It's all Arabic to me...

So I am still slowly trying to learn the language here. I'm not picking it up as nearly as fast as I would have hoped. Granted, Arabic is one of the hardest languages to learn...but being surrounded by people speaking it you would expect I'd be much better this.
These are some  words I typically hear everyday:

Sabah el Kheir. Ezzayek? Kwayyesa, Meyya Meyya. Ana bashrab shai akhdar. Shib shib el FACEBOOK. Bent beid ful toffah batteekh. Samik, Coca-Cola, Manga basal shawah.
And of course; Hey.....Basbusa! (I hear this one multiple times throughout the day)

And ok it's confession time. All those words up there? I actually do know. But they are in no kind of order so to any of my Egyptian friends who read this will be totally confused. Though I really will overhear two people talking rapidly in Arabic, then randomly hear words I know like Facebook, Coca-cola and most computer lingo. Definitely makes me smile.

This picture is from the set of our video shoot for a teenage discussion program. The teenagers we worked with were awesome and super cool. They learned a good deal of English from school so it was easy to talk to them.

We even started to play Egyptian Monopoly, but I kept doing things the English way and they would get confused and try to correct me, but then I would get confused and we'd have to start all over. The differences weren't ridiculously large, but they were enough to convince us to try something else. We started to play Never have I Ever, but I got called to go work. It was fun though.

My time in Minya

Minya is very different from Cairo or AlRehab. You see poor people all the time in Cairo, but in Minya the poverty takes on a whole other level. Now, there are certainly well off people there, but passing by the farms and seeing the majority of the buildings just barely standing really speaks to a person. And it was a normal sight to see two or three kids riding down the street on a donkey. I saw donkeys everywhere! Anyway, Nashaat and Fadi took me walking around some and we talked about what life is like there. 

 They also bought me a Coca-Cola. I rarely drink soda at home but I knew i would be inevitable here, especially since I promised to bring back Coke bottles for two of my really good friends. Well, here's one down! Though, I will admit I have been drinking a lot of 7 Up, it's hard to say no to people when they hand me stuff...

Getting to see more of Egypt was a really great experience and I cannot even write down all that I felt there. One of the producers I work with was just telling me that his church does a lot of outreach for the poorest of the poor in Minya. I was really glad to hear that, because really, these people are stuck in a never ending cycle. They work hard, but can never make enough money to create an easier life. As I go around and see how true this really is, I feel called to help make a difference in people's lives. One of my favorite travel photographers is Austin Mann, and maybe one day I'll get to show the world how to help just like he does. 

After the training course was over, we made the trip back to Rehab. We were supposed to take the train back, just like we came, but there was a huge miscommunication and somehow we only had two return tickets instead of three. And since the train station couldn't help us out at all, we sold our tickets and took a taxi back instead. We traveled through the desert which led to some crazy sights. 

              Transporting Camels in a truck.

             Plenty of sand and semi mountains.

And we took a break at this random resort-like place halfway through. The sunset was beautiful!

Now to go through all the rest of my pictures from yesterday...three different people were taking pictures with my camera at this monster long video shoot. Now I have 400 + pics on my memory card. Wow. 

Sight-seeing in Cairo

Yesterday I got to travel a lot around the city. There were two Algerians who were working here to produce a program and they wanted to go sightseeing before leaving Egypt. I tagged along and had a wonderful time. It was tough though, due to my long schedule. I woke up early to pray for my good friend, Paul Watson. Paul is only 24 but was recently diagnosed with cancer and is currently going through Chemotherapy. One of my other friends had organized a 24 hour prayer vigil for him, which I wanted to participate in.

Then I rode the bus all by myself to meet up with the small group (five of us, 3 spoke Arabic, 2 spoke Dutch, and 2 spoke English).

We left the meeting place at Ten, and traveled to this Church that had been carved into the Miracle Mountain. For more info about it, check out the link. We passed through this poverty stricken area called Garbage City.

 Then we went to the Egyptian museum, where you are only allowed to take pictures in the Courtyard. :(

The museum has a ton of historical artifacts and is very extensive. My favorite room was the one with all of the belongings of King Tut. His mummified body is on display in Luxor, but many of the items he was buried with are here. I couldn't believe how beautiful everything was, especially with how old these items were. Right after viewing King Tut's belongings, I went into the Mummy room. Wow. It was definitely a life time opportunity and I am very glad I got to see them. It was creepy, not going to lie. But definitely worth it. One of the mummies was a queen, and her description said that she was obese and had bad teeth. I looked down at her leathery skin and broken nose and could not help but think, 'Man, time has not been very good to you!' Then I laughed at myself for the absurdity of it. Still, it is amazing to see what some people will do to try to prepare themselves for eternity. And heartbreaking at the same time. After the museum we ate our dinner and explored downtown. We went through the fruit market street where everything looked so delicious, passed by multiple street vendors, and ended the day with a boat ride on the Nile. I didn't end up getting back to the house until midnight.

