"insert witty title here"

Wow. i had no idea so many people were writing on here! i can't tell you what a relief it has been reading all of your stories just now. i should have looked at this earlier. anyway, i miss you all and decided i really ought to write a little something myself. tonight is the first time it has actually hit me that Egypt is over. sad. ireland was great! i met a Palestinian man there who was just visiting for two weeks. he was working in the kris kringle bazaar selling authentic food from bethlehem. AKA: Filafal!!! i talked with him quite a bit which was amazing and helped my two trips feel somewhat connected. Major Culture Shock: walking into the city center of dublin and being sucked into the crowds of Christmas shoppers. bright lights. sparkling stores. high heels and leather jackets...and good lord those short skirts! i could almost feel the money floating through the air and it made me sick. i literally became extremely dizzy and had to stop in the middle of the throng. people kept bumping into me and giving me the "she's not all there" look. i had to stare up at the sky for a few minutes before i was finally able to get my bearings. that beautiful blue sky. the same sky. egypt, ireland, the u.s. i don't really know how to explain. it was eery. right. so anyway, home is good. home is busy. home is home...but somehow i kind of wish it was egypt. the end.

spirit points...

ok well, here's a few things for Alissa: I smoked the hookah in my backyard, which might work in seattle if it isn't raining. Also, I too have developed a not so secret crush on Anderson Cooper...

OK for the rest of u, I thought u might find this amusing, its kind of along the lines of stuff we've been studying about evangelical christianity not having such a great rep and stuff, but really its just funny and kind of disturbing and I posted it on my other blog too. I've started actually reading the newspaper, and cutting out interesting stuff, especially pictures of the Middle East (there was this really great one of these Iraqi women today). Anyway, this is from the San Diego Union Tribune Religion and Ethics page (which actually had some cool stuff about the Hajj, which started yesterday, and other cool Islam stuff):

SOUTH OF HEAVEN

The apocalyptic video game fashioned after the best-selling "Left Behind" series of evangelical Christian end-times novels is getting heat. Critics are offended by the violence -- especially the concept that nonbelievers should be converted or killed.
"It pushes a message of religious intolerance," says Clark Stevens, co-director of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, of "Left Behind: Eternal Forces."
But gamemakers defend their product, noting that players lose spirit points when they kill someone, and the bottom-line message is the ultimate one about good and evil.
"The violence in our game is more of a spiritual warfare kind of violence," says Robilyn Lyndon, co-founder of Left Behind Games.

So ya...disturbing huh...?

Random stuff

So just the other day my Dad and I were driving around Charlotte trying to find a used car for me to drive up to school and we stopped by this one dealership where the dealer turned out to be Palestinian! I was wearing the triple Peace shirt that I got in Jerusalem, and he asked if I knew how to say the bottom one, and we had fun after that. It was really nice to be able to throw around some Arabic phrases, and the guy was really happy that, say, when he said: maasalama I knew to say allah yisallimak, so I think it was good for both of us. Too bad he didn't have any cars that I wanted.

Oh, and if y'all haven't seen this, check it out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6215769.stm
It's really sobering, and just a reminder of the necessity of all of us to be doing our part to work for peace.

Anyway, so there's that. I'm doing pretty well...other than getting in a fight last night with my uber-conservative Grandfather, who tried to convince me that: "Islam has always been out to destroy Christianity...you can't trust anything a Muslim says to you." I'm feeling ready to get back to school and have a hookah party with my friends there.
Peace, y'all

shisha colliyoum....mumkin.

Well I thought I'd let u all know that a hookah party is a darn good idea. I got the most random conglomeration of my friends to come over and we just sat and talked and chilled for like four hours. Half of them didn't even want to smoke, they just wanted to watch (like Phil, hehe). It was also quite amusing trying to figure out how to set up the hookah. We were all like, "well I've seen it done before, but really I have no idea. I know it involves water and shisha and tin foil and coal." Luckily I have smart friends, and not germophobe friends, cause I forgot to get those plastic mouth peice things. So anyway I've decided that everyone should have a hookah party, at least the broad majority that brought hookahs back. It also works to open up a lot of more specific questions about Egypt.

I go back to Calvin in 3.5 days! Woot woot!

O haha, my cousin just called me cause she just got her hookah from me! How ironic. She says she'll get lots of use out of it...

O other note, I got the prince of egypt soundtrack and kelly clarkson for christmas, both remind me of u guys...particularly abbie and eunice...

O Ok other funny note. I've been teaching my family key arabic phrases. My brother's in the process of applying to college and one of the applications asked his favorite word (random question if u ask me) and he said mumkin. haha.

OK luv u all, and I'm so glad I have this blog, reading it is most wonderful, ur all great writers!

Singing Streams...

