Christmas in Cairo. How do I describe it? Okay, it was just like any other weekend, but Joe and I kind of made it that way. We had offers to go to Christmas mass and Christmas dinner with other expats, but we decided to be a little Scrooge-ish. Sometimes it's easier to ignore the holiday than to sit around wishing you were at home. We did get in a little cookie baking the other night, though, and we listened to our fair share of Christmas music. I even found a can of imported pumpkin, so I got to make a pumpkin pie. I've had it all to myself, of course, but I didn't get to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, so I'm satisfied now. We even got to talk to our parents and some family. (Joe's nephews sang us "Jingle Bells" on the phone!)
Some of our students were very sweet and got us presents, even though they aren't Christian themselves. The students are sensitive to our holidays, and they know we get a little homesick.
We spent the day relaxing, reading, watching movies, and taking naps. Joe just went off to attempt a haircut again. He's gotten a buzz cut three times in a row, mainly because of language difficulties. I told him this time to just point to the top of his head and say, "Here, long" in Arabic. We'll see what happens. Believe it or not, I haven't cut my hair in all of these five months. I'm so chicken. One of my students offered to take me to the salon. I may just have to take her up on it.
It's almost weird to think of how long we have been here and how far we have come. Five months flew by. I can't believe we are at mid-term already. I think the rest of the year is going to zoom by.
We've been hearing how cold it is in Iowa. So sorry. Here I am complaining about our 50 degree weather. We had a guy come today to fix our heater. He's supposed to come back tomorrow, so we figure we won't see him again. There was supposed to be a guy coming to repair our black and white PlayStation/TV hookup. We're still waiting for him, even though he was supposed to be here last Saturday at 1 pm. Egypt time. He's really not late by Egyptian standards!
If nothing else, this culture has taught us to stop rushing around so much. Time becomes irrelevant. Maybe that explains why my students don't understand the concept of tardiness and why it's a bad thing. I keep trying to teach it to them. Shall I just give up and adjust to their culture? Nah, it's more fun my way.
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Tuesday, Dec. 21
Not much going on these days, but I feel like it's been too long since I last blogged. We've been very busy as the term winds down at school. There are mounds of papers to grade, tests to give, and holiday parties to go to. We went to a party at our principal's apartment which was really nice. A lot of the teachers from school made it, and our principal put out a huge spread. It was very kareem, or generous, of her. We did a white elephant exchange which is always entertaining.
Other than that, it's been school as usual. We have an extra day off this week for Christmas, so just one more day tomorrow. We'll see what our first Christmas in Cairo is like.
Other than that, it's been school as usual. We have an extra day off this week for Christmas, so just one more day tomorrow. We'll see what our first Christmas in Cairo is like.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Wednesday, December 15
Well, our best news is that we have a new niece. Joe's sister, Cory, had a baby girl today, Arianna Marie. We've seen pictures already, and she's adorable. We only wish we could be there to see her and to get to hold her. We hate that we have to miss the big moments while living overseas.
Things are getting busier as we wind down our second term at school. Today we had a door decorating contest at school. Joe thought his class of 10th-graders would win, but wouldn't you know it, my 11th-graders kicked their butts! (I have to get excited about the little things in life.) It was nice, though, to see Christmas lights and decorations. Our school even rounded up a few Christmas trees. Joe and I might get a tree through one of our student's parents. The student told me 25 LE (US 4 bucks). It's so cheap. They are not quite like the ones at home, but they'll do. Last night, we were listening to Christmas music that I brought with me from the U.S. It helped us get in the mood. Maybe we'll even try to make sugar cookies or something.
It's hard thinking of winter when it's not that cold out. I complain about it being cold every day, but it's not below freezing or anything. It did rain again yesterday. It came down pretty hard for all of about 5 minutes. I was wishing that there would be thunder or lightening or something. Anything to make it different.
Our students have said some pretty interesting things lately. For example, I was discussing a vocabulary word with my students the other day. It was about measuring humans and I mentioned that in some cultures, people used to be shorter, and they've gotten bigger over time. My students were adament that I was totally wrong. They claimed that people used to be as big as houses. I said, "How big of houses? How many stories?" Their reply was, "Four story houses!" They said they had been taught this in religion and in science class. It seemed absurd to me. I told them I would keep an open mind if they brought me some scientific research. They brought me something about ancestors being taller in some cultures, but not as big as houses! I just thought it was so interesting that they firmly believed in this and I firmly believed in the opposite, simply based on our upbringing.
Then, get this, Joe's students told him the other day that they heard Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus! We do get a good laugh now and then. Joe had to explain that, no, in fact, Santa was around a little before Coke products. Even though he then told them that Coca-Cola may now own Santa Claus.
Tonight someone told me, "Happy Meal," after I ordered food. I said, "What?" and then realized that they meant, "Enjoy your meal." You've got to love the little differences.
Things have been going well. Vacation time is creeping up on us. We'll see what we end up doing for the holidays.
