I'm not dead, just on vacation......

I just got back from a badly needed week-long vaction to the North Coast and the Siwa Oasis. I've got a rather large post going about the trip, but until then here are some pictures.

The first picture is of the shadows of the sun as it sank over the Sahara Desert, and the second is of a spring that we swam in outside of Siwa. The third picture is of some Bedouin men dancing around a campfire in the Sahara. The fourth picture is looking across Siwa from the Shali into the desert. The fifth is of me standing in the middle of the desert, the sixth is the beach town on the North Caost that we visited, and the last two pictures are of the Siwa Oasis.

What's my PMA again.......?

To honor my new PMA I'll share some more arabic mistakes from class.

"hammam" (bathroom) vs. "hamaam" (pigeon). I shudder to think how many times I've asked where the pigeon was rather then the bathroom. Thankfully, I've yet to be handed a pigeon. I have eaten it though, and it made me spend a lot of time in the hammam.

"ana ba'ara" (I am a cow) vs. "ana baqra" (I read). You normally drop the q in Egpytian arabic, so my teacher made sure to take the time to point this mistake out. But hey, now I can say "ana mish khwaga, ana amerikkiyya ba'ara" ( I am not a stupid foriegner, I am an American cow).

Loneliness

I got this in response to Wedensday's post. Thanks.... I think ;) 

I just signed away my life....

There's only one more week of Ramadan left, and that means that Eid (which is the iftar of all iftars, and one of the holiest days of the year) is coming up. For a non-Muslim, it means I get a week off school. I've chosen to take a university sponsored trip to the North Coast of Mediterranean (pictured above) and to the Siwa Oasis. Today I had to pay for the trip and sign a liability waver. Being a good and smart American, I made sure that I read the fine print. One line in particular caught my eye and made me laugh. It said, "...responsibility is not accepted for losses or expenses due to sickness, weather, strikes, hostilities, wars, terrorism, natural disasters, or other such causes." Talk about not being in Kansas anymore....

Sunny Day Blues

This morning I heard the sound of rain tapping on my window. In that moment between waking and dreaming, I forgot were I was. My bed was soft and warm, and I could smell my mom's blueberry muffins. Life was good.

Then real life intruded. Car horns jarred me into consciousness. The sound of rain was really my neighbor's AC dripping onto my window ledge. I was in Cairo, not Seattle, and I felt like I'd cut off a chunk of my soul.

I try not to think of home. I try not to think of my family, my friends, my dog. I know that I made the right choice to move here. However, if someone had offered me a plane ticket home this morning, I would have taken it.

By the time I got to school, I felt reasonably whole. Class went well, and I walked home along the Nile. But you should know that I dream of Seattle, of family dinners and days at the beach with friends. Know that I miss you. I will come home, but until then know that you come with me wherever I go. 

Arabic word of the week.... شبشب !!!!!

Occasionally I learn a new arabic word that is so mumtaz (excellent) that I must share it you. This week's word is shib-shib ( شبشب ) A shib-shib is a sandal with an open toe and back (like my Jesus sandals). I love this word because it's so fun to say... SHIB-SHIB!!

I've also made up a Sarabic dictionary (see below). I'll be updating it as I learn new words, and I've got a link to it on the right side of the page for ease of use.

One last administrative note- I've added some pictures to my webshots pages- pictures from the Pyramids at Saqqara, some from rural Giza and a new album called "Cairo from a Bus". They're not the best pictures, and often have glare from the windows, but they do show what the city looks like outside of the monuments and museums. You can find the pictures here http://community.webshots.com/user/1frmseattle , and there is also a permanent link on the right side of the page.

Sarabic 101- A Guide to my Colloquial Dialect

Sarabic 101- A Guide to my Colloquial Dialect

Since I am now officially a student of languages, I feel no shame about dropping in Arabic, Spanish or any bit random colloquial English into my writings. But to be fair to my readers, and because I don't want spend half of my time translating my verbosity, I've decided make a dictionary for ease of use. I will try to update it with any new words or phases as they pop up, and you are welcome to leave me a comment if you feel that something needs to be added. If the phase is in Arabic, I will do my best to transliterate for the best pronunciation.

Ahlan- hello

Ahlan wa sahlan- welcome

Ahwa- coffee, or coffee shop

ALI- Arabic Language Unit

Ana- I, my. "ana ismee sarah" = "my name is sarah"

As salaam alaykum- a formal way of greeting someone. It should be followed by "wa alaykum as salaam". Translated they mean "peace be upon you" and "upon you be peace".

