At the Ibn Tulun Mosque. Joe and Jan have been getting their "money's worth" seeing all the sites. They'll spend the next day just taking it easy.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
Thursday, June 23
Joe's parents have arrived! They arrived safely this afternoon. They are, of course, exhausted. I'm proud of them. They stayed up until 10 pm. That's pretty good after 24 hours of travel.
We're going to enjoy the next couple of weeks showing them around. It's interesting to see Cairo through a fresh perspective. I'm sure we'll be taking lots of pictures to put up on the site.
We're going to enjoy the next couple of weeks showing them around. It's interesting to see Cairo through a fresh perspective. I'm sure we'll be taking lots of pictures to put up on the site.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Friday, June 17
It's just after midnight here. We finished final exams today. Just two weeks of work days left. (Sigh) It doesn't feel like the end at all. I spent an interesting night tonight with the senior girls. One of the teachers invited me to join her and the senior girls at a pool party at her villa.
She lives in "posh" Egyptian-style villa out in a housing development in the middle of the desert. There are so many of these villas going up in the desert where the land is cheap. She has a lovely pool in her backyard and grass! It was an all girls party so Joe was not invited. Normally, the girls who wear "hijab" (head scarves) cannot swim in front of men, so it was nice to hang out with the girls when they could just be themselves. We swam, lounged around, and ate dinner. It was nice to hang out with the girls on a more personal level. It was interesting because I thought to myself, "I could never do this in the States." People would really look at you strangely if you told them you were hanging out with your students in a teacher's bedroom. The teacher/student relationship is very different. In some ways good, but in other ways difficult for us to adjust to.
It's weird also to see teachers and students without their headscarves. I almost didn't recognize one girl. It's interesting because I can't tell Joe anything about their hair. I think I've mentioned this before. He says it makes him so curious. I find that to be true. I often wonder what my students' hair looks like under their veil. One thing is for sure, I am not going to stare at anyone who is veiled again. When I first got here, I couldn't help staring at women in burqas. Now it's a very normal thing to see.
It's getting late, so I might end here. We are counting the days until Joe's parents arrive and until we can travel home for vacation. Can't wait!
She lives in "posh" Egyptian-style villa out in a housing development in the middle of the desert. There are so many of these villas going up in the desert where the land is cheap. She has a lovely pool in her backyard and grass! It was an all girls party so Joe was not invited. Normally, the girls who wear "hijab" (head scarves) cannot swim in front of men, so it was nice to hang out with the girls when they could just be themselves. We swam, lounged around, and ate dinner. It was nice to hang out with the girls on a more personal level. It was interesting because I thought to myself, "I could never do this in the States." People would really look at you strangely if you told them you were hanging out with your students in a teacher's bedroom. The teacher/student relationship is very different. In some ways good, but in other ways difficult for us to adjust to.
It's weird also to see teachers and students without their headscarves. I almost didn't recognize one girl. It's interesting because I can't tell Joe anything about their hair. I think I've mentioned this before. He says it makes him so curious. I find that to be true. I often wonder what my students' hair looks like under their veil. One thing is for sure, I am not going to stare at anyone who is veiled again. When I first got here, I couldn't help staring at women in burqas. Now it's a very normal thing to see.
It's getting late, so I might end here. We are counting the days until Joe's parents arrive and until we can travel home for vacation. Can't wait!
Monday, June 13, 2005
June 12, 2005
Usually Emily does the blogs, but since it's been about six months I figure I'm due.
I know that we've discussed Egyptians' fascination with our dog, but there were some interesting things that happened over the weekend.
