Arab men and love

Okay, so does anyone remember the adorable little boy selling rocks in Petra or the camel man with a British accent at Petra? Well, my good friend happened to get to know them very well whenever she was studying in Israel....so well in fact, that she stayed with the family for some time and seems to have gotten very close to them! Crazy eh?!

Tonight I got to talk with her, and I heard a few of her stories. She worked in Ramallah for awhile, and she had a lot of interesting expiriences at the border.

It was great to hear her talk about things that we all had in common, but it was interesting to hear what she did since she had a lot more freedom.

See, the arab man with a British accent, it seems that they became very good friends. The mother of the little boy that some of us meet (he was the one who thought I was 12 or 13...his comment was the final one that made me decide to have my hair cut slightly in Jerusalem) was the woman who would hide behind the rock to keep from being seen. Well, my friend got to know her very well and spend time with her and the rest of the family! Amazing eh? It was interesting to hear of her encounters with Arab men as opposed to some of our encounters with Arab men...Anyways, I thought you all might find that story somewhat interesting. I hope that you are all doing well.

Zamalek Bridge

My sister just sent this to me, and I thought I'd pass it on: It's just this little thoughtful piece about the bridge that connects Zamalek to Agouza, the one that everyone stands on at night. The author just went around talking to the different people standing there and wrote it as a kind of snapshot of Egyptians' hopes and aspirations right now. It's nice. Anyway, happy reading!
p.s.... I get to hang out with Mandy this week, and maybe Kirsten, too. Hanging out with them makes me miss the rest of you, too--I hope you're all doing well, and everyone had better be planning to make it out to the wedding in Seattle...right?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bridge14aug14,1,7650722.story

Alissa

WHAT?

DR. DAVE IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!

Check your e-mail everyone...it's true. And really cool. Amazingly so. Is this blowing anyone else's mind?

Teaching positions

I received this email and thought some of you might be
interested in it, I haven't researched the legitimacy
of the company, so if you're interested I'd recommend
to call them.  Cheers.

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The post-college life of Molly

I feel like its been a while... Mandy your pictures are amazing! makes me miss our time at Sister's of Charity.

anyway, i feel like things are finally falling into place after graduation. i have just received a job offer with medical teams international(which i haven't accepted yet, but i have to decide within a week or so) and i have an interview with world vision this wed. i am pretty excited to see what happens. i have been getting discouraged and feeling like my life is going nowhere and that i will likely end up like one of those sixty year old ladies working at mcdonalds.

if i end up with world vision, i am excited about the prospect of moving to the seattle area where their headquarters are located and being near some of you wonderful mesp people. not to mention the excitment of being closer to a certain person in my life. soon i will have a bit clearer direction and i can't wait to see where God takes me!

it is great to read all of your updates! i miss you all so much! come to suz and matt's wedding....because they are awesome and because then i get to see you! maybe i will have a place to house you by then. :)

A little update

Hello friends, it's Margie, finally contributing to the blog I set up. The last few months in my life have had the theme of transition. Or craziness. I graduated from college in May and then started working at a summer camp in West Michigan. My parents moved from St. Louis to Washington DC about a month ago, as I was in the great state of MI. So now, I'm with all of my belongings in a strange townhouse in Alexandria VA for about 2 weeks. During this time I will attempt to sort through everything I own. I have also had to find new homes for my cat, dog, and car. In two weeks, I will attend Eastern University in Philly to get my MA in International Studies. (Yes the same one Hawthorne was going to and then changed his mind.) Some exciting things consist of me getting a new car (Honda Fit) as well as getting to hang out with Phil last night! Now aren't you jealous? It was fun to see him again and hear his genius musings of the inner-workings of the State Dept., the church, DC, his future, Africa, and whatever else we covered. He even said "Bizupt" once.

So, if anyone is every on the East Coast, let me know, we'll hang out as well. Peace out habebes.

The Philippines and a Journey Home...

Salamat Po! Excuse Po! Thank you Mum, Excuse me Mum. This is what I heard repeated over and over during my time in the Philippines. If you can tell from the pictures I fell in love with the most beautiful people. I love their dark skin and almond shaped eyes. I fit in with height, but as always stuck out with my light hair, skin and eyes. It was so strange for me being in a foreign country that wasn't Arab! I could wear shorter sleeves, shorter skirts and I could look men in the eyes. At first, I wasn't quite sure how to handle the whole situation. I wanted to revert back to the Egyptian mode of walking confidentely but not over-confident, ignoring calls, with my arm through another girl's to show we were not intimidated. Instead I could laugh and joke with our drivers and ask questions to the men if I needed to for my job. It was a strange experience. I can't say I liked Southeast Asia more than the Middle East, but it was different and I still loved it.
My internship was completed, and I can say I'm happy it's over and happy I did it, but it caused some confusion for me. I always thought I would be working for an NGO someday, but this summer made me second guess that. There were some things I just didn't like and didn't get and am not sure I could be on board with. I'm still processing and cold have an entirely different opinion tomorrow, so I'll keep you updated.


