Hold on Voltaire

Ahh, the frenchies. They bring me such enlightenment. Either that or the rum, I'm not sure, but regardless, last night I returned to a question I've pondered for quite some time. In the nomadic way of things, what is one's favorite way to indoctrinate themselves to a new culture? Trying to keep it real here with the locals, I have tried various methods to get my learn on and understand the way they dance over here, but, paraphrasing an olde great Nickelodeon TV show, What do you do?

The thing is, most of the people here left France because they don't like French people. Now look at them, they come to Cairo and all they do is hang out with other French!

cashed

I have drank 3L of water and only pee'ed once.
It makes you think twice when a random lady on the street walks by and tells you to cut your hair.
In arabic no less.
It is time for a nap.

and where is my indifference?

It is only fitting that I read this post on a day like today after a night like last night. That's funny. I'm a wreck right now, but the benefit of being a wreck is I usually participate more in class. My macro-econ class was somewhat math based today, so those two factors led to probably the highest rate of participation I've ever given in any 50 minute period of my life. I think it is somewhat due to the hilarity I find in every detail right now, but it was indeed nice to take it to the house for once.
In any case, last night was the usual weekly European tour. The beverages drained quicker than usual and thus I reaped the benefits then and now. Today is one of those days where the backpack feels extra heavy and I drop the water bottle a few times on the way to class, and its the kind of drop where you accidentally kick it once it collides with the ground. This leads me to believe that my liver is in fact merely mortal. If you reference my previous tenure in Madison, hang-overs were wives tales to me. I once tried to get hungover and failed. Now days, after a brief hiatus from inhibited motor skills, I feel it a little bit more. No, I still don't really get hung over, I just... question the previous nights actions a little more. This tells me I'm apparantly still in decent form, but work must be done should the desire to return to previous levels ever arise.
What is even more hilarious is the delight of a ~15 page comparison of socialism and individualism due tomorrow. It's not as bad as that sounds. Tomorrow I might ask the professor to give full names of authors when giving us references to explore.

and all the colors mix together

New and improved, now with comments!
Turkey revisited.

on the brink of a little destiny, savvy?

In Egypt, there are two main players in the soccer (futball) arena, Ahli or Zamalek, both teams in Cairo. You are for either one or the other, and it is a very important and sometimes divisive trait. My office boy was for Ahli, I was for Zamalek. He didn't smile when I told him that.
Games between the two often get violent and the stadium stands one half white (zamalek), one half red (Ahli). The streets flow with the blood of the loosing team at the end.
Tonight the blood of Ahli will wash the donkey shit off the soles of my shoes as I stand over them in Victory!
Yea, I'm going to the game. It's the biggest game in Egypt, and also my first one attended.
It's like Beauty at your doorstep.

Finally!

Fuck all you Michigan bitches!

Imagine

Ryan is on top of the bathtub, screaming and giggling like a little girl.
Augusto is laughing histerically and announces to all he's going to "burn the motherfucker."
I rush to the bathroom, yelling for them to wait, but make sure to maintain a healthy distance between myself and the cockroach about to go up in flames.
Andre sits at the table in the dining room, biting into his fruit and asking why we can't just kill it softly.

"not bad for french dudes"

Burke would be happy to know I'm at a standing desk right now.
So there's these french dudes that throw a party every Monday night and basically anyone is invited. It has the winnings and losings of being largely expat, but it's a great way to meet people, or namely, meeting girls to invite to my parties. Every week it happens and they roll with sauce I could never afford, though a little drink or two always finds its way to my quivering hands and lips. Anyway, these guys could use a little schooling on maxizing the party of their sweet ass apartment and such, but they don't do too bad for such great colonialists.
Anyway, we'll be hosting festivities soon and I've been pondering how to maximize the party of Our sweet ass apartment. The dynamics are quite different from the Lodge. We're not talking about ragers, but more cocktail parties or, as I like to call them, networking events. You don't have a couple making out along the wall and I'd be damned if I ever saw a community container of alcohol (now that I mention it...), these tend to be a bit more civilized and grown-up, if you will. Don't worry, soon we will perfect the chair layout, shisha location (still need good coal preparation process), playlist, and most importantly, that 40/60 ratio. My phone needs a few more numbers to comfortably pad my depth, but the day is young. Deep down, you know she's a beautiful baby aching to party. And to the Frenchies, I won't offer my number, but you bet I'll see you next Monday for my weekly dose.

move and shake

There is no such thing as a neutral educational process.
Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom...the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.

