busing has been walking which I have really enjoyed. It is about a 45-50 minute walk and is basically a straight shot down the Corniche, which is the road that runs along the Nile. Depending on what time I walk back, I also walk through an area where the call to prayer is blasted. I love it. I really wish we had something like that. (That is basically what I hear. I took my own recording, but I have no idea how to upload it. So I figured I'd mooch)

Most of the walk is pretty straightforward, but as we (Adam and I) worked to perfect our walking path we discovered a wonderful little shortcut that really makes me feel like I am in Egypt every time I use it. Since the revolution two years ago a lot of the streets downtown (especially near Tahrir Square) are blocked off with huge cement walls that are strategically located to deflect traffic near government buildings. I, too, suffer from these impasses since I am smack in the middle of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the People's Assembly - all beloved arms of the Egyptian government. I would add a picture, but I am not allowed to casually take pictures of government buildings. 

But back to the shortcut. I am also a five minute walk from the American Embassy! . FYI, it is closed Sunday and Monday. The embassy is probably the most well protected establishment in Egypt. No joke, there are typically 50 or so police officers around the embassy. To be fair, they are mostly sitting around, napping, smoking hitting their fellow comrades or napping (yes, I know I wrote that twice. Emphasis). The embassy is also about a five minute walk from Tahrir Square so there is a big wall blocking cars from passing through. But... There is a hole in the side of the wall that opens up to Corniche and significantly reduces my travel time. Not to mention that I introduced my Egyptian roommate to the shortcut. Whatever, not like I'm a pro or anything, no biggie.

My Hole

Outside of classes, my life consists of a lot of coffee and tea. I have been trying to go to ahwas fairly regularly as that is the heart of Egyptian culture. On the weekends I end up going out every night with some friends and just kinda hanging out, talking, playing backgammon, and listening to people's thoughts about the upcoming protests. It has been great having Shadeed (my Egyptian roommate) around since he is always super welcoming and invites us wherever he goes.  Mind you I end up staying out until 3 or 4 in the morning. Once even 6. Isn't that what college is supposed to be like? #PASYisrael #Golfcourse

At this point I am racking up the phone numbers and creating a solid little crew for myself. And it's almost exclusively in Arabic! Kinda cool having Egyptians calling me to hang out and even baking me a cake for my birthday! Legit have not really had extensive conversations with many of the CASA people so far. Though I am planning on remedying that.

I also had the chance to go to al-Azhar (a big mosque) and Khan Khalili (a huge open-air shuq, suq in Arabic) with Sammy Schatz who is here for a month or so studying Arabic. The suq is not really my scene -  noisy, dirty and a lot of crap to buy. But al-Azhar is great. You walk into the mosque and people are just sitting around in the shade reading the Quran, maybe some hadith and fiqh. Basically  throwback to my senior thesis. What could be better. We also paid one of the workers to let us up in the minaret which has a beautiful view of the city and really lets the different shades of brown to come through strongly. I am hoping to set up some sort of chevrutah with an imam or sheikh at al-Azhar in the fall to go through some fiqh manuals and just learn some of the basics.

I am hoping to write another post pretty soon about June 30 and throw out some thoughts and observations about the weeks leading up to this weekend and how it has affected me. Stay tuned.