muslim brotherhood leader interview

http://icga.blogspot.com/2008/05/muslim-brotherhood-leader-interview.html

I stumbled across this just now, and after reading it, I realized how out of touch with Egypt I have been. Anyone else get that feeling? Well, for purposes of nostalgia, I thought I'd post it up. It's a rather fun read. Hope everyone's doing well!

And BTW, I'm rather dandy myself.... been working my new job for about a month now in Minneapolis and preparing to move in with Mr. Kool and another friend from the area. And yeah, I do share Laura's sentiment of missing student life, but not enough to quit! Who is the coward now? I'm also considering a job offer teaching in Japan this fall... and been getting invitations to move to Boston... where consequently my girlfriend lives. I think you guys might know her ;)

Anyways, ma'a salamma habibs.

Ghana

So this summer I'll be on a mission in Ghana and West Africa for two months. If you get a chance and you think about it, mumkin pray for me? I really don't know what I'm going to do and where I'm gonna go, but I'm sure it'll be fun.


Thanks habibs

J Street= Jewish Street?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7349371.stm

A new leftward leaning jewish lobby...

Neato Pictures!

Hey habibs, check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/middle_east_egypt0s_hidden_treasures/html/1.stm
They're pretty cool pictures.

much bahebik
aimee

Chicago?

Hey all! So Will and I are hoping to be moving to Chicago come this fall (barring several things), and I was really hoping to get a job doing some Palestinian advocacy work.... does anyone know of some good organizations based in the downtown Chicago area? Or any organizations period? Let me know... thanks! :)

Love you all

Happy Valentines Day! :)

Dearest MESPers,
On this very day a year ago we were boarding a boat for a Cruise down the Nile. It seems like yesterday, and oh, how I miss you all!! But this day especially, the day of Love, reminds me of you. Remember how we celebrated this much hated and sometimes greatly anticipated commercialized holiday, Valentines Day? Well, today I just wanted to remind you of the fun we had together last year and just encourage you this Valentines Day to fix your thoughts and hearts on real love, God's love... love that won't wear out or love that isn't defined by a relationship making this day seem like "Single Awareness Day". May your hearts be lifted today, and may you feel God's love for you in a strong way today as we celebrate Valentines Day together... all over the world.
I love you my friends, and I miss you so much!!
Be blessed Today,
Kara Joy

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
-1 John 4:9-19 NLT-

Oh... and today... take time and get your dance on... you go Tim and Stephen!! :)

woot woot

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/football/02/10/africa.final/?iref=mpstoryview

The Doxology

Last week in church we sang the doxology (a slightly varied version, I think), and my heart flew back to the top of the MESP building, Mt. Sinai, a cave in Jerusalem, and all the other places where we joined as a group in worshiping God. It made me smile reminiscently and also tear up just a bit, missing the good times we had.

I hope everyone is doing splendid.

Much love habibs,
Sarah

Super Tuesday and mumkin march madness?

Word up everybody. Um.. disclaimer: this might seem like a plug, but its not intended to be. Anyways, as some of you might know, Minnesota's caucus is on super Tuesday, so most of the major candidates have made some sort of minnesota appearance in the last few days (the thought of which, I must confess, boosted my ego a little bit... no this is not a plug for mn either). Anyways, with the knowledge that my state is at least somewhat important to these politicians, I decided to respond with a little political activism myself, in the form of attending Ron Paul's rally which was held at the UofM tonight. I decided to post this in honor of a certain Ron Paul supporter who tipped me off to the event and is dear to all of us (Esther!)

Now I always get a little wary anytime herds of demonstrative strangers with a common purpose congregate and start yelling/getting riled up. Anyone who knows about my background might understand my irrational fear of flailing arms and other public displays of emotive fervor. This being my first ever political rally, let's say I was tense. There was a lot of chanting, some painfully corny promotional stunts, and a very disturbing opening musical act that reminded me of Steve Kool impersonating his favorite country singer. Despite all this, I survived the Ron Paul rally and even gained some interest in the man's ideas (specifically his monetary and foreign policy) after finally hearing him speak.

Now here's the only part of this post that will even hint at being a plug.. For those of you who are staunch anti-capitalists (I know ur out there you children of empire!), you might at least find Ron Paul's foreign policy to be a redeeming quality. He totally denounces the war. And he probably used the word "empire" about 5 times to articulate that America's expansionism is one of his biggest concerns. Now I'm not about to advocate this guy, but at least you might be interested that there is someone out there who wants to reign the empire in... Unfortunately the video I took of him saying he wants to x the Fed is way too big (mumkin check my facebook Est), but the one below includes a remark on big gvmnt...



And now I digress, is this Minnesota spring break still happening? I was thinking about leaving the country in march and going south of the border... but I'm opposed to missing any type of reunion involving more than the habibs I usually see. So when the cadre of MESPers comes out here when I leave, maybe I will just have to bring Minnesota with me so we can all chillax together...

the days gone by...