-Paulo Freire

Active Day

As this guy writes, I've often pondered why someone, while telling a story, would categorize non-whites while not categorizing whites. You hear it all the time and it is a constant reminder that the idea of color is still too foreign to too many people.

because the goal is Soul

Initial perceptions and a superb first impression are two critical elements in a program like Salaam, where weekend event attendance is voluntary. A multitude of destinations and opportunities to score sweet experiences make it all but easy to maintain program "loyalty," that is, ensuring consistent attendance by the trainees, most of whom have limited time and days off to score. Thus, first impressions are key.
Sadly, I couldn't attend the initial week of glory when most of the trainees arrived. Most accounts allude it to the sweet nectar I worship so much. I'll leave a review of that week to some other soul. The natives rejoiced when I realized I could make it to the weekend prep conference "on the ground" though. I liked it. Get everyone together and talk about some of the mechanics, etc. If I remember correctly, there was repeated material from our weekend in DC, so I'd like to see a little more coordination across oceans to maximize efficiency and maintain motivation. It's still early on, so keep up the good impressions. Some people didn't like parts of the conference. For that I give them some... lame points. The weekend was money and the included night activities (a must!!!) were good for the whole meeting-greeting thing. Perfecto.
However, just as I like to do, you gotta finish what you start, flair included. What do I mean you ask? How about a weekend wrap-up in, say early August. No, not a whole weekend, just a day. Perhaps a full day. This is where you can talk about reverse culture shock and start to conclude the experience. It needs to be kept as functional and experience-maximizing as possible, so it should be... intense without being intense. Ask me how to do that later.
Lastly, the weekend trips. Our trip to Alexandria, from what I saw, got bogged down in the buracracy of the tourist police, which AIESEC can't control, but they can tame. Someone should be calling ahead as much as possible to ensure that upon our arrival we're ready to slide through that bullshit like a well lubricated.. piston. I don't know exactly how it works, but christ, tell them we're arriving at 3 so the police arrive when we do at 6. The standing around for 2 hours outside a hostel set an unpleasant precedent to the weekend. We didn't make it to the beach until late afternoon the next day. Fuck the police! One way to alleviate stress is to set up a fo sho agenda for the weekend. Don't ask me what I want to do, I've been in the country for three weeks. You live here. Show me the sweet stuff. A day at the beach is an easy time consumer. In the evening let's hit up the library and anything else that's excellent. Call or send someone ahead so they know we're coming. Is that crap closed already? Give us free time to walk around the city, and let's meet up at 8 for the barbeque or fish dinner in that one alley. We're dealing mostly with americans, so if the precedent is set to "be on time" we are for the most part capable of being so. The barbeque thing we did was pretty sweet, a little chillin in someone's sweet ass backyard should be on the "keep" list.
So, what I propose is slating an AIESEC trip once a month. You could perhaps even name it a "study tour." Like Turkey. Make it a three day trip to, and it should be Desitination Sweetness, like Siwa, Sinai, and Luxor/Aswan. There, three months, three trips. You could even do two trips to Sinai and eliminate L/A. Personally, I'd keep it fresh with the three different locales.
Siwa is easy enough to plan, just get us there and in the desert on top of those trucks. I mean, not on top of the trucks. Trent: "its fucking sweet, but don't do it." Indeed, I say the same, especially at midnight.
Sinai gives more room for creativity. First, make sure all the sheep bring their passports. You could stop at one of the north coast beaches for a short reprieve to lighten the load of the drive. You could arrive in Sharm thursday morning (early early), spend the day there, then head to dahab that night to stay in huts. Keep it cheap! You could even then head to Basata that night to spend more time at a third (!) beach on Saturday. A weekend of maximum Sinai. Hell, I'd make T-shirts for it.
Luxor and Aswan I would leave for the last trip since the heat is a bitch. I've also never been there, but it sounded like a lot of temples and stuff. If I ever make it there I'll create a remixed version for the program.
One last thing. Plan these events in advance. Preset the dates early on when doing the Salaam Summer Planning and have the dates ready at our weekend prep conference on the ground. Even go so far as presenting it to the TN's so that they know trainees will need off on these days. Then when I ask my boss for the day off he won't say things like "no" or "its very hard." This might take a couple spreadsheets and some crazy coordination, but it ain't nothing an OC can't handle. There are some hard-ass working and talented people here, so this could be an undershot of what we're capable of. Set the precedent that these weekends are sweet and getting people to attend them will be a non-issue. Three weekends, that's it. Leave all the rest open for interpretation.

