I realize that most of my blog posts thus far have been just reiterating the activities I've been doing and not really detailing any of my thoughts or observations on life here in Egypt, so I decided to write some down.
Life in the dorm-
living in the dorm here in Egypt is WAY different that my time in the dorm at UofM. Here, we have a curfew and we must let the women of the dorm know when we are going out at night after dinner. Our curfew is technically midnight, but as long as we tell them that we are going to be late- someone will be here to open the door. However, the women don't like it at all when we are late because they have to stay up to let us in. We also have to check in at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and again at night. Boys are not allowed in the dorm, unless they are American boys in our program who eat lunch here during the week because their dorm is too far to compute to in the middle of the day. Girl visitors from outside the dorm are not allowed to stay and hang out. I am really bummed about this rule because I was hoping my language partner could hang out with me here, but she is not allowed.
Having all these rules is really hard. I'm so used to living my life very independently at school. I've lived in an apartment for the last three years and in a dorm before that where there were certainly no rules like this. I know that the rules are supposed to be for our own good. The women in the dorm worry about our safetly when we go out late. Plus, it's definitely not the cultural norm for girls to go out late, especially without a male escort. It's been a little bit of a hard adjustment and I feel as though there's been some tension between the women in charge and American students. Today I learned that Mama Huda, the very sweet woman who is our main contact in the dorm, got very nervous and high strung when the Americans moved in. I'm not sure exactly why, but it demonstrates the kind of feelings going around here.
That being said, we definitely have it way better than the Egyptian girls in the dorm. Their curfew is 7pm, unless they are going out with the Americans. They also do not get all the same benefits as we do. For example, we are given a bottle of water everyday at lunch (you can't drink the tap water. Well, you can, but you'll be sorry) while the Egyptian girls must buy their own or drink the tap water.
It makes me uncomfortable that there is this seperation of treatment between the Egyptian girls and the American girls. I don't like feeling priviledged. It's awkward.
The same thing goes with the housekeeping around here. We are supposed to ask the women of the dorm to clean our rooms and change our sheets. Personally, I'm not used to this and I would rather just do it myself. I don't mind the work- I clean my own apartment in the states. I know that it's just how things are done around here, but it's still something I haven't quite gotten used to. My roommate feels the same way. Needless to say, our room hasn't been cleaned at all yet!
internet-
the internet is definitely much much slower. I've had huge problems trying to talk with my parents via video chat. In a way, the fact that the internet doesnt work all the time is a blessing- it gets us all out of the dorm. They told us at orientation that you cant live your life in America, via facebook and gmail, etc and live your life here. This is true. So, it's kind of ok that the internet isn't so great. On the otherhand, it takes forever to upload pictures and like I said, I've had problems trying to talk with my parents. Most of the time, the internet just makes me want to kick puppies. It's frustrating.
Although, I think I've finally discovered the secret. The router on the 6th floor is connected to all the other routers in the building and it keeps getting unplugged. I think that's been the source of most of our problems. At least now we know how to fix it. But it's still slow.
There is a MacDonald's just down the street with free WiFi, so I'm going to try that soon to see if it's any faster.
the food-
The food in Egypt is great. I've always like Middle Eastern food. My favorites so far: عصير Aseer, or fresh fruit juice. There are stands all over the place selling fresh squeezed juices. My favorite flavors are strawberry and lemon (like fresh squeezed lemonaid). I also love Fateer, which is this layered dough that has toppings like pizza, or sweet toppings. The food in the dorm is ok. Lunch is great- there's always lots of rice, and patotoes and chicken or shawarma and soup and usually some kind of fruit. Breakfast is usually a hardboiled egg and some cereal or bread. Dinner is always bread and cheese. Sometimes we get milk with breakfast or juice with dinner, but not always. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day instead of dinner, which has taken some adjustment, but I actually like it better. You dont feel as tired in the evening eating such a large meal. I think it's healthier too.