IN OTHER NEWS: I'm on the road again! I'm in Las Vegas right now, hanging out with my nephews and plan on hitting the road Monday morning for the Summer 2007 Road Trip ( i need a more creative name--any ideas?) !! I can't decide if I'll go north through Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa or South through AZ, New Mexico, OK. I could make a decision if any of you say: come see me!! (please do, please do!) I would love to stop by if any of your homes are close to my route and don't mind going out of the way a bit. Let me know, call me, email--find me!

I love you all and wish we could all be heading back to Masr in a few weeks...

The Bridge

Hey Everyone...
So, Unless you live in a box, you probably know that a huge bridge collapsed into the missisippi river in minneapolis yesterday. It so strange. That bridge is a half mile away from my house and I use it every single day to go to work and to school. I went over at 4:30 and it was gone at 6:05. It was strange because at 6:05 our power went out and I was so annoyed and complaining about it and then I started getting calls about the bridge, but had no idea what was going on becasue we had no power. Needless to say, I stopped complaining, but then we started hearing sirens like crazy and there was smoke all over the sky. Everyone I know is just fine but there were a lot of close calls. A HUGE part of our city is gone and it just feels strange to be here and know that I can't drive into or out of the city like normal....Anyway, thanks for those of you taht thought about Abbie and I and for those of you who didn't...well...I don't know....:)
Anyway, I miss you all and wish I was shopping for long skirts and stocking up on hair spray to go to cairo in a few weeks
Hope everyone is well!
Anna

la yanqui returns home

Wow, hey, kids. It's fantastically refreshing to read over this blog after having been away for two months! I miss you all.
So I just got back from 2 months in Europe--most of which was spent studying Spanish and Iberian history in Salamanca, Spain, some of which was spent travelling by myself through Rome and southern Spain (read: al-Andalus, with historical and current Muslim-influence). It was bizarre to travel through the "first world" for the first time in my life; I'm glad I saved it for last. Traveling to places like Ecuador or Egypt is much more difficult, to be sure, but then also more deeply impacting. Traveling through Spain was a two month vacation, in the best possible sense. I also made some good friends there from SPU (people I hadn't known previously), which makes it a lot easier to go back to Seattle for my senior year. But really, there's nothing like living in an intense environment like Egypt to make you bond with and appreciate the people that you're with. Even though I spent a month with these friends, a month together with all of you in Egypt felt like a lifetime. I missed having you all there with me--it just seems wrong to travel abroad without you all, you know?
That being said, it was such a relief to actually speak the language in Spain. I am going to start up Arabic classes again at an institute in Seattle starting in September--but with 10 years of Spanish already under my belt, I had a blast getting to know Spaniards and actually being able to express myself well with them. (I may or may not have also had good enough Spanish to score a 34 year-old Spanish lover for my last 2 weeks over there... oh, Juan Carlos)
Anyway-- I can't wait to see you all at Suz and Grueler's wedding! Soon, very soon. I've also been inspired by reading up on all of your busy and interesting lives to snap out of European-vacation mode and get back to my Middle East books and start doing something meaningful again.
Finally, if any of you are lurking around the Chicago area in the next few weeks, let me know, because I'd love to see you.
Take care, my friends--
Alissa

Stuff

So, in roughly 40 hours, I will be getting on a plane, headed for Sierra Leone. Im going there to help monitor an election. I will be there for two weeks. Im pretty excited, but the reality hasnt really sunk in yet. That happens...
Ill keep you all updated with what it is like.

I remembered some more funny incidents from MESP:

- Fruits of Winter!!!
- The time that I bought two large bottles of cologne (that ended up smelling like mousquito repellant) from that very pushy vendor.
- The pianist at the hotel in Ankara who just played random notes and chords in musical gibberish on the piano in the lobby.
- Eunice and Deakin showing off their mad skills on the same piano mentioned above.
- "La'a, kidda mamnua3!!!" (shouted during the sex scene in "Kingdom of Heaven")
- The protest that we saw in the street outside of the Austrian Hospice
- Abouna Chacour's awesome beard
- Deakin's struggle to make Nahed Turban not hate him
- "We are over de-Nile" (the joke that never got old) : )