summer

This morning I woke up early to go on a run...outside....fresh air...in shorts...

This summer I'm working as a law clerk doing legal research at an immigration law firm in the Chicago loop. Really, an unexpected dream come true. Three brilliant female attorneys, four wonderful female legal assistants and me. Strong, driven, hard-working women making a world a difference for our immigrant clients and their families. No men needed. No questions asked.

Today after another 8 hrs in the overly air conditioned law firm, I met a close friend for "happy hour." On a budget and wanting some fresh air we decided to meet for a picnic happy hour in Millennium Park. There we sat, in the middle of grass, two women in skirts above our knees, my shoulders were showing and we shared a bottle of a dry, robust, red wine- in public! Nobody cared. Nobody stared. We didn't have to hide the wine bottle. Or struggle to keep our scarfs wrapped around our shoulders. Fresh air.

As I rode "home" on the train I realized as I looked through the window into the next car-- there was a man squeezed up against a woman. No gendered cars. No one cared. No one stared.

I'm neither homesick nor very comfortable. The normal cultural adjustment phase has once again faded-- at least until I go back to Cairo in 2 months. I'm just noticing and appreciating the differences.

Grad school realization

So you know you're in grad school in a foreign country when access to research involves reading a book in Italian to scour the footnotes to find references to sources in French and really this is only to put off the primary sources that are only in Arabic thus only accessible with a translator...at least I get to write in English!

choosing of the neediest.

For a number of reasons, logical and reactionary, since the start of the new year we opened our services at RLAP to basically all refugees including Sudanese, Eritrean, and Ethiopian. These communities in particular face extremely hard luck at the UNHCR in Egypt. Only the most extreme cases are even considered for resettlement despite legal grounds for a case.

When word got out to the various refugee communities the office was literally bombarded by possible clients. A coupe of random days during a two week period in January, we had to shut the office doors and call in extra security to fend off literally hundreds of Sudanese begging to have their cases heard. A window of opportunity opened but a wall was needed.

I do not believe that the office appropriately estimated the number of people waiting to be heard and served. In response to the floods, a wonderful intern created a basic paper intake form. 4000 forms came back the office within a matter of days. The resourcefulness of these communities once again showed itself as there are basically three different handwriting sample for each community and each story contains similar phrasing. Not everyone knows how to write and those that do had a lot of work to do!

This week we started to go through the forms- sort of a triage system. Who might have a case? Who has suffered but just not enough? Who has a priority case?. The process itself is a psycho-social study. The new interns in the office, obviously struggle the most as we hear, “Oh my gosh they’ve all been raped. They’ve all lost family…I feel soo bad.” I started to explain to a new intern that its normal and eventually she’ll start to “feel” who really has a case and (un)fortunately we start to harden up and it won’t affect you as much…I grab my stack of Eritrean applications and despite a few years of experience I too am bombarded with hopelessness.

I can breeze over the home country catastrophes…war, attacks, bombs, milita, rape, torture, family dying… but the continual persecution hits me… “my husband died, I’m alone with four children for the past 6 years, one is paralyzed from the bullet wound, I have no protection…” I reach the end of one particularly NOT compelling case and she writes, “Can someone please help me?” I freeze and show it to my colleague who simply hands it back with a shrug.

I feel it’s unfair. These people are given a chance to tell their stories. Paper cannot tell a story. Many of these cultures practice oral traditions, paper can’t capture emotions of a story. Many have security issues, thus with all of there personal and family information on the same page, they refuse to disclose their full story on paper. Many have been through numerous interviews where they have learned to give only the information they think We want to hear. Is this the best way to handle this situation? They try to transmit their desperation…how am I supposed to play “god” and decide who deserves a chance? What if the intern next to me read it, would she give someone a chance that I say has no real chance?

As a service provider I can understand limitations. Certain rules limit the amount of people that can resettle, quotas- or perhaps political influences, either way the UNHCR has (some argue inhumanly and injustly) limited the numbers of applications from these communities. I mean, how do you choose when almost all have been tortured, raped and lost family members? Who has the worst of the horrific stories? At the same time, there are legal grounds for resettlement and more importantly, they’re human. Doesn’t everybody deserve a chance? I’m starting to really think that I’m naïve to believe this.