Thursday night our doorbell rang and when I answered, I found our teenage neighbor and about ten of her friends. Apparently, they were having an end-of-the-school-year party. Anyway, I think they were playing our equivalent of "Truth or Dare." The "dare" for one of the girls was to come over and pet our dog, which she was unwilling to do. After a few minutes of the typical giddiness, they went back to their apartment. Then, the dad (Kamel) came over to ask us if we could bring our dog over to scare the girls, which we were happy to do. We spent the next twenty minutes showing off Leia's tricks and the girls were finally able to touch the dog. Only after I locked her head between my legs, though. Before we left, the eldest son asked if we could bring our dog back the next night when his friends were going to be there. Interestingly, the one that seemed the most afraid of the dog was Kamel, who happens to be a rather large, tough individual. Apparently, having a dog brought to your house in Egypt might be compared to bringing a lion over in the States.
Today, our school brought us to Mogamma, an enormous government building, to finally get our resident visas. Everyone assured us that this would be our last time to have to go. (This was our fifth or sixth visit, mind you) We were hopeful, but we had our doubts. The man from the school who is responsible for all our documents (Sameer) sat us down and handed us the papers to fill out. At this point we got very upset. The papers he gave us happened to be the very same documents we had filled out twice already! To make a long story short, we did not get our visas. We have pretty much given up on the hope of ever getting our resident visas. We can't place all the blame on Sameer, but on the inefficiency of the Egyptian beaurocratic system. I mean, there are no computers used. They still do all this by hand! Before you go to bed tonight, I want you all to thank God for being in America.
To end on a positive note, we are getting very excited to have my parents visiting us soon. We are going to hit the typical Egyptian sites and top it off with a relaxing few days in the beach resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. Then its back to America for about a month. Yeah!!!!!!!
I know that we've discussed Egyptians' fascination with our dog, but there were some interesting things that happened over the weekend.
Thursday night our doorbell rang and when I answered, I found our teenage neighbor and about ten of her friends. Apparently, they were having an end-of-the-school-year party. Anyway, I think they were playing our equivalent of "Truth or Dare." The "dare" for one of the girls was to come over and pet our dog, which she was unwilling to do. After a few minutes of the typical giddiness, they went back to their apartment. Then, the dad (Kamel) came over to ask us if we could bring our dog over to scare the girls, which we were happy to do. We spent the next twenty minutes showing off Leia's tricks and the girls were finally able to touch the dog. Only after I locked her head between my legs, though. Before we left, the eldest son asked if we could bring our dog back the next night when his friends were going to be there. Interestingly, the one that seemed the most afraid of the dog was Kamel, who happens to be a rather large, tough individual. Apparently, having a dog brought to your house in Egypt might be compared to bringing a lion over in the States.
Today, our school brought us to Mogamma, an enormous government building, to finally get our resident visas. Everyone assured us that this would be our last time to have to go. (This was our fifth or sixth visit, mind you) We were hopeful, but we had our doubts. The man from the school who is responsible for all our documents (Sameer) sat us down and handed us the papers to fill out. At this point we got very upset. The papers he gave us happened to be the very same documents we had filled out twice already! To make a long story short, we did not get our visas. We have pretty much given up on the hope of ever getting our resident visas. We can't place all the blame on Sameer, but on the inefficiency of the Egyptian beaurocratic system. I mean, there are no computers used. They still do all this by hand! Before you go to bed tonight, I want you all to thank God for being in America.
To end on a positive note, we are getting very excited to have my parents visiting us soon. We are going to hit the typical Egyptian sites and top it off with a relaxing few days in the beach resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. Then its back to America for about a month. Yeah!!!!!!!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Thursday, June 10
The week has gone quickly. Time has gotten away from us. It was our first week of finals, and we haven't been working too hard this week. We go in at 7:30 and finish by 2:30. Not too bad. It's just boring sitting around while the students take their tests.
We're always wondering about the thinking in Egypt. They've been digging up a spot at the end our street for some time now. As we were walking home late tonight, we noticed they were once again working on digging the hole. The length of time isn't the odd thing. We do that in America as well. The funny thing is that there's always a group of men just hanging out and talking around the hole.
This is a common thing in Egypt. There's always a group of men around. If people get in an accident, a group of strangers gathers to resolve the conflict. Our students do this also. If there's a problem between them, they all gather around to solve the problem. Everything is so community oriented.
