Plans for the Future

I found an apartment last night! Dana and I will be living downtown with a French guy named Hugo. The whole mixed gender thing is generally frowned upon in Egypt, but either the landlord doesn't care, or we're getting an exception because we're foreigners. The apartment is right off one of the main squares, on the fifth floor, with an old glass elevator that feels like it's straight out of Wonka's chocolate factory. There are balconies off of every room, an oven, a washing machine, and one and a half bathrooms (with hot water!). It's also fully furnished, with a couch wrapping around most of the living room. And it's only 1,000LE (about $181) per month, with maybe an extra 100LE for utilities. It's walking distance to the metro, two liquor stores, about a hundred shisha cafes, al-Hurriya (the bar with 8LE Stellas), and just about anything else a bunch of Western grad students could want. The room that will become mine has two twin beds (which will be very good when the 'rents come to visit or when friends want a place to crash on the weekends), and it's also the only room with air conditioning (which I'll probably never use). I can't wait to move in and start cooking real food! I don't want to eat ramen ever again. We move in next month!

Moving on from that excitement... I had two midterm exams this week and I have one left. I didn't do as well as I was expecting to on the Fusha vocab exam, but I think I aced the Egyptian colloquial exam. My ECA exam was open book, which I thought was a bit strange for a language exam, but I liked the format. We each sat at our own computer with a headset, and had to listen to the questions in Arabic and record our responses.

Tomorrow is my Fusha grammar midterm. It will be difficult, because there's a lot of things to keep in mind, but oh my god, I love Arabic grammar so much. I love its rules and organization, and how lyrical it is when produced correctly. The more Arabic I learn, the more I want to learn, and also the more I understand the value of poetry in Arab culture. I appreciate Egyptian Arabic as well, but I don't connect with it as well. On the one hand, it is still new to me and my ear is still adjusting to it, but still, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to speak it fluently. I have enough difficulty expressing myself verbally in English, so how can I hope to do so in Arabic? I think too much before I speak and I'm just not chatty enough to be able to speak it smoothly and with confidence. But I won't lose all hope just yet. Maybe someday I'll get it. But what I think I would be really good at and would really enjoy is translating Arabic texts, particularly Arabic literature. I would love to just bury myself in written Arabic for the rest of my life. This is the new dream. I'll teach English and take Arabic classes until I'm good enough to translate full-time. AUC is considering adding a master's program in translation, and when they do, I will be all over that. I can't believe there used to be a time when I thought Arabic was not important for me and my studies!

And finally, I will leave you with some links. My brain is starved for stimulating conversation and debate, so I've been burying myself in blogs. Most of my favorite articles come from Jos, my fellow Hampshire grad. Go figure. The first is on the UN's consideration for transgendered people in a report on counter-terrorism measures, and the second is on hate crime legislation and how it actually hurts the marginalized groups it claims to be protecting. Both are definitely worth reading, even if you don't agree.

http://www.feministing.com/archives/018501.html
http://www.feministing.com/archives/016825.html