Tuesday, September 27

Let's see...it's been a few days. First, Joe is in the air right now on his way back to America for Chris's wedding. He's been looking forward to it so much. I hope he arrives safely and has a great time. Since he's not here, it appears I have a little time to catch up on my blogging.

I spent the day at Dream Park with my 12th-grade students on a "field trip." Dream Park is Egypt's premiere amusement park. To be honest, it's about on the level of Adventure Land in Iowa. We had fun, though. Mostly because I really, really like the 12th-grade class. They are wonderful. They look out for me, take care of each other, and work really hard in school. For example, they try to include me and make me feel comfortable. It's cute, really. On the bus today, they made me come sit with them while they danced in the bus. (It was all girls, so they pulled the curtains and did their belly-dancer-type dancing. They tried to make me, but I'm hopeless.)

During the day, they made sure that I went everywhere with them and that I always had someone to ride with on the rides. They thought it was really funny what a chicken I am when it comes to the rides. I made sure to put on a good show of screaming for them. Okay, maybe it wasn't all a show. I went on all but one ride, though!

They buy my tickets for me and help me order my food when I can't read or speak enough Arabic. They're also so affectionate. I don't remember why, but one of the girls even leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek today. That sounds really weird in American terms, but it's sweet and innocent here. When I told the kids I would be taking a taxi home from school, the boys all said "No way." They suggested that they take me home to make sure I was safe. Honestly, I think they are the most rewarding class I've ever taught. They were even discussing what homework they had to do on the way home, including the quiz they had to study for that Mr. Bearns left for them!

It was a fun day. I got too much sun since I forgot my sunblock, but it was nice not having class. Not to disgust you, but I think that park was designed to make people throw up. We saw two grown men vomit today. Some of our kids came close, but luckily no disasters.

Since all the kids know that Joe is gone, they are very worried about me. For most of them, the idea of staying alone is outrageous. They've never been and probably never will stay alone in their lifetime. They keep asking me if I'm lonely or if I'm scared. I tell them yes to the first question and no to the second. The girls keep insisting that they are going to come over for a pajama party. I'm beginning to wonder if they're actually serious. They really might end up on my doorstep. I guess I better clean! They were joking that they'd just bring over their uniforms for school tomorrow.

I'm really tired from our long day, and I have a very long day of school tomorrow with lots of classes. If anyone seeing this will see Joe soon tell him I miss him, and make sure he has a great time. I know I'm looking forward to the all the goodies he will get from the States, but I wish I could be there with him.

Saturday, Sept. 17

It's been so long since I've written, but that's mainly due to the fact that our phone line was going on and off for about four days. I told my students that our phone wasn't working and they said, "Oh, that's not so bad. It could be your water or electricity." I told them that those had both gone off as well at some point. You just never know what's going to happen in Egypt. I think we've got our phone back again, though.

Not much has been going on. We're enjoying our students this year, so school is going pretty well despite constantly changing schedules. We got a new schedule and I (Emily) was supposed to teach P.E.! No one asked me about this, of course, but I actually didn't mind. I spent the whole period playing soccer with the girls. We even threw around the American football. We'll see how it goes.

Hmm...what else. Oh, apparently, I'm starving my husband. When we went over to the neighbor's he wanted to know why Joe doesn't have a big belly like him. Joe said it's because I'm a vegetarian! He was teasing, of course. I told our neighbor that in America the men helped cook and clean. He was shocked and decided that he had it better as an Egyptian man. They do not lift a finger in the kitchen or home. Joe says, he knows the real truth and American men have it better regardless.

We're still looking for a new apartment. We found one that we liked and accepted it, but then the landlady said she's waiting for the tenant to decide if he wants to stay or go. We have a bad feeling that he'll want to stay. We don't really understand why she's showing the place if he hasn't made up his mind. We think she's trying to force him to decide. The bad thing is we were all ready to take the place, and then this came up. Oh well.

Joe's looking forward to coming home soon! Too bad I'll just have to sit here being jealous. Just over a week and he'll be on that long flight home.

Thursday, September 8

We've made it through our first week of school. It's a lot calmer place this year. We are in our new building which is much bigger. We don't have to share our classrooms as much this year either. All in all, things are going pretty well.

We don't have much going on. A couple of days ago, we went bowling for the first time here. We went to the "international," official bowling alley. You wouldn't believe how modern and fancy it was. You wouldn't expect Egypt to have computerized bowling. The building was pretty ritzy too. The only problem was that our balls kept getting stuck, and the balls themselves were a bit chipped. I guess there was a guy down at the end of the lane who would occasionally walk by and push our balls back into the ball return. The Egyptians don't put their balls back on the racks either. They just walk over and take balls from your ball return area. The little differences... We wen't with our school's discipline supervisor and a couple of the new teachers. The new teachers keep us busy which is great. There's always someone to hang out with and something to do. It's nice having more people at our school.

On a different topic, Joe's looking forward to coming back to the States soon. He's lucky! He gets to miss school for a week and go home. I know he's looking forward to it. Not much longer!

September 3, 2005

We've had our first day of school. It went pretty well considering we got our whiteboards put up the night before. The rooms in our building are barely finished. We have no supplies, no wastebaskets, not much of anything. We did have our students. We sat with them for four hours while they filled out forms and took diagnostic tests. Joe and I are contemplating whether or not we will receive our schedules on Sunday. A very Egyptian beginning. We are looking forward to our classes as they should be smaller this year. Joe is only teaching the 12th graders, which is good because they are a very good class.
After school, we went out with the other teachers for our weekly felucca(small sailboat) ride. The other teachers seem to be adjusting well as they are able to "go with the flow." Afterwards, we went for Indian food at a little restaurant filled with British expatriates.
Other than that, we had a weekend at home where we've been furthuring our handyman/woman skills. We spent the day fixing our leaky refrigerator. Thank God for the internet that teaches us how to do anything. By the time we ever get a home, we should be able to fix everything ourselves. I was joking to Joe that we will return our apartment in better shape than we received it.