Day 59: October 22

Woke up today and ran out the door. Took the Metro to the bus and the bus to school. Nothing to unusual there.

Media was spent doing online listening exercises. After that we did vocab review in MSA. Following MSA I got lunch with Max and Henry. During colloquial we did situations where each of us played customer or pharmacist.

After class I went to the track and did my air alert workout and then made my way home.

Once home I started doing homework for the next week. I don’t have allot of it, but I figure I can at least get a head start. At seven I walked to the down town metro to meet up with Nick and Mido. From there we caught the metro to Maadi and prepared to play some Ultimate.

Ultimate was good until about an hour in. I was handling with one of the Egyptians named Joey. He never looked dump and then threw it away. He then proceeded to yell at me for not getting open for him. To which I told him I was waiting for him to look to his dump (ie: me) otherwise I’d cut to early…

He was pissed and kept blaming me… I just laughed and explained that I’d been playing competitively for three years, I knew what I was doing. We continued to argue for a few minutes but eventually he cooled down. Or so I thought. Ten minutes later he blew up. Nothing provoked him, he just went off. Started yelling and telling me how horrible of a person I was and that I should never come back. It took three people to pull him away from me. I sat with my hands behind my back… I wanted to make it clear that I was not provoking or egging him on.

It was ridiculous. He ended up storming off and playing for the other team. I figured this would never resolve itself if I didn’t at least go and ‘apologize’ for whatever wrong I had committed. I went and apologized and tried to find out what the problem was… I never did really figure it out, but I tried to be the bigger man. Nothing more I could do.

Got a ride back with Mohammed. Met up with Evan and got a quick bite before heading to Zamalek. Ben, Mike, and Jessie were having a small party which we joined. Allot of people from ALI just chilling. It was fun spending time with all of them outside of our crazy schedule. Eventually I caught a cab back home.

Called Sara and went to bed.

Day 58: October 21

Woke up and took the early bus to campus. Met Henry near the HUSS building to go over our project. We are supposed to give a presentation on a country, giving details about its economy, geography, cities, imports, exports, etc, etc. We have chosen Syria. My part of the presentation covered the history, government, and geography.

However, first I have to give my media presentation. I did mine differently than everyone else. I summarized my article and actually presented. Everyone else just read their article and asked questions. I personally like my method better… whatever. I of course had my usual public speaking problems. Shaking legs and occasional stutters. However, I got through it.

The next class was MSA and time to give our country presentation. Henry and I got up and gave our presentation. It went well for the most part. My hatred of speaking in front of groups hadn’t changed in the past hour… However, we presented the material and got good marks.

After presentations we went straight into writing. Talking about the use of ‘but’. Something We’ve covered back in San Diego, however, still useful to review.

No break today... straight to colloquial. It was the conversation class which we spent going over the different body parts and their pronunciations.

After class I had an hour and a half to kill. Spent the first part doing grammar worksheets from MSA and the second part getting lunch with Henry (he gets out after I do). At four o’clock Henry and I walked back to the HUSS building to meet with JJ.

We held our second Bible study. This week we covered the second chapter of John. We really have no formula figured out, but we read and discussed the chapter. From there we talked about our walks and quiet time.

Afterwards I took the bus home. I got back to the apartment and decided to relax for awhile after working so hard on the two projects. Watched Apocalypse Now and did some translation work. Gave Sara a call and went to bed.

Day 57: October 20

Not much to report today. (It probably doesn’t help I am writing this almost a month later…)

Had all my classes except media. After class I spent the rest of the day preparing for the two presentation I have to give tomorrow. Ate Koshri for dinner. Called Sara. Went to bed after finishing my presentations.

Day 56: October 19

Woke up and went to school.

Media class was pretty mundane. Started to go over more of chapter two. Mostly did vocabulary and looked over the stories in the chapter. I talked to her after class about the previous days test. We looked over it together and went over strategies to better understand the new vocab.. She also offered me chance to retake it and redeem my score. The teachers at ALI are really understanding and willing to work with the students.

After my palaver with the teacher I went to grab food and work on homework for the upcoming week. I have two presentations due Wednesday, and the more homework I can get done on campus the more time I can spend on the presentations at home…

Went to colloquial and had a watched some television advertisements.