AUC- the American University in Cairo

Aywa- yes, more formally na'am is used

ba'ara- cow

baqra- to read

Higab- headcovering.

Hamaam- Pigeon

Hammaam-Bathroom

Haram- Pyramid

Harem- Forbidden

Inshallah- if god wills it. Can also be used as polite maybe, as in "I'll meet you tomorrow, inshallah."

laa- no

Kushari- lentils, noodles and rice topped with a tomato onion sauce. Very, very tasty.

Ma'as salaama- goodbye, literally "with peace"

Marharbah- Hello

Masaa il khyer- good afternoon or evening. The proper response would be masaa il noor. Literally translated they mean "Evening of Goodness" and "Evening of Light".

Masr- Egypt, but can also mean the city of Cairo

Medina- city

PMA- Positive Mental Attitude

Sabah il khyer- good morning, and the proper response is "sabah il noor". Literally translated they mean "Morning of Goodness" and "Morning of Light".

Shukran- thanks. More formally use shukran gazeelan.

SOL- shit out of luck

Street Talk

One of my favorite things about living in Cairo is that I can walk just about anywhere I need to go. The more I walk around Cairo, the better I have an understanding of what the city is really like, and what the people are about. That being said, walking in Cairo is not for the faint of heart or weak kneed. For one thing, the sidewalks are not the clean & lovely pedestrian friendly kind that America is used to. The difference between the sidewalk and the street often makes you feel like you are on a stairmaster rather then a sidewalk. In addition to double and triple parking on the street, people park on the sidewalk which renders walking in a straight line impossible. Then there is what I refer to as the Cairo Shower. Everywhere you go, the air conditioners from above drip a constant flow onto the street, and you've got to be on the lookout or you'll get wet.

Walking in Cairo also requires a strong disregard for safety, personal or otherwise. It also helps to understand the pattern and cadence of horn blowing, to have your ear tuned to the difference between the "I'm passing you" honk and the "get the hell out of my way or I'll hit you!" honk. You must disregard any and all traffic laws, and most importantly, you must NEVER hesitate. To hesitate is to ask to get hit. One may stop in the middle of traffic, or run hell bent through it, but once the decision is made, you stick to it.

This may all sound like complaint, but the truth is I enjoy it. My walk to each morning wakes me up better then any cup of coffee. I get to meet all sorts of people, and get a good laugh most of the time. For example, I was walking home yesterday just as the primary schools were getting out and ran into a group of boys. They looked about eight or nine, and had on uniforms on that made them look positively angelic. But being little boys, they were up to no good and happened to be setting off small firecrackers in the street. They set one off right behind me, and rather then jumping and freaking out, I grinned and said "mumtaz!" (no shock if you know how much I like to blow things up). I asked if I could light one and got huge smiles all around. They proceeded to let me light off several, and showed off their rather impressive collection of small explosives. It was the highlight of my day, and one I would have missed it if I had taken a taxi.

I also get to hear some of the cheesiest lines know to womankind. I have been told that I am in the dreams and hearts of many men here; I get to hear things like this- "Hey pretty lady, you walk like an Egyptian!" Yeah, whatever... when I heard that, I thought of the picture above. That of course, made me laugh, and I almost got hit by a car as I crossed the street. I did however, keep walking like an Egyptian away. There's also been "Hello! You from America? Welcome to Alaska!" I've heard it several times, and there must be some kind of inside joke that I'm not getting.

But my all time favorite street conversation came the first week that I was here. As I was walking past an Ahwa (coffee shop) I heard "Hello, you American?" I half smile, because I pretty much had "Rich & Stupid American" tattooed to my forehead as far as the locals were concerned. The man continued, "Do you need a husband? I can be a good husband!" I'm sure that his idea and my idea of what construes a good husband was vastly different. The man was in his late sixties and had less teeth then my eighteen-year old sheltie did, but he seemed to be teasing me so I smiled at him and said, "Does that mean that you'll wear the skirt?" This made him laugh pretty hard, and he convinced me to sit and have coffee with him and his cronies. They taught a little backgammon and we had a lovely chat. When I left, he gave me his son's cell number so that I could call him and get a good Egyptian husband. No word about the skirt however.

So go for walk. Leave the cell phone and ipod at home, and become a tourist in your own town. You may be surprised at what you find out, or perhaps you'll want to move. Worse comes to worse, you can always move here!