Today I had a wonderful meal at the home of my language partner, Rina. Rina is awesome. I love hanging out with her and I feel like I'm getting better at communicating with her. She has a sister that's my age and is also very sweet. Her mother cooked a wonderul meal of all different types of seafood. It was delicious. It's customary to cook a lot of food for a guest as a sign of good hospitality and it's also customary for the guest to eat a lot. Not taking seconds can be considered rude. Needless to say, I ate a ton! But it was great.
On being a woman-
Egyptian society is obviously very male dominated. Therefore, men have many more priviledges than women. Life for the guys in the male dorm is very different from ours. They each get their own room, their meals are a little larger, and they come and go as they please without checking in. As foreign women, we occupy some place in between Egyptian women and men on the social ladder, as demonstrated by the different rules imposed on Egyptian girls in the dorms. Being a woman, Egyptian or foreign, you run into a lot of harrassment on the streets, especially on the Qurneesh- the large road that runs along the highway. Most of the time it's just yelling things like "beautiful foreigner" or "welcome!" or occassionally "you're so soft!" Most of the time we just laugh about the crazy things people try to say to us in English. It's pretty harmless. But sometimes it gets a little out of hand. People stop their cars and get out and follow you. Or just follow you in their car. Luckily, I haven't had this experience yet, but sometimes men try to get too close and grab you in inappropriate ways. That's rare, but it happens.
This is very frustrating. As a woman who is used to more or less equal treatment in America, it's extermely difficult to deal with this behavior. Not that things like this don't happen in America, but it's much more widespread here, and men don't seem to see anything wrong with it.
We are told the best thing to do is just ignore it. But I can see myself eventually losing my temper and just going off on some Egyptian man in the street. Hopefully, it will be entirely in Arabic and then he'll really be surprised!!
Friends-
I absolutely love everyone in my program. They are totally amazing. We are all getting along really well and bonding over our crazy experiences in Egypt! My language partner, Rina, is truely a blessing. She's so sweet and a very patient language partner. She's also very helpful and is great at giving me help with anything I need. She also knows all the great places to go shopping which is definitely an asset here. The Egyptian guys working in the Dar are also great. They're like big brothers to us all. We've also made some Egyptian friends outside the college who have been really nice in giving us tips on good places to go around the city and showing us around. I think the best thing about this program so far is the connections with people that I'm making, which will continue throught the year.
Life in the dorm-
living in the dorm here in Egypt is WAY different that my time in the dorm at UofM. Here, we have a curfew and we must let the women of the dorm know when we are going out at night after dinner. Our curfew is technically midnight, but as long as we tell them that we are going to be late- someone will be here to open the door. However, the women don't like it at all when we are late because they have to stay up to let us in. We also have to check in at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and again at night. Boys are not allowed in the dorm, unless they are American boys in our program who eat lunch here during the week because their dorm is too far to compute to in the middle of the day. Girl visitors from outside the dorm are not allowed to stay and hang out. I am really bummed about this rule because I was hoping my language partner could hang out with me here, but she is not allowed.
Having all these rules is really hard. I'm so used to living my life very independently at school. I've lived in an apartment for the last three years and in a dorm before that where there were certainly no rules like this. I know that the rules are supposed to be for our own good. The women in the dorm worry about our safetly when we go out late. Plus, it's definitely not the cultural norm for girls to go out late, especially without a male escort. It's been a little bit of a hard adjustment and I feel as though there's been some tension between the women in charge and American students. Today I learned that Mama Huda, the very sweet woman who is our main contact in the dorm, got very nervous and high strung when the Americans moved in. I'm not sure exactly why, but it demonstrates the kind of feelings going around here.
That being said, we definitely have it way better than the Egyptian girls in the dorm. Their curfew is 7pm, unless they are going out with the Americans. They also do not get all the same benefits as we do. For example, we are given a bottle of water everyday at lunch (you can't drink the tap water. Well, you can, but you'll be sorry) while the Egyptian girls must buy their own or drink the tap water.
It makes me uncomfortable that there is this seperation of treatment between the Egyptian girls and the American girls. I don't like feeling priviledged. It's awkward.
