This is Saber, my host brother.
This is Saber's story:
Right after getting back from Siwa, we started our Egyptian homestays. I was lucky and placed with a 35 year-old single guy named Saber. It’s kind of rare for a male to live by himself if he’s not married, but Saber was a sweet guy.
He owned a perfume shot which we would hang out in and meet his friends basically every night until 2:00 AM. Saber spoke fairly good English, but I would pretty much sit there and try to talk with and understand what his friends were saying. A couple things I learned:
Egyptians love their perfume/cologne. Every person who came in would spray themselves 8-10 times with really strong perfume, I guess they just like to smell good.
Egyptians also love their humor. Saber was a really funny guy and was always telling jokes and stories followed by laughter like I’ve never heard before.
Egyptians stay up late and expect you to do the same. I also discovered they sometimes don’t understand that just because we go to bed at the same time does not mean we get the same amount of sleep, especially when I have to get up at 7:00 AM and they get up at 1:00 PM in the afternoon! No hard feelings though.
I had a great time with Saber meeting his friends, checking out different parts of the city, and staying up late. My Arabic improved quite a bid and I learned more about Islam and what it really is. It was a great experience.
After the week was over however, it felt so good to be with my flatmates and being living together. During our time with our families we really realized how much we appreciated each other and how nice it was to be with other Americans speaking English.
If there is anything I learned from this week, I want to be a lot more conscious of international students at school. They must get so sick of having to speak English all the time and not being around people from their home country! I can’t even imagine, it must be so difficult for them. If there’s anything I am regretting about my college experience, it’s not taking advantage of the chance to know these people on campus. If you’re reading this and have the chance, get to know those people, ask them questions, learn from them, and see what you can do to make their time in the U.S. easier!
Well, on to the next post, Luxor!
Jonathan
1 comment:
Hi Jon,
It is good to hear from you again. It has been awhile. I have been thinking about you lately and praying for you as you prepare for the travel component. It is going to be great. You are so right about international students. I did not think about that when I was there, but when I returned I just naturally got involved and found them to be some of the coolest people on campus. Even tonight I was talking with Georgeena in the library and had a really good conversation. Thanks for reminding me of this. I hope you're doing well. Take care.
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