Tuesday, September 21

Ah, life in Cairo....It has its daily ups and downs. Things are great here. Yet, at the same time, they can be so frustrating. We realize that we are entering that stage of culture shock where you begin to think that things in your country are done so much better. Cairo is teaching us patience, though. Our latest dillema is that we can't seem to get a bank account open. In the U.S. when you want to open an account, you go to the bank with some money and an I.D. You walk out with a bank account.

In Egypt, you work on it for a month, maybe two. It's really our school that is the problem. We work for an administrator who doesn't manage her own money and she doesn't even know where to buy stamps. She has no concept of the problem it creates for us when we can't open a bank account. Much in Egypt is like this. It can be very bureaucratic and slow. Then, all of a sudden, someone will say, "All you need to do is this." You've been struggling for months to get something accomplished, and then, miraculously, it is solved! We're hoping this happens with the bank problem.

We have a new appreciation for the efficiency in America. Anything you want, you get yourself. There is no middle-person. Here, even to get copies at school there are four people to go through. The three girls to take the copies down, and the people who make the copies. I haven't seen a copier since I've been here.

At the same time, there is a desire to be more like the Egyptians. I was telling my students how many people live their lives working a job they don't like, coming home, eating supper, watching T.V., and then going to sleep to get up and do it all again the next day. They said, "Oh no. We enjoy who we work with. We go home and socialize with family or friends." There is an element of trying to enjoy life even at work. No one wants to work so much that they are msierable. There's also a much stronger need for human relationships, I think. I wonder if this comes from the fact that there isn't as much drinking here. Men fratenize with men all the time.

There's a big difference between male-male relationships in Cairo. Men hug, kiss on the cheeks, and touch each other constantly. I even saw two men crossing the street holding hands. It's so much different than the way touchy male relationships are taboo in the U.S. It takes some getting used to when you see if so often. The guys at school are always hanging on each other. It's almost nice not to have so many social restraints when it comes to touching friends, etc.

We are looking forward to a shorter week at work with the students. We have to go to a conference on Thursday, but it is still one less day of teaching this week.