Again, I apologize for not writing so much recently.
I will reiterate that for the most part, not a huge amount of new or exiting things have been going on, which is why I'm not in the habit of posting so much.
In any case, let's examine what's been going on in my life here lately...
Well, firstly, I guess the biggest change in my life is that Regina returned to Germany on the 22nd of February.
I think it goes without saying that this is really the most (although thankfully, the only) negative thing in my recent life.
It was painful to say goodbye to someone who has been such an amazing and close friend every day for almost six months, who I've had so much fun with. I am really happy to still be here for a good four months, but my experience won't be quite the same.
In any case, I'm staying positive about it for the most part, because this summer, after I return to the USA, I will be going on vacation for several weeks in Italy to visit my relatives, and since Italy and Germany are relatively close to each other, we have vowed that, inshallah, we will try to meet up somewhere. :D
I can't wait to see my German sister again. :3 <3
Then last weekend, I met up with some people that I met through the epitome of an "It's a small world after all" kind of story: My dad, who was visiting my grandparents in New Jersey, was dining with them in a Turkish restaurant called Sahara that we had all eaten in together back in September before I came here to Egypt, and while chatting with one of the owners, discovered that he was half Turkish and half Egyptian, and that he has a home and relatives in Alexandria and would be returning here soon for a visit! So through my dad, he promised an invitation for a fantastic lunch, and put me in contact with his college-age nephew Mohammed. So the next day, I went out with Mohammed and his two friends Kareem and Omar, and we got a little something to eat from a Syrian restaurant (there are a lot of them here, because refugees from Syria often have come here to Egypt to escape their war-torn homeland, and many of them end up opening restaurants). It was fun!
Other than that, I'm delighted to report to you all that school for me has been getting progressively better and better all last week. I kept having fun with my friends, and I continuously feel more comfortable and confident in my environment there. And, just as importantly, happy. :) I would daresay that I even...enjoy going to school now.
Which is something that six months ago, when I first started, I never would have imagined. And I'm so proud of how far I've come since that awful first day.
I remember I had a thought in my head in class on the first day of, "how on Earth am I going to be able to come back here every day if it feels like this?" and I had to keep clutching the beautifully decorated pen that my friend Brent had given me as a goodbye present, for some motivation and strength to keep going without breaking down.
That feels so far away now. If someone had told me on the first day that I would feel like I do now about going to school, I would have thought that they were crazy. But now, it feels wonderful that I enjoy going there. That's more than I ever could have hoped for after that first day, and I'm so proud to say it. :')
In another piece of school related randomness, French is starting to grow on me. I learn French here in school, and previously I didn't find myself so engrossed by it for some reason. But now I'm starting to slowly open up to it, and it's growing on me! I definitely am going to make more of an effort to retain it now. I will still principally focus on improving my Arabic, taba'an (of course), but I certainly will make much more of an effort to gain knowledge from my French class here. :)
Also, yesterday I was invited to go out by a boy my age who lives in my apartment building, called Youssef, and some of his friends. I had met him briefly back in September, but we hadn't really spoken much since then, so it came as a surprise, but, of course, I immediately accepted.
Let's just say that I made a great decision to accept. :D
Youssef and I first went over to his church (he's Coptic), and he showed me around inside it a little bit. I honestly have a thing for Coptic churches - the smell of incense, the prayers and chants in Coptic (which, as I mentioned in my Aswan post, is a language that I find amazing and fascinating), the beautiful decorations and architecture, et cetera...But he also took me further in, and showed me a place in the church complex with a cafeteria, and activities for youth and children, such as pool and ping pong tables, and even a special gym-like room in which to play soccer. It was great to have a way into this nice little world that I didn't even know existed.
One thing that I found interesting, was that this place for youth to hang out in the church reminded me a lot of Italy. This is because, in Italy, churches will often have places attached to them or in them, called an oratorio, with similar activities for youth and children. When I visit Italy, I often hang out with my friends in the various oratori (that's the plural form) present in my family's town.
