Cairo: A letter and a dream.

Last night I dreamed I was back in Cairo. I was back in Agouza (although it did not resemble Agouza whatsoever) with Dr. Holt, Dena, Brian, and the new MESPers.

Then this afternoon I got a letter from Cairo.
I was confused at first.
It was my handwriting that read:

"Kayla Barkett
955 La Paz
Santa Barbara, CA
93108 MS#1096
USA [insert arabic letters for AMRIKA here]"

But the stamps were clearly Egyptian.

I turned the envelope over to find a friendly note from Dena and Brian, the interns during my MESP semester.

Ohhh. Let me guess. I probably wrote a letter to myself while I was there.
So Typical.

I opened the envelope, recognizing right away the page ripped out from my journal.

Yep.


To the Kayla I do not yet know:

If you're anything like the self you have always been in the past, you're frustrated with yourself. Don't be. give yourself a little bit of slack when it comes to implementing change. But at the same time, be done with the excuses. At some point you need to suck it up and act on beliefs.

Switching modes...I hope that by now, you're still aware of all that you learned during your semester at MESP...What are you doing with this time? Are you being intentional & investing in relationships like you realized was so important? Don't you dare forget the worthlessness you felt during the semester. Don't you dare forget what it taught you: You may be a failure in many ways...you may never be as smart as other people, or as articulate, or as successful...You have no control over these if they are dependent upon the gifts & abilities, the mind you were born with. But what you can control...what you can excel in, is how you treat others. You can perfect your smile, your listening ear, your selflessness. These types of things YOU CAN DO WELL. But it'll take work Kayla. It'll take practice.

Don't forget the love & hospitality of the Egyptians. They offer so much. Don't forget all the times you were invited for tea as you walked by shops. Don't forget about the eagerness to help that you encountered. Every time you got lost there was an enthusiastic helper showing you the way. Don't just remember this. Don't just admire this. Learn from it. Implement it.

Another thing, how has your faith changed at home? At Westmont? Have you ignored all that you learned, realized, & felt during this semester? ACT ON YOUR FAITH. Like the Muslims here, let your faith become your life. Make it your life, actively. Never forget your moment with God. Hold on to it, treasure it...

Thank you Dr. Holt, Dena, and Brian for making us write these silly little letters.

I love quotes.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
-Hellen Keller

Thankful

Last week when I was flying home for Thanksgiving, I realized something that I hadn't recognized before that moment. I have been happy the past few months. No, it's not even that I've been happy, but rather that I have been living these past few months.

I have felt more alive. More normal. More like myself.

Sophomore year I wrestled with Depression. It wasn't the more normal melancholy that I so often cycled through during Middle School and High School, but a heavy, deep, and dark depression. During the course of the year I lost myself. I lost my being.
I was a shell of a person, just an empty gray shell.
There was no enjoyment in life; I lived through each day just to get through the day.

I don't know when I actually came out of this depression, but its effects were lasting.
I still felt as if I were largely going through each day simply to get through the day. I still felt like I was just the empty shell of the person I used to be. While it wasn't that I had no enjoyment in life whatsoever like before, it still was not much enjoyment at all.
Nothing really made me laugh, nothing really made me excited, or happy.

It's hard to describe it fully, but basically I still didn't feel like I was living. I was merely existing.

But as I sat in the silence of my flight, thinking through the past few months, it dawned on me how much I have been enjoying life. I finally feel like I'm not only existing, but I'm living.

And for this, I am so thankful.
These past few months have been so sweet. It's been a time of healing in my life. A time of being filled. And it has also been a time of learning.
I am learning from things of the present (like my injury) as well as learning from things of the past. I feel like God has been connecting the dots between my past and my present. He has been revealing little by little, his work in my life.

I found a letter a little while back, stuffed away in my backpack. It was a letter that I had written to God while I was coming back from a sports ministry trip in Costa Rica. At the end of the letter I asked God to put me in a situation that I would have to learn to be totally dependent on him.

A girl on my trip had shared with our group about how she had prayed that very prayer, and shortly after had major issues with the bones in her shins. I don't remember the details, whether she had to have surgery or not, but basically she was unable to play soccer. It was even painful at times to just walk. Soccer had been her outlet her entire life, the thing she turned to when she was upset, frustrated, or stressed. It was her release, and her comfort. But shortly after asking God to put her in a situation where she would learn to be completely dependent on him, she was unable to play. She was unable to turn to the very thing that she had been dependent upon before.

Maybe I am reading too much into this, it's fine if you think that I am, but I wonder whether it is a coincidence that a few months after I very seriously asked God to put me in a situation that would make me wholly and completely dependent upon him, I had the hardest and most miserable year of my life... That year wrecked me; it temporarily destroyed me. I was unable to depend upon myself and didn't care or want to depend upon anyone/anything else. And while I wouldn't say that I was completely dependent upon God during that year, I would say that there were moments in which I learned how to be more dependent upon him than ever before.

I'm not claiming that all bad things that happen to us are from God, or a part of his "perfect plan". I know some people believe that whole heartedly and would even criticize this claim of mine that some bad things happen for no reason at all. I do, however, believe that God takes the bad and uses it for good. Always. And I do believe that there are instances in which he allows, or dare I even say causes something that may initially be bad or hurtful. I think that there are times that he does this to challenge us, to teach us, to strengthen us, to help us grow, and to prepare us for things to come in the future. Sometimes the hard times are the only times we really truly pay attention. Or for those of us who are a little oblivious, it's only after the "hard times", when we finally take a moment to reflect, that we realize what has been learned or gained.

