Today was the first day of the second Eid(feast). It will last 4 days.
If you were to walk out to the street right now, you would discover
large quantities of blood running everywhere. Don't be alarmed, this
is normal!! Okay well not really, but during Eid people slaughter
either a cow or a goat, and eat its fresh meat.
Last night I went to the country where my host fam has extended
family, and we slept there, and killed a sheep with them this morning.
I loved the country, and the family there. I made fresh bread outside
over an open fire while laughing and talking in arabic, sitting on the
ground with 6 Muslim ladies, all of us in full dresses and head
coverings.In the morning, I woke up, went outside and sat by fire on a
mat on the ground, and ate the bread that I made the night before. I
would have to say that this was the place that I have been most
comfortable in so far in Egypt. I think the difference is that these
people lack the same exposure to the west as the city dwellers, and
thus they don't have the same bad interpretation of western culture
that you find in Egyptian cities- country men just seem less creepy
than city men, and the women seem much more genuine, and are so much
more beautiful because they don't cover themselves in layers of
makeup! Anyways, that was an amazing trip for me, besides slitting the
goats throat and watching it suffocate, and I think I will probably go
back to visit in the near future.

On Wednesday, me and the other 3 NSLI kids here made Thanksgiving
dinner for all our host families and friends!! We did find a
turkey(even tho it was US $40), and we roasted it perfectly! After
cooking for 3 days, and on Wednesday cooking from 8am-5pm, and clean
up until 10pm, we pulled it off perfectly. Some of the highlights
include: an exploding oven that caught sarah's hair on fire, 2 nasty
pumpkin pies made out of who knows what kind of squash, making a large
quantity of mashed potatoes in a laundry vat( we still haven't decided
if it was for clean or dirty clothes, and no, we couldn't find
bleach), pomagranite sauce, dressing made out of baked bread cubes and
fried chicken seasoning, fresh rolls(thanks mom for the recipe!),
gravy that looked like dog food but tasted wonderful, and lastly, the
perfect turkey stuffed with apples and onions!

Besides this, my life has been pretty "normal". I go to school(when
I'm not sick, so about 50% of the time), Arabic class (100% whether
I'm sick or not), and sleep(as much as I can!). Okay, well maybe not
just sleeping, I do like to go out some nights with friends, but
normally I'm exausted after a long day.

I would say that I am fully adjusted to my life here, and content.
This being said, it is hard for me to write about my 'ordinary' life
because nothing in particular stands out to me!

I think my one remaining frustration is Arabic. It is coming very
slowly because we aren't moving fast enough in class. Every one of us
here is capable of working on a very intensive program which requires
a lot of study, yet we haven't even got our textbooks yet! I'm just
hoping things pick up soon, we are going to talk to our teacher about
it, because time wise, I'm on the downhill side and leave in a month
and a half! Time flies.

Alf Saalem for now,
Happy black Friday!!(I don't miss that chaos too much...just a little)