100 days and counting!

[Swine flu came to AIS this week. We sent our entire grade 8 class home on Sunday afternoon, after one student reported a confirmed case. For the record, 8th graders do not follow instructions via email any better than they do in person. I'm just saying. E-learning is so far a disaster in the making.]

Tomorrow, November 26, will mark 100 days of living in Cairo and 'working' at AIS. I have seen students for 39 of those days.

For once I do not feel like I am living my life counting down to another significant event, or waiting for something else to happen. If you know me well, you know this is extremely unusual.

There are days where I don't even feel like I live in a different country, and then I open my “Egypt eyes” and I see that in fact everything is different.

Just like with life anywhere, at any time, there are good days and bad. Recently my mom summarized my experience to a colleague as “frustrating.” Perhaps because she bears the brunt of my bad news, this would appear to be the case. I have days of amazing inefficiency where I think “this country needs Shannon in charge.”

As the weather has cooled off, so too have the people - they're less charged and excited, and more patient with my non-existent arabic, or the fact that I still cannot effectively give a taxi driver directions (in any language) to my apartment.

Just after a series of really bad, exhausting days where I didn't think I was going to make it, my mind flicked a switch and I thought “hm, I could do this for a while.” I'm not sure how long it takes for a place to become your home, but maybe it's around the 100 day mark? Rhythm, language learning and becoming familiar with my surroundings has a lot to do with it. So does making new friends.

I love teaching middle school French way more than I ever expected. Teaching high school was great too, but right now I find their innocence refreshing. We seem to play a lot, and they seem to enjoy themselves.

I am thankful for my 4 Grade 8 French students, who help me with my Arabic homework, and who have taught me so much about Egypt from the eyes of 13 year old RICH kids. One of the little guys recently said to me “Mees, promise you will never go in metro again. There are bad people on metro.” I fail to tell him that I use the metro often and have had zero problems. Rich Egyptians don't take the metro, and see it as a status thing.

I will be celebrating 100 days in this country by heading for the Eid break to Bahariyah, an oasis at the edge of the Black and White dessssssert (still can't spell that dumb word right...). We will be bedouin camping for one night, and then heading to a hotel for relaxation and enjoyment. I am looking forward to catching more sun, sleeping in, and reading for fun. Christmas music on my MP3 player is in there too, but desert Oases and Christmas Carols don't seem to go well.

Salam. Peace out. Love from Cairo.