Anyway, as I flew home for Thanksgiving I reflected upon this (and much more that I do not have time/room to write about but would help explain all of this in a deeper, fuller way) and I was overcome with thankfulness. Thankfulness for the life that has been restored within me. Thankful for the faithfulness of the one who restored it. Because to be honest, I had given up on the hope of ever finding joy in life again.

Home for the Holiday.

I am back in Muskegon for Thanksgiving and while I love being home and with family, I feel so very off right now. I think there are two main factors contributing to this. The first, is the time change. I always forget how difficult it is to come back to an Eastern time zone for only a few days. It always takes me multiple days/nights before I adjust to the time change decent enough.
The first night I was home I stayed up until 4 a.m...the second night was 2 or 3 and right now it is 3:30 a.m. and I'm wide awake. So I have been awake during the nights, and then I sleep throughout the day.

Now, the reason I end up sleeping throughout the day, instead of simply staying awake so that I will be tired enough to sleep at night, is because I'm stuck inside all day long. At least today I was...
This, I believe, is the second reason I have been feeling off.
It's 30 degrees and windy (not so inviting), and with my knee not allowing me to move as freely as I desire, I'm simply stationary in doors.

The combination of a really messed up sleeping cycle and being not only inactive, but inactive and indoors all day long has affected my mood pretty majorly.

I am home, it is Thanksgiving, and yet I have been a downer all day. How disappointing that my attitude has been so poor.

I need fresh air. I need activity. I need to get myself out of the dumps and change my attitude.

My second post and I already want to be done with this because I have nothing interesting to share. But I'm going to stick with it.

Knee Update:
Doing well. Still doing Physical Therapy and my daily exercises to get muscle back in my leg. I've been able to go on the eliptical now for the past week and a half or so which has been GREAT. I actually hate the eliptical, but it feels more like running than the bike does so I'm loving it for that reason.

School:
Bores me at the moment. After studying Arabic, Islam, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the ppl and culture of the Middle East last semester, psychology just doesn't seem to excite me anymore.


So I've decided I need to get my life in order. I feel like it's somewhat out of control right now. Not in a major way, just with the smaller things. But these smaller things have been adding up lately. So, to counter that, I'm making small goals for myself.
For example: last week my goal was to sleep in my bed every night, with it fully made, me in the sheets, and pajamas on. Sounds like a strange goal I know, but for those of you who don't know, I have an uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. This ability has evolved into a habit of some sort. A habit of falling asleep out in the living room unintentionally while reading, doing schoolwork, on the computer, whatever. So I fall asleep out there (sometimes fully dressed and shoes on) and end up spending the night on the floor, beanbag, couch, or floor cushion. I was beginning to average probably 4 nights a week of sleeping out there.
Anyway, I am fed up with that. No more. No more.
So last week I made a point to go to BED when I started getting tired, instead of letting myself get to the point where I would just fall asleep or would be too sleepy/comfortable to even want to get up and go to my bed.
I almost made it.
Wasn't fully successful, but it was an improvement! and an accomplishment that felt good =)

So anyway, I'm trying to set small goals for myself, to be intentional, responsible, and force myself to get things done right away w/out putting them off.
I'm sick of being irresponsible, I'm sick of ignoring the world around me because I don't want to deal with the little things.
I have a problem with time...I'm never on time for anything.
I may not care about time, but our society does, other individuals do...I can't just ignore everyone else's expectations concerning it simply because I don't care about it.

Anyway.
That's my little frivolous rant for the moment.

And so I begin once again.

I'm temporarily starting to write in this blog again.

Although I'm no longer traveling abroad and therefore don't have very many exciting things to write about, I think it may still be good to keep those who I do not see very often updated in my life. I started off college following my sister's idea of an "update email" and even though it was a great idea, it very quickly was abandoned.

The thing is, I'm horrible at "keeping in touch". I hate the phone, letter writing becomes a major task for me, and emails...well I just don't keep up with them. When it comes down to it, I'm not the best communicator. This I believe is a problem that needs to be addressed. So to begin addressing it, I'm going to make a commitment: for the next month I will be committed to writing some sort of update on this blog at least once a week so that those who care to know what is going on in my life, have a chance to hear about it.

Biggest change in the moment: my time as a soccer player is officially over. Many of you already know that I tore my ACL this past September during one of our Pre-season games. That injury ended my time on the field, but it didn't end my place on the team.
I'm so thankful for the season that I had even though it wasn't at all the season I had imagined for myself.

Anyway, it is now officially, officially over. Season is done. My soccer career is done. and I am beginning the process of disengagement from the identity I have held since a child. I am no longer an athlete. Sounds dumb I know, but athletics have determined and influenced a large part of my life since I began investing my time in them at the age of five years old.

While it's strange to think that that part of my life is over, it's simultaneously intriguing. What am I moving on to? The end of athletics marks the beginning of the end of college for me. It is the preview of my life 6 months from now when I graduate and am officially independent. On my own. An adult.
My whole life is lying ahead of me.
Like I said. Intriguing.

Why have I never read Wendell Berry before?

The Wild Things.

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-Wendell Berry

boarding at this moment so not finished

So everyone keeps telling me to update my blog or at least, as my mother has put it, “finish it off”. I thought it had been established that I had kind of failed at the whole blog thing- apparently not. The thing is, it’s kind of difficult to update or finish it off when so much has been left out. There’s no way I can go back and summarize things efficiently enough to continue on, and I’ve been onto the next adventure already so how can I end things when people are wondering about my current happenings in Paris?

Here’s what I’ve decided to do: pour myself a glass of wine, turn on some Devendra Banhart, and hope that these will result in a successful blog post.

Ready. Set. Go.


