Sociopath

The first day I met this fellow student I was a little excited.
I sensed she might be older than me and thought that might be more interesting.
She asked about my background and then insisted that I am a first generation immigrant!
Then she shouted at me as she informed me that Muslims kill Christians in Egypt (as if I’m responsible).

At that point I raised my voice and asked whether she was blaming me!  (Blaming me was like me blaming her for the murder of hundreds of Jews in Romania during the Second World War).

She then shut her mouth.  However, not for long, as she then suggested I live with her friends in Sidr Bishr or Jaabir and that it’s right next to the university.  She told me she had done the same and her Arabic was tops now (she never stopped using English, inside and outside class, right up to the end of term).  I replied that I was not interested in teaching the locals English and that I just want to learn Arabic and go home.

Could not understand why she was learning Arabic.  She often complained that it was written using Arabic script.

Perhaps all she needed was a dose of dopamine.

Most of the less useless conversations I had with her was with reference to how beautiful her country is, her suffering, her conversion (from Orthodox to Protestant), how smart her people are (and that she does not need grammar), how God talks to her, etc.

It’s strange how so many travel to the Middle East in order to learn English!

There is one thing I could perhaps admire her for: she would fight for what she wanted.  For instance, when the director wanted to film and interview us for a television channel, she flatly refused arguing that the students should not be expected to take risks.  Last thing we wanted was to be made famous during an unstable political period.

Before I left Alexandria, she gave me a copy of the Bible in Arabic.  However, due to her rude and abusive behaviour towards me (throughout the whole term), I just did not see the point.