life after masr

here's an update of my life after my 6 weeks in Egypt that I wrote for an email chain among the 12 AFS Egypt 2006 Summer Program guinea pigs:

After returning from Egypt, I started my first year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Once I moved into my dorm I sought out the Arabic Langauge and Culture Club and found myself interacting with students from all over the Middle East even before meeting your average 18 year old American college kids. I continued to study Arabic in informal settings like Arabic Language Club and in having ESOL "conversation partners" from a local English school. I also continued to study Modern Standard Arabic for 3 semesters before focusing more heavily on Spanish. I entered UW-Madison planning to complete a major in International Studies but by the time I graduated, I had earned a double major in International Studies and Spanish and two minors in Middle Eastern Studies and African Studies. Aside from studies, I was part of an student-run international business organization called AIESEC in which my role was "International Opportunity Specialist for Egypt." In this role I held web conferences to coach college students from across the United States on Egyptian culture before they moved there to carry out an internship.

In 2009, I studied for a semester in Alcalá de Henares, Spain and then spent the summer Athens, Greece. From Athens, I was able to travel back to Egypt for 3 weeks to visit friends who were studying at American University in Cairo. This "homecoming" was quite a bit more emotional that I anticipated, as I could not believe that I was returning to the place that changed the track of my life forever. In fact as soon as I spotted the Nile Delta from the plane window I had to wipe a tear, and by the time we were flying over Zamalek and the Cairo Tower I was full out laughing/ crying and being stared at by several other passengers on that flight. I was able to meet up with my host family, several friends that I had met there and even ran into two AFS volunteers at Felfela as they were heading home from a YES orientation with Huda. (As I was eating my wara' el-3inab, someone tapped my shoulder and asked me " Excuse me, but are you Maria Ramirez?" That someone turned out to be Sameh from AFS). I also explored Cairo night life for the first time with the help of 24-hour alcohol delivery service, Drinkiez, Buddha Bar, Club Latex and a crazy British-Sudanese twenty-something living on the 30th floor of a swank apartment building in the middle of Zamalek. (delete last sentence from final draft)

I have since graduated in May 2010 from UW-Madison, and I am currently a middle school Spanish teacher Prince George's County, Maryland as part of the Teach for America alternative teacher certification program. While I previously thought Egypt was "the hardest thing I've ever done," I am reconsidering using that phrase for the current stage of my life.

Nonetheless, I am confident in saying that Egypt has been the single most transformative experience in my life. I will agree with Justin in saying that there are really no words to describe the ways in which those six short weeks have impacted my life, studies and relationships. However I would like to close with a short story about how Egypt continues to impact me on a daily basis-even in the smallest ways.

Yesterday, after the 8th graders finished their Unit 1 Spanish test, I told them that they could silently take out any other work while their classmates were finishing their test. As I circulated the room, one student's paper caught my eye. It looked somewhat like he was writing Arabic text, but I didn't say anything because I did not want to interrupt the "test environment." Upon passing him again, he had a print out of the Arabic alphabet on his desk and was clearly copying the letters. I couldn't hold my excitement in any longer, so I bent down to him and asked "What's that for?" He answered that he heard some people speaking it, thought it sounded interesting and looked it up online. Still, he was not connecting his letters, so I told him "Well, you're doing it wrong. Come after school and I'll show you what I mean." Not expecting too much from this student who is earning a 50% average in my class and talks through each 68-minute class period, Devin walked through my door a few minutes after the last bell rang, Arabic alphabet print out in hand and a handful of questions in mind.

I taught him first how to write his name, then showed him pictures of Cairo and videos I took at the pyramids and Hadeeqat al-Azhar. Though I spend the majority of my time immersed in the Spanish language, I live for the moments that I can interact with others around the Arabic language and culture. And being able to share that with one of my students gave me a renewed sense of meaning as a teacher and of course, as a AFS "citizen ambassador."