Cairo Life :: Serenity at the Sports Complex

It was a serene moment at sunset on Wednesday, September 19th, but it's always peaceful at the #AUC sports complex.

Cairo Life :: Traditional Egyptian Dinner Setting

This traditional Egyptian dinner setting was spotted on the #AUC campus last week.

Cairo Life :: Zamalek at Sunset

Inspired by @laurenbohn's gorgeous sunset photo of Zamalek a few days ago. Taken on the 7th floor terrace of the #AUC Hostel. June 2012.

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

The Egyptian Way :: Neighbors

This is my audio entry to the Third Coast International Audio Festival's Short Docs Competition. There were some rules and requirements, but it was lots of fun.

Used Audacity for the audio editing. Also, some of the sound was provided by my neighbor Roshy Zangeneh.
 

Teaching w/the iPad

Teaching w/the iPad

I'm no expert on using the iPad in the classroom, but I have been experimenting.

So far my most consistent task is taking attendance using the Gradebook Pro app. Although the app is $9.99, it's quite reliable and efficient when it comes to taking attendance.

You can get a lot of mileage out of using the iPad in the classroom: presentations, grading, creating multimedia and more.

Recently, I co-facilitated a workshop: Teaching w/the iPad. Here's the Storify that we shared with the workshop attendees.

And Just Like That I'm An Apple Girl

And Just Like That I'm An Apple Girl


My brother's been using Apple products since I can remember. It might be true that he's only had two Apple computers in his 40+ years. I'll try to confirm that later.

I, on the other hand, have had a subtle dislike for Apple for some time. Ever since learning that they used proprietary audio files. That's when I first discovered that Windows Media Audio don't play well w/Macs and Mac files don't play well w/others either. That, my friends, was a long time ago.

My nice and shiny new Macbook Pro. (Dec. 2011)

A lot has changed over the years and to make a long story short, I broke down and purchased a Macbook Pro over the Christmas holiday. Now this is after I'd been working on a Mac in my office on campus. I remember when I arrived at AUC in Egypt in 2009 and they asked if I wanted a Mac or a PC. "I'll have a Mac," I recall saying. But I'd never paid much attention to Macs and I didn't even know how to turn the damn thing on. Still, often in my office, I'm frustrated at how to do simple things on the Mac like jump to the bottom of the page or jump to the end of a sentence.

Last Christmas I broke down and bought an iPad. Now that was a worthwhile purchase. I don't think a day has gone by when I haven't used that device.

Add to that the fact that I lost my mobile phone traveling from Washington, DC to Cleveland, Ohio at the airport in Philadelphia. I know, why was there a layover in Philly anyway. Whatever. Point is, I lost my phone and was 'eligible' for an upgrade. And into my life walks "Siri."

It looks so pretty in the box. (Dec. 2011)

Of course, now I'm sucked into the expansive and expensive world of Apple:

• Apple Care ... enough said!
• With three devices tethered to each other, I need more storage from Apple (ching ching)
• I'm considering iTunes Match (ching ching)
• I bought some iTunes gift cards for Christmas (ching ching)
• Additional devices and accoutrements (protective shell, hard drives, mic, bluetooth devices, etc)
• Those irresistible iPad apps (ching ching ching ching ching ching)

But after that briefer at the Apple store in my hometown, I'm all full of knowledge, ready to conquer the world and even ready jump to the bottom of the page.

Cairo Life :: The Big Mosque

Going to and from the AUC campus on the bus, it's hard to miss this large mosque near the 6th of October flyover. I don't know the name of the mosque, so let me know. Captured this pic in December, 2011.

Cairo Life :: Mobile Phones

Sometimes teaching colleges students is like teaching kindergarteners. You have to tell them to quiet down. You have to tell them to pay attention. And sometimes you have to confiscate their mobile phones like the ones in this picture. Taken on Sunday, December 11, 2011.

~kim
The power of positive thinking.

Lazy Journalism from the UK's Guardian Newspaper

Lazy Journalism from the UK's Guardian Newspaper

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm an American, a former journalist, a current journalism professor teaching at The American University in Cairo (AUC).


One of the first articles I read this morning about the #AUCstrike was from The Guardian:
"Egyptian student protest hit elite Cairo university."

I quickly sent a tweet on Twitter that the article is/was poorly written and, in my opinion, is/was biased.

The article was written by Jack Shenker and has been retweeted all day. In his defense, Shenker sent me a few direct messages and tweets on Twitter addressing my issues with the article. NOTE: I'm working on a Storify about this.

