Excitement in Egypt

One year later ... a post script

2012-01-22T15:17:00.001-08:00

This Thursday, January 25 will mark the 1 year anniversary of the people's revolution in Cairo. It marks the anniversary of a lot of changes in my own life as well.

Egypt still holds a place in my mind and heart, and will for some time. Many friends are still there, some are returning for another go, others are leaving for different adventures.

Occasionally I re-read my thoughts on these pages and think about all the wonderful experiences I gained in two years. It's obvious to point out that it has changed me, but it could also simply be that I've grown up.

I still miss so many things about Cairo, and find my mind wandering to likes of Mostafa the driver, Mohamed the fruitman or Rabeya the boab. People I'll never see again and who will never contact me via email or Facebook but who were so essential to my daily life as a stranger in a strange land.

Being home has been lovely. I love my new job and I love that I will soon be buying my new home. It's great to once again be involved in my family's lives again too. Part of me always wonders if I made the right choice to leave, and I'm learning to be content with that feeling.

My last picture is not one of Egypt, but one of lasting importance. The collection of t-shirts in this photo, worn by the most important people in my life, were a goal and a distraction in the spring. Sharing in Egypt's pride, we celebrate my return to Canada and God's faithfulness over an incredible two year journey.

Things/people I will miss (immensely)

2011-07-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

My beautiful Middle Schoolers. So fun-loving. See post below.

My boab Rabeya. We barely understood each other, but he was so kind and giving and gracious. I hope that he knows how much I appreciated him and how much I valued his care of building 1/3.

lemon-mint juice. Whoever realized that freshly squeezed lemons/limes went with mint, you are a genius.

Cost and availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. Mangos, pomegranates, strawberries oh my!

Mohamed the fruitman. Even when I moved away from the fruit stand, he still sent delivery boys to my apartment, and still made sure I was looked after.

The church of St. John the Baptist, Ma'adi. Never have I been part of a church that knows and understands its situation and mission so well. Let by Paul-Gordon and Ben, I have been pushed, fed and nurtured and will miss Friday morning church so much.

Friends from the church of St. John the Baptist, Ma'adi. I should write a paragraph about each of the wonderful people who have become such dear friends.

Revolution and the pervasive national pride shown afterwards. Finally Egypt has something to be proud of. I swear you could see Egyptians walking all a bit taller in March this year.

Riding in taxis everywhere. This has been the source of two years of entertainment. Negotiating, arguing about prices, giving directions in half-English and half-Arabic, but almost always arriving safely and in one piece, being spared the need to navigate Cairo's streets on my own.

A constant sense of “What's going to happen next” whenever leaving the door of apartment 12. (Although this could also be put in the previous Things I will Not Miss post as well).

Delivery everything. When the above-mentioned sense of adventure became too much, I did not have to leave apartment 12. Everything can be delivered.

Being cold at 25 C and wearing a scarf and a light sweater

Being sick of sun, and wishing for a cloudy day.

Nadia the housekeeper. I regret not hiring her until January of this past year, but have absolutely loved the feeling of coming home to a spotless apartment once a week. I wonder if she will immigrate to Canada???

Being the centre of attention. People stare and point, and I have grown used to it.

Shokran, ya Masr, for all of you have been.

Things I will not miss...

2011-07-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

I want to end with a positive, happy list about things that I will miss about Egypt. But in the mean time, there are several things which I will NOT miss, that I am ready to leave behind.

Harassment. Verbal. Physical. Emotional. Never have I been touched, stared at or made fun of the way I have here. It is demeaning, difficult and hard to handle. From what I hear, I've not even had the worst of it. I've never been groped, nor has a man ever masturbated in front of me. I have, however, been told I “have big boobs,” that I was “mozah” (Hot!), and been asked repeated in a taxi “fuck me? Fuck me?” I'm done with you, men of Cairo.
The dirt. I haven't had clean feet in 2 years.

The traffic. Sitting for hours and moving inches. Usually the reason is puddles covering deep, deep potholes. Sometimes it is people who cannot drive, sometimes it is diesel shortages.

The traffic part 2: commuting to work on a school provided bus has been a great way to read a lot and listen to a lot of CBC podcasts, but I'm pretty done with spending 11 hours a day with AIS colleagues, and talking about work far too often.

The blatant inequalities of day-to-day life here. Although I'm not naive enough to consider my own country perfect or without its problems, I have on more than one occasion been embarrassed for Egypt and it's inequalities, and lack of social systems to offer aid. And then when I remember that I am usually part of or exacerbating the problem, I become deeply ashamed and realize this is one of the reasons it was time to go.

Going to three different grocery stores to find what I want/'need' to cook with. And then, opening it to find it stale and not edible because it has been on the shelf for 3 years after being imported on a ship via the Mediterranean.

Saltines. The only cracker available in Egypt.

Water bottle showers. Waking up and not having water.

Brownout season. It's a season, right up there with the “very hot” season.
Crappy, slow, or non-existent Internet connections.

For all it's trials, tribulations and exhaustion, this country has given me its best and worst, and through it all an adventure. Shokran, ya Masr.

Turkey

2011-07-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Turkey has been in the news a lot lately, at least in comparison to the ever changing Middle East. Many commentators and analysts are using this European country as an example of what a secular Islamic state could look like.

Last week I headed with a dear friend and two of her guests for some travel time through Istanbul and then on my own to Cappadocia.

After learning to pair things like the call to prayer and women wearing coverings with things like disorganization, harassment and seemingly backwards ways of doing things (and a million positives as well) Turkey was a surprisingly different place.

There was still not a single place where you could avoid the call the prayer (including our hotel room at 4:15AM!). There were beautiful, huge, impressive mosques everywhere. However, Istanbul was a city that moved, and worked. Public transit ran on time, people left me alone, for the most part, and the food was delicious.

After spending 3 days in Istanbul I flew to Kayseri, and then drove for an hour to the Cappadocia region. The region is famous for its magnificent rocks and what the locals call "fairy chimneys." Three volcanoes erupted many many years ago, and as the sand and rock eroded, the region was left with beautiful hills and valleys. I slept in a cave, and spent two days hiking the region. I could have stayed longer.

A Coptic Respite

2011-06-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend I celebrated the end to two years of teaching in Egypt by heading to Anafora, a Coptic Monastery north of Cairo. I was joined by Tara and Dena, two dear friends from St. John's. Tara is at the beginning of her time in Egypt, and Dena is also bringing her FIVE YEAR career here to a close.

The address for Anafora is simply "Kilometre 150 on the Alexandria highway." Normally I would hire a driver, give him the phone number and be on my way. This is not the case when one travels with Dena. We began with a metro trip as far as the metro would take us (1LE). From there we took a micro bus (4 LE) about 15 minutes to the main microbus station. From there we switched microbuses, waited 40 minutes for the next one to fill up and then paid 7 LE to continue to Anafora.

When we got closer Dena started yelling from the back of the bus "hena queyess" (here's good). Of course they did not believe us, as we got off in the middle of absolutely no where, with this sign as our only marker.

Dena insisted, and we left the bus, entering into the beautiful monastery.

Anafora is self-sufficient. It is a farm, monastery/convent, retreat centre and development centre for Coptic Christians. While we were there, they were running a program for 90 teenage women called, in English, "Daughters of the King" leading them in issues concerning self respect, dignity and rights. Amazing stuff. The food prepared is all grown or bred on-site, organic and delicious.

Our only objective for our two night stay was to rest and relax and get sleep. I read about 10 pages the entire time, and spent the rest wandering, sleeping and sitting by the small wading pool with my feet in the water. It's hard to describe what it is like to come from a city of 20+ million people to a farm in the middle of no where and enjoy the absence of sound. It was hard to tear myself away this morning.

Both evenings after dinner we attended a Coptic prayer service. The coptic language is a mix of Greek and Pharonic languages, not spoken outside of church. The chants and songs were beautiful and haunting, known to all participants in the service by heart.

I wish I had known about Anafora sooner in my time here in Cairo. But I am grateful as my time winds down here that I am still learning about Egypt and the amazingly diverse things this country has to offer.

habibi, habibti

2011-06-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

As my time teaching Middle School comes to a roaring halt, I'm beginning to realize how much I will miss my little sweethearts, and how much I've come to enjoy teaching them.

Don't get me wrong. There have been hair-pulling, mind-boggling days, but these are sweet, life-loving kids who make me smile and laugh every day.

Some highlights from Middle School in Egypt...

Little H. has a hug for me every day, sometimes 3 or 4, depending on how many times she wanders past my classroom. She took French first semester, and ever since has said "I miss you."
F. taught me one new arabic word every day (or tried to). "ekher khalem." Final word. "Ya miss, this is a good one, it can be a question and an answer."

T. has the biggest smile I've ever seen, and flashes it for the world to see, even when (especially when?) he's in trouble.

My small beginner grade 7 class who put a fake cockroach on my chair and asked me what I was sitting on. They were witness to what I like to call "The Miss comes undone."

"Ya Miss." This is my title. Nothing more, nothing less. Clearly since even last week I was called Miss Cooper, Miss Mayo, and Miss Simon, they don't know the rest of my name.

Dancing. All the time. Sometimes them, sometimes me. But always, always dancing.I will miss my habibis.

East meeting West: My Neighbour

2011-06-04T00:34:00.001-07:00

I did not come to Cairo with any intention of converting any Muslims to Christianity. I suppose that's obvious to some, but still worth saying. I did, however, want to learn more about Islam and understand more about the people who adhere to this religion.

I've written before about how great the church is that I attend here, and a few weeks ago I had yet another example about why this is so. In the middle of May we celebrated the Caravan of the Arts: My Neighbour.

The Caravan uses the Arts as a way to bridge religious gaps and start conversation between East and West, Christian and Muslim.

During, and immediately after the Revolution, Egyptians came together, promoting unity and understanding. Unfortunately, as political unease continued, incidences of sectarian violence returned, and there have been several church burnings and fighting between small groups of Muslims and Christians.

The issue of faith in this country is complex and historical. Coptic Christians are the minority here, making up about 10% of the population. As Egypt rebuilds and moves forward, we hope that Egypt can move forward with a renewed commitment to building bridges and gaining understanding of the 'other' amongst them.

Gianaclis Winery

2011-05-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

Whenever we set out on adventures in Egypt, we go in with the mindset that it is going to be
a) so horribly disastrous that it will be awesome, or,
b) so great that it will be awesome.

As you can see, either way, every adventure has a story and some fun, and our trip to the Gianaclis Winery was no exception.

For once in our time in Egypt the day went off without a problem, except for the drive out of Cairo, which was about twice as long as the winery predicted. We spent the day touring the winery, tasting many different wines and enjoyed a nice meal as well. Because this is a brand new industry, wineries have not figured out that they can actually charge a lot more money than they did... I'm okay with that!

As you can see in the picture below, we were served our wine by a Muslim woman. This was a fascinating cultural oddity, one I'm not sure what to do with. The owners of the winery are either foreigners themselves or Christian, but many of their employees are Muslim. Obviously employment is employment, but I couldn't help but wonder what she felt and thought as she served us alcohol.

