Sunday, Sept. 26

It is becoming more difficult to be new and inspiring (ha,ha) in my blogs, but I will do my best! As many of you know, it is a teacher's habit to complain about school, so I will try to refrain from complaining too much here. I want you all to keep reading! I've had many requests for more pictures, and I will do my best on that also.

Next week is the school trip to Sharm el Sheikh. It's supposedly the best spot to travel to in Egypt. It's on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, and there's supposed to be some of the best diving there. (We have to get our diving certifications!) I'm not so sure we will go, though. We are considering taking in Sharm in blissful, non-student peace and quiet. We are thinking that it would be good to escape to a coast somewhere, though. Maybe Alexandria? Days lying on the beach? What could be better? Hopefully, we will get some good pictures then.

The great thing about our school is that we have so many vacations! It seems like every other week is a four-day week. I'm not complaining! It gives us lots of chances to do fun things. Also, the month of Ramadan is approaching, and we can't wait to experience it. All Muslims fast during the day. They can't smoke or even drink water. (Our students should be especially cranky.) Then, at night they have a big party and eat. I guess they stay up most of the night. We are looking forward to seeing what it's like. Maybe we'll even fast. I don't know, though. I like my food. Our old neighbors keep telling us how great the food is during Ramadan. It sounds like a month-long Christmas, only Islamic style.

We haven't been doing that much really. Just work and trying to learn Arabic. I want to start taking pictures of life in Cairo, just the small details like donkey carts and people carrying buckets of cement on their heads, etc. I'll see what I can do!

Tuesday, September 21

Ah, life in Cairo....It has its daily ups and downs. Things are great here. Yet, at the same time, they can be so frustrating. We realize that we are entering that stage of culture shock where you begin to think that things in your country are done so much better. Cairo is teaching us patience, though. Our latest dillema is that we can't seem to get a bank account open. In the U.S. when you want to open an account, you go to the bank with some money and an I.D. You walk out with a bank account.

In Egypt, you work on it for a month, maybe two. It's really our school that is the problem. We work for an administrator who doesn't manage her own money and she doesn't even know where to buy stamps. She has no concept of the problem it creates for us when we can't open a bank account. Much in Egypt is like this. It can be very bureaucratic and slow. Then, all of a sudden, someone will say, "All you need to do is this." You've been struggling for months to get something accomplished, and then, miraculously, it is solved! We're hoping this happens with the bank problem.

We have a new appreciation for the efficiency in America. Anything you want, you get yourself. There is no middle-person. Here, even to get copies at school there are four people to go through. The three girls to take the copies down, and the people who make the copies. I haven't seen a copier since I've been here.

At the same time, there is a desire to be more like the Egyptians. I was telling my students how many people live their lives working a job they don't like, coming home, eating supper, watching T.V., and then going to sleep to get up and do it all again the next day. They said, "Oh no. We enjoy who we work with. We go home and socialize with family or friends." There is an element of trying to enjoy life even at work. No one wants to work so much that they are msierable. There's also a much stronger need for human relationships, I think. I wonder if this comes from the fact that there isn't as much drinking here. Men fratenize with men all the time.

There's a big difference between male-male relationships in Cairo. Men hug, kiss on the cheeks, and touch each other constantly. I even saw two men crossing the street holding hands. It's so much different than the way touchy male relationships are taboo in the U.S. It takes some getting used to when you see if so often. The guys at school are always hanging on each other. It's almost nice not to have so many social restraints when it comes to touching friends, etc.

We are looking forward to a shorter week at work with the students. We have to go to a conference on Thursday, but it is still one less day of teaching this week.

Our small, but pleasant balcony. It overlooks a big pit of garbage, but, hey, it's a balcony and it has a great breeze at night. 

Our bathroom. Everything is a different shade of green. I love the funky rugs. 

Our kitchen. Notice the plant coming in our window. We leave the windows open all the time. We get a great breeze through the kitchen. 

Our dining room. We could have a dinner party! 

Other half of our living room (the doors lead to the dining room). I don't think they could fit one more vase or odd decoration on the bookshelf. 

Our living room. Joe's taking it easy on our 80's syle couch. 

A view from our balcony. 

Our 11th grade class. Notice, baby blue is the color de jour. They love it here. 

