Tuesday, August 17

We've been spending much of our time at school lately, but it is still slow-going there. In the last two days, we have learned the grading policy, found out our positions, and received our books. Not much else. Joe will be teaching 12th-grade history, 11th-grade psychology, and PE for all grades. I will be teaching 12th-grade literature, 11th-grade grammar and writing, and music for all grades. That's right. We both got suckered into doing an elective. Music was pretty much a given, considering I am the only one with any knowledge of music. Joe said out of art or PE he'd rather teach PE. He will be teaching it with another female teacher. He will probably teach PE all day for just one day of the week, so he gets to come to school in shorts or whatever. Lucky!

At a school that is as small as ours, I guess there has to be a major amount of flexibility. We expected this because it is only the second year our school has been in operation. It sounds like they had a rough time last year, but the new American teachers are determined to make things run a little more smoothly this year.

We do not want to bore you with all of the teaching details. When we finally get our classrooms, we will take some pictures of our school and rooms. Our school is way out in the middle of the desert. It is weird because there is not much out there but schools. Apparently, there has been a boom in American schools. Most kids, until this point, would complete the British program, but apparently it is very difficult. If it looks like they will not get the grade point that they need to get into a university, they switch over to the American program. The American programs have the reputation of being easier. You pay more, but they are easier. The students need to get so many A's and get over an 800 on the S.A.T. test in order to get into Egyptian universities.

We thought when we came here that we would be preparing students to go to American universities, but this is not so. Instead they go to the American University in Cairo, Cairo University, or schools like the German University in Cairo. We were told that they felt it was difficult to get into America because of their nationality, but that they also were afraid of anti-Arabic sentiment in the States. Very interesting, because so many Americans are afraid to come to Egypt because they fear anti-American sentiment. We find that neither perception is really true. At least, it is not prevelant. It's weird how we have perceptions of places we've never even been to!

Also, Egyptian girls are meant to stay close to their families until they marry, so very few of our female students will ever consider going outside of Egypt.

Anyway, I am rambling tonight. Tomorrow we are supposed to go on a felucca ride on the Nile. I can't wait. We are going with Tom and Betsy's British Club friends. A felucca is a traditional boat; it looks something like a sailboat. I'll fill you in tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have some pics.