Fly PDX II

Here I am again! Using the PDX Wifi network. Getting ready to start another semester is a little intimidating, but I suppose I'm up to the challenge. I arrive in Cairo on Friday afternoon. School officially starts on Sunday, but my classes are all on Monday and Wednesday this term. I get an extra day to acclimate.

It's hard to leave home again.

Quick Update

Wow! It's been a while! I just thought I'd post a quick update and let everyone know how I'm doing. Vacation has been wonderful. It is so nice to be with my family and Jeff, and to not have any papers due or students to worry about.

The trip home was very difficult for me. We were 3 hours late out of Cairo, which meant I missed the connection in Franfurt. I was rerouted from Frankfurt to San Franscisco, where my luggage didn't show up. My flight to PDX was delayed an hour and a half, but because I waited for my luggage, I missed the opportunity for an earlier flight. I made it home around 10 pm and my luggage two days later. That doesn't sound so bad, but by the time I got home I had been something like 52 hours without sleep (I don't sleep well when traveling). I was an emotional wreck in San Fransisco.

The next week I got my grades, which I am very happy with. I'm partially dreading going back to Cairo, but at least I won't be freezing all the time!

Random Thoughts

I think I'm going crazy.

My students were in tears yesterday over their grades. It's silly, because thier grades are fine!

I saw an old man on the Metro this morning. At first I thought he had a beard, but then I realized it was chest hair sticking out of his shirt. I tried not to stare.

I lost the assignment for the final paper I haven't started yet.

At least all my shopping is done.

I leave in less than one week!!!

Another Lecture

I went to see another lecture at school tonight. The AUC Press just published a book about Islam by Hans Kung, a famous Swiss theologian. It was actually quite boring, although he said some interesting things about Christianity, Judiasm and Islam. One thing I'm tired of hearing is that all three religions share the same ethic.

Of course they do! Most humans agree that things like murder are wrong, let alone the three major religions. Kung acknowledged that the fundamental differences are NOT ethical, but that's what he said we should focus on in order to encourage unity. That's all well and good, but if anyone truly follows one of the religions, he is not concerned with the morality of the other folks, but with that person's soul. The fundamental differences, as stated by Kung, have to do with having the right relationship with God. What difference do ethics make if you're pointed in the wrong direction? What a strange world we live in.

Don't get me wrong - I have no idea what Kung believes personally. I understand that in situations like this, a speaker doesn't say all that he believes. Perhaps I'll have to pick up one of his books.

Eating

Tonight I went to the little corner place I noticed a while back and got shawerma for dinner. It was a little greasy, but not too bad. It tasted good, too. It's the second time I've had this since I've been here. The first time was during my first week, and I was really disappointed. This place is better. I asked the guy if I could take a picture, and he said yes. I don't think he realized that I took video too :-)

After church on Friday, we stopped at a little place to get lunch. I surreptitiously took these pictures from the car across the street. The guy getting stuff out of the big pot of oil is making tammaya. A donkey cart walked by, and I like the guy in the red hat. Enjoy!

A Waste of Time

It's 1:00 AM and I just lost two hours of my life to what is probably the worst movie I've ever seen. Yes, even worse than Gerry. Heba and I watched The Big Blue (1988) starring, wait for it..... Rosana Arquette.

Every Friday night at 11:00 PM channel 2 shows an English language (usually American) movie. It's the best movie of the week. We've watched Gone with the Wind, Serving Sara, and I don't know what else. Tonight's movie was definitely the worst yet. I highly recommend it for all you Mystery Science Theater types - there were great long stretches of silence just waiting to be narrated.

Disaster

This morning I realized I'm out of my Mary Kay face moisturizer. I thought I had a back-up, but I think that was the backup. At this point, anything mailed won't make it here before I'm ready to leave.

Oh well. I have three weeks of dry skin to look forward to. Maybe I'll hit the drugstore. Or Oriflame, the Swedish equivalent of Mary Kay. They have a store here that European friends say sells the products much cheaper (any MK directors out there getting the hint??).

Pastoral Prayer

At church we do something I've never experienced before. They call it the Pastoral Prayer. About once a month (I don't keep track), a congregation member will go to the podium and lead the congregation in prayer. The prayer varies in theme, but it always includes confession of corporate sin, worship, and various requests concerning the entire church. It's pretty neat. It makes me feel like a realy part of the body of the church even though I'm fairly new and aren't a member.

Needed Reflection

Last weekend I decided to go to the Thursday night service rather than one of the Friday morning ones. That day was particularly long; I went to bed late the night before, got up early to talk to Jeff, and never took a nap. I went to school and was frustrated by an office procedure (I should just start expecting delays. More later on that).