It was a fun excursion with great friends, many of whom are heading out of Cairo (along with me) this summer. We will miss each other dearly, and have been thoroughly enjoying our last days together!

Revolutionary Fatigue

2011-04-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Revolutions are exhausting. I'm sure you can imagine what this school year has been like.

At the end of March a few of us decided to crunch some numbers.

The longest I have stayed in one spot since November 11 is 20 days. (If we increase that number to 25 days, we can actually go back to June...)

Here's what the pattern looked like, roughly.

Cairo, Israel, Cairo, Abu Simbel, Cairo, Canada, Cairo, Sharm, Canada, Cairo, Kenya, Cairo.

My longest stretch in one spot is right now, today I hit 30 nights sleeping in my own apartment.

Total missed school days this year: 23 (Ramadan, elections, revolutions...)

The kids are cranky, the teachers are cranky. Perhaps we're feeding off of one another, creating this nasty perpetual cycle of crankiness.

Class trips have been canceled, as have school functions like dances and the like, due to concerns about safety and children being out after dark. These children have lost all the things that make school fun.

Last week there was a shooting across the road from the school, involving the theft of an automobile, innocent by-standers, and the police. A lock-down ensued. Lock-downs are difficult in a school without an intercom system.

Three nights last week traffic was so horrendous we spent almost 2 hours each trip sitting still – puddles, oil spills, accidents.

Last night one of our teachers had her laptop stolen off her arm while walking home in the early evening.

I'm reminded again and again that sometimes attitude is a choice, and that to an extent, I have to choose how to react, and which emotions are allowed to guide me.

I see hope and peace in the kites flying into the sunset over Cairo on a 2.5 hour bus ride home.

I hear hope and peace from the Arabic teacher whose office is next to mine. “I am 50. I vote. First time ever. No guns. Just “bye bye Mubarak.”

I see hope and peace on the smile of Gaylor, a 15 year old French-speaking Congolese refugee who has lost his entire family to war and strife, and who had to leave his home of 7 years in Libya to come to Cairo. If he can smile, why can't I?

I hear hope thumping from the psychedelic boats cruising the Nile, where we celebrated a dear friend's birthday, complete with an 'Egyptian pinata' and her 'Revolution mix tape.'

I am so thankful to be part of a profession that allows for two months of real rest. I cannot imagine working a job in a country that is this emotionally intense without that sort of planned break.

As of now, there are 10 weeks of school left. Here's hoping they are quiet, uneventful, and full of more hope and peace.

In the mean time, I will continue to be 'content with tentativeness from day to day.'

Salam.

Kenya

2011-04-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

In March, after teaching for two whole weeks, we had our previously scheduled Spring Break. I was able to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, to visit good friends of mine from DCHS, Brian and LeeAnne. They've been living in Nairobi since August, after a four year stint in Korea.

I loved Nairobi, and the national parks all around. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go to another zoo again!

I spent the week with some other girls who were visiting at the same time, traveling from park to park, taking in nature that I never see here in the concrete jungle we call Cairo. Being in Brian and LeeAnne's presence was fantastic as well, a great time to debrief and refresh for what is shaping up to be an interesting and exhausting school year.

Pink is the colour of freedom

2011-03-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Pink is a hot colour this spring in Egypt.

Yesterday for the first time in .... well, a long time ... Egyptians voted. There was a referendum on amendments to the constitution. Now I'm not an expert on the issues presented, but I've heard the preliminary results were a "yes." I'm not sure what that means.

But it doesn't matter.

What matters is that Egyptians voted. They stood in line (I know!), waited for hours (this is still Egypt, after all), and they cast their "yes" and "no" for the constitution. There were no reported bribes, no stuffing of ballot boxes, and no fighting.

How do you track and register almost 40 million voters in just a few weeks, in a country that does not have the technological infrastructure?

You paint their finger pink. No word of a lie. Cast your vote, dip your finger. It won't wash off for a day or two.

This is Gada. She works at our school. Gada is female, she is Muslim, and yesterday for the first time in her life she voted.

She looks brilliant in pink.

Revolution Tourism

2011-03-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we ventured out to Tahrir square to see where history was made. History is still being made, I suppose, and it was very interesting to see first hand the things that have been on the news lately.
There are still small groups forming to protest, especially on weekends. Saturday was the first day that traffic was allowed back in the square, so these soldiers are doing their best to keep a swelling crowd away from the streets. At the time this picture was taken, things were peaceful.

This is the courtyard of the National Democratic Party headquarters (the name of the party leading the government). It is right behind the big pink Egyptian National Museum.

Piles of barbed wire all over the place.

A view of Tahrir and the Egyptian National Museum, with the NDP building in the background.

Street art commemorating what happened between January 25 and February 18, approximately. There are lots of murals around my neighbourhood too, and I will take pictures of those soon.

Returning Home (Home?)

2011-02-25T02:57:00.000-08:00

I've been back in Cairo for 4 days now. It is hard to explain to outsiders, but as much as things have drastically changed, things are oddly similar to how they've always been.

I was greeted at the airport by men giving out flowers, saying "welcome in Egypt." They had signs saying they were from Egypt tourism. The general feel on the street is that Egyptians are happy to see foreigners (their livelihood) coming back. This is especially the case in Ma'adi. Mohamed the fruitman gave me strawberries for free last night saying, "thank you for coming back."

The youth of Egypt amaze me. There is such a sense of pride and civic duty which did not have to be taught in school or preached about. They have taken to the streets, painting and tidy-ing up. There are signs posted in front of various buildings in English and Arabic, requesting that people use trash cans and don't make a mess.

There are murals everywhere (pictures coming soon) of the Egyptian flag, and also of beautiful religious symbols showing the Muslim crescent with the Christian cross.

At school things are also back to normal. We have 90% of our children in class, some are gone for now, some are gone permanently. The principal spoke this week to the students about "now what" and what they can do right now to be agents of change. As I listened, I realized that for the first time his words might actually be true. These children of privilege have heard all their lives that they are the future of Egypt and will have power to change it, but for once, it actually could be true.

Children I teach now can actually really dream of being the president/elected leader of this country.

Of course, not all the change has been so positive. When people are on emotional highs, sometimes they do things with their energy that is not wise. Another foreign teacher from another school had her purse grabbed from her by a moving car in Ma'adi the other night, which is completely out of character from Egypt. Yesterday there were further problems because a police officer shot a micro-bus driver. These things remind us that not all is as happy as it seems, and caution and street smarts are a necessity. One of our own bus drivers was involved in an incident where he hit another car, was pulled from his bus and beaten up. Again, it happens, but it is not the way things normally are now.

My neighbourhood is fine. I am never home when the electricity and gas man collect fees, and then they started to think I was gone for good. Yesterday I was chased down the street by the gas man, who saw me and didn't want to miss me again. "Madame, madame, he yelled. Please, madame, the gas."

My natural gas bill for 4 months? 35 LE. ($7)

Yes, it is good to be back in this country.

Images of the Revolution (from my lense...)

2011-02-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots showing what life was like for this Canadian in Cairo when the going got exciting...

This is Road 223 on January 28, the first day that huge things happened. Clearly Rd 223 didn't get the message.

With no cell phones and no internet, we had no way of canceling Jen's birthday party, and so we met for food, fun, and revolution.

The next morning this is the entrance to my neighbourhood. The boabs and local men blocked all the entrances so that anyone hoping to loot and riot would be turned away. This was touching, this is the real Egypt.

On our first trip out of Ma'adi in days, we found that the entire suburb had been surrounded by tanks. There were check points everywhere.
En route to Sharm el Sheikh, on the Sinai Peninsulah.

Walk / Talk / Sing / Honk like an Egyptian

2011-02-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

I wish I were in Cairo right now for the party. The people of Egypt have spoken and been heard. Hosny Mubarak has stepped down and people are wild with excitement.

No doubt, there are long hard days ahead.

But for now, Egypt is proud, and I am proud to know Egyptians. I can't wait to go back and finish the school year.

2011-02-09T08:10:00.001-08:00

Here is the quickest break down of how I have ended up back in Canada. [Incidentally the phrase 'break down' has been used to describe a lot of things lately - including me.]

Friday January 21 @ Church.
I am talking with some friends about Egypt and Tunisia, and the protests planned for Tuesday's "Police Day" holiday. A friend who knows more about the Middle East and Egypt than any of us, explained that there were protests planned but the police knew about them and it was Egypt, after all, and nothing would really come of them. These things always lose momentum quickly.

Tuesday January 25, Police Day
We had no school, and were urged to stay away from large crowds of people, and preferably stay in Ma'adi. Things would not be too bad, but pay attention.

Things were far worse than everyone thought, and the protests were huge. We stayed in all afternoon, clicking refresh on a website that gave a live feed about the protests. It appeared that the problems were worse in Alexandria and Suez than in cairo.

The government blocked Twitter to squash the movement.

Thursday January 27
The leader of the oposition, El Baradei returns to Egypt after a personal exile out of fear of his life. There are calls for massive protests and demonstrations after prayer time on Friday.

Friday January 28
When I woke up I saw that I had no internet connection. At church, others expressed the same thing. By the time church was out, no one had any cell phone use at all.

At home, I was glued to CNN And AlJazeera along with everyone else. Things were getting drastic and a bit crazy. Violence, shouting, and passion. Go Egypt!

Being without means of communicating is a scary thing, especially when you live alone. We had a birthday party planned for a friend, and we could not cancel it, so I headed to Sara's house, threw some overnight clothes in a bag, and spent the night. As we watched tv, we saw that the government imposed a curfew for 6pm. We tried to go out to take some of the girls home from the party, and every single person on the street (there weren't many) tried to force us back inside. One man said "this is big day for Egypt, but not safe, not good." We put them in a taxi and went back inside.

Saturday January 29
In the morning I returned to my home, and eventually cell phone use was available, at least sporadically. I did some things around the apartment, packed another overnight bag and headed to Maggie and John's. I just didn't feel safe being by myself, as we heard that the police were no longer going to be protecting people and had retreated.

Sunday January 30
Throughout the night we had heard gunshots and saw many men on the streets with sticks. This was a touching "Egypt moment" where the young men in our neighbourhoods and the boabs (door people) took to the street to protect Ma'adi against looting. Without police, they knew things were in their hands. Later we learned that the gunshots were a method of communication, not a problem.

I also learned later that people who lived on Road 9, or in other areas of Ma'adi and Cairo, had a lot more problems than we did in Degla.

As Sunday progressed, things became less and less secure, as we learned that entire prisons had been emptied out, and that things were getting a big chaotic. It's hard to say that I ever felt 100% unsafe, but things were not stable. The school called us and said "pack a bag, possibly one for multiple-country evacuation. We are going to Sharm el Sheikh to wait this out."

Monday January 31
8 hours in a convoy of 4 buses headed through the Sinai peninsula. In yet another "Egypt moment" we were mistakenly led through Egypt's most dangerous city, Suez, instead of around it.

We arrived safely in Sharm, and were told that our stay was indefinite.

