Alexandria – Arabian Misadventures

Alexandria Centre for Languages

After visiting Pharos university I came across the Alexandria Centre for Languages (ACL) where finally I found out what happened to the SOAS students (School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London). Apparently, since 2014 or earlier, for their year abroad, they had a choice between ACL, an-Najah university in Palestine and Qasid in Jordan.

The SOAS students appeared to be a lively bunch and on the first day spoke to me in Arabic, which naturally inclined me towards them. I worked out a deal with the director, Magda Abou Youssef, that I could try out the course for one week, which I paid for, and then decide whether to join the SOAS programme or not. I also took the placement test.

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TAFL Center, Alexandria University

The last time I was here, one of the teachers insulted me in class.

In early January, while searching for a suitable center for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, I ended up returning to the TAFL Center (within the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University). The last time I was there, one of the teachers had a problem and insulted me in the class. Thought it best to clear the issue before enrolling. Now I felt forced.

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Out of the wok and into the fire

This is about the ‘prison’ in Sidi Bishr.

It was near a square (Mohummed Nageeb) facing the corniche. Potentially, it is a good area, except that the official refuse collection does not keep up with the amount of rubbish that accumulates.

I was sharing an apartment with my new Chinese friend who told me it was a clean, beautiful, fully furnished and working apartment. The main attraction of this flatmate was that he use to speak to me in Arabic, seemed passionate about his studies and tried to enjoy himself in Egypt (back in 2014). Sadly, this was no longer the case.

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كيف ضیعت وقتي ببعض مراكز تعليم اللغة العربية للأجانب في مدينة الإسكندرية

سأَصِفُ خبرتي الجيدة و السيئة في مدينة الإسكندرية, مغامرتي تبدأ من كانون الثاني 2014 حتى آيار 2016.

في نهاية عام 2013 بَعْدَ أن أنهيتُ عقدي للعمل في مدينة لندن، كان لدي شهر قبل التسجيل في جامعة الاسكندرية, لذلك قررت أن أدرس ببضعة أسابيع في مركز عربي (أمام المتحف اليوناني الروماني).

ففي عام 2014 دَرَسْتُ العامية المصرية قليلاً (مدة أصبوع تقريباً)، ولكن المعلمة كانت تشعر بملل قليلًا (و أنا أيضاً), ربما ليس خطأها بسبب ما كان عندها تدريب، و تبْعاً الخطأ من المركز. أعتقد أنّ المديرة وجدتْها بين أصدقائها. أيضاً التركيز في هذا المركز كان العربية الحديثة والكلاسيكية.

على رغم من ذلك أكبر مشكلتي في هذا المركز هي أنهم فعلوا خطأ في تواريخ شهادتي، وعندما ذكرتُ ذلك بدأتْ الإدارة تجادل مع بعضها البعض، وفي نهاية كانوا مضايقين علي و رفضوا إجراء أي تغييرات لشهادتي.

كيف أرجع الى هذا مركز في المستقبل؟ و لهذا السبب بحثتُ عن مركز آخر.

قبل سفري الى مصر اتصلتُ بمركز تافل و قال لي سكرتير المركز أنّ رسوم الدراسة هي 1700$ فصلياً (الفصحى و العامية), فسافَرْتُ الى الاسكندرية و قابلتُ السكرتير و سجلتُ في المركز و دفعتُ الرسوم لدورتين (الفصحى و العامية).

وَجَدْتُ أنّ المعلمين مؤهلين و استفدتُ منهم في بداية الفصل ولكن في نهاية الفصل كانت توجد مشكلات كبيرة بالنسبة الى الدراسة و السكن, وبالاضافة الى ذلك مَرِضْتُ بسبب السكن و تَرَكْتُ الاسكندرية و ما رجعتُ اليها حتى قبل كانون الثاني 2016.

