Egypt Revisited Part 1

The moment I left the airport I felt as if someone had pressed play, almost like my time in Egypt had been paused and I was picking up right where I left off. Everything was the same, well except the brisk chilly weather that surprised me and made the sands feel like a beach in the morning and not the desert. I decided to stay with a friend, well mostly because I would have my own room and I really did not want the awkwardness of sharing a room with my little sister again but now, sitting here alone in this cold cold room, in this extravagant house with maids and chaffers rushing around, with everyone in there respective sections of the house sleeping, I really wouldn't mind going through that awkwardness, just so that I could feel like I'm apart of a family and that I am loved.
Yesterday, I went to an Egyptian school. I am told that it is one of the most expensive schools in all of Egypt known for being full of "brats" (the words of people who I'd spoken to) . When I got there I was so excited. Thinking this is going to be so fun, meeting new students, being bombarded with a million questions about America or whatever, but NO no no no a thousand times no. I had to sit in an office for TWO hours waiting for this phantom of a principal to show up so that I could get this non existent visitors pass. Finally, I'm allowed out and I think "oh okay this is alright, I'll meet my friends friends and everything will be fine" But no, as we walked into the courtyard I was like my friend just had idk a huge spot of ink on his shirt or something, and everyone was asking him about the spot not knowing that the spot had ears and could speak. "Who is this girl? What is her name ?" they would ask my friend, " HELLOO I shouted I can speak!" but i was ignored . What made it worse was as I was sitting on a bench waiting for what seemed like an eternity for some type of academic class to start, a boiling hot cup of ramen noodled is thrown from a balcony above and WHAP hits me right in the middle of my shoulder blades. you can imagine my face -_- Im done.
To wrap things up; class did start around 1 pm ( school ends at 3)- I was appalled by the lack of structure in the classes and the students complete disregard for learning- I appreciated the awkward Christian boy for sitting beside me and striking up a conversation- I had never been so grateful for the three o'clock bell.
Night: I meet up with a friend from AFS. Omar, truth be told we weren't that close during the summer, and I was nervous that I'd have another night full of awkwardness. After an annoying taxi ride with an flirtatious taxi driver, I finally met up with him and his friends and alas he was a perfect host and a really good friend. The things that I didn't understand he translated for me and really made sure that I was happy and felt like I was apart of the group. He threw me an unforgettable party for me on the nile... thats all I can say about that

The Man with the Green Eyes

This deserves a re-post. It was one of my first posts before I left for Egypt and reading it now is so refreshing.
UPDATE: I still mentally consult Uncle Green Eyed Man, wondering what he'd do in certain situations and think about what I'd say to him if I ran into him again in New York. I also remembered that his name was Malik.

Update Update: I'm going back to Egypt this week.

" My eyes I green cus I eat a lot of vegetables. It don't have nothing to do with your new friend" - Erykah Badu

"I must admit this entire process; preparing to go overseas, doing hours and hours or repetitive Arabic a day, felling the anxiousness of living with people I have never met, has made me feel rather apprehensive to go to Egypt. Nervous, but not in a good way. But yesterday, I met a green eyed man from Harlem who told me of his experiences in Egypt. He reminded me of one of the crazy cool protagonists I'd read in a funny novel about coming of age or something. Once I got passed how BEAUTIFUL he was and picked my mouth up off the ground and began to listen to what he was saying I was spellbound captivated enchanted and for the first time in a while excited once again. He told me of the time he stumbled into the modern day city of the dead, his encounters with con- artists, the power of the pyramids, the mid-town manhattan business of Cairo, and raved about tomatoes, lol. Honestly, I had the urge to act like an excited kid during story time, you know, sit Indian style plop my face in my hands and just listen. Perhaps it was because with each story he told, it was complete with sound effects, accents, broad hand gestures, and when he would get to the good part or when he would imitate someone his eyes would get SO big you'd think they would fall right out of his head lol. Just imagine these big huge clover green eyes staring right into your soul, intense but not in a bad way, it was more like hitting your funny bone, you know it hurts but you still have the urge to laugh ( Ha! perhaps this metaphor makes no sense, i guess you had to be there lol) As the minuets passed, I suddenly felt strangely comfortable with this man, like I'd known him for years and at one point I had the urge to say " Uncle Green Eyed Man its so great to see you again!". The epitome of the phrase "Familiar Stranger" I guess....
Maybe I'll right a poem about this encounter, maybe a short story, maybe I'll continue this blog post but for now, thank you green eyed man, who I had the urge to call Uncle Green Eyed man, for answering all of my silly questions, for the dope discount on all of those books that I bought, and for making me excited once again for this adventure in Egypt."