Another interesting difference - the other day we came home from school to find a man and his son making mattresses in our driveway. The beds here are really just homemade mattresses placed on boards on a frame. We miss our bed and comforters! Box springs are not used here. Forget PosturePedic or Serta, etc. The Egyptian brand of mattress is homemade and handsewn. Yet another example of how you can get any service straight to your home.
Joe and I are excited because we might actually be getting our work visas on Sunday. We've thought we were getting them several times this year, but every time we end up having to wait or needing another document. Things can be very bureaucratic here. We'll see how many hours we spend in "Mogamma", the central government office building. There are always people pushing to the windows (forget lines), and they typically send you from window to window getting stamps, forms, etc. We pretty much think they just don't feel like working at that particular window. The funny thing is that nothing and I mean nothing, is computerized. I can't imagine how they can control the visas and passports of so many people without a single computer. Everything is handwritten. Egypt still uses carbon paper. The thing is that if they computerized, a lot of people would be out of work. They even have jobs for people to sell tea and soda at the government building. Many things are kept the way they are because of the need for jobs. Joe and I always want to shout, "There's a better way to do this!"
We spent three hours at the veterinarian last night just to get Leia some flea medicine. They don't give appointments (everyone would probably be late anyway). Instead, you take a number and then wait for hours for the vet to see you. Aggravating! We get upset if we wait for a half hour in the States. We have learned patience! It will be interesting to see if our perspective on the pace of life has changed when we return.
We're always wondering about the thinking in Egypt. They've been digging up a spot at the end our street for some time now. As we were walking home late tonight, we noticed they were once again working on digging the hole. The length of time isn't the odd thing. We do that in America as well. The funny thing is that there's always a group of men just hanging out and talking around the hole.
This is a common thing in Egypt. There's always a group of men around. If people get in an accident, a group of strangers gathers to resolve the conflict. Our students do this also. If there's a problem between them, they all gather around to solve the problem. Everything is so community oriented.
Another interesting difference - the other day we came home from school to find a man and his son making mattresses in our driveway. The beds here are really just homemade mattresses placed on boards on a frame. We miss our bed and comforters! Box springs are not used here. Forget PosturePedic or Serta, etc. The Egyptian brand of mattress is homemade and handsewn. Yet another example of how you can get any service straight to your home.
Joe and I are excited because we might actually be getting our work visas on Sunday. We've thought we were getting them several times this year, but every time we end up having to wait or needing another document. Things can be very bureaucratic here. We'll see how many hours we spend in "Mogamma", the central government office building. There are always people pushing to the windows (forget lines), and they typically send you from window to window getting stamps, forms, etc. We pretty much think they just don't feel like working at that particular window. The funny thing is that nothing and I mean nothing, is computerized. I can't imagine how they can control the visas and passports of so many people without a single computer. Everything is handwritten. Egypt still uses carbon paper. The thing is that if they computerized, a lot of people would be out of work. They even have jobs for people to sell tea and soda at the government building. Many things are kept the way they are because of the need for jobs. Joe and I always want to shout, "There's a better way to do this!"
We spent three hours at the veterinarian last night just to get Leia some flea medicine. They don't give appointments (everyone would probably be late anyway). Instead, you take a number and then wait for hours for the vet to see you. Aggravating! We get upset if we wait for a half hour in the States. We have learned patience! It will be interesting to see if our perspective on the pace of life has changed when we return.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Thursday, June 2
Can it really be June 2nd? Can it really be June 2nd, and we still have almost a month of work left? Today was our last day of teaching classes. We begin finals next week. It's very strange because we don't have that celebratory last-day-of-school feeling. It's more like, uh!! Another month! It should be tremendously easy, though, because we only have one two hour exam a day for the next two weeks. After that, we have to go to school for partial days. We're pretty sure it will be like the beginning of the year where we just sat around. Oh well, at least we're getting paid to do nothing.