Saturday, September 18

Joe and I are finallly starting to settle into our new place, the pace of school, and the pace of life here in Cairo. It feels as if we are constantly running errands, and we have no time to just sit when we get home from school. We always find ourselves going out for one thing or another. It's probably because there aren't many centralized shopping markets here. No Target or Walmart where you can do one-stop shopping. Instead, we make separate trips for various items. For example, we can't get single vegetables and fruits at the nearby market, so we have to make a trip to a vegetable and fruit stand. We are always walking, so we can't buy that much at a time. It's not like HEB or HyVee where I can load up on groceries for a month. There aren't as many frozen, quick items to buy either, so we are always feeling as if there's nothing to eat! In reality, there's nothing quick to throw into the microwave. At least it means we have to cook and eat non-processed foods.

When we went to the hash a couple of weeks ago, we met some teachers from another American school here in Egypt, so last night we all got together for a Mexican food potluck. It was nice to get together with a larger group of people. The food wasn't half bad, considering we had to make do with the pitas instead of tortillas, yogurt instead of sour cream, etc. It sounds like the teachers at the other school have the same exact problems we have. No resources, lousy administration, unruly kids, etc. Joe says, that no matter where we go, the teacher's are just a variation of each other. We all seem to be the same, with slight personality differences.

For those of you who like sports, we found out that we could watch American football and sports here, but we would have to have more extensive satelite. Neither Joe or I really care to get it, though. Joe was wanting to watch it the other day. He said it would make him feel more like he was at home. Oh well, if he's desperate, he can call up the teachers from the other school who have it. So far, we only have BBC World and a station called Channel 2. It's a hodge-podge of American programming. It seems they like to play the same shows over and over again that we wouldn't watch in the States. Occasionaly, though, I can catch Oprah or a decent movie.

I'm going to post a few pictures of our new apartment. Notice the glamorous decor and stylish mix-match furniture. It is so much comfortable than our last place, though.

Tuesday, September 14

We have been so busy at school and after school there has hardly been a moment to write. We spent our first full night at home tonight, in what has probably been weeks. Unfortunately, it was all grading papers and cleaning. We like this apartment so much better. There's an incredible breeze (of course, this includes Cairo dust, but who cares!), and it is so much cozier. Once we get everything put away, we promise to send new pics.
As for today, there's not much news. Stay tuned for the next adventure that arises!

Saturday, September 11

We've just woken up after sleeping for about 12 hours. We spent all day yesterday on a school trip to Ain Sohkna. It's a little place in the middle of the desert on the Red Sea. It really was nice. The sand and the water were perfect. The weather was great. The water is a little extra salty so you are even more bouyant than in the ocean. One of the Egyptian teachers has a chalet there, so we were able to use her place.

The funny thing is that the chalet, or "mansion" as the kids called it, was really just a house by U.S. standards. However, by Egyptian standards it had a lot of space with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a large patio. It was really nice of Sara, the teacher, to let us all come in and use her home.

As for the class trip, we are still trying to adjust to Egyptian ways. It's so weird! We tried to make the kids sit in their seats during the two hour bus ride. It was a losing battle. I finally asked a student if they ever sat down in the bus on the way to school. They said that they pretty much did what they wanted. When I explained that in the U.S. it was considered unsafe, the students said, "In Egypt, everything is safe." This couldn't be more true and untrue. Many of the things they do would be unsafe in our eyes, but they consider everything safe!

We decided that we would let it go, because it was exhausting yelling at them to sit down. We realized after that the principal lets them do it because she even lost her sunglasses while sticking her head out the window. It was also weird because as soon as we got to the house, the students went anywhere they wanted. We hardly saw them the whole time.

That meant that Joe, Carly, Kelly, and I had a wonderful time swimming and resting on the beach. Joe found a live sand dollar. We had never seen one before. The kids brought us a couple of crabs and a jellyfish, all of which were dead. The weird thing about the Red Sea was that it didn't get deeper like an ocean or lake would. It was very shallow for a long ways. Even past a long pier there were still little sand bars that you could stand on. Joe, of couse, joined the boys in jumping off the pier. I really was going to but the lifeguard came and yelled at us to come back into the swimming area. In reality, I was a little relieved. I'm such a chicken.

In all, it was a fun day, but exhausting so we are recooperating today.