Tuesday, February 1
Breakfast. Meeting. Run. Shower. Lunch. Friends. Supper. Drinks. Bed.

Wednesday, February 2
See above. Internet comes back on.

Thursday, February 3
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Friday, February 4
Before going to bed, we were called to an emergency meeting. We were told that by the end of the weekend we would be flown to our home of record to wait things out. Egypt wasn't going to fix itself any time soon, and it would be cheaper to send us home than to pay 10 000 $ a day to keep us all at the resort. We were elated.

Saturday February 5
12 hours after being told we were going to our home of record, the school announced that Cairo was safe, and we would be headed back there on Sunday to resume life as normal. Shannon breaks down, but is not the only one. This is not the time for up and down roller coaster emotions, and we're done. I booked a ticket for Canada.

Sunday, February 6
I left Sharm El Sheikh for Canada, via London. In my suitcase I have 3 swimsuits, 4 pairs of capris, 12 t-shirts, 2 light sweaters and 2 pairs of jeans. Definitely ready to go to Canada.

Monday February 7
Upon checking in for my Heathrow-Pearson leg, I started to cry uncontrollably. I got my own row out of the deal, and yes, I have now learned an important life lesson.

Monday February 7 - ???
I'm in Canada, waiting. The Western attention span with Egypt is very short, and this frustrates me. I check BBC and AlJazeera regularly, but this just isn't news anymore. Nor is it finished.

Still safe, away from Cairo

2011-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've sent emails updating my current situation. Again, I will not be posting that (yet) here.

Suffice it to say that with school being temporarily closed and my future being so uncertain, I'm very restless. I have been doing a ton of writing, and will some day share much more with people who are still reading this.

Tonight has not been a good one, I'm filled with anxiety and worry (are those the same?) and want to be home. But it is not time for that yet.

Barbara Kingsolver once wrote "No matter what kind of night you're having, morning always wins." There have been many times in my life where I have clung to this promise over and over. It is both physically night time right now, and a more figurative night time in Egypt too. Here's hoping morning will win.

Safe amidst the excitment

2011-01-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

Today is a pretty big day for Egypt. I'm reluctant to write too much on this open forum, easily traceable public document, but I will say that if you google search things like Egypt riots, Egypt protests or anything of the like, you will figure it out. Please read reputable sources. Keep checking in on this country, things are happening.

So what do we do when school has been (yet again) canceled because of the strong potential for political unrest????

Nothing extraordinary.

We certainly don't go downtown Cairo. But in our neck of the woods, a mere 12 KM from all the action, nothing is different.

We share a meal with friends, watch a movie, and go to bed.

I want to assure everyone of my safety. I am not here for heroics. If things become unstable, and if I feel unsafe, I will be on the next airplane out of here. The school has an evacuation plan, and I will fully comply, if necessary.

In the mean time, pray for Egypt.

long weekend bliss

2010-12-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

The past two Sundays we were not allowed to have school. Egypt was scheduled to have parliamentary elections. The reason schools would be closed? Riots. Or at least the possibility. Of course elections in this country are a bit of a joke - very few people are allowed to vote, the results are decided ahead of time ...

But what is a girl to do with two 3 day weekends in a row??? Explore Egypt, of course!

Long weekend numero uno was a close to home affair.

Now I have previously written about things we call "Egypt Tacky," but this place takes the cake.

I present to you The Japanese Gardens of Helwan. I went with a friend as far south as the metro would take us, and then walked into these gardens, which were a gift from the Japanese about a hundred years ago. Who knew that we would find countless Buddha statues in a Muslim nation? It was so wonderfully hilarious. We explored for about an hour, watching little Egyptian children achieve Zen by climbing all over the statues. Egypt Tacky yes please!

Weekend numero dos was a bit more of an adventure, Egypt style.

I had a friend in town from the US, and she wanted to leave Cairo and see something else. In order for me to go with her, we had to see something new to me. So we flew to Aswan, and took a four hour bus ride to see the sun rise at Abu Simbel. This is pretty much the closest you can get to the border of the Sudan, and risk factor is slightly higher than living in Cairo. But we did it anyways.

We were the only two women (and only two white people) on a public bus from Aswan to Abu Simbel. Upon arriving in the town of Abu Simbel, we realized we were the only two people staying at a very sub-par hotel by the bus stop. Sandra looked at me and said "You live in this country. I'm okay if you're okay. I shrugged my shoulders and said "where else are we going to sleep???"

The owner left us at our room with a roll of toilet paper and a can of bug spray saying "I see you morning." We slept with the bugs and the grossness, woke up at 5:15am and headed to the ancient temple of Abu Simbel.
It was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The sun came up over Lake Nasser, the largest man made lake in the world, and shone on the temples. The facade of the temples is quite impressive. One toe of the god is bigger than my head!

Days like today

2010-12-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'm at an impasse. It is decision time. I have until January 9 to sign next year's contract, and that's pretty much tomorrow. Sometimes I think that I really want to stay here a third year, and enjoy this country and all it's charm. And travel some more. And live cheaply. And attend an amazing church. And hang out with wonderful friends. And learn more about the Middle East. And learn more Arabic.

And then I have a day like today.

I spent the weekend exploring Aswan and Abu Simbel (more on that in a happier post) and arrived home after taking the Red Eye flight up the Nile. I walked into my apartment at 9am, and stopped dead in my tracks. I heard running water.

Now, if you have ever walked into your place of residence after an extended absence and heard running water, you will know why my heart was in my throat, and why I was immediately grabbing for my phone.

I tip-toed into the kitchen. No water. I walked cautiously into the living room, which was dry. As I turned the corner into the bathroom, I was relieved to find the source of my panic. The bath tub faucet was spewing water full blast. Fortunately, it was only into ... the bath tub. I tried to turn off the faucet, but much to my dismay it was already off. What the !@#$?

Here's where the fun begins. I have a tap I can't turn off, it's first thing in the Egyptian morning, and I have to find my Arabic-only boab and ask for help. Here's a rough translation of what I come up with:

"Good morning Rabeya. Water. Not good." (Imagine wide eyes, lots of pointing to my apartment and hands motioning for him to come, with a sense of urgency).

Rabeya inspects the tap, and wanders into the kitchen where he turns off the water source to my apartment. He speaks super quick to me in Arabic, and ends by slowly saying "miya, la'a" (water, no.)

Crap. I've been backpacking for 2 days in the desert, and now I have no running water. I woke up at 5am to catch a flight back to Cairo and I cannot shower.

I call the landlord, and hand the phone to Rabeya. They talk for a while, and the phone is given to me. The Landlord says "miss Shannon, Rabeya will fix, God willing." I know what this means. This means I will be staying with friends until next Thursday, because I will not have running water. This means if God wills it, Rabeya will find a friend who knows more about plumbing than he, and they'll smoke in my bathroom and maybe, if God wills it, eventually fix the pipe.

So I say good-bye to Rabeya and I set about doing all the things you try to do when you are back from vacation: dishes, laundry, cleaning floors. But wait, I don't have water. Hours pass. I go to Rabeya and I say "he coming?" The best I can do. I say plumber, thinking it might be a cognate, but I'm wrong. Rabeya's response? "Key."

I leave the key to my apartment and I go out for lunch with friends, greasy hair and all. At 4pm I return home, thinking maybe, just maybe, the pipes will be fixed. I search out my key, and the boab's wife is pointing at the apartment. "Rabeya fee" (=in). I knock on my own door, and am greeted by the cutest 4 years old boy you've ever seen. He takes me by the hand and leads me to the bathroom, where his dad Rabeya is standing in his bare feet, covered in water, with my broken faucet. Smoking a cigarette. In my apartment.

Rabeya gives me his phone. It is the landlord, and he explains that Sunday is a day off for many service people, and that he cannot find a plumber today. In a city of 28 million people, we do not have a plumber working on Sunday. Then he says that the water must stay off until it is fixed. "Have a good night miss Shannon."

I head to Devin and Ryan's for dinner and a shower, and fill up more water bottles with tap water, so that I can have a water bottle shower in the morning.

At the end of days like today, there are 2 thoughts that will not leave me:

I chose this. I chose this. I chose this.

and,

Can I really do this for another entire school year???

Israel/Palestine

2010-11-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

We ascended to Jerusalem last Friday evening as the sun was setting. Sabbath begins. It's an internal call to prayer, different from what we are used to in Cairo-land.

I've been avoiding my blog this week, trying to figure out what to write about our trip. I'm so naive, and that embarrasses me. Our tour was both religious and political, but I think those two are always going to go together there. Listening to any of our speakers throughout the week assured me of one thing: politics and history are driven by perspective. Our Israeli guide had a very different version of current events than our Palestinian bus driver. They both think they are right, and they both think they know the truth.

All of that aside, Israel is a very beautiful region. Having lived in the desert now for over a year, I can understand, at least geographically, why it was called the promised land. Pomegranates were everywhere, and the nature was incredible. (Either that, or I've just been living in the desert too long).

Walking the streets of old Jerusalem gives new context to my faith. It is irrelevant to me whether or not a lot of the places were the exact location where certain things happened. But I can picture things that I could not previously.

Egypt tacky and other musings

2010-11-06T04:13:00.000-07:00

Where did October go? I am sitting here, days before my mom and Marilyn arrive back in Cairo, thinking about the blur that was October. The expression "time flies when you are having fun" certainly is true!

I'm starting to view life in terms of fresh produce: we've come out of a delicious mango season, followed by pomegranates, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of strawberry season (yes! in November!).

Being in the same place for a second year has been great, and I think October brought a lot of feelings of déjà vu all over again....

Caroline and Alexandrine arrived from Paris.

We had the Spirit of Giving Auction at the Church. This event raised 50 000 USD for development projects in Egypt. It was an odd 'welcome to Egypt' event for Caro and Alex, but they really enjoyed losing at Blackjack!

School has been flying by. The kids are cracking me up this year. Middle School is good for my ego...(notice the spelling of French and Mademoiselle...)

Living alone here might be one of the best decisions that was ever made for me. I love my apartment, especially these elements, which I call "Egypt tacky."

This couch is bright orange, as is the love seat, and both arm chairs. The tile is orange-y peach, and the decorations are all some shade of orange, peach or pink. That is a tassel. It is also orange.
This Greek god watches me shower every day. Yep, it's creepy.

The best compliment of the month: "wow, Shannon. You cross the road just like a local."

Kuwait

2010-10-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jen and I took advantage of a 4 day weekend to fly to Kuwait. We visited with a fellow Durham/Bowmanville - ite named Katie. Katie and I had never met, but through the wonders of technology had discovered that we were connected through mutual relatives and also through 2 degrees of Dutch separation.

Kuwait was an interesting place. It was a lot like Cairo, except ... not at all. At first, I fell in love with all the things it had that Cairo did not - big grocery stores, organized highways and roads, no harassment of any kind, and lots of good places to shop.

As the days went on, I realized there are aspects of Egypt that I love, and that are not actually 'Middle-Eastern;' they are Egyptian. I missed that everyone is outside here, all the time. Even though it occasionally drives me crazy, I missed that I go to an outdoor market for my food, and a tiny squished up little inside store for my perishables. I missed walking everywhere. I especially missed that when I can't walk, I can take a super cheap taxi.

