Students

                          

 Today we had registration. I was assigned to help at the financial desk, collecting money and writing receipts. I had another girl working with me that spoke Arabic so I wasn’t completely lost. I was actually very surprised at how much English the students already know. 95% of them could probably carry on a good conversation with you. The rumor that Egyptians are very warm and kind people is no longer a rumor but a definite reality to me. A lot of them wanted to shake my hand, find out my name, what classes I was teaching, where I was from, and how I was doing so far. I also found there is a lot of diversity within the students. There were obviously a lot of Egyptians but we have almost just as many Sudanese kids who are refugees. One thing I was really not expecting was that almost every Sudanese kid that came through wanted to know if I played basketball!! Apparently that is their favorite sport so I was super excited. I guess that answers everyone’s question of whether or not they play basketball here. I’m excited to see how they do in P.E.

            After all the day’s activities Alec (another SM) wanted to go to town to get some church clothes and asked if Paul (another SM) and I wanted to come along. An Egyptian offered to take us since we still don’t know how to get around. Now another Sudanese kid came with us because he doesn’t live in the dorm and he was going home. I got to talking with him and asked if he had always lived here. He said no and that he moved here in 2001. He hasn’t seen his family since!!! Now I’m not gonna lie I miss my family terribly right now and I have been gone for 4 days!! Imagine 9 years!!!! He even paid for our bus ride to the train station and refused to let me pay him back. It’s just amazing to see people who have so little who are willing to do anything for you.

            Once we got to the market it was complete chaos. People are everywhere!! Just to give you an idea, Cairo has 7 times the population density as New York City. Now we’re not in Cairo but it’s definitely still bad. It’s like walking down and normal size street at home but every single person in town is on that street, cars are driving on it, vendors have to periodically shift their carts just so cars can get through. Oh and don’t forget the ever present mountain of trash that is everywhere!! I will say though that if I owned a used car dealership I would hire an Egyptian to stand outside and get people to come in. They yell constantly!!! One guy who was selling purses had completely lost his voice so he just started banging them together, while still trying to yell!! I have never seen someone who wanted to sell a purse so badly. He would swing them around and even nailed a lady in the head with one (she didn’t buy it).

            Over all, I love Egypt already. Yes it’s loud outside the school. Yes it’s the dirtiest place I have ever seen in my life. And yes, it’s probably going to be the hardest year of my life. But the people make up for all of it. Not just the students but the people outside the walls. It seems to be a very giving culture and a very peaceful one. Some people may think I’m crazy and I may get tired of it at some point but I love the call to prayer. It’s like being in a scene from Black Hawk Down every time they start praying. Ok that’s not the only reason I like it. I guess it just sounds really cool to me.