::ahem::

I got my visa today.

Anyone who lives on Jackson Lane probably already knows this information...but for the three of us who don't live on Jackson Lane, I thought I should let you know.

woot.

Amber

DISNEY!

Family:

Here is my list of must-sees while in Orlando:

Muppet-Vision 3D (it's in the Hollywood Studios theme park).

Fun/Scary rides.

That is all.

Can't wait for Saturday!

Who you callin' nerdy?

Hey man, we're on board, I think the problem is that we all talk to each other too dang much! There's nothing to post on the blog when everyone already knows what's going on!

Here's a fun detail that our ladies across the sea might not know yet: Tyler got his visa!!! It only took Matt three trips to the Saudi Embassy, but we've finally got some paperwork!

Tyler and I are in Providence, Rhode Island at the moment. We're pretty much just killing time till we leave to Boston to visit Raina and Jeff. Providence is...boring. I think if you were to look up "College Town" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Providence. There's NO ONE in town and there's honestly nothing to do. Maybe we just picked a bad time to visit. According to the visitor's guide given to us by our hotel, there's a folk festival kicking off the day after we leave. womp womp.

Anyway, we're booking our trains/planes back to DC so that we can *hopefully* get my visa as well. There is the small detail that we still haven't gotten the sponsor letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but...you know. Insh'allah, we will get it before August 2.

Another fun tidbit: We won't be leaving the States till September 9th-ish because the school won't have our apartment ready until Sept. 12. We decided that after 3 weeks of life on the road, we kind of just want to do a quick visit to Amsterdam and then head to Dammam and hit the ground running. So YAY! More time in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

we're failing at this.

alright kids, to entice us to post i've changed the layout of the blog to something much more indicative of our personalities: brown and nerdy? i don't know.

at any rate, we're nearing the point where we're really not going to be around each other enough so i just wanted to make sure everyone's still on board for the echols blog.

let's do it.

Game on!

Welp, we got an email from Saudi Sally telling us that another crucial step in my visa process is completed, and they expect that Tyler and I will be able to go over to Saudi together. She still doesn't know WHEN my visa will be ready, but she did say that we would be in the clear to keep all our summer plans and go forward with all our trips.

I suggest we all study up for our trip to Orlando, starting with Daniel Radcliffe's suggestions for the Wizarding World: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1641785/20100617/story.jhtml

(Yes, I realize I just posted an article from MTV.com... don't disown me.)

Ladies and Gentlemen: ANOTHER Echols blog.

We've started our blog to record our international exploits: http://educationincultureshock.blogspot.com/

We titled it "Vicariously Yours: An Education in Culture Shock."

Yes, it took us a good while to come up with that name. Keep your sassy comments to yourself. (c:

Cairo.

Monday morning I had an interview. Skype is awkward. Needless to say I was nervous about the video portion of this interview. Luckily, there was no video involved. Praise the Lord. The interview went great and they promptly emailed me Tuesday morning to ask me to join the Office of Development at the American University of Cairo. WHOOP!

Now, what does this all mean? 1) I'm moving to Cairo in August. Holy crap. I'm moving to Cairo in August. 2) I'm interning in an office that works primarily with donors and fundraising. Better get my networking skills polished for all that schmoozing. 3) I get to take and speak Arabic in an Arabic speaking country. I am so ready to get out of UGA's Arabic department.

Things I'm excited about:

1. Cairo is like the New York of the Middle East. Chaotic, never sleeping, dirty (or as Brad put it "covered in feral cats and feces"), and wonderful. I literally cannot wait to get back to my second home (the Arab world, that is). The kind of feeling I get from thinking back to Morocco and Kuwait is one of homesickness. I love the people, the culture, the language, the sounds, the smells, and the general Arab-ness SO much my heart hurts. I feel as though I'm going home.

2. The internship sounds awesome. I cannot wait to be part of a team again in an office setting and really hone some professional skills I can use in the future.

3. The Arabic. Taking MSA classes and speaking in my general day to day for a year should make me as close to fluent as I can get. This is by far the most exciting thing for me. I really wasn't ready to quit Arabic post-undergrad but there's really no other way to learn than to just go there and speak.

4. Meeting my future husband. Just kidding. But not really. Surely there's some converted Egyptian named Khaled (the sexiest of all Arabic names) just waiting to marry me. Right?



Things I'm nervous about:

1. Arabic. I know that I can pick up the language relatively quickly again when I'm in that environment, but I'm not the most confident when it comes to using my language with native speakers. The good thing about the Arab culture is that a) they love me over there. For whatever reason, I'm enticing to Arabic families and they think my lack of actual speaking ability is endearing, b) people are so willing to invite you to a meal, tea, coffee, or whatever if it means you'll speak English with them and they can speak Arabic to you. So, hopefully these fears will be mitigated and I'll jump right into speaking and learning in the classroom.

2. Community. Something I've learned about myself and my faith over the past four years is that I thrive in fellowship and community, but don't do so well without it. I've already had some contact with some Christians that run an orphanage in Cairo so hopefully I'll be able to volunteer there and meet some fellow believers, but I'm worried about being spiritually isolated in a Muslim country.

3. General living. This is kind of double-edged sword to me. I am so excited to be independently living in a country completely unlike my own. However, I'm also a little nervous about this process of settling in alone.



Overall, my excitement is way more overpowering than my nerves. I am absolutely enthralled with this opportunity and cannot wait for all of you to come visit. GET OVER THERE.



love.