Having said all of that, Kuwait is beautiful. The Gulf is right there, and there is a beautiful view. The wind blows and being by water all the time makes you feel fresher. There is much, much less garbage on the streets.

I learned that there are more foreigners in Kuwait than Kuwaitis. All the service and retail employees were not Kuwaiti. They were, among other nationalities, Egyptian, Philipino, and Indian.

I learned that Kuwaitis called oil "black gold." This is probably accurate.

It would be fair to say that Kuwait as a whole is not a big fan of Iraq, or of Sadam Hussein. We went to a museum called the "Kuwait house for national works not to forget museum saddam hussain regime crimes." In said museum we watched a pyrotechnic display that showed us the destruction brought on Kuwait by the 'barbarians.' And we learned that "even the air conditioning control centre was harmed by the barbaric invaders." Although I am not a huge fan of Saddam Hussein myself, history was so grossly one-sided it made me laugh.

Katie is deeply involved and is happy there. It was so fun to experience that, to attend church with her, and see where she works. It looks like an amazing place. We were so grateful to have a great host!

It was also great to return to my Cairo: 10 degrees cooler, being whistled at and stared at in the airport, and having a treacherous ride back to Maadi in Mostafa the driver's new car, which he proudly demonstrated to us "goes very very fast."

Mostafa the driver gets ... Married???

2010-09-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

This story epitomizes my life here in Egypt - random, loud, late at night, completely unexpected, and one week later still has us saying "um, what???"

Some background:
I have a driver. A chauffeur, if you will. He drives for me, and several of my colleagues. Over the past year he has helped me on many occasions, and also provided hours of entertainment with silly jokes and play on words. His name is Mostafa. We call him Mostafa the driver. When my parents were here, they were instantly enamored with this fun-loving Egyptian.

Last Saturday I got a text from my coworker Tao.
"Do you want to go to Mostafa's wedding? It's tomorrow."

Um, What???

I thought Mostafa was married? Is this his second wife? And, moreover, What???

It is not unusual to be invited to a wedding days before it happens. Mostafa was kind enough to arrange for a van for us, and provide all necessary details, in his Mostafa way. "Yes, yes, 9:30, Degla. Van. No problem."

It is also not unusual for a wedding to be in the middle of the week, very late at night. [late at night for us teacher-types, that is. A 10pm start is early in the evening here in Egypt.]

We met the van at 9:30. We were 8 - four men, four women. The van started driving to the very outskirts of Cairo, past the pyramids and then down a random dirt road. We did not know our driver, and it was not the first time in my 14 months here that I thought, "I've put my life in the hands of a complete stranger. I don't know where I am, or how I would make my way home." At the same moment, one of my fellow travelers said "Isn't this how horror films usually start?" Thank you, fellow traveler, for voicing my thoughts.

Upon arriving at the site of Mostafa the Driver's "wedding," two things became apparent almost immediately.
1. There was not a single woman in sight.
2. We were the guests of honour.

Mostafa the driver greeted us at the van, shaking our hands and welcoming us with his huge Mostafa grin. We entered the wedding 'area' where a bunch of men were sitting around small tables smoking shisha and drinking tea. We were very over-dressed for the occasion. He led us to the very front table, the only one with a table cloth, and the only one with padded chairs. As the evening continued, we were always served our food first, and were on the official wedding videos more than once. (in fact, way more than once).

The music was loud. And as soon as we arrived, it got louder. Shouting across the table louder. Can't hear yourself think Louder. My ears ringing until 5am louder.

A man got up and started singing. My Arabic is not strong, but I heard numbers. As the song continued, other men went up to stage, and started giving him money. Every time, he would sing about the amount the men gave him. They would say something to the singer, which we can only assume was a message for Mostafa, a greeting, or an explanation of whom exactly the money was from.

This went on for hours.

Eventually Mostafa came over to our table to say hello, and bring us a light snack. Tao asked him about the bride and the actual wedding.

"No no, is tomorrow."

Um, What???

There would be no bride that evening. There would be no wedding. So what, then was this?

A bachelor party? What was I doing there?

The anti-climatic ending to the story is that we never figured it out. We left at 1am, after politely explaining that we had to work. The party was still going strong; Mostafa told us it would go on until the wee hours of the morning.

I do know a few things, and please don't read cynicism in these comments.
We were invited as a status symbol for Mostafa. If he could bring foreign guests to his party, he would somehow be elevated in the eyes of his friends and family.

We were invited because we would give a very generous gift. This is true. We did give a very generous gift, inside a card, and no one sang a song about it. :(

The next morning, I asked my sweet little 13 year olds what it was. Classic Middle school moment:

"Ya miss, you should not have been there." End of story, no other explanations needed.

And that, my friends, is Egypt.

Alexandria

2010-09-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of a long weekend and a delayed start to the school year (some things maybe never will change in Egypt-land...) 5 of us headed on a day trip to Alexandria last Saturday. Alex is Egypt's second largest city, and a main hub for Mediterranean sea traffic.

Of course part of the excitement and fun of getting there was choosing a method of transportation and then successfully navigating it. We choose train. I had not yet chosen train as my preferred method of transit, and so was curious to see how/if it would work.

This is no European train. First class is really the only option for foreigners, and as we walked past the economy class, I understood why. First class Egypt = economy class most other places.

No tickets for sale for the train you want? No problem. Just get on the train. And wait a long time for a seat. My French-trained (punny, I know) brain tells me to expect a huge fine for getting on a train without a ticket. My Egypt brain tells me that this would make 100% sense. Just pay when you're on the train, of course.

This is Anjuli standing for almost all of the 3 hour ride. I was given a box to sit on by the kind attendant. We took turns sitting on the box and tipped him well upon arriving.

Alexandria is well known for its fresh sea food, and although I'm not normally a huge fan, this was delicious!

The bay was incredible, and the boats were huge. We strolled the coast with the rest of Egypt, because it was a major holiday.

I will have to return sometime this year, because this beautiful library was unfortunately closed.

Summer

2010-09-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm back! To Cairo, to school delays, to my blog...

Summer was fantastic. 3 weeks in Germany, Belgium and France, and then 6 weeks at home. Friends and family, and even more family.

Some highlights...

...Germany,

...Belgium,
...France,...the newest princess,...and my 'wee ones'! [one more not featured, sadly.]
I'm back in Cairo, refreshed and ready for year two. Ramadan is finished, which means I can get things done within a reasonable amount of time. I have a new place to live - alone - and it is beautiful. There are good changes at work, and things are looking WAY up. It's going to be a good round two.

AND, there was a working Internet connection in my new home when I got back after the summer. I'm not sure words can express how monumental of a feat that really was...

Birthday bashing in Cairo

2010-06-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

[Yep, still here, in Cairo. Heat is a much more reasonable 37 C, and believe me, 6 degrees makes a huge difference. Kristin's here, we leave for Germany/Belgium/France on Monday night. School fizzled out today around 2:30 after 4 straight days of doing nothing in an empty classroom. AIS end-of-year procedures are worth an entire other blog...]

My birthday this year, the big 2-7, was celebrated over many days, and in fact will be celebrated once more with a friend in Zamalek tomorrow night! How many people will be able to say, in their lifetime, that they celebrated their birthday in style, on a boat on the Nile river. Well, my mom was able to in March, and now mine too!

Last Wednesday my grade 7 French class threw me a "surprise" party. They of course could not keep secrets, so the only real surprise was that they threw it a day earlier than they had whispered about, so I was completely unprepared for my party. Grade 7 parties involve sugar, cake, more sugar, more cake, and chipsies. (this is the Arabic word for chips). Then we all sit around, the kids spill their drinks, scare Ms. Cooper's baby, and listen to the CD player. The Miss sneaks to her desk to mark.

On Friday the 18th (the actual day of my birthday), I played piano for our weekly worship service at St. John's and then had a lingering lunch with friends.

I threw myself a party this past Wednesday, waiting for Kristin to be in town. It was so nice to have her here, and so wonderful to have all my new friends in Cairo celebrate with me. I brought together groups of friends from Church and School; we took a felucah onto the Nile and hung out for a while. It was a beautiful evening with a beautiful sunset.

All throughout my birthday celebrations, and in these past few days of 'bye-for-now' gatherings, I have been reminded of how blessed I am to be here in Cairo, with many amazing people in my life. Further reflection and wrap-up will happen in another blog, probably after a 5 day time-out at Taizé. For now suffice it to say that I am ready to head home to baby Ella and the rest of my family, but also thankful that I get to come back here for round two in September!

Life at 45 Celcius...

2010-06-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

It's hot.

Air conditioners break.

Power goes out. Regularly. In fact, it went out while I was writing this. Thrice. Hence the broken AC.

When the wind blows it feels like a hair dryer on your face.

At midnight the city comes alive. It is still 35 C.

The street dogs don't have the energy to chase or bark. This is bliss.

Moving quickly from an Air Conditioned apartment to outside makes your skin tingle.

I've stopped cooking. I think that is why Middle Eastern cuisine has so many dips and spreads - most don't involve fire or cooking of any sort. And they're delicious. Hummus, baba ganough, tahina, and my personal favourite (which isn't actually egyptian) lebaneh.

The kids go into shock when they walk into a classroom where the AC is set at 21 C. Then you realize that this is more than twice as cool as it is outside. It's hard to explain to 12 year olds that the only way to combat their 'distinct odor' is to keep the AC at 21. It would help if their maids washed their uniforms more than once a week.

Leaving Cairo in 9 days.

Camel Market

2010-06-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

We spent Friday morning at the camel markets. I told someone earlier this week I thought it was a tourist attraction. I couldn't have been more wrong! The 30 AIS teachers who arrived via bus were the only non camel-selling people present, and it was quite a shock.

As you can see from the two videos below, the camel market/auction is not at all like what you would expect from an auction back home. Basically there are camels tied up in flocks (or caravans, I've been told), and there are people hitting them with sticks to keep them in place. As you will also see in the video, the camels don't follow instructions any better than a gr. 7 boy ! SO, it was easy to suddenly be in the way of an errant camel.

The auction part went like this: A group of men stand in a circle chanting/yelling, there's a camel in the centre. All of a sudden the yelling stops, and the camel is sprayed w/ spray paint and taken away. If this sounds organized or clearly laid out, I can assure you it is not!

The other highlight was having my picture taken. Now I had to pay 20 LE to take pictures at the market, but all the men were taking my picture for free. If I had charged money, I could have made a small fortune.

Winning the Change game

2010-06-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

During a recent skype conversation with John, who has been an American in France for 5 years now, we were lamenting how quickly life becomes 'normal' and how difficult that makes updating a blog! John told me everything I did was interesting, so here goes.

I have grown up in a cashless society. I am used to seeing my money go from a paper cheque to an account, where I move it around digitally. When I needed to buy something, I would swipe a little piece of plastic that represented money, and voilà, my purchase was complete. In my wallet at any given time there was rarely more than $80. But that's just me.