Last time I wrote on the blog I had given a summary of my group’s travel through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and had mentioned maybe a little about Israel/Palestine.

Can I just say that Jerusalem is one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to? It’s modern—go figure—yet it has so much Biblical/ancient history. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Europe has history; I know. But Europe’s history is not this ancient and it’s not as religiously meaningful to so many religious groups: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Mormons…
Jews living in Jerusalem are diverse. You’ve got the Ashkanzi (originally from outside of Israel/Palestine region) Jews and the Hasidic (from Israel/Palestine) Jews. With Ashkanazi Jews you’ve got people from all over the world. A family would walk by in their Jewish orthodox style of clothing and the children would be pale, freckled, and red-headed. I’d turn my head slightly and see another Jewish family walking by who were black. I was mesmerized by the differences. I wonder if that’s how some people feel when they come to cities within the States and see the diversity.
I wasn’t expecting such physiological diversity within the Jewish population in Jerusalem. Actually, I’m not sure if “physiological” is the right word but I’m not sure whether “ethnic” would technically work either because isn’t “Jewish” technically an ethnicity? What the hell does being Jewish mean? Does it simply mean someone who is practicing the religion of Judaism? Is it an ethnicity? Is it just a bundle of cultural traditions? What is Jewish? I still don’t know because as I learned, there are lots of different divisions/labels within being Jewish. There are Secular Jews, Traditional, Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, Messianic, Christian Jews, and the list could go on…
My favorite thing to observe while in Jerusalem, were the styles of clothing. You had the tourists from all over the world wearing their garb- South Americans, Africans, Europeans, Australians, North Americans…and then you had the Jewish locals/tourists who were wearing modern styles of clothing, those with modern clothes but wearing the Yarmulke and tassles, those wearing their black dress clothes with their top hat and tassles, and then some of the Russian Ultra’s wearing their robes and furry hats that look like tires on top of their head.

Overview

It's been a long time since I've posted and I apologize.
I've started writing many times, but every time I begin, it gets interrupted and then another couple days go by and the update I was going to post becomes totally outdated.

I don't even know where to begin. So much has happened since my last post.
First of all, I'm no longer in Cairo. On March 17th we embarked on "Travel Component."
Our first stop was Istanbul. What a rush. After spending 2-3 months in desert and city, it was exhilarating to see grass!
The air was clean, cold, and crisp. We had a bit of drizzly rain the first two or so days and with Istanbul being on the water and hilly, I was reminded of Seattle.
In Turkey we spent our days listening to various speakers (journalists, AK Party, residents, etc.) on lots of topics...secularism, Islamism, Turkey's foreign policy, the Kurdish issue, the EU, the Armenian "genicide" etc.

From Istanbul we traveled to Ankara, the capital, for a few days and then on down to Syria. I don't know why we Americans paint a picture in our head of a dry, dust ridden Middle Eastern Region. Yes there's vast desert in certain regions, and other regions may be more on the dry, dusty side, but there are so many areas that are fertile and alive with color. Syria was beautiful to drive through. It was so green.
On our way to Damascus we stopped at one of the largest (or THE largest) crusader castle left in the world. [If only I had made the trip there as a 10 year old. I would have been in Heaven exploring the underground passageways.] It was a cloudy/rainy day when we went to the castle so unfortunately we didn't get to see the apparently spectacular view that one gets standing atop the castle on the hill. It was still really cool nonetheless.

On our way to Damascus we also stopped in Maloula (one of 3 aramaic speaking villages left in the world) and visited St. Tekla's shrine and an old Orthodox church.

In Damascus, we spent basically all of our time in the Old City. We saw the house of Ananias (who healed Paul when he went blind) and the Ummayid Mosque (where, supposively, they have John the Baptist's head). There were lots of Iranians in the Old City, especially at the mosque, and it was interesting to see their reaction to seeing Americans...it was fascination/excitement. Apparently Iranians rarely come in contact with Americans, if at all, and so we found ourselves to be the subject of a lot of camera lenses. There will be dozens of Iranians taking home pictures of their "American friends". haha.

Anyway, from Damascus we moved on to Amman, Jordan. We were only there for a day basically, and spent it at the Dead Sea. and Yes you can literally sit in the water reading while floating as if you were sitting in a chair.I wonder if swimming through space is a similar feeling to swimming in the Dead Sea? I was weightless.

So from Turkey, Syria, and Jordan, we have made our way to Israel and occupied Palestine.
More to come.

Dahab/Mt. Sinai

I think pictures can suffice for now.

Homestay Week

February 14th-20th.

Well remember when I wrote that I was hoping I wouldn't end up living with a family far away?
My morning/nightly commute was about an hour to an hour and a half...one way.
Lovely.
Each morning I would wake up at 6 am...walk out the door by 6:30...walk through the dirt allies to meet up with another girl from MESP who was staying in the same neighborhood and then we would begin our commute together.

Picture a small old van in the worst shape possible...dented, scratched, rusted, doors that won't close fully, zero shocks to absorb bumps etc...
We would begin our day riding one of those until we got close to the metro station where we'd be dropped off. Then we'd get on the metro and ride it for about 14 or so stops (almost always having to stand b/c of the crowd).
For those of you who asked: No I was not able to ever read or get hw done or have a nice quiet time during the commute...not possible with Egyptian public transportation.
After a long ride, we'd get off the metro downtown and head up to the street where we would catch a taxi to take us to Aguza where class is.
Long process.
But actually, it really wasn't too bad.