This Blog

Dear anyone who ever reads this blog,

You may be wondering why my posts have become less frequent, why the quality of my wiring as continued to disintegrate, and why I'm not writing about anything with SUBSTANCE ! To be frank I feel that no one reads this blog, truly this is NOT my dairy ( I have one of those), and feeling like I'm writing to thin air is no fun. So dear mysterious ticks on my blog counter, if you have any questions ASK, if you like a post SAY SO ( if you don't say that too), INTERACT or else as we say in Jordan "7alas" this blog will continue to fade into nothingness.

Best Regards

Nia

Palestine, My Love

During the Eid break I took a trip to Palestine. Silly me I didnt blog every day while I was there :( so I'm just going to blog about a few stories.


Jerusalem ( Occupied Palestine)


Jerusalem ( Occupied Palestine)
I was shot ( with a BB gun but still! lol), frisked, bumped with an M 16,and interrogated. The whole time I was there I just kept getting this queasy feeling in my stomach. It was like I was in the Twilight Zone, with all of these people walking about like everything was fine, the Israeli’s walking around like they'd had this land for ages, like the spirits of those they'd killed to be there did not exist, but I felt them and the haunting sound of injustice whistled through the streets. I was angry. I did not want to be there, did not want to spend any money, and longed to spit on the ground that the Israeli soldiers walked on, but alas my sweet tooth screamed louder than my silent boycott and I bounced into a chique little frozen yogurt store. While paying I dropped a coin and before I could bend down to pick it up a six foot, grim looking, Israeli soldier, with a giant gun hanging by his side quickly swooped down and handed it to me with a smile. That little act of kindness instantly caused a " Crisis of Conscience", added a huge glob of grey into the "black and white" mindset that I'd created for the whole Palestinian conflict, suddenly the green suited gun tooting monsters suddenly seemed... human. Now, you may be wondering why I felt so strongly against the Israelis. I was staying with a Palestinian family who told me stories of their personal horror's they'd seen and encountered with Israelis. The Uncle even went as far to show me the bullet scar that he has in his forehead that he got one day just walking to church and my friend began to tear when recalling a time when she was hit with a gas bomb... so yea call me biased.

Nov 12 Eid

Today, was quite the eventful day. To begin with I was cast in a music video! Funny thing, it was all in Arabic so I don't remember the singers name and don't remember the name of the song but I was a blast. We all had to dress up in World Cup jerseys and they shot it on this huge soccer field at a school. This was the first gig from the modeling agency I'm doing some work with. I managed to befriend this college student from the University of Jordan who became my translator for the day and who later on drove me to my friends house, he was a life saver. But yea, so I sit down and they call the eight of us from the modeling agency and tell us that they want each of us to sing a part of the song by ourselves with the camera straight on! I start to panic ! The song's all in Arabic !! AAAHHH!! What am I going to do? ! I mean I know Arabic well enough to carry a conversation but this!! So I think back to an episode of America's Next Top Model where the girls have to do a whole commercial in another language and think to myself " If those ditzy twigs can do it, then so can I!" and believe it or not when I sat down at the camera everyone said that I did the best job out of all the other models, lol.

So when thats over my new friend an I trek over to my friend Saba's house where I am greeted with by smiles, hugs, food, and a bed to nap in. Now who is Saba, you may be wondering ? She's one of the kindest people that I've met in Jordan. She's a 27 year old lawyer who is like a big sister to me and I wonder what my time would be like here if i hadn't met her .

Beautiful Jordan

So I realized that this blog can get a little negative and perhaps its even morfing into my venting site, so Ive decided to dedicate this post to the many good things about Jordan.
1. Falfel: Jordan has some of the best and cheapest falafel. Its amazing!

2:The beautiful skies: You've never seen a beatiful sky until you've visited Jordan.



3: The people/ the students: some of the sweetest students Ive ever had. One tradition the King decided to bring over from Deerfield ( the school this one was modeled after ) are sit down lunches. Basically they are formal lunches with random groups of students that rotate every 3 weeks. So far Ive had great tables but my last one was by far my favorite. I had a group of roudy boys and one freshman girl. Our lunches were far from formal but instead were filled with laugher, jokes, and crude Arabic lessons. Now everytime I see them in the halls I always get a hello or a hug, I love those boys. The picture below is depicting a small pot given to me by my friend in the ceramics department, another example of how nice people are here.


