Chris here...

Alright. So it’s my turn to blog. Unfortunately I was not blessed with the creativity of some of my colleagues, so I’m just going to tell you, dear reader, a little story that many are familiar with but that I think reveals some helpful information regarding life in our lovely city of Alexandria. So, here we go.

The other day, maybe a couple of weeks ago, we’re sitting in the ‘dar’—our conference/study/sleep/computer room on campus—and a female colleague mentions that she isn’t feeling well. Being the chivalrous lad that I am, I head out onto the streets of Alexandria in search of Excedrin. Now, we’ve been here for several months, so trips to the pharmacy are pretty normal by now; today, however, was not because, well, sometimes I’m stupid.

Here we go, getting some Excedrin. I’m on the street, check the wallet, of course, no money. Lesson One: carry cash. Very few places in the city will accept credit/debit cards, and even those that do are unreliable. “No worries,” I think, I’ll just use the ATM that is conveniently located at the door to the School of Business—I’ll be back at the dar with plenty of time to spare before my next class.

I walk the short distance to the gate only to find the ATM is out of order. Ok, I know for a fact that across the street, in front of the gorgeous library of Alexandria, there are a couple of ATM’s. So I head that way, dodging taxis and Germans with fanny-packs (God bless ‘em). Naturally one is out of order and the other will not recognize my card. Lesson Two: if you find an ATM that works, use it and remember its location.

I decide to walk to a bank that I know has a working ATM. After a short walk, I arrive and notice a gentleman in a suit smoking a cigarette who waits until after I’ve made a fool of myself trying to open a locked door to inform me that the bank is in fact “clues-ed.” I ask him in Arabic which I’m sure makes his English sound like the Queen’s Own when the bank will be opened again because I need to use the ATM. Thankfully he is a bank employee so he understands the term ATM (do you know how stupid you sound when you try to explain this particular banking innovation in a foreign language???) and informs me it will be some time(lesson 2.5: banks/post offices/anything that you might think should hold convenient hours often close in the middle of the day). Does he know where another ATM might be? Of course he does. And its not far either—only 5 blocks down, on the left.

Gather round kids, here comes Lesson Three: after receiving directions, confirm, confirm, confirm. Ask as many people as you want, that won’t be a problem. It seems that, aside from soccer, there is no Egyptian past time more favored than direction-giving. People love to help here. I’ve seen arguments over who has earned the right to be the direction-giver. It is extremely helpful…if they actually know what they’re talking about. I’m not sure where this desire comes from, but rather than saying they simply don’t know, some people will just guess… Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I myself am not entirely innocent of this crime. Anyway, 30 mins and I don’t know how many blocks later I am still without cash or medicine.

I end up walking to an area known as Sporting, and along the way I get a lot of stares. Now, as a foreigner, you’re going to stick out—whether it’s your clothes, the way you cross the street, whatever, you’re different. There are some in the program who are constantly confused with Egyptians. I am not one of them (Think Jim Gaffigan, more hair, just as pale). For the melanin-challenged out there, take heart, you’ll get used to it.

Finally I found an ATM, and I’m off to the nearest pharmacy. I walk in and ask the nice young lady for something for a headache “you know, Excedrin, acetaminophen, whatever.” Blank stare. Not unusual, people don’t expect a white (seriously, really white) guy to speak Arabic (or what somewhat resembles it), so I get this a lot. I repeat…so does she. Then she slowly lifts her hand and points to an older gentleman sitting behind the counter. I walk over and I’ve barely begun repeating my request when he reaches into a drawer, tosses me some pills and says “15 pounds.” Now this is way too much to pay, but I’ve had a long afternoon and, for whatever reason, this guy does not seem like he wants me in his store, much less like he’s in the mood to haggle. So I leave with a cheery goodbye and I’m on my way.

