weird

So this actually happened awhile ago but I wanted to post it cause it still kinda upsets me and you guys would get it.

So anyway I had set up to talk to/interview with this woman in admissions who just started and would be my boss for the last part of the summer when I would be working half time in admissions. So anyway she seems really nice and really cool. She has to run off to ask some people questions and leaves me in her cubicle, which is cool. I start looking around and she has this giant tapestry covering the wall and it looks vaguely familiar like and it seems to be a scene of Mary and Joseph in the bible. I was gonna ask her about it.

So she comes back and we start talking about work and stuff and then she asks me what I'm planning to do when I graduate. I told her I was planning to go to Egypt for a year or two. It turns out she lived in Cairo for five years! And the tapestry was from Egypt! I was so freakin excited! But then she was like, "how does your mother feel about you going there?" And I was like, "not good, but that's how it is with most things." So anyway then she proceeds to lecture me about how its not very safe there and I better be very sure that God's calling me there. She was like, "it was safe when I was there but not anymore." "I don't understand Islam and I don't understand Muslims and they all want to kill you." "My sister was there for 9-11 and they were all dancing in the streets. Its a strange mentality." "The Muslims hate Americans so much and they all would like to kill you."

Holy crap! This woman was IN Cairo, just like us, for five years! I was so confused! She was doing missionary work there in Little China I guess which is evidently near Agouza. But anyway she kinda looked at me and asked how it was being there and I was like, "well I always felt really safe and most people were really kind and respectful to us. Yes they hated the American government but were really sweet to us. I stayed with a Muslim host family and they were amazingly nice to me." She was really impressed I stayed in Embaba, haha.

But anyway, I was really thinking about it for a few days straight and still can't really get over it. I mean, she was there! And this is what she tells me! I wasn't expecting that. I mean from people that have never really interacted with Muslims or the Middle East I can kind of excuse a little bit of ignorance, but really she should be the more knowledgable one and this is what she says, all Muslims want to kill me, especially in Cairo. Any interpretations? I mean I don't think she was interacting with Muslims on a personal level all that much, but seriously.

Ok I just wanted to rant....

O other news. I'm working at the Center for Social Research here and they're doing this study called the Kent County Congregations Study. This involved interviewing religious congregation leaders all over our county. So anyway, one of my friends interviewed the Imam at the Islamic Center here and now they're good buddies and he told him that I might call him about setting up some interfaith dialogue thing, so I got the hook up with the Islamic Center finally, sweet, but I am so bad at actually putting things like this into action. So ya, I write a lot, but love u all!