Reliving two years in ALI- Part Two
By the end of second semester, some of my friends had left ALI… ALI ceased to be a comfortable place… I used to find myself an outcast in the fountain area of AUC, with a very few recognizable faces around. It was also the time when I was lapped up with a lot of work at my workplace… making it exceedingly difficult for me to balance both work and studies. And my Family was back…. And I wanted to make up for the lost time with my family… especially with my 15 month old son.
I had a very slow start in the third semester… unlike other classes… this class of mine was full of Americans. In fact one Indian and one Norwegian only, among 11 odd students.
Among the Americans, there was one guy of Syrian origin Waseem Mardini and another of Taiwanese origin Andrew Jan…. in one of my elective I had an Indian Vohra girl, born and brought up in the US.
It was here that I first noticed the high degree of assimilation in the US society. One may be of any ethnic origin, religious grouping… but as an American- he thinks along the same line, behaves the same way, has same beliefs… It was indeed serendipitous to discover the cultural consciousness, sensitivity, sense of private space, tolerance among an average American. I never saw any complications in the interactions between Waseem, the Syrian American and the other White American. The differences of colour, sex, religion, and race did not matter at all.
Many among us have this habit of demonizing the US… of identifying the US with materialism, consumerism, big and Evil Corporation and irresponsible use of power. We tend to overlook the virtues of the American society. Democracy, civil rights, tolerance, assimilation… every body has a stake in the society. I sincerely believe that it is these qualities that make the US a soft and hard superpower… and will continue to make it so. If we need to import anything from the US… it is these genuine qualities.
Waseem, with time, became a good friend… we discussed a lot of ideas on the Palestinian issue. So did Andrew Jan… though our relation started with a degree of suspicion, with me unwittingly making some snide remarks on China-Taiwan standoff. Then there was one Leslie Egbert… seemingly mysterious… we sat side by side throughout the semester… and Keith Jarret a very simple person… who introduced me to the beauty of his I-Mac. They all were nice people and I learnt from them all.
These interactions changed my opinion towards the American youth. We were always led to believe that an average American person was selfish, hedonist et al. On the contrary, I found them to be very sincere, hard working, aware of a lot of things in life, responsible… and above all spontaneous. They work hard and they party harder.
It was during this semester I also became friendly with Khveh Niazi and Heidi Morrison… mentioned elsewhere in my blog.
I had a wonderful set of instructors even this time. Azza Waked… who taught us grammar… resembled my granny… thus I became very fond of her. She had a funny but effective way of teaching… she was well aware of India, been there, practiced Yoga etc. Then there was a very smart Heba Salem… a great teacher… she really made listening Arabic News very easy for us. Well aware of the happenings around and reasonably opinionated. Then Ibtisam Orabi, a wonderful human being. Ahmed Moneim, my teacher for translation and Shireen, my teacher for spoken Fusha. All were nice people, first and foremost. And very good teachers, indeed.
The last semester started on a pleasant note… in the first week or so, I met Mariam Attia- my first semester's instructor... she had gone down to Manchester to work on her PhD and was back for some field work. I also met Said Al Wakil... he was back to ALI, now as a full time instructor.
I had very good teachers for the semester… Azza Waked continued… this time teaching Media, I also had the opportunity to study with the doyens of ALI… Nariman Al Warraki and Nadia Harb, together the three of them were the most experienced teachers of ALI. And it showed… Nadia made translation look so easy, Nariman made literature seem interesting and worth reading and Azza made deciphering aural media seem manageable. But above it all, they were wonderful human beings… especially Nariman, who despite her age was much more ahead of the times… more liberal and had the ability to criticize the ghettoization Egyptian society is undergoing. Meeting and interacting with her made me realize about the golden period of Egyptian society, when tolerance was high… when the society was far more liberal and modern in outlook.
I had one of the most interesting classes in the last semester… there was one Gabrielle Ramaiah, an American of Indian origin… and though we didn’t interact a lot… I reserve a special place for her, she was very intelligent and sincere. Then there was Aaron Reese- a very intelligent guy- who introduced me to the world of Hadiths in Islam… he had graduated in Islamic Studies… and was here on a Study abroad. Then there was Kristen Chick… a freelance journalist and a Fulbright scholar… intelligent and confident in her demeanor. It was a pleasure knowing her.
No description of the class would be complete without Tiffany Kaba… refreshingly beautiful; innocently simple- she had the proverbial twinkle in her eyes… she loved living life to its fullest. Always all decked up, as if she was on a perpetual party. Throughout the semester, we sat together… we hardly interacted- barring a few occasional jokes I cracked on her and pranks I played with her- which she took sportingly… but in my heart of heart I knew, she was a wonderful person and absolute gem, person with a golden heart. Half Syrian- Half Egyptian, born and brought up in UK, our class wouldn’t have been half as interesting without her charm and élan. I was very fond of her and on the last day of the class…while shaking hand with her… I told her how wonderful a person she was. Take care, Tiffany… and preserve yourself.
I have missed out a few names… Ben, Line from the last semester, Nicola Karp, James Cassey and Allegra from the third semester, Ghazi Ayyad and Yaneez from the second, Matthew Tracy from the first… and so many others…. They all were important… I cherish memories of all of them. And wish to say thank you to all of them… for being there, for enriching me as a human being.
