Mustafa Mahmoud...

Hey, I hope everyone is doing well and those of you at the reunion are having a great time. Wish I was there...
Anyway, I'm posting with some bad but relevant news.
Have you seen the stuff about the Sudenese refugees in Cairo? There was about 20 refugees killed today. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4568340.stm
I started checking out exactly where this was because it sounded familiar. Al-ahram weekly has a long article about the protest and sure enough, it all happened right next to the mosque in Mohandessin. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/769/feature.htm

P.S.

I know I've given it lots of times but maybe you need it again. My info.

14072 Lakeview Dr.
Clive, IA
50325

home: 515.224.1812
cell: 515.371.0627

This is it

Josiah! Welcome back to the U.S.A. I can't imagine what its like to be back home and with your family after so long...keep us updated on how things are going. Tell Andrew and Barrett hello for us.

Its sort of bitter sweet that I post about the upcoming New Year's celebration. I'm pretty much heartbroken that we won't be all together, but so excited to see those of you coming out. If you're not coming you can skip this next little bit. The festivites will begin in THREE days! Yeah. Here's some info.

Things to bring:

a towel
bedding (not required if its a hassle--i.e. people like Lindsay and Claire who are flying in)
pictures (I don't have ANY at my house, oopsies)
interesting stories (particularly Amber)
movies you think we'd want to see together--Can anyone pirate a copy of "Paradise Now"?
party games--we may need to entertain ourselves Des Moines is not quite as thrilling as Cairo.

People coming:

Margaret, Kroeze, Amber and Dena--all coming in on the 28th. Is there an approximate time?
Claire Thurman--When shall I pick you up from the airport?
Lizzy, who will be bringing her fiance--another Andrew to add to the mix.
Cecka, Bethany, Corrine, and Jenna all coming down from the northern direction...Do any of you know what time you're coming?

Alright, I think thats it. I love you all.

Marcia Ghali

I wish I were a college student

Ok so not all the time but at times when college student have really long christmas and summer breaks I wish I was a student again. Makes grad school seem really TEMPTING. Brad is at home playing on the computer and seeing friends and I am here at work. It is very quiet here....a little eary actually, no students hardly any employees because people are taking off early for Christmas. And I am saving up my vacation time for when we go to Jordan next Christmas.

love you all!
Emily

I'm back

Hey guys, I resurrected my blogger account, il hamdulila (? spelling seems pretty bad...). Logging on here makes me miss you guys all even more. When I'm not connected, I feel like I have fond memories but it also feels surreal, like it didn't happen. But when I hear about what's going on in your lives now, it makes me want to be with you. And when I went to see Syriana the other night I got tears in my eyes when they opened it with the call to prayer. I wasn't really impressed with the movie overall, but it was fun to hear some Arabic and understand a little bit. My prayers are with you guys for the holiday season and I hope your reunion is spectacular. Maybe if we do a reunion #2 I'll have more time to go :-) Lots of Love

I. Miss. Egypt

But most of all, all of you.

I haven't been very productive today and it's my own stupid fault. The only thing I have left to do before I have officially finished all of my work for Dordt is put together a portfolio of the stuff I did while student teaching. It's all done mostly, but it's taking forever to pull together. It will be finished soon, though. I think the perfectionist in me is coming out on this one, making the process taking much longer than it should.

Josiah is in Iberia participating in riots, and I'm here in little old Sioux Center. My colsolation is that it's approximately 10 days until I get to see more than two of you in one place! I'm excited about Amber coming. Ambeeer! And everyone else who is going to be there too. I can't even count you all in me head because it's overwhelming!

End. Post.

برنامج دراسات الشرق الاوسط

So who's happy that school is out?
ooo, pick me!

Our First Christmas

Well our tree now has Brad's childhood ornaments and my childhood ornaments....our lives are mingled in every aspect. Hope you all have a very merry and peaceful christmas.

greetings from Dublin's fair city where girls are so pretty...