I find it extremely incredible that my first "official lecture" about my experiences in Egypt was in front of 30 village high schoolers from Togo, some of whom still have doubts about the existence of America, let alone Egypt. Christmas came and went fairly quickly, I celebrated Christmas the "African way," which involves lots of visiting and constant eating. We had our family Christmas on Boxing Day, during which all of us kids watched in incredulous cynicism how many gifts were loaded upon us, knowing that we could never tell our African neighbors about the traditional way of celebrating American Christmas. My cynicism has been overbearing at times, but I've also found a lot of comfort in continuing to ask questions and continuing to question God's reality. After all, I am sure that God is still working, despite the cultural insensitivity and social awareness. The day after Christmas, the school in the compound here began to host a nation-wide youth camp (think American youth rally made African--terrible loud music, Bible jeopardy, and hour long lectures). Now, I'll have you know, I'm extremely sick of not understanding people. Of having everything be translated. My goal going into this semester was to listen, and the complexities of such a goal are becoming to be more relevant, especially because most of the village kids don't even speak French. Anyway, I went through some identity crises these last couple of days. The theme of the camp was: Global Christianity--between the traditional world and the modern world. Very relevant to the questions that had been raging in my mind. Then last night I was informed that I was going to be speaking at the camp about the global church and my experiences in Egypt. Now, this would normally be ok, but last night I was also struck by the same flipping infection that hit the night before we left. That's right, the eye pain was back. Now, I couldn't help but think about Abbie and Dena and Susannah and everyone who sat by me and did everything they could to make me feel better that night and I got Egypt-sick. In getting Egypt-sick, however, I was also able to remember how completely dependent on God I was during the entire semester. Thus, I walked up onto the stage thingy this morning having prepared nothing, standing in front of a bunch of kids who are so different then me, who's Christianity is so different then any I'd ever seen before. I just thought I'd share with you the sum of my talk this morning:

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know where to go
we have come to our true journey
the mind that is not baffled
is not employed
the impeded stream is the one that sing


wendell berry

I don't know about you guys, but I don't know much anymore. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life, I don't really know what truth is, I don't really know where I'm going even...but I think this is OK. Who I do know is Jesus and I think that this semester, he made us sing.

Anyway, that's the latest from Togo. My eyes are feeling better, ilhamdu-lilleh, and I'm heading home in a week! Hope everyone's doing well and I can't wait to see some of you soon!

Urbana06

So I think I decided along the way to shock myself by deciding to spend time alone in Cairo and then a week later attend a conference about missions with 25,000 Christian college kids. I don't really know what to do with myself as I am constantly desiring to avoid everyone and be unseen. It isn't working. Although, my heart and mind are still trying to understand if I am rejecting the Western Evangelical movement or if I just have to get used to it again or if I'm far from God or closer than ever before, Urbana has been really cool this year. First of all it has made me come face to face with a lot of things I wanted to ignore, and guess what friends, I really did change during MESP. I tried to deny it, but it's amazing what another culture and new friends can do to someone in 3 1/2 months. Also what's really cool is how much Cairo is mentioned. Last night, in their really awkward skits one of the guys is learning Arabic to go to Cairo to "be a missionary." Through a ridiculous dream in which he meets Egyptian Christians who are going to the US to be missionaries and he uses his token Arabic phrases, he realizes he has the wrong approach. The Egyptian couple really spoke Arabic, and when the kid said "Izzaiak" the translation read "how are you, but only when talking to a woman" and everyone laughed. It was hysterical. Then today, I saw a film about Sudanese refugees in Cairo. Weird. The film showed a lot of the people, a lot of the metro, and made my heart happy. All of you who interacted with these wonderful people in Cairo, and even those of you who didn't should see this film somehow. I think if you request one they'll send one to you. Here's their site. The movie isn't groundbreaking or anything, but it did my heart good to hear their stories again, to see Cairo, and think about a suffering people that I could match names and faces to. Even if I have had a constant headache the past two days and I can't really get into the worship/light show going on, I am really blessed to be here and to face some of the issues I thought I would put off thinking about for a while.

Have a great break my friends, and I have found that just throwing my head back and laughing (even if inappropriate at times) is a much better way to personally deal with this culture we live in than building up bitterness inside of you. Quote of the day from an African pastor speaking to 25,000 Christian college kids about the new church raising in Africa, "Could drinking from the chalice of Western theology be like drinking from a chalice of poison?" Happy thought indeed.

Salam Allah-u-kum. (sp?)

Has anyone ever played DDR before or used the new Wii? For those in the know, that is exactly how I spent my Boxing Day. Yes, the ENTIRE day.

Oh, and DO NOT read " The Case for Israel". It is ridiculous.

DO read The Kite Runner.

By the way, listening to Interpol and smoking Hookah mix very well together.

-Kaitlyn

Da Bulls

Two days after arriving in Chicago, I went to a Bulls game. Prior to the game, there was a game between Calvin and Trinity at the United Center. Calvin beat Trinity by ten points. It was wierd seeing so many tall blond dutch people. There were actually people taller than me, somthing that I havent seen in months! While blended in pretty well with these people, I would have acutally felt more at home in a crowd of 5'6" Arab men. Strange.
However, the story gets better. Somthing amazing happened at the Bulls game. By providence, a certain young woman sat next to me. It ends up that she graduated from Dordt in 2000. Furthermore, she went on the Middle East Studies Program in 1998!!!!!!! I had been sitting in my seat, in desperate need of someone to talk to who could understand perfectly what had happened to me... and God provided. In my eyes, it was nothing short of a miracle. I talked to her for the rest of the game about life in Egypt.
Micah

Hafla Hookah fi Saaa wahida

Well it is boxing day, aka Christmas is over. I can't say I really have any feelings on the subject. Interestingly enough I think I had a pretty good Christmas. The last few years I've been really pissed at my family and upset about all the commercialism and stuff that is Christmas in America and especially southern California. Strangely enough, this year, when I was expecting to have insane culture shock based around Christmas and really just hate it with all my heart, I found myself relatively enjoying it.