After class I went to the track and did a sprint workout. Nothing to crazy, but enough to be sore afterwards. From the track I walked to the bus stop and took the bus home.

At the apartment I started working on my media presentation. I’ve got to present an Arabic news article and then explain it in Arabic. I found one that uses the vocab we have recently been using. The article was about a meeting between Mubarak and the Arab League where they discussed border security and Iraq.

Haven’t played ultimate in a few weeks and decided to go out today. Met Mido and Nick at the Metro and made our way to Maadi. From there we caught a cab and arrived at the fields. Played ultimate for the next 3 hours. Today was a good day. We had enough for two full teams and everyone played hard. Actually competitive for a change.

Afterwards, Nick and I got a ride back with two Egyptian players. They were kind enough to drop me off on Kasr El-Eine near my house. Went upstairs and did a little review before falling asleep.

Day 55: October 18

Woke up and made my way to class. Metro, Bus, Class…

Today we have another media test. yay…. I felt ready for the test prior to taking it…. Then I took it. I felt confident about the matching section but the fill in the blank section destroyed me. Well all I can do is put that one behind me and prepare for the next one.

We had a three hour break after media. I went to the track and did a short run followed by Air Alert. It felt good to be on the track and not thinking about Arabic. After my run I walked back to the library and did some studying for colloquial. Didn’t have to study, just thought it would be useful to review.

Went to colloquial and talked about pharmacies and hospitals. Afterward caught the bus home… read a John Grisham book leant to me by Henry. It’s called The Brethren.

Got home and did some homework. Have MSA tomorrow and need to make sure I’m on top of the new vocab. Evan got home around six and we went to grab koshri.

After dinner I did some review and called Sara.

Went to bed a little before midnight.

Day 54: October 17

Woke up at 11 am and went out with Evan to grab brunch. We went to the local sandwich shop. Which for clarification is pretty much a hot dog stand with an assortment of Arab foods (fool, mostafa, babaganush..etc). We both grabbed a few sandwiches and went to a café to grab tea and eat. After eating we went to a bakery to grab some breakfast items for the next week. I got five chocolate Danishes, one for each day of the week.

Walked back and started to do homework. Got some MSA and some media listening/reading to do today. Max and I are supposed to meet up later to work on media, so I started work on the MSA. Finished MSA just in time for Max to call and get directions. Half an hour later I get another call from a hopelessly lost max… I ended up walking towards Tahriir to meet with him and show him how to get back.

We arrived back at my place and started work on the listening exercises. A few hours later we finished the listening. This means I was finally done with all the makeup work and all caught up. What a relief.

We decided to get some food in celebration of our accomplishment. Evan, Max, and I went to the chicken shop near the metro. Evan got some stuffed vegetables while Max and I got the Chicken. I don’t know what makes the chicken here so good, but this place seems to bake it perfectly. Crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.

After dinner we went back and hung out for awhile. Mostly talked politics and life in Egypt. It was nice to just hang out. Max is a really nice kid, not always the most motivated or responsible, but he is real talented in Arabic and fun to hang out with.

Max left at around midnight and I went to bed shortly thereafter.

Day 53: October 16

Woke up after a full nights rest feeling refreshed. Did allot a good amount of homework in the morning and early afternoon. Decided to spend the rest of the day resting and vegging after a long week. Felt really good just to relax. Watched Star Wars… such good movies!

Jessie came over later to hang out with Evan and the three of us went and grabbed dinner. We went back to the place where we had been getting chicken. This time we got a plate of Mochshi (stuffed vegetables) and a shared bowl of lamb stew (I can’t remember the name). Both were excellent and all of us left stuffed.

Came back home and hung out for awhile. When it got late enough I made a phone call home to see how everyone was doing. Went to bed at around 2.

Day 52: October 15

Rolled out of bed at 7:15 and went through the normal song and dance. Took the metro to the bus and the bus to school.

On Fridays the media class typically listens to radio broadcasts and answers questions about them. Usually three or four of them are done in class and are assigned two more for homework. It’s one thing to read articles but listening to the accents makes it hard and the speed at which reporters speaks makes it even harder… However, it is a useful skill to develop.

