Mid-year Break Part One

My last final was on Tuesday. I walked out of the final so happy. As much as I love school, the month or so of final exams was not fun. I had a lot of time off intended for studying. Unlike my friends, I didn't spend all that time studying. The problem was that my friends were all busy and I wanted to do things, but everyone was studying. 

Tuesday

After the exam, we waited for the bus which came two hours after the exam ended. Two of my friends and I went over to my friend's house. We went to Pizza Hut and it was the most American place I've been in Egypt. 

Story time: When I was little I LOVED black olives on my pizza. I don't know when or how it started and ended but there was a time where that's all I wanted on my pizza. 

We ordered a supreme pizza. It had a little bit of everything. I'm not a veggies on pizza person, but I decided to try it and if I didn't like it, I'd pick off the veggies. First of all, it was delicious. Second, black olives on pizza is still good. 

We watched a movie and hung out. It was really fun. Cairo is so so big and we live kind of far from each other so it sucks we can't do this more often. 

Wednesday

I borrowed a book from my friend. I read it in four hours. (Little over 200 pages). Then I went over to another friend's house. I don't even remember what we did. We ate, she studied, I borrowed books from her. 

Thursday

Exams in Egypt officially finished on Thursday. My friend and I went to City Stars. We wanted to watch Interstellar, it wasn't playing. We went downstairs to see Horrible Bosses 2, it was VIP and was 4x the regular price. We went back upstairs to see Night at the Museum 3, it was sold out. We waited in line for The Pyramid for about ten minutes and I got so fed up with strangers touching me so we left. We got "Chinese" food from this place called Panda House Express. The food was better than I thought it was going to be. We watched Freedom Writers. If you ever need a movie to watch, that movie is really good. Then we watched Lucy, not as good as I was hoping but still interesting. 

Friday

Etch A Sketch and I woke up early to go to the 10 AM showing of Night of the Museum 3. No one was there. 

Advice: if you live or end up in Egypt and want to go to the cinema. Go at 10 there is no one there. 

We get up to the cinema and we headed towards Night of the Museum 3, when I saw it. INTERSTELLAR

We wanted to see Interstellar back in November, but I had an AFS thing I had to go to. We never ended up seeing it and we thought that since it wasn't there the day before, it was out of theaters. I was so sick of people saying how great the movie was. But holy crap it was so good. I cried like four times, I was not expecting to cry. 

Then we got Cinnabon. Cinnabon is life. 

Yes, there's a Cinnabon under all that chocolate. 

Saturday

Sometimes after being social a lot, I have to recharge my batteries. On Saturday I slept, read, watched TV and movies and relaxed. 

At about 10 ish PM, my host parents ask me to make roz bel laban. I've never made this before, but you gotta try new things. I pulled up my food post and clicked on the roz bel laban link and followed that recipe. I didn't fail! It worked and it tasted good! I was so proud. 

Sunday

I finished my book today. It's called Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. It is a new favorite. I loved it. It was amazing. I cried. I am still feeling all the feels. 

Unable to really do anything due to all the feels of this book, I packed for my trip tomorrow. And now I'm blogging. 

Tomorrow I leave for Luxor and Aswan. These are two cities far south. I will be flying and then taking a boat from Luxor to Aswan. It's five days, I don't know if I'll have internet or not. I don't know exactly what all I will be seeing, but it's going to be all kinds of things very old. Older than all of you, and possibly Jesus. People keep telling me to take pictures, and OF COURSE I'll take pictures. How else am I supposed to make my history loving Grandpapapapapa jealous?

As always, if you enjoyed this post... Wait a minute. The blog is different.

Yes, if you have not noticed, the blog is a little different. The picture that originally tiled the background was taken from Google images. This picture is mine! Yay! Also I made it brighter because before the blog was kind of dark. I also added a What is Abroad Outlook? page and an About Me page so check those out if you want. I'm going to spend some time going through my posts and making tags to organize everything a little, but I'll probably procrastinate. 

