Hello from Turkey where the keyboards are just a lıttle off so some letters may be foreıgn to your eyes. Just bear wıth me.
Fırst of all I need to record an event that took place before I left Agouza. So there I am ın my flat studyıng for my Arabıc fınal when ıt comes upon me that I must have strawberrıes--due to the fact that I had been obnoxıous all evenıng none of my flatmates were wıllıng to accompany me on my hunt for stawberrıes. So all alone on the streets of Agouza I come to the conclusıon that there are none to be found after nıghtfall. So a lıttle downtrodden I turned and headed home that ıs when I heard a shoutıng sort of noıse behınd me but then everythıng happened so fast and before I knew what happened I got smacked ın the face wıth a tomato. Now I have always thought that when you get hıt wıth a tomato ıt smashes all over the place but now thıs tomato--ıt was really hard and as a result my eye was all blood shot and my face was slıghtly bruısed--no one belıeves me but I promıse ıt was tender for a few days. I am pretty sure I was the unfortunate cıvılıan that got caught ın the crossfıre of some game. I mean who else gets hıt ın the face wıth a tomato? Probably only me and only ın Egypt. I love that country.
Turkey ıs really great too. Its a land of enchanted sunsets and sparklıng waters. We spent our fırst few days ın Istabul and wıthın the fırst 48 hours of our travel we had been to Afrıca (Caıro), Europe (east of the Bosphorus), Asıa (west of the Bosphorus), and North Amerıca (the US embassy). I ate some Turkısh delıght and pretended lıke the candy shop was on the other sıde of a magıcal wardrobe. I have learned so much about thıs country ın the past few days that I cannot belıeve I dıd not know. I mean have you ever heard of Ataturk--the man sıngle handedly created modern day Turkey and the publıc school systems of Amerıca do not even mentıon hım. You should probably pıck up a book about hım ASAP.
Tıme to go--sorry thıs was more about Egypt than Turkey. But honestly I do not really care because me wrıtıng thıs blog ıs more for me than ıt ıs for you anyway. I love you all.
Peace ın the Mıddle East.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Cairo Raining
This weekend I stayed home in Agouza while most of the other kids went to Mt. Sinai to play for the weekend. Andrew and Amber stayed back too. I'm so glad that I'm here and not there. I took this weekend to put my life back in order, because from here on out we'll move at break neck speeds. Next week we are visiting the U.S. Embassy, the Arab League, taking our Arabic final, and then leaving for three weeks of travel on Thursday. So three loads of laundry later all my clothes are clean and my closet is organized. I even flossed my Chacos (my all-purpose sandals; not to be confused with Jon Chacko). Did you know you have to floss your Chacos? Its sort of a pain but if you don't your straps will get cemented in place. You have to run them under water and pull the straps all the way through one way and then the other. You'll be surprised at all the junk you'll see coming out and your hands will hurt, but it really is essential. I'm not sure why I said that...
It rained a lot this week. It was the closest thing to acid rain that I've ever seen. The raindrops were murky with pollution and the puddles in the street were festering with bacteria and strange disease, I'm sure. There are so many pot holes in this city and the rain filled them up creating huge ponds in the streets that did in fact slow down traffic for an entire day. Everyone was really concerned that if we weren't careful we would slip and fall on the wet pavement. I laughed and remembered the sidewalks during J-term. I can count on my hands the days during J-term that I didn't fall. I think Jill made it through two or three days with out meeting the pavement. I hear its still snowing in Upland. That's funny.
Thursday night Andrew, Amber and I went to my grandparents to do our homework. We worked hard on Arabic and then played cards with my grandpa and ordered rice pudding--delivered right to the front door. Everything can be delivered in Cairo, even MacDonalds. This is how we ordered that delicious dessert. You know how phone numbers usually have 7 numbers? Same deal in Egypt, usually. But as we have been discovering this place tends to defy gravity. So we have this mysterious 5-digit number that we supposedly can call from anywhere in Egypt and the rice pudding fairy will deliver it to your front door. I mean, it worked I'm not really sure how, but I do know that rice pudding in Egypt is way better than it is in the States.
Yesterday, Amber and I attended Amin's birthday party. (You know, the kid that wants to hunt penguins) He turned three. There was an ice cream man there and a face painting man and a some strange form of an Egyptian pinanta. I also met the pet flamingos, there are four of them and alledgedly you are allowed to pet them, except you have to be sure to grab their beaks first. The instructions sounded ominous so I decided to keep my hands to myself, although, I did have one of those destructive urges I sometimes get to try and knock their legs out from under them. I resisted. No, I'm not sure if they eat shrimp all day or not, but there legs were bright pink. I finally got to see my cousin, Nora and met her baby, Alex, he has bright blue eyes.
A verdict has been reached. I'm living in Fairlane (off-campus apartments) next year with (in order from oldest to youngest) Jenny, Bonnie, and Jill. (I go between Jenny and Bonnie in the birth order in case you were wondering). I am the luckiest girl on campus, don't even try to convince me otherwise. I'm not kidding Ekman, don't even try. I'm so excited to live with these amazing girls, but I feel a little bit of sadness as well. A big part of my heart will remain on 3CE. I mean, I love freshman so much, you're probably going to have to share your freshman with me. I'm well aware I'm no MVP, but I don't think you can stop me from playing football with you either. I think that's all I have to say about that.