Only 21 days until Joe's parents arrive! We are looking forward to it. It's a lot of fun to have company and to get to see Egypt through new eyes. We forget what it was like in the beginning.
We haven't been up to much this week. We reserved our tickets to Sharm el-Sheikh, the big Red Sea resort area where we will go with Joe's parents. We got DSL (very exciting to have faster internet since we're always on the Net).
We went this evening to a student's house for coffee. Actually, the family has two students at our school. Joe and I both teach their son, Mostafa, and I teach their daughter, Alaa. We went because there had been a discipline problem with Mostafa at school, and we thought it might help if we got to know him on a more personal level. We invited them to our place, but they turned it around and invited us to their place. (I actually like that better because there is no way I can even begin to be as polite and well-mannered as Egyptians. They have much better etiquette here! It stresses me out to even think of trying. Just imagine coffee served in matching china, silver serving trays, etc., etc.)
We had a pretty good time. Their mom and dad don't speak English very well, but the kids were good about translating, so we managed all right. It was a nice evening. They started inviting us everywhere - out to eat, to their new apartment, to their North Coast vacation spot. Egyptians are hospitable! I am extremely doubtful that there could be a more welcoming and inviting culture out there.
Visiting them makes me realize that I need to keep practicing my Arabic. We have been horrible about studying lately. It's so hard when we speak English to each other. When we are out, many people speak English to us, so it's hard to get practice. I should try speaking to our cleaning woman, but she talks so fast! Joe has a guy in the "alley" behind our house who wants to practice speaking English with him. Everytime Joe goes into his little grocery shop, they say they are going to practice with each other, but it's easier said than done. When you get home from school, you don't exactly feel like going out and sitting with someone to practice trying to speak to each other in two completely different languages. I really would like to know more Arabic, though. It's hard at school sometimes because I don't know what the kids are saying. They could be cursing constantly and I would never know it!
We don't have much planned for the weekend. Rest and relaxation. I hope everyone in the States is getting lots of peace and quiet as well.
Only 21 days until Joe's parents arrive! We are looking forward to it. It's a lot of fun to have company and to get to see Egypt through new eyes. We forget what it was like in the beginning.
We haven't been up to much this week. We reserved our tickets to Sharm el-Sheikh, the big Red Sea resort area where we will go with Joe's parents. We got DSL (very exciting to have faster internet since we're always on the Net).
We went this evening to a student's house for coffee. Actually, the family has two students at our school. Joe and I both teach their son, Mostafa, and I teach their daughter, Alaa. We went because there had been a discipline problem with Mostafa at school, and we thought it might help if we got to know him on a more personal level. We invited them to our place, but they turned it around and invited us to their place. (I actually like that better because there is no way I can even begin to be as polite and well-mannered as Egyptians. They have much better etiquette here! It stresses me out to even think of trying. Just imagine coffee served in matching china, silver serving trays, etc., etc.)
We had a pretty good time. Their mom and dad don't speak English very well, but the kids were good about translating, so we managed all right. It was a nice evening. They started inviting us everywhere - out to eat, to their new apartment, to their North Coast vacation spot. Egyptians are hospitable! I am extremely doubtful that there could be a more welcoming and inviting culture out there.
Visiting them makes me realize that I need to keep practicing my Arabic. We have been horrible about studying lately. It's so hard when we speak English to each other. When we are out, many people speak English to us, so it's hard to get practice. I should try speaking to our cleaning woman, but she talks so fast! Joe has a guy in the "alley" behind our house who wants to practice speaking English with him. Everytime Joe goes into his little grocery shop, they say they are going to practice with each other, but it's easier said than done. When you get home from school, you don't exactly feel like going out and sitting with someone to practice trying to speak to each other in two completely different languages. I really would like to know more Arabic, though. It's hard at school sometimes because I don't know what the kids are saying. They could be cursing constantly and I would never know it!
We don't have much planned for the weekend. Rest and relaxation. I hope everyone in the States is getting lots of peace and quiet as well.
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