Bienvenue aux lecteurs du journal La Croix!

DukeEngage Cairo was featured yesterday in an article in the French-language newspaper La Croix. For those, like myself, who pretend to remember high school French, here is the link to the the article.

La Croix was also kind enough to link to our blog, so I wanted to welcome any of its readers who followed the link here. A special merci beaucoup goes out to Nina Hubinet, the author of this fantastic piece.

A Sudden Burst of Energy

On Saturday July 3rd, we went Ana El-Masry at our scheduled time. When we arrived to the complex, to our surprise it was extremely quiet. The complex was lacking the incredible energy and the loud voices of the children. We looked for a staff member to figure out what was going on. We were, then, informed that the older kids from ages 9-16 had been sent to a three day camp, and that the only children in the complex were the nursery kids. The staff member led us to the TV room, where before we entered the kids were quietly and orderly playing and watching TV. As soon as they felt our presence, chaos broke loose. The kids suddenly acquired a burst of energy. They were so happy to see us. Immediately, kids wanted to play Ms. Mary Mack, Jacks or just sit on us and talk to us. The kids fought for our attention. They all wanted to sit on us, hold our hands, or play with us. Some kids created trouble just to get attention. However, slowly the kids began to fall asleep. The sudden burst of energy was only temporary, and their little bodies could not fight sleep anymore. After the 3 hours that we were there, most of the kids were asleep on the floor or on couches. I took the opportunity to take these pictures, for this would probably never occur again.

Today's Tidbits - June 28

Today's Titles:

• The Group Vs. The Fender-Bender
• Brendan Gets Bit on the Butt
• The Spit-On-Andi Game
• John Starts a Barbershop Quartet
• Arab Academy vs. Going to the Cinema
• Rho Phi Gamma
• Fernando and the Giggles

Songs of the Day:

• "I'll Make A Man Out of You" -from Mulan
• "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne

Quotes of the Day:

• "Fi Amreeka naqul DUH." Translation: In America, we say DUH. -Ruba
• "Hatha explains katheer." Translation: That explains a lot. -Andi
• "Ya'll.....ya'll......ya'll......" -John teaching "ya'll" to his students
• "Ah Nusaibah, it's your birthday." -Professor Lo
• "Maheen, I thought your birthday was yesterday." -Professor Lo once again

Favorite Moments:

• Nusaibah's Birthday (and all THREE cakes)
• Lindsey and Fernando get documented by a random guy
• Robert Doyle's President Broadhead Impersonation
• Our security detail scaring off street salesman
• The Ain Shams kids singing "I Believe I Can Fly"
• Seeing the Mediterranean
• John Making Popcorn

Always Something New

Every day in Cairo is a little bit different. There are new adventures to be had, a new bawab guarding the entrance to our apartment building (a bawab is like a doorman or bellhop, and they chill on the ground floor and open doors for us), new bug bites to be futilely ignored, new types of street food to be attempted, and new places to explore.

When Fernando and I go to Ardilewa (or, Ard al-Liwa), our new adventure is the trip over. The metro ride is pretty standard, give or take the different looks and/or comments I receive, but the microbus ride is always something special. Our first real microbus ride was on the way over, just the two of us, with no one to explain as everyone in the bus began to pass money to a random passenger on the bus. At first, I didn't notice. I was too busy looking out the window, worrying that we were going to miss where we were supposed to get off, and ignoring the man who would not stop staring at the arm I was using to brace myself. Note that we were in the front of a quite crowded bus, facing the rest of the passengers, in an area where very few foreigners venture and certainly, if they do, they don't take the minibus. When I eventually realized that money was going around the bus and I had no idea why, I gave Fernando a panicked look. Did he actually work for the bus driver, but just sit in the back? Was it a low-key holdup that none of the Egyptians cared about but was going to rob us of all of our money? Was I missing some vital, culturally significant activity?

Turns out, it's just easier for everyone on the bus to pass their money forward to someone close enough to pass money to the driver, so my initial fears were unwarranted. But every day on the microbus presents some kind of new puzzle, whether it's how to get the driver to stop, whether or not we should just jump off, how to get around the fold-down seats full of people blocking our exit, or discovering which microbus we should actually get on.

The microbus isn't the end of our adventure, although the market area through which we weave in order to find the correct alleyway down which we meander in order to arrive at the building containing our site is actually usually less exciting, despite its overflow of people, vehicles, animals, goods, and food. But, all in all, pushing through all this is more than made up for by our students, because they are more than worth it!