Things are getting busier as we wind down our second term at school. Today we had a door decorating contest at school. Joe thought his class of 10th-graders would win, but wouldn't you know it, my 11th-graders kicked their butts! (I have to get excited about the little things in life.) It was nice, though, to see Christmas lights and decorations. Our school even rounded up a few Christmas trees. Joe and I might get a tree through one of our student's parents. The student told me 25 LE (US 4 bucks). It's so cheap. They are not quite like the ones at home, but they'll do. Last night, we were listening to Christmas music that I brought with me from the U.S. It helped us get in the mood. Maybe we'll even try to make sugar cookies or something.
It's hard thinking of winter when it's not that cold out. I complain about it being cold every day, but it's not below freezing or anything. It did rain again yesterday. It came down pretty hard for all of about 5 minutes. I was wishing that there would be thunder or lightening or something. Anything to make it different.
Our students have said some pretty interesting things lately. For example, I was discussing a vocabulary word with my students the other day. It was about measuring humans and I mentioned that in some cultures, people used to be shorter, and they've gotten bigger over time. My students were adament that I was totally wrong. They claimed that people used to be as big as houses. I said, "How big of houses? How many stories?" Their reply was, "Four story houses!" They said they had been taught this in religion and in science class. It seemed absurd to me. I told them I would keep an open mind if they brought me some scientific research. They brought me something about ancestors being taller in some cultures, but not as big as houses! I just thought it was so interesting that they firmly believed in this and I firmly believed in the opposite, simply based on our upbringing.
Then, get this, Joe's students told him the other day that they heard Coca-Cola invented Santa Claus! We do get a good laugh now and then. Joe had to explain that, no, in fact, Santa was around a little before Coke products. Even though he then told them that Coca-Cola may now own Santa Claus.
Tonight someone told me, "Happy Meal," after I ordered food. I said, "What?" and then realized that they meant, "Enjoy your meal." You've got to love the little differences.
Things have been going well. Vacation time is creeping up on us. We'll see what we end up doing for the holidays.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Thursday, December 9
It's been an exciting week. My sister, Angela, and her boyfriend, Ragnar, have come from Iceland. It's so much fun to have visitors. It's interesting to see what other people think of Cairo. It's also a good measure of how far we've come. We can't believe that we are actually able to arrange a lot of things, haggle with people, and get us where we need to go without too much trouble.
The first day we took Angela and Ragnar to the pyramids. We still hadn't been there yet. It was a pretty fun day. As usual, there was nothing organized about it. All of a sudden you're at the pyramids and you buy a ticket from a little shack with a window. So, Egypt! We wandered around the pyramids just taking it in. It's amazing, yet, at the same time, you feel like you've seen it all before.
We were getting heckled a lot by the peddlars. They wanted us to buy everything. Before we knew it, Angela and Ragnar had on sheikhs' "turbans" and they were sitting on a camel. It was fun doing the touristy stuff. It must have been a slow day, though, because they were all hounding us to ride horses, camels, and to buy junk. Angela and Ragnar got their first lesson in just saying no, thank you. We decided that Ragnar should just talk in Icelandic for us.
We saw the Sphinx and got some great photos. After that, we went to the Khan El Khalili bazaar to hang out at a coffee shop in the square and to try some sheesha (tobacco). It was neat to see both of them just take in the chaos and hum of the city to which we've become accustomed. It was a pretty tiring day because of all the haggling, crowds and taxis. I assured them that not every day was like this in Egypt, or else we'd never be able to handle it. Being a tourist is much too tiring.
We got a little Egyptian/Lebanese dinner and relaxed for the evening. On Saturday we went to the local mall, and Angela couldn't believe the prices (coming from Iceland which has really high prices.) They were in heaven doing a little shopping. At night, we finally went to a Nile cruise boat. We had dinner on a boat as it cruised the Nile. There was a singer, belly dancer, and a whirling dervish to entertain us. I have to say, the singer was really bad, and the belly dancer was not very good. However, the whirling dervish was pretty good. It was amazing the way he could keep spinning and spinning while performing tricks with his multi-colored "skirts."
The boat was a little too touristy, but fun in it's own way. We were glad to have experienced it. We have to find out where the good belly dancers perform. It would be fun to see a really good show.
Angela and Ragnar spent a day by themselves while we worked, and then headed to Sharm el Sheikh, a beach resort on the Red Sea. They'll be back tomorrow. I can't wait to hear how their trip went, as we have heard again and again how lovely it is there. It's supposed to have some of the best diving in the world.
Today, we went to the pyramids again with our school. Imagine 120 students running through the desert on their own. There was no way to even keep track of them. The pyramids are huge and it was crowded. We ended up going horseback riding through the desert with the students. It was much cheaper because our students negotiated the price. Now, in the whole day here were the events - one student was thrown to the ground by a security guard and almost arrested, one student got in a fight, one student got in a fight because someone said something to his sister, two students were thrown from their horses, two students fell from their horses, we arrived back an hour late, and we couldn't find what we thought were 8 students (it was a miscount). Ahhh....it's good to be home. Joe and I have learned how to take things in stride, though. It's just so opposite of the U.S. where you keep your students in groups, know where they are, etc. The students just take off. The funny thing is, they're always fine.