A few blocks down I can’t shake the feeling that something was weird about that encounter. He seemed to not understand my speech at all, but somehow knew what I wanted—things are rarely ever that easy here… So I check the medicine packet… I don’t recognize the generic name, no surprise there. Then I notice some fine print on the packaging, reading “do not use without advice of psychiatrist…” ok that’s weird for Advil ….”or Urologist”…what the… I should buy something else.

Lesson Four: if a situation feels weird, whether its getting into a particular taxi, a bill that doesn’t seem to add up, or someone asking for your number, it probably is. Go with your instincts, and you should be fine. That’s what I did. I followed my instincts to the internet and looked up this mystery drug that a grumpy pharmacist was sure I needed.

Lesson Five: apparently, Viagra is really easy to buy in Egypt.

Disclaimer: If you need the valuable information stat, skip my ramblings and jump to the second part of this blog.

Did you know that oranges are winter fruits? I always assumed they were summer fruits, but since seasons are generally irrelevant to the supermarkets I frequented in America, I never really paid attention to the fact that fruits are, in fact, seasonal.

Well, I'm certainly paying attention now. Right now, we are having a "cool" season in Alexandria. Oranges, dates and bananas are readily available. I haven't seen plums in ages and mangos are available but very expensive. Buying fruits in Egypt is almost anachronistic. I feel like I jumped back in time 50 years and now small mom and pop stores actually exist. On my street, there are bakers, butchers and fruit sellers in small open shops and you have to visit each one individually to get the items you need for the day. Sometimes, you might need to go to the stores everyday and certainly more frequently than once a week in order to get your groceries. I'm not sure where I was going with this, but I don't think anybody ever told me that Egypt could be like this. It's different, but I like it. At any rate, if you need to go to a supermarket, there is always Carrefour which has so many imported items you'll feel right at home when you need to.

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We just spoke to the University of Michigan Flagship students and we promised them to give them a list of things that we wish we brought/are glad we brought.

Hair Bands/Hair Accessories/Clips--It's difficult to find good accessories here and if they are imported they are quite expensive/5 dollars for 10 hairbands etc.

Ear Plugs--Bring several. Egyptians have different sleeping schedules and depending on your neighborhood you might have weddings in the streets which can be loud.

Sunblock--lots of it!

Deodorant-bring a ton and buy the best quality you can get. I guarantee you won't regret splurging on deodorant

Tampons

If you take Birth Control Pills, bring the supplies with you. BCP is not sold to women who are not married. Welcome to Egypt!

A good pair of sunglasses

A hat

English books, movies just to keep you going when you miss the motherland

Bug Repellant

Lots of contact solution and several extra cases for your lenses

Copies of all your prescriptions/drugs/prescription number for your eyes

An extra pair of glasses

A laptop! If you don't own one, get a micro computer, but you NEED a computer if you want to be able to do work after 7 p.m. or talk to your family at some point.

Clothes--bring what you can here. Egyptian clothes are the same price as America and are not that great quality-wise.

The What to Wear/What Not to Wear post is coming up so stay tuned!

There are a million more things that we all wish that we had brought/are glad we brought and I invite my fellow flagship bloggers to post something they wish they brought. Yes, this post was incredibly easy to write, and I promise to write more involved stories when I'm not limited to only two hours of internet a day. Gripes and complaints about internet will be saved for another day.

By the way, I hope this does not happen to you, but my English has fallen apart. My friends and family think I am getting increasingly dumber studying Arabic because in my emails I confuse words such as through and threw, write in run-ons and can never remember how many e's are in consequently. I think I spelled it right this time, but who knows what will happen in the future. It doesn't help that I'm not fantastically articulate in Arabic. Just in case this happens to you, remember that your brain is currently reorganizing itself to deal with the incredible amount of knowledge you are gaining. You may forget how to spell certain words or forget certain words in English, but you my friend, are not dumb. Once you get back to America, your old skills will come back so take advantage of your time here and don't worry about the language that was our first love. Old flames never die. Well, that was a weird end to a weird blog. Here is to future weird and hopefully useful info!