After media we went over the last part of chapter four in MSA. This is in preparation to work on chapter five next week. We are going pretty quick, but at least we are finally making some progress.

Had lunch with Max and Ben. Afterwards, Ben and I walked to colloquial. Had our typical discussions in colloquial. This past week we have been practicing the more formal way of address (hadritik/hadritak). Apparently Americans have a bad reputation for being disrespectful because they don’t use this with elders etc. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t taught earlier. Either way I plan on using it more in conversation.

After class I made my way over to the track and did my last air alert workout for the week. It’s amazing how tired jumping can make you.

Took the bus home and took a quick nap. Called around and apparently none of the Americans were going to ultimate tonight… the competition only seems to be good when the Americans show up. On top of this Nick still had my cleats, so I guess I’m not going.

Earlier Ben had invited me to a big party that he and some others were organizing on a 100 person falooka. It sounded like it was going to be pretty fun, but I decided that my time would be better spent practicing my Arabic downtown.

Evan and I decided to head downtown and see what we could find going on over there. We got dinner at a shwarma shop and hung out around Tahriir Square. Evan stopped into a local internet café to use skype and I went into a few stores looking to buy a new pair of jeans. I ended up finding a pretty trendy jean shop and bought a pair for just over thirty dollars… and they were tailored for an extra one dollar. The guys working in the shop were really nice too. I stayed and talked with them for almost half an hour.

Eventually Evan and I met up and headed towards our old hostel to look for familiar faces. We stopped off at the coffee shop where we met Saeed and chatted with the waiters we knew. One of the waiters wanted to introduce us to a friend… it turns out his friend is brigadier general of the Egyptian Army.

General Saeed was a communications engineer in the army and had traveled to nearly every country in the world. It was crazy talking to him about his travels. He was fluent in English and spoke bits and pieces of many other languages. It was probably some of the coolest conversations I have had in Arabic. It was really cool because I got to practice allot of the vocab I had learned in Media class (first time I got to use it practically).

Half way through the conversation Evan disappeared with the waiter… half an hour later I finished the conversation with Saeed and fifteen minutes later there was no sign of Evan… I decided to walk home. Got some Ice Cream at a sweet shop and casually walked through downtown, stopping to browse and chat. It was a real enjoyable evening.

Arrived just after midnight and watched part of Crimson Tide. Afterwards I called Sara and went to bed.

Day 51: October 14

Woke up on time and left for class.

In media we went over an article talking about Mubarak meeting with other officials. In MSA we continued to talk about Kan and the ‘sisters’ of Kan. In writing we did some free writing. In colloquial we went over the vocab for the new chapter.

After class I worked on grammar sheets and waited for Henry to get out. At 2:30 Henry got out of class and the two of us got lunch together and talked for the next hour. At four we headed back to the ALI classrooms and met with JJ to have our first Bible Study.

We spent the study time getting to know each other better and deciding how we would do our studies. We have decided to go through the book of John.

After study Henry and I got milkshakes from McDonalds and caught the bus home.

At home I did some more homework and got dinner with Evan. For dinner we had sandwiches from a local shop.

Wednesdays are the best days to call Sara because she gets out of class early. Gave her a call and then went to bed.

Day 50: October 13

Woke up a little early today and decided to walk to the bus stop. Got there and got on the bus.

Went to MSA and talked about the case endings under special circumstances. Also talked about the us of Kan… In writing we worked on tweaking our country assignments and improving the structure. During the break I got lunch with Max at Omda and reviewed my notes for the quiz.

Our Colloquial quiz was a spoken conversation with our instructor where she would ask us questions and we would respond. Basically, she wanted to know how well had learned the material and directed the conversation appropriately. The main topics were apartments and markets. I felt pretty good, but wasn’t 100% on my pronunciation.

After class I went to the track and did another Air Alert workout. After that I took the bus home… slept on the bus and arrived back home in short order.

Spent the rest of the night doing homework and eating koshri.

Day 49: October 12

Woke up and made my way to the metro/bus/school.