4: My Office: We may have had out issues in the begining but the women here are truly amazing.

Zambia

One of the things that keeps me going throughout the day is my trip to Zambia. When I feel like drawing myself in the endless piles and piles of papers that need filing I think about December, about me sitting on that plane, and knowing that when I get off Ill be in Africa! I am ECSTATIC! For the past few weeks it has been back and forth yes no yes no, do i really want to do this? I could just go home? I'm nervous. What if the kids don't like me? I kept asking for some type of sign praying that something would help me decide. And everyday something happened that told me that I HAVE to do this. For example a woman who works with me actually used to live there. I told her about my "iffiness" about my trip and she raved about her time there ! and even invited me over next week to show me pictures and tell me stories. Little things like that have been happening everyday, someone knows someone whose been there or something like that....

I will continue this post later, maybe with updates on what my parents think about this. Ive got to run!

Sept 27

Today I heard the receptionist whispering about my less than perfect performance. She compared me to the new intern who's impeccable filing seems to blow her away. While standing in the adjacent office listening to this woman whisper feverishly about the two articles that I mis-filed and about how she doesn't understand my color coordinated system blah blah blah, my face flushed lava red with fury and frustration, burning up, steaming pools rushed to my eyes and I wanted more than ever to erupt in her face. Then suddenly like a pure breeze blowing through the toxic gases of a volcano, I had a thought that made me laugh. A giggle the turned into a full on holler. The thought was something like, thank god Im not good at filing because unlike her I wont be doing this for the rest of my life. Thinking back maybe that thought was a bit cruel... but it did something for me. I don't know really how to explain it, but it made me realize how much I DONT CARE about files, about AP and SAT scores, about top schools. Right now the work that Im doing is like forcing an artist to major in math, or like asking Ronald Dahl to stop writing and start studying biology, Im just not wired to to this type of work, and no matter how much the receptionist doesn't like it, lord knows im doing the BEST that I can... so she can just get over it :)

Broke

My face when I went up to the cash register ready to pay for my little 20 JD worth of necessary items, handed the guy my debit card, and BBBBEEEEEEPPPPPPPP DECLINED.... Ugh my life.

Work

Im pretty sure I've never been this exhausted in my life, this even tops working for the US Senate. I think its the stress of 50 million people pulling me in a million different ways, telling me about this mandatory meeting and that one, contradicting what my boss says others contradicting what my other boss says, thats hard ! Today I literally fell asleep in the middle of a meeting ran back to my job then was slightly reprimanded for attending that mandatory meeting then they continued to work me overtime. I keep trying to figure out how this is going to help me in the future, maybe then I'd have somewhat of a push to keep me going, But right now... ugh I don't know how to make it.

"Its So Salty !"

The Dead Sea was pretty amazing. Indeed you float like a life raft and the salt is so concentrated that you can see it swirling around your forearms when the sunlight hits the water ! The Academy paid for our day which was amazing since our Dead Sea experience took place at the 5 star Marriott Hotel ! I would recommend that place for anyone looking for a nice relaxing day in Jordan.

I had my first taste of actual work today and it felt good having that responsibility again. It also felt good having that sense of independence that I feel has been lacking since I've been here, since I've been spending most of my time with other Junior Fellows.
Everything is copacetic right now.

So.. Jordan !

I got here on Sunday! It was a nice empty flight so I was able to use the seat next to me and make a somewhat comfortable bed. I guess I should have updated my blog the first second that I got here, but honestly my first impressions weren't the best, but now things are slowly getting better. My living accommodations are amazing, and found out that I'll be working in University Counseling which is one of the best offices on campus.

Today was a good day. Just orientations and I got to meet the other new staff members. Their backgrounds and qualifications are AMAZING I feel so blessed to be working amidst such greatness ! Oh also ! I saw the King today!

until next time !

