06 June 2006

11 weeks.

Wow. Exactly eleven weeks and I will be in Amsterdam awaiting a flight to Cairo. I started plotting my year abroad over a year ago, so the realization that it is actually happening is...mind blowing. The fact I still don't know how to say "I'm lost", "I need a US Embassy," or "Where's the bathroom" and have no idea what 9 means in arabish is disconcerting... but my optimism has not disapated quite yet. It seems cheesy, but some informal statement of goals seems essential:

*come home with a serious grasp on Arabic and the ability to pass not for a local but at least for a non-tourist. Avoid English outside of class.

* be able to say I have seen North Africa. its people. its quirks.

*come out of it having some well-documented narratives of my experiences, even if just good conversations that i've written down.

* break a few stereotypes held abroad about Americans, and dissolve a few of those I may hold subconsciously of others, too.

* find a masjid i like, with old ladies as insightful and odd as the one i go to now. actually that's the better the goal: meet wise old muslim women.

insha'Allah.