I've been here for almost a month and the time is most definitely going by way too fast.!
Well this past week and a half I have been going out, doing random things, meeting new people, and going to Resala. And getting juice of course. Although I've been thinking that my Arabic has barely improved, I realized today that it has probably improved more than I think. It's just been coming along slowly. Yesterday we finally started Arabic class! But we are starting from the very, very beginning and I already know those things... So we'll see what happens. But this way all 9 of our American group gets to take classes together so it's good :)
And on Sunday I also finally started actually teaching my English classes! At first I was kind of nervous about it, especially because all of my students are older than me, but once the class started it went well and I really enjoyed it. I'm excited to do fun creative learning activities in the classes. One con of teaching English is that the main rule in this course is that there is no Arabic allowed, so I don't learn any Arabic in return. But it's okay because I have about 6 people that I've made deals with for them to teach me Arabic and I will teach them English. And there are many people at Resala who are really enthusiastic about teaching me Arabic. In Resala when I am not teaching, I usually help out in the medicine department, and I sort donated medicine by type and expiration date. I hope soon I will start helping out in other departments as well.
Another big thing that happened this past week is that I moved in with my permanent host family! They are really wonderful and I love them very much :)
One thing I am getting used to here though is that now I live right next to a couple main roads and it's extremely loud. And it never stops being loud. Horns and sirens literally never stop. My apartment building is also right next to an elementary school and so there are also screaming children early in the morning. I will probably get used to the noise soon though and be able to tune it out.
One thing that I didn't realize I would miss so much is nature. Coming here has shown me that I'm definitely not a city girl at all. I like big cities for short periods of time, but I don't particularly like living in one. I would much rather prefer a small town with nature or a rural setting. But I also do not enjoy living in the suburbs. Being here has made me realize how beautiful South Park is though because there is so much nature... I just want to find a big field of grass and some woods, but I don't think that exists anywhere near here.
However, one really great thing about living in a big city is public transportation. There is a massive amount of buses and microbuses and taxis here. There are no bus stops or schedules or anything like that though; you pretty much stand on the side of the road and make the hand signal for where you want to go or yell out your destination and if the bus is going there, it will stop and let you on. Sometimes it doesn't stop, just slows down a lot. When I first started taking public transportation by myself I was nervous and scared, and before I came here one of the things that I was most afraid of was navigating a big unfamiliar city without knowing the language by myself. But the Egyptian "ma'alesh" culture has made me much more relaxed about it. "Ma'alesh" is a commonly-used word meaning "go with the flow" or "roll with it" or something of the sort. I've gotten lost the past two nights trying to find my new apartment building and I think it's pretty hilarious. And there are so many people in the street willing to help you out if you ever don't know where to go or how to get there. Monday night I came home after dark and the bus dropped me off on the other side of the street with a barrier, so I didn't recognize where I was and I was really confused, but a guy helped me out and then my host mom came to get me because I was like two blocks from the apartment. Then yesterday afternoon, trying to get from my Arabic class to my English class, I was waiting in the street for 15 minutes for a bus and I wasn't sure which one to get on, so I asked a girl and she was going to the same area and she helped me get there. She even took an extra bus with me to make sure I made it all the way to Resala. And now we're friends. :) Then last night a friend from my English course drove me home and we got lost for 2 hours because I had no clue where I was and I guess I wasn't able to communicate very well where I lived.
I think now I know where I live and maybe I won't get lost anymore coming home. I really need to get a map of Cairo... It makes me laugh a lot though when I get lost. I'm sure this won't be the last time though :P