Good Bye Egypt

So Im home now.. or in my "house" I should say and much to my surprise I'm wishing that I was back in Egypt. I am miserable. point blank. I have spent my days on the verge of tears, feeling trapped in suburbia , caged by the branches of these tree lined streets and fancy shrubbery, and wondering what ever happened to that quixotic dream of "home" that I made up in my head while I was in Egypt. I have yet to see any of my friends, yet to visit my second home NY, and have yet to touch a stage. Even more at the moment my future in Jordan is just a fantasy. I havn't raised a single cent for the plane ticket. All the letters and emails that I sent out before I left were unanswered. Having this looming over my head, knowing that every day the price of that plane ticket continues to increase is like walking around with burlap sacks filled with dumbbells tied to my shoulders. My parents agreed to pay a part of the plane ticket if I stayed around the house and looked after my brother, I know its a pretty sweet deal, but often times I wonder if my happiness, if this slight breech of my freedom, is worth the price. Maybe I will just have to take out a loan? Will I have to contact the father that I haven't spoken to in eons? Will I not go? If that then what...

Maybe Egypt wasn't perfect, maybe I was getting fed of with the gender roles and all, but every day, every single day it was brand new in someway and everyday I knew that I would wake up to an amazing group of classmates who would love me and support me through all of my troubles. There was a woman living underneath our building who would hug me and attempt to speak broken English and the man at the little store who would always give me a discount and the woman on the train that would help me in just before the door slammed on me and all of the random people who loved me without even knowing my name. I miss that ...

Egypt Coming to a Close

As my bout with Egypt is quickly coming to a close I have no idea how to sum it all up. With all of these issues looming over my head, from where this money is coming from to pay for my flight to Jordan to do I even really want to go to Jordan, I havent had the time to sit down and reflect over my time here. I miss my friends and family so much. I have been traveling on my own since I was 10 years old and have never experienced home sickness to this degree. I think about all the memories I'm missing all the shows that I could be doing and wonder if this was all worth it. Being a woman in a Muslim male dominated society is tough, especially for me, a super liberal stubborn feminist, the sense of superiority that seems to radiate from every single man on every single street corner and micro bus makes me sick to my stomach. Maybe this aspect of Egyptian society is the cause of my home sickness... We'll Ive got to run...

Sorry

Ugh so time has been rather tight. My family's computer broke so I haven't been able to post and my time on the computer is limited now, so Ill fill you in on all of the happenings rapid fire, ready? ( please disregard the spelling / grammar mistakes :)

- Red Sea most amazing thing ever. Glowing plankton and red moons.
- Khan Elkhallili fighting with random Egyptian men in Arabic to get the best price on gifts.
- 6 Oct. pretty much the best place in Egypt.
- I get bit from a strange and violent bug on my lip, it swells to the size of a golf ball. funniest / most embarrassing thing ever.
-Egyptian husband ? uh we'll talk about that later.
- Sheesha :)
- Alexandria = the most boring place in Egypt. CAIRO ALL DAY !
- Go to see the movie Inception with some friends, great movie I would recommend it to anyone who likes thought provoking movies. Its making me consider studying Philosophy in college.
- So Im loving Egypt now my 6 Oct friends yanked me right out of my little depression.


Now a random shout out to my parents. Mommy and Poppy I love you both so much. Thank you for everything really really really I appreciate it. I wouldn't be where I am now without your love support open mindedness, and money (lol) Love you Tre ! Being here in Egypt made me realize a lot.

And to my followers keep following ! it means the world ! More to come soon

Upper Egypt

Before I left for Cairo I saw Chuck Bass in the airport. I've never watched Gossip Girl and Im not really one to follow the tabloids so I had no idea who this guy was, but this did not stop me from running up to him and taking a picture of him and with him....

I spend this past weekend in Upper Egypt in a poor peasant village out side of Mallawy. Imagine a series of maze like streets made of packed down animal dung and enclosed by hand made brick apartments. Here people keep animals, ducks and cows in their homes, the women move like spirits veiled behind full faces hijabs, and the children run bare foot through the streets wearing the clothes that we donate in those clothing bins behind shopping malls and Wal-Marts.

The minute I stepped out of the car, I was Chuck Bass. Literally every single child and even some adults followed me like a parade of curious babies through the street. Staring with wide and eager eyes, the bold ones shouted out any phase they knew in English " Alo" " I Love you" " Whattt iss yourrrr naammeee" and at one point I stopped to tie my shoe. The mass enclosed me hands everywhere, touching my hair, a pinch here and there, questions buzzing from every side. A man had to come with a sick and shoo them all away. When I sat down to eat, a boy had to stand at the door just so that we could eat in peace. Everywhere I went I was followed by an army of eyes, wondering and watching. A little girl (age 6) with amber eyes and pigtails made herself my personal bodyguard. Held my hand, guided me, and once another little girl said something fresh she smacked her in the face! We never spoke this little girl and I but before I left I gave her a piece of candy for her trouble; her faced looked as if I'd given her gold. The first day I was in good spirits, I would wave and smile, the next day the well water was not sitting well with me but still I had to grit my teeth pretend everything was alright. Through this ordeal I thought back to Chuck Bass, and thought wow this is what he must feel everyday, poor guy. I wish I hadn't taken that picture of him in the airport.