My family would probably be considered lower or lower middle class and from what I gathered, were pretty conservative Muslims.
The family structure in the house was interesting.
I was living with a mother and three girls...ages 10, 13, and 20.
Olah (the 20 yr. old) doesn't actually live with them, but was staying there since she was on holiday for school. Her father passed away when she was young, and her mother remarried and had two more children (the two other girls in the home). So Olah lived with her siblings from her mother's 1st marriage and her grandparents.
The current husband wasn't there at all while I stayed with them because he works as an engineer in Saudi Arabia.
[This was nice because I didn't have to worry very much about dressing as conservative inside the home as I would've if a male had been around.
But...I think it also took away from the experience because I wasn't able to see the husband/wife and father/daughter relationships played out.]

Happenings/Thoughts:

-Besides class and my commute...I did basically nothing all week.
Really. Seriously.
I went outside of the home with my family only twice the entire time. The first time was to walk with my 3 sisters to their aunts house (which was in the same neighborhood so hardly counts). We sat there talking with her for about 20 minutes or so (and when I say "we sat there talking" I really mean they sat there talking and I sat there smiling, looking from person to person trying to guess what in the world they were saying).
The second time, was on Friday when we traveled to their cousins' home (in a different neighborhood in Cairo) and spent the day in their flat with them.

-From the moment my family woke up, to the moment they went to sleep, they had the tv on...this is the norm here. Family interactions at home take place in front of the screen. They don't even necessarily watch the screen all day, but it's definitely always on, and they're always in front of it.

-Egyptian hospitality revolves around food. They love to feed their guests LOTS of food. When you finish a plate of food, they automatically fill it with more. If you tell them "La'a Shokran" (No Thank you) they insist. Doesn't matter how many times you tell them you're full, they always want you to eat more. Ha. So basically I got stuffed with food for the week.

-I had bits of interesting conversation with my sister Olah about Islam, Bin Laden, Bush, Obama, the taliban, family, and also Judgment Day according to Islam. I would write it all out, and actually I did write some of it on here, but I had to delete it because it took up way too much room. If you want to hear about it, then let me know and I will give you a bit of a summary.

-I learned that Egyptians are very dramatic. Actually I had learned this already in being here, but got to see even more of it during home stay. Interactions between people/family members are way more dramatic than you see in the States (except for maybe my family). There were a lot of times when I would watch and listen to my family speak with each other and I had no idea whether they were having a serious fight, or having a normal conversation.

Overall, I had a great week with my host family. They welcomed me into their home lovingly and the whole experience definitely gave me more insight into the culture, and what life may be like for some Egyptians in Cairo.

Siwa

There is NOTHING like the desert.

This was my favorite trip yet…

Siwa is a town located in an oasis in the middle of the Saharan desert (close to Libya).


One of the first things we did in Siwa was rent bikes in town and ride to a local’s home to hear all about the culture of Siwa. It’s very different from Cairo…way way way more traditional. Ex: girls get engaged as early as 7 or 8 years old…and while engaged the male can only see the girl once a year during the engagement for literally maximum 12 seconds.

After he shared with us, the males in our group left and some local girls came so that we could ask them questions and get a taste of what life is like for a female in Siwa. The girls were all family members (cousins, sisters, mother, aunts, etc.) of our local friend so he was able to be present to translate for us.

Interesting:
-The parent-child relationship is extremely different…The daughters don’t really ever talk with their Father, and conversations with their mother are basic, concerning only practical things. Very surface level…nothing deeper.

-We asked a girl (8 yrs old) if she was excited to get married, if she was looking forward to it but the response we got was one of almost confusion. Marriage for them is simply something one does…like going to the market to buy food or cooking etc…there’s not the same emotional attachment to it as in the West.

-We also tried asking what “Love” meant to them, but this question didn’t facilitate much of a response because the girls had nothing to base it off of, nothing to compare…they don’t interact with males at all unless they are a family member.

-Even Siwans love their television (one thing you notice here in Egypt is that EVERYONE has a tv and at least in Cairo it is the norm for a family to have the tv on from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep…all day is spent in front of the tv)

-Sadly the Siwan culture is changing and modernizing because of tourism. There aren’t that many foreigners who visit Siwa compared to many other locations in Egypt, but the Egyptian government has decided (against the will of the community) to build an airport there…this will drastically change the culture and destroy the traditions….

After our time with the Siwan girls I and a few others explored the “Old City” in Siwa and biked to the Oracle and some Hot Springs. We somehow missed the Temple tho and ended up biking out into the desert for quite a while before realizing we were definitely not headed in the right direction (fun detour tho!).
Then that night we biked to a nearby salt lake to swim, rode back in the pitch black night, and went back to our “hotel” for dinner around the campfire accompanied by a local Siwan band.




Friday.
I and another girl in my group stumbled into the shop of the only Christian in Siwa. He invited us through a side door that led into his “home” and served us tea while we sat and chatted (via his 11 yr. old boy who spoke minimal English). He told us that there’s no church in Siwa so the only time they are able to go is during summer when they drive a few hours to the closest town that has one. We had a cool conversation even though we were only using basic language.

Later.



We took jeeps into the desert.
If only I could adequately describe the majesty of the desert…



Sped through the sand in the jeeps, up and down the dunes, weaving crazily right to left.
Illhamdulilah there were no crashes.
Drove to a giant dune and sandboarded (not as cool as expected…the boards didn’t work too well—and also more painful than expected)
We also drove to a cold spring (how the heck it stays as cold as it was out in the middle of the desert, no one knows) a hot spring and then stopped on top of a giant dune for the sunset. The drivers then made a little fire in the sand and we sat around drinking tea and eating dates (which Siwa has A LOT of).