Today's Tidbits - June 8

Today’s Titles:

• FDOC
• Zuri Vs. The World, Part Ten(Thousand)
• The Girl’s Apartment Conquers the Stove
• Max, Ruba, Moana, and Zuri Vs. The Minibus
• Community Facilitators, Orientation, and Other Wonderful Things

Songs of the Day:

• “Pokemon Theme Song” in Arabic
• “Make It Through” by Sherwood

Quotes of the Day:

• “Don’t drive with Hannah. She’s a terrible taxi driver.” -Ingie, the Arab Academy teacher during a taxi-cab, role-playing game.
• “Legiternet” and “sly-fi” –John’s terms for “legitimate internet” connections and “possibly unsafe” ones

Favorite Moments:

• First Day of Classes
• Animal Toss Game at Orientation
• Minibuses
• We gave in…and went to McDonald’s

DukeEngager of the Day: Fernando, future bodyguard

Today's Tidbits - June 6

Today's Titles:

• Everyone Delivers
• Arabic 2 vs. the Placement Exam
• Andi vs. Invalid Wells Fargo Phone Numbers
• Nusaibah vs. The Stationary Store
• Fernando and Moana's Embassy Adventure
  

Songs of the Day:

• "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel
• "Apache" by Sugar Hill Gang

Anonymous Quotes of the Day:

• "What's the news, Fat-mah?"
  
• "You're lucky not to be a refugee."
  
• "I bet your father is part of the NRA."

Favorite Moments:

• Receiving the magic coffee wand (and the coffee with it!) at Arab Academy
• Meeting a soon-to-be-Dukie (who was way too nice to us!)
• Comparing ICS Majors to car dealerships ("Everything's pre-approved!" - John)
  
• Fry sandwiches
• Crown pizza (Pizza Hut + Cream Cheese)

DukeEngager of the Day: Zuri (who hopefully is feeling much better now)

June 5: Crosses, Icons and Graves

Today, Hillary and I decided to go on an adventure and visit Coptic Cairo. We rode the metro four stops south to Mar Girgis. Coptic Cairo was there, immediately outside of the station with beautiful Byzantine-like churches all around. The Coptic Museum was closing in 2 hours so we stopped by there first. We were amazed by the beauty of the wall paintings, the column capitals, friezes and mosaics - all from old Egyptian Coptic monasteries. Also, there were gorgeous illuminated copies of the gospels in both Arabic and Coptic.

After leaving the museum, we explored the Church of St. George, who is known for his slaying of the dragon, and the Church of the Virgin Mary, which was built at the spot where she supposedly drank water from a well during her visit to Egypt. Within the Church of St. George, there were signs on which people wrote their names or prayers and icons of St. George that people touched, hoping for a blessing. Located in the middle of an immense cemetery, the Church of the Virgin Mary houses a well from which the faithful drink to obtain blessings or physical healing.

After leaving the churches, we continued our adventure by descending down steps – guarded by a very bored Egyptian tourist police officer - to a sub-alley. Here, Hillary and I entered a nunnery that was being remodeled, encountered our first beggar, and visited a souvenir shop, where we befriended one of the shop-keepers (Marian). After chatting (in English) with her for a good 45 minutes, we exchanged email addresses in hopes of meeting up with our friends and her friends later this summer. Our visit to Coptic Cairo was definitely a wonderful adventure and opportunity to use our Arabic to get around. We can’t wait to take everyone else back.

Today's Tidbits - June 4

Today’s Title:

• The Group Vs. Taxis
• Darn Those Apricots!
• Rap Like An Egyptian
• The Battle Against Jet Lag
• Vodaphone!
• There’s A First Time For Everything: Street Food

Songs of the Day:

• “Every Day I See My Dream” by LMFAO
• “I Want To Get Married But I Don’t Have Money” by the 3 Egyptian Rappers at the Concert

Quotes of the Today:

• “You Arab?” to Fernando by Mall Security Guard
• “You have the worst Arabic I’ve ever heard!” to Ruba, by Native Speaker
• “I just don’t understand you Egyptians” by Ruba, as a response to Native Speaker

Favorite Moments:

• Wust El Balad Concert
• Taxi Rides (on our own!)
• Street Food Adventures
• Sleeping, then Napping

(Former) DukeEngagers of the Day: Cosette and Andrew