I told my principal, I'm always asking myself, "Is this normal?" I just watch things happening, cringe on the inside, and assume that it must be normal since no one else is upset. It's really weird adjusting to the different culture sometimes. You have to let go of so many of your assumptions and beliefs. The funny thing is, you realize sometimes that your beliefs weren't necessarily right or they wouldn't work in this context. Sometimes, their way does work just fine. It's hard to always admit that, though.
In all, we had a fun day. We got a great picture of Joe on a horse with the pyramids in the background. It was fun galloping across the desert, and our students are a lot of fun. They were so cute defending me. When we go to the pyramids, sometimes people try to take our pictures. The kids said they might be trying to steal from you. I also think they just haven't seen foreigners. Maybe they're from outside Cairo? Anyway, my students were telling everyone to go away. They handled all the peddlars as well. They are quite protective of us.
The funny thing today was that Joe found out he might be allergic to horses. When we got back from horseback riding his eyes were bright red. He said he had trouble breathing. It was the weirdest thing. I guess he'll have to get back on a horse to find out if it was the horses or the desert sand.
Okay, I've written a novel here. We'll post lots of pictures from our two pyramid trips that we've taken in less than a week!
The first day we took Angela and Ragnar to the pyramids. We still hadn't been there yet. It was a pretty fun day. As usual, there was nothing organized about it. All of a sudden you're at the pyramids and you buy a ticket from a little shack with a window. So, Egypt! We wandered around the pyramids just taking it in. It's amazing, yet, at the same time, you feel like you've seen it all before.
We were getting heckled a lot by the peddlars. They wanted us to buy everything. Before we knew it, Angela and Ragnar had on sheikhs' "turbans" and they were sitting on a camel. It was fun doing the touristy stuff. It must have been a slow day, though, because they were all hounding us to ride horses, camels, and to buy junk. Angela and Ragnar got their first lesson in just saying no, thank you. We decided that Ragnar should just talk in Icelandic for us.
We saw the Sphinx and got some great photos. After that, we went to the Khan El Khalili bazaar to hang out at a coffee shop in the square and to try some sheesha (tobacco). It was neat to see both of them just take in the chaos and hum of the city to which we've become accustomed. It was a pretty tiring day because of all the haggling, crowds and taxis. I assured them that not every day was like this in Egypt, or else we'd never be able to handle it. Being a tourist is much too tiring.
We got a little Egyptian/Lebanese dinner and relaxed for the evening. On Saturday we went to the local mall, and Angela couldn't believe the prices (coming from Iceland which has really high prices.) They were in heaven doing a little shopping. At night, we finally went to a Nile cruise boat. We had dinner on a boat as it cruised the Nile. There was a singer, belly dancer, and a whirling dervish to entertain us. I have to say, the singer was really bad, and the belly dancer was not very good. However, the whirling dervish was pretty good. It was amazing the way he could keep spinning and spinning while performing tricks with his multi-colored "skirts."
The boat was a little too touristy, but fun in it's own way. We were glad to have experienced it. We have to find out where the good belly dancers perform. It would be fun to see a really good show.
Angela and Ragnar spent a day by themselves while we worked, and then headed to Sharm el Sheikh, a beach resort on the Red Sea. They'll be back tomorrow. I can't wait to hear how their trip went, as we have heard again and again how lovely it is there. It's supposed to have some of the best diving in the world.
Today, we went to the pyramids again with our school. Imagine 120 students running through the desert on their own. There was no way to even keep track of them. The pyramids are huge and it was crowded. We ended up going horseback riding through the desert with the students. It was much cheaper because our students negotiated the price. Now, in the whole day here were the events - one student was thrown to the ground by a security guard and almost arrested, one student got in a fight, one student got in a fight because someone said something to his sister, two students were thrown from their horses, two students fell from their horses, we arrived back an hour late, and we couldn't find what we thought were 8 students (it was a miscount). Ahhh....it's good to be home. Joe and I have learned how to take things in stride, though. It's just so opposite of the U.S. where you keep your students in groups, know where they are, etc. The students just take off. The funny thing is, they're always fine.
I told my principal, I'm always asking myself, "Is this normal?" I just watch things happening, cringe on the inside, and assume that it must be normal since no one else is upset. It's really weird adjusting to the different culture sometimes. You have to let go of so many of your assumptions and beliefs. The funny thing is, you realize sometimes that your beliefs weren't necessarily right or they wouldn't work in this context. Sometimes, their way does work just fine. It's hard to always admit that, though.
In all, we had a fun day. We got a great picture of Joe on a horse with the pyramids in the background. It was fun galloping across the desert, and our students are a lot of fun. They were so cute defending me. When we go to the pyramids, sometimes people try to take our pictures. The kids said they might be trying to steal from you. I also think they just haven't seen foreigners. Maybe they're from outside Cairo? Anyway, my students were telling everyone to go away. They handled all the peddlars as well. They are quite protective of us.