Good things have come out of this. We have found numerous urgent situations that we will work to immediately service. These cases might have remained silent—or even died away—if we hadn’t opened our doors. I am also positive that through the information we have collected invaluable statistics will be available for analysis and hopefully policy change.

I’m not sure how to end this. It was a heavy day in the office. It’s going to be a delicate and arduous next few weeks. Aid is tough. Its one of those situations when you want to help—but its out of your control.

my quest to organize 2010!

I am the first to admit that I am completely dependent on my day planner. Yes, I'm even one of those people who when I'm sitting on public transportation and have nothing to do will "read" my day planner. I like organizing. I like planning. Little did I know, however, how particular I am about the format of my daily planner/agenda until I tried to find one in Cairo.

I like a portable planner, preferably one that can fit in different size purses, including the small ones. Of course, I need lots of room to write, including weekends... I ask my friend with a car to help me find one.#

Store #1: All planners are "Arabic" style. I can get used to opening it "backwards" (Arabic: write right to left, open books from the "back" cover). The week starts on Sunday because weekends here are Friday and Saturday. All days, months etc are in Arabic which would be good daily practice. However, one page per day is not an efficient use of space nor is it conducive to visualizing long term planning...sorry, try again.

Store #2: only wall calendars based on the Muslim calendar. They reminded me of Grandpa's Farm Bureau calendar...something to hang on the wall, tear off the page each day and it generally ends up a couple of weeks behind. Nope, try again.

Store #3: exactly what I was looking for but only 2009. That won't work.

Between store three and four, I start to feel a bit desperate. In exasperation, I tell my friend that I now understand why Egyptians are always late and don't ever plan anything! There are no planners! I start to ask my stereotypical culturally philosophical questions: "how would Egypt be different if Egyptians had planners? and were taught to use them? how do professionals keep track of appointments? etc..." My friend asks me why so many different types of planners exist and exclaims that all Americans are really OCD about time organization ("time is money!")

FINALLY, store #4-- I find a small, well organized-- tho I must compromise because it doesn't have a separate page for each month-- planner. I'll take it!

While I normally do not advocate for big box stores, this is one instance where I wish I had an Office Depot! I guess another cultural adjustment--- or something to be sure to add to my Christmas list from the States next year!

Happy Birthday BLOG!

So its almost one year to date since I started this blog. This time of year stirs the need for reflection and perhaps determining new goals, aspirations and desires for the year to come. I, thus, feel it appropriate to take a moment to do just that.

What actually stimulated this desire for reflection and projection was when I checked my bank account. I first realized that this time last year I was still working…I don’t wish to qualify if it’s a good thing or not, but it seems much longer ago that I was in such a stable and comfortable life. At the same time I feel incredibly blessed at the opportunity to NOT work for an entire year and still be abroad.

2009 was a full year: full of growth, of travel, of new friends, new languages, new experiences…

I started the year by wrapping up lose ends in freezing Chicago with a bundle of excitement with the idea that I had Absolutely NO idea what was in store for my life! I “moved” to Dakar, Senegal: my first time (more than 24 hours) in Africa and in a Muslim country. I re-acquainted myself with the initial frustrations of learning a new language and the process to the joy of being able to fully express myself in that language. I became close to yet more Rotary host brothers. I traveled to remote villages to experience an anthropologists dream. I ate new foods. I danced. I played the djembe. I ran by the ocean. I created pottery in silent laughter.

I returned “home” to Chicago for a fast five weeks. I re-adjusted to life and realized blessings of both cultures. I visited Rotary clubs. I played with my niece and nephews! I saw my little brother graduate. I did my first detox diet. I went to a wedding every weekend. I danced. I hugged my dad and chatted with my mom.

At the end of August, now an even better packer, I moved to Cairo, Egypt: my first time in the Middle East and NE Africa and my first time in grad school! I found an apartment. I met new friends. I found an internship. I learned to ignore the most annoying men I could ever imagine even more. I ate new food. I had my first stress related panic attack—or 4. For the first time I realized that I cannot always give 100% in everything I do and said, “that is sufficient.” I’m starting to learn Arabic.