That night we slept in the desert in giant tents (or some slept under the stars) and I froze to death even with all my layers. I brought my smartwool long underwear tops and bottoms that I use for skiing, smartwool socks, sweatpants, a fleece, another fleece on top of that, hat, and gloves. Even with all the layers, it was one of the most miserable nights of my life. Haha. I was SO thankful for morning.

More updates to come...hopefully I can get caught up.

Anafora with the Copic Christians [from a few weeks ago]

I started writing this a few weekends ago when we got back from Anafora.
Never finished. Rambled. but capped it off today so if you're interested...read on...

Coptic-American Meeting at Anafora
Anafora is a monastery about 2 hours outside of Cairo…it’s used as a retreat center for many Coptic Christian churches.
What’s the Coptic Christian Church?
Basically Coptic is equivalent to Egyptian (non Arab Egyptian that is). The Coptic Christian Church is the Orthodox Church that was started in Egypt by the Apostle Mark.
Sooo.
Friday we drove to Anafora with a group from one of the Coptic churches…The day was spent in dialogue. Constant dialogue. Soon after we arrived, we intermixed and split into 5 groups for some open discussion.
We talked about the 7 sacraments of the Coptic Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing, Communion, Matrimony, and Priesthood (the first 4 are what’s most important)…traditions, the role of men/women in the church, the architectural significance of the church, fasting, prayer etc. Basically we just asked each other a lot of questions about each other’s church traditions…

A few things I got from this discussion:
- On one hand I gained ENORMOUS respect for the traditions within the Orthodox church… My eyes were fully opened to the beauty of tradition. There is meaning behind literally almost everything (where one sits during mass, the location and number of entries/exits, the structure of the building, the color of Mary and Jesus’ clothing in iconography, the number of pillars supporting the church, etc...). Not only is meaning and symbolism present, but it’s known, appreciated, wanted…It’s not an empty shell. It’s full of passion.
I’m not sure if it’s because Christianity is the minority religion here and there is a form of persecution/discrimination so therefore it’s forced people to either fully embrace their faith or convert…or if it’s because this church was started by THE Apostle Mark, the Mark that walked with Jesus…or if it’s simply that religion is more apart of society and each individual’s life in this part of the world than in the west…
I’m not sure, but whatever it is…I find beauty in the meaning…and I understand how it can bring one closer to Christ.
- On the opposite side of the spectrum…While recognizing the beauty of tradition and the importance of discipline/structure, I was also reminded of the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and how that is all that truly matters. Buildings will fall, songs will be forgotten, water won’t always be present… there is beauty in not needing these traditions and practices because as long as your heart is seeking after Christ and your life is following thereafter (however that may look), it is enough. These things bring us closer to Christ; they are important in guiding and teaching us, but we are not dependent upon them for Salvation.
The structure of a building may be a form of teaching or worship…but the structure of a building is not where you find the Church. You find the Church within the body of Believers, wherever they may be.

We had a break for lunch, which was it amazing. The food was vegan and all grown on the grounds. SO GOOOOD.
Then we gathered all together and Bishop Thomas lead a devotional. It was such an interesting devotional…definitely not Western is the only way I can describe it. It was more like listening to one’s grandfather tell a beautiful/moving story about an encounter with Christ.

We had a second discussion period which was even better than the first because people were more relaxed…less defensive…it was more dialogue instead of us simply asking them questions and them answering.

From this discussion I learned more about the Christian/Muslim relationship and the tensions felt by the Christians.
Through the conversation I came to understand how powerful media and education can be.
There seems to be a general trend…the more education a person has, the more open they, the more willing they are to accept others and disregard differences (such as differences in religion).
Also in line with education…People fear the unknown; they fear things they do not understand...a lot of Muslims avoid Christians and don’t know much about Christianity and a lot of Christians avoid Muslims and don’t know much about Islam…This ignorance cultivates fear and it cultivates misunderstanding…which then lead to separation and even tension.

This is why media is important too. Media is a powerful educational tool… it exposes people to ideas; it exposes people to ways of life. It can teach individuals a lot about cultures, beliefs, traditions, etc.
It also familiarizes things making them seem more acceptable and normal. Showing Christians and Muslims interacting as close friends in movies familiarizes this concept and encourages it in real life. (too bad there isn’t really much interaction between the two in the media here)

I also learned of something else that helps ease the tensions between the Christians and Muslims: SOCCER.
Go figure.
One of the Coptic Christians expressed how thankful he is for soccer sometimes because when Egypt is playing and doing well people disregard religion and people become people. Egyptians become Egyptian. Not Muslim and Coptic. It’s a temporary* break from the tension between the two groups.



Later in the evening we worshiped together with the Coptic Christians in the sanctuary at the monastery. Here's some of the music...Some English, some Arabic, some Swedish...
The experience was so beautiful and meaningful...all worshiping together in multiple languages from different backgrounds...worshiping the ONE GOD... At one point someone started reading Romans 5:3-5 (which happens to have been my soccer team's verse last year). It was in this moment that I was reduced to tears, completely overwhelmed with the power and beauty of the night.





Final thought:
Ignorance is not Bliss.

Maybe childlike ignorance is bliss…But general ignorance is, in my opinion, simply a catalyst for conflict.

Homestay Week

Alright.

So my update is LONG overdue. I know.
But things have been very busy...Weekend trip to Siwa and the desert, Midterm, and now Homestays...

So my update will be delayed even more.
SO SORRY.

But just to give a heads up: Starting tonight I will be staying with a (most likely conservative Muslim) Egyptian family for the next week.
I won't have my computer with me and won't have time to go to an internet cafe either since the whole point of this week is to spend as much time with the family as possible to get the full experience of the home stay.

