Hello all,

I arrived in Cairo safe and sound yesterday around 2:30pm. So far my limited experience with the city has been great. In general, I love city life and the great energy that a big city has. Cairo has not disappointed in that aspect. People and cars are everywhere. Egyptians are still out and about until around 3 am or later. It will be even later when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts in September. Because people fast until sun down, which is pretty late in the evening, they probably will sleep until late morning early afternoon and be up until even later the next morning.. The amount of cars here is even more amazing with people double and triple parking and two lanes being turned into three. It’s adventure every time you cross the street as I have yet to see a crosswalk or a stoplight.

Other than the craziness of the city, the living arrangements are quite nice. I’m living with six other guys in a section of the city called Agouza. All of us live within two blocks of each other including the director and staff. Our main meeting place where we will take classes and eat breakfast and lunch at is in a villa that is also just a block away.

Today we took a tour of part of the city in a bus and got off to walk through a suq (open marketplace) where huge slabs of raw cow were being sold from the bed of a truck, as well as all of the other organs and parts. Needless to say there were some interesting smells coming from the suq. But I look forward to seeing and experiencing much more.

To be honest though, the most amazing thing I have experienced so far has been the peace and I comfort I feel living here. I know part of that comes from the cross-cultural experiences I had living in the city of Los Angeles during LA term. But I also know part of it is also the peace and comfort that God is giving me. Other than the language barrier, which is always a problem in most cross-cultural encounters, there has been nothing that has bothered me or made me nervous at all.

Well I should go to bed. Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate them greatly and they definitely have helped. Until next time, ma salaama.

P.S. Internet access at my flat has actually been a little bit more sketchy than I initially thought, which is why it has taken me so long to post this. I'll try and upload some pictures next post.