The funny thing today was that Joe found out he might be allergic to horses. When we got back from horseback riding his eyes were bright red. He said he had trouble breathing. It was the weirdest thing. I guess he'll have to get back on a horse to find out if it was the horses or the desert sand.
Okay, I've written a novel here. We'll post lots of pictures from our two pyramid trips that we've taken in less than a week!
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Thursday, December 2
Has December really arrived already? It's hard to believe, especially when there is no snow and the culture we are surrounded by doesn't emphasize shopping and buying Christmas presents. There isn't any Christmas music in the air. We were excited to see that our local grocery store is setting up an entire area for Christmas decorations. They have a Christmas tree, nativity scenes and even a big, waist-high Santa Claus. We've heard that the owner of the store is Christian.
We've had a normal week. We've been trying to get the students back into the groove of things after so many vacations and celebration days. Maybe by next week they will settle down. It's always interesting for me as a teacher to compare how the students are here with the students at home. Today, one of the Egyptian teachers came in to the teacher's lounge very upset. She refused to go in and teach her class. She said that the students were being extremely rude, arguing with her, and generally being disrespectful. I listened to what she was saying and I totally agreed with her because these same twelfth-graders have been a constant struggle for me.
She, I and another teacher got into a conversation about whether the Egyptian students were better or worse than American students. The other American teacher was saying that students in America wouldn't be so rude; they wouldn't keep arguing. And they wouldn't be so disrespectful. I had to disagree. I feel that the students we have now are nowhere near the students in the U.S., but then I conceded that it depends on where you teach in the U.S. My former school had a lot of hard cases.
I guess maybe the difference is that our students here are form affluent families, and I think they are very used to having their demands met. They argue and argue as if they are going to be able to change your mind. That tells me that they have succeeded in this many times before. They just don't get it that I'm not going to budge on my decisions. However, that is pretty much all there is to complain about. They talk way too much, and sometimes you might as well not be there (which is extremely frustrating), but they are very sweet. And so innocent! I think I mentioned before that 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders walk around with Mickey Mouse, Barbie, and Pooh folders and notebooks. You'd get beat up for that in the U.S. Their knowledge of "worldy" things is really limited. They are innocent and protected here. You don't have to worry about drugs, violence, sex, etc. It just isn't a problem. The worst thing the 12th-grade boys do is sneak up to the school roof to smoke a few cigarettes. I find that so many of my students are sweet, caring, kind, and generous. So, when all of the teachers are complaining, I really feel grateful to be working with these students. I feel that they have very kind and caring hearts.
There, I got school out of my system. On another note, our neighbors have brought a great deal of joy to Joe's life. Why you might ask? He finally has his PlayStation up and running again, all thanks to our eight-year-old neighbor boy. We were debating buying a new T.V. because we could only get the PlayStation in black and white with no sound. The neighbor boy came over and hooked up an attachment to the computer, and well, Joe's playing happily away right now. We knew all this time, that there had to be a simple solution to our problem. It's weird, but we can't figure things like this out in Egypt. We have to wait until the answer falls randomly into our laps. It was pretty funny to see Joe and Mostafa talking video games. I saw Mostafa today, and his mom told me that he had asked if he could go and ask Joe to play video games.
His mom was telling us about her youngest son. He's about 6 or 7. He's absolutely adorable. Everyday him and Mostafa wait outside for their bus and when we see them we wait with them. I guess whenever the youngest son (I think his name is Zayed (pronounced zi - eed)) sees us he gets excited and says in Arabic "foreigners." We thought that was pretty funny. He's deathly afraid of Leia, but when he's outside and Leia comes nearby he walks away. His brother asks him, "Are you afraid of the dog?" and he answers, "No, I just wanted to see this flower over here." He's pretty cute. Very shy.
Tonight, actually early this morning, my sister Angela will come to Cairo. I can't wait to show her the things we have discovered. I also can't wait to see her reaction to this country. It's our first visitor, so we are really looking forward to seeing someone from "home." (Well, okay, Iceland.) Hopefully, we will take some new pictures during their visit.
We've had a normal week. We've been trying to get the students back into the groove of things after so many vacations and celebration days. Maybe by next week they will settle down. It's always interesting for me as a teacher to compare how the students are here with the students at home. Today, one of the Egyptian teachers came in to the teacher's lounge very upset. She refused to go in and teach her class. She said that the students were being extremely rude, arguing with her, and generally being disrespectful. I listened to what she was saying and I totally agreed with her because these same twelfth-graders have been a constant struggle for me.
She, I and another teacher got into a conversation about whether the Egyptian students were better or worse than American students. The other American teacher was saying that students in America wouldn't be so rude; they wouldn't keep arguing. And they wouldn't be so disrespectful. I had to disagree. I feel that the students we have now are nowhere near the students in the U.S., but then I conceded that it depends on where you teach in the U.S. My former school had a lot of hard cases.