However, someone took things a step further and conducted a bit more research than Shenker or his editors bothered to do. This is not my research, but I support the research below. Note to the Guardian: it's pretty simple: As a journalist and editor, you should do the basics: do some research, ask some questions and report the facts.

Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk
Guardian UK...what a disgrace...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: Where are the standards? - "Egyptian student protests hit elite Cairo university"
To: reader@guardian.co.uk

Poor journalism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/15/egyptian-student-protests-american-university-cairo

1.  Enrollment at the American University in Cairo (AUC) is 5984.  Faculty number 383.  Staff numbers are around 700.  If the entire AUC community was on campus at the same time the number would be around 7000.  This is impossible...
http://www.aucegypt.edu/about/Facts/Pages/default.aspx 

In Jack Shenker's article, he states that, "within a few hours thousands of students and staff at the American University in Cairo had joined the demonstration, bringing Egypt's most elite educational institution to a standstill." 

Pure rubbish.  It might have been in the hundreds.  To state that 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire university was involved in these protests is sensational, delusional and shows that Shenker was not present.

2.  The debate over the tuition increase of 9%:
USA - "Private College Tuition Increases 4.6 Percent for 2011-12; Institutional Student Aid Up 7 Percent" http://www.naicu.edu/news_room/private-college-tuition-increases-46-percent-for-2011-12-institutional-student-aid-up-7-percent

USA - "The 12-month change in the all items index edged up to 3.8 percent after holding at 3.6 percent for three months." 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm 

USA - Tuition increases outstripped inflation 4.6% to 3.8%.  In short, in real money terms education became more expensive. 

UK - "Proposed tuition in the UK to jump 300% for 2011-2012" 

http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-uk-student-protests-continued/28177 

UK - "UK CPI inflation rate rises to 4.5% in August" 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14895510 

UK - Proposed tuition increases to outpace inflation 300% to 4.5%.  In short, in real money terms education becomes more expensive (much more...)

Egypt - The American University in Cairo raises tuition 9% 

Egypt - "Egyptian Inflation Slowed to 8.5% in August as Food-Price Increases Eased" 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-10/egyptian-inflation-slowed-to-8-5-in-august-as-food-price-increases-eased.html 

Egypt - The tuition rate at the AUC almost matches the current inflation rate of 8.5%.  When the decision was made to raise the tuition to 9% in May 2011 the inflation rate stood at 11.5% 

3. Regarding the snipers (an extremely sensitive and potentially volatile topic).  You could have gone to the AUC website and did a search for "sniper" you would have found this article. 

WEB EXCLUSIVE: AUC President says use of Tahrir campus to fire on protesters 'illegal and unauthorized'
http://academic.aucegypt.edu/caravan/story/web-exclusive-auc-president-says-use-tahrir-campus-fire-protesters-illegal-and-unauthorized 

4.  What school of journalism encourages the construction of statements such as, "On Tuesday, it emerged that striking university cleaners have been threatened with dismissal if they do not return to work within 10 days." 

Who is your source for this information? 

Abysmal reporting.  An absolute disgrace.  It's a difficult time in Egypt and poorly researched journalism absent of context does not help matters.

The Egyptian Way :: The Egyptian Revolution - Fear and More Fear

The Egyptian Way :: The Egyptian Revolution - Fear and More Fear

During the Egyptian Revolution, I chose not to leave Cairo, Egypt where I live and work.

I've been reluctant to express my opinion about my experience with the Egyptian Revolution. This is not the appropriate platform for me to go into detail about why I haven't been saying much.

However, in this short podcast (really a test of using SoundCloud's Web interface for recording), I talk about how fear seemed prevalent in the early days of the protest.

My apology in advance for the sound quality; I failed to turn off the heater in the room while I was recording.

Podcast: Jan. 25th Protests: Fear and more fear

Re: Jan 25th Protests in Egypt: Fear and more fear by ohradiogirl

Six Sites I Log Into Daily

AIf you're like me, you are on the Internet quite a bit. When I was using Firefox as my Internet browser, I liked that I could save my session so that the next time I opened Firefox, the same pages would display from the previous session.

Unfortunately, that feature does not exist (yet) in Google Chrome. However, Chrome does allow you to enter in the urls that you want to use when you first open Chrome. It's not a substitute for the save session feature, but it's a work around that I can accept.

Image courtesy of Cheth Studios

So I currently have six websites that I begin with daily.

