Life and Thoughts in Cairo

This is Karin Zylstra, writing again from Cairo, Egypt. I have been very delinquent about posting, so it is now over two months since I wrote that last post. Needless to say I’ve done quite a bit in that time, including attending classes and taking a weekend trip to Jordan.  I’ve also been settling in to a mindset of living in Cairo as opposed to being a perpetual tourist.

Classes have been a mix of challenging and repetitive. I am taking two Political Science courses that are graduate and undergraduate combined, and these are making me seriously reconsider the wisdom of this whole concept of grad school for Karin. I’m also taking Arabic for the first time, which is difficult and confusing, to say the least. In addition to class in Modern Standard Arabic, I am also doing private tutoring in the Egyptian colloquial Arabic. Sometimes this is helpful, but also can make things more confusing and causes both teachers to look at me strangely when I interject words of the other dialect into a sentence. Class structure is very similar to what I am used to, but there are other aspects I have had to adjust to. It is interesting to suddenly look around and realize that I am the only American in the class, and then wonder what I’m supposed to do when the professor slips in a side comment about the chaos in Iraq. It is also interesting to learn what it means to be discriminated against for the first time in my life. I can’t say that it is anything big, but little things that are enough to both frustrate me and make me slightly ashamed to be so petty when others are suffering real discrimination.

The weather in Cairo has recently become quite nice, even chilly. My roommate and I find that when we sleep with the window open at night, it is a little harder to get out of bed in the colder air. I also have had several “encounters” with cars, though not actually being hit head on, but sometimes I or the driver misjudge the other’s trajectory and we come into close contact. My friends and I joke about how this is the place for any adrenaline junkies, because there are many opportunities each day to have that near death experience (especially if you assume a street in one-way, and then find out very quickly that it is not). Logistically I have enjoyed traversing about the city on the Metro system and am also quite proud of the fact that I know the five or so words that are required to direct a taxi back to my home.

Over the time that I’ve been here, I’ve developed relationships with different groups of people and find my new acquaintances to be very diverse. There is the group of Christian students at AUC, both Americans and Egyptians, and I have been so blessed by the kindness and hospitality extended to me from those people. Even though I am only here for one semester, these students have opened themselves to me and shown me true friendship, even though they are in their senior year as well. There are also a different group of Christians that I have connected with through the church I attended in the southern suburb called Maadi. This is non-denominational church with a very diverse congregation. A large part of the community is ex-patriots working in various organizations here in the city. There is quite a large group of young adults that have hosted several good functions. I also spend quite a lot of time with non-Christian friends, which I have found to be very enjoyable as well as thought provoking. Though with some of them I feel completely comfortable, I realize that if I want to talk about my spiritual life I have to preface it with a disclaimer or explanation. This diversity of friends has at times caused me to feel overextended, but also has enriched my life in ways that I could never have predicted before coming to Cairo.

In addition to being a blessing, these friendships that I have developed, as well as old relationships from home, have caused me to do a lot of thinking, but in very different ways. Living in a Muslim country has caused me to have a lot of questions about the nature of salvation and a person’s individual convictions. Given that in Egypt it is illegal for an Egyptian to convert to any religion other than Islam, I have been thinking a lot about the role of Providence in the lives of people who are not only trapped into a religion, but do not even realize that there are questions to be asked. Coming at that same question from a different angle has been thoughts about the nature of a Christian’s faith. Among the other study abroad students here, I meet a lot of people who say that they grew up attending a church and used to believe, but now no longer claim faith in Jesus. What does it mean that some Christians turn away from their faith, some doubt it very strongly, and others never question? I guess I’m wrestling with classic theological debates, but to me they don’t feel that abstract. They feel like the email exchange I have with a friend from home, and the impromptu conversations with my friends here in Cairo. To me it’s not a denominational divide, or what have you, it’s something that affects the people that I care about.

Another thing that I’ve noticed in the people I interact with here is that so many of them are searching for something. Some of them know what they are searching for, others only that they are searching, but the vast majority doesn’t even realize that they are missing something in their life and keep trying to convince themselves that they have it all. I see it in the guy who says he’s kind of bored and is thinking about getting involved in some volunteer work. I see it in the girl who is trying to prove how independent and self-sufficient she is.

Overall, being in Egypt has made me appreciate both the things I have here and the things I have left behind. Because I have left good friends at home I really am grateful for all the friendships I have been able to make here. This perspective also gives me a slightly different mindset for going back to Wheaton College for my last semester. I don’t know how many international students typically attend, but I am planning on hunting them down and befriending them.

I have a little less than a month before I head home, but this seems much shorter.  I consistently feel very blessed by my life and experiences here, and feel that Cairo will be an important part of my life for some time to come.  I would love to hear from anyone reading this, so if you want to contact me, my email is karingracez@gmail.com.