I'm pretty sure some of you must've been praying for me and my family because things have been pretty good this year. Me and my dad have been talking all the time, like really talking (and he never talks), my mom and I have been bonding even, and my mom's been so much more patient than I've ever seen her and actually wanting to hear about Islam and my view on things I saw. Christmas day instead of being pissed about commercialism and all the crap we were accumulating I was instead just so glad that I had a family, and that I could still come home to this, and that I had people to be with who cared about me and we have a home. I was really grateful for once. Yay!

I also have had a few christmas parties, which God knows are not exactly the greatest time, but they've been great because I've got to talk to people about the middle east and dispel some myths with some authority. Some people have just been so flabbergasted that I went to the middle east, or that egyptians are laid back and friendly, or that I felt safe there, or that women can drive and not wear headscarves there. One of my friends here was in china this last semester, and we've done a lot of bonding too. It's good having him around to remind me that the middle east isn't the only interesting, misunderstood place in the world, and that there are tons of other cultures and languages and people far away from here, and that I'm not the only one here going through culture shock.

So ya, in approximately 1 hour, I am hosting a hookah party for my San Diego friends. Haha, so far they like my arabic music, and they're really excited about the hookah, too bad I don't even know how to set it up, let alone smoke it. My dad says among a bunch of college students, we should be able to figure it out, haha.

Orthodox Canadian Cousins

My Canadian cousins who are here for Chistmas are Orthodox. It has been wierd talking to them . They are sooooooooo anti-Muslim it isnt even funny. I was surprised by their animosity towards Islam. They are ususally rather liberal. But, not on this issue. They are convinced that Islam is the worst thing to happen to Christianity in the history of the world. They keep talking about how the christians are persecuted and everything. I dont deny that it isnt a cake walk being a Christian in a Muslim country, but the Christians have it relatively well. They keep talking about the extremeists as if all Muslims are extremists and that they can judge the religion based on a few nuts. They even had the gall to portray the Christians in Serbia as people under persecution. They convieniently ignored Milosovich and the sole reason that Nato has troops in the area.

Christmas in Cairo

Oh Friends!

Merry Christmas! I hope many of you are feeling like it’s Christmas and are valuing the birth of our Savior and Lord.

It doesn’t “feel” completely like Christmas to me. However, my mom and I did sing Silent Night together—one of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions.

So—here I am back in Cairo again. I was so excited to come back! I just spent the last five days in an Israeli resort where I felt quite out of place a lot of the time. [While I don’t feel like it’s fully the Christmas season—my ears were definitely reminded of the last days of Chanukah at each dinner.] At one point my mom told me that I sounded as if I were “anti-Israel”. I hope not. But I am frustrated and trying to figure out how to deal with these emotions in healthy ways. 

I am so thankful for the stories, people, and sights I experienced for almost a week in the West Bank. I’m pretty sure I left part of my heart there. It was weird to go directly from Palestine to being surrounded by citizens of the country that is occupying and oppressing so many people. It’s sobering to think my tax dollars are helping fund the Apartheid wall and all of the injustices it brings. I want to honor the people I met by not just returning to life in the States as normal and not doing anything to speak up against this terrible reality.

My heart is also aching—missing every one of you. It was so strange to come up to flat 2 tonight and see the metal screen door closed. I love being in our home [Margie, I’m sitting on your golden bed], but it’s hard because there’s a huge void—the precious females that made it our home are no longer here. I pulled out our group picture tonight and it seems like we were at Anafora yesterday—but it also seems like such a long time ago. While looking at us I thought, this is MESP—how can it change? I imagine a lot of past MESPers have thought something similar.

Thank you for each person’s posts. It is wonderful to hear from you and share in your experiences second-handedly—now that we are no longer living life together. Thank you for who you are and the ways you have enriched my life. I am looking forward to continue hearing about your life and being impacted by your thoughts.

I’m really excited to see Dena, Steve, and Anna today and have Christmas dinner with them. Have a blessed day with family and friends, everyone.

Here’s the Christmas carol flat 2 wrote, for those of you who wanted it…

You know David and Diaa
Stephen and Dena
Mariam and Ashraf
Heather, Karima
They are all a part of the Best Semester of all…

MESP Fall 2006 [six]
was a very jolly time [iywa!]
but if you ask about our leaders [leaders]
we’ll create a funny rhyme [mumkin]

Karima is our hero
when she makes us koshari [shokran]
Ashraf likes to yell “tok tok”
and his face is full of glee [mabsoot]

Dr. Dave—his Excellence
he’s a real swell guy [bezabt]
Diaa give you medicine
when you think you’re gonna die [like Molly]

Steve and Dena are the interns
we couldn’t live without [tabahn]
When we remember Egypt
You will never see us pout [illhamdullallah]

p.s. If anyone might have an idea where my cell phone [blue Motorola flip fone] evaporated to, I’m all ears. It’s so strange—it was on my bed while packing up, and then it wasn’t—mafish. But I guess it’s a less valuable item to lose.