After MESP I found myself as a rather directionless college grad wearing a tool belt as I worked at my old summer construction job and lived with my parents. I followed a couple of job leads over the summer, and but nothing really panned out until mid-July when a former professor emailed me and my best friend out of the blue and asked if we wanted to teach English at a Korean university which has a sister school relationship with Dordt College. We followed up on his proposal, and after a few emails and phone calls and only five days, I signed up to move about as from home as possible.

I never thought I’d be here. I had thought about teaching English in Asia before but more or less dismissed it as something that I wasn’t interested in. However, this has been a nearly perfect fit for me. I teach mostly conversational English and a few general English communication classes too. Almost all of my friends are Korean allowing me to enjoy the beauty (and difficulties) of cross-cultural friendship. Just like the Middle East, I’ve found Korean culture as a mirror to see myself in. Also, I’m actually not that busy usually with work so I have the chance to do a lot of reading on my own to follow up on issues that I encountered during MESP. Currently, I’m reading “Strange Virtues” by Bernard Adeney. It’s one of the books Jim and Heather recommended about living cross-culturally and at times it feels like I’m talking to them. By the way, if anyone has read Paul Gordon-Chandler’s book, I’d be interested to hear your opinion.

Besides the joys and frustrations of living in another culture where everyone speaks a language foreign to me, I love living with my best friend, am able to save what seems like a fair amount of money to me, and have the chance to travel during my vacation time. I spent two weeks back in the States around Christmas but regrettably only had the chance to see two of you. Since my spring semester doesn’t actually start until March, I’m taking off next Saturday for a three-week backpacking trip thru Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

Even though I’m a college graduate and have a job with benefits, I don’t feel all that grown up. I’m still pretty unsettled on a variety of things, geography among them, but I’m learning how to live within a sacred tension. I’m going to be here at least until August when my contract expires, but the president of university told me I’m welcome to stay longer. I’m not sure what I’ll do. I think grad school is hiding around a corner somewhere down the road, but it’ll likely be a couple of years before that happens. If I’m not in Korea, I think I’ll be abroad somewhere else—Egypt, Malawi, Nicaragua, India, the Philippines, anywhere really. I waver back in forth between depth and breadth of experiences while trying to heed Jim and Heather’s advice to think long-term.

Some aspects of what I do here remind me of MESP, but it’s radically different as well, just as moving to Cairo would be different now without all of you and the study experience. I live in a foreign culture with several different religions, but since I’m not studying my surroundings, the experience is far less intense and draining. I mean, my Saturdays are more likely spent sleeping in and reading a book at a coffee shop than jumping on a bus to see another part of the country. Even though I’m not studying the culture, I still try to be a culturally aware foreigner which is part of the reason why I’ve chosen not to join the ex-pat community here but to have Korean friends instead.

Well, I suppose I’ll just leave it at that. A more detailed and picturesque version of what I just told you is available on my blog at justinvanzee.blogspot.com. I’d love to hear what you guys are thinking about for the future as graduation looms on the horizon for many of you. If any of you have questions about teaching in Korea, I’m willing to help you out. There’s a lot of people here trying to pay off college loans or save for grad school. Just a thought.

For all you history buffs

Word up everybody. Aimee, thanks for kickin off the new year with the first blog... thought i'd follow suit. So I've taken up the hobby of searching the internet for interesting content... (its the best use of my time I can think of now that I'm graduated) The link below is an animated history of conquests in middle east... all the way from Ancient Egypt to the 67 war. Kinda fun to watch, and you might as well, because if you're one of the few that actually reads this blog, you're prolly looking to kill some time anyways.

Well, I trust everyone is doing well... or married (choose one) ...j/k. No srsly, mabruk to all the recent holiday hook ups, all the best to you lovebirds. And for the few of you I was able to see on my little road trip, nice to see ya. Mumkin kamen mara fii spring break? Until then, maa salamma
-Timoteous

Too Long....

Habibis, two months between posts is way too long. So I've taken it upon my self to fix this problem.

First off, a hearty mabruuk to Christina and Dr. Dave. Both married this Christmas Break....a life time of happiness to you guys and your new spouses.

Second, how are you all doing? Presidential primaries are revving up, Iowa was pretty exciting--good job Justin......Good luck to all of your candidates

Yeah...just think last year at this time we all were freshly arrived in Al Qahira and scared out of our minds to cross the Cornish, had no idea what kosheri was and still noticed the smell. Oh good times.

Anyway, just thought I'd drop you guys a line...oh, hey, I'm going to Ghana this summer for a couple of months. Mission trip. Trying to find the good side of Christianity again. We'll see how it goes. If on the off chance any of you poor college students (or recent grads, whatever) would like to support me financially, that'd be kwayyis awi. Joking....well kind of...no pressure :)

Anywho, hope all of you are doing superbly.

--aimee