بالنسبة الى السكن كنتُ أسكن في فندق اسمه سي ستار (يعني نجم بحر) و لم يكن مريحاً جداً ولكن كانوا الموظفين لطفاء والمكان نظيف, قالت المديرة (الدكتورة لان حبيب) يمكنني أسكن في مدينة جامعية في سموحة ولكن لم أُردْ في ذلك الوقت (لحقاً وجدتُ أنّ هذا المكان ليس نظيفاً), أيضاً أحْبَرَتْني عن شقة في منطقة ابرهيمية, قالت لي أنّ هذه الشقة جميلة و رخيصة و في منطقة جيدة, ثمّ أعطتْني رقم هاتف الدكتورة نفين (زميلتها في قسم اللآثار كلية الآداب).

عندما اتصلتُ بها قالت نفين لي أنها صديقة الدكتورة لان حبيب و زميلة صاحب الشقة (و صديقة زوجته) و ستكون (الشقة) جاهزةً بعد أسبوعين, ولكن بعد أسبوعين زرتُ صاحب الشقة فيها (كانوا موجودين عماد خليل و زوجته غادة خليل كمال و وَلَدهُما و كانوا يعشين فيها) ولكن الشقة لم تكن جاهزةً, قالا يحتاجون الى أسبوع اضافي.

بعد أسبوع ذهبتُ اليهم و وجدتُ نفس القصة, قالت أسرة عماد خليل تحتاج الى أسبوعين اضافيين, طبعاً كنت مدهشاً بكلامهم و أيضاً التكييف لم يعملْ و أشياء أخرى لم تكن جاهزة, فأخْبَرْتُ بالدكتورة نفين و في النهاية قالتْ لي (تَكَلّمَتْ مع أسرة عماد خليل) أنّ الشقة و كل شيء فيها جاهزة بعد أسبوع اضافي.

بعد الأسبوع قالت الدكتورة نفين أنّ الشقة جاهزة حتى التكييف و يمكنني أنتقل الى الشقة, فذهبتُ الى الشقة بعد أسبوع و قالت أسرة عماد خليل أنّ الشقة نظيفة و مرتبة و كل شيء جاهز الا التكييف, فوقعتُ العقد و دفعتُ الفلوس.

بعد ثلاثة أيام وَجَدْتُ مشكلة كبيرة, أَخَدَتْ أسرة عماد خليل قططهم ولكن تَرَكَتْ براغيثها, كانت توجد مئات و كانت تشرب دمي!

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Foreign Exchange

At the end of 2013, I planned to spend just a few months in the Middle East. Somehow that eventually stretched to a couple of years. Needless to say that I ran out of cash and had to withdraw from automated teller machines (ATM).

Here lies the problem. Back in London I was told by HSBC that the charge is only for using an ATM of a different bank and that there was no charge for using the ATM of my own bank. However, in reality, ATM transactions were costing me almost 30 pounds for every 300 pounds I withdrew. How was this?

Firstly, HSBC changed its policy after I went abroad. So it made no difference whether I used my own bank or an ATM of some other bank in Jordan.

As for Citibank, I was hoping to use one of their ATMs in Alexandria at no extra charge, but it closed its retail banking in Egypt.

Then there were other charges that they did not tell me about. Here is the breakdown of the cost, which is available on most bank websites. So the total cost is made up of the following fees: use of ATM, international transaction, exchange rate and for the actual conversion.

My only solution then was to open a local bank account and make a large single transfer.

The day I went out to make a final withdrawal, which was on the 2nd June 2016, my bank was closed for the Great Arab Revolt centennial.

Never mind. Since it’s so much hassle to open a bank account, it’s probably better to leave one open for when I might return to Jordan.

To be honest, that might never happen.

Update: Recently, I learned that if there is no activity on your bank account for more six months it can become ‘inactive’ and after a year it becomes ‘dormant’. Beyond that your account will not exist and you may lose the money.

الدراسة في مركز تافل

السيدة الدكتورة لنا حبيب مديرة مركز تافل في كلية الآداب في جامعة الإسكندرية.

