Sorry I've been a bit of a lazy blogger lately, but for a while there wasn't really much news to tell, because I was kind of getting into a period of not going out that much and was actually sort of bored a lot of the time.
I'm happy to say that that's over now. :)
That, plus the fact that I am procrastinating on my homework, is why I am currently writing this post. xD
Now, where to start...
On the 30th of November I had the privilege of attending a farah - the equivalent of a wedding reception - with Adham and Regina.
It was SO MUCH FUN! :D
We went over to Adham's home first to get ready and then headed over with him and his family to a place called "Downtown," in this area that was full of large, indoor venues that are used almost exclusively for the purpose of farahs.
We followed the very elegant bride and groom inside, as they were encircled by a large group of people that were drumming and ululating.
Then some food was served, and after that we got straight to the most important part of the whole party: the dancing.
There was a DJ and lots of music being played, and some very oddly dressed dancers that I suppose were there to serve as entertainment for the guests. There were also cameras all around to film the event.
But more importantly, as soon as the DJ started playing music (and sometimes even singing himself!), the vast majority of the guests promptly made their way to the dance floor and started to dance - very energetically.
It was so much fun! At first, I felt a little shy, as I'm not much of a dancer. But after a while I decided to let go and dance along a little, even though I'm probably never going to be able to dance like the people around me could.
Even so, I still had an amazing time, and am very grateful to Adham for taking us and allowing us to see this quintessentially Egyptian event.
(Weddings here in Egypt are very important events in people's lives, and it's a lengthy process with four main steps: The first is the engagement, or khutooba, which is celebrated with a party at home exactly like the first one Adham took me to. The second is the signing of the marriage contracts. The third is the religious ceremony, which is followed by a celebration in the street outside of the mosque for Muslim couples, or inside the church, for Christian couples. And then the fourth and final step, and perhaps the most festive of all, is the farah itself - the huge wedding party.)
And then December started, which is something that I'm still having a little bit of trouble wrapping my head around.
As a Michigander, I associate December with cold, snow, ice, skating, skiing, sledding, missing days of school because there's so much snow, Christmas, Christmas music, you get the drift. And there's not a lot of these kind of things here.
Although it is definitely starting to get chilly.
In the morning, it's actually quite cold out, and I need to wear my large Taymour jacket (we get in trouble for wearing anything out of uniform, so I had to get the jacket from school) to stay warm. At night it also gets quite chilly. But of course it seems like nothing compared to the Michigan winter - although everyone keeps telling me that the worst of the winter weather has yet to come.
In any case, I had a very awesome day on December 1, because first, I went alone by taxi to an event in the Alexandria chapter of Amideast, an organization that promotes cultural learning and understanding between the USA and the Middle East, and got to speak and present in front of a large group of students my age, most of whom knew Gaser, because he is an Amideast participant! And I got to meet one of the leaders in the Alexandria chapter, whose name is Mrs. Nadia, a very sweet American woman who married an Egyptian and has been living here for eight years! And who knows Gaser personally.
And then who should unexpectedly show up to give a presentation of his own, but ADHAM! That was quite fun.
Afterwards, I took another taxi and headed over to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to meet up with Fatma and Regina to attend an event - the Closing Ceremony of the Model European Union, which has been going on for several weeks.
I had lots of fun there with them talking and enjoying the ceremony, and then what was really ironic is that I ran into Khaled, who was on the staff, and we both didn't even know that the other was coming!
I also met some pretty cool people: two Egyptian girls, sisters, that had lived in Alabama for eight years and therefore spoke really fluent English with American accents, and a nice girl named Mirna who's about to go on an exchange program to Poland for a few weeks.
SO, that was an awesome week. :)
And so far, this week has been pretty typical.
I've been feeling really comfortable, even in my class! :)
And I received my report card from the first quarter - I will post a picture.
Today I was supposed to go to an event in the Bibliotheca with the other people from AFS, where we were going to hear an imam speak, but the event was canceled.
But the ironic thing was that I had missed the day of school in order to go to the event, since it was starting while I was still going to be in school. And we didn't know until it was too late...So I suppose I was absent for nothing. Although not really nothing, because catching up on sleep is always important. ;D
Then Youssef came over for a while, and we went out together a bit to get two very tasty (and, admittedly, a bit unhealthy xD) things: a falafel sandwich, and Boreo juice!
For those of you that don't know, Boreo is basically a rip off of Oreo's that are more like little cakes. They still sell real Oreo's here though, which I find a little ironic.
But either way, Boreo juice was delicious and reminded me quite a bit of a milkshake.
OK, that's enough procrastinating, I should go do my homework now....
Bye everyone!
PS: I've decided to make a tumblr, where I will be sharing random photos and the occasional blurb. Feel free to take a look at confessionsofakosharyaddict.tumblr.com. But don't forget to follow me here! Haha ;)
On the 30th of November I had the privilege of attending a farah - the equivalent of a wedding reception - with Adham and Regina.
