The day we arrived in Cairo, we had been traveling through the night and were all exhausted.  We were driven to Ramses College, got a brief tour of our new home, and promptly fell asleep on the sofas! Language classes at Dar Camboni began the day after we arrived in Cairo! Dar Camboni and its banana tree garden The group with our teachers and classmates Class with Ibrahim Class with Ashgan Hanging out in the tea room during the break The Arabic alphabet is so different from the English alphabet that it takes a long time to learn to read, even with good teachers like Ashgan and Ibrahim This is my class.  In addition to Matt, Karen, Aaron, and I, there were three students from Italy.  The other class had the other five volunteers from our group and one missionary from Canada. Celebrating our success at a graduation party ~ we all passed our exam! Lachlyn, Rachel, Laura, and I visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo ~ this is where some of the mummies are kept We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but these statues are in front of the museum The souk is a busy market where people sell animals, produce, and bread.  It is also where I do the majority of my food shopping. The fruit at the souk is great, but I'm still not comfortable with the idea of buying my meal while it is still alive! As you can see, Rachel and I blend in really well with the other women at the souk (read sarcasm here).  On a more serious note, we have found that some, not all, of the Egyptian women selling produce are very friendly and eager to talk, providing us a good opportunity to practice our limited Arabic vocabulary. Two evenings each week there is a performance of the whirling dervishes at the citadel (shown to the right).  The performers spin in circles for as much as 20 or 30 minutes at a time while musicians play a variety of instruments (including finger symbols) behind them. When some of the PC(USA) staff were in town, we went on a boat ride down the Nile, which gave us some scenic views of Cairo Toward the end of September, we toured two marginalized communities in Cairo.  Neither have public services, such as education and hospitals.  CEOSS is a social service organization through the Coptic church that works to provide education, healthcare, and business loans to people in these communities in order to improve standards of living. We were invited to a wedding and it was fun to see how an Egyptian wedding differs from one in the US ~ I haven't seen balloons and confetti in many US weddings