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.