If you liked this post, be sure to like it and Corie in Egypt on Facebook. 

If you have comments, questions, or concerns about anything leave them in the comments. 

If you know someone who'd like this blog be a good friend and share it. 

Let me know if you like the new blog look. I like it, it's brighter. 

You are awesome and as my sixth grade history teacher says: learn something today. 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

Exchange Student Tag

Today I got my second visa so I thought I'd celebrate with the Exchange Student Tag.

A tag is an internet challenge. The most famous one would be the ALS ice bucket challenge. Normally, though, it's a series of questions targeted at a specific group (exchange students, book lovers, beauty gurus, it's a big YouTube thing) and the people of said group answer them. It's a little hard to explain but I'm sure you'll figure it out. 

This tag was made by a blogger named Lærke. She is from Denmark and spent her year in Vegas with EF and I found it by googling "exchange student tag". 

Some of these questions have posts for them. I will link those way, way at the bottom. Some of these questions have inspired new posts so keep an eye out for those. 

Here we go:

What is your name, age, nationality and company?

My name is Corie. I am 16 years old. I am american (United States of, that is). I am with AFS. 

Ana ismee Corie. Ana setashr. Ana amrekia. Ana m3a AFS. Is that right? Don't laugh if it's not. 

Where are you living your exchange year?

Cairo, Egypt. In case you hadn't figured that out yet. 

Why did you decide to be an exchange student?

When I was six years old, my family hosted an exchange student. Ever since I had been surrounded by exchange students. Exchange students and AFS is part of who I am. The better question is why wouldn't I be an exchange student? 

Also for the past three or four years I have been in love with the Arabic language and the little culture I knew about. I am also the person who would scream at you until I'm hoarse if you say anything racist or religionist against Arabs/Muslims and I needed some experience to back up my arguments. 

If you haven't read my posts "The Beginning" or "Bridging Cultures Scholarship" then check those out for more. 

What did you think when you first stepped out of the plane?

*plane lands*

Okay, Corie, this is it. 

Jeez this bag is heavy. How has this been on my back for three days. 

Okay, bathroom bathroom bathroom. Where's the bathroom? How do you say bathroom? Whatever. I'll pee at home. 

These signs are in English! This is great!

Non-residents fill out white forms. That's me. Okay. Filling out the form. I don't have a pen... How do you all have pens? Where is my mom and her 100 pens? Oh right, on another continent. Okay. Banks have pens. "Can I borrow a pen?" *writes with a fake pen* "Qualam?" *acquires pen* "Shokran"

Okay, where's my suitcase? There it is. This is heavy too. 

I'm so tired

Customs guy 2: what's in your bag?

Me: Clothes and shoes?

Customs guy 2: Okay

Nadia: Corie!

Me: Hi!

It's so hot and loud. 

What is this driving? I'm gonna die. 

Food. Bed. It's still so fricking hot. 

Oh, so that's the sunrise call to prayer. 

What is the weirdest thing you have tasted so far? 

I don't even know. Okra? They look like little cacti. But I guess there's okra in the States. I mean, all the food is good. Meshy maybe. It's like stuffed vegetables with rice or meat or other vegetables. It's good. I have yet to eat pigeon which I really want to eat. My friend is determined to bring me a liver sandwich. I'll keep you guys updated. 

I have a whole post about food btw. 

Update 15/5/15: I have eaten mombar which is cow intestine.

Have you done anything so far that you never thought was possible?

I have literally climbed up the pyramids. I have understood Arabic that is spoken to me. I have been invited to join the college level MUN. I have gotten over homesickness. I have lived abroad. 

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

You know, there are lots of challenges. People you don't understand, people not understanding you, being thousands of miles away from anything familiar. The biggest challenge I have to say has been Christmas which was one day of terrible homesickness or the flu which was four days of hell. 

