visits galore (originally published July 15, 2008)

Today was jam-packed. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open yet I'm writing this post anyway...don't bother trying to understand my logic.

Yesterday night I started looking at class options for next semester. I already signed up for courses a few months ago but, I no longer want to take Neuroscience, so I was looking at what alternatives were open. That led me to look at the requirements for all the majors I possibly could be interested in. After looking at the requirements for about 15 majors, I'm still thinking Global Studies, Global Systems and Issues track is for me. I'm not sure still about double majoring or minoring in Spanish, Political Science, Economics, Sociology or something else. Anyway, I got nowhere near close to making all the decisions I still want to make but decided to go to bed at around 4. I somehow still woke up on my own at 8:30 this morning.

I don't know what possessed me to do so but I decided when I woke up then after 4 and a half hours of sleep to go play tennis, something I haven't done in over a month because of our almost non-stop travels. Again, I don't know what I was thinking but I rolled out of bed, got dressed and left...no breakfast...no water...I didn't even wash my face. 15 minutes of playing and I was so nauseated I could hardly stand up. I told my opponent I was going to have to quit before I fainted. I sat down for a while and drank the soda the coach guy got me (he always insists on getting me soda while playing tennis...I don't get it). After about another twenty minutes I was fun and finished playing. I was much more tired than usual on my walk home though. I guess that's what I get for abandoning the game for so long. It's hard for me to get motivated to go play here though. Tennis in Egypt and particularly in the club I play at is a very male-dominated sport. In all the times I've gone (during the school year I went three times a week) I've never seen another female on or anywhere near the court. None of the people I play ever hit with other girls and so they seem to take any point I win personally. I watch the other guys play with each other and they play differently. They get more into the game and get this competitive spirit. With me it's not the same. I always feel like I'm disturbing some kind of rhythm when I go. I guess going to play isn't as appealing an option for me here since, not only do I have to play, but I also have to work to understand the culture around tennis here in Egypt. One of the hardest things to adjust to was the ball boys. I never know whether or not I should pick the ball up if it's closer to me than him or let him sprint around all over the place. Ah, whatever...a couple more days and I'll be back to the nice, easy to understand tennis world of Fargo, ND. ha.

So, I got back from tennis around 11, showered and went back out. Our original plan was to to stop by AUC to pick some things up, go to a movie and then go on a visiting binge. As it happened, Kareem fell asleep on the way to AUC so, I waited for two hours in the car with him while my parents finished what they had to do at AUC. They had taken longer than expected so there was no longer time for the movie. We went straight to Heliopolis to say goodbye to my paternal grandparents. My grandfather is pretty sick right now so it was kind of sad. After about an hour at the grandparents we drove over to Medinat Nasr to say goodbye to my parents' best friends. That was also sad because, since they're moving to Georgia and we're going back to Fargo, we don't know when we'll get to see them again. From there we went to Ein Shams to say hello to my first host family (which I stayed with for five weeks) from last summer. When I came last summer, their oldest son Ahmed had just returned from a year in the United States. He was having a really hard time adjusting to being back in Egypt so the whole family was tense. When I saw them today they all seemed to be in much better spirits, talking and laughing together, which was nice to see. The thing is, when I try to remember what it was like, how I felt last summer, I can't. at all. I don't remember how I interacted with the family at all. They kept saying things about how I acted or what I did and nothing seemed familiar. I wonder if maybe part of the reason I had a hard time adjusting with them was my own attitude. I'm not sure because I honestly don't remember it but the family wasn't at all how I remembered it. They were nice and talkative and stuff. I don't know. From their house we continued on to Zamalek to see my second host family who I stayed with during my last week in Egypt last summer. I really enjoyed my time there. When I came last summer, their younger daughter Kout was just leaving for the US and their older daughter Dina was in Turkey so I didn't really get to know either of them. This time both of them were there as well as Tant Nashwa and Julia, a girl they are hosting this year. I love Tant Nashwa so much and Dina and Kout were both so nice and friendly. I really enjoyed talking with them. The visits to both my host families were great; I truly feel ashamed that I didn't call them earlier in my stay.

I just came home now and I am, once more, about ready to faint. I don't know why I took the time to write this really. I agreed with one of the ballboys Mohy to play tomorrow at eight and this time I want to eat breakfast before I go so I need to wake up in another six hours. Yikes! I would just cancel but Mohy is my favorite ballboy and, I saw him hitting with Ahmed - another ballboy, and he's gotten really good. Besides, this may be my last chance to play him. Posted by ayah at 3:30 PM