So that was an interesting little parallel that I found.
In any case, we then went to a nearby McDonald's to join his friends - Mina, Mark, and Abanoub, who actually goes to Taymour! I had seen him before in school, but we hadn't met. It turns out that he is in my friend Nehal's class! Small world...
We had a little something to eat there, and then went to a cyber (I can't think of the right term...it's like an Internet cafe, minus the cafe part...basically it's a place with computers where you go to use the Internet, print stuff, copy stuff, and so on) and played some computer games before returning to the church to hang out and play a little soccer.
It was honestly a fun night, and I ended a good day on a great note after having had a great time and made some new friends. :D I can't wait to do it again sometime. :)
I've also been invited to go with them to the same church for their Easter celebration, which I am already looking forward to immensely.
That's it, I think...
Well, thank you all again for reading, and since I haven't been doing this quite as much lately, I will leave you all with a song again!
This is one of my favorite Arabic songs of all time, and it and the artist merit a little explanation before I include the video itself in the post. :P
The song is called "Helwa ya Balady," which means something like "Beautiful, oh my country." Yeah, my translation doesn't make sense, but oh well. :P
In any case, the song is by an Italian Egyptian artist who lived in France for much of her life, called Dalida.
She was born to Italian parents from Serrastretta, Calabria, Italy, in Cairo, and lived there in her early years, and lived in Paris for much of her adult life.
Apart from her talent and the fact that she is from both of my "other countries" (Italy and Egypt), I also admire her for being a perfect embodiment of the cosmopolitanism of the Mediterranean, that flourished in Egypt in her time, as I mentioned in my post from last July about Alexandria. She's a great artist, and this is a great song, in which Dalida basically talks about Egypt and how much she loves her country. Which I think is really beautiful. I heard it on the TV for the first time in a while today (which is what made me decide to include it in this post, since I haven't already), and it moved me almost to tears.
Anyway, kefaya kalam (enough talking)! Here it is:
Hope you guys like it!
Thanks for reading as usual.
Bye for now!
Love,
Nico
I will reiterate that for the most part, not a huge amount of new or exiting things have been going on, which is why I'm not in the habit of posting so much.
In any case, let's examine what's been going on in my life here lately...
Well, firstly, I guess the biggest change in my life is that Regina returned to Germany on the 22nd of February.
I think it goes without saying that this is really the most (although thankfully, the only) negative thing in my recent life.
It was painful to say goodbye to someone who has been such an amazing and close friend every day for almost six months, who I've had so much fun with. I am really happy to still be here for a good four months, but my experience won't be quite the same.
In any case, I'm staying positive about it for the most part, because this summer, after I return to the USA, I will be going on vacation for several weeks in Italy to visit my relatives, and since Italy and Germany are relatively close to each other, we have vowed that, inshallah, we will try to meet up somewhere. :D
I can't wait to see my German sister again. :3 <3
Then last weekend, I met up with some people that I met through the epitome of an "It's a small world after all" kind of story: My dad, who was visiting my grandparents in New Jersey, was dining with them in a Turkish restaurant called Sahara that we had all eaten in together back in September before I came here to Egypt, and while chatting with one of the owners, discovered that he was half Turkish and half Egyptian, and that he has a home and relatives in Alexandria and would be returning here soon for a visit! So through my dad, he promised an invitation for a fantastic lunch, and put me in contact with his college-age nephew Mohammed. So the next day, I went out with Mohammed and his two friends Kareem and Omar, and we got a little something to eat from a Syrian restaurant (there are a lot of them here, because refugees from Syria often have come here to Egypt to escape their war-torn homeland, and many of them end up opening restaurants). It was fun!
Other than that, I'm delighted to report to you all that school for me has been getting progressively better and better all last week. I kept having fun with my friends, and I continuously feel more comfortable and confident in my environment there. And, just as importantly, happy. :) I would daresay that I even...enjoy going to school now.
Which is something that six months ago, when I first started, I never would have imagined. And I'm so proud of how far I've come since that awful first day.