I guess maybe the difference is that our students here are form affluent families, and I think they are very used to having their demands met. They argue and argue as if they are going to be able to change your mind. That tells me that they have succeeded in this many times before. They just don't get it that I'm not going to budge on my decisions. However, that is pretty much all there is to complain about. They talk way too much, and sometimes you might as well not be there (which is extremely frustrating), but they are very sweet. And so innocent! I think I mentioned before that 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders walk around with Mickey Mouse, Barbie, and Pooh folders and notebooks. You'd get beat up for that in the U.S. Their knowledge of "worldy" things is really limited. They are innocent and protected here. You don't have to worry about drugs, violence, sex, etc. It just isn't a problem. The worst thing the 12th-grade boys do is sneak up to the school roof to smoke a few cigarettes. I find that so many of my students are sweet, caring, kind, and generous. So, when all of the teachers are complaining, I really feel grateful to be working with these students. I feel that they have very kind and caring hearts.
There, I got school out of my system. On another note, our neighbors have brought a great deal of joy to Joe's life. Why you might ask? He finally has his PlayStation up and running again, all thanks to our eight-year-old neighbor boy. We were debating buying a new T.V. because we could only get the PlayStation in black and white with no sound. The neighbor boy came over and hooked up an attachment to the computer, and well, Joe's playing happily away right now. We knew all this time, that there had to be a simple solution to our problem. It's weird, but we can't figure things like this out in Egypt. We have to wait until the answer falls randomly into our laps. It was pretty funny to see Joe and Mostafa talking video games. I saw Mostafa today, and his mom told me that he had asked if he could go and ask Joe to play video games.
His mom was telling us about her youngest son. He's about 6 or 7. He's absolutely adorable. Everyday him and Mostafa wait outside for their bus and when we see them we wait with them. I guess whenever the youngest son (I think his name is Zayed (pronounced zi - eed)) sees us he gets excited and says in Arabic "foreigners." We thought that was pretty funny. He's deathly afraid of Leia, but when he's outside and Leia comes nearby he walks away. His brother asks him, "Are you afraid of the dog?" and he answers, "No, I just wanted to see this flower over here." He's pretty cute. Very shy.
Tonight, actually early this morning, my sister Angela will come to Cairo. I can't wait to show her the things we have discovered. I also can't wait to see her reaction to this country. It's our first visitor, so we are really looking forward to seeing someone from "home." (Well, okay, Iceland.) Hopefully, we will take some new pictures during their visit.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Friday, November 26
We're back to life in Cairo. My birthday has passed. Thanskgiving Cairo-style has passed. Our anniversary has passed, and now I must get caught up on all my blogable moments and thoughts. Apparently, just before we got back, there was a plague of locusts that fell upon our school. We missed it by just a day. Half of the school was there, as it was the day after our long vacation. The other teachers told it to me like this - The sky suddenly got dark and red in color. The sky was dotted and the sun was muted out by the swarms of locusts that were flying through the air. Of course, this caused chaos in an already less-than-normal day at school. There was a swarm of locusts moving across Cairo. When they told me this, I almost didn't believe them. It seemed too biblical and ancient. I didn't know things like this still happened! However, I did see pictures from the computer teacher's camera, and a student actually brought me a locust he had trapped the day before. It was huge, red-colored, about the size of your palm. Very weird. I was almost disappointed we had missed such a freak occurrence.
Speaking of freak occurrences - we witnessed our first rain in Cairo. Joe and I went out to wait for our mini-bus that takes us to school. It was kind of dreary and gray, like it gets when it's about to rain a little bit in the States. We both commented on it, but then agreed maybe it was just the usual smog. On the way to school, we began to see rain drops splattering on the windshield. By the time we arrived at school, there was a steady rain. It went on and off all day. The kids, of course, wanted to play in it and spend all class period staring out the windows. They said, "It's like snow in the U.S." I laughed, and told them it would definitely not be like snow in Iowa because it's a regular thing.
One day when I was doing an analogy on the board with them we came across the words, "drizzle" and "downpour." They didn't know what these words meant! I had to explain what a downpour was because they had only seen one heavy rain in their lifetime. They started describing these strange, hard balls of rain that had come down the year before. "Hail?" I asked increduously. They had never seen the stuff before. I'm not even sure a word exists in Arabic to describe it.
As for the weather, we are shocked. It has gotten cold! It's only been 50-60's at some times. Now, that doesn't sound cold, but it actually is. My friend, Gheda, had told me that it would be bone-chilling. I didn't believe her. I thought, "Yeah, right. I've endured Iowa winters. It'll be nothing." But seriously, it is cold! The windows and doors don't shut tightly, so you have a constant draft. There isn't proper heat either. Taking a shower in the morning has been agony. We don't have proper clothes. Joe and I are going to have to shop for sweaters and coats. At school, it is very chilly because we get a cold, desert wind that whips right through the open hallways. Luckily, Joe and I get some sunlight that shines into our classrooms during the day. All of our students are wrapped in scarves and stocking caps. It's pretty cute.