السلام عليكم,

كيف حالك, أرجو أن يكون كل شيء على ما يُرام, هل لا زلتِ تَذَكَّرِينني, أنا طالب من بريطانيا أخدتُ دورتين في اللغة العربية (الفصحة والعامية) في مركزكم من شباط 2014 – آيار 2014. شكراً لكم تعلمتُ منكم أشياء جيدة و لديكم معلمون مؤهلون ولكنني أود أن أذْكر لك بعض الملاحظات الذي وجدتُهُ في مركزكم من أجل تحسين و تطوير مركزكم نحو الأفضل, راجياً منكم بِعَين الاعتبار:

وددتُ لو أن جميع الطلبة و العمّال في المركز يتكلمون اللغة العربية فقط, لأنني لاحظتُ بعض الطلاب يتكلمون اللغة الانكلزية معي و كنتُ أريد أن أستغلّ جميع وقتي في مركزكم لأتحدّث اللغة العربية, فأرجو منكم أن تُشَجعوا و تدْعوا لِلْتكلُّم باللغة العربية فقط لتحسين لغتنا.

الرّحْلات كانتْ ممتعةً, الأماكن جميلة ولكن المرشدين كانوا يتحدثون الانجليزية معنا للأسف, فأرجو أن تكون جميع الأنشِطة باللغة العربية أيضاً لتحسين لغتنا.

لاحظتُ وجود بعض العنصرية في التافل معي من قِبَل احدى المدرسات في دورة العامية المصرية حيث أنها تُعامِلني بناء على أصولي وجنسيتي و لا تعاملني بمساواة مع الآخرين, و لم آتِ الى مركزكم لتعلُّم المزيد من العنصرية, هدفي هو تعلُّم اللغة العربية فقط, فأرجو منكم أخذ هذه النقطة بعين الاعتبار.

كنتُ أرْغَب باِخبارك قبل سفري بهذه الملاحظات ولكنني مَرِضْت و لم أستطعْ أن أراك, آسف على ازعاجك ولكنني أحْبَبتُ المكان و أود العودة اليه ولكن أرجو النظر في هذه الأمور.

Equality

In the last class of the last week of term in the TAFL Center, a teacher, Fatema Shokr, for the Egyptian colloquial class opened a discussion about discrimination in the UK, and as an example mentioned equal opportunities monitoring. She put forward the argument that this is actually discrimination. I tried to explain that although it might not be a perfect system, the purpose of it is to work against discrimination.

At this point, the teacher (Fatema Shokre) asked the Koreans what their nationality is. At that they replied Korean. She did the same with the Romanian woman, who replied Romanian. When my turn came, I replied British and at this the teacher (Fatema Shoker) laughed and then looked at the Romanian and they both laughed at me.

I tried talking to the teacher after the class, but she was angry.

If the teacher had told me she was upset with me, I could of apologized. I was not asking for anything except that I be taught the Arabic language and I certainly did not come to Egypt with the intention to upset a teacher.

Perhaps I had said something offensive, something I had heard from my language partner (a scheme that she and TAFL had encouraged/organised) or from other Egyptians, which would of been both unintentional and perhaps expected as I had not been sleeping well (due to accommodation issues that the teaching staff were also aware of).

During at least one of the classes she had mentioned that the British empire had destroyed Egypt and I never argued with that (since I was not versed in that part of history). Could that have been the reason?

My ancestors were poor farmers in the British empire, how is it their fault? Even if it was, how am I responsible?

I came from England to Egypt respecting Egyptians, keeping an open mind, and I started to like Alexandria. Whereas the Romanian student hated Egyptians and the Arabic language (she even wanted them to adopt Latin script as the Turks had done). Why so much hostility towards me?

During one class the teacher asked what I had done over the weekend. I replied that the Chinese students had invited me to a Syrian restaurant in Miami (an area in East Alexandria). She did not look nor speak to me for the rest of the class. The same thing happened when she asked me to advise the Korean students how to find work and I mentioned that I use to know a Korean student of Arabic in Jordan who later joined Samsung, based in Amman. Were these events somehow connected to her actions in the last week of term?

