Dearest Blog,

Yesterday, my senior and I went with our managing director and a researcher to attend a lecture our director was giving at the American University in Cairo. Apart from the fact that it was increasingly interesting and that I was intrigued by Dr. Ahmed Galal's presentation skills, I managed to meet new people.

This is when I knew that my taking a minute to notice the people around me could and does come in handy. I met a girl called Tamara, who looked familiar because I had seen her at Thomas Pizza, she was looking at the ERF publications when I exactly said " Were you at Thomas Pizza the other day?" she said "Was I with, like, 7 guys?" it was her, and she's doing research on women and education at AUC. I also met Charles, who is on a fellowship from the University of Maryland to do Middle Eastern studies at the AUC. I met Sherine, who is doing her graduate studies in Writing and Comparative Literature, she asked me a very good question that I had to think about for a while before answering; who is your favorite writer? 

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My answer was Ahdaf Souief. But then, she said something that made me think...she said she was worried about the image Ahdaf conveys to the West, that of increased, exaggerated orientalism. Then she asked "Why do you think she writes in English?" was it all for reasons of publicity? Is all her fame contributed to the fact that she writes exactly what the western side of the world wants to read and not what they need to know?

A Little Randomness :
If I were you I'd be beautiful
Giveaway

Silly me has the camera with her but not the USB cable, meaning that any pictures I take today are not going to be on here before...tomorrow, at least. There was a jog initiative taken on facebook, for a group of people to get together and jog, three times a week, to spare the girlst the harrasement and spare the boys the boredom. I think I might take part, not for the networking part as much as the safety one. I know a very sweet girl taking part, though, and I am more than looking forward to getting to know her better. She sings, writes, and photographs beautifully!

I wish my journal looked half as pretty as this!

 

I think that would make eating anything as plain as yogurt a glamorous and pretty experience!

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