It was SO MUCH FUN! :D
We went over to Adham's home first to get ready and then headed over with him and his family to a place called "Downtown," in this area that was full of large, indoor venues that are used almost exclusively for the purpose of farahs.
We followed the very elegant bride and groom inside, as they were encircled by a large group of people that were drumming and ululating.
Then some food was served, and after that we got straight to the most important part of the whole party: the dancing.
There was a DJ and lots of music being played, and some very oddly dressed dancers that I suppose were there to serve as entertainment for the guests. There were also cameras all around to film the event.
But more importantly, as soon as the DJ started playing music (and sometimes even singing himself!), the vast majority of the guests promptly made their way to the dance floor and started to dance - very energetically.
It was so much fun! At first, I felt a little shy, as I'm not much of a dancer. But after a while I decided to let go and dance along a little, even though I'm probably never going to be able to dance like the people around me could.
Even so, I still had an amazing time, and am very grateful to Adham for taking us and allowing us to see this quintessentially Egyptian event.
(Weddings here in Egypt are very important events in people's lives, and it's a lengthy process with four main steps: The first is the engagement, or khutooba, which is celebrated with a party at home exactly like the first one Adham took me to. The second is the signing of the marriage contracts. The third is the religious ceremony, which is followed by a celebration in the street outside of the mosque for Muslim couples, or inside the church, for Christian couples. And then the fourth and final step, and perhaps the most festive of all, is the farah itself - the huge wedding party.)
And then December started, which is something that I'm still having a little bit of trouble wrapping my head around.
As a Michigander, I associate December with cold, snow, ice, skating, skiing, sledding, missing days of school because there's so much snow, Christmas, Christmas music, you get the drift. And there's not a lot of these kind of things here.
Although it is definitely starting to get chilly.
In the morning, it's actually quite cold out, and I need to wear my large Taymour jacket (we get in trouble for wearing anything out of uniform, so I had to get the jacket from school) to stay warm. At night it also gets quite chilly. But of course it seems like nothing compared to the Michigan winter - although everyone keeps telling me that the worst of the winter weather has yet to come.
In any case, I had a very awesome day on December 1, because first, I went alone by taxi to an event in the Alexandria chapter of Amideast, an organization that promotes cultural learning and understanding between the USA and the Middle East, and got to speak and present in front of a large group of students my age, most of whom knew Gaser, because he is an Amideast participant! And I got to meet one of the leaders in the Alexandria chapter, whose name is Mrs. Nadia, a very sweet American woman who married an Egyptian and has been living here for eight years! And who knows Gaser personally.
And then who should unexpectedly show up to give a presentation of his own, but ADHAM! That was quite fun.
Afterwards, I took another taxi and headed over to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to meet up with Fatma and Regina to attend an event - the Closing Ceremony of the Model European Union, which has been going on for several weeks.
I had lots of fun there with them talking and enjoying the ceremony, and then what was really ironic is that I ran into Khaled, who was on the staff, and we both didn't even know that the other was coming!
I also met some pretty cool people: two Egyptian girls, sisters, that had lived in Alabama for eight years and therefore spoke really fluent English with American accents, and a nice girl named Mirna who's about to go on an exchange program to Poland for a few weeks.
SO, that was an awesome week. :)
And so far, this week has been pretty typical.
I've been feeling really comfortable, even in my class! :)
And I received my report card from the first quarter - I will post a picture.
Today I was supposed to go to an event in the Bibliotheca with the other people from AFS, where we were going to hear an imam speak, but the event was canceled.
But the ironic thing was that I had missed the day of school in order to go to the event, since it was starting while I was still going to be in school. And we didn't know until it was too late...So I suppose I was absent for nothing. Although not really nothing, because catching up on sleep is always important. ;D
Then Youssef came over for a while, and we went out together a bit to get two very tasty (and, admittedly, a bit unhealthy xD) things: a falafel sandwich, and Boreo juice!
For those of you that don't know, Boreo is basically a rip off of Oreo's that are more like little cakes. They still sell real Oreo's here though, which I find a little ironic.
But either way, Boreo juice was delicious and reminded me quite a bit of a milkshake.
OK, that's enough procrastinating, I should go do my homework now....
Bye everyone!
PS: I've decided to make a tumblr, where I will be sharing random photos and the occasional blurb. Feel free to take a look at confessionsofakosharyaddict.tumblr.com. But don't forget to follow me here! Haha ;)
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| The sunrise has been looking really pretty lately when I get up for school. |
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| The farah |
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| Me and Regina :) |
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| Regina dancing with the bride! |
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| Another pretty sunrise picture |
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| My first Egyptian report card! I'm proud :) But please discount computer, art, and music, as we don't take them and I don't know why they're included. Also, discount the grey subjects at the very bottom, because they're in Arabic and I'm therefore exempted from them. Overall, my total grade was an A-. :) |
Looking good Nico! Keep up the great work in school. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Donny! Same to you at wihi. get on skype sometime, I want to talk to you :D
ReplyDelete