-Saba

Sanity. Tasty, tasty sanity.

This scholarship is not only an opportunity for a priceless year of study, it's also a validation of the hard work, talent and commitment it takes to pursue Arabic seriously. You know and I know that they generally only give scholarships, especially one as generous as the Flagship, to smart people. Egypt, however, does not know that.

My greatest challenge this year has been a near constant feeling of stupidity. I regularly tell my host-mother I would like some garbage for breakfast (in my defense, it's remarkably close to the word for yogurt). At my internship at a weekly Alexandrian magazine, every article gets "edited"--read, obliterated--within an inch of its life. Today, in the acting class I take with regular Egyptian students at the university, (I thought it would be fun?) my professor essentially patted me on the head and told me it was nice that I was trying hard.

Because of the mistakes we make with language, many Egyptians simply assume that we are the mental equals of particularly gifted sea-sponges, and treat us accordingly. Unable to express ourselves properly, we are at a loss to contradict them.

It's part of life here. You can't get around it--as we all know, the only way to one day be eloquent in Arabic is spending a good deal of time being inept in it. Unfortunately, it's easy to let the resulting pessimism seep into your brain and affect your work, relationships and general attitude towards life and this new country of ours.

So a couple of days ago, full of this kind of pessimism about my progress here and sick of being treated like a child, I walked into my host family's kitchen and announced my intention to make sweet potatoes for the Flagship Thanksgiving Dinner on which we feasted Saturday. At first, it was the same old story--my host dad proceeded to pick up all the ingredients I needed though I asked him not to, my host mom steamed the sweet potatoes for me thinking there was no way I could manage that alone.

And then, something magical happened. In the midst of measuring out amounts of brown sugar, slicing apples, chopping walnuts, etc, it occurred to my family--and to me--that this was something I actually knew how to do, and if possible, knew it better than Egyptian adults. My host parents bounced around behind me squealing like little kids at the idea of combining apples with cinnamon or putting black pepper and sugar in the same dish. I learned about Egyptian sweet potato preparations (which frankly sound gross, but I'm keeping an open mind) and discovered about 4 new spices hidden in the depths of our cupboards that I had never seen before.

"Isn't it too fat?" my host mom asked me after the second addition of butter and cream--in English, like she does when she doesn't think I can understand her otherwise.

"That's why it's delicious," I replied in Arabic, and I think she laughed for about 15 minutes.

We sat down to eat it, and my host parents discovered how right I was. It was delicious. I am now regarded in the Madgavkar-Ahmed household with new respect. I think soon I might be allowed to wash my own underwear.

Most importantly, I felt awesome--I learned about 15 new words related to cooking, contributed to the household and made something I could be proud of. So here's my secret to creating real cultural exchange, learning from your Egyptian friends and feeling in control of your life: do something you love and are good at. It helps if you can eat it afterwards.

Going to Class

At our orientation before we left for Egypt we had a number of good, informative meetings. One of them was about culture shock. We learned a lot of useful things about how to deal with being away from home for so long, ways to recognize culture shock, how to deal with culture shock. All of this was good information and many of the lessons have come in handy: don’t isolate yourself, remember to give yourself some relaxation time (a favorite of ours being American movie nights), etc. Well, I want to give one caveat to our lesson on culture shock.

Apparently one of the symptoms of culture shock is thinking that everyone around you is talking about you, laughing at you, staring at you… you all get the picture. You think that somehow everyone in a huge crowded place is focused just on you, which is ridiculous, of course. Why would everyone in, for example, a train station in Paris care about a tourist walking around? Well, that lesson might hold true in Paris train stations, but if you are tall, pale white and have lots of bright red hair, maybe, just maybe, when you are walking through a crowded Egyptian university (where every single other person has brown skin and black hair) every single person who turns to look at you then turns quickly to their friends, speaks unintelligibly fast Arabic and then bursts out laughing is indeed staring at you, talking about you and laughing at you.