I remember I had a thought in my head in class on the first day of, "how on Earth am I going to be able to come back here every day if it feels like this?" and I had to keep clutching the beautifully decorated pen that my friend Brent had given me as a goodbye present, for some motivation and strength to keep going without breaking down.
That feels so far away now. If someone had told me on the first day that I would feel like I do now about going to school, I would have thought that they were crazy. But now, it feels wonderful that I enjoy going there. That's more than I ever could have hoped for after that first day, and I'm so proud to say it. :')
In another piece of school related randomness, French is starting to grow on me. I learn French here in school, and previously I didn't find myself so engrossed by it for some reason. But now I'm starting to slowly open up to it, and it's growing on me! I definitely am going to make more of an effort to retain it now. I will still principally focus on improving my Arabic, taba'an (of course), but I certainly will make much more of an effort to gain knowledge from my French class here. :)
Also, yesterday I was invited to go out by a boy my age who lives in my apartment building, called Youssef, and some of his friends. I had met him briefly back in September, but we hadn't really spoken much since then, so it came as a surprise, but, of course, I immediately accepted.
Let's just say that I made a great decision to accept. :D
Youssef and I first went over to his church (he's Coptic), and he showed me around inside it a little bit. I honestly have a thing for Coptic churches - the smell of incense, the prayers and chants in Coptic (which, as I mentioned in my Aswan post, is a language that I find amazing and fascinating), the beautiful decorations and architecture, et cetera...But he also took me further in, and showed me a place in the church complex with a cafeteria, and activities for youth and children, such as pool and ping pong tables, and even a special gym-like room in which to play soccer. It was great to have a way into this nice little world that I didn't even know existed.
One thing that I found interesting, was that this place for youth to hang out in the church reminded me a lot of Italy. This is because, in Italy, churches will often have places attached to them or in them, called an oratorio, with similar activities for youth and children. When I visit Italy, I often hang out with my friends in the various oratori (that's the plural form) present in my family's town.
So that was an interesting little parallel that I found.
In any case, we then went to a nearby McDonald's to join his friends - Mina, Mark, and Abanoub, who actually goes to Taymour! I had seen him before in school, but we hadn't met. It turns out that he is in my friend Nehal's class! Small world...
We had a little something to eat there, and then went to a cyber (I can't think of the right term...it's like an Internet cafe, minus the cafe part...basically it's a place with computers where you go to use the Internet, print stuff, copy stuff, and so on) and played some computer games before returning to the church to hang out and play a little soccer.
It was honestly a fun night, and I ended a good day on a great note after having had a great time and made some new friends. :D I can't wait to do it again sometime. :)
I've also been invited to go with them to the same church for their Easter celebration, which I am already looking forward to immensely.
That's it, I think...
Well, thank you all again for reading, and since I haven't been doing this quite as much lately, I will leave you all with a song again!
This is one of my favorite Arabic songs of all time, and it and the artist merit a little explanation before I include the video itself in the post. :P
The song is called "Helwa ya Balady," which means something like "Beautiful, oh my country." Yeah, my translation doesn't make sense, but oh well. :P
In any case, the song is by an Italian Egyptian artist who lived in France for much of her life, called Dalida.
She was born to Italian parents from Serrastretta, Calabria, Italy, in Cairo, and lived there in her early years, and lived in Paris for much of her adult life.
Apart from her talent and the fact that she is from both of my "other countries" (Italy and Egypt), I also admire her for being a perfect embodiment of the cosmopolitanism of the Mediterranean, that flourished in Egypt in her time, as I mentioned in my post from last July about Alexandria. She's a great artist, and this is a great song, in which Dalida basically talks about Egypt and how much she loves her country. Which I think is really beautiful. I heard it on the TV for the first time in a while today (which is what made me decide to include it in this post, since I haven't already), and it moved me almost to tears.
Anyway, kefaya kalam (enough talking)! Here it is:
Thanks for reading as usual.
Bye for now!
Love,
Nico
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