Had a pretty typical day at ALI. Went through media, MSA, and colloquial without to much interesting happening. Had lunch with Henry. Did vocab activities in all my classes. A pretty standard day. After class I went to the track and did a short run. After that I took the bus home.

Came home and started doing homework. Called Kevin and we decided to meet up and get some dinner. He knew of a small place that was supposed to have excellent lamb. We met in front of the children’s hospital and he took me down the back streets to this hole in the wall restaurant.

He was correct it was really, really good. We sat and talked for awhile. He told me how life had been going, and I was glad to see him more chipper than the week before. Apparently he had decided that he wanted to enjoy his last month in Cairo and try to stay on the positive side.

We did have an exciting moment when he almost chocked on a piece of the meat while talking…. Luckily he coughed it up and I didn’t have to use the Heimlich or anything from CPR class. ‘excuse me sire, I’m trained in CPR, may I help you…’

Afterward dinner we went on a short quest to find the necessary ingredients to peanut butter and jelly. We found peanut butter… but not jelly or bread. I guess I’ll have to look next time I’m in Zamalek. After our search Kevin showed me the way back to my house. I tried remembering so that I could go back to that restaurant in the future…. However it was allot of back streets.

Returned home and studied for the following day’s colloquial quiz.

Day 48: October 11

Woke up and did my normal routine. Got to school on time and went in feeling ready for our makeup exam.

Took the makeup media exam and rocked it. Now that I had taken one of her quizzes I knew what to expect and how to study. After the exam we went over some vocab from the new sections.

After class we had our usual 4 hour break. Max, Colin, and I went up to McDonalds and grabbed a table and some food and started doing the homework we still had piling up as a result of our two week break. We worked on a good chuck of it.

My next class was conversation. Today we just practiced the vocab in mock dialogues. Nothing crazy.

After class I went to the track and did my first day of the Air Alert jump workout. Its designed to increase your vertical… which I feel will help for the ultimate season. It’s a fifteen week program, and I am starting on week 2 because week 1 is a laughably easy…

Took the bus home. Did homework and got Koshri for dinner. Called Sara. Went to bed.

Day 47: October 10

Woke up at around the this morning. Had a bite of breakfast with Evan and Mahmood. After that Mahmood went to work and Evan went to Zamalek to hang out with Jessie.

I was left in the apartment doing homework. I was productive for the first couple of hours but soon got restless. Watched a little tv, browsed the internet, even played a video game.

I felt real homesick today. I miss living with my friends back home. Evans a nice guy, but its different back home. There’s always something to do and somebody to hang out with. I felt lonely and isolated. Everyone I know in Cairo lives in Zamalek and I’m stuck by myself in Garden City. Just kinda a sad day.

Made a few calls back to the states. Called home, called Chris, called Sara.

Eventually ended up finishing my homework and falling asleep early so I’d be rested for the next week.

Day 46: October 9

My original plan for today had been to pound out some homework and do some studying…. Ya well so I woke up at noon and decided to roll over and get a few more minutes of sleep. The next time I opened my eyes it was 4 pm… oops

Dragged myself out of bed and started studying immediately. However, Evan brought one of his new friends from the Metro over to hang out. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to converse in Arabic and hang out. Mahmood, Evan’s friend, is a 25 year old from the city of Hanafia. Really nice guy.

He ended up spending the rest of the day/night with us hanging out. He took us shopping and showed us some places in Garden City. He even made us dinner. After dinner we watched Jumangi (with Arabic subtitles) on the tv.

So much for studying…

Day 45: October 8

Rolled over this morning and looked at my phone. It was 8:30…. Not sure how that happened. I guess when I set the time on my phone I didn’t hit that activate button. Jumped out of bed and ran to the bus stop. Caught the bus to campus and ran to class. Apologized to my professor and caught the last 15 minutes of media class. Did some listening exercises and then was off to my next class

The next class was our Modern Standard class. Pretty standard class. Had lunch afterwards with Henry and Max. ECA was pretty much the same as always. Just another day.