This was my experience as I wandered through multiple buildings at the university looking for the classroom of my direct enrollment class (we are taking college classes at the university with the regular Egyptian students). Although I felt like ET when I was walking around the hallways that first day, it helped me realize the importance of another lesson from orientation, always keep your sense of humor, it is one of the best tools you have to deal with hard situations. So, although pretty much everyone still stares at me whenever I walk to my class, I just smile and try to stare back as much as possible.

Being an American in Alexandria, Egypt

I'm going to mention a few of the difficulties that I think my fellow flagship-ers (new word?) and I have faced with some proposed solutions and ways to prepare yourself for it to make the best of your experience here. These are things that I wish I knew before coming here.

You're a celebrity here! Seriously. And at first, I think you'll really like the feeling. People want to talk to you, are impressed by your Arabic, and may even give you free things! However, that is short-lived, very short-lived, indeed. Especially if your hair is red or orange or something considered "weird" here, they'll probably never get used to you. Now, if you visit villages, it will be to even a much greater level. What is mean is that every step you take you'll have a crowd of kids or people of the other sex shouting things, laughing, wanting to shake your hand, know your name; that's because not many Americans frequent these locations. By the way, don't let this stop you from going there. Some of my best experiences here have been in villages and towns outside of Alexandria. Also don't think if you're a heritage speaker or look Arab that you'll be treated "better." It's a different experience (trust me, I know) with different difficulties. For example, I'm often treated like an Egyptian when I enter the center by myself (with no other White-Americans around me), which means they ask for my ID card and want to search my bag. All of this may lead to what I view as three major problems, which I've mentioned below with some solutions.

Being Belittled:
You may grow to hate being belittled and (if this fits your past, for I was more on the bullying end in my early grade school years) end up remembering your school days of being bullied or made fun of, everyone staring at you on the playground during recess time. Now, I'm not the best at Arabic and have a long way to go to, but I don't have much a problem understanding my class lectures here at Alexandria University. Regardless, I'm told, almost every week I attend, that I should probably consider moving down to the most beginner level of the subject by other students. They will uninvitedly sit a few inches away from me to watch my take notes. They want to see if I can actually write Arabic, understand what's going on, will correct things without being asked (this may be annoying in the beginning, but I suggest you accept their suggestions and swallow your ego to learn from this beneficial opportunity). You might be called out in front of the whole class for being American by the professor. It's a real test for your ego and self-confidence because you were probably the top of your class at your respective university, or maybe the best at your high school. Here, you're not at that level, and that's just the fact of life.

Solution:
Don't care! Honestly, why care about others' opinions of you? Learn to smile and just realize that the "problem" is not that big of a deal. I stood up in one of my classes and asked a question (in fusha, nonetheless, which is weird to all of my classmates, apparently, though the class is in the Arabic Department) in a class where the teacher had a hearing disorder (thus, I had to repeat the question a number of times). After every time I spoke, probably at least 40% of the class would laugh. Note: there were hundreds of students in the lecture hall (actually, more like overstuffed room with three times the safety capacity). The other 60% were talking or whispering to their friends, and you know what? I didn't care at all because I wanted to know something about what the lecturer mentioned. After the class ended, I headed to the professor's office and spoke to him about the question (because there's a difference of opinion on the topic, which I knew before enrolling in the class), and we further discussed it. Interestingly enough, he's one of the few professors who speaks in MSA when teaching, so when I replied in MSA at his office, regardless of him beginning the conversation in ECA, he replied in MSA and was impressed. That also had to do with me praising him for his use of MSA and saying that he was conserving fusha (for the class was on Qur'anic Sciences in the Arabic Language Department). It's all about using these opportunities to make an impression on the professor, let him/her know who you are and that you're good in Arabic. A good way to prepare for this problem before coming here is to look into self-help. There are plenty of great books out there about this topic, and I'm sure that Barnes and Noble has a whole section because that's always where I head to when visiting the bookstore. Also, if someone tries speaking to you in English, don't reply in English. Keep speaking Arabic. Eventually they'll notice that you can understand the language and will begin speaking to you in Arabic. If they don't, perhaps they want an opportunity to practice their English as well. Don't mind them; just like how you're taking advantage of the opportunities to learn Arabic here, being privileged enough to come on this trip, they, too, want a chance to learn and practice their English. I suggest just being nice and ignoring it, but don't forget to keep speaking Arabic. Look, I'm going to be real. This problem will probably make you cry, or at least tear up, maybe even develop a fear of going to class because the feeling is just so darn weird. That's normal; it's not a bad thing. What's not good is staying in that state and not moving past it. Try to learn to look past the little things and stop caring about their opinions. Speak about the problem with other students here, develop a support group, and keep positive and optimistic. You're here for a particular goal, and anything that's worth something in life is going to have a price. Are you willing to pay it?