I still do not really know where my life is going but I am content with that and content with the direction it seems to be taking. It’s fun to think that I’ve acquired vocabulary of three different languages in one year. I’m still very excited to be in Africa. I love my graduate program and the people that I’ve met through it. With all the “I”s in this entry, I feel that my year is a bit selfish and egotistical. Perhaps it is… At the same time my current quote for 2010 is: "The life of an individual has meaning insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful" Dr. A.Einstein…woooohoooo, here we go 2010!

Christmas in Egypt

This is not the first year that I've spent Christmas abroad, without family and without snow but it was the first Christmas that I spent in a country that largely does not recognize the holiday. Cairo, as a metropolitan city, has a rather large expat community that demands a small Christmas market, nonetheless I think it would not have been difficult to pass through the 25th of December without special recognition. While the past few years in the States I have tried to deny the materialist side of Christmas this year I realized how much sentiment it adds to the holidays: no parades, no Christmas carols, no decorations in the streets, no "Merry Christmas" greetings... At the same time, it was a beautiful thing not to have think about Christmas shopping or what to wear to Christmas parties and all the stresses that come with the holidays! (If Christmas stresses you out you should consider celebrating in a Muslim country because then you only make it what you want it to be!)

With Lies in town it was a whirlwind of a week during which time we did our best to bring in the holiday cheer. While I cannot say it had a very Christmas-y feeling we had tons of fun and perhaps I should just consider it a 'different' way to celebrate.

Pict 1: our "family" Christmas dinner. My friends, foreigners and Egyptians, Christians and Muslims got together for a potluck dinner on the 25th. Being that it was the holidays and most of us were without family and tradition many of us splurged to make our favorite food. I finally found avocados and made guacamole! It was the fastest dish to disappear which only contributes to the "different" way to celebrate Christmas!

Picture 2: After "mid-night" mass- that was supposed to start at 11, but the choir started around 11:30 sang for 40 minutes and didn't really end until 2am-- we celebrated Jesus's b-day in the club! I celebrate my b-day in the club, why wouldn't Jesus! We even drank wine in the club bc ya know, Jesus turned water to wine! Happy Birthday JESUS!!

Picture 3: The Christmas choir at church. It truly was beautiful and was possibly the only time it REALLY felt like Christmas; no matter in what language the Choir sings "Silent Night" it can always bring a tear... One of my Muslim friends accompanied us for his first time in a church. I was once again able to say, "When you can bring this kind of music in a mosque, I will consider converting!..." I interpreted the readings for him that were in French and he interpreted the Homily in Arabic! love multi-lingual masses!

Picture 4: one of the last nights of finals week my two friends showed up at my door with a surprise Christmas tree! It might be a bit lopsided, but its real and brings a Christmas smell every time we walk in the door. Amanda and I took a small study break to decorate it and here she gave it appropriately gave it a garland turbin!

Like on Thanksgiving, my friends united to create our own "family." I once again feel blessed to have such great new friends and memories with them. At the same time, thanks to technology, I was able to share a bit of holiday spirit with close friends and family at home. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!! and a (belated) Merry Christmas to all!

SantaLies came to town!

My first visitor!!! Lies, my good friend and travel buddy who I met in Senegal, came to visit me over Christmas break! Lies finished her first semester of teaching, I finished my first semester of grad school.....watch out Egypt!

Team shisha!!

The sphinx got some special visitors!!!

We went shopping in the market but when the male vendors got to be a bit too much decided to work on our bell-hops! Pourquoi pas?!

Of course time for cocktails on the beach!

Just like the good ol' days in Senegal, Mr. Lonely Planet proved once again priceless!

We also figured out that our bargaining skills were still pretty good as not only did we enjoy this deeelicious mango juice, but walked away with the mugs as souvenirs! Never hurts to ask-- w/ a big smile and a wink! :)

We also visited some mosques...

And of course, a trip to Egypt wouldn't be complete without camel rides at the pyramids! (Finally after 4+ months in Egypt, this was my first time to see the pyramids also!)

Doesn't it make you want to visit too??!?!!! :)