indescribable.

It is hard for me to find the words to fully express what my life has been for the past six months. It has been nothing short of incredibly amazing to say the least. I never could have anticipated that I would be feeling this way about my stay here but things are hardly what they seem. Through all the pitfalls and the fun times, everything always came out on top.
From day one I had a certain attraction to Cairo, there was something intriguing about the city even as I was being driven through it during 6 pm traffic. Something that just draws you in.
Even though I definitely went through the typical stages of 'culture shock', I never regretted my decision of coming here. I won't lie, there were plenty of days when all I wanted was to just go home for a 24 hours but that's bound to happen whenever you are out of your comfort zone.
When I look back, what stands out most are the people. The people I have met, became friends with, and interacted with have truly made this experience what it is. The AIESECers here took me in (literally) and included me in their lives, and for that I am so grateful. These people have become my Egyptian family, the ones I could turn to and could count on. And I know that if God permits and I get to come and see some of my friends again, It will feel like home.
What almost surprises me is that I actually did it. I really came to Cairo for half a year to intern. I think there were a sizable amount of people back home that either doubted me or thought it was a terrible idea. And knock on wood, I'm still alive and I did it. Since I've been here I've facilitated a conference, went scuba diving in the Red Sea, been interviewed on a tv show, Climbed Mt. Sinai, and felt culturally awkward on multiple occasions. I'm so happy I took the chance by accepting the internship and picking up my life and bringing it here.
In the end all I can say is that this has been a wild ride that I will remember for the rest of my life. I feel so blessed.

Diving with Nemo & Dori

Due to the fact that I will be sadly leaving Egypt in about 10 days or so, I’m doing my best to go out in true ‘Denise’ fashion, with a bang. Yesterday morning I returned back from Sharm el Sheikh after a weekend of diving and fun. My amazing and completely over-achieved boss man is a Divemaster and volunteered to take a small group of us to get our open water diving license. So of course we could never pass up such an opportunity to get certified in one of the best diving spots in the world, Sharm. It was incredible! I’ve never done anything like it and it was such a great experience to see essentially a whole new world underwater. I thought that snorkeling in the reefs of Dahab were cool…but diving in Sharm brought it to a whole new level. And I learned that I’m pretty much a fish. My tank of air was always twice as full as everyone else’s whenever we all finished a dive, probably due to all my years of swimming and running. Anyways, I advise that anyone who has the opportunity to get their diving license do so because it’s such a cool opportunity to see the underwater world and all the gazillions of fish and sea life.
As we were driving back from Sharm, I was looking at the beautiful Egyptian sun setting over the Sinai mountain range and was reflecting about my past 6 months in Misr. I just couldn’t get over the fact that I’m leaving all of this behind me so soon. It sounds cliché but I have had such unique life experiences here and I have grown so much in the last half a year. It’s as if I just don’t want this ongoing experience here to end. All the memories and the influential people I’ve met have made a lasting impression on me and I cannot express my gratitude enough to all of them. This internship has made me see why everyone loves going on AIESEC internships, because they really do change you and get a perfect opportunity to live life to the fullest. I know that I still have time to figure out exactly what I’m taking away from this experience but I just wanted to share some thoughts.

"Martyr of the Head Scarf"

