Final Thoughts from Cairo

As I sit here on my balcony looking out over the busy, noisy street that has become so familiar, I find it hard to believe this is one of my last days in this city—at least for a while. This semester has been a crazy, enlightening, and all-too-short adventure. Looking at my past blogs amazes even me. Did I really do that?!

I'm currently finishing up my last two papers--one on obstacles to peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the other on concepts from the book Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf. Both are intimidating, but by tomorrow afternoon I will be done! I'm going to visit my homestay family for the last time tomorrow evening and then Saturday the group is going to Anafora (the retreat center where we once held Coptic-American day) for a few days of debriefing. After 2 more days to soak in the last of Cairo and say my sad goodbyes, I'll be off to my homeland.

As I think of going back to the States, I am making a list of important things for myself to remember upon my return. Here’s what I have so far. Hope you enjoy them.

-It is no longer acceptable to walk within inches of a moving vehicle. There is a thing called “J-walking”. It’s illegal. Also…when driving, remember that there are traffic laws you are supposed to abide by.

-When you go buy a $5 meal at a fast food place (which for your stomach’s sake, I would recommend waiting a while before tyring), try not to think about that fact that you could buy over 10 bowls of koshery or 20 falafel sandwhiches for the same price. $5 really isn’t as much money as you think it is.

-When you walk past a crowd of men (and don’t be surprised when you actually see women walking the streets as well!) and you don’t hear comments like “Wow!”, “O my God!”, and “I am single!”…don’t start to think that something must be wrong with you.

-When you get home, don’t freak out about that strange, mysterious sound you don’t recognize. It’s called quiet. It’s a good thing.

-It’s summer. Girls will probably be wearing shorts and tank-tops. Don’t judge. It’s acceptable here and not necessarily immodest or skanky. In fact, you should do it too. It’s okay.

-Don’t bargain with store owners. There’s a thing called a fixed price.

-You live on an isolated hill in West Virginia. If you need something, you actually have to drive somewhere instead of just walking out your door. And here's the kicker...there is no public transportation! :O

-There is a giant piece of equipment next to the washing machine. It’s called a dryer. You can stick your clothes in there instead of hanging them, but don’t be surprised if they no longer fit afterward.

That's all that currently comes to mind, but I'm sure I'll be finding more once I'm home. Sometimes you don't notice how much you've changed until you go back to the beginning. But I am excited to be home again! It'll be good to be with my family and to process.

Thank you to everyone who I know has blessed me with prayers. I cannot tell you how much I've appreciated it. I hope you've enjoyed the blog! I love you all! And I would absolutely love to grab coffee and swap stories with anyone interested upon my soon return :).

Israel/Palestine

I’m not sure how to even begin this entry, but I’ll tell you upfront that it will only touch the surface of what I’ve experienced in the last few weeks. We arrived in Jerusalem March 31^st and stayed the first five nights at Jerusalem University College. It was BEAUTIFUL ! There were other American students that we could talk to, gardens to read in, and even a piano that I was able to play. We all loved staying there, but we moved to the Austrian Hospice after Easter Sunday which is more inside the city and closer to everything. Here’s a list of some things I’ve done since being here:

*Heard from a variety of speakers covering different perspectives on the Arab-Israel conflict. Among them was Archbishop Elias Chacour-author of one of my favorite books Blood Brothers.

*Toured Jerusalem and saw many many sites including the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tear-Drop church, the Temple Mount/City of David, etc.

*Walked the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday. This was almost the death of me. It was literally the most dangerous thing I’ve done this semester.

*Went to the Sunrise Easter Service and the Garden Tomb. It was also the first English church service I’ve been to this semester.

*Walked through Hezekiah’s Tunnel!

*Visited Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum)

*Shabbat Observance at the Western/Wailing Wall

*Saw the Golan Heights and spent the rest of the day in Galilee/Nazareth. This included seeing ruins of a synagogue Jesus taught in, the supposed house of Peter’s mother-in-law, the church of the Enunciation, the Mount of the Beatitudes, etc. We also took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee!

*Spent a day in Tel Aviv walking along the beach, playing on an amazing big-kid playground, and flying a kite!

*Spent a day in Bethlehem. It doesn't look like the Christmas Carol. For there in the little town of Bethlehem is a huge wall dividing the West Bank from Israel. The wall was covered in graffiti--phrases like “This is the wall at which you should weep” remaining in my mind. We also met/had lunch with students from Bethlehem University.

*Visited/had discussions with students from Hebrew University

Today we hiked up Masada! If you don't know the story behind it, you should look it up. I was excited because I can remember my dad enthusiastically telling me all about the fortress and the story behind it. And today I got to see it for real! It was quite the hike! In my opinion, it was harder than Mt. Sinai because it was so steep! Afterward we went to En Gedi-the place where David hid from Saul. It was BEAUTIFUL and we swam in some springs/waterfalls. What a day! We have our last speaker tonight and then we have a final free day in Jerusalem before we return "home" to Cairo.

It has been a great two weeks, but mentally challenging as I expected. We've all been overloaded with opinions and information and our final 2 weeks in Cairo will be spent trying to spill it all back out into FOUR different papers. We have a lot of processing to do. It's hard to believe that the semester is almost over!

Until Cairo!...