Class ended at 2 pm, but I decided to stick around and work, then go straight to church. I knew if I came home I wouldn't want to go out again.

So I did an assignment, graded some papers, read, blogged, and so on. I left for church and I was really tired. Probably because I hadn't eaten anything most of the day. When I got off the Metro, I got a falafel (here we call it tamaaya) sandwich, which I figured should hold me over 'til I got home. The tamaaya was overcooked and reallly crispy, but it tasted great. Besides, what should I expect for 1 LE? I walked to church.

The service that night was the youth service. They led worship, did announcements, gave testimonies, lead the congregation in a pastoral prayer (more on that later as well) and so on. The youth pastor preached.

It was great. Since I've been going, I've heard the youth pastor preach three times, I think. Everytime it's really good. Maybe because he's about my age? I don't know. He preached on Psalms 111, and basically told us that when we're frustrated or irritated and so on, that we need to stop being self-centered and focus on who God is and what he has done for us. It was a really gentle reminder to me of what it means to live a life filled with praise.

Friday morning was great. I slept in, and when the family was at church, cleaned up and did laundry.

Chipsy

The big brand of potato chips here is called Chipsy. They are quite good - they tend to be more thinly sliced, and are really cheap. The flavors are quite inteteresting. I finally became adventurous, and ventured beyond the (apparently) universal appeal of salt and vinegar. Some of the flavors I like: kebab, roasted chicken, and salt and vinegar. Flavors I pass on: tomato, old yellow cheese, lime and chili.

Chipsy is also the local producer of Doritos (by appointment of Pepsico, NY). The Doritos here are different. The chips are thicker, which I really like, and the flavors different. They have the orange bag (cheese and spices) and the blue bag (sweet chili). I only saw the blue bag for the first time a week ago, and I have to say it is not nearly as good as the orange bag.

One great thing about eating unhealthy food in a foreign country is that I have no idea how bad it actually is. I can't read the info on the back!

Pictures From the Road

Last weekend I drove the family to the airport to pick up 'dad'. I've driven this route several times - it goes right by the Citidel and Al Azhar park. I gave my camera to my 14 year-old host brother and told him to take whatever pictures he wants. The first one is the Citidel, and the rest are just random stuff. The day was warm, and very hazy (it's pollution).

The big mosque in the distance is the Citidel. And as a fun coincidence, in front of us is a mini bus and to the left is a taxi.

I took this one on the way home. I am released of my driving duties!

Ponytails

I've realized that Egyptians like ponytails. And yes, I'm talking about a hairstyle.

I don't like the way my hair looks in a ponytail, or more accurately, I don't like the way a ponytail makes my face look.

But earlier this week I was in a hurry and didn't want to do anything to my hair. So I said khellas (that's it/finished!) and pulled my hair back in the dreaded ponytail. When I got to school, Nevine was sitting at the computer next to me. She said, "Sarah, you look so good with your hair like that! I've never seen you wear a ponytail before." I went to class and my students complimented me, "Miss, you look so nice today." I told them that doesn't earn any extra points, but they said, "No really, you look nice!"

My host mom always tells me she likes my hair like that when I have it pulled back to wash my face or something.

I guess I'm outvoted.

African Children's Choir

This morning at church the children's choir from the church's school for African refugees. They were very cute, singing in their little English accents.

And will someone tell me if the videos are too much?

An Interesting Lecture

Last night I attended a lecture given by Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University. The lecture was held in Oreintal Hall, named in honor of Edward Said. The room is beautiful, but the lighting is poor. Here's a picture of the ceiling detail:

The lecture was about Racism in America. Dr. West was incredibly charismatic, and I really appreciated his historical approach. He explained race problems in a way I never understood before. I've only seen the symptoms of the racial problems in the U.S., but he made it clear why things are the way they are. More impressive is that his concern is not limited to African Americans. He is passionate about the American ideal of "Justice for all". Much of what he said is exactly how I feel - the elite in America are not held accountable, people pretend that justice exists but the rich are often treated differently, no one knows what politicians really think.

Dr. West appealed to every person in the room, and I would guess there were at least 5 or 6 nationalities represented if not more. While I suspect I might disagree with his politics, I don' t know because he did not talk about politics in any explicit way. Justice and equal treatment to each person was at the heart of the lecture.

Two things concerned me about this lecture. Over and over Dr. West referred to himself as a Christian, cited the Gospels as evidence for the need to value people, and mentioned church a lot. One thing that concerned me is when he was talking about his meeting with Louis Farrakon, and said that before he came to AUC, he and Farrakon prayed together, to God or Allah, it is all the same god. Whenever someone says something like that, it makes me think they don't really understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, "There is not other name under Heaven by which men might be saved," he really meant it! We are not saved by the name of God, we are saved by the name of Jesus.