(but I have not met anyone named Molly Malone yet.)

If you don't know the song, then never mind. or Google it.
anyway, I just made my way from London to Glasgow to Dublin. This is old hat to my buddy Josiah, but it is my first time really travelling alone, and I was nervous. REALLY nervous that I would: get in an unsasfe situation, end up spending disgustingly huge amounts of money getting place to place due to ignorance, or....my biggest fear....get irreparably lost.

To my great elation, everything has gone smoothly. Transit, connections, accomodation, etc.
Incidentally, this rocks. I'm 22, laden with backpack, and exploring the British Isles at will. I am saving money by sleeping at the houses of random people I met online. Not kidding, check out couchsurfing.com, though I may have posted that already.

The feeling of: planning, funding, and executing my own trip like this is....indescribable, really. I come from a very loving, very (self-admittedly) overprotective family. For the first time I am making a sort of large scale decision without their concurrance, as it was deemed unsafe and unwise that I travel alone.

So I am feeling kind of independent. Yesterday I went to evensong at St.Patrick's cathedral (upon entering, I was asked "wait. You know this is a Protestant service, right? OH....you know!!?!"), read James Joyce in the Remembrance Garden, and toured the Guiness factory; all quintessentially Irish things to do.

I am hoping to use this time of silence and self-direction as a sort of spiritual pilgrimmage, a retreat if you will. Last night I met an Irish man at a pub who thought it was sad I had consciously decided to travel alone when I did not have to. Funny, I didn't think to see it that way. I find it decidedly freeing.

purple long johns

well, I started reading about all the cold weather that I will soon be immersed in.. and I thought 35 was soo cold!! but em, we might be able to stretch it with the wind chill down to at least 25.
I feel like a pansy.
anyway, on the subject of weather, I was wondering what we would be doing in Des Moines? if its anything outside, should I bring snow boots, snow pants, and a warm warm snow coat? don't even think about telling me to bring my long johns cause I already am. I might even wear them on the plane. no, not under something, just my long johns. ha! that would be great. uh... what else? Andrew, Dena, and Margaret, what about when we go back to Iowa? any particulars I need to bring?

sincerely,

Lindsay "never been in negative weather" Jacobs

if you wear red and green

you get BEAN BUCKS! (a coupon to our coffee shop.)

We're sitting here in the humble bumble of a coffee shop. Andrew's crush is about twenty feet away. We were hunting bears with Radiohead a few minutes ago, but now we're rocking out with the Strokes. Students are decorating ornaments and eating almond bark pretzels while dancing to rock and roll Christmas music outside the coffee shop. But if that's not the world you want to live in, escape to the intellectual bubble of the Humble Bean coffee shop where you can discuss how to ask girls on hot dates with the one and only Andrew Paul Kroeze. He's the expert! Although he has yet to ask a certain someone on said hot date. That would be a hot intellectual musical date. Andrew says he digresses.

Andrew wonders sometimes why people smoke when it'd so cold outside (-20 with the windchill.) Margaret says that there's something cozy about huddling in a group of people sharing a cigarette. (But wait, does she smoke? I'm so disallusioned! Don't worry, not a regular occurance by any stretch of the imagination.) Andrew smokes his pipe if it's not so cold outside.

And Emily, it's D-O-R-D-T because we are stubborn Dutch people nerds.

Pickles are grand. And does anyone know why oranges are considered Christmas food? Or if they are?
The end. We love you.
Andrew K and Margaret

feeling down?

this time of year always gets people in a tizy. i was reading the weather and our high tomorrow is supposed to be 5! so if you are feeling down, look outside and be thankful it is not 5 degrees...or take a nap

Happy (early) Birthday Andrew

Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you happy birthday to andrew.....happy birthday to you! So what fun stuff are you going to do at Dort for your birthday?
I had to send this early because I don't check email on the weekend.
Happy weekend everyone.
love Emily