Then I moved to Egypt. The idea of credit, or even debit, doesn't really work for the masses here, and I'm not about to 'charge' two dollars worth of carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers. Furthermore, if I tried to charge my vegetables, Mohamed would be so concerned about my well-being, he'd give them to me for free!

So I walk around with cash. At any given time, I will have close to 2000 LE (divide by 5) in my wallet. What makes this more complicated, is that I have to have the right kind of cash to get anywhere. As my friend Jason says "carrying a 200 LE note is like carrying a rupee. Utterly useless." No one ever has any change, even when you know they do.

When my parents were here, we laughed that Tom had to empty his wallet and sort his money every evening. I must admit that sorting cash from all the little pockets and wallets I have is one of my weekend tasks. Also, before they came, I saved small change for 3 months, because I knew there would be lots of taxi driving and small errand-running.

Hence, the change game. Right now, with 30 5 LE bills, I'm winning.

These 5 LE notes are worth more, on a daily basis than this:

Breaking these large notes is all part of the change game. Here's how you play.

1. Purchase approximately 37.50 LE worth of groceries.

2. Hide your face behind your purse, and carefully pull out the 100 LE bill, without letting the cashier see the exact (or smaller) change lurking near by.

Inevitably, the cashier will ask you if you have small change. You say no.

3. The cashier smirks and says, I so sorry, no change."

4. You have a choice. Give in, and keep the 100 LE note for another day, or walk out without your groceries.

5. You chose to walk out! Good job! Because the cashier will 99.9999 % of the time call after you, "I have change!" And she will lift the top drawer of the cash box, to reveal a drawer brimming with small change.

6. Leave the store victorious, knowing that you now own a 5 LE note to give to the taxi driver, who will start the game all over again for you.

7. For bonus points, try playing the Change Game in Arabic.

Ya miss, I need to go to the nurse!

2010-05-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

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.]

Sinai Liberation Day

2010-04-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been close to two of the worst weeks of my teaching career. It would be unprofessional to explain why here, but suffice it to say that a combination of mean teachers, attacking parents and horribly behaved students who have given up like it's already June lead to an unhappy Mademoiselle!

So an email with this message was more than welcome at the end of Wednesday:

Due to Sinai Liberation Day on Sunday, April 25 we will not have school.

Doesn't get much clearer.

Today was a free day - not to be wasted! The only way to describe today is that it felt like one of those perfect mid-July days when you have no where to be and not much important to do. It was a balmy 29C, so after waking up without an alarm clock and reading for an hour, I headed to the gym for a run. Returned home to make banana bread, and then headed to Al Hazar Park for a picnic with my friend Bethany.

Now at home, making dinner and enjoying that I didn't think about school, I did not spend the day cleaning, and I did not waste it in front of the TV.

The other benefit of these 3 day weekends is the 4 day week that follows.

Is this REALLY the last long weekend of the school year???

Escape

2010-04-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

More than once this school year we have escaped to the Red Sea. This city lends itself to escape - every so often I have to leave the smog, honking, dog barking and staring. In February it was Ain Soukna, last weekend it was back to Dahab. Usually the only thing on the agenda is sleep, fun, sun and in Dahab some snorkeling. Beautiful!

My Ain Soukna buddies:

The calmness of Dahab.

Other than our Easter trip to Dahab life has been quiet and without adventure. With a renewed commitment to be running at the gym again, tutoring a child 2 afternoons a week and an on-line course, it doesn't matter where I am living - I am just busy with life!

Here is my favourite pictures of Ma'adi in Spring, outside the church

I will leave you with another French class funny, that is still making me smile, days later.

On a recent test, I asked students, "say your nationality." One child wrote:
"Jesus de Beirut."

Saturdays...

2010-03-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

I meet Jen on Road 9. (We refuse to do this alone).

We cross to Road 7, still in Ma'adi, which we call "Real Egypt."

We walk past the fly covered fruits and veggies stands.

The vendors are used to us, they do not make inappropriate comments or bother us to buy from them.

There are live chickens squawking and running everywhere. Jen wants to pet them but says "that's how I get sick."

We go to 'our vegetable guy.' When he sees us he jumps up from his chair and shakes our hands, saying 'why so long since away?' He entertains us with the EXACT SAME story every weekend in Arabic and English that we still don't understand (something about Canada and Alaska), and we buy our vegetables. Today I paid about the equivalent of a dollar for my peppers, carrots, limes, and cucumbers.

He gives us a gift of a bright green pepper. Every week.

We return to the fly-covered fruit stands and pay another 2 dollars for kilos of bananas, oranges and strawberries.

We each buy a rotisserie Chicken that we can eat off all week. These are sold in an outdoor 'shop' underneath an overpass that is never without hundreds of honking, loud cars and trucks. We assume that the previously mentioned 'cute' chickens all end up at this shop.

And this is all completely normal.

How did you acquire your fresh produce this week???

Well that was fun!

2010-03-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

For the past 11 days I was host to four Very Important People from Canada: The Marcus' (my parents!) and the Bakers. These people have been friends for a very long time, and have created a lot of mischief together, but perhaps nothing as far-away and foreign as Cairo.

If you know my dad, you know that it was amazing just to get him here. When I signed up for this gig, he said "I won't come visit." The night I flew out he changed his mind.

The biggest highlight for me was seeing Cairo through their fresh eyes again. It reminded me how far I've come in terms of familiarity with this city and with my understanding of the Egyptian way of life. Of course I still have a very long way to go too!

We hired "Mostafa the driver" and his '87 Peugeot station wagon for most of our transportation needs, but I still managed to lose the Bakers at least once to the only taxi driver in Cairo who couldn't find the Nile.

Our brave travelers were at my mercy, only occasionally reminding me that they were here for a holiday, not an olympic competition in site-seeing. All four tried stuffed pigeon, and countless other dips and sauces. Meals were a high light of the trip. In one day we visited all 3 pyramid sites: Sakkara, Dashur and of course Giza.

Hugo, Marilyn and Sally all took their turn "riding" a camel while I took videos and snapped away. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Executive Director! :)

The favourite for all was a 4 day cruise on the Nile from Aswan to Luxor. We sat in the 38 C heat, and when absolutely necessary we left the boat to explore an old temple or the High Dam. The Nile is a source of life and energy for this country, and that was seen so clearly from the deck of the Jazz Mervat.

Visitors are always welcome here in Cairo, and although I can't guarantee as much of my attention as these four got last week, I can guarantee a million memories and about that many laughs as well.

Dashing in the Degla ... UGH

2010-02-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

Clicking "submit" on a 5k race registration last Wednesday night seemed like a good idea.

At the time.

It's not like I've been running 5k's lately... but it's like riding a bike, right? Anyone can run 2 circles around the desert and enjoy themselves.

And besides, someone had to come in last. Why not me?

Of course there were a few details left off the registration form, which I think were ...pivotal...

1. Despite leaving Ma'adi in buses at 10am, we did not run until 12:15. - that's the heat of the day, for those of you that didn't know.

2. We had to hike up hill for a kilometre to get to the race site.

3. The course itself had several hills and climbs

4. Cairo is experiencing unseasonal warms (at least to this poor Canadian) of 28 C.

5. I caught a virus on Thursday, thus participating in this event with a red, runny nose and sore throat. And the lung capacity of a ... mosquito (? do they have small lungs???)

So employing Monique's trick of "run when they can see you," I managed to walk most of the hilly course, finishing the 5k race in, wait for it...

FORTY-TWO MINUTES!

Now I'm not a real runner on a good day, but that, my friends is 12 minutes off my best time. 11 minutes off my triathlon 5k.

I'm signing up for a gym membership this week. Next year, the Degla Dash is GOING DOWN.

Weekend fun: a visit to the Citadel and Mohamed Ali mosque

2010-02-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

We left Ma'adi (something we should do more often!) to visit the Citadel on Saturday. It was a frigid 10 C, and we didn't stay out long. Not much else to say, so for once, just some fun pics.

And at the end of the day, we stopped by the Souk on Road 9 for a $3 supply of fruits and veggies. How much did you spend on your produce this week???

The dog bite

2010-01-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was all set to write about an amazing Art experience I had the other night, but a dog and his teeth got in the way of that. I will post about the Art show another night. This is especially for Cathy, so she doesn't worry about me :)

Today while walking to meet some friends and go to a birthday party I was hosting, I was bitten by a large, slobbery black dog. I did nothing to provoke it, and did not see it coming. Stray dogs are everywhere in Cairo, and usually harmless. Incidentally, I was the second AIS teacher to have this happen this week.

At the end of the street, I happened to run into my pastor, Paul-Gordon, and his wife Lynne. They drove me to Corrina's house, where I could check out the wound and see if I needed treatment.

Corrina and I decided we needed a second opinion, and headed to my dear friend Emily's house, who works as a RN with the American Embassy. She insisted (rightfully so) that I obtain a shot for Rabbies. Off to the hospital!

Corrina, my life-saver, sat at the hospital with me for over an hour, going to the pharmacy to buy my vaccine for me, filling out papers, and just keeping me calm. The Dr and nurse spoken enough English to get the job done, (and to tell me that I had high blood pressure and should calm down a bit). The total cost for the visit (including the vaccine) was under 250 LE which is about 50 Dollars. I'll see about reimbursement from the Health Insurance company next week...

And of course, you really all just want to see a picture of my bite. I have a feeling it'll be pretty colours in a few days.

In the end, we showed up almost 2 hours late for the birthday party, but happy to be in the company of friends who could love me and laugh with me. I wanted desperately to take pictures at the hospital, but was also worried about not behaving 'properly'...

I wanted "excitement in Egypt" but not this kind.

As always, I leave you with a picture !

Missives From Middle School

2010-01-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

[Photo credit from AIS website - I don't stalk my students!]

Consider the following story from last period...

5 grade 7 boys crowd my desk during last period, looking at the new pictures I put on my bulletin board, of my family.

S1: Miss, is that your son?
Miss: No, that's my nephew.
S2: Oh that's right, she's not married. Don't worry miss, you're still young. [where did THAT come from???]

S3: Miss, show us a picture of your family.

[Miss seizes the opportunity to reinforce previously learned French terms, and grabs a family photo.]

Miss: Voici ma mère. Voici mon père. Voici mon frère, mon frère, et mon frère.
S3: Wow, you have big family.
Miss: Mon frère Jared et mon frère Paul sont des jumeaux. Do you know what jumeaux means?
All 5: No.
Miss: I'll say it a different way. Paul a 29 ans. Jared a 29 ans. Ils sont des jumeaux.

S5: (And I don't make this stuff up!) Oh I get it, they're Married!

S4: No you idiot, it means they are twins! Why don't they look the same? This is impossible. If they are twins they must look the same.

S2: It must be different in Canada!

(did I mention that I don't make this stuff up???)

At this point I realized the conversation was beyond my control, and I sent all 5 sweet young men to their seats, where I attempted to steer the train-wreck we call 5th period into some semblance of order.

And that, my friends, is why teaching Middle School is hilarious.

Garbage City and the Cave Churches: A different side of Cairo

2010-01-15T03:01:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, still jet-lagged and exhausted from flying across the ocean, I joined some friends to explore what is infamously known as "Garbage City."

