Arab League

This morning we visited the Arab League. We got to meet with one of their officials to talk about the League's history and some of the issues they are dealing with today. When we got back, I got falafel for lunch and then spent the afternoon uploading pictures from Luxor, trying to write my paper for the International Affairs class portion of the dialogue, and working on Arabic homework. For dinner we went out to a pizza place called Maison Thomas. SO GOOD.

1. Still a tourist: Even though we've only been in Cairo for a couple of weeks, I've started to forget that I'm still a tourist. But it hits me periodically. Take today for example. I guess I went to the falafel stand during their peak hours today, because as you can see there are about 10 men crowded into this little hole in the wall place. Anyway, you had to pay first and get a ticket, which you then had to wave in front of the cook while yelling until he took your order. Being a tourist (and also probably because I'm a girl), a man took my ticket and shouted something at the cook (likely informing him that I am a female tourist, unversed in falafel stand diplomacy)and waved my ticket for me. The cook served me immediately. Case in point: I'm still a tourist.


2. Nicknames: today there wasn't enough room in the buses at one point, so I ended up riding in Abduh's car with Cynthia and Professor Sullivan. Abduh was taking to Professor Sullivan in Arabic, and he called me Hadia, without knowing that it's what our Arabic teacher calls me too. I guess the name is here to stay. While we're on the subject, I would just like to point out some other Arabic nicknames (or just slightly modifed English names) that have come about:
-Jimmy: Al Mutakhassiss (The Specialist)
-Zack: Hadee (the masculine form of calm and quiet)
-Nick: Al Haq (the truth)
-Caitlin: Al Ota (the cat)
-Curtis: Curls
-Miguel: Migl
-Jackie: Gackie

3.

Here's a picture of everyone on the dialogue at the Arab League. Unfortunately I don't know all of the engineers or photography students' names so I can't point everyone out.

This is just the Arabic language students. Top left, clockwise: Jimmy, Chris, Curtis, Miguel, Connor, Cynthia, Professor Sullivan, Nick, Zack, Riley, Katie, Casey, Rob, Caitlin, Christine, Jackie, Jamieson, Liam, Me, Mary, Tori