It's like its not in my karma to score the wireless internet from my laptop while on campus. The first time I went home to get my computer it couldn't "acquire a network address," so there I sit, in the desk by the window silently weeping and begging it to "acquire the fucking address" inbetween peaks at the cute girl sadly wearing a Linkin Park shirt. Just a few minutes ago, there I sat again threatening it with reformats and magnets while it teased me with the little animation signaling its lame ass attempt to "acquire the god damn address."
Now here I am, livid, back in other corner fuming at this computer with the shit ass monitor.
At least I have Automatic for the Peole.
Son of a bitch, how can a website for a Global Economy conference (to be held here) not work? It's not that hard. Find the fucking server you bitch! I might still try to go.

RSS feeds

I'm looking to set up something online to organize a bunch of RSS feeds. It would be of the utmost excellence if someone could point me in the right direction to do this.

written 1959

Grownups have it in them to be creative, and sometimes, with the help of ambition, hard work, and a bit of luck they actually are, but being grownups, they have no sooner created some epoch-making invention than they become a slave to it.

The Tin Drum

If there is one thing to love about Egypt

... it has got to be the relaxed approach to copryright laws.
Sure, the one sided printing made it much more cumbersome and heavier, but thank you xerox man saving me 327 pounds on that text book!

Finally

Turkey uncut.

musing

the relevance of the ass.
(:umptions)

When the professor wrote this on the board it made me think of johhny. I do not know why.

Remember This

There were thousands of trainees and we vastly outnumbered the membership of the Egyptian MC.

reflective aviators in action

So, I'm at the second stage of my stay, that being school. Although my two weeks in August of pure chilling provided for much unneccessary idleness, it did lend time here and there for some olde fashioned review. I've tried to complile my thoughts into some sort of concise and readable memo. It is straight from the Garden. This keyboard sucks.
The first striking characteristic I noticed upon hitting land was the sheer number of trainees. We vastly outnumbered the membership of Egypt. This is important for two main reasons. First, most of our initial outings were huge groups. Second, substantial patience was required when making requests to or seeking help (or whatever) from members, as they had their hands full. This general idea is so important that I even created this.
So you've got this group of 15 or so trainees and maybe 7 AIESECers kicking it at Fishawy's or eventually Tornado's. That's a huge group and it was usually bigger. It's hard to really develop "those relationships" we are always talking about in a group like that. Trying to organize a trip with an even bigger group than that proved to be a miserable failure. What happens? You break off into smaller niche groups, but now that becomes a logistical nightmare when you do want to organize any sort of communal activity. It's a difficult beast to manage. Not impossible, difficult. Size matters.
A personal story. When I first arrived, I got dropped off at my house and was basically given a pat on the rump and "go get 'em" encouragement. I landed about a week after the big rush, so I was aware of my absence from the initial festivities, but I still expected some sort of help for the basics, like, say, getting money. I landed with a buck twenty five in my pocket (duty free, sorry) and a load of travellor's checks. You can't buy food with those. No real help was offered and my initial requests were really only given lip service. Yea its tough when the trainee doesn't know his phone number or address, but its not impossible. I've done reception. As this was a very hectic time in Cairo, I think I slipped through the cracks. It's OK, I eventually got myself to an exchange place and finally ate after two days of famine. I think I still owe Nisrin some pounds. I harbor no hard feelings, but this would be a tough start for someone who is gathering their first impression of the organization, especially after hearing all the stuff "we do for you" during preparation. I think this played a part.
So, there was a bit of an HR problem, which led to the not quite so intimate outings and a little patience and diligence required on our part. Given the scope, we're not in terrible shape. We can fight through it.
In my opinion, that was the main administrative or logistical challenge. It needs to be addressed.
Now, over to the cultural side of things. This place is totally fucking different, which is sweet, but damn challenging. I'll be honest, I got rocked. I don't know if all the trainees really aligned with our aims on this exchange, but that's for another time. I didn't realize how community oriented Egypt is, and this philosophy (if you will) permeates through various parts of society. Conversations with strangers, asking for a drink from someone on the street, 30 people gathering around a scuffle... it's all commonplace here. And that's just a scratch of the surface. Body language, boy-girl interaction, time, bargaining..the list goes on. I think the differences are great enough that it is even a challenge within aiesec at times. With that, this program provides a good look into society, but I don't believe three months is enough. It is too easy for it to feel like an extended tourist visit, though aiesec does lend a better look into the inner mechanics of Egyptian society and allows you to speak with a bit of authority on such topics. I know of several trainees who felt they were just getting "into it" when they had to pack up and head back west.
If you were unaware, my job sucked ass. I'm not sure if it was my boss or just a poor match between me and the conditions, but I could list off a couple hundred things I would have rather put my time toward. That's ok, since the improvement is what's key, but this could prohibit proper assessment by aiesec if there's enough TN's that need improvement. Let's see what happens.
So, we're doing great things here. What is also great is that there are clear areas for improvement, so alls we need to do is attack. I think AIESEC needs to assess whether it can handle groups of this size and maintain or improve on the impact it wants to have. If we can, then great, because this beast is big and it wants to get bigger. Feed it. This summer a bunch of trainees openned their eyes to a new world. Let's open this door even further.
Khallas, meshi?