Sexual Harassment:
Girls, watch out. I'm not one, but I've heard that it's really bad here in terms of sexual harassment. You may get stared at, have obscenities shouted at you or perverted phrases (it's called mu3aakasa here), and maybe even get body parts touched in crowded areas. I'm sure it's not a good experience, scary, and totally offensive. It may make you feel helpless at times. Hmmm... Perhaps it'd be better if a girl wrote this instead of a boy...

Solution:
I enrolled in a self-defense class at my university for a couple of months, four hours a week, before leaving the US. The issue was important to me, and I wanted to learn not only for myself but also to help others. I think that would be very beneficial in terms of keeping safe because self-defense is mostly about how you act before anything requires you to, God forbid, use the moves you've learned. It's about awareness, assessment, and some other "a," which I can't remember. Action? Anyways, I think such a class, or even a workshop, also builds up your confidence so that you're mentally prepared and feel safe. That's a really important part of just living life here. Don't worry about crime because, other thank pick pocketing (which I hear of but have yet to witness) the crime is nothing even close to the big cities we have in the US like Detroit, New York City, Chicago. I heard that, if being harassed, you should shout and scream certain phrases, which will cause others around the harasser to help you, shaming the harasser and making him look like a perverted fool. Also, I heard that it's normal to hit him with your bag/slippers or shoes if he tries to touch you. I'm not joking. Ask some other Egyptian girls and American girls who have been here before for advice because they'll be the best people to ask. I wanted to just at least mention the issue so that you're not surprised and are more prepared.

Being Asked for Your Number:
Everyone wants an American's number. It's like getting a Michael Jackson (or imagine some other famous individual who is actually still alive because I can't think of a good example at the moment) autograph or something. It may be hard at first to say "no" or that this is a "private" matter because you just met them and are still getting used to the new environment. Literally within the first minute (you may only know their first name) you might be asked for your number. Following this will be the experiences of being stalked or having the most needy friend ever. I mean, I've had a couple of needy friends in the past whose texts and calls I've just ignored. However, here it's like that x100. In the first week I received over 30 calls from new numbers (I think close to 15 new numbers). I missed them all because I used to leave my phone in my room. However, a month later, I still get random calls from numbers I don't know. Just yesterday I received 4 calls from 4 different numbers that I don't recognize. This one dude I met in a class calls me every single day and just lets it ring once so he doesn't waste any money on the phone call, i.e., he wants me to call him back. I tried to call him and let it ring only once as well so he would call me back. This is also like the Egyptian greeting; you let it ring once just to let the person know you're thinking of someone, and they reply with one ring because it's free (phone calls and texts are more expensive here, relative to the US). However, he just called back with the one ring again. I know. Annoying. Today, someone I saw and spoke to and texted (trying to do my duty of being a friend here) early in the day called me 6 times in the evening. Did you just read that correctly? SIX TIMES!!! You'd think it was some sort of emergency like his arm got cut off, his whole family was massacred, or maybe even that Egypt is experiencing a coup. However, it's the same issue over and over. People just want to chill, to hang out, to talk, and it seems like they've got nothing else to do with their time. Or many times they want to practice their English with you. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just meeting the wrong people.