I'm semi-nervous because I will have to commute to class/ service project in the mornings and some of the homes are about an hour commute away...(hopefully I'm not at one of those!) I'll be staying by myself with the family and there should be one person in the family who speaks some English.
SO this is going to be verrrry interesting!

I will update as soon as possible!

I'm sure it will...But pray that this will be a positive experience and that I learn to be a proper guest =)

Pictures

Busy.Busy.

So the last week has been busy.
Full of classes, events, service, and a trip.

Last week we had a night at our Villa in which each of us met our Egyptian friend (some Muslims and some Christian Copts) that we got paired with for the semester. It was a chance to meet and talk; from here on out it's up to us to put in the effort to hang out with them if we choose. Unfortunately the girl I was paired with wasn't able to make it, but I'm sure we will meet up soon enough.

Also Last week, we started our Islamic Thought and Practice class. The first class consisted of us visiting 3 mosques within Cairo, one of which dates back to the 9th century.
Our professor is a Muslim herself, which I'm thankful for because I feel that I will get a much different perspective of Islam than if I were being taught by a Christian or someone from any other religion (or none at all).
Anyway, class is great because everyone has a billion questions as we go through each lecture.

Learning more about Islam is disconcerting...I walk away from lectures unsettled by the similarity between Islam and Christianity... Truly the two are very similar. As I've said before, many of the differences we have pointed out between the two, are actually differences between cultures not religions...I'm not going to go into detail on all of this a) because I will start to ramble forever and b) because let's be honest I've only had about a week's worth of class and I don't want to spew facts until I have the bigger picture.
All in all, studying Islam makes me think a lot about the problems of ignorance and misunderstanding and also what I believe to be the boundaries between heaven and hell...

Wednesday night we had our first class of belly dancing.
Ooo lala. haha. (Yes my lovely ladies in SB I will show you my moves when I get back!)

annnd Thursday night we left for LUXOR.
We rode the train 10 hours thru the night and arrived in Luxor in the morning...we had the afternoon to explore or hang out at the hotel pool, and then we visited the Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple...what a sight.

Saturday was spent on the West Bank of the Nile in the Valley of the Kings (went into 3 tombs). That night we walked around one of the markets and bought some gifts and food...
Because Luxor is such a huge tourist area, the people in the streets were always trying to get us to go into their stores and buy things. They would follow us down the street trying to convince us to buy something after we told them 7 times that we did not want anything. So although the temples/tombs were interesting to visit, I have no desire to go back to Luxor. Too much of a tourist area...and the people do not take no for an answer.

Sunday we rode the train back...and sadly missed the final match of the Africa Cup...Egypt vs. Angola. Egypt won 1-0 though and even when we returned to Cairo 2 hours after the game had ended, the streets were still flooded in celebration. People were honking, singing, clapping, cheering, waving the Egyptian flag...apparently there were even flame-throwers. After getting back to our apartment we got a call saying that we weren't allowed to go out in the streets...Egyptian security wouldn't let us in case something happened...disappointing. But the celebration went on through the night...I fell asleep to the sound of victory in the streets.

Yesterday.
Classes and then went to a movie in Maddi called HASSAN W MOROS...it was in Arabic and the translation was horrible, but a really great film.
It was a slap-stick comedy which dealt with the controversial issue of Coptic Christian/Muslim relations in Egypt. Very interesting.
Omar Sharrif (very famous actor in the movie) gave an intro to the crowd before hand which was really cool to hear. If you get a chance check out the movie.

Today.
Service project day...the prison.
Such a long day.
Basically we spent about 4 hours getting to the prison/in to visit the prisoners...45 minutes or so talking with them...and then another hour coming back.
This is typical. It's a long and complicated process...and although may seem a waste, it's very VERY much appreciated by the prisoners we visit.

Ah Salaam.

This is for all of the adults without facebook.

Pyramids + Learning

Thursday

Arabic class again.
Then Dr. Holt showed a slideshow/gave a lecture on the Middle East.
Basically he took us through Egypt, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, anddd maybe more? and gave us the low down of...well, lots of stuff. A lot of it was in the context of international relations...
It was fascinating. So fascinating. Especially since I don't know much of anything about politics, let alone global politics.

My thoughts after the lecture:
The world of international relations is a game. One big, extremely complex, game. And every little (or big) decision made...every action or lack of action...has a million strings attached. There seems to be a reason for everything.

After classes I went downtown with a few of the guys and explored/looked for a notebook/shoes. Got to see some beautiful European style buildings and interesting ppl.



Friday

The weekend! (Our weekend is Friday and Saturday)
Oh real quick...schedule:
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday= Class days.
Tuesdays= Service project days.
Friday, Saturday= Weekend.

Church/Mosque services are on Fridays. Some church services on Sunday nights, but mostly Friday.

So Friday morning visited the Pyramids! Got on a camel!
Took a long nap, and then we met with 3 Muslim, Egyptian girls for dinner/conversation.

I can't even begin to relay all that we discussed...We talked about religion and society, culture and tradition, gender, modesty, academics, professions, marriage, social class...
They were all 3 middle to upper-middle class. All Muslim. Two single (around 21). One married (30ish). The two younger girls were veiled, and the married woman was not (although she plans on being veiled at some point soon).

So a few things to share:
-Veiling... a personal decision between you and God. Once you are veiled, you must remain veiled. If veiled, you can only take your veil off around certain ppl (Immediate family, Muslim women, Grandfather, Uncle, husband) You can't unveil in front of Christian women, or any other males, including cousins.