How do you like the school in your host country?

I have been taking finals for the last month, so I'm kind of just done with school. Otherwise though, the teachers are nice, the people are cool, the uniforms suck and I miss wearing what I want to school, I love my friends, the classes aren't terrible, the library has Harry Potter, and the principal gave me a birthday card. I'd say I like it. 

How do people dress in your host country (in your opinion)?

Differently. And by that I mean everyone dresses differently. Every one wears pants or long skirts/dresses all year long.

But if you've ever seen pictures or movies with Arabs basically wearing a really long shirt/dress some people wear those. I think it's pretty normal. Teens don't dress that different from teens in America. 

I would actually love to do a post like this so let me know if that would be interesting for you to read. I'll probably post it anyway. 

Also, my friend is a fashion designer. Check out Rana Madkour Designs on Facebook and Instagram because her jewelry is beautiful. 

If your exchange year was a song, what would it be?

Rather Be - Clean Bandit

Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles (for obvious reasons)

How do you imagine the day you are going home?

All of the feels. I don't even want to think about it. Go away. 

Who would you like to do this tag?

If you are or were an exchange student, answer one or more of these questions in the comments. I would love to know what you guys have to say. Even if you didn't study abroad you can answer at least one of these questions. 

As always, if you guys enjoyed this post like it and Corie in Egypt on Facebook. 

Leave any questions, comments, or concerns you have in the comments and I will answer them. 

If you know someone who would like this post or my blog be a good friend and share it. 

If you know an exchange student you think should do this tag, tag them. 

You are awesome, and as my sixth grade history teacher always said: learn something today. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Links:

The Beginning: http://abroad-outlook.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-beginning.html?m=1

Bridging Cultures Scholarship (with video): http://abroad-outlook.blogspot.com/2014/06/bridging-cultures-scholarship.html?m=1

Food post: http://abroad-outlook.blogspot.com/2014/11/donut-have-pun-for-title-but-olive-you.html?m=1k

Rather Be - Clean Bandit: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cUC_rzsiua8

Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6tuzHUuuk

Rana Madkour Designs: https://m.facebook.com/Ranamadkourdesigns?_rdr

Islam Appreciation

If you haven't heard about what happened in France, I applaud you, because I'm pretty sure you'd have heard by now even if you lived under a rock. 

Let me break it down for the newcomers:

1. Shooters killed 12 people in a terror attack at Charlie Hebdo's office in France

2. 4 hostages were killed in a supermarket shooting

3. The first police officer on the scene was a Muslim man and he died trying to protect those who ridiculed his religion.  

Naturally, #killallmuslims trended on twitter. That got me thinking, how many of us non-Muslims actually know anything about Islam. I decided the world was in need of some Islam appreciation. Let's go. 

Et'hem Bey Mosque, Albania (6)

What is Islam?

Islam is a religion. One who practices this religion is a Muslim. 

Islam does not equal terrorism. Muslim does not equal Arab. 

"Islam, which literally means "surrender" or "submission," was founded on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as an expression of surrender to the will of Allah, the creator and sustainer of the world." (1)

Taj Mahal, India (6)

When was Islam created or founded?

Islam was created in the 7th century CE (1)

Grand Mosque of Cordoba (6)

Where is Islam practiced? 

Everywhere. Muslims make up 23% of the world population. (2)

61% of Muslims live in South and Southeast Asia. (2)

19.8% in the Middle East and North Africa (2)

Muslims make up the majority of the population in 49 countries (including the 22 Arab Nations). (2)(3)

Hassan II Mosque, Morocco (6)

How does Islam work exactly?

There are five pillars of Islam. I will list them in no particular order. 

