Back from the hiatus

I spent a wonderful month-long break scuba diving and relaxing in Dahab. I even ended up working at a dive shop to get free accommodations and free dives...which was awesome!

Now I'm back in Alex and our Flagship classes began last Sunday. We don't know when the university classes will begin, because they still haven't figured out their schedule of classes. Anyway, my Flagship classes seem wonderful so far! I am taking Modern Standard Arabic, Colloquial Egyptian Arabic, a translation class, and an Arabic media class. My MSA, translation, and media teachers are all amazing. They are smart, nice, no-nonsense kind of people, which means lots of tough homework (which has already begun) but also a great improvement in my Arabic (which I am already beginning to see just after a few classes) by the end of the semester. My colloquial Arabic teacher is...less than satisfactory. She talks to us like we are kindergarteners, gave us a packet of course work on the first day that is way below our level, and smiles in a sickly-sweet kind of way. Not a good combination. Anyway, that is by far my worst class, but I'm sure I'll survive it.

I also started my internship today. It's with the Center for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Alexandria, and it seems really great so far. My boss, Dr. Emad Khalil, is a really nice guy, and really smart. The other students working there seem nice, but leave me alone for the most part, and I cannot tell you how refreshing that is. Today my task was to set up a cataloging system for the center's library, create a database of the books, tag all the books, and order them on the shelves. I spent over five hours working on this today, and will hopefully finish tomorrow. It's a lot nicer than it sounds. I got to sit by myself in a library all day looking at books about scuba diving, archaeology, and history. It was fabulous. Once this is done, Dr. Khalil said I'll get to start doing some translation work and grant proposal-writing, both in Arabic and in English.

In other news, my home-stay is going great. I love my host mom (whom I call Mama Hoda). She is a little pushy but a real sweetheart. Her daughter, Eman, is great as well. She's about my age and in her last year of studying to be a doctor. She is very, very smart, motivated, fluent in several languages...and all she and her mom ever talk about is who she is going to marry. It's hilarious. She'll come over and tell her mom about some new guy she met at the hospital or at school, show him to her on Facebook, and they will discuss the only two important factors involved in the decision: how rich he is and how handsome he is. Oh, and of course, he has to be an engineer, one of the only two respectable professions in Egypt (the other being a doctor, but Eman doesn't want her husband to do the same thing she does). They are both very picky though, so the right guy hasn't come along yet. Soon hopefully, insha'allah (G-d willing).

What is also funny about living with Mama Hoda is her neighbors. I've met only one of them, but everyone in the neighborhood already seems to know who I am, since gossiping is national past time of old Egyptian women. For example, I went into the drug across the street from the apartment for the first time today, and the lady working there enthusiastically greeted me, saying in Arabic: "Hi! You're Jennifer's sister, aren't you? You and Jennifer look SO much alike, and you speak the same way, too, and have the same mannerisms! It's nice to finally meet you!" Explanation: there was a girl living with Mama Hoda last year through the Flagship program as well, named Jennifer. Mama Hoda is telling everyone that I am Jennifer's sister, because, according to her, "it's just easier that way." I can't blame her (home-stays are a very foreign idea to Egyptians), but it still catches me a bit off guard.

Last thing. A confirmed case of swine flu has broken out in the university dormitories (thanks to one of the Flagship boys), so they are all being quarantined for at least a week, if not longer. The other study-abroad programs have canceled their classes since almost all of their students are in the dorms. But not us, since only half of Flagship students live in the dorms (all the Flagship boys are in the dorms and all the girls moved into apartments or home-stays). So, Flagship is still having classes with only the eight girls it has.

Also, a colony of ants has moved into my computer.