-A lot of practices/traditions that we in the west associate with Islam, are in fact cultural/societal practices/traditions...NOT ISLAMIC ones, although some Muslims will claim that they are. For example, the practice of female circumcision...this is not an Islamic tradition, this is typically an African tradition that African Muslims may claim for Islam...and in fact some African Christians claim this for Christianity as well.

-Husbands have almost complete control over wives (although wives can be persuasive, and also some males are more domineering than others)...A husband can put many limitations on his wife. For example, he can tell his wife she is not allowed to talk to her male colleagues...if she argues, then he can tell her he doesn't want her to work at all...she is expected to comply. (*Note* this is a cultural thing, not Islamic).

-Education here is a MAJOR problem...teachers are paid virtually nothing so there is no incentive to do a good job...even the most expensive BEST schools in Cairo are about equivalent to an average public school in the U.S.

-**DAD READ THIS**
So, Egypt is a male-dominated society. Women definitely work, and work in almost all fields, but there are some fields that don't have very many women, or women aren't trusted in. For example: MEDICINE.
I was asking questions about females and medical school and the married woman (who I might add is a professor at AUC and has studied and taught in the U.S., is extremely extremely intelligent, and a HUGE FEMINIST) shared that even she does not feel comfortable going to see a female Gynecologist. The other girls shared that they wouldn't trust a female as much as a man because females act more from the heart, whereas men act more from the mind. I found this to be very interesting because in the U.S. there seems to be a shift within Gynecology and Obstetrics...many girls/women now seem to prefer and feel more comfortable with a female doctor than a male doctor.



Tonight we meet our Egyptian "Friends".
I think we each get paired up with an Egyptian our age to hang out with and get to know...This is a way to make friends with locals and also get a chance to ask ppl our age questions about their day-to-day life...
I'm looking forward to being able to ask Lots aNd LOTS of questions =)










Ah Salaam.

And Class Begins...

MONDAY
We visited Garbage City (Moqattam) on Monday.
What a strange, strange place.
We have nothing like it in the United States.
Garbage City is a slum community on the edge of Cairo where the economy revolves around garbage. Donkey carts bring Cairo’s trash to the community, and then the families sort the garbage to retrieve recyclables and useful scraps. Many of the Coptic Christians living here may also raise pigs (using the garbage to feed them), and sell the meat for income. This is how the families of Garbage City make their living.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera in my flat, so I was unable to take pictures, but it was both fascinating and saddening to see a community literally covered in garbage.

The stench while walking through the streets is like none other. The people living there are filthy (just imagine what you would look like after sorting through garbage all day long). The buildings are skeletal structures.
I glanced in some of the open doorways we passed and saw heaps of trash with men, women, and children sorting through it with their bare hands.
As we weaved in and out of people and cars, massive garbage bags were lowered and raised by ropes and pullies in the windows above.

Garbage city is a strange sight, but it is a community like any other community, with families, homes, streets, stores, schools, and churches.

Moving on…
We visited an orphanage run by Sisters of Charity, and an organization which provides looms for women within garbage city to make rugs, purses, wallets, etc. out of recycled materials. They also make paper products, teach literacy, and much more… It’s a neat organization but I don’t remember the name of it. If you’re interested ask and I’ll find out.

FASHION PEOPLE…A cool fact: Marc Jacobs bought many items from them and will be selling them in the U.S… I’m curious though the price they bought them for in comparison to how much they will be selling them for. Hmmm.

Also visited some churches in Garbage city…The churches were caves. Literally CAVES. Gigantic. I’m so mad I didn’t have my camera! I was awe-struck.



TUESDAY

First day of service projects…I’m doing the prison ministry which I mentioned earlier in the blog. It was a holiday though, so instead I went to the orphanage again and spent 4 hours surrounded by dirty, greasy haired, runny-nosed, toddlers. I describe them this way, because this was their appearance. They weren’t adorable. They were sickly looking.
But they were/are beautiful little human beings, each with his/her own unique personality. We spent 4 hours holding them, playing with them, feeding them. It was exhausting but wonderful. I don’t know how the sisters who run the orphanage survive with so many kids and so little workers. (The orphanage has toddlers, babies, mentally/physically handicapped, and also elderly). Not only is the orphanage understaffed, but they have also taken a vow of poverty…meaning they survive on little. Also crazy: they wash all clothing by hand…imagine for a moment the amount of laundry needed to be done every day without any machines!

That night Justine and I met up with Geehan (the Yemen woman we met at the mosque). Such a sweetheart! She’s 31 and works for the ministry of oil, and is on scholarship studying Business Administration. Her father is the Sheikh of Sana’a (the capital of Yemen). It was so much fun, and we got to ask her all kinds of random questions about Islam and her life in Yemen and in Egypt.

Random bits of conversation:
-In Yemen, many muslim women work
-Just as we visited a mosque service simply to observe and learn, she has visited church services for the same reason (one of which was a catholic mass)
-She is Sunni
-Educated Muslims in Yemen don’t have arranged marriages…typically it’s the less educated (which most ppl I think are aware of)




WEDNESDAY

First day of Arabic class. Yay!
I sounded like a fool, but so fun!

Also, got our handouts for the courses and assignments. Dr. Holt (director of our program) went through and talked about what the learning will be like this semester and how our beliefs will be challenged over the next few months…I can’t even begin to describe the thoughts and emotions I was experiencing…it was overwhelming, but in such a good way. Basically my world will be shattered this semester.

Ah Salaam.

Sunday

Went to do Visa stuff at the Mogamma… then split into groups of 4 for our “metro experience.” Before going on the metro, our group walked around near the AUC library…we got invited into an Egyptian’s perfume shop. He sat us down, offered us tea, and put about 5 different perfumes on our hands to smell. One of the guys in our group bought some perfume, but when the rest of us said we didn’t have enough money to buy any he tried for about 5 minutes to persuade us otherwise. It made for an awkward situation; I thought at one point he was going to start crying.