After class I met up with Nick (the ultimate player from Georgetown) and went to the soccer field to throw a Frisbee around. It was nice to just relax and throw. He had class at 3:30 so we parted ways after an hour. From there I did a sprint workout on the track. Running was fun, but it is really hot in Cairo…

Took a nap on the bus. Got home and did some homework. At 7 I left my place and walked to Tahriir Square to meet with Nick and head to ultimate. I arrived at the Tahriir Metro station at 7:30 and met up with Mido, Nick, Mike L., and Brendan. From there we caught the metro to Maadi, the expatriate area of Cairo.

We play at a small high school in Maadi called the Cairo American College, or CAC for short. There were about 14 of us there and we played for a few hours. Playing savage seven after a sprint workout was exhausting. However, the level of play was significantly better than last time, so I was happy about going.

After Ultimate we took the metro back towards Tahriir. It was decided that we would all head back to Zamalek and meet with a group that was going out to the Cairo Jazz club. Unfortunately this meant that I was unable to change or drop off my bag… oh well. On the metro we met an Arab guy that was about our age that really wanted to talk about soccer with Americans. Interesting albeit strange guy.

We took a taxi from the Metro station and arrived in Zamalek 10 minutes later. We stopped by the dorms so that Nick and crew could change. I decided to leave my ultimate bag in his room so I wouldn’t have to carry it all night.

From there we went to Mike/Jesse/Ben’s apartment. Max met us there, we picked up Jesse and were off to the club. There was a birthday party for one of our friends/acquaintances there that we joined. It was a fun and very packed club. Drinks were also very expensive.

Stayed for a few hours until Nick and Challid got kicked out. We decided that maybe we should leave…

I caught a taxi home and went to bed.

Day 44: October 7

Same song and dance to school. Felt good this morning after a solid night’s sleep. Made my way to school without any trouble.

In media our professor told us that only one person got a passable grade on the previous days test. She decided that we needed some review of the stuff we covered prior to the break and then retake the test next week. Kinda sucks that we didn’t do well, but at least our teacher is understanding.

Did some review sheets that focused on the vocab. She also took time going over areas she felt we needed work on. Felt allot better with the material after going over it with her…

Today is our long day which means back to back classes until 2 pm. After media we had Modern Standard followed by writing. In between the two Max and I ran to the food court to grab a snack to hold us over. In the writing class we have been working on describing a country using connectors (like, as, and, or…. Etc). It’s pretty cool to see how large my vocabulary has become.

Had discussion class and did some role playing where we were shopping in the market.

Afterwards I met up with Max to take the bus back to his place. Our media professor had assigned allot of work so we thought we would work together. Took the bus into Zamalek and got out at Metro Towers. Grabbed some falafel and went up to Max’s apartment. We worked on some reading exercises together.

We eventually took our work down to a local café and worked there for a few hours. Had some dinner and tea while there. Max is a smart guy, but doesn’t really stay on task very well… However, we did get everything done. After awhile I caught a cab back to Garden City.

Back in Garden City I did some homework until it was time to go to bed. Got to sleep shortly after midnight.

Day 43: October 6

School is out today for Armed Services Day…

Woke up a little before noon. Immediately started to do homework and studying. Eventually got some food from a local market and brought it back. Decided to journal for a bit while watching the Road Warrior…

Worked on my journal and homework until dinner which I got with Evan at El Baghel.

Went to bed fairly early so I would be well rested for school the next day. Felt good, got a good amount of work done today.

Day 42: October 5

Woke up at 7:15 as usual. Did the normal metro…. Bus… campus.

Got to campus and into media class. Got absolutely pulverized. Apparently I studied all the wrong things.. After media we had our class in Modern Standard. Did some verb form review and work sheets. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Went to lunch after class with Henry and Max. Talked with them and apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt the test was hard. Ate pizza and did some homework with the guys. After our lunch break we went to colloquial. We’re going over what you would do/say in the market. I know I’ve said it before but I love how practical the colloquial class is. Its vocab I’d use in everyday life.

Took the bus home. Got home and started doing homework. Tomorrows a day off but I got allot of work to do. Not doing well on that test, as well as all the makeup work meant I would be spending my free time playing catch up…

Got Koshri for dinner and watched the rest of mad Max (from the night before) while I ate. Also did some journaling and picture uploading. Stayed up late to make some calls from skype. Went to be at around 4.