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.