1. Twitter: It's become my lifeline. I have five twitter accounts that I manage and that's a bit much to keep up with. I often use Social Oomph to schedule tweets and I use TweetDeck too. Tweetdeck has recently upped their game and I like some of the new features. All that to say, that I'm still married to the Twitter web interface and I like to see the Top Tweets too.

2. Facebook: Well, yeah, you know that FB would be on the list. Living abroad, FB is my connection to my friends w/out having to talk to them. I'd love to talk to them, but the seven hour time difference is a bit of a problem sometimes. So FB is a good bridge between the time zones.

3. AUC Mail: I need to remain in touch w/what is going on at work. Though currently I have my vacation message on: "Final grades have been submitted and I am away from the office until August, 2010" or something like that.

4. Gmail: My Gmail has mostly become my primary email account. I still use Hotmail and Yahoo, but I like the Gmail interface and options like adding labels.

5. Delicious: I like Delicious because I can see what my network is bookmarking and what stories I may have missed. Sometimes I'll check to see what's popular and recent, but mostly I'm just adding my own bookmarks and checking my networks bookmarks.

6. Yahoo!: My yahoo account has become my account for subscriptions. So it tends to fill up and not really with emails that I make the time to read. I usually scan for important emails. Oh, and I take a glance at the top stories on the Yahoo! home page too.

MAP: The American University in Cairo Campus

I've been playing around w/UMapper. Instead of getting quality sleep, I make maps.

I was unable to get the campus map from the campus folks, so I went out and took a pick of the campus map that is posted all around the AUC campus.

Only problem is that I wanted to enlarge the image and I could not quite figure out how to do that. I was able to zoom in on it while working in Picasa, but no luck on zooming in so that some of the locations are more distinguishable.

So here's my crafty work. Note the audio is NOT from campus, but just some audio I had available to test out the audio function.

Overall, I like UMapper. Especially that I could add my own image to begin creating a map. Oh, I did not use Google Maps because you can only get so close and it's not close enough. As for images, I had to resize them and make them smaller, around 100kb for size.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Visit to The American University in Cairo Main Campus

Can you image accepting a job in another country and you've never been there to visit? Well, that's exactly what I did w/my acceptance of a teaching position at The American University in Cairo (AUC) in Cairo, Egypt.

I stepped out on faith on this one. So far, I have few complaints because AUC really knows how to take care of their faculty and staff.

What's not to like about my teaching schedule for Fall: Sundays and Wednesdays and meetings on some Tuesdays. On Sundays and Wednesdays I have 10 a.m., 11 a.m and 2 p.m. courses. I'll probably do office hours on Sundays and Wednesdays and possibly on Tuesdays too.

Check out my recent slide show on my first visit to The American University in Cairo main campus:

Now, let me give you a bit of background on AUC. It's been around for a while; 90 years to be exact. Last year, they relocated from the historic campus in downtown Cairo to an all new campus that is about an hour from downtown. From what I've heard, the transition to the new campus was a bit bumpy.

The school does provides free shuttle service to new campus. There are lots of restaurants and food options on campus including a Cinnabon. But traveling to the new campus is like going to a resort. You'll need to have the following items:

• sunscreen
• sun hat
• water
• book or newspaper to read on the shuttle
  

And much like many American buildings, the air conditioning is at the freezing level ... so, I'll keep a sweater in my office if it gets too cold indoors. Oh, and I'm afraid of what happens during sand storms on the new campus since there's lots of open space ...

We also have a good amount of holidays both Muslim holidays and traditional Western holidays like Christmas.

• More about The American University in Cairo on Wikipedia
  

That said ... enjoy the slide show! Thanks for stopping by.

FAQ About My Relocation to Cairo, Egypt

Here are my responses to some of the questions that I have been asked about relocating to Cairo, Egypt:

Where will I be teaching?
The American University in Cairo (AUC)

Is the school affiliated w/American University in Washington, DC?
No

Is it an English speaking school?
Yes

What will you be teaching?
Radio Journalism

How'd I find out about the job?
Job posting on The Chronicle of Higher Education website

How long is my teaching contract?
At least one academic year (nine months), with the option to extend

Is the job a part of a larger program?
No

Where will I live?
The university provides housing for faculty.

Will I have to wear a berka?
No

What will I do w/my Jeep?
Leaving it at my grandmother's house.


That's all for now ... my departure date is nearing - Saturday, August 1. I will arrive in Cairo sometime on August 3.