Oh yes—one more thing has vanished—our seal. There is a new [used] water heater in our bathroom. I can hear it heating water, but it doesn’t squeal—magnoon.

Here are the pics e-mailed to me from our day with students from Tel Aviv University.

Tel Aviv

My "joyous" evangelical Christmas Eve experience

Today, at church, I exploded. I was having a nice discussion with my dad about the respect that the Orthodox show during their services as opposed to western Christians, when a man came up to us and asked us if we would be returning tonight. I said I did not know (it is painful to hear the music at this church, and I am guessing tonight will be all music. EKE. Kill me now). He then said that I should come back. Let them in. Jesus will heal my pain and stop my tears. (I kid you not. word for word.) Then he tried to brush the hair out of my face (you know kind of like how they do in romantic love stories). I ofcourse gave him a nasty look and recoiled. He conintued on with his retoric AS IF I AM NOT EVEN A CHRISTIAN. Me being the idiot with no self control stormed out of the church. During which the pastor tried to touch my back!!!! Since when do middle aged men that I do not know think that they have a f-ing god given right to touch me?! So I got even more angry, and I stupidly and rudely took it out on my parents. Thank God I have kind parents, but still, I think I have caused them a lot of pain (no matter how many times I apologize for how rudely I acted). Then my mom explained that what the man did was probably the only witnessing he has ever done in his entire life. Damn it. The poor man tries and gets me as a first failed attempt. Poor guy. Now, I actually feel bad for him. Then my dad reminded me of how this church is trying everything they can. Any suggestions as to what I should do? Should I return to the church? Should I tell the pastor (who is vainly trying to befriend me) why I was so upset by it?
Becca

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....actually...

So while I was away my family decided to join a new church. Yippie! NOT. The whole congregation is well....I'll hold my tongue for once. I refuse to hold my tongue when it comes to the music! Goodness sakes, I swear that these people take lessons on how to sound like toads or something! Have any of you ever seen Sister Act? Okay, if you have, think of the awful sound that came out of the choir in the beginning of the movie...now, amplify the horror of that sound and you have the church choir. If I didn't want to die before going to church, I will definitely feel like killing myself after the horrid sounds that come out of their mouths.
In the mean time, I told a woman that my shoes were from Damascus, she responded in the strangest fashion. She kept her eyes on them and slowly backed away from me as if she was expecting them to explode or something. I thought it was quite amusing but weird.
Anyways...weird side note but I've been having interesting dreams with you all in them. I thought they might amuse you all. Sarah had an apple laptop that was as big as me (I laid down next to it, and it went from my feet to my shoulders....Sarah proceeded to laugh and Deakin did the OMG laugh thing he does...where he laughs awkwardly while saying OMG)! Yes, we all laughed at how small I was as opposed to how damn big the computer was.
Then one time we where somewhere....in the boondocks having a hose riding competition. I stupidly volunteered to participate even though I have a horrible "seat" or whatever when it comes to riding horses...aka I can't do it. Then I proceeded to panic about not having the right shoes to wear to ride a horse with....
I love you guys, but these dreams are starting to creep me out (as they probably are you as well...or should be).
P.S. I never though I'd say this but...I'm sick of meat.

"Do Egyptians sleep on beds?"

Yes my friends, my grandma asked me this exact question. Not only that but I've gotten questions like "what do Egyptians do for fun?" and "now Emily, you always had a boy walk with you right?" It's quite ridiculous. My parents have been amazing though we have had a couple discussions about salvation, Church, and Israel. They ask me hard questions which have been really helpful in trying to sort everything out.
I've been ask to speak to a current events class at my old high school and also give a chapel speech. If you guys have any suggestions as to topics or things Highschool students at a private highschool should hear let me know, I value your opinions.
Shoot...I really miss all you guys, seriously the pictures are just not the same.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

mumkin...I'm still in Africa

Ok, updates...what to say? After a week of sub-Saharan Africa I have a few more insights into this new "cross-cultural" experience I've found myself in. It's wierd because I feel like I'm not just looking at the African animist culture, but I've also found myself examining the missionary culture very closely and wondering how exactly I fit into it. I also find that I cannot separate all the experiences that we had together from this place, when I hear my doctor this morning respond "ilhamdulilleh" when my friend asked him in french how his family is doing, I can't help but think back to my smiling host mom praising God every other word. It's weird because there is a different sort of Islam here. Instead of "popular" Islam, it's animist Islam, with fetishes and tribalism and this strange new culture war that I was completely unprepared to join. Here I came, armed with my anti-Western, let's go human development, anti-evangelical attitude, and found a society that is warring not against the west, but against itself. Anyway, I don't really have any conclusions, but, once again, all my preconceptions have been stripped away. On the bright side, after visiting the doctor, I've realized that a friendly Egyptian bacteria decided to follow me all the way from Cairo and burrow himself (and all his spawn) into my skin, making me appear and very much feel like I have the chicken pox. Bother, so even though every time I itch I think of Egypt, I also have been forgetting it as new experiences and new prejudices have been invading my consciousness. AND I guess Boulder got 33 inches of snow. And I'm still in the flipping desert. Which makes me sort of sad. Oh well, life goes on I suppose. I hope life in America (and Israel and Turkey and Egypt) is going well and that God is still teaching you loads. Love you all and miss you all and can't wait to hear more of your stories. Oh you all will appreciate, my friend and her family is making dinner and they just made me hummus! As our dear friend Abbie says, "Whoot." Amen.