The women came to life indoors when they lifted their veils, the danced and laughed, and loved their children. There was a wedding this weekend. We visited the brides flat where we were welcomed by more women, dancing and playing drums. As I sat there and watched the bride ( age 19 which is considered very old to get married)I couldn't help seeing a hint of sadness. During the ceremony she sat there with a forced closed mouth smile watching the festivities below.

The last day I was there the men took me to see some ancient ruins. They were amazing. I couldn't believe how nice and generous everyone was. while pulling off I thought to myself was a sweet, simple caring people. My host father began asking me what I thought of the village, how I liked it and such. We began talking about the women. He told me that basically their lives consist of school until age 14 if they are lucky, marriage by age 15, then pretty much just sit around and wait to get pregnant. Also, if a man suspects promiscuity its not uncommon for a woman to get "circumcised". As he continued a sick feeling began brewing in the pit of my belly. That little girl, the one with amber eyes and pigtails, was just to be a "baby maker". No work, no school, not even privileged to marry a man she loves, just a baby maker. We visited an old women by the ruins, they told me that she spent her entire life basically in that room. Cooking cleaning, watching. The men tried convince her to attend the wedding festivities, she wouldn't even leave to do that.

I want to do something. Want to go back and move them away from there, want to give them books on feminism, do something! But I guess the worse part of all of this is knowing that I cant. Knowing that I must understand that this is the culture. I must force myself to understand, even if I don't think its right.

A Day

So people have been asking what my daily schedule is like well...

I get up at 6:30 everyday, then walk for about a quarter of a mile to the side of the highway ... yes side of the highway, where I then proceed to flag down a microbus. What is a microbus you might ask? Its a privately owned mini van that costs one pound. It has no specific route and you must shout a to the driver where you'd like to go and pray that hes going that way. This past week I had quite a the microbus fiasco, I didnt specify where I wanted to go and I ended up in the middle of nowhere and had to call me host dad to come and get me.
If all goes well on the micro bus I then proceed to walk a bit more to the metro station take it about 15 mins to Sadat, then power walk about a mile or so more to Garden City and hope that I make it to school on time.

Then School school school school.

The way home is an adventure in itself. I then take a mini bus to a mosque, findo micro busses and proceed to ask in my broken arabic, if they are going in the direction that I need. Sometimes Ill find a sweet old dirver who understands that I'm not from here and helps me out, but usually the drivers arent so nice.

I often times wonder why I do this I could complain, whine, ask the government to provide me with a private car, but truly this is Egypt. People playing frogger across busy highways with their lives, being stuck between the busom of some lady in the womans car on the train, handing your money down an assmbly line of perfect strangers on the bus, yes this is Egypt. And from these enlightening and sometimes terrifying experiences slowly but surely I am learning to understand the spirit of the Egyptian people.

Pyramids

Quite frankly I thought they would be so much more than they were. The tourists were annoying and disrespectful to the Egyptain culture, heat sun was vicious, and the more time i spent there the more annoyed I became. Uncle Green Eyed man told me that the Pyramids might "speak" to me, and this may sound odd, but they did. I felt they were angry, mad that throughout the centuries they have continually been disrespected, disected, and neglected. I mean graves with gum on them, people allowed to go into the Pyramids, ugh there were so many things that were'nt right...

Over all I'm content, loving my family, a bit frustrated with the reading arabic, but over all things are good.

Tap Water

To make a long story short my grandfather gave me a bottle of tap water in a normal water bottle the end result one sleepless night and school the next day all drugged up on some arabic pills. Looking back at my ordeal with the tap water I am able to laugh, I am able to say, "Mahyah Masar" I won! with a laugh and the more that I think about it, I think thats how I'll look at all of my problems here in Egypt.