Secondly, it seemed like Dr. West has replaced Jesus as the Savior of mankind with the idea that equal justice will save humanity. He is so passionate about justice, but where is the role of Jesus in forming that passion? He hardly touched on it. Is it possible for people to treat others with absolute justice without the Holy Spirit? "Justice is what love looks like in public, and Democracy is what justice looks like in practice," according to Dr. West. But what allows us to love? "We love because he first loved us" is the answer given in 1 John 4:19.

While Dr. West was inspiring and challenging, his message seemed to be hollow, missing the only thing that can change a person's heart, the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

I'll put some video up when I have a chance. And I had a chance:

Not So Great New Shoes

I wore my new shoes today and have 4 blisters. Good thing they weren't expensive.

Society for the Protection of the Environment

This is part 2 of my tourist activities on Saturday.

We visited a paper/cloth recycling center. The center is in Garbage City where all the trash in Cairo is taken. It's a training center for women. They learn how to make new paper products (cards, gift bags, etc). They also make rugs, blankets, purses, quilts, etc. It's a pretty neat program, and the weaving uses the traditional methods from Upper Egypt. The women start out sorting fabrics, and move on to more complicated projects. They take materials home and pay to use them, and then bring back to finished product to be resold. The women also pay to use the looms.

It's a neat program that teaches skills and business. Here's a video of the loom:

And here's a random picture of AUC from outside the walls:

The Monastery of St. Simon

This is part 1 of my touristy activities today. I signed up with a school group to go on a tour to the Monastery of St. Simon. When we were on our way, I started to suspect I had been here before. But when I came 7 years ago, it was for an evening service, not a tour. So this was nice.

I won't give the entire story in this post, but you can read about it here. It is quite a good story, and I encourage you to read it. Our tour guide was a short man, who described himself as an uneducated garbage collector (he doesn't have his certificate, or high school diploma). He was very kind, and shared how the Lord Jesus saved him from drugs and alcohol. He said that while he is very poor in this world, he knows that Jesus Christ has riches in the next world. Here's a short video of the guide:

The main church is set in a natural amphitheatre. The garbage collectors of the area hauled out the rubble to reveal this beautiful cave. It seats 20,000 people:

And taken from halfway up:

All over the monastery there are carvings in the limestone. The story goes that a Polish man named Mario, who is not an artist, has done the work by the grace of God. He stayed in the monastary for something like 8 years and now he lives in Cairo with his Egyptian wife. In the next couple pictures, there is another church with carvings all along the back wall, and other carvings on the outside of the mountain. All of these depict scenes from Bible stories.

This carving is not actually a carving. The story goes that as the rubble from the amphitheater was being cleared away, this picture of a mother and baby (Mary and Jesus, of course) miraculously appeared.

And this picture depicts the miracle of Mokkatam Mountain, and how the Christians in Egypt prayed for the mountain to move and it did.

New Shoes!

After breaking my other new shoes, I decided for a more practical route - black shoes. Of course, I plan to glue the blue ones.

Zombies: The Recurring Theme

My friend Amanda (see her comment here) will be happy to note that the topic of zombies came up in class the other day, and I wasn't the instigator.

I had compeletly forgotten about Halloween on Wednesday last week, until at the end of my last class, the professor ended by telling us about a plant in Haiti that makes people become zombies. I was pleased to share about World War Z with him.

And just for kicks, I completed the risk factor calculator available on the website. I didn't have an option for living outside the US, so I guessed what my location is most similar to. If I had lived through the Zombie War, I would have had a 30% chance of survival. I'm sure it's actually lower, as Cairo is extremely crowded and the culture is quite different than what the calculator is made for.

I'd be interested to know all of your survival rates... leave a comment!

A New Direction

I'm dropping out of school to join a gospel choir.

This morning in church, we had a choir from Salem Baptist Church of Chicago lead worship. It was great! The Reverend (and U.S. Senator) James T. Meeks was there with a choir of about 30 people, and it was incredible. I decided theology is irrelevant - they have fun!

I managed to forget they were coming and therefore forgot my camera. But if you tune into TBN or another Christian Network, you're sure to see them on TV.

I also chatted with the woman next to me before service. She arrived here 3 weeks ago to work at the embassy. It was fun to enjoy the service with someone. Of course, I kept my natural reserve, but I'm convinced if I had a choir like this every week, that would drop in no time.