My job prospects for the summer are looking rather bleak. And I thought job hunting from Indiana was difficult. Let me know if you wish to employ me, okay.
There are things I'm not saying, because I don't know how to say them and there are tears that aren't coming. Its good to know that Jesus understands me better than I understand my myself, because feelings are confusing and sometimes I wish I didn't feel quite so deeply. Talking to you last night was good and I'm glad we hung up laughing.
I'll try to post one more time before I leave for travel, but I'm not making any promises. Once travel begins you probably won't hear from me for three weeks. I'll do my best to clear it out, but my email will probably freak out while I'm gone. Just FYI. Thanks for reading and thanks for posting--your comments really mean a lot to me.
It rained a lot this week. It was the closest thing to acid rain that I've ever seen. The raindrops were murky with pollution and the puddles in the street were festering with bacteria and strange disease, I'm sure. There are so many pot holes in this city and the rain filled them up creating huge ponds in the streets that did in fact slow down traffic for an entire day. Everyone was really concerned that if we weren't careful we would slip and fall on the wet pavement. I laughed and remembered the sidewalks during J-term. I can count on my hands the days during J-term that I didn't fall. I think Jill made it through two or three days with out meeting the pavement. I hear its still snowing in Upland. That's funny.
Thursday night Andrew, Amber and I went to my grandparents to do our homework. We worked hard on Arabic and then played cards with my grandpa and ordered rice pudding--delivered right to the front door. Everything can be delivered in Cairo, even MacDonalds. This is how we ordered that delicious dessert. You know how phone numbers usually have 7 numbers? Same deal in Egypt, usually. But as we have been discovering this place tends to defy gravity. So we have this mysterious 5-digit number that we supposedly can call from anywhere in Egypt and the rice pudding fairy will deliver it to your front door. I mean, it worked I'm not really sure how, but I do know that rice pudding in Egypt is way better than it is in the States.
Yesterday, Amber and I attended Amin's birthday party. (You know, the kid that wants to hunt penguins) He turned three. There was an ice cream man there and a face painting man and a some strange form of an Egyptian pinanta. I also met the pet flamingos, there are four of them and alledgedly you are allowed to pet them, except you have to be sure to grab their beaks first. The instructions sounded ominous so I decided to keep my hands to myself, although, I did have one of those destructive urges I sometimes get to try and knock their legs out from under them. I resisted. No, I'm not sure if they eat shrimp all day or not, but there legs were bright pink. I finally got to see my cousin, Nora and met her baby, Alex, he has bright blue eyes.
A verdict has been reached. I'm living in Fairlane (off-campus apartments) next year with (in order from oldest to youngest) Jenny, Bonnie, and Jill. (I go between Jenny and Bonnie in the birth order in case you were wondering). I am the luckiest girl on campus, don't even try to convince me otherwise. I'm not kidding Ekman, don't even try. I'm so excited to live with these amazing girls, but I feel a little bit of sadness as well. A big part of my heart will remain on 3CE. I mean, I love freshman so much, you're probably going to have to share your freshman with me. I'm well aware I'm no MVP, but I don't think you can stop me from playing football with you either. I think that's all I have to say about that.
My job prospects for the summer are looking rather bleak. And I thought job hunting from Indiana was difficult. Let me know if you wish to employ me, okay.
There are things I'm not saying, because I don't know how to say them and there are tears that aren't coming. Its good to know that Jesus understands me better than I understand my myself, because feelings are confusing and sometimes I wish I didn't feel quite so deeply. Talking to you last night was good and I'm glad we hung up laughing.
I'll try to post one more time before I leave for travel, but I'm not making any promises. Once travel begins you probably won't hear from me for three weeks. I'll do my best to clear it out, but my email will probably freak out while I'm gone. Just FYI. Thanks for reading and thanks for posting--your comments really mean a lot to me.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Pink Pants
I really don't feel like updating today, but I think I should and there are things I want to say. So here we go, my life in 15 minutes or less.
I need to start be announcing that yesterday I bought pink pants. Maybe I'm just copying my cool roommate or maybe its because everyone in Egypt has pink pants and I thought I needed some too. Either way I have them and when I wear them I feel like a rockstar--yeah that's right pants can do that kind of thing.
Today we went to Cairo University to have a "dialogue of civilizations" with the students there. The campus was buzzing with activity and I could just imagine student demonstrations of all kinds taking place in the 60s and 70s. My parents went to school there and I know my dad likes to cause a ruckus and there are stories, but I don't remember all the details. I'll save that one for a rainy day. It was a pleasant day. The students we talked to were impressive, but many of there perceptions about Christianity were a little, um, ridiculous. They informed me that the Bible says that we have the kill anyone who converts from Christianity. We were discussing human rights and talking about freedom of religion, that point came up and my jaw dropped to the floor. We corrected them and one guy from our group told the story of the prodigal son, but it is frustrating to be workig so hard to understand this culture when I sometimes get the feeling that no one hear cares to understand me. I guess I'm just beginning to skim the surface of what misconception exsists on both sides and I'll be satisfied if by the time I leave this place I have learned to ask the correct questions.