On the weekend of that same week I had become very physically weak due to an illness (caused by insect bites in the apartment I had been staying in) that had started earlier in the week and my primary focus became how to get home, (which never happened due to undergoing minor surgery in Jordan).

Later I tried connecting on Skype with the address she had given me, but she would not accept. So I gave up and over time I lost confidence in returning to Alexandria or it just seemed pointless enrolling at the TAFL Center again.

A centre where it is ‘acceptable‘ for a teacher to abuse a student (because she is angry), perhaps especially if he does not come through some large organization such as the British embassy (or consulate), which of course is an entity they respect immensely, (albeit outwardly at least). They even started celebrating the Queen’s birthday.

The abusive teacher once told me that her faith is Islam and she had studied the religion. I believed her at the time, but from her actions I am unsure now. Perhaps she should study religion again, but some place with high standards, such as SOAS or Sorbonne or Berlin.

Then, may be, she would understand the following statement of her prophet: “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a black has no superiority over white, nor a white has any superiority over black, except by piety and good action.”

In fact, for a short while (thanks to this jaahel* so-called teacher), I gave up studying Arabic.

*ignorant, low-life, like an animal.

(Levels of racism map built with SimpleMaps.com using data from World Values Survey).

On a mission

My impression of Koreans was based on my limited experiences with them during previous visits to the Middle East. A fun-loving bunch of people basically. So I thought as such regarding the four Koreans in my colloquial class.

In the class, they appeared to like me. However, outside of class it was a different matter.

Despite that, for some time, they had requested I teach them English. To this I agreed as long as they also taught me Korean.

So it was in the last week of term (in the TAFL Center) that they took me to a cafe where, instead of having a language exchange, they preceded to preach to me. They wanted me to convert, but I felt it would make little practical difference. Most of their preaching was based around the prophets, which I was already supposed to believe in, and about sacrifice.

They also explained how at least one of them had a serious drinking problem and had it not been for their new faith they would not have been able to quit! In order words, it was only through the help of God that such things could be accomplished.

However, apart from the father and son part of their creed, I saw little point in converting. I was already aware that not all Christians believe that Jesus is the literal son of God and perhaps for that reason I did not see much difference between being Muslim or Christian. After listening to them, the essentials of faith appeared to be same in both religions.

For now, I just wanted to be friends.

In the end, they convinced me to read the Bible, which I agreed to do when I returned to London. I already had a copy on my shelf.

Some time later, my Korean friend in Amman explained to me that these Koreans (that I met in Alexandria) were probably Protestant and evangelical and that many of their kind had migrated to Jordan. One of them had preached to her too.

Apparently, they had a low opinion of all (other than their own). Back in Alexandria, one of them described Koreans (in general) as Christian ‘in name only’.

I thought we were friends 😭

Spring Festival

The spring festival or sham al-naseem is a popular celebration in Egypt and as such is taken seriously at the language centre in Alexandria.

I saw it as an opportunity to socialize with my new friends in the Chinese programme that I had first met during the Chinese New Year party (also hosted within the centre). In addition, it was a chance to try out the very salty fish.

However, the woman from Romania was uninterested in going to (in her words) “a pagan festival” and reminded me that since I am a Muslim I should not be going either.

I then felt confused. On one hand, I wanted to socialize with my new friends from the other classes whereas, on the other hand, I felt embarrassed by the thought of violating my religion.

I had been having doubts about my commitment to any formal organized religion, but a part of me was always afraid of going to hell and I did not want something as trivial as this party being the reason I end up in the burning fire.

So now I was confused!

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the director arrived and, after a brief exchange of words between her and the Romanian, I was asked if I would be attending. At that point I felt embarrassed again (for a different reason) and felt obliged to attend, which I did (hoping that God would forgive me since all I wanted to do was socialize and had not even thought of doing my research as to the origins of this festival and its permissibility in terms of Islam and Christianity).

