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blogging fail.

So... I have totally failed at blogging this semester. And I haven't caught up from Muscat posts. :/ I wanted to share this image with you from the pyramids on Tuesday.

I had a great time in Alexandria with Kareman and her family. I got in on Wednesday night and we went to Cairo on Tuesday morning (I came back to Lebanon Tuesday night.) Kareman is hired to work this summer, but after last years issues with other staff I won't really be excited until she's obtained her visa begad//really. It was really nice, due to Coptic Easter she had off the whole time I was visiting so we just got to hang out. I hope to go back to Egypt again and see Cairo and the historical cities to the South, but for now I feel like I had a great introduction. Egypt with Egyptians, I couldn't imagine experiencing it any other way. :) 

Me and the Egyptian Staff from 2010 Al-Waha (except Ahmad who I saw last year in Minnesota). 

I get home late next Saturday. I can't wait to be home. I haven't had a "calm" time home since winter break 2010. It will be nice to be slightly complacent for a bit and then HARDCORE job searching. Hopefully it will be more like hardcore job finding and getting offers, ha. :)

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4 days away.... :)

Muttrah, Oman by _Zinni_ on Flickr.

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Lack of blogging...

I havent written much in a while, but I wrote a list of topics in a notebook during class. I am headed to Dubai tonight to spend the UAE weekend in Abu Dhabi with Neenah from my Oman program then visited the host family in Muscat. It should be a lovely trip. It will be a nice get away. :)

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Today was a day of exploring.

Today class was cancelled because our teacher had a meeting, and we already don't have class in the afternoon, so we decided to explore. (We don't have class tomorrow either and on Friday my only class is in the afternoon so it's basically a long weekend.)

Emma, Noor, and I went down our street, to AUB and then made up a path to downtown. 

We found the place where there is ice skating in Beirut (Beirut on Ice) for the rest of the month. I wanted to go there when Dana visited but she didn't make it thus I haven't gone. We may go though before it closes, turns out Emma likes skating.

Nothing says "Beirut" except an Ice Rink next to the ruins of a building.

We checked out the "Beirut Souks" basically a really really upscale open air and high class mall. We did some shopping... at Pull & Bear. I've only ever seen it in the Middle East. I'll look that up later.

Then we walked to the Hamidiyyeh Clock Tower. I always think of the area around the clock tower as bustling. It was so quiet and a little chilly even as the sun was behind the clouds.  

I took this picture of the Blue Mosque from the tower. 

Enjoy. :) 

Then we walked down a different street than we had come from, found some ruins from ancient Roman baths.

We took some stairs that led up to the back of the Grand Serail... but I didn't know what that was until just now when I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's the headquarters of the Prime Minister. Cool. 

We walked back a different way than we came, it was much quicker.

It was a lovely day.

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A map and recap of last night.

View Beirut Places in a larger map (CLICK IT)

I went to an art opening with Laura, a girl I knew from UT, last night at BAC (Beirut Art Center) on my map. It was fun. We got food from Le Chef in Gemezeye afterwards then met with my roommates at Captains Cabin in Hamra. We like Captains Cabin because it has pool/billards. I took some pictures, they will hopefully be on facebook soon.

And last night I took a bus (think trotro or besabus for those of you who have studied with me elsewhere) to get to the other side of town with Laura, which only cost 1000 which is 66 cents, thus buses may become a thing. who knows. I also got to play with kitties in her apartment. :D (even though i'm allergic...)

I've been having a good time and am excited for the weekend.

The guys I know from 2009 SINARC are DJ-ing a party nearby tomorrow. Its disco themed. ! We shall see how that goes. 

Also we have been joking about trying to watch the Superbowl... I'm pretty sure that won't happen though. 

(Sorry for such a lame post, but please enjoy it nonetheless.) 

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100% Truth

My friend Laura told me that she’s been told that she is the best person for giving directions.

I’m lucky I live next to a well-known hotel. :)

There are no addresses. There are rarely street names. It’s ridiculous.

You end up telling people, “You know Mataam (Restaurant) Barbar? Go there, turn left onto the tiny street between the coffee shop and the Total gas station, go straight, first building after the coffee shop, 1st floor,” or...

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"So I ask, what if Tim Tebow were Muslim? How would our society react if during every interview, Tebow said “Insha’Allah” or “Allāhu Akbar” rather than thank his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Or instead of falling to one knee and praying,  Tebow pulled out a prayer rug and faced Mecca? "

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In Beirut til April 27!

So I haven't filled in the blanks from Oman; my 33 days in America were a bit busier than I expected.

I got to Beirut on Saturday. The first person I met in my program was Sam. He was on my flight but due to the fact that my stuffy nose and sore throat had made my ears and voice useless, I didn't talk to him til we were getting off the plane. If you could call it talking, my voice was pretty much MIA. 

