Dear Friends and Family,

I hope you are all doing well. I have had a great time at my service project today. I said goodbye to an woman, Lily, who is moving back to her home town of Asuut in Upper Egypt. Her son who lives in New Jersey was here to help her move out. The last couple of weeks we had a good time talking about everything under the sun including faith, politics, Egypt, our families, etc. I was sad to see her go, but she is was very happy to be going back home. The thing I most enjoy is interacting with the staff at the geriatrics center. Even though most of them don't know English very well we have a fun time together. Today there wasn't much to do so after we completed our tasks we played ping pong and pool. I definitely am reminded of the beauties of cross-cultural interaction every time I go there.

This week as also been a very fun and busy week. What's new? This last Thursday me and a few other people went to an Egyptian jazz concert behind Al Azhar Mosque, a very famous mosque in Egypt. My tabla teacher, Heni plays percussion in the band that played. I just realized I don't think I mentioned that I am learning to play the tabla; the tabla is a drum by the way. MESP offers four cultural activities that students can participate in: cooking, Dabka (a Palestinian dance), belly dancing (for the ladies only), and tabla. So anyways Heni is teaching me and a few others tabla. He is a pretty amazing percussion player and teaches and plays in many other bands. All of that said, some of us went to a concert by a sextet and a Jordanian singer. Egyptian jazz is definitely different than what you think jazz is; it has a very eastern sound to it. The instruments in the band included a drum set, electric bass, keyboard/synth, a lute, a violin, and various percussive instruments (congas, tabla, tambourine). There was also a Jordanian singer that had a beautiful voice. It was fun to sit in this beautiful place and listen to some great music.

Last Friday we had a Coptic day where thirty Coptic youth came and we talked with each other about faith and hung out. We were originally supposed to travel to them and participate in an evening service. It was really good to hang out with Egyptian peers to get there views on faith and how living in Egypt has affected their faith journey. We also were able to play games and just converse with them.

On Saturday night my roommates and I met up with two Egyptian guys, Asharaf and Shariif, that my roommate Josh met at the soccer game. We went bowling at the nicest bowling alley I have ever been to and it was only 10 Egyptian pounds for one game and shoe rentals. Afterward we went to a cafe and talked. It was a fun night.

In the midst of all of this we had a pretty intense week of classes. We had two quizzes, one for Arabic class and another for Islamic Thought and Practice, and an Arabic midterm yesterday. We also had a three hour class of Arabic on Saturday morning because this week is the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr will be celebrated starting tomorrow and ending on next Tuesday. So there will be no Arabic class tomorrow, Thursday, Sunday or Monday. Also tomorrow we will be leaving to Siwa, a Bedouin desert community in the western desert of Egypt. Insha'Allah we will get to swim in hot and cold springs, go sand boarding down sand dunes, off-roading in a jeep, and camping out in the desert. We get back on Saturday. Then on Sunday we will move away from Agouza and our flats and live with homestay families somewhere in Cairo and commute to class and service projects for a week.

So the fun, craziness, and busyness keeps on going. Insha' Allah I'll post some pictures of my adventures this last week later tonight. I hope you all have a great rest of your week. Ma' salaama.

Scott