Solution:
Don't give your number out! I've screwed up, and I may have to buy a new sim card because of it. Americans here, even those in other programs, will not do this unless they have some sort of attachment issues. Even the Egyptians on your dorm floor or in the program will probably be cool. That's what I've noticed, and it may be because they're used to being around Americans. Others will most likely not be like this and may even hand out your number to others. My personal advice in terms of the Egyptians who chill day and night: don't hang out with those people too often. At least for me, it's distracting. I'm here to learn Arabic, and, though chillin with Egyptians a great way to improve your ECA, know more about the culture, and may lead to a lifelong friendship, those types of people tend to be kind of pushy (about hanging out with them) and will most likely keep you from your studies. Remember, you're here to learn Arabic, so you've gotta keep up with your assignments. To give you a better picture, one guy texts me every single day to tell me that he has nothing to do and wants to hang out; it's very annoying and distracting. Another technique is to not pick up phone calls or answer texts from numbers that you don't recognize. I've gone through my whole phone book and deleted people I don't know or just don't want to talk to in order to make this more effective. I've also been recommended by another student here in the program to just ignore the calls and texts and that they'll become less and less. Well, I'm going to try that for a couple of weeks and buy a new sim if it doesn't work.

So, as you see, it won't be easy. Those who say it is are probably lying. Prepare yourself for the tough experience knowing that it will be life-changing, resulting in you coming out of it as a different person (at least I hope so; otherwise, you would have just wasted a year of your life).

On Owning an apartment in Egypt

Since there were not enough host families to go around and living in the dorms can be a real drag for a girl, there are 6 of us girls who live in apartments this year. I've been living in an apartment at school for the last three years, but like everything else, I had to learn the system here in Egypt.

Robyn found the apartment for us, through word of mouth. Our boab's son works at the salon nearby. We signed a lease for the extent of our program and put down a month's security deposit. Unlike in the United States, Rent, and the amount of the deposit is negotiable.

We moved in and had a couple of problems with the plumbing. Even though we are in a nice building, our water pressure is a little sketchy and unreliable. So, we had to communicate with our boab to get our washer and toilet fixed. Communicating with our boab can be challenging because he speaks very little English. However, this is a good experience. Actually, about 10 minutes ago, Hannah and I were trying to explain to his daughter that we want wireless internet (we have just one ethernet cable now) and it took a little talking around the subject and hand gesturing because we weren't sure of the word for "router," but we got there.

I was really worried mostly about how to pay our bills when we moved in. In America, you usually set up an account with the gas and electric company. In Egypt, no joking, people just show up at your door on random days to collect the rent/internet/gas/electric/water. It's a little strange, but it works. It's most frustrating when the gas guy shows up, because even though we speak Arabic with him, he's convinced we don't understand, so he usually stands outside our door shouting, "GAZ!!" until we figure out either a) it's time to pay the bill or b) he wants to read the meter in our kitchen.

I was actually very nervous about moving in to an apartment before we did because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle taking care of everything. However, it's proved to be much easier than I thought, and very enjoyable. I'm learning to cook new food with the ingredients available close by, I learned how to unclog our sink first hand (ugh, try never to have to do that), and am learning a lot about social class from interacting with our boab/seeing other tenants interact with him.

One of my favorite parts of our apartment is it's awesome balcony where we can sit outside and do homework, smoke shisha, and people watch. I've included a few pictures of the view from our balcony.

The downside to living in an apartment is that I definitely do not get anywhere near the language practice that the girls in host families get. However, since I haven't lived with my own family for upwards of four years, I felt this was a better choice for me personally. Still, its hard because I know I definitely have to put the extra effort in for language practice while others get that experience just from their everyday living situation.