The fun did not last long as I was reminded by one of the teachers that we had a class with the Romanian. However, things were not so bad since I did have ice cream and had priority in the queue. Also, in the class, the teacher, as usual, made me laugh.

His classes were my favourite – always absorbing or simply entertaining. Too bad he left Egypt before I returned.

Logement

« L’argent est la racine de tous les maux. »

Proverbe anglais(1882)

Cette page est au sujet de mon expérience de locataire à Alexandrie (du 4 mars jusqu’au 3 mai 2014).

J’espère que d’autres peuvent apprendre de mes erreurs et ne pas être découragés de visiter la ville d’Alexandrie.

Voici un résumé de ce qui s’est produit.

Au début, je suis resté dans un hôtel. Je pensais que c’était une bonne affaire pour 2000 livres égyptiennes par mois. Quand j’ai rejoint le centre de l’Enseignement de l’arabe comme langue étrangère (TAFL) à l’université, Dr Lana Habib m’a recommandé de commencer par rester dans la résidence universitaire, mais j’étais un peu hésitant.

Alors elle m’a décrit un beau appartement bon marché dans un quartier agréable appelé Ebrahemia. J’ai dit que j’étais intéressé et elle m’a donné le nom et les détails de contact de Dr Nevin.

Après une semaine, Dr Nevine m’a envoyé là-bas pour rencontrer le propriétaire de l’appartement, Dr Emad Khalil Helmy.

À l’origine, j’ai été indiqué par Dr Emad (la première fois que j’ai visité l’endroit)
que l’appartement (rue d’Omar Zafan, Ebrahimia) aurait été prêt en 20 jours (mi-fév.).

Ultérieurement, Dr Nevine (l’intermédiaire) m’a dit que l’endroit était prêt et que je pourrais y aller pour rendre visite à la famille de propriétaire (Dr Khalil travaillait en Arabie saoudite). Quand je suis arrivé à l’appartement, l’épouse du propriétaire (Ghada Khalil Kamal) et son fils (Omar) m’ont dit qu’ils ont besoin d’encore deux semaines pour finaliser les travaux, mais que je pourrais y laisser mes affaires.

C’était la première de nombreuses déceptions.

Une autre c’était quand Dr Emad m’avait assuré que la pression de l’eau était très bien et que je n’avais pas besoin de la pompe pour l’activer (mineur).

Ou cela quand j’ai été informé par Dr Nevine que Ghada l’a eu dit que la climatisation a été entretenue, mais le jour où je m’y suis installée, ils m’ont informé qu’il serait fait au début de l’été (mineur ?).

Ou quand Omar a contesté le fait que les puces mordent des humains même après j’avais été mordu partout et je l’avais envoyé les liens Web pour le prouver.

Ou quand les propriétaires ont envoyé une soi-disant compagnie professionnelle d’extermination d’insectes (Abo El Atta) qui s’est avérée d’être un seul clown qui était réellement un ami de la famille. Il a semblé être plus soucieux que je pourrais juste décider de déménager. Il a menti un certain nombre de fois au sujet de puces et s’ils reviendraient ou pas (mineur ? ? ?).

Comment les choses ont-elles dégénéré tellement ? Le propriétaire avait quelques chats qu’il m’avait présentés, mais il a oublié de mentionner qu’il pourrait avoir des centaines de puces partout dans l’appartement.

Les puces de chat généralement ne visent pas les humains, mais avec l’absence des chats, elles ne sont pas capricieuses, le sang est sang.

En fin de compte, j’ai déménagé à nouveau dans un hôtel, mais ce n’était pas la fin.

J’ai eu besoin du traitement médical pour une affection de la peau qui s’est aggravé chaque semaine (jusqu’à ce que je ne pouvais pas marcher sans une douleur atroce et ensuite mal de tête continu).

Après avoir consulté trois médecins (y compris Dr Leech), subi une intervention chirurgicale mineure, acheté des médicaments et dépensé 1000 livres égyptiennes, mes symptômes ont finalement arrêté.