These last couple of days haven't been too bad. It's warmed up a bit. We celebrated my birthday at school on Wednesday. It was also the day of our Thanksgiving dish party. This is what they call their version of a potluck. We had the potluck in the afternoon at school. Needless to say, it was chaos. Imagine nearly 100 people jammed into a school hallway with a double row of desks laden with food. So much for sitting down quietly and giving thanks. The teacher's actually got together and bought a huge turkey, so yes, Joe did get to have some turkey for Thanksgiving. As far as the kids' idea of Thanksgiving foods? Fatoush, koshary, seasoned rice with nuts, etc. All sorts of Egyptian foods. One student did bring mashed potatoes of some sort. They don't know what traditional American Thanksgiving foods are. In the afternoon, we were supposed to have a sort of carnival with the kids organizing booths. It didn't happen. After the meal, the kids just spread out and disappeared throughout the enormous school. This is what always happens, as nothing gets planned ahead of time.
Joe and I and the other American teachers set out to have the students clean up the disgusting mess they made of the hallway. They had a food fight in one of the classrooms also. Truly gross. I have never seen anyone think that manual labor was more below them. The girls looked with disdain at the rag that I presented to them so that they could wipe off desks. They would barely touch it except with their fingertips. One girl told me she wouldn't do anything disgusting. I asked another student if she ever had to clean anything. She admitted, no, the maid did everything. The most they did was pick up their room.
Our students definitely live in the upper class. They are very used to having maids and servants. I can assure you, they never have to do chores like Joe and I did when we were growing up. At school, we have three maids for the American program. At the end of our Thanksgiving party, the kids left all their plates, food, and mess and ran off to play. The "dedas," as we call the maids, came and picked up everything. Then, they proceded to take everything into the girls' bathroom. They washed all the plates and plastic silverware and cups. They picked through all the food, and kept all the leftovers. Nothing was to be wasted or lost. It's saddening when you see such a clash in class. The class system is alive and well in Egypt, that is for sure. I hate that we participate in it by default.
That evening Joe and I went to the grocery store to find some ingredients for a birthday cake for me and items for Thanskgiving dinner the next day. We were able to make a pretty good German chocolate cake for my birthday. For Thanskgiving the next day, I was able to concoct a close simulation of Thanksgiving. We had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cream corn. Not too shabby. Everything but the turkey and pumpkin pie. It was just the two of us. We are having a quiet evening. After our jaunt to Prague, the end of the month is necessarily boring. We figure our trip was worth our birthday, anniversary, Christmas, and Valentine's presents. It was definitely awesome.
Speaking of freak occurrences - we witnessed our first rain in Cairo. Joe and I went out to wait for our mini-bus that takes us to school. It was kind of dreary and gray, like it gets when it's about to rain a little bit in the States. We both commented on it, but then agreed maybe it was just the usual smog. On the way to school, we began to see rain drops splattering on the windshield. By the time we arrived at school, there was a steady rain. It went on and off all day. The kids, of course, wanted to play in it and spend all class period staring out the windows. They said, "It's like snow in the U.S." I laughed, and told them it would definitely not be like snow in Iowa because it's a regular thing.
One day when I was doing an analogy on the board with them we came across the words, "drizzle" and "downpour." They didn't know what these words meant! I had to explain what a downpour was because they had only seen one heavy rain in their lifetime. They started describing these strange, hard balls of rain that had come down the year before. "Hail?" I asked increduously. They had never seen the stuff before. I'm not even sure a word exists in Arabic to describe it.
As for the weather, we are shocked. It has gotten cold! It's only been 50-60's at some times. Now, that doesn't sound cold, but it actually is. My friend, Gheda, had told me that it would be bone-chilling. I didn't believe her. I thought, "Yeah, right. I've endured Iowa winters. It'll be nothing." But seriously, it is cold! The windows and doors don't shut tightly, so you have a constant draft. There isn't proper heat either. Taking a shower in the morning has been agony. We don't have proper clothes. Joe and I are going to have to shop for sweaters and coats. At school, it is very chilly because we get a cold, desert wind that whips right through the open hallways. Luckily, Joe and I get some sunlight that shines into our classrooms during the day. All of our students are wrapped in scarves and stocking caps. It's pretty cute.
These last couple of days haven't been too bad. It's warmed up a bit. We celebrated my birthday at school on Wednesday. It was also the day of our Thanksgiving dish party. This is what they call their version of a potluck. We had the potluck in the afternoon at school. Needless to say, it was chaos. Imagine nearly 100 people jammed into a school hallway with a double row of desks laden with food. So much for sitting down quietly and giving thanks. The teacher's actually got together and bought a huge turkey, so yes, Joe did get to have some turkey for Thanksgiving. As far as the kids' idea of Thanksgiving foods? Fatoush, koshary, seasoned rice with nuts, etc. All sorts of Egyptian foods. One student did bring mashed potatoes of some sort. They don't know what traditional American Thanksgiving foods are. In the afternoon, we were supposed to have a sort of carnival with the kids organizing booths. It didn't happen. After the meal, the kids just spread out and disappeared throughout the enormous school. This is what always happens, as nothing gets planned ahead of time.