We took a LAU van to the apartment (which is the apartment owned by Sam -a different Sam- that I stayed in last year). Neither of us could find our roommates so we hung out, went and met a girl I knew at UT, Laura, for dinner. We also stopped at my favorite Hamra liquor store and had a beer with Sam (yup its a popular name) who owns the place. 

Eventually we learned his roommate Paul and my roommate and flatmates were all together in the mountains with Paul's family. My roommate, Emma, graduated last spring from UToronto but she also lived in Shaker for the summer of 2008, small world. The two other girls, Natasha and Jessica, are from Wayne State and so is Paul. 

Sunday I slept all day trying to get the pressure in my ears to readjust. 

Monday we went to LAU for the placement test. I'm in "Advanced II" formal Arabic class, Writing Skills II, Principles of Translation, and Lebanese Dialect II. 

Tuesday was the first day of class. I only have FusHa (formal Arabic) on Mondays and Wednesday so today was my first day of that. 

I feel like my classes went pretty well and that they will be challenging as well as enjoyable. I don't know if my peers feel the same. 

The group I've been hanging out with has been all those previously mentioned as well as an Australian girl Noor who is living in university housing. 

Dana my camp friend is hopefully coming into Beirut this weekend from Damascus to see me. 

Though I'm sure there are more things to mention, I hope this update is enough to soothe your curious souls. There should be many adventures ahead to share. :)

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my re-adjustment to America & getting closer to real life

For the past 7 or 6 years of my life, people have always though I was interesting. Well maybe not me, but my goals, my life, the things I was doing. 

Now. I'm back from Oman. And until TODAY. I had no idea what I would be doing next in my life.

I didn't get the job I wanted. Though I still don't know if I really wanted it. I think I wanted the idea of a plan. And I do want that job ... eventually. I do want a Masters in Education, but then I saw a postsecret card with the words "My biggest regret is getting my teaching certificate." Discouraging. The fact that the Minneapolis School District HR guy appeared to not even know that there was a department of World Languages for the district. I felt almost broken when I hung up the phone. 

I dodged questions at Christmas time about what was next.

I told my extended family members to ask me in a week. Only a week after New Years the plan remained as unsure as ever. Though I had found cheaper tickets to Beirut, no one from the program was answering my emails to confirm what day we needed to arrive or heck if I had even been "accepted" for the spring program.

I contemplated what to do if Lebanon didn't work out. (I never did come up with a solution to that one.) 

I saw my little brother freak out about being accepted into too many colleges he thought were cool. 

I tried to use my facebook profile pictures to prove all the cool things I've done, to prove that I was awesome (even if I don't know what's next). 

How could I feel like I was no where after everything that I have done? Learned to speak Arabic, done that whole MBU deal at school with APO, traveled to Lebanon, Ghana and Oman (not to mention Syria, UAE and Qatar), and everything else that made me feel worth while in college (OSSA, LAHSC, other APO stuff, designing GDI shirts), why was I about to end up like so many other college graduates today: no job and shit outta luck. 

Sure there were some good things. I had graduated. I made at least one semi-final resume. I was (am) finally feeling more confident in my Arabic speaking. The guy across the street said he could hook me up with an interview at a design firm. I got Kareman to say she'd come back to camp (!!!!!). There is a good chance that my Minneapolis job application will still be there if they were aiming to hire for the fall. (The job has been being re-posted every few weeks or so since May and I was banking on them wanting to hire someone right away.) I've been with my best friends in Cleveland in just over a week I will be with my best friends in Austin. 

It's not that life was bad. It's just that I had no plan. (Considering the whole I want to study Arabic plan started at age 14... you can see how this might be an issue.)

I felt uninteresting and unimportant. 

Then today happened.

Today.

I spent 4 hours in the snow and cold as the first in line for a ticket to see Obama speak at my high school tomorrow. The man who was technically first in line but waiting in the car was a 97 year old man who worked on Obama's campaign in 1993. The fact that he was up and moving at that age is a fact inspiring on its own. Not to mention I secured a ticket. 

The tickets to Beirut were purchased. (I still don't have an acceptance to the program, but it is basically automatic, plus I'm friends with the director from the last time I was there.) I leave Jan 20th and I DONT HAVE TO TAKE LUFTHANSA! (Besides just hating the Lufthansa international terminal at the airport I also got in a fight with the guy in charge of the LH ticket counter in Oman that he threatened not to let me on my flight... whoops.) I will return on April 28, meaning that I will very likely be walking alongside my friends during graduation in May. 

And I said to my friend over facebook chat that I felt like I needed a personality. Knowing me for 3 years of course she told me I was being crazy. As I began to try to explain to her how I was lazy, a bum, and had no idea what I was doing next, she interrupted. "That's just because you've had a big adjustment." 

That's what this was. 

An adjustment that was finally hitting me (or not exactly but you can determine your own opinion on that). 

