Lazy Monday

Class 9-1. Tomorrow's our last real day of class because Wednesday is our final and Thursday we're just celebrating the end of the class.

After class we all were just trying to finish reading Yacoubian building... and then we got the e-mail saying that the due-date of the paper was moved back to Friday.

For dinner we ordered food from this little Arabic restaurant located in an alley. We ordered food for 7 people and they literally brought us 7 containers of each dish. SO MUCH FOOD. It was really really good though.

1. Readjusting: Today I was thinking about the fact that in a few days everything about Egyptian Colloquial Arabic that we've spent our time learning is going to have to go into hibernation. The "j" sound will reclaim its place instead of the "g" sound, and qaaf's will be pronounced again. It's strange to think that these changes became so normal to me in such a short period of time.

2.Yacoubian Building: This book was graphic at some points, emphasizing the sad realties of corruption, extremism, and poverty in Egypt. I found it surprising who the author chose to guide the reader towards sympathizing with. Taha is a young man who becomes involved in religous extremism, but instead of being disturbed by his involvement, I felt empathetic towards him. He worked harder than any of his peers towards his goals but was denied due to his social position. He tried to peacefully protest the killing of Iraqi Muslims and he winds up being sexually assaulted in prison. When people receive such negative feedback for all of the good they try to accomplish it's no wonder that they become bitter and turn to violent measures.


3. Food: The tomatoes here are REALLY GOOD. We got tomato salad with the food we ordered and it was unbelievable. A lot of the tomatoes in America are just bad. So if you think you don't like tomatoes, maybe you just haven't had a good tomato.