Politics- Let's Think!

I wanted to post this - it was written by a friend of mine and I thought it was good. It also reflects my feelings quite well on this election. Please let me say: if you are a voter in the United States, take some time to think about these candidates, what they have done in the past, what they plan to do in the future, and who you really think would be a better leader for our country. Don't get caught up in cynicism. Vote on the facts, and on what policies these candidates are promising. Do some research, think. It's our duty!


I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
* If you grow up in Hawaii and are raised by your grandparents, you're
'exotic, different.'
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American
story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the
first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter
registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years
as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator
representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of
the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years
in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people
while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs,
Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you
don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000
people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people,
then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking
executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while
raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're
not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your
disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a
Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including
the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no
other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in
a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America 's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DUI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until
age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession
of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable and you are know as putting country first.

OK, much clearer now.

why I 'love' Arabic

There are a few reasons why I love the Arabic language.  Most are completely sarcastic ones, and the word 'love' can really be replaced by 'frustrated by' or even 'hate' on the bad days.  But here are a few tidbits for your enjoyment.

1.  Arabic verbs have a sickly number of conjugations.  I have so far learned four tenses (command, present, past and future) and so far the total number of conjugations is 56.  That's 56 forms of each verb that I have to know.

2.  In Arabic you don't just say - that's my book, or that's his car.  You have to put a special ending on the noun (ex. book, car) to indicate that it is yours, mine, or his.  Oh, and Arabic also separates everything according to male or female.  So, there are 14 different suffixes that you can attach to any noun, in order to indicate a possessive.

3.  The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, which can be written in different ways depending on where they fall in the word.  There are also vowel symbols that are written in to let you know how to pronounce the word and distinguish between one word and another with the same letters.

You know, I was going to write more but I think that's all I can handle for now.  I don't want to depress myself.

But I just wanted you to know.  So please don't ask me if I'm fluent yet.   Think of me with pity once and awhile, and if you decide to learn another language, I suggest Italian or Spanish.

My New Home

Hi all,

I've decided to post a few pictures of my new apartment - it's not much but it will be a nice relaxing home for the next few months. I especially love the brightly colored window in my bedroom! It shines in multi-colored light into my room in the morning. :)

Coming Home to Egypt

I'm back in Egypt.  Perhaps not surprisingly, it feels like I never left.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time - just a little bit - to revisit feelings of excitment and uncertainty that I used to associate with arriving in Cairo.  I guess it's a mark of time, maybe even maturity, to no longer feel the same way when I arrive in Egypt.  Now, it's getting more complicated.  It's like coming home - a mix of feelings that soon give way to the realization of 'life as I used to know it' colliding with 'I've changed but how do I newly fit into this place that I used to call home?'

I've always said that I have a love-hate relationship with Cairo.  That is still true, but also I think that it is evolving into the kind of feeling you have when you go back home - to a place where many stages of your life have taken place and you find yourself evolving within its context.  Life in Cairo for me has seen many new faces, new experiences, new goals, new jobs and new emotions.  Sometimes it's hard to sort out how I really feel about this place, because really it's just tied up with my feelings about life in general over the past three years.

All of that being said, it's good to be back.  I have some amazing friends here, who I look forward to spending much more time with.  I'm also excited about learning Arabic, working on Palestine project ideas, and continuing to immerse myself in this culture and deepen my understanding of what it means to be an Egyptian.  

There are some new things I need to adjust to this time around.  Living in Maadi, in a new apartment, is one.  Losing many of my American/foreigner friends is another.   And I need to adjust to being a student again - something that I haven't been in some time.  I'm hoping to adjust to being busy (something I wasn't in Egypt last time).  Being busy in Egypt isn't easy but I think it is preferable for me at this point, rather that succombing to mind-numbing boredom. :)

I plan to keep updating this blog as time goes on this year, to keep track of what happens with my plans, my thoughts, and my life in Egypt.  I'll be back soon.