Joe and I and the other American teachers set out to have the students clean up the disgusting mess they made of the hallway. They had a food fight in one of the classrooms also. Truly gross. I have never seen anyone think that manual labor was more below them. The girls looked with disdain at the rag that I presented to them so that they could wipe off desks. They would barely touch it except with their fingertips. One girl told me she wouldn't do anything disgusting. I asked another student if she ever had to clean anything. She admitted, no, the maid did everything. The most they did was pick up their room.
Our students definitely live in the upper class. They are very used to having maids and servants. I can assure you, they never have to do chores like Joe and I did when we were growing up. At school, we have three maids for the American program. At the end of our Thanksgiving party, the kids left all their plates, food, and mess and ran off to play. The "dedas," as we call the maids, came and picked up everything. Then, they proceded to take everything into the girls' bathroom. They washed all the plates and plastic silverware and cups. They picked through all the food, and kept all the leftovers. Nothing was to be wasted or lost. It's saddening when you see such a clash in class. The class system is alive and well in Egypt, that is for sure. I hate that we participate in it by default.
That evening Joe and I went to the grocery store to find some ingredients for a birthday cake for me and items for Thanskgiving dinner the next day. We were able to make a pretty good German chocolate cake for my birthday. For Thanskgiving the next day, I was able to concoct a close simulation of Thanksgiving. We had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and cream corn. Not too shabby. Everything but the turkey and pumpkin pie. It was just the two of us. We are having a quiet evening. After our jaunt to Prague, the end of the month is necessarily boring. We figure our trip was worth our birthday, anniversary, Christmas, and Valentine's presents. It was definitely awesome.
Friday, November 26, 2004
Prague - Day 7
The last day finally arrived and we were dreading our return to real life in Cairo. We decided to see the National Museum before we left. It was filled with natural history kinds of stuff like many different species of stuffed animals, a wide-variety of minerals, and ancient history artifacts. They had a football (a.k.a. soccer, to us) exhibit, but Joe and I walked in and then turned around and walked out. We just can't get into the rest of the world's fascination with soccer.
We did a little more shopping to find a shirt to match the skirt I bought the day before. We also looked for a couple more souvenirs. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. On the way there, we noticed they were blocking the streets off. There were a bunch of people marching in the streets and carrying a huge banner. It was Nov. 17, their revolution day. They celebrate their independence from communism. On Nov. 17, 1989 they had their "Velvet Revolution." It was interesting seeing how they celebrated. We saw on T.V. that they all congregated at Winceslas Square where we had just been a few hours earlier.
After our not-so-Mexican dinner, we headed to meet our ride back to the airport. We really felt sad because our vacation was so great, and we didn't want to go back to Cairo. If only vacations never had to end.
Our flight was a crazy one. Before getting on the flight, we stopped to have a beer to use up our last Czech crowns. There was a really loud group of drunk people sitting nearby. Wouldn't you know it, they were on our flight to Cairo. We have never been on a flight like this before. Joe and I agreed that nothing like this would have been allowed in the U.S. The group of 20-30 people were really drunk. They were up and out of their seats almost the whole entire flight. It was like social/happy hour. The flight attendants could barely pass through the aisles. By the end of the flight, they were even throwing pillows at each other. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. We agreed that it was the safest we ever felt on a flight. We'd like to see a terrorist try to get past 20 drunk Czechs to get to the cockpit.
We got back to Cairo, where someone was supposed to meet us to help us with our work visa processing. Big surprise, no one was there. We asked around, but they all acted like we were crazy. We were really stupid and forgot to bring the exact U.S. $15 per person for our new entry visas. We went from counter to counter being ignored and denied. We thought we might have to camp out in the airport. Finally, we bribed a guy to sneak us the stamps. We found it amazing that the Egyptian pounds we had were no good in Egypt. Thank God bribery is rampant. After a long night, we headed home to get about an hour's sleep before going to school the next day.
We did a little more shopping to find a shirt to match the skirt I bought the day before. We also looked for a couple more souvenirs. We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. On the way there, we noticed they were blocking the streets off. There were a bunch of people marching in the streets and carrying a huge banner. It was Nov. 17, their revolution day. They celebrate their independence from communism. On Nov. 17, 1989 they had their "Velvet Revolution." It was interesting seeing how they celebrated. We saw on T.V. that they all congregated at Winceslas Square where we had just been a few hours earlier.
After our not-so-Mexican dinner, we headed to meet our ride back to the airport. We really felt sad because our vacation was so great, and we didn't want to go back to Cairo. If only vacations never had to end.
