A quick update

Wow my time here in Cairo is flying by fast. The last time I posted was just after the Holland versus Germany game but now the World Cup is over and Spain has won. And as of right now, I have just three weeks left. Though I am going to try to use up every last minute I have to really experience Egypt, I must admit that I am ready to come home. I miss America like crazy.

But I digress, I was planning to post Cultural Differences part Three now, until I discovered I forgot my flash drive back at the apartment. That means no pictures in this post. But if you love me you'll still keep reading, right? :D

I have two HUGE things to talk about. The first was that I worked all day on Saturday for a Christian concert (Think Middle Eastern Hill Song). I was in charge of capturing all behind-the-scenes footage which the company hopes to use for promos and whatnot. It was really neat to see the once empty stage slowly fill up with lighting, props, and musical instruments. There was always something going on and the men were constantly moving around with heavy equipment.

It being such a long day, I really got a chance to sit down and talk with the guys from the company. While I couldn't understand them much, and their English skills weren't quite fluent, we had a lot of fun joking around and making funny faces. They taught me some new Arabic words and laughed very hard when I tried to pronounce them.

It wasn't all fun and games though. I have a hard time sleeping here in Egypt, and the night before I had only gotten maybe two hours of sleep. Periodically throughout the day I would feel a major headache coming on and my blood sugar drop. Those times were miserable and very, very tough to keep going. And then once the lights dimmed down and the music started, it was hard to stay awake. Not that the music wasn't amazing, but I'm sure you have all been there and know what's it's like. So I went outside and ate a snack and when I went back inside I was feeling SO much better. The rest of the concert was great and even though I couldn't understand the words I could see people just moved to tears throughout the hall. I also know that it was a benefit concert for the Children's Hospital in Cairo so that made the concert even more special.
*Haha as I finished typing this I heard the concert music being played in the other room. They have officially started the very long editing process. They used six cameras.

And secondly, last night I did voice narration for a woman-at-work's husband. He is a freelancer and was hired to create a presentation for an African bank. The bank wanted an native English speaker and we had met before at a party so he knew that I would be available.

After work we drove 45 minutes to the recording studio. Cairo traffic is awful, it would've taken about twenty minutes back home. But it was really cool because the sound designer recording me had also been wthe sound designer for the concert! I didn't recognize him at all, but I kind of stand out here so I wasn't surprised he remembered who I was. Soon after introductions we got to business and I talked through the most ridiculous paper I have ever read. There were words in there I haven't had to use since A.P. English Lit (Props to Ms. Reed!). It was hard reading through such vocab so recording took about two and a half hours for about 7-8 pages. But it went really well and at the end both of them said that I did a great job and I have a fabulous voice. Not going to lie, that compliment made my night. I hate hearing my voice and I know it does not always come across as very pleasant to listen to. But they were happy with it and I got some great experience! I would totally do this again in a heart beat and I hope to do more recording work in the future. I have a feeling I will be. :)