Presentations

Today I talked to 5 middleschool classes about traveling abroad and going to Egypt and various ways of financing it, etc. The first class I talked about Egypt and the travel component and after the first class I stuck to just talking about Egypt. It was information overload before then, even though there was even more information afterwards. I realized after showing pictures and showing how to put on a kafeya that I needed to organize my thoughts to say what was most important for me to express.

Interesting tidbits, when you talk about the pyramids people are interested in knowing if you can go inside. They also want to know if you can climb them. I showed pictures of stupid tourists wearing shorts and non-mentionable apparel and then talked about better things to wear in for traveling. No one believed me and said what I suggested was too hot.

I showed pictures of my host family and kids at the service project. It was good to put a human face on humans in other parts of the world. I showed a 5 dinar to a student and he said King Hussein looked like a terrorist. That was kind of sad. All in all I used the presentations given as a good guinea pig test for future presentations, I'm glad I got started and have my "cool" photos in powerpoint slide order.

Anyone doing anything cool? I've been visiting friends and family in random parts and just putting in snipbits of facts that I think will catch peoples' interest. I miss Kareema's cooking and the exchange rate though. Right now I'm in the process of wrapping presents and making sure I have everything packed for going back to school. I think going back to school is going to be the weirdest back about acclimating back to life here.

I'm thinking about going to Urbana this December if I get it figured out.

Peace, -David

pics of Cyprus

cyprus

"Well honey, I hope your education begins to improve"

So today I had the "privilage" of speaking with one of my sister's coworkers. Hes this ass that teaches political science here in Turkey at a private universtiy where he teaches a bunch of Turks!!! He reminded me of the Palestinian professor that spoke to us in Israel... just a little opinionated and one sided. I fear for what he teaches his students... anyway, So the first thing he asked me was, "So, what is your impression of Islam?" I said that I thought it was a religion that I felt I could learn a lot from and that i really appreciated thier strive for pious behavior and that it really was a religion of peace. He then came back at me with all of these Quran verses about cutting off peoples hands and killing infidels and all of this crap. He then told me about how Islam is a religion of violence and that Muhammad was just a corrupt political leader who got people to follow him with renge. I calmly said, "Well, a lot of people believe that." He then said, "ITS NOT A BELIEF!!! ITS A FACT!!!" Then of course I heard about how the Palestinians have nothing to complain about and how great Israel is and its devine. Yada Yada Yada, pulling things out of my ass... I had a few nicely said comments, (a lot calmer and better phrased than my retorts to the Palestinian youth... sorry about that again). The end of the conversation is as follows...

Ignorant Ass: "So, how old are you?"
Anna: "21"
Ignorant Ass: "Hmmm... that explains it" (he gets up to leave the table and places his hands on my sholders... quite fatherly like and continues to say...) "Well honey, I hope your education begins to improve in teh next few years."

Don't you just love Americans! Here is my question... why do Americans that hate Middle Easterners and Muslims live in Muslim countires? Am I missing something here?

Christian Zionism on TV

I was wondering, did anyone else watch the thing on CNN called, "What is a Christian?" It had that weirdo guy John Hagee and showed his church where they were like waving around Israeli flags and stuff. It was a little creepy. They showed a lot of places where we were in Jerusalem too, and I swear part of it was filmed from our roof! Ok so anyway, just wondering. And has anyone noticed that the news is suddenly way more interesting in general?

Church, family, and hiding from the world

The last one is mostly what my life is consisting of these days...though the first two are having a slight impact on my day to day since coming home.

My first Sunday back started out so well...fortunately no Christmas pageant or other ridiculous American showmanship to upset me, and I like my church in general, we sang some nice Christmas carols, my dad gave a good sermon, all in all very positive.

It was the dreaded "coffee after service" which doomed my Sunday. First one of my friends came up and asked me about the Middle East, and Israel in particular...I immediately launched into a spiel on the wall, the deaths in Gaza, the invasion of Lebanon, and the feeling that I had all during Jerusalem that we were just sitting in the middle of a big gang war...she looked a bit confused and shell-shocked, and I remembered that, when she thinks Israel, she thinks holy sites...so I talked about some of the holy sites we went to and quickly made my exit.

It only got better. My mom, seeing me walking around without conversational attachment immediately pulled me over to introduce me to someone who was new at the church. She asked where I had been, I said Egypt and she asked, with that "look" on her face, how I liked living there. When I replied that I had liked it very much, especially the people, she launched into a lecture of her own on how Egyptians were basically Jew-hating terrorists. As her prima facie evidence, she told a story about a friend of hers who had gotten harassed while visiting Cairo: "...and all he had was a Star of David on his shirt!"