ALI will forever be etched in my memories… if at any juncture of life I come back to Egypt… and I will, it would not be for the Pyramids or Nile… it would be for seeing my alma mater once again.
I had a very slow start in the third semester… unlike other classes… this class of mine was full of Americans. In fact one Indian and one Norwegian only, among 11 odd students.
Among the Americans, there was one guy of Syrian origin Waseem Mardini and another of Taiwanese origin Andrew Jan…. in one of my elective I had an Indian Vohra girl, born and brought up in the US.
It was here that I first noticed the high degree of assimilation in the US society. One may be of any ethnic origin, religious grouping… but as an American- he thinks along the same line, behaves the same way, has same beliefs… It was indeed serendipitous to discover the cultural consciousness, sensitivity, sense of private space, tolerance among an average American. I never saw any complications in the interactions between Waseem, the Syrian American and the other White American. The differences of colour, sex, religion, and race did not matter at all.
Many among us have this habit of demonizing the US… of identifying the US with materialism, consumerism, big and Evil Corporation and irresponsible use of power. We tend to overlook the virtues of the American society. Democracy, civil rights, tolerance, assimilation… every body has a stake in the society. I sincerely believe that it is these qualities that make the US a soft and hard superpower… and will continue to make it so. If we need to import anything from the US… it is these genuine qualities.
Waseem, with time, became a good friend… we discussed a lot of ideas on the Palestinian issue. So did Andrew Jan… though our relation started with a degree of suspicion, with me unwittingly making some snide remarks on China-Taiwan standoff. Then there was one Leslie Egbert… seemingly mysterious… we sat side by side throughout the semester… and Keith Jarret a very simple person… who introduced me to the beauty of his I-Mac. They all were nice people and I learnt from them all.
These interactions changed my opinion towards the American youth. We were always led to believe that an average American person was selfish, hedonist et al. On the contrary, I found them to be very sincere, hard working, aware of a lot of things in life, responsible… and above all spontaneous. They work hard and they party harder.
It was during this semester I also became friendly with Khveh Niazi and Heidi Morrison… mentioned elsewhere in my blog.
I had a wonderful set of instructors even this time. Azza Waked… who taught us grammar… resembled my granny… thus I became very fond of her. She had a funny but effective way of teaching… she was well aware of India, been there, practiced Yoga etc. Then there was a very smart Heba Salem… a great teacher… she really made listening Arabic News very easy for us. Well aware of the happenings around and reasonably opinionated. Then Ibtisam Orabi, a wonderful human being. Ahmed Moneim, my teacher for translation and Shireen, my teacher for spoken Fusha. All were nice people, first and foremost. And very good teachers, indeed.
The last semester started on a pleasant note… in the first week or so, I met Mariam Attia- my first semester's instructor... she had gone down to Manchester to work on her PhD and was back for some field work. I also met Said Al Wakil... he was back to ALI, now as a full time instructor.
I had very good teachers for the semester… Azza Waked continued… this time teaching Media, I also had the opportunity to study with the doyens of ALI… Nariman Al Warraki and Nadia Harb, together the three of them were the most experienced teachers of ALI. And it showed… Nadia made translation look so easy, Nariman made literature seem interesting and worth reading and Azza made deciphering aural media seem manageable. But above it all, they were wonderful human beings… especially Nariman, who despite her age was much more ahead of the times… more liberal and had the ability to criticize the ghettoization Egyptian society is undergoing. Meeting and interacting with her made me realize about the golden period of Egyptian society, when tolerance was high… when the society was far more liberal and modern in outlook.
I had one of the most interesting classes in the last semester… there was one Gabrielle Ramaiah, an American of Indian origin… and though we didn’t interact a lot… I reserve a special place for her, she was very intelligent and sincere. Then there was Aaron Reese- a very intelligent guy- who introduced me to the world of Hadiths in Islam… he had graduated in Islamic Studies… and was here on a Study abroad. Then there was Kristen Chick… a freelance journalist and a Fulbright scholar… intelligent and confident in her demeanor. It was a pleasure knowing her.
No description of the class would be complete without Tiffany Kaba… refreshingly beautiful; innocently simple- she had the proverbial twinkle in her eyes… she loved living life to its fullest. Always all decked up, as if she was on a perpetual party. Throughout the semester, we sat together… we hardly interacted- barring a few occasional jokes I cracked on her and pranks I played with her- which she took sportingly… but in my heart of heart I knew, she was a wonderful person and absolute gem, person with a golden heart. Half Syrian- Half Egyptian, born and brought up in UK, our class wouldn’t have been half as interesting without her charm and élan. I was very fond of her and on the last day of the class…while shaking hand with her… I told her how wonderful a person she was. Take care, Tiffany… and preserve yourself.
I have missed out a few names… Ben, Line from the last semester, Nicola Karp, James Cassey and Allegra from the third semester, Ghazi Ayyad and Yaneez from the second, Matthew Tracy from the first… and so many others…. They all were important… I cherish memories of all of them. And wish to say thank you to all of them… for being there, for enriching me as a human being.
ALI will forever be etched in my memories… if at any juncture of life I come back to Egypt… and I will, it would not be for the Pyramids or Nile… it would be for seeing my alma mater once again.
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