Levantine Cuisine

Levantine Cuisine

Hair hid behind the hijab.

A cross around another's neck.

Two women share their secrets

Of home learned recipes. And

The Egyptian didn't know the Syrian's

Levantine cuisine.

The next day American women

Turn off the news in disgust.

And one says to the other

Arabs are all terrorists.

Some Americans misunderstand Arabs. This poem comes from a real experience overhearing two women sharing family recipes. I was struck that they didn't know each other's traditional foods and wished that all Americans could see how different they are from each other and realize the dangers of stereotyping.

Tweeting the Middle East

Tom Regan, a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, suggested tweeting the Middle East. So I started a Twitter account and gave it a try. Great idea. Did you know you can follow Ha'aretz, the liberal Israeli news service? Or why not follow Iran or #iranelection? CNN Breaking News? Soon you're getting up to date information from various points of view on the hottest topics in the Middle East. If anyone knows a news service from the Arab world, please let me know.

Trip Plans

Tomorrow early morning departure: DC (Orientation)

June 25/26: 9 hour layover Frankfurt (In Sha Allah a look around the city)

June 27: Arrive in Egypt

My grandpa called me on the phone to tell me Egypt was his favorite place to visit. Didn't know that before. I love that guy. I stopped by to see him and my grandma. They gave me all the Middle Eastern advice they normally do. Then my grandpa stood outside and watched me leave. That meant a lot to me.

PS-I might not be able to post again in real time for a while so I am pre-scheduling some posts here so it will continue to run consistently.

Middle East a little hot

So this will be my fourth trip heading to the Middle East. I'm getting the last details tied down and thinking about what's ahead. There have been a lot of well wishers and I'm gonna need as many as I can get.

You kinda have to be a tough cookie as an American girl. There are guys who grab in Egypt. And, if you’re in Cairo, you’ll never make it on the metro during busy hours if you don’t push. (Cairo was great job training for high school teaching.) ;)

Don’t even start to be flattered by things guys say to you. Yawn and walk away. Actually…they love that. (I think a lot of guys like that.) Act deaf and then deck 'em if they don’t get the hint. Learn phrases like “Alai khaliik, ya akhi.” (God keep you my brother.) In other words—well, I’ll let you pick your own translation for that one.

Oh, and did I mention it is little hot--ok, maybe a lot hot. I hear Alexandria is cooler than Cairo but that’s not saying much. I looked it up. This week the high is only 95 but that’s just getting started. Last July and August, a friend of mine in Syria reminded me from his blog posts just how hot hot can be. I’m not expecting AC either. My Arab friends tell me I should at least wear sleeves to my elbows and pants to my ankles. Yikes.

To Alexandria, Egypt

The Department of State: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is sending teachers of Arabic to Alexandria, Egypt to strengthen what is considered a critical need language in schools across the country. The program's official name is the Intensive Summer Language Institute for Arabic. I am going this year with the program. We leave next week.

This is one of the exchanges Obama spoke about in his speech in Cairo recently.

Jerusalem: Soaps

A Palestinian Family

Part V

If "Noor" was on TV, the house went completely still. Mom and Dad didn't like the Turkish prime time soap opera, but they watched. Mom still kept tabs on the plot even when she wasn't there. The boys dropped in for an update from their sisters. Salsabil pulled a chair right under the TV to watch glued and deaf to everything else. Mom and Dad's biggest concern about the soap? Muhanad and Noor, the two main characters live together unmarried.

Jerusalem: Wein Audrey?

A Palestinian Family
Part IV

Salsabil spoke Arabic very quickly to me, amused I couldn't always understand. She also spoke English, very loudly I should add. I don't think they realized how much Arabic I understood, though. One night Nusaiba, the mom, yelled at her kids, "Wein Audrey?! (pronounced Wayne)Wein Audrey?!" No one answered so I went to her and said, "I'm here." She looked startled and gave me a 'caught in the act' grin. She was asking where I was.

Obama's Speech in Cairo

(Image from CNN International)
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/04/egypt.obama.speech/index.html

I got a phone call this morning around 9:30am from Washington D.C. My contacts at Relief International: Schools Online and the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs wanted me to get on Skype to speak to youth from across Palestine to talk about Obama’s Speech in Cairo. We spoke to these Palestinian youth for about an hour live fielding comments and questions.

They were generally positive. Some of the old frustrations are still there of course but the dialogue is changing. When Obama says he will open up opportunities for exchanges, I know that this is true because we are recipients of these exchanges. When Obama talks about a student in Kansas talking online in real time to students in Cairo, it was happening between me in Utah and Palestinians in Ramallah almost as he spoke those words.

I believe things are changing.

Watch the speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlqLwCKkeY&feature=player_embedded

Jerusalem: Out-bridged

A Palestinian Family
Part III

Talaal and I became pals when I let him play my hand of Pit cards and showed him how to shuffle a bridge. Anwar and Ibrahim couldn't be out-bridged by their younger brother and I ended up with a lot of warped cards.

Talaal met me every day as I got off the shuttle coming home. I would ask him what he did that day. He quickly learned to keep it very simple and use hand gestures. "Leab" (play) he said then showed me things.

...to be continued.