st. patty's day

i have successfully made it through the first hurdle of the semester finishing all my tests and everything with hopefully good marks.

yesterday was an amazing day at aikido. after returning from a week.5 absence it was nice to be back espcially after doing homework for days straight. it still has its theraputic benefits even in cairo. we did a lot of breath and timing throws today which were fun to try when you actually end of throwing the 250 pound guy to the ground.

one thing that is different about auc than umbc is that when you need to go on a trip with the school they require your parents signature even if you are over 18. maybe the legal age is different but even my roommate who is 21 would have had to have his parents sign it if they were here. being study abroad we got out of it which was fine but they still required my parents id. this is kind of frustrating having to go through all that because i am used to not having to do this, being over 18 and soon 21! maybe it is different here one because of school policy but culturally because sons and daughters stay with their parents for longer in Egypt, usually until they get married.

my english class is going well. last week we did the health unit, where we went over emergency vocabulary and how to dial 911. the only thing i don't like about this syllabus is that it is oriented towards the united states. for example it gave the example of how to dial 911 and how the system worked. we (my coteacher and I) felt that this did not apply to them, because altough they are learning english they may or may not go to the united states. so we went over the emergency system hear which is 122. however, i was told not to call this number because no one will come and help you for a long time. they said they would call their neighbor. that is a completely different concept than what i know because in the us we are always talking about response times and criticizing them for taking so long to get somewhere. i was also a substitute teacher for the first time ever two weeks ago. it was great just being able to call myself that!

i was walking home yesterday through this alley of shops and was approached by a young guy probably around my age. he started talking to me in arabic and i just said no and kept going. that is what i ususally do when someone starts talking to me on the street because i don't understand what i am saying and the people talking to me are touts or trying to sell me something. when i walked by him he also said either games or gince. games as in to sell me some games like video games/board games or gince which means sex. so i may have been propositioned for sex yesterday, which kind of threw me off.

other than that i had a good day and if the catolic church hadn't changed it a good st. patricks day