I, remaining the good pastor's kid and holding in the angry tirade which first came to mind, tried to explain that wearing a Star of David in Egypt would be roughly equivalent to walking around backwater Tennessee with Osama Bin Laden's head plastered across your chest, and "Fuck America" on the back just for good measure (Well, the fuck America part I was just thinking...). We didn't make any headway, though, and I really didn't want to get into an argument, so I found an escape route with one of my younger brothers and fled back to the safety of my quiet house.

I think that MESP has given me a sort of weird Middle Eastern Issues Terets...I keep spouting off these random angry tirades about racism, Islamophobia, ethnocentrism, "Children of Empire", yada, yada, yada...

In other news, I shaved my head again...
Miss all y'all
Peace

Life in a bottle

You might be wondering why in all that is good I called this post "life in a bottle". Well wonder no more my friends because, like many things I do, there is no reason. I kind of feel like that is the motto of my life right now: there is no reason.
In case you hadn't caught on I am doing really, really well right now. Life is going well. It feel like have not moved from my sisters apartment in the last, well how ever many days I have been here. Let me just tell you that I am very glad I like her apartment. What would I do if this place sucked.
Why do I sound so pissed off right now? In all reality the only reason I have not moved is beause I am too lazy and don't know the language and don't know anyone who knows the language and I can't say Hi to anyone because, guess what, I always say something in Arabic and then people seem to get this really funny shade of purple and turn away. Hint for all those who wish to live in Israel, DO NOT SPEAK ARABIC TO THE LOCALS, it makes them mad or something.
I finally decided to stop being lazy and go ahead and write something to you guys to tell you about my life so far (and how mush I hate you). Yes, I do hate you mainly because you are where I want to be and that is doing something with your life. You may not think that doing something is a place but I assure you it is. It is a place far way from the couch in my sisters apartment.
Sorry, back on track: my life. So, here I am in this amazing place. Tel Aviv is actually really cool. My sis and a few friends that I just met took me out for an amazing graduation dinner. We then proceded to the best place on earth which just happens to be called Max Brenner and serves nothing but the most decadent chocolates know to man (I had spicy mexican hot chocolate, don't think powder either, think melted chocolate with chile pepper, cinnamon, and other good things). This was followed by drinks, Jazz music and the hope of cute guys that was never realized (one of the friends had too much too early). Did you know that a white russian has like 3 shots of vodka in it? Me neither!
That was my big outing for the weekend. Yesterday was the big outing for the week. I got to show my sister how to shop in a shuk/suk. I have found a place where I can use my haggling skills if not my arabic ones. I got to go grocery shopping my about 4 hours. First, we got to walk about three miles on deserted street (Cairo standards) when suddenly, there right in front of me were people. Oddly enough in the middle of the people was this creature that looked like someone had robbed the costume department of Star Wars and Narnia and then put on stilts. It was doing a dance or possibly trying to communicate (I am trapped, HELP) to the gaukers. This was appearntly a Tel Aviv attempt at street performance, scary creature thing was what came to mind but hey what ever makes you happy. Where was I...Oh yeah: people. So there I was and people were all around, it really felt like home. What made it more like home was my crowd-phobia sister standing behind me mumbling something about killing me for dragging her here. I would like to point out that I did not drag her anywhere, do you remember how fast she walks? Just add a few mph to Dena and you have an idea. So anyway I made my way all to the back of this fruit, meat, and everything under the sun suk for the next few hours scattering warmth and Arabic to all within hearing range.
That is my life so far in this lovely place called "home for a few months". In all reality I miss you guys like nothing else and I keep wondering why I didn't just get on that plane home. it sounds like you are all having troubles adjusting but when every you think you have it hard just remember that I am thinking about you cause I have nothing else to do.
-Sarah

I have only eaten one thing of tutku

Can you all believe the amount of self control that I have! I have only eaten one roll of tutku since being in Turkey... but I suppose I have eaten a lot of Christmas cookies to make up for it. Well, I am still in Turkey and it really doesn't seem like Christmas is coming because there's no snow, but I am having a wonderful time. I pretty much just sit around my sister's flat all day while she's at work and pretend to process things, but LOST instead. Sorry Margie if I ever made fun of it... I'm addicted now. Maybe today I'll go for a walk and pretend to speak Turkish... I'm excited to get home and am really jeleous of all of your stories from home, no matter how good or bad. I miss you all!
Anna

So Cal is the weirdest place ever

Wow I miss u all.

I agree with Alissa that church was pretty freakin ridiculous. It fits into our culture here, but I just couldn't get into the remixed christmas carols and the announcer guy trying to be this really cool surfer guy and everyone clapping about such stupid things. Anyway, I decided I'm not going back there (for more than just aforementioned reasons) and I decided that the American brand of church is on the decline.

I went to my Grampa's Christmas party and had my share of drunken uncles and awkard cousins, as Kaitlyn can look forward to. Me and my brother locked ourselves in my grampa's bedroom for like an hour of it but when we emerged my second cousins decided to whip out the egypt jokes, such as, "did the Egyptian mosquito have a little rag on its head?" Wow.