Here's what I've been thinking about in the past few weeks. I don't think there is any difference between preaching the gospel and serving the poor, but I do think that there is a difference between evangelizing and preaching the gospel. Maybe I'm walking on thin ice, but I think that we are too concerned with pulling souls over this line that we can't see or define. I don't think its my job to get people saved, I think that is up to the working of the Holy Spirit. And of course I believe He uses us for that purpose, and that's where preaching the gospel comes in. In Egypt, its not often that people convert because of really good evangelistic methods and it usually happens because of dreams and visions. So pray for dreams and visions and pray that Christians would have the power to love, to preach the gospel to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim freedom for the captives. Words aren't working. The four spiritual laws just don't cut it. I don't have the answers, and I'm not exactly sure how this looks in real life. All I know is that something in me has to change, and I think I'm slowing beginning to see all that, but there are miles to go before I sleep.
I have a confession to make. Jenny, brace yourself. Sometimes I don't like Bush. Most of the time I think he's okay. But, I'll have a conversation that just sets me off, or I'll see something on the news and get really worked up. I think I'll come out on the middle of the road of all this, but the verdict is still out. Everything is such a mess here and I its hard to see what could've been different and no one's perfect, but that just needed to be said. And here's the other thing I'm thankful that I'm allowed to say express that opinion, because opinions of Mubarak should not be voiced out loud in this country. I am proud to be an American.
I have my Islamic Thought and Practice final on Monday--I'll be sad when that class is over. I have not often felt that way at the end of a class. Two weeks of Arabic left--I'm practically fluent. And when Arabic is done we leave for three weeks of travel to Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. We're going to Petra--that's were Inidian Jones was filmed. Needless to say we're all extremely excited. That's all I have tonight. I'll see you on the flip side.
I need to start be announcing that yesterday I bought pink pants. Maybe I'm just copying my cool roommate or maybe its because everyone in Egypt has pink pants and I thought I needed some too. Either way I have them and when I wear them I feel like a rockstar--yeah that's right pants can do that kind of thing.
Today we went to Cairo University to have a "dialogue of civilizations" with the students there. The campus was buzzing with activity and I could just imagine student demonstrations of all kinds taking place in the 60s and 70s. My parents went to school there and I know my dad likes to cause a ruckus and there are stories, but I don't remember all the details. I'll save that one for a rainy day. It was a pleasant day. The students we talked to were impressive, but many of there perceptions about Christianity were a little, um, ridiculous. They informed me that the Bible says that we have the kill anyone who converts from Christianity. We were discussing human rights and talking about freedom of religion, that point came up and my jaw dropped to the floor. We corrected them and one guy from our group told the story of the prodigal son, but it is frustrating to be workig so hard to understand this culture when I sometimes get the feeling that no one hear cares to understand me. I guess I'm just beginning to skim the surface of what misconception exsists on both sides and I'll be satisfied if by the time I leave this place I have learned to ask the correct questions.
Here's what I've been thinking about in the past few weeks. I don't think there is any difference between preaching the gospel and serving the poor, but I do think that there is a difference between evangelizing and preaching the gospel. Maybe I'm walking on thin ice, but I think that we are too concerned with pulling souls over this line that we can't see or define. I don't think its my job to get people saved, I think that is up to the working of the Holy Spirit. And of course I believe He uses us for that purpose, and that's where preaching the gospel comes in. In Egypt, its not often that people convert because of really good evangelistic methods and it usually happens because of dreams and visions. So pray for dreams and visions and pray that Christians would have the power to love, to preach the gospel to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and proclaim freedom for the captives. Words aren't working. The four spiritual laws just don't cut it. I don't have the answers, and I'm not exactly sure how this looks in real life. All I know is that something in me has to change, and I think I'm slowing beginning to see all that, but there are miles to go before I sleep.
I have a confession to make. Jenny, brace yourself. Sometimes I don't like Bush. Most of the time I think he's okay. But, I'll have a conversation that just sets me off, or I'll see something on the news and get really worked up. I think I'll come out on the middle of the road of all this, but the verdict is still out. Everything is such a mess here and I its hard to see what could've been different and no one's perfect, but that just needed to be said. And here's the other thing I'm thankful that I'm allowed to say express that opinion, because opinions of Mubarak should not be voiced out loud in this country. I am proud to be an American.
I have my Islamic Thought and Practice final on Monday--I'll be sad when that class is over. I have not often felt that way at the end of a class. Two weeks of Arabic left--I'm practically fluent. And when Arabic is done we leave for three weeks of travel to Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. We're going to Petra--that's were Inidian Jones was filmed. Needless to say we're all extremely excited. That's all I have tonight. I'll see you on the flip side.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)