First of all a breakdown of classes:
Colloquial arabic: This is a 100 level course designed to teach me Egyptian Arabic, which is the most widely understood dialect. So that I might actually talk to people, what a novel idea.
Modern Standard Arabic: This class teaches fous-ha or the language of the elite and the media. All news networks use this form of arabic as do two Arabs who want to communicate with each other but speak different dialects, mind you this is only for the extremely educated and most people on the street do not understand it. I signed up for the 102 course as the 101 covered everything I learned last semester, but what I did not know was that this 102 course starts at chapter 6. My last semester ended with chapter 2, so now not only am I trying to learn chapter 6, but 3,4, and 5 as well. It is very frustrating, but I explained my situation to my professor as I can no longer drop the class without receiving and "F" for the course. He has been very helpful and agreed to meet with me during his office hours to go over the missing chapters. He is my favorite prof. thus far here, he is very good at simplifying and explaining things. He is also an Albino, which apparently is very common in certain parts of Africa but they are often discriminated against and treated as second class citizens. That is why many of them come to Egypt as they are much more accepted here.
Anthropology: The People and Cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa: VERY interesting course, really eye-opening about the imperialistic views of the West towards Black Africa. I actually already have a presentation in class on Monday about "Blacks in Film" so wish me luck!
Political Economy: Yuck.
Art and Architecture of Cairo: As previously mentioned, this course meets twice a week to learn about different key features in Cairo art. Then on Saturdays, we take trips to visit what we discussed in class. Expect tons of pictures!
So combine this insane work load (I wanted to prove to the Egyptian kids that you CAN work hard and play hard; what was I thinking?) with the fact that the inauguration of the new campus has been going on all week and you understand my lack of time to blog.
As I mentioned earlier, Susan Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt, is an AUC alumna and came to see the new campus on Saturday. Those of us who did not make the guest list were forced to stay in our dorms all day for security reasons, but during my renegade trip to the food court I discovered that we had snipers on our building. Legit snipers in the dorms. The thing that really gets me though is not the snipers, but the fact that campus was beautified with fountains and lush plants for her arrival but half the classrooms haven't been painted yet. Also, the new recreation facility was supposed to be finished in time for the inauguration, but in typical Egyptian fashion, it wasn't. So they FILLED AN OLYMPIC SIZE SWIMMING POOL, ONLY TO DRAIN IT SEVERAL HOURS LATER. Seriously? We are in the middle of the desert, there is a water shortage, they want us to take shorter showers and do laundry less frequently but they will fill an incomplete pool with water for several hours and run thirty fountains, just to show off to the board of trustees?
The rest of the inaugural activities, however, have been wonderful. Tonight I attended both a lecture by the infamous Jeffery Sachs ( I love his work, I was like one of those stupid screaming girls during Beatlemania, minus the screaming) on the elimination of poverty in Africa and around the globe. I love that he is so rational and reasonable, but still has an evident passion for his cause that is so inspiring. I also enjoyed his caution for the new U.S. administration, don't get me wrong, I think it is a definite step in the right direction and we have elected a great leader, but I am really sick of people worshipping the ground President Obama walks on before he has even done anything yet. It is just setting him up for disappointment, as things will not just magically change as people seem to expect them to do immediately. Anyway, I digress.
After the lecture, I went to the Faculty showcase concert which featured most of the Music Department staff performing what they love. It was a vast array of styles which included Opera, Spanish guitar, traditional Oriental music, American folk songs, and ended with a Byzantine chant. It was a spectacular performance by all the staff and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Now this last section is the most important and the most sensitive information I give but I feel I should do my part to "spread some ink" on this issue. Friday night, Philip Rizk, a graduate student at AUC, was detained for a peaceful protest in the support of Gaza, there is no freedom of assembly in Egypt. He, along with several other students had been peacefully marching to the Gaza borders in hopes that Egypt will open the border to humanitarian aide for Gaza. For more detailed information on this event, see his facebook group. I do not think it wise to write any more information here but this is a serious issue on campus and has everyone worried. Philip is half Egyptian and half German, so there is hope that the German Embassy will intervene as Amnesty International already has. Please keep him and his family in your prayers. Please do not worry about me though, this is because he is a journalist and documentarist of political movements. All I write is this blog.
Well, on that lovely note I will leave you as I have a mountain of reading to do. I love you all and would really like to have some comments to read!
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