Some of the students.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Friday, December 23
Yesterday was our last day of school before the break, but luckily we went on a field trip instead. We didn't have to reign in the kids at school. We just let them go wild on a bus trip instead! We were supposed to set out for El Alamein, a site of a World War II battle on the Mediterranean coast at 7 a.m. SHARP (as the permission slip told the students). Joe, Tom, and I, fools that we are, arrived at 6:40 a.m. No students, no bus. The students trickled in slowly by 7:30-7:45 (That's "sharp" isn't it?). Still, no bus. The woman who arranged the trip for us, assured us that the driver was lost on a nearby street. He must have been because he didn't arrive until an hour and a half later at 8:30 a.m. Not only that, but winter has finally arrived, so we spent a cold morning out on the sidewalk waiting.
The trip was a long one, especially since we were just going to see a small museum and cemetery, but we survived. It took about 4 hours there and back. The students, of course, amused themselves by watching Arabic movies, playing the tabla (drum) they had brought along, listening to their MP3s and playing on the bus microphone.
It was a gray and rainy day, but in the end I think that added to the mood. One student remarked that she felt it was very "romantic" that it rained while we were in the cemetery. The museum wasn't much, but the students liked climbing all over the tanks. One student said, "I'm pretty sure you can't do this in an American museum." Joe and I readily agreed.
We went to the cemetery where the students had to pick a gravestone and write about the soldier's life for extra credit. My pregnancy hormones decided to kick in and I found myself crying over the inscriptions. Looking back, they weren't that profound, but at the time they were tearing my heart out. Things like "To the world he was a soldier, to me he was the world" and "He comes to me upon the wind and the air, and lives within my heart." The kids all thought I was nuts, even when I tried to tell them this was just a side-effect of pregnancy. It's funny how all of the sudden I'll start sobbing about something. I'm sitting there thinking, what on earth are you crying about and knowing that I'm going to keep crying anyway.
We toured the British and German cemetery and headed back. We were surprisingly only an hour and a half behind schedule. That's pretty darn good for a field trip at our school. No one ever returns on time.
Today, it's the start of our vacation. I think I'll do all my work right away, so I can just lounge the rest of the week. Maybe we'll make some homemade chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chips we received in our Christmas package. That will be a treat.
I know I'm going to enjoy these days of quiet, even though we won't be doing much for Christmas. We can't wait to call everyone during their Christmas celebrations.
The trip was a long one, especially since we were just going to see a small museum and cemetery, but we survived. It took about 4 hours there and back. The students, of course, amused themselves by watching Arabic movies, playing the tabla (drum) they had brought along, listening to their MP3s and playing on the bus microphone.
It was a gray and rainy day, but in the end I think that added to the mood. One student remarked that she felt it was very "romantic" that it rained while we were in the cemetery. The museum wasn't much, but the students liked climbing all over the tanks. One student said, "I'm pretty sure you can't do this in an American museum." Joe and I readily agreed.
We went to the cemetery where the students had to pick a gravestone and write about the soldier's life for extra credit. My pregnancy hormones decided to kick in and I found myself crying over the inscriptions. Looking back, they weren't that profound, but at the time they were tearing my heart out. Things like "To the world he was a soldier, to me he was the world" and "He comes to me upon the wind and the air, and lives within my heart." The kids all thought I was nuts, even when I tried to tell them this was just a side-effect of pregnancy. It's funny how all of the sudden I'll start sobbing about something. I'm sitting there thinking, what on earth are you crying about and knowing that I'm going to keep crying anyway.
We toured the British and German cemetery and headed back. We were surprisingly only an hour and a half behind schedule. That's pretty darn good for a field trip at our school. No one ever returns on time.
Today, it's the start of our vacation. I think I'll do all my work right away, so I can just lounge the rest of the week. Maybe we'll make some homemade chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chips we received in our Christmas package. That will be a treat.
I know I'm going to enjoy these days of quiet, even though we won't be doing much for Christmas. We can't wait to call everyone during their Christmas celebrations.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Friday, December 16
Today was the senior's carnival at school. Joe and I both volunteered to have shaving cream pies thrown at us. We were good sports, even though the kids cheated and ran up to smear the pies in our faces. Their carnival was pretty good. They were having a concert afterwards tonight, but we decided that might just be a little too much fun for one day.
Not much else going on this weekend. One more week of school before vacation!
Not much else going on this weekend. One more week of school before vacation!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Sunday, December 11
I went to my first Christmas pageant in Egypt tonight. It was at the Ma'adi Community Church. One of our coworkers invited me to go. It was pretty good, although Mary's interpretive dance during "O Come, O Come Emanuel" made me raise my eyebrows. The best part was the real donkey Mary rode, and the real camels the three kings arrived on. Egypt has to be the only place with real animals in its Christmas pageant.
Joe and I have decided to try to get ourselves in the mood. We went last night to buy a Christmas "tree." It's actually more like a bush. It cost us 50 L.E. which is less than 10 bucks. It came in a clay pot, and they delivered it, so it seemed worth it. Once we get it decorated, I'll post a picture. We figure after Christmas it will add some green to our balcony. We got a nice poinsetta for the table too. We made Christmas sugar cookies, and listened to some Christmas music.
It's not the same, though. We are going to make our best attempt, but when you get down to it, Christmas is about being with friends and family.
This is about the time of year when Egypt really starts to wear on your nerves. We have less than two weeks before our Christmas break. Thank goodness. It's hard to get ourselves out of bed in the mornings these days. At least we know that we have our vacation to Hungary and Slovenia in January. Then, we have another two week vacation. I think we only have about 12 days of teaching in January. Those are all testing and review days. Thank you, Egypt.