Also funny. I finally got my burrito last night. I stopped at Jorge's for my California Burrito (best burritos in the world in my opinion) and the guy said "gracias" and shokran was the only thing that i could think of to say so I just kinda sat there trying to spit something else out and looking like I was gagging, hehe. Then about the salsa he was like "uno salsa solamente?" and I was like "aywa" with a huge smile. Stupid stupid Kirsten. I guess its good that its flipflopped, in the early days of arabic class I couldn't stop saying "si." Haha, this is what u get.

Mumkin and mish kwayis have also made several appearances. I'm sending our family christmas cards to MESP and to my host family, hehe, also something that is kinda a weird american tradition, esp. the ones with professional pictures of ourselves on the front.

So basically America is just weird, and I'm so glad u guys have posted stuff on here, it makes me feel so much better. I feel a little like I'm drowning in boredom. I went shopping with my mom today because she guilt tripped me into it and its just so weird and fake like. O well. I kinda can't wait to go back to school, but I'm scared at the same time cause I know my good friends will still be there, but how will i interact with all those kind of friends? Also, David, ur analysis of coins in fountains was astonishing to say the least. Luv u all.

Mumkin...I really want to say Mumkin...

Hello.
First of all I would like to mention that Christmas plays/musicals concerning the birth of Christ are Mish Kywais. And you sir, what the heck are you doing wearing a kafaiya? Yes, you sir in the back row behind the angel chorus.
Oh barf barf barf.

Yes, yes. Just reiterating everyones concerns about the holiday season and American Culture in general.

Yes, it WAS the worst time to come home.
No, I did not have to cover myself.
Yes, Orthodox Christians are going to Heaven too.
No, I do not have a "sweet" tan.

Ho hum. Opening presents tonight because we're off to a wedding in NY for a week. Oooh hooray! Drunken uncles and akward cousins.

Well, that's enough. I'll take my little raincloud elsewhere. Have a good holiday season whatever you chose to celebrate. Myself, I am exploring Kwanza. Nah, not really. But for serious, have a good time with your families and fight the good fight!

-kaitlyn
Ps. Santa isn't real.

Back in Texas

So flying from Cairo to Frankfurt to JFK to Houston to San Antonio was interesting. In Ana Fora some of the crew talked about Harry Potter, and because my flight was delayed and I had a 5 hour layover in Houston, I decided to buy the first book at the bookstore. Well to make a short story shorter, I wound up missing my flight to San Antonio, had to rebook, slept in the airport, and read the whole book that night. It was ok, a little corny. So it took about 60 hours to get back home instead of 50ish.

The second day back I went to the zoo with my sister and her friend. I saw kangaroos and hippos and a tiger, it was really fun. What I found interesting was a water fountain/pool that had several coins in it. I know you can make a wish when you throw the coin in, but why? I wonder what point in history it was decided that throwing coins in water was lucky. Did people use slingshots to kill fish or something and over time forgot about using the slingshot because it wasn't effective and then one day decide to just throw the coin in because they decided to pay for their ignorance for trying to kill fish with slingshots in the first place since it wasn't effective? Looking at the water I began contemplating how many kosheri meals I could buy with what was there. Dang.

Right now I'm getting used to social norms again and figuring out proper eye contact procedures. It's tricky but I'm getting used to things again. I'm glad at least I'm back in San Antonio and can understand the language and stuff. My Spanish is pretty good, sometimes I find myself substituting Arabic words in my head and have to think of what they are in Spanish, etc, but it's going well.

I think I've found housing for next semester, so I'm pumped about that. It's weird to think next semester will be the last semester but I guess it's good. Right now I'm making a presentation of the experiences and making a slideshow. So I'm up for a road trip somewhere this upcoming year, if anyone's interested in going to Canada, let me know.

-Peace.

Back from Cyprus

Hello MESP friends! I'm happy that some of you are sharing through this blog! I'll send those who haven't joined a little reminder that they're missing out.

Like the tiltle said, I'm back from Cyprus and it already feels like it was some sort of weird dream. Cyprus is beatiful and the Northern part where I was mostly is a combination culturally of Tukey and the US. It was weird. Most of the Cypriot nationals I met were Azerbaijani or Iranian or Turkish. I spent a lot of time on the beach, whether by myself or with the girl I stayed with and her friends. All of the people I met this weekend called me "Cairo" because they couldn't remember my name. I secretly loved it. I didn't die while driving my rental car on the left side of the road, although I clipped my left side mirror (shhh).

Now I'm back it flat 2, which is rather quiet, but Dena and I have plans, so don't feel sorry for me. Matt Gruel and I leave for the US on that same 3:45 am flight this coming morning and after a day and a half of travelling, I'll be home like you.

Sorry I can't post pictures, the internet today is mish kwayyis. Have a great day friends and know that Cairo misses you!

the wondeful men in my life...

Hello everyone, it is so great to hear from all of you. Thanks to Abbie for her sweet comment about Scott--she did witness a small amount of pda in the Minneapolis airport. It is obviously great to be home with Scott, although he had to leave for the weekend. So that leaves me here at home with my brothers. My older brother has been great as far as asking me about my experience and helping me talk through things. My younger brother has just been a joy--he LOVES Christmas so today we made cookies. It was fun but overwhelming to go to church today and receive countless hugs and questions. I am already missing you all and wishing we had more time. Blessings on everyone's Christmas celebrations--may you truly be thankful for the gift we have in Jesus (I know this sounds cheesy, but I did learn something from Abbie this semester--we all need to know Jesus better) Bye for now!