Our flight was a crazy one. Before getting on the flight, we stopped to have a beer to use up our last Czech crowns. There was a really loud group of drunk people sitting nearby. Wouldn't you know it, they were on our flight to Cairo. We have never been on a flight like this before. Joe and I agreed that nothing like this would have been allowed in the U.S. The group of 20-30 people were really drunk. They were up and out of their seats almost the whole entire flight. It was like social/happy hour. The flight attendants could barely pass through the aisles. By the end of the flight, they were even throwing pillows at each other. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. We agreed that it was the safest we ever felt on a flight. We'd like to see a terrorist try to get past 20 drunk Czechs to get to the cockpit.
We got back to Cairo, where someone was supposed to meet us to help us with our work visa processing. Big surprise, no one was there. We asked around, but they all acted like we were crazy. We were really stupid and forgot to bring the exact U.S. $15 per person for our new entry visas. We went from counter to counter being ignored and denied. We thought we might have to camp out in the airport. Finally, we bribed a guy to sneak us the stamps. We found it amazing that the Egyptian pounds we had were no good in Egypt. Thank God bribery is rampant. After a long night, we headed home to get about an hour's sleep before going to school the next day.
Prague - Day 6
We woke up and decided to go see Prague castle today. It was really chilly, and the wind was icy cold. The castle was a bit of a disappointment. We paid a lot to get in, but there really weren't that many interesting things to see. We checked out the palace, but it was kind of empty. Then, we almost fell asleep watching a movie about the history of the palace. We had hoped it would shed some light on the importance of the castle. We got up and left in the middle of it.
We saw the former convent and Golden Lane, which looks great on postcards but really wasn't as impressive after we had been to Cesky Krumlov. It was just a row of painted medieval-looking houses with touristic shops inside. We went to the Powder Tower. It was supposed to have military artifacts, but it was only a simple room with a few displays behind glass. It was a big let-down for Joe. We went to St. Vitus's Cathedral which redeemed the castle. It was very beautiful. We always enjoy the grandiosity of gothic churches. It was a bit crowed, though, with tourist groups. There were a lot of school trips that day. There was a really fascinating tomb of a national saint. It had a large canopy and lots of decorations. We also went down into the former cripts of the church. The graves have since been moved, but it was neat to see the underbelly of the church.
After the castle, we set out to find an outfit for me to wear. I, of course, wanted to drag Joe to the opera, but I had nothing to wear. We looked, but it was getting late and we just weren't finding anything that would prove useful when we were back in Cairo. We gave up on the opera idea, and just decided to shop and go out for dinner. I was feeling really bad. My cold just kept getting worse with the cold weather. It was hard shopping when I saw so many cool clothes but I knew they wouldn't be appropriate in Cairo.
We had another Czech dinner and went home a little early for the night.
We saw the former convent and Golden Lane, which looks great on postcards but really wasn't as impressive after we had been to Cesky Krumlov. It was just a row of painted medieval-looking houses with touristic shops inside. We went to the Powder Tower. It was supposed to have military artifacts, but it was only a simple room with a few displays behind glass. It was a big let-down for Joe. We went to St. Vitus's Cathedral which redeemed the castle. It was very beautiful. We always enjoy the grandiosity of gothic churches. It was a bit crowed, though, with tourist groups. There were a lot of school trips that day. There was a really fascinating tomb of a national saint. It had a large canopy and lots of decorations. We also went down into the former cripts of the church. The graves have since been moved, but it was neat to see the underbelly of the church.
After the castle, we set out to find an outfit for me to wear. I, of course, wanted to drag Joe to the opera, but I had nothing to wear. We looked, but it was getting late and we just weren't finding anything that would prove useful when we were back in Cairo. We gave up on the opera idea, and just decided to shop and go out for dinner. I was feeling really bad. My cold just kept getting worse with the cold weather. It was hard shopping when I saw so many cool clothes but I knew they wouldn't be appropriate in Cairo.
We had another Czech dinner and went home a little early for the night.
Cesky Krumlov to Prague - Day 5
We woke up for our last day in Cesky Krumlov and took a short walk around the town. It was nice because they delivered breakfast right to our room. We took a few more pictures of the town and then went to catch our bus. Our ride back to Prague was nice because it was daytime and we could actually see the towns and countryside. It was still very green. It looked a lot like Iowa, minus the corn fields. The bus driver was a little crazy. I guess it's acceptable for bus drivers to create their own lane when passing. Normally, this would have scared us, but after Cairo nothing phases us.
Back in Prague, we checked back into our first apartment. We had a craving for Italian, so we scoured the town for some Italian. We also went looking for a couple of souvenirs, but we didn't find much. We ended up eating at a pizza place because we couldn't find a good Italian restaurant. The pizza there is very European, not like Pizza Hut. It has very thin crust with little sauce.
Back in Prague, we checked back into our first apartment. We had a craving for Italian, so we scoured the town for some Italian. We also went looking for a couple of souvenirs, but we didn't find much. We ended up eating at a pizza place because we couldn't find a good Italian restaurant. The pizza there is very European, not like Pizza Hut. It has very thin crust with little sauce.
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