First things first, Muslims have to admit and believe God (Allah) is the one and only god and Muhammad was his prophet. (4)

They have to pray five times a day. Sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset, night. They also have to read the Quran. (4)

They have to make a haj. Which means if you are financially and physically able to travel to Mecca, you must. (If you're broke or broken, you get a free pass) (4)

Then Ramadan. Ramadan is a month in the Islamic year. Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset (no food AND no water). This is to feel the feels of the poor people. They are also supposed to avoid all bad behavior including insulting people. (4)

The last pillar is called Zakat. This is giving to charity. Not only do they feel the feels of poor people but they also help out the poor people. (5)

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (6)

Why do Muslims do what Muslims do?

Muslims don't eat pork. They don't drink alcohol. I believe they don't smoke. 

Muslim women/girls wear hijabs when they get their period. They cover their bodies and they aren't supposed to wear tight clothes. Technically they shouldn't even wear pants. (5)

Everyone has different reasons for doing things, but it all boils down to one simple thing: Muhammad said God said to do it. 

Great Mosque of Kairouan, Tunisia (7)

I see Muslim women wearing pants, tight clothes, or even no hijab! What's the deal?

Here is a quote from my friend who wears a hijab and pants:

"Basically it's because I don't show any skin and cover it and also like the majority of muslims (including me) we aren't supposed to be wearing skinny jeans or anything tight. In fact wearing pants is haram (forbidden)  for women because it resembles men. And we should be wearing skirts and baggy shirts. This is what i'm striving to do. I really want to get rid of my tight jeans. Also by doing all of this people will judge me by my personality and actions. Not physical appearance. It's all about my inner beauty. And because by wearing tight close and such can attract unwanted attention if you know what I mean. When I first put on my hijab it wasn't my choice. And it wasn't my parents either. It was actually a girl in my class and we were in grade six. So this girl told me that I should wear the hijab…and she was right. So I went home and the next day I came back wearing a hijab. To be honest I struggled with it for a while. But that stopped immediately when I understood the true meaning of wearing the hijab and I fell in love with the whole thing. And until now I'm still trying to wear the hijab the right way with the right attire. It's hard of course to do that when basically 70% of people in this world are doing what you're trying to stay away of. But recently I've learned that when it's harder to achieve something the bigger the reward for it." -Merna El-Sawi

This is a quote from my friend who is Muslim but doesn't wear a hijab:

"It's [Islam] just perfect in everything yet I'm not perfect." -Myrna Abduallah

Selimiye Mosque, Turkey (7)

Who cares?

I do. I care. I think that if anyone is going to defend or ridicule (or even threaten the lives of) anyone based on what they are (race, religion, gender), then you should at least have a little background information. 

I am so impressed with Muslims. To be so self-disciplined to pray five times a day, to not eat during the day for a month (and several other times a year), to travel thousands of miles to a place they've never been, to cover their entire body, to never experience the thrill of bacon, to not insult people on an empty stomach. To be so sure if their beliefs they're willing to walk out and let everyone know. 

This is from a post I saw on tumblr:

"shout out to all my sisters who still wear hijab, niqab, and burka every day with all the islamophobia goin on

y'all brave"

This is a quote by me:

"The fact that Muslims can match an entire outfit with a hijab is incredible. I can barely match a t-shirt and jeans."

Si-yo-se-pol, Iran (7)

How do we stop islamophobia?

It's as simple as 

-think before you speak. 

-don't be afraid to call people out on the things they say. 

-when you're called out admit your wrong doing and learn from it. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. I spent a lot of time researching and getting pictures and talking to people. 

Sorry for the lack of posting. The laptop I use is currently broken, and it's hard to do some things on mobile but I'm dealing. As soon as the laptop is fixed, Corie in Egypt will be getting a makeover because it needs one and I'm going to make it a more permanent blogging home. I'm also taking more time to outline and edit my posts so they aren't just ramblings of a teenage exchange student and they are more neat and easy to read. This post is kind of long but I wanted to contribute to the conversation that never seems to end. 

2015 is the year of shameless self-promotion so,

If you did enjoy this post be sure to like it and Corie in Egypt on Facebook. 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about anything leave them in the comments and I will try my best to get you some answers. 