'Sup

Hey team - I figured I should post a bit since I have enjoyed reading all of your posts so much. Well, what can I say? It has been so good to see the family and the parentals, however unfortunate it is that we don't have any snow. Also, for anyone interested, Julia's fiancee, Scotty the Body, is super cute and is even taller in person than he looks in pictures - he's a keeper. Anywho, I feel like nothing drastic has changed here, although I look at things differently now - do you know what I mean? I miss you all and Egypt a lot, and I know I need to start doing a better job of communicating to my family all the things that happened this semester. I love being home, but I know for me the real challenge will come when I have to go back to Bethel. Is anyone else a little hesitant about going back to school? Anyway peeps, thanks so much for blogging and letting me know about your lives - I miss you people. I hope you have a great Christmas season!

Abbie

Advent in Togo

Let's see, after about ten minutes of mass confusion, I finally figured out how to post a blog, but now I don't really know what to say. My time in Paris was extremely nostalgic--I haven't explored a city by myself in who knows how long! You would be very appreciative though, as I was wandering about Bellville extremely lost, it was an Algerian couple that helped me find my way, in Arabic nontheless. It was funny, I attended a five hour prayer meeting in french, during which I accidentally let slip an "insha'allah," and all of the ladies responded in horror--"YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!!!" Which pretty much has characterized my time here. Is correcting misinterpretations my goal? I don't think so. I'm trying very hard to listen to the people here, the dad here is very into animism and how to approach Jesus through a multi-cultural world view. Anyway, West Africa is similar to Egypt, but also very very different. I went through a bit of a shock the last couple days though because, to tell you the truth, I'm a bit "cross-culture experienced" out. Well, I'm not quite sure what else to say. We went to an African church this morning, charismatic, but somehow strangely fitting in this culture. The dancing and singing and exuberant joy that was lacking in the Middle East, is appropriate here. Which, of course, makes me rethink all the judgments I made about the west. I miss you guys--here I'm the only one who doesn't speak the language, instead of one of 25! I keep throwing out Arabic when I'm trying to learn French, which is slightly problematic. It seems strange to explore a new culture without you guys, I feel like something's missing. Alyssa, it was great reading your posts, I've been struggling with how to communicate my experience and confusion, and I actually read your poem over the shoulder of my best friend here, which helped. Ok well, I should go. I feel like my first blog was lame but I don't really have time to write more. I have to go take a bucket shower. I can flush the toilet paper though. Anyway, I hope this blog becomes more popular, I want to hear more of your stories! I need to go, but I hope Advent is slightly more Adventy then here...Merry Christmas and enjoy your families!

let us go then, you and i

hey everybody, i hope you're all enjoying being back home or on vacation or wherever you are. i know for me its been great to see my family again and to go back to school and see friends, but even there, i had to do a double take a couple times--i kept thinking i saw you guys around campus. i guess it was just wishful thinking. anyway, this is just me figuring out how to use this thing. so far so good. alright, ill be done for now, but have a great break and merry christmas.

love,
phil

missing you all

dear friends...
im miss you all...

Home

Hey y'all. I hope all of you made it home okay. I miss all of you already...Arabic words keep slipping into my head "Mish kwayyis" "itfaddal" so on and so forth...and I have to check myself 'cause no one will get what I'm saying. After my abrupt departure from outside customs...I hate long goodbyes, and so, emotionally, I just needed to go, I sat alone in the US Airways terminal, and I think it finally hit me that it was really fully and truly over...and I got this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I just felt like curling up and sleeping or somehow numbing myself so that I wouldn't feel the disconnect from people and places I care about so much.

So it's been kind of a tough two days...but it's really good to be back with my family, and to talk with my girlfriend...both have been really understanding. I've been showing my family my pictures, all of my pictures, which takes a long time, and that's been a really good way to kind of begin the whole re-entry process, running through all these memories again. I'm also doing a lot of journaling...and I decided to get on the ball with a lot of you and start reading From Beirut to Jerusalem. So I feel like the whole processing thing is going well. It's just hard...

Home...is with the people I love, and so, while I am home, in one sense of the word, a little bit of home is scattered across the country and the world with each of you. If I never said it, or maybe just didn't say it enough, let me say how much being in community with each of you this past semester meant to me...I feel like we were more like the ideal of the body of Christ than anything I've ever been a part of before...which makes these days feel like amputation.

Anyway, so that's me these days. I'm excited for Christmas with my family...we decorated our tree last night. How's life for the rest of you?

O How Fun

Yeaa... I'm with you Abbie in this new blog experience.
Blessings on your papers everyone!

Hello

Hello people - this is the first time I have ever commented on a blog or whatever. Woot! Anyway, this has been fun.

the first post

Hi friends and welcome to blogger. I went ahead and set up a blog for everyone so we can keep in touch after the semester ends. I hope you don't mind. Here you can post pictures, share engagment stories, or type our token arabic phrases to one another when we miss them.

First real news: I just bought plane tickets to spend 5 days in Cyprus after leaving Cairo. Hoorah! Now it's your turn! You can comment on my post, or post your own. It's that easy.