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.