But for now honestly sometimes I feel like giving up, I feel like I did that sleepless night in my sisters bed, helpless and hopeless, I just want to sit there and cry. The language, the people, the traffic, at times everything is so overwhelming! Moreover, day by day I find my English rapidly becoming poorer! That is the scariest thing for me, the fact that when I sit down to try and write I can only think of the word in Arabic....ugh

I wish I could wow you, write some deep amazing blog about the beauty of Egypt or something, but for now bear with me... the words will come inshaallah...

Mabruk!

My life in Egypt has finally begun ! I am living in New Cairo (Katameh), a beautiful suburb in Cairo right next to Bukata ( a mountain). I love it here, the people the weather, even the odd toilets ! People think I am sometype of Southern Egyptian so constantly people come up to me speaking Arabaic and I just answer with a puzzled look on my face, its a sight to behold. One thing about the people that Ive learned so far is that there is limited privacy, everyone is family, no secrets, and privacy is not what it is back home, but i really dont mind. I share a room with my two host sisters. Back home I would have shuttered at the thought of this but I've realized that it is just a part of the culture.
Already I love talking politics with Baba. Telling him about race relations back in the states, learning about the cultural differnces here in Egpyt, religion, I'm eating all that stuff up.
Another thing that I has shocked me are the womens roles here. THEY RUN THINGS ! really! Maybe in public they are portrayed as reserved and such but at home they are queens ! My mother is the epitome of this. In addition to working a full day she cooks meals from scratch, washes every day, and is rasing two girls. Hour by hour I am gaining more and more respect for her.

Well I should get some rest, Arabic Placement test tomorrow

Salam

Orientation

I only have 5 mins to be online right now but im currently in NY for a billion orientations! I must admit they are rather boring and I wish I could just meet my family already !

Until next time !

Nia

The Man With Green Eyes

" My eyes I green cus I eat a lot of vegetables. It don't have nothing to do with your new friend" - Erykah Badu

I must admit this entire process; preparing to go overseas, doing hours and hours or repetitive Arabic a day, felling the anxiousness of living with people I have never met, has made me feel rather apprehensive to go to Egypt. Nervous, but not in a good way. But yesterday, I met a green eyed man from Harlem who told me of his experiences in Egypt. He reminded me of one of the crazy cool protagonists I'd read in a funny novel about coming of age or something. Once I got passed how BEAUTIFUL he was and picked my mouth up off the ground and began to listen to what he was saying I was spellbound captivated enchanted and for the first time in a while excited once again. He told me of the time he stumbled into the modern day city of the dead, his encounters with con- artists, the power of the pyramids, the mid-town Manhattan business of Cairo, and raved about tomatoes, lol. Honestly, I had the urge to act like an excited kid during story time, you know, sit Indian style plop my face in my hands and just listen. Perhaps it was because with each story he told, it was complete with sound effects, accents, broad hand gestures, and when he would get to the good part or when he would imitate someone his eyes would get SO big you'd think they would fall right out of his head lol. Just imagine these big huge clover green eyes staring right into your soul, intense but not in a bad way, it was more like hitting your funny bone, you know it hurts but you still have the urge to laugh ( Ha! perhaps this metaphor makes no sense, i guess you had to be there lol) As the minuets passed, I suddenly felt strangely comfortable with this man, like I'd known him for years and at one point I had the urge to say " Uncle Green Eyed Man its so great to see you again!". The epitome of the phrase "Familiar Stranger" I guess....
Maybe I'll right a poem about this encounter, maybe a short story, maybe I'll continue this blog post but for now, thank you green eyed man, who I had the urge to call Uncle Green Eyed man, for answering all of my silly questions, for the dope discount on all of those books that a bought, and for making me excited once again for this adventure in Egypt.

Arab Academy

I began my online Arabic Course, it is somewhat difficult. I dont really understand why some of the letters have 7's and 2's in them :/ also the pronunciation is really hard ! One slight sound change can completely change the letter! Mastering this language will take lots of time and practice !

New Host Family

So,I finally got my host family for Egypt this summer,I am so excited! I even found my host sister on Facebook ( shes so pretty!) I am ecstatic to say the least. I have so many questions and as the days move closer to my departure I find myself getting more and more anxious.

Jordan

" Dear Nia,
Congratulations! I am happy to inform you that you have been selected to participate in next year’s Junior Fellowship program at King’s Academy. "

Yay !I got the fellowship! I am so excited and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Now, the bad news, I need $6,000 for basic costs. Help me out! Send this to your family, friends, everyone ! Any thing is greatly appreciated.