Damascus

Damascus is the capital of modern day Syria and in a historical context is seen as the centre of “Sha’am”.  Here, you could still feel the old world.  Local tradition and culture is still alive here even with the abundance of satellite TV and Internet cafes.

Damascus is said to be the world’s longest continually inhabited city (I think there are even biblical references). At one time it was the capital of the Umayyad/Arabian republic.

More importantly, I use to regret not having studied in Damascus (before the problems).  I had been put off by the racism in immigration against the Asian diaspora in Europe and America, and the lack of improvement for the most impoverished in Syria.  Having said that, more recently the ‘animals’ stationed at the borders had been replaced with more cultured men, who warmly welcomed foreigners learning Arabic and would speak to them in standard Arabic.

Surprisingly, by returning to Jordan, I perhaps still attained some of what I originally wanted.  Interestingly, one of my teachers in Jordan was a Syrian, who had been teaching Arabic to foreigners at the Damascus university before the civil war started in his country.

He did not like the Jordan university centre’s style of teaching and apparent lack of grammar in the textbook. He loved grammar and although we found it difficult at first, he eventually drilled it into us.  It use to be that the only real benefit from Jordan was the vocabulary, but this Syrian teacher gave us that and much more.  It’s even possible that he taught more than what the students in the level above us were learning.  He had a unique and effective way of teaching.

A few of the students wanted less grammar in class and complained about him to the director.  The teacher felt that we were weak in some of the basics and so he spent some of the first few weeks blitzing through what he thought we should already know.  Most of us were content with that, but some were clearly not.  I did not mind, since I believed he was really trying to help us, and it worked.  The real issue for me was that he gave me that look of ‘why did you not complain to me first’ when actually it was not me who complained to anybody.

He would also go irate when I went in late for class or when I did not do all my homework (even when I was sick).  I sometimes felt sorry for him because he was getting paranoid, he believed that there was some conspiracy against Syria.  He use to share some of the horror stories regarding the conflict in his country.

I did not always understand his religious and political opinions, but after the lazy summer, this was just what I needed and I felt he gave a very good introduction to Arab culture.

After he left for Turkey, we really missed him.  Those of us who remained in Jordan were left to face the UJLC bullshit and we quickly realised that we had not valued our Syrian teacher enough.

Doctor Leech

This is about the fraudulent medical practice of Faisal M. Ismail (فيصل م. اسماعيل).

After unsuccessfully obtaining a cure in Alexandria for my deteriorating skin condition.  I decided that I needed to get home as soon as possible.  However, the pain was too much and I could not think of anything else.  I was suppose to fly after a week, but I started to think that I’d not survive another day.

By this time, I had already met my Jordanian friend, but he had been slow to do anything, (which I should have taken as a bad omen).

So I contacted a Saudi friend, whom I previously met at the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Knowledge Centre (مركز طلال أبوغزاله للمعرفة), to ask where I could get a second opinion.  It turned out that my friend was still in Jordan, but in another town (I’d been wrongly informed by an idiot that she had left the country) and she recommended a private doctor, Dr Faisal Ismail, near Sport city.

I asked about the hospital down the road, but she said that they were crooks.  In fact, she had already spoken to the Faisal Ismail and advised me to call immediately.  So I did…

Faisal Ismail told me to come down that very night and when I arrived he asked me to take my shoes off, which I happily did except that by doing so was also very painful.  In person he was a lot more friendlier than on the phone.  He sounded like a man of experience and he talked about a great many things (medical and non-medical); I also learned that he was married with at least one son.

When he returned to the operating room, upon seeing my condition, he immediately gasped and said ‘Have you been bitten by insects!?!’

Soon later he had done his work and the pain was finally gone.  The areas were bandaged and he applied various inoculations.  Then he scolded me…

..”This is what happens when you choose a cheap country in order to save money”.  I was a little confused with that statement.  I had chosen Egypt for the quality of teaching and not the price.

Of-course I was grateful (and possibly too much) for fixing me up.  The price he asked for sounded great too.

Unfortunately, he spoiled his good work by continuing to speak ill of Egypt.   He claimed that, due to the food being unsafe in Egypt, he always gave vaccination to his patients.  I had visited Jordan before and knew that the food in the restaurants was also of low quality (actually a lot worse).   He also claimed that the hotels were unhygienic and that he had once refused to travel to Egypt to treat somebody even when the hotel was paid for.  On one hand, since he was a medical professional, thought I should listen to him.  On the other hand, I just wanted him to shut-up.  However, what was to follow was even worse.