Egypt gets on our nerves at this time of the year for a few reasons. Number one - the smog is terrible right now. They burn the fields or something, so you feel like you're smoking a cigarette or inhaling exhaust as you ride through the city. Yuck. It should get better soon, though.
The other thing that wears on us is how difficult everything is. As you know, our dog is "special." She gets sick off of almost every dog food made, so she's been sick repeatedly in the last couple of weeks all because they don't have the type of dog food that doesn't make her sick. The thing is, you never know where to get things in Egypt or when you'll be able to find something at a particular market. We have to search out her dog food at random markets, and now there seems to be a shortage in Egypt.
Grocery shopping in Egypt is one big pain. We usually make the rounds to three or four markets a week, collecting everything we need. One week we'll see the sandwich meat or cereal we like at a store. The next week it will be gone. I've told Joe I'm going to go around to all the markets, take notes on all the random things they have, build a big supermarket, and put everything in it. There's a reason why we have Super-Walmarts, Hy-vees, and HEBs. They make sense! The only reprieve is that everything can be delivered to our door. Now, we go to the store, do our shopping, and have them deliver it to our door a while later.
I think the weather actually bothers us at this time of year too. It's still really nice. It's much warmer than last year, so far. However, I wouldn't mind a little snow or winter. I know you all want me to shut up since I've been hearing how cold it is in the States lately. Maybe you can understand when I say, Christmas isn't very Christmas-y without a little cold and snow. This is the only time I'll actually want cold.
Other than my griping, things are going well. The pregnancy is going pretty well. The thought of shopping or searching for any type of maternity clothing is beginning to terrify me. It's out there. I just have to put the leg work into finding it. Before long, I won't have a choice, although everybody says I'm not showing at all yet. Not much longer, though.
Joe and I have decided to try to get ourselves in the mood. We went last night to buy a Christmas "tree." It's actually more like a bush. It cost us 50 L.E. which is less than 10 bucks. It came in a clay pot, and they delivered it, so it seemed worth it. Once we get it decorated, I'll post a picture. We figure after Christmas it will add some green to our balcony. We got a nice poinsetta for the table too. We made Christmas sugar cookies, and listened to some Christmas music.
It's not the same, though. We are going to make our best attempt, but when you get down to it, Christmas is about being with friends and family.
This is about the time of year when Egypt really starts to wear on your nerves. We have less than two weeks before our Christmas break. Thank goodness. It's hard to get ourselves out of bed in the mornings these days. At least we know that we have our vacation to Hungary and Slovenia in January. Then, we have another two week vacation. I think we only have about 12 days of teaching in January. Those are all testing and review days. Thank you, Egypt.
Egypt gets on our nerves at this time of the year for a few reasons. Number one - the smog is terrible right now. They burn the fields or something, so you feel like you're smoking a cigarette or inhaling exhaust as you ride through the city. Yuck. It should get better soon, though.
The other thing that wears on us is how difficult everything is. As you know, our dog is "special." She gets sick off of almost every dog food made, so she's been sick repeatedly in the last couple of weeks all because they don't have the type of dog food that doesn't make her sick. The thing is, you never know where to get things in Egypt or when you'll be able to find something at a particular market. We have to search out her dog food at random markets, and now there seems to be a shortage in Egypt.
Grocery shopping in Egypt is one big pain. We usually make the rounds to three or four markets a week, collecting everything we need. One week we'll see the sandwich meat or cereal we like at a store. The next week it will be gone. I've told Joe I'm going to go around to all the markets, take notes on all the random things they have, build a big supermarket, and put everything in it. There's a reason why we have Super-Walmarts, Hy-vees, and HEBs. They make sense! The only reprieve is that everything can be delivered to our door. Now, we go to the store, do our shopping, and have them deliver it to our door a while later.
I think the weather actually bothers us at this time of year too. It's still really nice. It's much warmer than last year, so far. However, I wouldn't mind a little snow or winter. I know you all want me to shut up since I've been hearing how cold it is in the States lately. Maybe you can understand when I say, Christmas isn't very Christmas-y without a little cold and snow. This is the only time I'll actually want cold.
Other than my griping, things are going well. The pregnancy is going pretty well. The thought of shopping or searching for any type of maternity clothing is beginning to terrify me. It's out there. I just have to put the leg work into finding it. Before long, I won't have a choice, although everybody says I'm not showing at all yet. Not much longer, though.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Wednesday, November 30
Well, here he or she is. Joe and I got our first ultrasound tonight! I was expecting it and then the doctor told us it wasn't possible. I was really disappointed. He let us listen to the baby's heartbeat, and then after talking with the nurse he said we could get it. It was so much fun seeing the baby for the first time. It makes it so much more real.
Those of you who know what a fainter I am would be proud to know that I made it through having my blood drawn again without fainting. For the first doctor's visit they drew something like four big vials. I was out faster than you could blink. It was very embarrassing waking up not knowing where I was. I did better this time. I suppose I'll just have to keep getting used to it.
That's about all that is new. The pictures aren't that clear because I took them with the camera, but you can click on them for a closer view.
Those of you who know what a fainter I am would be proud to know that I made it through having my blood drawn again without fainting. For the first doctor's visit they drew something like four big vials. I was out faster than you could blink. It was very embarrassing waking up not knowing where I was. I did better this time. I suppose I'll just have to keep getting used to it.
That's about all that is new. The pictures aren't that clear because I took them with the camera, but you can click on them for a closer view.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
