Ya miss, I need to go to the nurse!

This 'demand' has brought a smile to my face more than once this year. More than one teacher has said, "these children would go to the nurse for a hangnail if I let them!"

Even more ironic, is that the school does not employ a nurse, it employs 2 full time doctors. The students always say nurse though.

I should add that the nurse/doctor/person in a white lab coat will 95% of the time send the sweet innocent not-so-sick children home if they show up in their office.

Here are my favourites:
-My lips are red, can I see the nurse?

-My glasses are broken, can I see the nurse?
Me: what on earth is the doctor going to do with broken glasses???
-Maybe she has more!

-My cheek is bruised, may I go to the nurse?
Me: if you stop punching yourself in the face it will go away, I promise.

But today's conversation was by far the weirdest ... but I guess everything gets weird when there's 20 days of classes left...

Omar comes to class, very pale and sickly looking. [No confidentiality problems here, I see approx. 65 students named Omar every day...]. Omar asks to go to the bathroom, but does not have his book of passes. Miss says "nope."

Omar "I'm going to puke."
Miss: "Go, but please don't come back. You need to go to the nurse.
Omar: "I puked 1st period. I went to the nurse and she said since I didn't have a fever I had to go back to class."

There's something fishy here. Seriously. Either Omar's not really sick, or he didn't really see the doctor... so Miss goes down the hall to the Middle School office. The secretary says, "Omar's mom sent him to school today because he has almost reached his limit of thirty-two absences this school year. He did not go to the nurse this morning but was too embarrassed to tell you the truth. I've checked his records, he's only at 26. I will call the family driver right now for him to be picked up."

For the record, Omar had to disinfect his own desk, chair and textbook before leaving to meet his driver. It only seemed fair.

Another day, another shake of the head...the weekend begins in 18 hours!

Random updates...

I'm writing after a brief excursion outside, where it is 43 C. I am dripping sweat on my computer and willing the electricity to come back on so that I can turn on the AC. (Battery powered computer, yes, I'm pathetic...). Brownouts are common in the heat, because of all the AC and extra electricity needs.
[Middle School teachers recently took the students to task at Ball Hockey. Despite having an almost all Canadian team, and although I scored 2 goals, we were beat 6-5 at the end. There will be another game - I don't lose well, especially to my students!]

We have finally "Sprung ahead" here in Cairo. It makes a huge difference in attitude, heat and the amount of time I spend awake now that the sun doesn't set until around 8pm. Sadly, time falls back again on the first day of Ramadan, so that the majority of the population can eat sooner. With Ramadan starting on August 5, I'll come back in September to a dark city.

Countdowns are on... 9 weeks until I come home, and there's a lot to happen in the mean time! Between church and school I have a lot of friends leaving at the end of this year, and that is sad. The expat community is an ephemeral one, and we send people on with a blessing and a "see you again, friend." It means that June is a month for parties and fun.

[Farewell for now to Anne-Marie who will hopefully (was that an Insh'allah?) be back in Cairo in about 4 months time.]

Teaching is going better. Rather, I'm doing better because I had to stop caring so much. Before you take me as a callous, heartless person, please understand that I do still deeply care about my students; I've just decided to care differently, and give some 12 year old children opportunity to see exactly how decisions and outcomes are related :)

[This birthday celebrator is one of the reasons teaching is going better. I have a very supportive principal who stood up to a parent or two for me. Here he is at his surprise 50th Birthday party.]

I am looking for a new place to live, and after months of sadness and frustration, I'm finally excited about this process. I will be living alone for the first time in my life, a prospect which also finally excites me. Because of the endless social opportunities through work and church, I am not worried about becoming a hermit (and a few good friends have promised that they won't let this happen!). I will have more details on this in a future blog post, or I will be homeless next year.

[A view of downtown Cairo from the previously mentioned birthday party yacht.]