Garbage City is a slum near the citadel in Cairo. Most Egyptians (my students included) simply looked at me in disgust and said "why on earth would you go there???"

It is as gross as it sounds, and lives up to its name. There is garbage everywhere, and the smell is unbelievable. However, through the winding, filthy streets, you arrive at beautiful cave churches that you would never otherwise find.

This area is populated predominantly by Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of Egypt's population. My friend and guide for the day, Dena, explained that Coptics are not persecuted as much as they are discriminated against. It is difficult here for Arabic Speaking Coptics.

There were many people coming to the churches to pray last weekend after a shooting in Upper Egypt (south of Cairo) on Coptic Christmas Eve. We met a friend of Dena's who explained to us that many people are once again afraid.

Many of you read about the mass slaughter of 20 000 pigs in the Spring of 2009, due to a misunderstanding of the poorly-named "Swine Flu." The pigs were present in Garbage City to eat scraps, and aid in composting the perishable food. Because the pig is also an unclean animal in Islam, this was seen by many as further discrimination against Copts.

Garbage city is also a place of new life and new hope. After touring the cave churches we walked back through the piles of garbage to tour the Association for the Preservation of the Environment, or APE as it is known. Incidentally, one of this year's speakers at Calvin's January Series was directly from APE, speaking about garbage in the streets of Cairo.

APE has several initiatives to train young men and women in trades; the idea is that if women are educated and have a job they will not be given away for marriage as early as they normally would. Young men are taught to be carpenters or other valuable trades.

Upon arriving in Cairo, I was very uncomfortable with putting everything in the garbage, including paper, glass and plastic bottles. And although I am still uneasy about this, I understand that even garbage and recycling works differently in a developing country. My trash is a source of income and a job for other people. I can make their job easier by pre-sorting, but all the garbage goes to one place, where people then sort and re-use or recycle what is good.

I teach children from wealthy families and I live in a wealthy suburb of Cairo where it is easy to forget that this is a 3rd world country with rampant poverty. Visiting garbage city reminds me once again that I am privileged and also responsible for so much, and I will continue to find ways that I can play a respectful role in the development of this country.

Back in Cairo, Happy 2010

2010-01-08T05:28:00.001-08:00

Within hours of being back, I had a taxi driver try to kiss my hand, and then try to charge me double for my short trip.

It's good to be back in Cairo...

My trip to Ontario was everything it should have been - family, babies, cold air, snow, friends and delicious home-cooked baking and food. It was also reaffirming: by the end of 2.5 weeks, I was quite ready to return to Cairo, to my own bed, my own students and my life here.

I was reprimanded by more than one of you, my dedicated readers (honestly, I didn't think I had any...) about my lack of blogging. Someone even suggested that my New Years Resolution be to write more often. Having arrived back to find that I do in fact have an Internet connection in my apartment(Shokran, Mohamed Ibrahim!), my only Resolution is to keep posting to the blog.

Tomorrow we are going to Garbage City, so I'm sure I will have pictures and some stories to explain exactly what that is, and why it is an important part of Cairo.

For now, some pics of the visit home:

The ever-growing Marcus family. The next time we do this picture, there will be one more!

Bahariyah and the Black and White Deserts

2009-12-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about this experience (living and working in Egypt) is that I'm being exposed to things that I didn't even know existed a year ago.

Two weeks ago, during our Eid Break, I traveled with 30 colleagues to Bahariyah, an Oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert. I thought the desert was nothing more than endless sand, and huge spiders. Fortunately I was wrong about both!

I didn't see any spiders. I'm still grateful.

I also had no idea that parts of the desert look like another planet, it felt like I was walking on the moon.

We drove by bus for 5 hours, arrived at the International Hot Springs Hotel and switched to Four Wheel Drive jeeps for the rest of our trek. Late afternoon we [by 'we' I mean our Bedouin guides] were setting up camp in the middle of no where, next to these big white rocks.

We ate a hearty turkey dinner (it was, after all, American Thanksgiving), and danced with our Bedouin hosts around the camp fire. There's nothing to do in the desert after dark, and so by 9pm we were all safely wrapped in our camel hair blankets, in our tents.

In a middle of the night trek to the 'ladies washroom' (the big rock beside our camp) I looked up. I cannot describe how amazing the stars were in the desert. Stunning.

Early the next morning we set off for more exploration and driving. The following nights were spent at various hotels, enjoying the fun-loving company of my colleagues, and some much needed sleep, reading for fun, and day-dreaming time.

As luck would have it, I ended up with three friends with the one driver whom we have nic-named “Mr Independent.” We were 8 jeeps in total, numbered, and were supposed to stay in order. When we were off-roading in the desert, he would be the 2nd last to leave, and the first to arrive, because he had taken his own crazy, crazy path, at one point causing a panic attack from a fellow passenger. I will never forget looking out the window and seeing THE SEVEN OTHER JEEPS heading North, back to the road, while we continued on our merry way East to climb an impossibly steep gravel hill to beat the other drivers. I wish my Arabic were better, so I could have asked him why he was doing this.

Back in Cairo, I enjoyed a short week without students, 'teaching virtually' (which we've deemed "virtually impossible" in this country) and cleaning my classroom. One week remains until Christmas, and after much deliberation I've decided to head to Canada for the break. Our 8 day Quarantine was lifted, and in theory people have somewhat relaxed about Swine Flu. My Mask-wearing students haven't gotten the memo yet!

I leave you with a few favs from the desert...

100 days and counting!

2009-11-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

[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.

To my dear Arabic teacher...

2009-11-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

I forgot to tell you that I have a Masters degree in Second Language Education. I forgot to tell you that when we learn 2nd languages we have to consume a lot of language before we produce it. It's a well known fact about language learning.

I can't write your language yet, and it frustrates both of us. I keep failing your tests, but you haven't given me the chance to show you that I CAN read your words, and sound them out, if you would just stop rushing me and interrupting me to tell me that I obviously didn't do my homework.

I also forgot to tell you that more than reading or writing I really, really, really, need to know how to speak to people on the street. People on the street don't ask me the months of the year, or what the weather is like in August. Furthermore, putting a picture of rain to illustrate winter is a cultural lesson, not a language one.

People on the streets of Cairo ask me how many camels it will take to marry them. They charge me too much for things, (of course with the exception of Mohammed the fruit man) and I must learn quickly to argue with them, in their language. I need to know the arabic equivalent of “What are you staring at ???”

Did I also forget to tell you that I'm a bit of a pretentious snob who thinks she knows everything when it comes to teaching languages???

Sincerely,
Your worst student.

PS. I actually like your class a lot, and tonight for the first time the words you wrote on the board looked like words - not hieroglyphics. I might not be aware that I am actually learning. I'll come back next week, I promise.

Arabic classes are going well...

2009-11-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

...but Mohammed the fruit man was a bit surprised when I ordered a half kilo of Chairs instead of Zucchinis.

Really, one letter??? Korsi = chair. Korsa = Zucchini. I'll never make that mistake again.

School closure - the biggest loser!

2009-11-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

So for once this country and our school have done something that somewhat resembles organization and planning. On November 12 we received official notification that school will be closed for three days after our November Eid holiday. This makes me a big loser in both our potluck pool and the bus pool. (I'll be checking into a gambling rehab facility for the break...)

Now according to the Ministry officials here in Egypt, they're not actually closing our school. Instead, they mention in the newspaper, "e-learning may be the answer." [yes, but WHAT is the question???] So our students may not come to school but we will still teach them via computers.

I was trained a few weeks back on a virtual classroom program, so that I could train other teachers. In typical fashion, the virtual classroom hasn't worked on another computer since this night of training!

We will send student work packages home, go to work every day, and hope against all hope that this only lasts 3 days. The rumours are strong, however, that the government will say "you should stay closed, because there's only 12 days until your Christmas vacation." We should start again on January 10, but we also think the goverment might say "public schools in Egypt are on holidays at the end of January - no school for you." For now, 3 days to clean my classroom and time to run on the treadmill in the school gym.

Stay tuned!

yallabina!

2009-10-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

As I was finishing my Masters at U of T this Spring, and preparing to move to Cairo, I declared 2009-2010 as my "working holiday," meaning that I would work and get paid, but relax a bit more, do some traveling, read for fun and rest. I loved my studies at U of T, but it was tiring.

Of course I'm completely incompetent at saying no, and at knowing my limits, so I am now signed up for 2 nights of Arabic lessons a week. (On top of my other work and committee involvement).

Some of you know that I bought a self-teaching program before I left. I'm the worst self-teacher I know. (The ironies of this are great, I understand, since I am a TEACHER). But, I learn better when I have accountability and when someone is explaining stuff to me.

Arabic is no longer an interest, it is a necessity. Consider the following situation:

Electricity man arrives at the door to collect for October. He collected last month for August and September, and I paid him. Tonight he said in very broken English "you pay 3 months." I say the one Arabic word I know off by heart "La'a" [NO]. He pulls out electricity bills from June and July, and insists that I pay them. We're both pantomiming a ton at this point. Waving your hands and shaking your head is universal. I say "I no live here June July. I no pay." (Honestly, people understand pidgeon versions of their foreign language better, it's been proven.) The landlord was eventually called, and he eventually agreed to pay for June and July. I'm embarrassed to admit that we probably quibbled over about $10, but it was the principle of the matter!

Anyways, I wish I could have been a better guest to his country by at least greeting him and knowing my numbers in Arabic. Hopefully 4 hrs a week of small group tutoring will help some.

Someone suggested I post a question here, to get you to respond. So here it is:

If you were learning Arabic as a foreign language, what would your first priority be? What words and phrases would you want to learn???

Yallabina! Let's go!

It has come down to this...

2009-10-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

This morning walking to church I enjoyed a refreshing breeze and a long sleeved shirt after a heat wave moved through Cairo at the beginning of the week. We're enjoying seasonal norms of 25 C, as opposed to 40 C last Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes it hit me, as it did this morning, "I live in Egypt." That's a loaded statement now.

Courtney and I had some friends over for dinner the other night, and this was the result of full stomachs and the company of good friends.

In case you can't read the title, it is the "School Closure Potluck Pool." Rumours and speculation are so strong in Egypt about once again closing the International schools that we have started a pool for the date and the method by which we will find out. We have a break at the end of November, and the idea is that we'll be closed after that, until after Christmas. C'mon November 22!

Last weekend our Church hosted a Dinner Charity Auction for 450 people. It was amazing the amount of people who bought tickets and came to support various Egyptian Charities. The Church itself only has about 100 people, so I'm not sure where everyone came from. The evening was complete with a cash bar and black jack tables. I love being Anglican!

We had a table of "young adults" (starting to take issue with that phrase - as one person at the table put it "I'm not all that young any more, and I'm not sure I'm an adult"...). We talked a lot about why people come to Egypt and what we were all doing there. There seems to be three main reasons. 1) specifically for interest in their job. 2) Interest in the Middle East and Egypt.
3) Interest in living somewhere other than your own country.