If you know someone who would like this post, be a good friend and share it. 

You are awesome and as my sixth grade history teacher says, learn something today. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Sources galore

(1) http://www.patheos.com/Library/Islam.html

(2) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country

(3) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_world

(4) Discussion with Taher M Ali

(5) Discussion with Merna El-Sawi

(6) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_world

(7) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_architecture

Achievement Unlocked

This may or may not be a blog worthy moment but I've literally posted it everywhere else so I must talk about it. 

I think I've already mentioned that Arabic is a ridiculously difficult language that I will spend my entire life trying to become fluent in (hopefully not my whole life, just a lot of it). The majority of my time here in Egypt is spent lost in this incessant babble of foreign syllables. (I just looked up incessant to make sure I was using the right word and it says "of something regarded as unpleasant". I just want to say it's not always unpleasant. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It all depends.) Okay back to the point. 

I have this tiny, somewhat crappy Nokia phone. AFS gave it to me so I'm not complaining. It has an Egyptian number so anyone (mostly AFS) can contact me or vice versa. Egyptians talk on the phone for most of the communication so it's kind of important to have this phone. On this phone, I get random texts from the phone company, all in Arabic, probably about promotions and stuff. I never know what they say, I don't really care too much. The text could say "this phone will self destruct in 5 minutes" and I would have no clue. 

Today, however, I get a message. Not from Vodafone but from Amr Diab. And I'm here like "who the eff is Amr and why is he texting me?" Then I start to read it. I understand the first three words. Then I see the next words are in quotes so that must be the song (word #3) then I see Amr Diab in Arabic letters and I remember my friend suggesting I look them up for an Arabic singer. And then I scroll down and it has like a pound sign (#) or an asterisk (*) I don't remember and 66 so I guessed that if you want to hear this song by Amr Diab tomorrow you gotta press #66 or *66 or something.  It was just an advertisement or something, but I read it. AND figured out what it said by myself. There was two words I did look up, I can't lie. But all it meant was "the star" and "anyone" so I thought it said "tomorrow listen to this song by Amr Diab before something" But it actually said "tomorrow listen to this song by the star Amr Diab before anyone". 

Do I still count it at reading and understanding a text in Arabic by myself? Hell yes. I may not have gotten it word for word, but I knew what it was talking about and I'm still really really proud of myself. 

Here is all but a couple words of The First  Text:

I would like to thank all my Arabic teachers (paid and volunteers) for getting me to this point. If not for you, I wouldn't know how to listen to the song "بلاش تبعد" before anyone. And the more you know... Is there an end to that saying?

I also spelled achievement wrong in a hashtag on Instagram. Which just goes to show my English is getting worse with every new Arabic achievement. (Not acheivement). I would like to take a moment though because the i and e in achievement come after the c so like why is it ie and not ei? English!!

Stay beautiful my friends. 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

Egyptians Get Married A Lot

Well, this is long overdue. 

Hi guys, I got back from Suez like two days ago. My family goes so much, they have now rented an apartment there. The apartment is great. The balcony overlooks the street and I think the street quite sums up Egypt in one picture (that I didn't take because I forgot). The only downside to Suez is there's no wifi. I mean at their/our? apartment, not in like the whole area. While I would like to say it was great to "unplug" and have a "break from the world of social media", I'm 16 and I can't say that because teenagers (and others) love the internet. So that part killed me, otherwise it was fun. 

We ate fish and visited with their extended family. We went to a wedding. (Not sure who's but someone on Mohamed's side). Aside from that we just chilled. 

Something I feel is really important to mention (just because I love Mean Girls), they played the movie Mean Girls on TV. I've seen that movie probably a million times, but I have yet to get sick of it. They (meaning the TV station probably) did cut out some parts. Well not really parts just like lines. I knew what lines were cut out, but if that was your first time watching it, the movie made less sense than it did before, plus the lines make the movie. I do, however, completely understand why they cut out the lines that they did (because I now know about Egyptian culture, and I'm winning this exchange thing).

