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.
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