bummer

A Louisiana police chief has admitted that he ordered his officers to block a bridge over the Mississippi river and force escaping evacuees back into the chaos and danger of New Orleans. (Independent)

Palestinians have set fire to three abandoned synagogues amid the departure of the last Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip... (Aljazeera)

now, note to self

Regardless of the substantial complexities, it would be most beneficial to remember girls' names.

FYI

It is unnecessary to wear sunglasses inside the library.

a whole new playground

It's my second day at AUC, and it's hilarious. Apparantly it is impossible to escape Gucci sunglasses, or should I say, sun goggles. But it doesn't matter, there are so many beautiful babies ready to party, and the best part is their net worth has got to be at least 10 times mine. Why don't you call up your driver and I'll show you my porch, cause that's all I got. Porch no good, how about the roof? Take that and my class line up, which by the way looks something like:

intro to political economy
intermediate macroeconomics
economic planning and project evaluation
stats for economists (zzz)

and things are looking good. It's a cool 12 credits (2 classes a day) and I should be able to rock it. Today I had the pleasure of sitting in on "introduction to macroeconomics" after a few speed bumps in translation. Post mortem I was able to find my real prof's office and it turns out he's the one I visited this summer once. He remembers me. I think it's my charm.
As inferred, our new apartment is officially open to the public, but that adventurous road is a whole different story. It took me about 10 reminder phone calls to the land lord and 3 visits to get keys and a date to sign the contract, but it's done and the shisha should be arriving in the next 36 hours.
This past weekend was a "getaway" with the international students. Never visit El Gouna. The place is a big manufactured fenced in resort complex owned by one man. The beaches can't compare with Sinai and the prices are absurd. I wasn't very impressed with a large portion of the study abroad folks, but you can always count on the midwest to provide for some stable, well-rounded and interesting to talk to human beings. Those east coasters with their button down shirts and popped collars need to discover the ins and outs and let a couple things about life come to light. It was like stepping back into the 3rd day of my freshman dorm, but worse. You'd think Cairo would be a decent filter.
I think I just detected a little fopah. It might have been me.

Update: Upon returning to my residence it was confirmed that our keys in fact did not work. After about 30 minutes sitting in the stairwell (3 different people "testing our keys") and a round of tea and cookies at landlord's house later, all is well. The new shisha is sweet. It is Green Reincarnate.