Adjusting to Egypt

This may seem a little late to be starting a written blog 5 weeks into my stay in Egypt but I figure it is better late then never.



a ride on the Metro

So far I have done a few video blogs on facebook about my stay here thus far. The main points in these videos were mainly about the differences in Egypt and America (food, driving, and community) and about some trips I went on like visiting the Coptic churches, riding on a indignant camel to see the pyramids, and a lovely trip to the North Coast with some new fond friends. As of right now I am on my way home from my college, American university of Cairo. This school is really nice, the facilities are new and clean and there are very many things to get involved with. One of them is
called STAR- students teaching African Refuges. I have not gotten involved with them quite yet, but I am just getting settled into my new flat with my two roommates Amber and Jenna. I lived with my host parents for almost a month and they were lovely.



In Garbage City, Cairo

Suzy (host mom) cooked very large and delicious meals almost every day and was constantly asking me I wanted more- it is very very common in Egypt to be force fed. Mafty(host dad) is an awesome man of God who is serving our Father on a daily basis and modeling what it means to take up the cross. We have had some awesome talks about how we found our faith.Unfortunately have moved out, not at all because of my host parents because they were great and really helped me with Arabic, but because living in New Cairo was very difficult to live in.
For starters, to get to school I would have to find a taxi- and taxis in New Cairo are a little hard to come by because this is a very new development for Egypt. So I would take a 10 pound taxi to school and on my way back I would  have the bus drop me off at a certain point on the highway- a 8 lane highway- and would then proceed to cross this 8 lane highway . You have no idea what a rush it is to step out in the middle of traffic and just pray that the cars will move. I know it is pretty common here but I am still a little scared- or petrified- and the cars can tell so they like to toy with me and act like they are going to hit me but swerve at the last second.Even though it is common to have to walk through traffic- it is also common to get hit by cars.  My walk home from the highway to my host families home is always a trial in itself because I am a women who does not cover or veil and I  am blond so i stick out hardcore. The harassment here is different than in the city because in the city there are more blonds and there are also much more people so harassment is faster and not as bothersome. In New Cairo it is common for cars to stop next to me and try to persuade me to get in- or slow down to my speed and try to talk to me or tell me they are a taxi- the worst are the high-school aged boys. They are much more aggressive and risky compared to the older men .  But even this would was not the reason I moved. The main reason is purely because it is very very difficult to get to the city from New Cairo- not many taxi’s are here and not many taxies from the city want to ride all the way to New Cairo and back. So I felt pretty stuck.


My roommate and precious friend Jenna

Also I am involved and a church here in Maadi called Maadi community church. It is an international church and many many many many nationalities are here- from Singapore to Finland, Sweden. Kenya, Sudan, Korea, Ireland, great Brittan, Japan, Germany…ect. And the sermons are in English too. I have recently signed up to be the prayer team and I think I might start working with the middle school tonight. Another thing I just recently got involved with is a group called Children of Hope. I will not go into full detail but it is for street children and basically a way to love on them and teach them about character and morals and give them some type of therapy and education. This organization was just legally started exactly one week ago today!! Praise God or elhamdulallah in Egypt. I know they do some basic art therapy so I will help with that but the main thing I would like to accomplish here is to help the leader of the organization Rolf raise enough money to buy a Micro bus for the Children. Transportation is a huge huge need for these kids and if they had their own bus I know it would help tremendously and would give them an opportunity to use the money used on renting for something else. I do not even know how to start on raising this money but I do know that I serve a powerful God who blows my expectations everyday and He is for me so who can be against me right?? I want to raise about 30,000 us dollars so if you are interested on how to help I will def give more details.Right now my main difficulties are just finding community at school. I have a few friends so far but by choosing not to live on campus I really have missed out on those close knit relationships. So if you could pray about that it would be lovely.

I really want to make Egyptian friends here but it is just talking some time. I also started feeling sick last week and within three days and a fever I was diagnosed with bronchitis and put on 4 medications. This would not be that big of a problem it is just that I am asthmatic and my lungs hold onto sickness for far too long. So missing a week of Arabic has put me very far behind. I also am being kind of a baby and just could really use my mother right now. I do not know how to use my calling cards whatsoever so I have no way of communicating with my family or friends unless they have skype or google chatt. My relationship with God is something I regret to say has slipped a little bit in priority. I have been busy and self absorbed and have put God on the back burner for almost two weeks. And then I wonder why I am feeling little spurts of loneliness and feeling homesick feeling. I think He is trying to get my attention. I am so thankful that he is a jealous God and wants to be near to me so bad that he physically rattles me in order to get my focus back on Him. Tonight I am think about either helping out with the middle-school (depending on my energy level from this sickness), or go ride the metro down town and attend a worship night at the House of Prayer Egypt (HOPE) this is in Arabic but man do Egyptians know how to worship. It is quite beautiful actually. Then spend some time with my friend Mohamed. He has become one of my best friends here and I really thank God that he has put Mo in my life. I would love to continue with this but my bus driver is making me immensely nauseous by his very choppy traffic driving and his intense stop and goes . I love you all and I am honored that you guys are reading this. Keep me in your prayers daily because I need them.