I don't speak Arabic, apparently

Today (Thursday) concluded my first week of class at AUC. Blahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sadly, I have no amazing pictures from the top of any mountains this week, but I'll try to toss in some that I took last week. Like this one! A favorite from Mt. Sinai, on the way down the 3,750 Steps of Repentance.

My class schedule has been reconfigured since I arrived, partly due to cancellations and partly due to a reevaluation of my priorities. At this point, there are almost no classes I can get credit for back at AU because I'm so close to completing my degree requirements, so this semester is pretty much just intended to improve my Arabic skills. And see Egypt, obviously. And eat delicious food, obviously. And get lung cancer, obviously? More on that next time... haha.

Anyway, I've taken three semesters of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, or classical Arabic) at American, the last of which was over a year ago. It's a tough language for me, and I hate our textbook, and I haven't had the greatest of teachers. Hence the decision to study here. Now, over the course of my studies, I was told repeatedly that MSA is useless when you actually travel. I assumed that was exaggeration. I shrugged it off. I came to Cairo. I repeatedly tried to use my Arabic vocab in difficult situations. I was looked at funny and ignored. I sighed and kicked myself for never listening.

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is a totally different language from what I've studied. There are some little things that are different. The island we live on is "Al Jaziira" in MSA and "Al Geziira" in Colloquial. Not too tough to adjust pronunciation. There are also some big things that are different, however. "Dajaaj" (chicken) is not just "dagaag," but "firaakh." "How are you?" is not "Kaif'al hal?" but "Izzaiyyak?" And "I'm fine" is not "Bi'khiar," but "Kuwaiss(a)." Verbs are conjugated differently. Rules of grammar are different or nonexistent. Etc.

*&%^#)@.

Anyhoo, I made the decision to drop a development course and enroll in a Colloquial class to take alongside my MSA class. It's solid Arabic from the moment we step in the classroom to the moment we leave, and I love it. My listening and speaking skills are awful compared to my reading and writing skills, so I'm feeling VERY good about where this class is going. In my MSA class, I'm not nearly as far behind as I expected to be following my year off. Yay!

Egypt is infested with cats. Side note.

Anyway, I'm taking an anthropology course called People and Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. Professor seems kinda dull, but the ethnographies we're reading look great, so I'm sticking with it. I'm still taking one economic development course, which, thankfully, is mostly Egyptians. After my Environmental Politics course was canceled, I spent a fruitless hour and a half in the advising office trying to get a new political science course. I ended up in an Egyptology course called Cultural Geography of Ancient Egypt. We take field trips, and the lectures make my brain purr. All is well.

Traditional Nubian dancing. I guess to illustrate the cultural stuff I'm studying?

So yeah, the bureaucracy at AUC is frustrating as all hell. Everything takes infinitely longer than it should, and registration has been a nightmare for all of us. Plus, communication continues to be an issue. I waited an hour and a half for a bus this afternoon, only to learn there IS no 1:00 bus. So I was late for class. Professor was mad. Rachel was upset. Great. I can already see that AUC is going to be the biggest obstacle to me settling in here. I've been on the brink of tears several times this week. It's frustrating that the cultural differences I can't handle are found at the "American University in Cairo" and not on the street, in shops, or in restaurants.

Anyway, I'm staying positive. I have wonderful friends, both here and back home, and I'm keeping my spirits up with their help. I got a couple of requests to ID friends in photos. A squinty picture from Dahab is in order! (Please see other photos for more attractive shots of these people. They don't always look like this.)

Back row, left to right: Dan (AU), Derek (OSU), Steve (St. Norbert's), Darren (AU). Then Heather (AU) and Jess (AU) in the foreground. Nice people. They tolerate me.

I'll be dreaming of Dahab while I do homework this weekend...