Things I'll miss about Egypt:

I know I've spent more time than I wanted to on this blog talking about the things that surprised me in a negative way once I got to Egypt, but I really want to emphasize that there are a lot of things that I'll miss when we leave tonight, like:

• Cheap, delicious food (I know I won't be without this in India, but I certainly will be without some of my Egyptian favorites, like Koshary).



Koshary!



Schwarma 

• cupcake shops and the prevalence of chocolate cake (part of a list of things by body WON'T miss about Egypt) 
• The Nile :) 

• Seeing ridiculous things on motor vehicles, like:



Young "Ultras" on the way to the game

• two forlorn cows chillin' on the back of a pickup truck in downtown Cairo
• two young-adult men singing together as they ride on a mo-ped/cycle in downtown Cairo
• men packed like sardines in a "bus" on the road from Alexandria (but I won't miss them all gawking at the girls on our bus)
• an entire family (dad, mom, 2 kids) packed onto a small motorcycle
• vehicles with ACTUAL horsepower - a donkey (or horse)-drawn cart being driven down a highway!



a famous muezzin at Mosque Sultan Hassan
chants a few lines of the Qur'an for us

• a "bus" packed to the roof with football "ultras" (soccer hooligans TO THE MAX) driving down the highway on the way to the Zamalek game
• The Call to Prayer, whatever part of day or night - a great time for contemplation, whatever you believe
• Seeing minarets EVERYWHERE!



How many minarets can you see?

• Having dependable internet here at the AUC
• Having wonderful and nice security guards here at the AUC who graciously put up with my broken pathetic "Arabic"
• The weather (last week as we were walking along the Nile one afternoon, I commented that it was a "nice fall day"... and then was reminded that it was 80 degrees fahrenheit)
• Hearing "You are welcome" and "welcome to Egypt" everywhere you go - from young and old. 
• Once you're up high enough, seeing minarets popping up everywhere. 



A Young Egyptian wishes us welcome in Tahrir Square

• Walking in the street (it's grown on me)

Forever a College Student

If I were still a REAL college student, I would be thinking about registering for classes right now. And although the idea of NOT having to stay up late cramming for a test or finishing up a literature review or closing down the library makes me really happy, I do still really like looking at the St. Olaf catalogue of classes I COULD be taking next semester if I hadn't already received my diploma. Here are a few that make me particularly jealous of my underclassmen peers:

Art 232: Figure Drawing - I took an intro drawing course last spring and found that I particularly enjoyed figure drawing and it would have been nice to try more of that

Art 238: Photography - It would be nice to come back from Global and get more formal training for my "photographer's eye"

Environmental Studies 222: Campus Ecology - I always heard this was a great class and really made you think about your "footprint" on a regular basis.

Environmental Studies 276: Environmental Politics - As a poli-sci major, I always wanted to fit in more of these policy-centered classes, and I've heard this particular course is a lot easier to grasp with a poli-sci background.

Film 101: Intro to Film Studies - because I always feel like a naïve movie-goer, it would be nice to have a better idea about what goes on behind the scenes - other than what I've learned from watching all the special features from the Lord of the Rings boxed set, that is. :)

History 199: America after 1865 - I never feel like I know enough about recent American history! This was a course that was always on my backup registration list every semester - so how did I end up never taking it?!

PoliSci 244: Race and Politics - this sounds SUPER interesting, and it's with a professor they just brought in to replace one of my favorites... very relevant.

PoliSci 285: International Law - how does this NOT sound interesting!?! This would probably be my top choice for registration... good thing there are two sections, because it'll definitely be a popular one!

Sociology/Anthropology 267: Medical Anthropology - As someone who's hoping to go into the international NGO world, questions on how people view health, health issues, and solutions are prominent in my mind, and I've always loved every Soc/Anth class I've taken.

Spanish 312: Minor Religions of Spain - taught by one of my favorite professors, I think this would be a fascinating class about a society that was dominated by Roman Catholicism for so long.

Theater 120: Public Speaking - pretty useful and self-explanatory. Do I need to give you a speech about it?

Women's Studies 121: Intro to WS - I'm not really sure if I would consider myself a feminist, so this would be a good opportunity to find out and to talk to people all over that spectrum about interesting issues in the Girl World!


That's a pretty full list! I guess it's a good thing I don't have to narrow them down. And who knows? Maybe I'll have enough time when I get back from Global to read up on all these topics myself! Yeah, right. Wishful thinking. 


What are some classes YOU wished you'd taken in college?

A Lesson in Arabic Numbers

As you all know, the Arabic language uses a different script and alphabet than the one you are reading right now. Although we received two “Survival Arabic” classes during our time here in Egypt, we were taught using transliterated words (Arabic words written phonetically in the Latin alphabet).

As a language-person myself, I was more than kinda bummed that we didn’t get any instruction on the Arabic alphabet, since I like to be able to at least read/pronounce things when I travel, even if I have absolutely no idea what they mean. Even now, 2 years since I took Russian 111, I get really excited when I see anything written in Cyrillic, because, despite (most of the time) not knowing what any of it actually means, I pride myself on being able to pronounce it, albeit poorly.

Rare Find: I can read and understand two out of three of these signs in Munich!

So, I’ve sadly resigned to not being able to read anything here in Egypt, unless it’s in English. I did, however, manage to teach myself the (Eastern) Arabic numerals (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Arabic_numerals ). Just as with our numerals, which are commonly and confusingly also called Arabic, there are 10 digits (0-9), but they are written differently that we are used to. Below, I list the numbers with their (Western) Arabic counterpart, their phonetic pronunciation in Arabic, and a few hints on how to remember what they look like.

٠ – 0 – SUF-er-ah

١ – 1 – WAH-heed – looks like a 1!

٢ – 2 – it-NAYN – tilt your head to the right

٣ – 3 – tah-LAY-tah – tilt your head to the right + an extra line

٤ – 4 – ar-BAH – no trick, just memorize it

٥ – 5 – HAHM-sah – just remember it’s not a 0

٦ – 6 – SIT-tah – it’s not a 7, and it’s not a ٢ (2)

٧ – 7 – sah-BAH – looks like a V, not lambda

٨ – 8 – tah-MEYN-yah – looks like Greek lambda, not a V

٩ – 9 – TISS-ah – looks like a 9!

Another nice thing about the Arabic numbers is that, while the Arabic language is read right-to-left, the numbers are read left-to-right, like English! This means that phone numbers read the “right” way.

We spend a lot of time on the bus here, considering all the monuments and cities we visit and the lack of (reliable) public transportation. When everyone plugs their headphones in, I play a game that I like to call “read the license plate”. Sounds fun, huh? It’s a good way to test my memorization of the Arabic numbers. Sometimes, it’s really fast and difficult (when we’re going fast), but the rest of the time (when we’re stuck in the inevitable traffic jams), I race myself for speed and accuracy. Thrilling, I know.

Ready to play? Pop Quiz time!

(Remember, just look at the left half of the plate for the numbers)

Go!

1.   

NOW FOR SOME EXTRA CREDIT!

7. 

How did you do? It’s fun, right?             Right?                         …maybe?

Tune in next time for: A Lesson in Egyptian Food

(Answers: 31950; 5641; 3452; 8374; 9437; 7654; 4843243; 012 2427589)