Last week an Egyptian woman named Marwa El Sherbini was stabbed to death 18 times by a German man who was guilty of verbally abusing her 8 months ago….and did I mention that this occurred in a court room? And her husband was stabbed AND shot?
Seriously, how could such a thing like this happen in a courtroom where there should be a handful of police and authorities present to handle such a situation? Well let us back it up and start from the beginning.
Marwa who is a respectable woman of Muslim faith was called a ‘terrorist’ and ‘Islamist’ and ‘bitch’ by some lowlife, ignorant jerk in Berlin, Germany just 8 months ago in a park. He verbally attacked her because she was wearing a hijab, and of course to this guy any woman who religiously and strictly follows Islam and wears a veil is considered a ‘terrorist’. Uh, I don’t think so. Like any woman with dignity she took his punkass to court so he could be punished for calling her such discriminating names in a public place. While in court he was found guilty of the hate crime charges and he was meant to pay 2,800 Euros as a fine when he lashed out by attacking Marwa who was 3 months pregnant at the time, with a knife and stabbing her 18 times. He continued by stabbed her husband twice and had time to stab another person all in the courtroom. While this was happening the police ‘accidentally’ shot her husband while they were aiming for the attacker. How in the world did this man have enough time to stab people 20+ times until he was stopped? And how many times are we going to let outright racist incidents such as these to happen under our watch?
This story makes me sick and makes me wonder how so many people around the world still have these prejudices against those who practice Islam. If any of these mindless idiots took 5 minutes to learn something about the faith, I think they would realize that there is nothing ‘extremist’ or ‘terrorist-esque’ about Islam. I blame the media (along with the past administration) for putting such thoughts into the heads of Americans at least. Just today I was watching a video on CNN about child suicide bombers in the Taliban. And a good 30 sec of the video showed a group of young Muslim men and boys (supposedly in a Taliban camp) praying. Its things like these that you don’t realize are consistently casting a negative light on the Islam faith.
At least the media is getting this story some publicity as things like this happen often without the world knowing. What if this had happened to a westerner in the Middle East? It would be on the news in a hot second. And what makes me annoyed is that Egypt and the rest of the Muslim World most likely won’t do much about this so that attacks like these on Muslims will one day stop. President Mubarak needs to take a stand on this issue NOW so other nations will understand that such situations are completely unacceptable, racist, unnecessary, and demeaning. How many innocent men and women who simply practice their religion have to be publicly defamed or killed before someone will really start doing something about it?
…All because she was wearing a hijab.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/06/egypt.woman.killed/index.html

Matchmakers, Money, Marraige. Nice combination eh?

Marriage.
A word both feared and encouraged in the Egyptian culture. So many Egyptian women my age are frantically searching (modestly of course) for their perfect match before they hit the age of 25, because of course when you are God-forbid close to 30 and unmarried, you are a quickly labeled a ‘spinster’ and too old for any decent man to take interest in you. Horrifying. I cannot imagine having that kind of pressure on me to hurry up and get married like 99.9% of the girls here do. Even at 18 or 19 it becomes an issue within families to make sure their daughters are proper girls and suitable for a good husband. And to be aware of the semi-arranged marriages that occur every single day is insane. Imagine you very Mother (no offense mama!), the same one who raised an angry eyebrow to every boy you ever mentioned, to play your matchmaker?? No bueno.
So here is the rundown. For families who are into this arranged marriage deal, the son who at times is too shy to find a girlfriend in a social setting, decides he is ready to find a wife and of course his mother and father know the perfect girl for him that can meet all of his qualifications for a future wife. An outing is planned, completely causal of course, where both families proudly arrive with their marketable son and daughter and hope for the best. If all goes well, they will meet in a similar setting (never alone of course) numerous more times until after a few months are engaged. Wedding plans. Money plans. Married. The end.
I had a loooong conversation with a couple Egyptians who are only a couple years younger than me about this whole marriage issue and they had some VERY interesting and liberal-minded comments on it. One AIESECer, just 19 years of age, is feeling ridiculous stress from her family and her mother to find a suitable partner. It seems to her and many other girls that settling for an engagement to a man who is practical or decent is better than waiting around for an extra 5+ years to find someone who you actually have love for or who you feel is right for you. But she is also one of those thinkers that has a mind of her own and sees no problem with forgetting society by sticking to her guns and not conforming to the whole marriage thing. Practical. Many marriages happen because both families come from high classes and they union between power families are just practical. She knows that she will always be taken care of so why not right? Which brings me to yet another point. Before a marriage can even happen the groom and his family are traditionally supposed to have everything taken care of financially such as the house, car, furniture, and the whole lot. So basically the bride just shows up with gorgeous dress. Lately both families are contributing more however the woman is not expected to provide too much. Even during a marriage where both the wife and husband work, they money made by the husband is shared and the money made by the wife is for her to keep for herself. The wife is not meant to bring anything to table for the family because the husband needs to keep his manhood and power ya?
Even though all this mess happens on the daily, trust me that there are still a great number of beautiful and loving couples such as my HR manager Riham and her husband-to-be Mahmood.
Ok enough enough, I can’t continue talking about this subject without getting irritated. All I know is that I’m tired of people asking me when I’m getting married, or why I’m not married or engaged. I’M 22 AND A POOR STUDENT! OF COURSE I’M NOT MARRIED!
So ladies back home, be grateful for your rights to marry or not to marry, I know that I am.