Our sand mosque.  

Some of our students. Notice the teachers are the least dressed. 

A view of the beach from the pier. 

September 9th, 2004

Well, we have now finished our first full week of school and it looks as if the school will be pretty normal compared to schools back home. Many of the same problems already, such as kids pretending to be lost, determining who will be your favorite class, etc. It is the differences, though, that are truly amazing. We have been very surprised about the fear of failure many of the students have. I think most of this is not really knowing what to expect from the American system. In the national system, they are required to memorize vast amounts of information. So when I give a lesson and I don't give them any dates to memorize or notes, they become very concerned that there is something they are missing. Yesterday, I had a girl come after class and ask if there was any part of the chapter I would recommend for her to study. This wouldn't be a big deal, except that we are nowhere near taking any exams or anything.

Some of the differences are down-right funny. I was having my PE class with the youngest grades (playing soccer of all things), when the girl's coach and I could have sworn that we heard one of the boys say the word, "Shit" when he made a mistake. I called him over and asked him if he said a bad word.
He replied, "No sir, I did not say a bad word."
Me:"Well, we could of swore that we heard you say the "S" word."
Student: "No, I did not say ass. I said shit."
Me: "You said what?"
Student: "I said, that I said shit, not ass."
(Trying to compose myself) Me: "Well, Shit is a bad word, much worse than ass. You should not use this word."
Student: "Okay sir, I am sorry. I will not say it again."

Only later did I learn that many of these kids don't realize that this is a bad word because they hear it so much on t.v. and in the movies. I guess I can't really blame them. One little girl told us that her grandparents use this word all the time and they don't even speak English.

Anyway, it is the weekend now, but we will still see the kids tomorrow. We are chaperoning a trip to Ain Sokna, which is some beach resort somewhere. I don't know. We hear from everybody that it is beautiful there though. We'll send pictures if it is nice.

Life at school Sept. 7, 2004

We have been so busy lately. We have found an apartment! Joe and I have been pounding the pavement once again each day looking for a place to move into. We already told our present landlord that we would only be staying a month, and we had nowhere to move to. We got really desperate when the simsaar (apartment finder) started to take us to our own apartment! He said he knew of a place where they took dogs and the couple was moving out at the end of October. We started walking toward our apartment and when we said our address we all had a good laugh. I lost sleep that night, however, not knowing if there were any apartments available anywhere in the area. It's crazy how it can be so difficult to find an apartment in a city this size. There seem to be empty balconies and buildings all over the place, but then there are no apartments to be had. It's not like you can just go to an apartment complex where apartments are opening up all the time.

We came back to the simsaar the next day, though, and he showed us a pretty good apartment. It's bigger than what we have now. It has a balcony and (yeah!!!!) an automatic washer. The floor is even wood instead of the all-over, glistening black tile that we have now. I think that we will be pretty comfortable there. The landlord has three children, and his son goes to the same school that we teach at but at a different campus. We had to drive a hard bargain, but we got a pretty decent price. (Today, the landlord said I was a good bargainer.) They seem to be very nice people and they live next door. They kept trying to impress us with the fact that no one can come upstairs unless we send the elevator down. Not only that, but no one can walk upstairs because there's an iron door blocking the stairs. Deluxe security :)

As for school, where do I begin. Our students are very normal. It took a few days for things to work themselves out. There were diagnostic tests to be given, and then we have the most messed up teaching schedule that may ever have existed. Every day the students and teachers have a completely new schedule. Some days, they have double periods of some subjects. Some days they have a single period. Some days they don't meet at all! I'm surprised that the students don't just wander around looking stupified (okay, many of them do). It's so hard as a teacher knowing what class is coming in next, especially when you teach 8 different classes.

However, taking that all in stride, we realize how great we have it. Today, the teachers were sitting around complaining about the students (yes, all teachers do this), and then, we realized - we were complaining about how hard the kids were working!! We were talking about how they wanted to copy down everything from the board, how they wanted to write all their assignments in complete sentences, and how they wanted to write essays instead of a few ideas. They are constantly asking questions. They worry excessively about each and every assignment. They want to know how exactly they should do everything. Much of this comes from the British and national systems where they have to learn a great deal by rote. Today, I even had two students stand up at their desk to answer a question in class.

