"Dialogue" - noun, a conversation between two or more persons; an exchange of ideas and opinions; verb, to take part in a dialogue.
We held our second "informal-formal" dialogue at Fulbright Commission offices in Cairo last night (May 26). I stress to our students that any "dialogue"/discussions we have with our Egyptian hosts/friends should be as informal as possible; still, I do have to organize (formally) a time, place, people, etc. And once we get together, our discussions and dialogues should be as open, free, uncensored, uninhibited as possible.
Last week (our first dialogue evening, May 19) went so well that most of our 35 students spent additional time in the ensuing week with their new Egyptian friends - i.e., on their own, in the evenings, and outside the confines of the "formal" dialogue. When we met again last night, it was a total change from our first meeting. The first meeting was "stiff", almost cold, since no one knew one another and we had to spend time "breaking the ice". The second meeting (last night) was warm, hand-holding and hand-shaking, polite cheek-kissing all around -- i.e., "old friends" reconnecting after days (!) of separation. We held one session of 45 minutes to welcome a few new Egyptian participants and bring them "into the family", our Egyptian-American family of new friends. Then, Safaa of Fulbright welcomed us to the roof of the Commission's office for a wonderful Egyptian dinner (the roof was the only space that could hold all 60+ "dialoguers"!). And then we "adjourned" the dialogue, and invited our participants to simply go off on their own and enjoy their evening ... one group ended up at a felucca (sailboat) on the Nile, with 2 boats tied together (the group was too big for just one boat), and they spent an hour or more floating on the Nile after sunset, singing and listening to music (one Egyptian brought a traditional drum "just in case"!).
The "official dialogue" is over, and now the real dialogues can continue, with our students and their Egyptian friends going off on their own, "naturally" (unplanned, not organized formally). Safaa of Fulbright is very pleased with our success, and we are already talking about what to do next year (though she did plead with me to not bring any more students than the number we have this year! "Kifaya (enough) ya Denis! No more than 35 please!!" Cynthia sympathizes with that but also shares my goal -- to bring more and more and more people to my 2nd home.)
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