Has it really been this long since I posted? I have got to tell you, time is flying by here, probably because I stay so busy. I’ve done a lot of fun things over the past week.
I visited the Zoo in Egypt, which was awesome! They don’t have the same “rules” as the zoos in America. Things here are a little more relaxed which means that by paying the zoo keeper two dollars, I got to hold the baby lions. It was so cool! It’s like I get to live out my childhood fantasy. You know that this year there was a new world record for the longest jump made by a man riding a lion. I’m not sure if that is relevant, but have you held the baby lion? It makes you think about these things. And I got to play with the monkeys too. I didn’t quite have enough time to teach it to be my monkey butler but I may be making a return visit, so who knows.
I also visited more pyramids. It was fun, some friend and I got a guide and we went horseback riding through the desert to the ancient pyramids of Sakhara. We climbed down into one of the ancient pits that, according to what the guide said was used by priests to punish people. So it was an ancient Egyptian torture chamber. Awesome! There’s not much left except one support pillar and a broken table, but my mind can fill in the blanks.
In other news, I have been finding tutors to teach me Arabic. I need it, because I spend all my time just doing homework. My classes are a killer, and I need help. I talked to the director to try to get out of the advanced level. I said it was too hard and I need to leave. She said "no!". I like the classes; I think they're great, I'm really just worried about the grades. I need A's! I talked to my teachers and they all say that it will be ok. They say that they don't judge you based on your level, but on your dedication and how much you improve. This is good in theory, but if one guy is always making eloquent statements in class and another guy doesn’t know what’s going on, who are you going to give the ‘A’ to? So, I got me some tutors. One tutor is the official tutor for free through the ALI, I meet with him twice a week for an hour. Then there is a guy I pay 40LE ($1 = ~5.6 LE) an hour to meet with every day. I go over homework, he’s good, but like any native speaker, he doesn't understand all the grammar, though he uses it, and he doesn't know what every word means in English, but that’s because the class uses pretty specific words sometimes. Then I have one more tutor that I've started to meet with every day. It's this attractive, 23 year old Egyptian girl that I also pay 40 Egyptian pounds an hour to. I tried to do homework one time with her, and I wind up just flirting with her in Arabic. She's the worst tutor I have, but who cares? She makes me want to speak Arabic, and that's priceless. I recommend it to anyone; the best way to learn a language is to put yourself in a situation where you desperately want to speak! Anyway it's a good set up, although I am paying slightly more for tutors every month than rent, but maybe I can come out of all this, ok gradewise. We’ll see.
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