Today, after the same breakfast, we headed for Arabic class. In class we learned the numbers from one to ten. We also learned about how to say the currency and how to communicate amounts of money, which I think is going to be pretty useful when I go shopping and I want to bargain with the seller. Another thing I learned that was interesting because it was very different from English was that words like “want” and “live” are nouns, not verbs, in Arabic. I also leaned about the temerboota (I love saying that by the way—“temerboota”) and it’s kind of confusing, but I do understand that’s just the added to any feminine word. So we learned how to take the nouns and conjugate them according to gender and number of people. Finally, we worked on the personal pronouns like, “I” and “you.”
Although I’m really glad that we’re covering a lot of ground in Arabic class and we’re learning really useful things for our stay here in Egypt, I do feel a bit overwhelmed just because we’re moving so fast. I guess this is just the way it has to be since we missed some classes because of the delays due to the snowstorm. I just hope I can catch up fast enough to fully take advantage of the Arabic language.
During the break I continued with The Yacoubian Building and asked Noureen to get me lunch. She came back with a Meat Tagen from koshery, even though I asked for a Shawerma Tagen. Because there wasn’t that much time during the break, I couldn’t eat my Meat Tagen right away so I first went to my group’s meeting with Nevenka and ate then.
I’m really glad we have these meetings with Nevenka. Even though they’re only for an hour, I feel like we are able to understand Arabic so much more because we can ask further, more detailed questions about the massive amount of information we learn in Arabic during class. During the meeting I was able to better understand some words that I wanted to know, but didn’t learn in class, like “Fi=in” and “fayn=where.” We also did the number song again, which was really useful.
Right after the meeting, we left for a meeting with an NGO. The NGO was called Nahdet El Mahrousa: The Incubator for Social Innovative Enterprises. This NGO is different from other NGO because the main goal of this NGO is to help other NGOs by providing them with funding. They defined an incubator as “an economic and/or social development process designed to advise potential start-up projects and, through a comprehensive capacity building and assistance program, help them to establish and accelerate their growth and success.”
One of the speakers mentioned that Nahdet El Mahrousa provides funding to other NGOs to encourage them to do research without worrying about costs. They want these individuals to get into the habit of doing research. Another speaker mentioned that one of the achievements of Nahdet El Mahrousa was that they developed a Career and Development office in Cairo University so that even before students get their degree, they will know what job to look out for when they graduate, instead of not knowing what their doing.
After the meeting, some of the girls went walking around to the stores. I wanted to shop, but I didn’t want to shop just anywhere. I wanted to shop somewhere I knew would have the things I want for a decent price. I feel like the store in Zamalek are overpriced because a lot of tourists come here so they feel that they can overcharge everyone. But Abduh’s going to take us to a marketplace that will sell items for a good price. Hopefully I find the things I need, like athar (scents) and gallabiyas for my dad and brother.
When I got back to the hotel room, I continued with the book and for dinner I ate leftover croissant from breakfast. But before I slept, I talked with Noureen’s friend Lisa who had been studying in Cairo for a whole semester. I asked her if she felt her curriculum was difficult and was surprised to learn that the curriculum in Egypt is a lot easier than the curriculum in America. She explained that because the students have difficult with English, the professors do not give challenging assignments. When Lisa left, I continued with some more of the book at this point. I felt like the book was too unrealistic in the sense that there was so much going on in one building. And it bothered me that there were so many sex related issues in the book. I felt like Alaa Aswany was forcing every sex related issue in the book just because these issues are not openly discussed.
Powerpoint presentation at Nahdet el Mahrousa
Although I’m really glad that we’re covering a lot of ground in Arabic class and we’re learning really useful things for our stay here in Egypt, I do feel a bit overwhelmed just because we’re moving so fast. I guess this is just the way it has to be since we missed some classes because of the delays due to the snowstorm. I just hope I can catch up fast enough to fully take advantage of the Arabic language.
During the break I continued with The Yacoubian Building and asked Noureen to get me lunch. She came back with a Meat Tagen from koshery, even though I asked for a Shawerma Tagen. Because there wasn’t that much time during the break, I couldn’t eat my Meat Tagen right away so I first went to my group’s meeting with Nevenka and ate then.
I’m really glad we have these meetings with Nevenka. Even though they’re only for an hour, I feel like we are able to understand Arabic so much more because we can ask further, more detailed questions about the massive amount of information we learn in Arabic during class. During the meeting I was able to better understand some words that I wanted to know, but didn’t learn in class, like “Fi=in” and “fayn=where.” We also did the number song again, which was really useful.
Right after the meeting, we left for a meeting with an NGO. The NGO was called Nahdet El Mahrousa: The Incubator for Social Innovative Enterprises. This NGO is different from other NGO because the main goal of this NGO is to help other NGOs by providing them with funding. They defined an incubator as “an economic and/or social development process designed to advise potential start-up projects and, through a comprehensive capacity building and assistance program, help them to establish and accelerate their growth and success.”
One of the speakers mentioned that Nahdet El Mahrousa provides funding to other NGOs to encourage them to do research without worrying about costs. They want these individuals to get into the habit of doing research. Another speaker mentioned that one of the achievements of Nahdet El Mahrousa was that they developed a Career and Development office in Cairo University so that even before students get their degree, they will know what job to look out for when they graduate, instead of not knowing what their doing.
After the meeting, some of the girls went walking around to the stores. I wanted to shop, but I didn’t want to shop just anywhere. I wanted to shop somewhere I knew would have the things I want for a decent price. I feel like the store in Zamalek are overpriced because a lot of tourists come here so they feel that they can overcharge everyone. But Abduh’s going to take us to a marketplace that will sell items for a good price. Hopefully I find the things I need, like athar (scents) and gallabiyas for my dad and brother.
When I got back to the hotel room, I continued with the book and for dinner I ate leftover croissant from breakfast. But before I slept, I talked with Noureen’s friend Lisa who had been studying in Cairo for a whole semester. I asked her if she felt her curriculum was difficult and was surprised to learn that the curriculum in Egypt is a lot easier than the curriculum in America. She explained that because the students have difficult with English, the professors do not give challenging assignments. When Lisa left, I continued with some more of the book at this point. I felt like the book was too unrealistic in the sense that there was so much going on in one building. And it bothered me that there were so many sex related issues in the book. I felt like Alaa Aswany was forcing every sex related issue in the book just because these issues are not openly discussed.
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