After walking about for a bit, we went to the AUC (American University in Cairo) bookstore where we had to buy a novel written by an Arab author (we need it for one of our classes). I found A LOT of interesting books in there, and ended up skimming through books for an hour and a half.

Then we hopped on the metro (it’s only 1LE which is about 25 cents) and picked a random stop to get off on and explore. The metro has 2 center cars which are reserved for women only (muslim culture for ya), so Holly, the other girl in my group, and I rode in one of those cars. Basically all the women were veiled and we got quite a few stares. We explored some of the streets at the stop we got off on, and bought some delicious pastries and desserts before heading back.

Observations:
The people in Cairo are extremely friendly and helpful (but I’ve noticed that just about every country I’ve visited outside of the U.S. has been this way). Apparently Americans don’t understand hospitality.

Young men and boys love to yell out to foreign females. “Welcome to Egypt!” “You are beautiful!” “Hello!” It’s not unusual for little boys to follow us as we walk by.

I find that I love the contrast of an Egyptian woman wearing modern clothes with the traditional practice of wearing a veil. When I say “modern” though, I mean fashionable/tight fitting, but not revealing. I have not seen one woman wearing shorts, a skirt above the ankles, short sleeves, or a tank top. At least not yet I haven’t.

From a fashion stand-point, I find that I really like the veil. I think it’s quite beautiful and find myself often wanting to wear my scarf like the other women.

Saturday

Saturday

A lot of the day was spent talking and filling out paperwork…we signed up for our cultural experiences (I picked cooking as my first choice and belly dancing as my second) and our service projects. Some of the service projects= prison ministry, sisters of charity orphanage, teaching esl, writing grants, etc… Not sure which one I will get but my first choice was the prison ministry. Basically it consists of visiting the prison and speaking one-on-one with a male, English-speaking inmate. Originally my first choice was the orphanage, but I liked the idea of one-on-one conversation.

Besides all the talking/paperwork, we did the scavenger hunt through Agouza (our neighborhood within Cairo). It was a good way to get a little more familiar with the neighborhood and explore a bit of the area. We experienced our first taxi ride in Cairo, and had some great Egyptian fast food. Lunch for about 25 cents!

Dinner was spent on a boat (Felucca) on the Nile. The boat had lights strung up all around and music playing. It reminded me of the party buses down in Huatulco (Family you know what I’m referring to), except taken down a notch.

Then we went and smoked Shisha (the only time we are allowed to while we are here). Although it’s disappointing that we can’t smoke at all while here, I understand the program’s reasoning and am thankful they at least gave us one opportunity to experience this aspect of the culture. And yes OF COURSE I am buying a Hookah while I’m here, or at least one from Turkey when we go.

After Shisha, we walked around through the shops in a giant market. It was beautiful at night with all the shiny objects (hookahs, lamps, vases, etc) reflecting the lights of the side streets. I’ll definitely be going back there for gifts.




Ah Salaam.

This post was written Friday despite the date

Friday

Well it's my third day in Egypt (second full day) and I'm in love.
But of course I would be.

First thing I would like to share:
Egypt is not as dangerous as everyone assumes.
Quite the contrary. Cairo is a very safe city.
So no need to worry!

Anyway, since today is only the second full day here we haven't done too much yet. We've had a lot of informative talks about the city, the culture, the covenant we had to sign, health, etc... Yesterday we drove around the city to get a general idea of the area. We drove near the Pyramids (breathtaking) and went to a market. The market was great- cow heads, feet, and tongues...pita bread EVERYWHERE, every type of fresh produce, scarves galore!

As far as food goes...I'm in heaven. Hummus, pita, falafels, tahini. Falafels for BREAKFAST might I add.

All the females bought scarves at the market for our visit to the mosque today.
The mosque service was very interesting and I’m so glad we were able to experience it.

A little about it: The women and men were separated- men were on a carpet set up near the street, and the women were in an upstairs room watching on a television screen. We had to take off our shoes before entering...our hair had to be completely covered with our scarves, skirts to the ground, long sleeves. We got there early and watched as individuals came in. They would walk to one of the lines on the floor, face Mecca, close their eyes, and do some sort of individual prayer to Allah either standing or sitting…The service consisted of individual prayer time, a sermon (much like we would experience in our churches), and then the prayer ritual done in unison. This prayer ritual basically consisted of all the women standing in lines praying out loud and bowing halfway and also bowing with their knees and faces on the ground.

After the service, one of the females sitting near us mistook Justine (one of my flatmates) and I for Arabs (YESSSSSS so great). We struck up a conversation and it turns out that she's from Yemen and is studying in Cairo for her Masters in Business and Management (I think). She gave us her phone number and email address so that we can hang out, but unfortunately she leaves on holiday for Yemen after this week and will be there for the next month. Hopefully we will get a chance to meet up with her before she leaves and establish more of a friendship so we can reconnect when she returns.

The mosque service was incredibly interesting to observe.
We had a long discussion afterward as a group, and one thing that was touched on was the contrast in dress between mosque services and church services in America. In the States, everyone puts on their "Sunday best" for church. We dress up to impress each other. Here, however, Muslims dress very plain and very very conservative at the mosque because the focus is solely on God. People are not there to impress one another or socialize, they are there only to pray and worship God.

Anyway, I'm done for now...
Tomorrow we are doing a scavenger hunt through the city to familiarize ourselves with the area. And we start classes next Wednesday.

Ah Salaam.