I had to admit that I was in the third category. I was put to shame by some of the others, who have studied Arabic and Middle Eastern studies in University, and who really want to be specifically in Egypt. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, and it's a fascinating place. It's just that before January 28, 2009, I had not really thought much about Egypt as a living, current place. It was just boring history to me.

Now that I'm here, my interests still lie more in the way people live currently than they did in history. I wonder much more often about the people around me - how they live now, and how they interact with one another. It also frustrates me that I have few opportunities to interact with Egyptians, and many language and cultural barriers prevent this from happening. I will have to keep looking for ways to make that happen that are appropriate and safe.

I try to get out on Saturdays to explore somewhere new; last weekend I was in Old Cairo, tomorrow I hope to join some people from work on a tour of Zamalek, a small island region in Cairo with lots of little shops and galleries. The above picture is the inside of the first Mosque built in Cairo; it was built large enough to hold the Muslim army (3500 men) for prayer.

Routine, glorious routine

2009-10-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

[it says at the top of this blog: "pictures, lots of pictures." when/if I get the internet to cooperate for more than a few minutes at a time I will keep my promise. No one loves pictures more than I do, I promise.]

We finally had a week of school here in Cairo, and it felt so good to be back in the classroom, doing something that fortunately I still enjoy, even after 3 months off!

Routine feels good, and I am at the mercy of a strict teacher bus schedule. No more rolling out of bed 10 minutes before work and sprinting to beat Mr. Buwalda to the front doors of Durham. Bus leaves at 7am, and returns around 5pm. It makes for a longer day, but so far I've managed to leave my work at school. Most days after school there is time to play ball hockey or ultimate with other teachers or run or swim before heading home. I'm enjoying this kind of schedule a lot.

I am now teaching middle school, all of my work until this point in my career has been in high school. It's been a steep learning curve, to say the least. Some of the finer points of management seem silly to me, like the detailed, step-by-step directions I need to give more often; but I'm also loving that I can get away with being so much more juvenile. We spent 10 minutes on Friday guessing how many fingers I was holding up, after learning 0-10. They never got sick of it!

The students are mostly Arabic, but they speak English quite well. I am supposed to enforce a “no Arabic rule” in my classroom, and after 2 years of language and identity discussions at university of Toronto I am having some ideological issues with this rule. When I realized, however, that the students were talking about me and each other behind my back, I became a big fan of the no Arabic rule.

Here are some of the finer conversations of the week.

[after at least 15 students ask if they can write with blue/black pen]. “Raise your hand if you think Mlle Marcus cares whether you write in blue or black ink.”

Student: “Mees, you can call me Aziz, it's easier to say that Abdel.”
Mees: “Is that your name?”
Student: “No, but it's easier to say.”
[you should know, Aziz is my favourite now... there's something in his little eyes...]

Student: Mees, I need to change classes, I'm the only girl.
Mees: Don't be silly, you're not changing classes. Besides, I'm a girl too.
Student: No, you're a teacher.

and my personal favourite ...

Student: “Mees, are you having a baby?”
Mees: “Do I look pregnant? WAIT, don't answer that.”

Friday and Saturday is my weekend now, which is still a bit weird. Going to church on Friday morning is a nice way to start the weekend - I feel like I should be winding down and getting ready to go back tomorrow, but instead I have another day! Bring on week 2!

Swine Flu Folly [ a rant ]

2009-09-29T23:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at a meeting with the school doctor, we learned that the school would be taking some pretty amazing preventative measures to fight an H1N1 outbreak, in accordance with the Egyptian Government.

Here are some highlights.

-The school will no longer be using the central air system, because, you see, this is an airborn disease, and our classrooms need "fresh" air from the dessert. If I can't see the field through the haze most days, what does that say about the "fresh" Cairo air we are pumping into our classrooms? Not to mention the noise of the playground most of our windows open to, or the heat, or the bus exhaust from the 100+ buses that are left idling most of the day.

- the bus drivers and the guards at the front gate of the school will be yielding thermal detectors, and are not to let any student or teacher on the bus, nor any visitor in the school, who has a temperature higher than 37.5. When the resources become available, the school is hoping to add forehead thermometer readings to homeroom every morning. Yes, that does mean the kids will be checked twice in about an hour.

-the mandate wouldn't be complete without a nod to Egypt's social class system. In the elementary wing, there are what we call "blue people" (no joke, this is the technical term). They are typically from poorer Egyptian families, and are hired by the school to keep the proper ratio of foreign-local hires. When coming into contact with elementary students, they are to be wearing masks at all times, because, you see, they may take a drug that brings down their temperature but you won't know then if they have swine flu. The same logic is not applicable to foreign hires - no masks for them.

-and last but not least the most frustrating of them all (a government mandate, not the school). Every trip abroad must be followed by an 8 day "in country quarantine" before you can get back to work. SO, no one may leave for our six day break in November, and at Christmas we must be back in Egypt by January 2, not the 10th as originally planned. Incidentally, this has helped me get off the fence about going home for Christmas - not going to happen in two weeks.

As you can tell we're a bit frustrated with all of this, and it's a frustrating way to start the school year (should it actually start in three days ...). Perhaps another day will bring a more cheerful post.

throwing up at the burning bush (and other stories from Dahab)

2009-09-24T03:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the gross title ... everything is a story, n'est-ce pas?

We ended up extending our trip to Dahab by an extra day because we all entered into total relaxation mode, and saw no reason to return to Cairo and wait for school to start.

Dahab is a resort town on the Gulf of Aqaba, by the Red Sea, on the Sinai Peninsula. It took about an 8 hour bus trip that can only be rivaled by my first trip on Durham's campout. (our bus lost a tire in the middle of the dessert, we had to pay too much money to use the washroom...)

My favourite activity by far was snorkeling, I've never seen such amazing fish and coral reef. It was stunningly beautiful. The first day we snorkeled near our hotel, and the second day we went to the Blue Hole, about 20 minutes away. I'm hooked on snorkeling now, I loved it. I only wish I had a camera like my sister-in-law's that could have done under-water shots. I guess they'll just be ingrained in my mind for a long time...

The other highlight would be riding a camel, which was a hilarious experience. We opted only for a two hour trek, which is plenty long enough, believe me. My camel was rather stubborn, doing it's own thing too often. Megan's camel was the eater, stopping at every sight of green - thankfully it was the dessert, so there wasn't too much green stuff around.

On the last night in Dahab we forewent sleep and left at midnight for Mount Sinai. After a 2 hour bus ride, we began our climb. It was very different than I expected, there were people and camels everywhere! We had to pay careful attention to the camels, so as not to get pushed off the side of the mountains on the way up! It was a hot, sticky, 3 hour climb, but upon arriving at the top we were instantly freezing. We sat huddled under sleeping bags and towels and awaited the main attraction: sunrise. It was amazing. And when it started I couldn't get over how quickly it actually rose. It was hard to have a "moment" because there were people yelling and talking everywhere. We took the stairs of repentance down again, which was rougher than the path going up, but without camels.

Upon arriving at St. Catherine's Monastery, where the burning bush is supposed to be, I got violently ill, and yes, I did throw up by a tree. Probably wasn't the burning bush. The stomach flu continued all the way home, during the 6 hour Egyptian bus trip (driving 140km/hr in the dessert, speeding up on corners, and very, very bumpy). I'm feeling slightly better today.

Dahab's a great place to escape the busy-ness of Cairo, and I can see that we'll be returning there in the next few years. We've been assured that school is indeed starting on October 3, so next week I will actually go in to work for a few meetings and some planning.

Paris je t'aime

2009-09-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Some highlights from a week in France, via point form and pictures.

-seeing John and Alexandrine. It had been 3 years since I'd seen Alex, and about 1.5 since I'd seen John. I hope to see much more of them now that we're on the same side of the world, in countries that share the Mediterranean sea.

-speaking lots of French, and learning new expressions. This includes getting my foot in my mouth more than once, but that's not always unique to the French language ...

-helping John show Paris to his family. I felt like a teacher again, but it was fun to be an expert.

-attending a three day, bilingual French/American wedding. I've not had so much champagne in such a short period before. But champagne helps me speak coherent French (or so it felt like at the time...)

-meeting John's friends, and recognizing that he still continues to choose his friends well :) (why yes, that is a backhanded compliment to myself!). It is fun to be able to invite people to visit me in Egypt, and also to receive invitations to return again to France.

-going off completely on my own for two days to Strasbourg. Believe it or not I've never traveled by myself, and I found I quite liked it. At the beginning of my séjour in Egypt, it was a good confidence-booster. Hopefully I'll travel some more.

-arriving "home" again in Cairo, and knowing exactly how to not get ripped off by a taxi driver, and being able to give directions to my apartment. It's amazing how far I've come in 4 weeks.

One last thing to add, which did not make me as happy. Upon returning I found out that they've delayed our start AGAIN, now for the 3rd of October (or maybe the 7th???). I really just want to work, that is what I came here to do, and I'm getting tired of waiting for something that may never happen. There are rumours of further dates, but I don't even want to name them at this point, that's how frustrating this is.

Some pictures to accompany previous post...

2009-09-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

I broke down and am paying 75 cents to use the Internet cafe near our house. Soon, and very soon, I should be able to do this from my living room. Sigh, how spoiled I am.

This is in Coptic Cairo. Last Friday we walked around here at dusk, and although we enjoyed the empty streets, we could not get in to see most of the amazing sites. Another time, perhaps when the heat breaks. Courtney, enjoying her Hibiscus juice. It's SO strong and sweet, that every time you take a sip, you add water, and by the end of the glass it is almost palatable.

This is the hanging church in Coptic Cairo. It is called "hanging" because it is built on very old Roman pillars, and appears to be hanging. It is a misnomer :)

This picture is solely for my dear sister-in-law Melanie, first to see if she's reading my blog, and second to point out that yes, all the linens I'm buying are in fact, 100% Egyptian Cotton.

Garbage day on Road 233, Ma'adi. You can't necessarily see it, but there is a little boy perched on this garbage truck, his co-workers are throwing garbage up to him. From what I can tell there is no set day or time for this to occur. Basically whenever they want to pick up garbage they do.

Sufi dancing. One of the dancers spun for over 40 minutes without stopping. We think that if he had stopped, he wouldn't have been able to start again. The whole experience was somewhat over stimulating (1.5 hours of bright colours and crazy music, with drums, talkative Egyptians and heat).

The Egyptian National Museum. Yes, it is pink.

The week that was

2009-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

With all this time off, I've taken to being a rather lazy tourist. We venture somewhere every day, but sometimes it's not far, and it is almost always followed by a rest, a meal with friends, and a nap or a long time reading a book. Not to mention the sleeping in ! I'm on holidays, something I did not really do this summer when I was in Canada.

Having said that, we've done some fun stuff. Wednesday was probably the most interesting. We began our day with a visit to the National Museum of Egypt, which is a glorified PINK warehouse, with tombs and old stuff everywhere - none of it is labeled.

After our siesta, about 7 of us took a taxi (my favourite taxi ride so far - he drove so fast, and the whole time kept reminding us that he was a coptic Christian, and not a muslim, and that since we were white we must be Christian as well - all this in VERY broken English!)

