The other day a friend posted on her website about enjoying a beach in a foreign country. I turned to my roommate to comment "A trip outside of the county sounds really nice right now" in midsentence I realized the irony of the statement. I live out of the country! The urge to travel comes from a want to escape the mundane, or overwhelming issues of life for just a little while and immerse myself in a culture full of opportunities to learn and be inundated with something besides "me" for awhile. Happens even while I live abroad apparently :-).
One of the strong attributes I know about myself is that I am a very linear thinker, meaning I connect my thoughts directly from one point to another until a solution is reached. Egyptians as most Arabs tend to not be linear thinkers. They think more in circles, each circle growing until a solution is found, but inbetween there can be many unrelated subjects, thoughts, statements, or even the solution may seem unrelated. This is very confusing for me when conversations or solutions are translated to me. I am always asking the question "how is this logical"? Confused yet? Let me give you an example. I awoke yesterday to find our shower no longer had hot water. It wasn't that the water wasn't hot, there was simply no water coming from the hot spiget or shower head. A man arrived this afternoon to fix it. He changed the "hot" knob on the shower and said this was the problem. I tried to get him to explain how the knob on the shower made no hot water come from the hot water heater to any of the facets in the bathroom. But all I got was "I am the professional".
The same type of situation has come up multiple times, always leaving me with a very confused look. I must admit two nights ago when two boys showed up to put cement down one of our pipes because it was leaking to the flat below us, I am sure this was one of the most confusing. Pouring cement down pipes? I wish I had taken some classes on home repairs!
Today I was in an unfamiliar part of the city, and due to bad directions and banks with the same name being located in the same area, I arrived at the wrong one. When I called a friend for directions and she couldn't help me I gave my phone to an officer (which I have been told not to do before, but my friend insisted this is correct- this is an example of how everyone gives you different instructions on what to do and not to do). The officer told her he knew where I needed to get, but it was to far to walk, so he would put me in a taxi. We walked to the end of the street one direction, then turned around and walked down the same street the other direction. I stopped a taxi, the officer waved him on to leave us. Needless to say I was confused and not happy with the situation as the officer didn't speak english and wasn't explaining anything. So I walked off leaving him. I phoned another friend who helped me arrive at my destination 1.5 hours after I started my journey and 40 minutes late for my appointment. But I am thankful for my friend who helped me arrive safely and for the cooler weather today since I was walking a lot. (Yesterday it was 104 degrees F, today it is suppose to be closer to mid-90s! Yipee!)
Okay so that is it for a quick post. There have been other good things recently, like meeting some new friends that are staying long term and not leaving in 2 weeks to return to the states! And I am looking into a language school to learn arabic! Oh and I move sometime next week to my new place! So lots of fun and busyness! Hope you are all doing well!
No comments:
Post a Comment