Pre-Egypt Thoughts

Hello! I figure that I should give some background information about my trip. I am going to be teaching ESL among other things at Nile Union Academy until the middle of June. I'm not that brave--one of my best friends from high school (Jessica) is coming along. I guess she's not "coming along" to keep my company, but she's teaching ESL as well. On Monday, the 24th, my super duper friend Therese is driving me to Detroit, and we will spend the night at Jessica's house. Jessica and I are leaving on Tuesday and flying to Amsterdam, where we will spend a few days with Linda and Iwan. They are a young couple who lived in my grandparents' basement apartment while Iwan was in the seminary at Andrews. They just moved back at the beginning of the month. I'm so excited because they said they live five hours from Paris, an even shorter distance from Luxembourg, and an even shorter distance from Belgium and Germany. I'll be able to say things such as, "Well when I was in Paris..." or "Yes, but in Luxembourg..." which will automatically make me the coolest person in the room. I just reread this paragraph and think that it is painfully awkward, but oh well. :)

I am trying my hardest not to overpack, and I think that my only motivation for doing so would be because I am scared that my sisters will take everything I own. Seriously. Whenever I come back from school/camp/wherever, I check their rooms and come out with armfuls of my stuff--clothes, jackets, purses, and even hair products. I am considering writing a list of everything in my closet that I care about so that I can check and see if everything is still there when I come home. Maybe taking a picture would be better. I know I sound crazy. Oh sisters... maybe Brazilian foreign exchange students are more trustworthy... or at least they don't feel that they are entitled to wear my clothes and shove them in a crumpled wad in the corner of their closet.

The only warning that I have gotten about Egypt (from people who have lived in the Middle East) is to not fall in love with an Egyptian man and to just watch out for the men in general. "Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women in the most populous Arab country, and a majority say women themselves are to blame for their maltreatment, a survey showed Thursday." http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSL1732581120080717 Creepy. I think that I'll be fine because I've been listening to Pimsleur's Egyptian Arabic lessons on my iPod, and I know how to say, "No, Sir!" I will just yell that many times. It also taught me how to say things like "I do not speak Arabic," "How are you?" and "You are (not) American/Egyptian." Why would I want to tell someone that he is not American or Egyptian? haha.

I don't feel prepared yet, but if I waited until I felt prepared to do everything, I would probably do nothing at all. I have so many things that I feel I need to study. I've been reading Acts of the Apostles and 1888 Re-Examined, and I am all pumped about the Holy Spirit and really feel a burden to move into action. I'm also studying the book of Daniel again and attempting to memorize more. "Hundreds, yea, thousands, who have heard the message of salvation, are still idlers in the marketplace, when they might be engaged in some line of active service. To these Christ is saying, 'Why stand ye here all the day idle?' and He adds, 'God ye also into the vineyard.' Why is it that many more do not respond to the call? Is it because they think themselves excused in that they do not stand in the pulpit? Let them understand that there is a large work to be done outside the pulpit, by thousands of consecrated lay members" (Acts 110-111)

Predictions for Egypt:

• Lots of sweat.
• Tan face, tan hands (possibly forearms), and feet (with tan lines)
• I will probably match my clothes a total of four times, and I'm already okay with that.
• I will have frizzy hair and bushy eyebrows and learn to embrace them.
• I will be surprised by people's generosity.
• I will not learn as much Arabic as I want to, but probably more than I expect to.
• People will read my blog quite often at first and then hardly at all toward the end of my trip. (I'm not being pessimistic--just realistic.)
• I will not read all 2340928 books I am bringing.
• I'm going to stick to exercising six days a week... or maybe three.
• I will eat many mangos while they are in season.
• I am not even aware of the little things that I will later appreciate about home... like soft toilet paper and random things like that.
• I will learn more about myself, people in general, and the character of God. I think that that is what I am looking forward to more than anything. Any time that I have ever had an issue with God, I have later realized that I had not seen the whole picture and God has been right all along. But He's big enough to handle our anger toward Him.

I'm listening to "Oh My God" by Jars of Clay. The bridge is incredible. And no, it never plays the actual chord of the key it is in--intentionally.

I considered apologizing for making this so long, but I can't say that I won't do it again. God bless you and I love you--even if you are some random person who found my blog through a Google search.

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P.O. Box 12
Heliopolis, Cairo
Egypt