"Don't distract us with boring property, we want to talk about qadi adultery." -Professor Hanna

I first have to apologize for not being consistent about writing on here. I honestly have just been busy the past two evenings talking to my friends at Duke, my mom, and my boyfriend. I have no real excuse other than I am lame. I secondly have to explain to you that a qadi is a judge in the Islamic courts, and today in my marriage and family class we analyzed a case where two were involved in adultery with one woman. Very interesting topic and discussion as you can imagine.

I don't really have any exciting news from the past couple of days except for my creative writing story was actually a hit with my peers. I felt a little proud, I'm not going to lie. It was really fun to read the different stories of my peers because it showed just how different we all are. It is also interesting to see what issues non-native speakers have in writing in English. I must admit, I was really impressed with their skills. I think some of the people in my class should help write the school newspaper here because the people who do don't live up to my classmates, at least from what I can tell. The other day the article was so bad in English, I opted to read it in Arabic. Of course then I had an added sense of accomplishment.

I may not have lots of exciting news, but I do have a couple of stories about the culture here. One hilarious, one that offended me. I think I will tell you what offended me first, so I can end on a happy note. Last night I got out of my late class at 8 pm. By then the campus is pretty deserted and I was walking back to the dorm by myself. A couple was approaching me, and as we passed the man was staring at me. First of all this was weird, not because a man was staring at me, because that happens to any woman on the streets of Cairo, but because it was on campus. On campus the Egyptians for the most part ignore the Americans or a select few treat you like normal students. But back to my story, the man was staring at me. Then he started singing, "I am a terrorist, I eat Americans." Then he growled. It was so strange and infuriating at the same time. I first of all hate that most Americans see Middle Easterners as all being terrorist. Second of all, I hate that this belief has caused a bad stigma for understanding Americans like me who have devoted time to better understand the culture. I really wanted to say, "Well I'm an American and I bomb them." However, I realize this isn't really what I believe in and it was highly inappropriate. Rage does crazy things to your mind.

My funny story is, I went to McDonalds to get a hot fudge sundae, which in Egypt are called a sundae with chocolate and have become my weakness in life. So I'm standing at the counter waiting in "line" and I notice that my cashier's name is Ahmed Ali. I was thinking what a standard Islamic/Arab name. I decided to check out the other name tags. Would you believe all 3 cashiers were named Ahmed. Ahmed Ali, Ahmed Zaki, and Ahmed Mudeer. It was so funny. If you are ever in Egypt, and want a hot fudge sundae on AUC's campus, just ask for Ahmed.

Anyways, I have to get to class now. Almost the weekend. Happy Wednesday!