100 days and counting!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Salam. Peace out. Love from Cairo.

To my dear Arabic teacher...

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...

...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!

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!