The same thing goes with the housekeeping around here. We are supposed to ask the women of the dorm to clean our rooms and change our sheets. Personally, I'm not used to this and I would rather just do it myself. I don't mind the work- I clean my own apartment in the states. I know that it's just how things are done around here, but it's still something I haven't quite gotten used to. My roommate feels the same way. Needless to say, our room hasn't been cleaned at all yet!
internet-
the internet is definitely much much slower. I've had huge problems trying to talk with my parents via video chat. In a way, the fact that the internet doesnt work all the time is a blessing- it gets us all out of the dorm. They told us at orientation that you cant live your life in America, via facebook and gmail, etc and live your life here. This is true. So, it's kind of ok that the internet isn't so great. On the otherhand, it takes forever to upload pictures and like I said, I've had problems trying to talk with my parents. Most of the time, the internet just makes me want to kick puppies. It's frustrating.
Although, I think I've finally discovered the secret. The router on the 6th floor is connected to all the other routers in the building and it keeps getting unplugged. I think that's been the source of most of our problems. At least now we know how to fix it. But it's still slow.
There is a MacDonald's just down the street with free WiFi, so I'm going to try that soon to see if it's any faster.
the food-
The food in Egypt is great. I've always like Middle Eastern food. My favorites so far: عصير Aseer, or fresh fruit juice. There are stands all over the place selling fresh squeezed juices. My favorite flavors are strawberry and lemon (like fresh squeezed lemonaid). I also love Fateer, which is this layered dough that has toppings like pizza, or sweet toppings. The food in the dorm is ok. Lunch is great- there's always lots of rice, and patotoes and chicken or shawarma and soup and usually some kind of fruit. Breakfast is usually a hardboiled egg and some cereal or bread. Dinner is always bread and cheese. Sometimes we get milk with breakfast or juice with dinner, but not always. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day instead of dinner, which has taken some adjustment, but I actually like it better. You dont feel as tired in the evening eating such a large meal. I think it's healthier too.
Today I had a wonderful meal at the home of my language partner, Rina. Rina is awesome. I love hanging out with her and I feel like I'm getting better at communicating with her. She has a sister that's my age and is also very sweet. Her mother cooked a wonderul meal of all different types of seafood. It was delicious. It's customary to cook a lot of food for a guest as a sign of good hospitality and it's also customary for the guest to eat a lot. Not taking seconds can be considered rude. Needless to say, I ate a ton! But it was great.
On being a woman-
Egyptian society is obviously very male dominated. Therefore, men have many more priviledges than women. Life for the guys in the male dorm is very different from ours. They each get their own room, their meals are a little larger, and they come and go as they please without checking in. As foreign women, we occupy some place in between Egyptian women and men on the social ladder, as demonstrated by the different rules imposed on Egyptian girls in the dorms. Being a woman, Egyptian or foreign, you run into a lot of harrassment on the streets, especially on the Qurneesh- the large road that runs along the highway. Most of the time it's just yelling things like "beautiful foreigner" or "welcome!" or occassionally "you're so soft!" Most of the time we just laugh about the crazy things people try to say to us in English. It's pretty harmless. But sometimes it gets a little out of hand. People stop their cars and get out and follow you. Or just follow you in their car. Luckily, I haven't had this experience yet, but sometimes men try to get too close and grab you in inappropriate ways. That's rare, but it happens.
This is very frustrating. As a woman who is used to more or less equal treatment in America, it's extermely difficult to deal with this behavior. Not that things like this don't happen in America, but it's much more widespread here, and men don't seem to see anything wrong with it.
We are told the best thing to do is just ignore it. But I can see myself eventually losing my temper and just going off on some Egyptian man in the street. Hopefully, it will be entirely in Arabic and then he'll really be surprised!!
Friends-
I absolutely love everyone in my program. They are totally amazing. We are all getting along really well and bonding over our crazy experiences in Egypt! My language partner, Rina, is truely a blessing. She's so sweet and a very patient language partner. She's also very helpful and is great at giving me help with anything I need. She also knows all the great places to go shopping which is definitely an asset here. The Egyptian guys working in the Dar are also great. They're like big brothers to us all. We've also made some Egyptian friends outside the college who have been really nice in giving us tips on good places to go around the city and showing us around. I think the best thing about this program so far is the connections with people that I'm making, which will continue throught the year.
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