Today marked the first day of service projects. At around 10:40 I walked to the villa to meet the 3 other students who would be doing the same project as I and Dr. Diaa (the assistant director of MESP who is an Egyptian) who would be bringing us to our location. We went about 45 minutes or so away to Nasr City (Nasr is Arabic for victory) to a geriatrics center. Since we were not familiar with the general area, Diaa drove us; unfortunately this was a one time deal. From now on we have to take a taxi there and back. It takes around 45 or so minutes and should cost no more (or less) than 20 pounds (a little under $4).With no meters in the taxis, the price needs to be negotiated first. We know that it should cost around 20 LE (pounds) but we still start by asking how much it will cost to go to Nasr (or if we’re coming back, Agouza). After looking at us and seeing we’re Americans the driver will usually say anywhere from 25-35 pounds. We respond with thanks, but how about 15 (well our group said 17 because it’s much easier to say!) If things go right, the driver should say no and then we come back with our final offer which is 20 pounds. This of course is all in theory. A few of us had a cab driver start out with 30 pounds (we were going a much shorter distance and it should only have cost 5 or so pounds) and refuse to go any lower than 25. We were already in the cab but he said we could leave if we weren’t willing to pay that much; we did! It worked out pretty well coming back today. At first the driver acted as if he would not go any lower than 25 after we started to walk away he told us to get in for 20 pounds. The drive was actually nice (well, not the traffic) but the driver spoke a little English (substantially more than our Arabic though) and we had as best a conversation as we could. He told us how much he liked Jimmy Carter and asked if we liked him too. He also said how much he liked Americans but didn’t like Bush. He asked us all if we liked Bush and we all responded negatively. I’m not sure if one of my peers was telling the truth but it was the best response!

To begin our service project we talked a bit with the director of the program. He had us come into his office and write down our names, e-mail addresses and majors. He’s been at the center as the director for a few years and is also a physician. We spent a while in his office drinking tea/juice and meeting the head nurse. Both of them spoke English rather well and told us what we would be doing during normal hours. Next Tuesday (and the subsequent Tuesday’s) we will get to the center at 8:30 and hang around with the residents for 2 hours, take a break a half hour break, and then either do “manual labor” (a little cleaning, food preparation, whatever else) or hang around with the residents again. At 2 we’ll get lunch and then head back.

We didn’t have the normal schedule today so we pretty much just visited with some of the residents for an hour and a half. I went with the other Kyle (I’m pretty sure that’s why we were put together, it’s easier to introduce us!) to the second floor, Hannah went to the women’s only floor (the other two floors are mixed gender) and Alex, the last student, went to the fourth floor. Most of the residents speak English pretty well—I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that they are pretty well educated. We came today as they were eating lunch. On our floor only one woman spoke English well and we spoke to her for a little while. Since they were eating lunch it wasn’t the most ideal time to engage in conversation so we mostly spoke with the doctor that is in charge of the medical aspect of the center. Like the director she is an internist and is pretty much fluent in English. She told us a little bit about her family (I think all three of her daughters are either doctors or still training to be doctors) and asked us what we would be doing and where we would be traveling to. After talking to her Kyle and I went to the floor above us to see what Alex was up to. He was talking with a pretty lively woman who seemed to much enjoy talking. She told us several stories (which were the same ones that she had told Alex earlier) about her life (she described herself as “naughty” and “bold” though she did specify that she never did anything “fundamentally” wrong, whatever that meant) She seemed to be pretty well educated (or at least she told us she skipped several grades in school) and wealthy (she was pretty stylish and was wearing her cell phone on her belt) I guess it’s impossible to know how much of what she told us was true. I can’t remember what her name was but it meant wisdom in Arabic. She was quick to point out that she wasn’t very wise though. We also talked to another woman who was not as lively but did talk. There was a man there that asked Kyle “Where’s the music? No music today?” He was much harder to understand and had some apparent problems grasping reality. The lively woman looked at him like he was crazy and asked me what he was talking about. She finally spoke with him in Arabic and told us what he was saying, but I think that it didn’t even make sense in Arabic. He continued talking and kept on repeating something about Jesus coming and how we were supposed to help people as far and far as we could see. He asked Kyle his name and thought he said “fire” to which he responded, with a laugh, “fire! Fire! I’m scared!”
Tonight me and most of my flatmates went to get some kosheri (an Egyptian dish sort of like spaghetti with noodles, lentils, and rice topped with chickpeas and fried onions with tomato sauce. It cost 3 pounds (around 40 cents) and is really good. We're in charge of getting all of our dinners on our own (though they give us 100 pounds) so me and my flatmates will be eating a lot of kosheri!

Tomorrow is the first day of classes. I'm nervous for arabic but excited to begin!