I've also noticed that the students are more innocent here. They seem like they are maturing at a slower rate than students in the U.S. I think I've mentioned that they are all about two years younger than students in the States. My seniors are only about 16. However, I have to treat them much like middle school students. They don't seem to have the same kinds of problems and responsibilities as students in the U.S. at their age. On the other hand, they are much more responsible about their school work. They are very concerned with passing the S.A.T. and getting into unversities to be engineers, doctors, and pharmacists. These are the sought after positions.

The work they produce is very well done and neat. It's a shock for me after working in San Antonio. I don't know if one type of students is better or worse, just different. All in all, as we settle in, it gets easier. We will see how we feel in a couple of months.

Saturday, September 4

We finally made it to a Hash with Tom and Betsy. Every Friday the British Club organizes a run/walk way out in the desert. Afterwards, they have drinks together. It's really all quite silly. They have all these rules and rituals. If it's your first Hash, for example, you have to go in the center of the circle and chug a beer while they sing a song. Last night, the theme was "Rehydration," so they had set up eight stops in the desert. A different country hosted each stop with a drink from their country, so there were gin gimlets at the English stop, whiskey sours at the Scottish stop, screwdrivers at the Norwegian stop, and Long Island iced teas at the U.S. stop. These were just a few. They also had snacks representative of their country. The U.S. had Doritos! To say the least, it was a crazy night. Mixing all that alcohol proved very disastrous for me. Joe, on the other hand, stood up to the challenge.

The location of the Hash was a wadi. I'm not quite sure what that means exactly. We were way out in the desert and there were many buttes, I guess I would say. We climbed up and down a few of them. The view from the top was amazing. Sand for as far as you can see. We could see all the way to our school, even with the smog. The sad thing was that there was so much garbage out there. Apparently, there is a dump nearby where they burn garbage. However, some people are lazy and drop their garbage on the side of the road before they reach the dump. There are trash bags heaped along the whole desert road. When we got out to the wadi, there were tons of plastic bags caught in the desert brush. Think of all the plastic bags in this world. I think half of them had blown out into the wadi.

Despite the trash, it was a really cool sight. There was a nice breeze out there so it wasn't intensely hot. The weather has actually been cooling off a little. Instead of being insanely hot, now it's just hot. Today, we are going to try to have a quiet day alone. We will see what happens. Being alone in a city of about 20 million is virtually impossible. We are anxiously waiting to see if our laundry comes back to us. We were fed up with the "washing machine" so we sent it out to be laundered. Of course, we could barely communicate to the boy who picked up. I think I told him to wash and iron it. We think we're getting it back today.

We hope that all is well in the U.S. We are thinking of all of you.

Sunset in the desert. 

A view of the desert. 

Joe and I. Notice Joe received his first Cairo haircut. 

Hiking across the "pristine" desert. 

Carly, Betsy, Me (with my eyes closed of course) and Betsy's friend Amena - all feeling very happy. 

Wednesday, Sept 1

Today was the first day of school, well, with the the kids at least. It should turn out to be a pretty fun year. We spent the day in our homerooms, myself with 10th graders and Emily with the 11th graders. Not much was accomplished though. Mostly we tested their knowledge of English, math, and science and attempted to learn all their names. This proved to be very difficult. I had about 4-6 Ahmeds, several Mohameds, and a handful of Amrs. Even though we have become somewhat familiar with these names, they are still very difficult to say correctly.
The students are quite an interesting bunch. About half the students are very comfortable with each other because they went to school together last year and enrollment was around sixty kids. It is still a fairly small program. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 kids, grades 6-12. It is kind of funny because the principle is worried about us having more than 20 students in a class. This would be small compared to a typical American high school class which could be 30 or more. I think that kids are kids no matter where they are from. We have the goody-two-shoe students who ask too many questions, the groups of girls who can't stop talking, the seniors guys who are just too cool to participate, and everything in-between. One positive/negative aspect is that the parents are spending a lot of money by sending their kids to our school so they will be very active in their children's education.
Tonight we started our search again for a new apartment. I think we will try and look at one new place everyday until we find something. We were very surprised that we were able to talk to the bowab of the building we were looking at. It was an unfurnished, three-bedroom apartment that was very big, but also a little expensive. We may try and talk the landlord down, but I think we can find something a little bit better.