If I had pictures that would make this whole post more interesting, but I don't. So this was just a little bit about my weekend... Yeah. 

*Edit* But wait! I found a picture. While we were visiting with their family. This kid showed me his Arabic Yuh-Gih-Oh (I don't think I spelled that right) cards. 

I thought they looked cool. *End Edit*

Also I'm going to Luxor and Aswan during break. I cannot wait. If you don't know Luxor and Aswan are two towns/cities/areas south of Cairo. It's a really far way away and I didn't think if be able to go, but I am. They have all the cool temples and historical stuff so I'm super excited. Plus I get to take a train. I grew up around trains and I'm interested to see the comparison. 

Okay. That's all. 

Stay beautiful. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Off to a Great Start

Three posts in one day? Whaaaat?

Okay so I was washing the dishes and the doorbell rings. Boosy answers it and then says there's something for me from America. 

HOLY COW. I already knew what it was: my package from my wonderful birth family+Paula (because we aren't blood related that's why she's separate)

I knew what was gonna be in it to but man oh man I was excited. 

The "cultural resource" person from AFS for Egypt in New York said that apparently the people in Egypt post offices open the packages and take what they want so I wasn't optimistic for the package to get here in it's entirety, I mean there was Mac n cheese in there. But it came and it's all here. It was a little crushed but that's okay. I'm excited because there's two books in there and the dictionary I forgot to pack (it's organized by subject and has pictures). 

I also have the family Christmas card featuring The Sphinx. I'm going to savor the Mac n cheese. I will not eat all four boxes in one sitting. I can't. I have to ration it. And share... Unfortunately. I now have the resources to finish the year "in style" according to my mother. 

Yay guys. I'm so happy. 

P.S. I'm off to suez today. Whoop whoop. 

Stay beautiful. 

Wait I didn't put in the picture. 

There. Okay. 

Byeeeeeee

Corie. 

New Years Rockin' Eve

I said I would post and now I am. 

Okay so yesterday I got up before the sun for school. I had a computer exam. Pretty easy but still early. When I got home I had a headache so I drank lots of water and slept. When I woke up and still felt not so great I broke out the ibuprofen. I have an irrational fear of overdosing so I put off taking medicine until I know for certain I need it. (Why did I share that? I don't know)

Anyway, I was supposed to go to the mall and get a Cinnabon with my friend Etch A Sketch (aka Merna) but she bailed and I went into 2015 Cinnabonless.  I forgive her though. 

I ended up going to a bigger mall than City Stars (I think, I don't know) with Myrna and Merna (aka Etch a Sketch). I can't write Mernas or Myrnas because they spell their names differently. At City Festival mall there's a dancing fountain. I though it was a fountain people danced around but it's actually a fountain that moved with music (a low scale World of Color). 

Then we went to a restaurant and I ate an entire pizza, a piece of cheesecake, and fries. 

I was more stuffed than a turkey on thanksgiving. But it's okay because that's what I do on New Years. 

Afterwards, we went back to Myrna's house and counted down and heard but didn't see fireworks :( It was a really fun night and I'm glad I got to start off the new year with two really close special friends. 

Here are some resolutions I probably will stop keeping in a few weeks:

1. Read 50 books (Ahhh) 

2. Keep my room tidy and my bed made. (Like that's gonna happen) 

3. Just embrace all the things that are happening all the time

4. Keep writing my blog. Even if it's just for me. 

So I don't have expectations for 2015. I don't know what exactly is going to happen. There will be high points and low points. It'll be speant in two countries which is super awesome. I may not have as many new experiences as I did last year but it'll be a great year. 

What is with me and all this cheese? Holy cow. I'm so sorry. 

Stay beautiful. 

Byeeeee

Corie.