After my first follow-up examination, he told me my recovery was good, but that I needed several more check-ups, which meant I would not be able to fly home as originally scheduled.

One year later, I could not help wonder whether the check-ups were just a way to increase his income.  He often talked about charity (as well the subject of marriage) and now I know how he funded that.

My Saudi friend mentioned how the doctor did not charge so much (and for her female friends).  However, when I added up all the costs, I did not see much of a discount.

I really started to suspect something when a nurse, who was my language partner from the Ali Baba library, believed I did not need so many check-ups.

Worse than that, crossing paths with him also affected my long term plans.  I delayed flying home and he advised me not to return to Egypt.

Doctor knows best I suppose.

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.

Selfish

He was sitting outside my classroom waiting for me to finish.  The secretary had told him about me and he was very eager to meet me.

After hearing his story I felt sorry for him.  The Alexandria university halls of residence, which had been recommended to me by the Chinese and their Arab friends was apparently an expensive dump.  The main attraction for the Chinese was their discount, they were paying 1000 EGP a month, whereas the Arabs were paying only 500.

This poor Japanese guy was paying 300 USD per month (or more) for a place that he claimed was extremely dirty and small.  He had communicated with the TAFL Center via email (from Japan) and the TAFL secretary had quoted him the Chinese price and recommended the halls of residence to him.

This left me a little confused.  The director of the language centre (Lana Habib) had suggested I live there and said the price was only 1000 EGP.  Due to the Chinese, I was thinking of moving there from the hotel (where I had a big problem with mosquitoes).

In the end I helped arrange for this young man to stay in my hotel, which was certainly cleaner and cheaper.

What may have started off as a healthy friendship soon became very complicated. He was not attending every class and complained that the teacher would often use English.  He also told me that the teaching style was archaic and he felt it was his right that I should lunch and dinner with him every day in a restaurant.  I slowly found myself teaching him how to speak Arabic, which was not my job of-course.

He introduced me to his colleague from France, who also wanted to find an apartment.  I helped them find an apartment on the corniche, but there were only two rooms.  So I suggested that if she (the girl from France) was not interested I would take the room. However, he suggested I share a room with him, but I told him that was a bad idea.

Back in the centre, the girl from Denmark (his other colleague) agreed that it was bad idea, whereas the Koreans believed it to be a normal thing and mentioned that two of them use to share a bed.

Anyway, in the end, they (the French girl and the Japanese guy) said that they were interested, but they took forever to make a final decision and we spent the whole evening with the landlord listening to her story about how she was involved in some project to help students find accommodation in Egypt.

The next day, they were late for the appointment.  I was on time even though I was not required to be there.  By the time we arrived together in the apartment, the landlord had already reached an agreement with a group from Cairo and had taken the money from them.

So the search for an apartment for this student from Japan continued and continued and he moved in and out of the hotel.  Meanwhile, my assistance to him consumed a lot of study time.

Chinese New Year

One of the Modern Standard Arabic teachers asked if we would be interested in attending the Chinese New Year party.

The Romanian woman was not interested, but I was.

However, I expressed my concern that perhaps the Chinese might have a problem with a British person attending (perhaps I still remembered the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Serbia or perhaps it was the Opium Wars that bothered me).  I was reassured by the teacher that my attendance would result in the opposite effect.

She was right!  From that point onwards I never felt alone in the centre and I enjoyed practicing MSA with them 🙂

The most significant contact I made was a Chinese student from the Faculty of Arts (Literature).

After the party, some of the Chinese took me outside with them (to the corniche).
I was nervous, but I had no other friends in Alexandria and wanted to exploit every opportunity.

I got to know some of them a little better. They seemed so soft, friendly, open-minded and attractive.

During our walk-around, I noticed some Egyptian boys talking about us, but I was not certain.  As we walked by, one of them asked if I was Egyptian, so I told them that I was not.

Continue reading “Chinese New Year”

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.

Arabi Center

After I finished my contract, I had a month to spare before enrolling at the main centre that I had decided to study in.  So I decided to do a few weeks of private one-to-one at the markaz Arabe (or Arabi Center).

The Egyptian Colloquial went well, but the teacher was only half interested and a little boring.  Probably not her fault as she was not a trained teacher, but the fault of the centre.  I guess the director found her through her social circle.

The focus of this centre was really Modern Standard and Classical Arabic and for this I did notice a difference in teaching quality and enthusiasm.

My biggest issue with this centre was that they made a mistake with the dates on my certificate and when I mentioned it, the administration started to argue with each other and at the end of that they were rude to me and refused to make any changes.