I moved back from Austin in May, packed and went to Ghana, was home for 3 weeks which included a weekend up at the Finger Lakes, went to see camp friends in Minnesota, went and worked at camp, came home for all of one week before shipping off too Oman, studying in Oman, doing research in Oman, only to get home and head to Minnesota for the holidays, a few nights in Cleveland before New Years in Pittsburgh, and then here is now. 

There has been no time for planning. No time for reverse culture shock. My schedule for summer is beginning to form but the spring was like a bottomless pit. Back in Oman we had a session on re-entry back into America, but I'm think that culture shock was only the icing on my problematic cake. 

There had been no time for adjustment because I had nothing to adjust to. Home of course, but not adjusting into a working mindset not an apply for jobs mind-set. Only yesterday did I finally begin going through the tornado aftermath that my bed room resembled filled with goodies from all those trips, as well as its usual contents, and OH! my entire apartment from Austin. 

So, now, I have more of a plan (maybe). Now I can relax a little because my life should continue the way I like it, nonstop and always enough moves ahead for people to think I'm impressive, but open enough for me to still feel like the world is my oyster. 

I want to do it all. I want to see it all. I will find the opportunities. 

I'm realizing that being at home is just a too stressful place to do it. 

So starting January 12th my nonstop life restarts. Austin, 5 nights. Cleveland, 3 nights. Beirut til April. Hopefully I will be accepted into a short-term StarTalk summer teaching program, followed by a little time at home before Minnesota for friends, family and camp. And with 7 months before the unknown, I have time to apply to grad school (maybe even get accepted), get a job, or maybe even hear back from the folks in Minneapolis.

I feel at ease with my future. The future has always been my friend. She just wasn't answering my texts because her phone was dead. ;)

Hopefully 2012 can handle all that I have in store for it! 

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hey now i've been there!

Abu Dhabi

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A while back I read one of Naguib Mahfouz's books in an English translation. I've seen Afloat on the Nile more than once. I tried to read a book in Arabic a few months ago but it was a bit difficult... 

Either way. I need to read more, but I thought this was nifty enough to share.

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ISP paper due Monday

I really want to apologize for the lack of updates about life and my new host family. Life is good. I went to visit campers in Dubai. I bought a new hard sided suitcase to bring all my books back to the states in. I really will write about this trip more afterwards, because as much as I want to share it with you all I really want to remember it as best as I can.

My ISP (Independent Study Project) is due on Monday. It is Saturday. I'm overwhelmed. The paper is supposed to be 25-30 pages. My Literature Review is no where. My information is only now just feeling sufficient to write something on it. Many of my classmates are in the same boat.

It's hard knowing my friends are in the same situation, but not thinking of it as the same. These projects are going to everyone's home institutions. Heck, for me it is the only grade that actually matters for something at Texas. But for me the reason I want my paper to be awesome is because I think it will help the organization Youth Vision that my paper is analyzing. They've only existed for a year and a half and they've recently froze their activities to reorganize. I know I have input that they could use. I sat in on a founders meeting, and felt frustrated by my inability to ask to clarify things or input without causing a complete diversion with insufficient arabic for discussing management structures. 

We had a small gathering at southern Neenah's house on Thursday night. A friend said to me "come on Kirsten you're dong a SWOT analysis you can easily B.S. that."

True, I could make things up, but for me, I want to help. I want this to have the potential to be an example of my work if the opportunity to consult for a non-profit ever comes up again. 

I can't believe how soon I'm leaving Oman. I felt like this was because of the tiny amount of time I had left to write my paper. But I realized it's also the things I'm missing. I'm missing my host sister, Ibtisam, 's wedding in March. I'm missing the Second Omani Youth Forum which Youth Vision plans to put on early next year. 

As much as I'd like to hear from that job in Minnesota. I just want them to say no so I can buy a ticket to Lebanon, sign up for SINARC, and plan a few quick trips to the Gulf from there. 

I really did not ever expect to love the gulf. Amazing how much changing families can help. And not only that but the friendships I have started to build with Youth Vision's founders. If only they were a real company I could be hired to consult for... maybe in a few years. 

I spend the free time I don't have looking at Masters programs in teaching, but like what happened to me when I was in Ghana. I really love doing work with company's that have civil society goals. It's a beautiful thing to change the world, and I just want to help other people do it.

Thus the dilemma I can waste my time on when I return home, for now, I must focus on my paper.

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So much to do, and SO not enough time to do it all. I slept for almost 12 hours last night though so I suppose that's a good way to prepare to get stuff done!

10:27 AM GST

December 7, 2011

World Learning Center

Muscat, Oman

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لبن، بهار، وكل شي جميل

:)

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99 names of Allah(swt) written in an Arabic style known as Sini (Chinese) by a Chinese Muslim Calligrapher Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guanjiang

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I'm officially a college graduate. Just thought you'd want to know.

December 3, 2011

Palms Jumeriah, Dubai, UAE