Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was the homestay week of the MESP program. Last Sunday night we met our respective homestays at the Villa and then left with them to go back to their homes. Two of my flatmates, Josh and Andrew, and I lived with the same extended family in the same building. Andrew lived with the grandparents, Josh lived with the eldest son and his family, and I lived with the younger son and his family in Imbaba, which is 10 to 15 minute taxi ride north of where we live in Agouza.

None of the family members knew any English, which made communication and everything else a little bit harder. It was good because I was forced to use Arabic and though I don’t know if I retained much of what I learned it made me more confident and less shy about speaking with Egyptians. Despite the struggles of language, it was really cool to not only see how a typical Muslim family in Egypt interacts, but to be apart of the family and experience it first hand. The hospitality and generosity of Egyptians is phenomenal. My host parents gave me their bed to sleep on, while they slept on the floor for the whole week. When I tried to say I was fine with sleeping on the floor they refused. They also made sure I had plenty to eat. There was not a single meal that I was able to finish everything on my plate. In addition to giving me a lot of food to eat, they also introduced me to a lot of their friends and other relatives where we were offered more to eat.

In all the experience helped me to very much appreciate the simple things that I experienced. For example I got to see how important family is and living in community with each other. I could see that they all loved, cared, and looked out for each other. Probably one of my favorite times that I had with the family was when we played cards. Josh and I taught them how to play blackjack using and they taught us how to play this fun game called Arba (Four). We also watched a lot of television, specifically American action movies with such renowned actors as Jean-Claude Van Dam and Steven Segal. One night we were watching a movie and my host dad turned to me and said how pleased and honored he was that I was staying with him and his family. Needless to stay it was a good experience.

I came back to Agouza on Saturday morning and then around one in the afternoon a group of students took a trip to the pyramids. It was a fun experience and yes I got on a camel and had my picture taken with the pyramids in the background. Overall it was good to finally see them and check that off the list. I posted a couple of pictures of that as well as a couple of homestay pictures.

Well I need to go study for an Arabic quiz. This Tuesday we live on a train for Luxor and arrive back on Saturday. So until next time I hope you all are doing well and are having a great week insha’ Allah.

Scott