Hot Summer Nights

"OMG! It's soooo hot in the summer months Denise!" - EVERYONE in Egypt
eh, not really.
I was ready for unbearable, ridiculously hot summer days once may got here.
And honestly...i'm still waiting. It's definitely hot, but damn. Mexico and Miami in the summertime are much much worse this time of year. Key Difference: Humidity. In Monterrey it's 99 degrees, feels like 108. Here it's 97 degrees and feels like 94. So the whole sweating the second you leave the AC and sticking to virtually everything you touch is happily left on the western front. All you have to deal with in Cairo is intense sun, no biggie just have ur sunblock on deck. However, 'Upper Egypt' which is actually in the south (Upper referring to the plateau), is absolutely ridiculous hot. I will pass on the 115 degree weather, thanks.
So next time someone tells me that the Cairo heat is insane, I'll let them know they need to take a quick trip to my homeland and stick it out in the humid summers of the deep south.

View of Egypt in 7 Days

Egyptian view in 7 days? That's exactly what I gave my DEAR DEAR sahbiti Vanessa when she came to visit me a couple weeks ago. While I was showing her around Egypt, from the Pyramids to Mount Sinai, I felt like I was seeing everything for the first time. Seeing all the incredible sites and destinations Egypt makes me realize how absolutely breathtaking this country is. And experiencing it with someone close to you or love makes it that much better. There have been numerous instances when i have been traveling somewhere in Egypt and all I could think was "hmm..This would be so cool if my family and friends could see this!!". So it was really cool to have Vanessa here, and oh did I show her the very best of this country!
We started off with the Pyramids and Coptic Cairo the day she got here...in the heat, oh goodness. And then headed for a felluca down the Nile, which I always always enjoy. For the weekend we hopped on a microbus and headed for Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula. Beautiful. Dahab is definitely one of my favorite places in Egypt. While we were in Dahab we took a day (kind of) trip to Mount Sinai & St. Catherine Monastery. And after 3 days in lovely Dahab, we were back in Cairo and she was off to Obama-land.
Most Amazing/Interesting Moments:
1. Seeing a scorpion for the first time
2. Riding on an anorexic Camel by the Pyramids and attempting to read hieroglyphics
3. Talking until the sun came up her first day here!....gossip & catching up hehe
4. Arriving to the Blue Hole in Dahab, a diving/snorkel spot
5. Seeing nemo and the reef while we snorkeled (AMAZING!) definitely one of the most beautiful and exciting thing I have ever seen.
6. Watching the sunset during dinner on the Red Sea, twas pink & purple!
7. Hiking up Mount Sinai at 2 AM in the morning for 3 hours!!!
8. Finally getting to the top of Mt. Sinai and seeing the sunrise.
9. Meeting great people on our ride home.
10......ENJOYING ALL OF EGYPT'S BEAUTIES!
oh and Vanessa definitley said that she enjoyed her stay in Egypt the most out of Italy, Spain, France, and Germany!!! WOOT!

I bet now EVERYONE wants to come to Egypt