Oh sleep, how I miss thee.

      My favorite shot of the day!

Al Minya

Words cannot describe my time in Minya, I had such a great time! Even though my air conditioning in the hotel broke...
         Shot of the training/conference room

A good portion of the conference dealt with FGM, and ways to help the girls most at risk. This is a disgusting practice that has nothing to do with religion or medical reasons. While FGM is not completely widespread in the Middle East it is still performed in Upper Egypt as well as in Yemen and Somalia.

And here is a picture of me with a woman who is fighting this in her village. She was telling me that girls are now starting to tell their families who want them to be "circumcised" that it is their right to be healthy, that they want their body the way it is. It was very encouraging to hear, but still sad to have to hear it.

More on my time in Upper Egypt next time...As well as about my experience in the Egyptian Museum! I am going there tomorrow with some Algerians (who live in Holland) that are doing a series of programs through Media House. They speak English really well and have several American friends so I think it'll be a good day. Hopefully I don't get lost on my way to meet them though!

The Nile!

This is just a super quick post since I am leaving for Minia in about ten minutes. But yesterday the video guys from Media House had a meeting on the Nile river and I got to go! I couldn't understand anything, but the scenery was cool.
      Candid shot of me on the boat

And here's a shot of some of the guys

One last shot of the Nile!

Ok, I'm off! Hopefully the situation won't be too tough...

Basbusa

There is a fly on my desk. But not just any fly, a fly that has been here the entire day and will not go away. He has landed on my head multiple times, walked up and down my computer, and basically annoyed me for hours. No matter how hard or fast I fling out my hand, he comes right on back. It brought to mind this lesson that God has been teaching me about patience and such as I have been reading through Proverbs. Even though this fly is getting on my last nerve there is still so much more to be grateful for. The other day I was able to get out and just go walking around downtown Cairo with a guy who helps a lot of the missionaries that come through. We started talking about all the differences between the two countries and how Egyptians get treated here versus how Americans get treated here. I've had quite a few conversations about this with other Egyptains but speaking to someone who is going to college like me and is close to my age really brought it home. As an American, I get more privileges in other countries than I ever realized. Sometimes even more than the citizens of the country itself. I could do into much deeper detail, but a meeting is about to start and I gotta go run. So yes, this fly is driving me crazy, but I'm still grateful. Grateful for an opportunity like this, grateful for the blessings I have recieved, and grateful that I have the strength to go about in a different culture and learn from it. Tomorrow I am heading out on a three day trip to film some military trainging. I have no idea what to expect and I'm certainly not going to risk bringing my computer. It's a four hour train ride to get there and I'm not exactly sure what I'll be living in. All I've been told is that it is going to be very hot there. Way hotter than it is here. Anyway, I should learn a lot. Hopefully.

              Picture: They call me Basbusa! 

It is a really sweet Egyptian desert. I think they decided to call me this on the third or forth day. So funny.

Here is the song that made Basbusa famous.

I am now 21

      Just writing that title seems weird to me. Growing up, I always felt like I had AGES till I became an adult, so why worry about it? Well the years have flown by and legally I am as adult as you can get. Yet many people in Egypt have remarked to me that I seem young or that I "have a young soul." Which is kind of funny to me because many of my peers from back home have said that I can be really mature for my age. Personally I guess I'm somewhere right smack in the middle.
      I do have a plan for my future and have many BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) but still one of my biggest wishes is like that of Peter Pan's, to always remain a girl, and to have adventures. And it's funny, stick me in a pool and I will act like I'm 8, flipping and diving and playing Marco Polo...but stick me in a room full of professionals and I can be just as reserved and polished as the best of them (If I don't spill anything on my clothes while doing it. I've dropped more food on my shirt the past two weeks at the office than anywhere else, sigh).
     So, I got an email from my dad yesterday containing a PDF of the birthday card I would have gotten if I was at home. The picture he used of me was me holding my cake on my 16th birthday! Man that brought back some great memories. It really made me want to go and track down all the pictures from my birthdays, just to see how much I truly have grown up. But since I don't have any access to old pictures, which is a shame, I really need to fix this, the picture of my 21st (missing 20 candles) Birthday cake and I will have to do.

Everyone who was at work yesterday came in and sang the birthday song to me! I wasn't expecting it so it was really great. The people here are awesome.

Anyway, yesterday I really didn't get much of a chance to celebrate my birthday but tonight I am going out to Cairo with a neighbor who speaks English really well. His best friends growing up were missionaries so he  knows a lot of American slang. In fact, the first  words he said to me were, "What's Cracka lackin? Haha, so funny. Anyway he's going to show me what people my age do in Cairo on the weekends. Should be fun!
Also, for my 21st birthday I signed up on Twitter. I can tell I'm going to like it already and it'll be a great tool for me to use in gaining information. If you want to follow me on there I'm EEwing390, I'll make sure I keep it interesting!