Classes

Today is the third day of classes for AUC so far. Its going pretty well, all things considered. My Arabic class is quite awesome, the professor is so on top of it. She has a BA in English, a Master's in teaching Arabic, & her doctorate in linguistics. Shes pretty funny, class is at 8am and she insists we all be wide awake and participatory ..... yea right. When we're not as perky as she'd like she repeats the question & then stares at us & says "huh? huh?" in what a classmate described as a very Yoda-like voice. Its going to be a hard class, its 4 mornings a week & she speaks rapid-fire Arabic & will only repeat things in English if one of us explicitly say (in Arabic, of course) that we don't understand. My anthro class, Marriage Kinship & Family, should be easy & fun - it seems to be very discussion based, & theres a good mix of Egyptian & American students. Similar assessment for my Lit class, although that one the professor is a small American booknerd who seems to get really nervous being in front of students. Getting us to participate thus far has been a bit like pulling teeth... hopefully it will improve.
I decided to switch from Art & Architecture of Cairo to Islamic Art & Architecture, b/c the Cairo class had fieldtrips every other weekend, & I really want to be able to travel. I thought that would be a long painful process, but it turns out I just went into the department office & they switched it for me! I was very pleased.
Unfortunately I really don't like my Muslim Political Thought class - it focuses way more intensely on ancient political thought (transition from tribal - state systems, rise of islam, etc) than I want it to, and its ALL American students. I can very easily take a class on Muslim political thought with a bunch of Americans in the States. So, I am trying to drop that and add a polisci class, Intro to Development. This turns out to be a much bigger fiasco than anyone would like...
This story is pretty much a template for ever wanting to get anything done at AUC (or, I think, in Egypt). Everything always has about 6 more steps than necessary. After wandering all over campus to find the polisci department office, I am told to go to another individuals office to get the signature of this lady - said signature will apparently magically let me into the class, even though it says online the class is closed. However, the magic lady is not there. I go back on Thursday morning, to be told she will be there after 11. Since it was 9am & I didnt have class again til the afternoon, I went back to the dorms, & by the time I went to her office again she was not there. I went again this morning, was told she'll arrive at 11, & when I showed up at 12ish there was a line of 8 people waiting for similar magical strokes of the pen. I finally got the signature, about 15 minutes before my next class started. I thought this would be enough time to head up to the ISSO and get Tomader to add/drop the classes in the AUC cmputer system. No such luck however - add/drop with Tomader ends at 2 (the same time my class starts) & there were 12 people in line. So, I will return to the ISSO bright and early tomorrow morning to hopefully finally finish this whole process. At AUinDC, this would have taken me 5 minutes. At AUC, its closer to 5 days. Ma'alish!! (this means anything from whatever to i'm sorry to it doesnt matter. pretty useful)

This past weekend was pretty kick butt. Friday night was a welcome concert on campus with 2 apparently big (I wouldnt know) Egyptian pop stars & a techno DJ. It was basically the most amazingly fun sweaty gross hopping respectful dance party ever. EVER.
Saturday I went to the Citadel & Al-Azhar Park, which are, respectively, an ancient fortress inside which is a truly spectacular mosque, and I'm pretty sure the only public park in Cairo. It was relatively cool so we werent too exhausted from the heat to enjoy ourselves. I am thrilled at finding that park - I think it will be a wonderful haven full of green & semi-quiet nature when I cant handle any more concrete & honking & pollution haze. We also ate at this glorious hilltop restaurant that has a perfect view of the mosque, & pretty heavenly food, including a garlic & egg whites mayonnaisey sort of dip that I could eat all day.

Tonight I am off to watch a screening of an episode of On the Road in America, a reality tv show where the premise is 4 young Arabs taking a road trip across the US & just interacting with Americans to try & dispel stereotypes on both sides. I am really excited - Sander told me about this show in the spring, & I've been wanting to watch it ever since.

Ah. Its now only 86 degrees outside. Perfect.