We arrived at the markets to see Sufi dancing, but were so early that we decided to give ourselves a walking tour. Because it is Ramadan some of the Mosques have relaxed their rules about tours, and we were able to enter a mosque (in bare feet!) and climb a Minaret to see much of the outdoor markets and all the lights at night. It was spectacular. Upon arriving at the top of the Minaret I realized we were looking directly into the Mosque - it had no roof! I guess when you get 7mm of rain a year (if you're lucky) you don't worry about extra construction.

We took some time to tour part of the Kahn (market) before heading in to watch Sufi dancing. I'm not too familiar with what's behind it, but according to Marsha, one man spun for over 40 minutes without stopping. It was full of bright colours and the music was loud, after 1.5 hours I felt completely over stimulated. I learned something about Egyptian culture during the performance, as explained by Janet, who has worked in Egypt for many years: they will not stop talking! And I've been warned that this happens in a movie theatre too - they will talk on their cell phones through an entire film, and shout at people near them. I wonder what this will look like in a Middle school classroom?

I will eventually get pictures on here, but the Internet connection I'm "borrowing" tonite will not allow this to happen. Our internet is arriving, inshallah, soon. ARG.

An unexpected holiday

2009-08-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings! It's been a few days since I've had a chance to post here. In typically Egypt fashion, it will take the better part of a month (inshallah) to get internet at our apartment. So here Courtney and I sit at Hubbly Bubbly, sipping mango juice and getting caught up.

The big news for today was the unexpected temporary closing of our school. At about noon today the school confirmed rumours that the Egyptian government forced a number of International Schools to delay their opening until after the Holy Month of Ramadan. The information is unclear at best, but we believe it is a combination of H1N1 paranoia, and the amount of returning expats from the summer vacation. Like I said, still a bit unclear. I'm getting used to the phrase "only in Egypt." So school will start (inshallah) on September 26 or 27. There was a mad furry of teachers booking holidays to Greece, India, the Mediterranean and other exotic locations.

So, here I sit booking flights to Paris, France, to attend the wedding of John Vanderweide and Alexandrine Blanc. (Can't wait to see you both!) I was so disappointed when I couldn't go, this is just an extra special occasion for me. The rest of the month will be spent bumming around Cairo. I haven't yet seen the pyramids, or visited any other real touristy areas. The goal for the next month: be a tourist! I was definitely feeling the school pressure, so it is also nice to have that alleviated for a bit.

The administrators among you are wondering, how do you make up that time? The school is working on a plan, but I think it will mean extending the school day, and working the occasional Saturday (the second day of our weekend) to get caught up. I'm trying not to think of the long days ahead. For now it's cool.

I've got a whole other note about the "apartment saga" but for now (inshallah) it is over, and Courtney and I are moving in and feeling settled. Last night I cooked at home for the first time since we've been here. Of course you really all just want to see pictures, so here you are.

This is the kitchen, while I'm standing in the living room. I love my island and the open-concept between the living room and kitchen.

And this is the living room, from the kitchen. Our window looks out to Road 233, a delightful road with lots of little shops and fun things to do. We're close to a lot of other teachers who live in Ma'adi, and there are a few Christian Churches close by too.

Last but not least we have my bathroom, where, due to a unfortunate bacteria, I have been spending a lot of time (sorry, too much information!) We each have our own bedroom and bathroom, which is quite nice.

The reason I call this a saga is that our landlord is not the easiest person to deal with, and I'm trying to figure out what is cultural, what is bad manners, and what is just simply part of someone being a landlord. I'll keep guessing. He does not live in the building, but like every apartment here, there is a baowab who lives downstairs in a very small apartment with his family. His job is to do maintenance for the building, and whenever I want, I can put a bag of garbage outside my door and voila! it's gone within hours. This still makes me uncomfortable, because I'm not used to being picked up after.

Anyways, there are so many more stories and events to tell, but I'll have to spread them out over many posts. I feel like I've gained a world of experience in one week, and I know there's many more to come! I do miss my family, especially my wee ones, but I'm happy to be here, and happy to have some more time to get adjusted.

In closing, I'll also add that when I wrote the date this week I thought a lot about Durham Christian High School and the Dykstra family. A lot has happened in the past year for them, and this week was a reminder of all that changed. The DCHS community continues to be in my thoughts and prayers with the beginning of another school year for them too.

Things I've already learned...

2009-08-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a staff party on a Fellucah (boat) on the Nile. They kept our three boats tied together, and it was nice to mix and mingle with new and some of the returning staff who are back in town. The above shot is one of our Fellucah captains.

The sun sets quickly, and I shot this just before we left the dock. I'll put more pictures up later when I'm on a faster connection.

I'm feeling quite accomplished with myself in the past few days, having successfully taken a taxi to multiple places, almost (fingers crossed still) rented an apartment, bought a cell phone, returned to Duty Free for some "supplies," used the bank, and not managed to get super duper lost! I probably just jinxed it...

My Arabic needs to improve drastically, or it's going to be a long two years. I think I have a new understanding of illiteracy - walking around unable to make sense of signs, directions and not understanding a word people are saying to you. When things settle, perhaps later in the fall, I'd like to take Arabic classes.

I feel safer than I thought I would, but I cannot walk the streets without comments. I'm thankful for my sunglasses, because I am stared at a lot. Sunglasses help me not incidentally make eye contact. I'm learning to walk with purpose, as if I know what I'm doing. Here in Ma'adi foreigners are more common, so perhaps we are not noticed as quickly.

Things move slower here, as shown by the fact that I still do not have a confirmed place to live. I found a gorgeous, relatively inexpensive flat for my room mate and I, and the owner left for a two day holiday in the middle of our dealings. He is *supposed* to be back tomorrow. I remain skeptical.

Tomorrow I will hopefully have a home, and spend some time stocking it in the afternoon. We have another staff party in the evening, and begin working at school on Sunday morning.

I'm here!

2009-08-19T22:27:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Hot, Sunny, Cairo!

I'm still a bit dazed, and looking forward to going with Mohammed Ali (no joke) to search for an apartment today. I was whisked away to see one last night, but will not make a decision until I've seen a few others.

People from the school are remarkably friendly and welcoming. We were met by the administrators at the airport, and a welcome team at the hotel. Last nite dinner was at a restaurant overlooking the Nile (gonna take a while to get used to writing that with any ease...) and then a good night's rest.

As far as first impressions go, I'll only say that all the horror stories I read about driving were accurate. I will not, in the next two years, get behind the wheel of a car, no matter the occasion. Whether it was the school bus drivers or a taxi, the only consistent rule of the road is to honk and flash your high beams, ALL THE TIME. If you want to turn, honk. If you want to cut someone off, honk. If you are sitting still in traffic, honk, honk, honk. And then at night, add the flashing headlights. I saw our bus go down side streets (and on sidewalks) that I'd never try to manipulate my car on. Pretty hilarious. And a bit nauseating :)

The next few days are scheduled for apartment hunting and then moving, and every evening there is a social of sorts planned for the new teachers and the orientation team. Business meetings at school start on Sunday.

In other news, I'm happy to add that my nephew Tijs had successful surgery and is recovering well. Can't wait to see his new smile!

Faces...

2009-07-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

This peaceful little man will change a lot while I'm gone.

I'm going to miss these freckles a ton!

And of course this little guy is going to create so much mischief that I'll miss out on.

Who am I kidding. I'll miss the whole lot of them, even the grown up ones.

With these pictures in mind, (and in hand too!) I'm leaving for Cairo. Once I get settled in, I hope to have time to post occasional updates and stories and pictures. Thanks for all your well-wishes and encouragement!

28 days and counting...

2009-07-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

It is probably time to get this blog rolling...and I've completed almost everything on my "bucket list," so there's not much else to do at this point!

Numbers 4 and 5 (see previous post) are incomplete, and I'm okay with that. Number 4 isn't as important to me as it was when I wrote originally, and that's just the way it is. As for a potty trained nephew, it's happened, but I don't think he's too excited about a "special weekend" with Auntie Shannon. I'm not even sure he knows that I'm leaving. His big sister on the other hand...

I've been in a trance of good byes these days - staff at DCHS, students at DCHS, people at church, special groups from church, etc. Some farewells are short and sweet, others leave me choked up and sad. I tried to say good bye to the staff at DCHS and couldn't get through all the things I wanted to say. I think they know that they will be missed.

Reality has not yet set in, and I've heard it really doesn't until you step out of an airport into 50 degree weather. I even find myself still thinking about life like I'll be living here in September. "I think I should teach that in grade 12 French," or, "that would be a great song to teach the church this fall." Oops!

4 weeks from tonight I'll be on the airplane, headed to Frankfurt. I tend to get restless on airplanes, sometimes a little excitement in the way of turbulence helps that. I'll be taking suggestions for airplane novels and MP3 playlists in the comments section now.

Pics of all the good byes will come too!

A list...

2009-03-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

I have a mental list going of all the things I want to do before I leave for Egypt. Some are a given, that is, I've already taken the steps to make them happen, others are wishes, that perhaps some of you can help me with :)

1. Be in the country for the birth of a niece or nephew. This will be the first time I've actually been on Canadian soil when a baby is born in our family. Should happen Mid-April, from what I understand.
2. Teach for a week at Redeemer. (okay, this isn't so much a "wish" as a fact).
3. Complete an entire Sprint Triathlon, all by myself. Goal: finish under 2 hours.
4. Stand on a 401 overpass when a fallen soldier is coming "home". I hope that I won't get this opportunity, but logic and current events say otherwise.
5. Have a special weekend with my nephew. He has to be potty-trained for this to happen, so I'm putting it on my list to help my sister in law!
6. Go to Canada's Wonderland. So long as Melanie's not preggo this summer it'll work out.
7. Sing around the campfire with 120 of my favourite students from Durham.
8. Lead worship at Church with my brother Paul one last time.
9. Finish the Twilight series (please, don't judge me).
10. **

** Number 10 is open to suggestions - what do you think should be on my list of "lasts" before I move to Cairo???

The Decision

2009-02-10T19:49:00.000-08:00

I decided late on January 27 to accept a position teaching middle school French at an International school in Cairo, Egypt. This is what happens when I get bored.

Most people, when they get bored, watch TV, or read a new book, or call a friend for coffee. When I get bored, restless and in need of something new, I usually end up trying to find new work. Two years ago I decided to do my Masters degree, because I was bored. Since that is no longer new and exciting, and since it will be finished in 4 months, it was time for a new adventure.

I am still not completely sure how I ended up being offered a job in Cairo, but here we go. It actually all started last July, when my dad told me about an administrator he met at a conference. Many emails and conversations later, and here I am.

Current climate in Cairo: Hot and Sunny.

A New Blog!

2009-02-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is for my mom...because we all know that in about 4 days she'll be the only one still reading it.

As I prepare to say good-bye to Bowmanville, and hello to Cairo, I thought it'd be fun to start a blog. I lurk on other people's blogs all the time, but this is my first stab at it.

With my newly acquired digital camera, I'll hopefully add lots of pictures of pyramids too.