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.