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Published: March 28th 2010
Me and Grandma Mae
Doesn't Grandma look pretty?!Well, I made it! My flights were both quite enjoyable, especially my flight with Turkish Airlines. If you ever have the change, I highly recommend it! As you can see from my picture, the in-seat screens featured not only movies and television shows (including Bones!) but also video games! Have you ever heard of such a thing? They had little remotes that looked very much like the Nintendo controllers from the 80s and it was awesome. I didn't actually play Mini-golf, or any of the other games, because I was already flying high on my anti-anxiety medication. As we took off, I forced myself to pay really close attention to every (terror-inducing) sensation and I told myself again and again that I loved the feeling, that it was exhilarating and wonderful. I made myself like sushi that way, I bet I can make myself like flying again that way! The food was quite delicious and my seat neighbor was a pleasant Turkish civil engineer. All in all, good times! The flight from Istanbul to Cairo was not quite as amazing, though it was certainly not bad. I sat next to an Egyptian man who let me have some of his newspaper
Mini-golf??
Go Turkish Airlines! and answered a couple of silly questions about Arabic for me.
Getting into Cairo wasn't a problem, but getting out of the airport turned out to be a little difficult. It seemed that my driver missed me somehow and left without me. I would have been in much worse shape, except that this quite good looking and enjoyable Egyptian tour guide was the knight-in-shining-armor to my damsel-in-distress. He figured out how to get a hold of my driver, called him and told him to get back to the airport, then sat and chatted with me for nearly an hour while I waited for my driver to return. We talked about religion--he's a Sunni (firm believer, looser practitioner) and his boiled down critique of Shi'ism is that Ali was a baby when Muhammad (peace be upon him) was reciting the Holy Qur'an. I think that he may have been missing some key plot points in the origin and rationalization of Shi'ism, but his point of view was fascinating! Of course, my interest may have been due in part to his ravishing good looks and the fact that we actually make each other laugh, something I have discovered can be
I love Turkish Airlines!
Free travel kit, complete with lip balm, eye mask, ear plugs, tooth brush, tooth paste, and comfy socks! quite challenging cross-culturally and cross-linguistically. So even though I had to spend an extra hour at the airport, it was really quite good. On the drive back, I met Muhammad Karam, my driver, and his friend Mahmoud, who is studying English at the university. We exchanged e-mail addresses so that we might get together sometime for lunch or something and work on our language skills together, since I'm fluent in English and of course he's fluent in Arabic.
After a day in a somewhat sketchy hotel, I have finally arrived at the International Language Institute, where I begin my Arabic classes tomorrow. I tested into Arabic 2.5, which doesn't exist, so I had to choose to be in a class that would be somewhat remedial or a class that would be quite challenging. Knowing me, I'm sure you can guess which one I picked...
(This is me allowing you time to guess...)
Yes! Of course I picked the harder one...it's a decision that I already regret a little and will no doubt regret a whole lot more before it's all over, but I think it's the right thing for me. I'm a fast learner and I
get bored in classes that don't challenge me. Even in the Arabic classes I took at Cornell I got bored at times because we had to cover the same material multiple times so that everyone in the class understood it. And I know myself well enough to know that I do better when I'm feeling overwhelmed and at the end of my rope than when I'm bored out of my mind and not learning anything!
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Letia Blanco
non-member comment
Hooray!
I am so glad you made is safely. Your room looks beautiful. The sun streaming through the window is lovely, and what a view!! I think you made the right call when you selected the more advanced class. This is such an expensive opportunity, I think you would be sorely disappointed if you felt like even a single class period was a waste of time. You look pretty in your scarf! The girls at school wear something under their hijab so their hair doesn't show, is that a big deal? Nasareen and I are going to Al Markaz to eat this week and we are going to check out that cute Middle Easter Boutique next door :) I want to know how to say, "I love you sister" in Arabic. I know uchti is sister, but how do I say I love you?