Garbage City

The name is not at all misleading. It is indeed a city full of garbage. The men and women sort through rancid, disease ridden garbage that is piled high in the streets and in front of their homes, spilling into their living rooms. It makes you cringe but at the same time, without them, Cairo would be piled high in waste.

We hired a trusty driver and drove on in- windows up and cameras out. In this city of rubbish are three churches (the population is predominately Coptic Christians) built into caves, as well as a recycling center. A.P.E. works with the women in the community, training them to make goods out of recycled materials to empower the women and transform garbage into marketable items.

Outdoor Classroom

Happy Turkey Day!

It's my second Thanksgiving away from family. Better Thanksgiving than Christmas but it still sucks. 

While Egyptians celebrate the commercial side of many American holidays, there's not much to play with when it comes to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving=turkey and where's a turkey to be found in Cairo? Thankfully, my school got us a coveted turkey and fixed us up a Thanksgiving lunch. Aside from the bird and mashed potatoes, it was all Egyptian food. Nonetheless, it was delicious and so thoughtful. 

We GPSers had a little Friendsgiving tonight with chicken and some vegetable sides. To really top it off, we played Apples to Apples- making our own play cards with a little Egyptian twist. 

Spinnin' and Twirlin'

It was a long weekend and I did a lot! Every weekend is a long weekend here. I don't know if I can go back to an American academic calendar.Islamic New Year last week- Thanksgiving this week. I love teaching at an international school!

I revisited a lot of places. Things are definitely more interesting the second time around for some reason. You notice different things. Take it slower. Take less pictures...

From the Mohamed Ali Mosque to Al-Azhar Park to the Egyptian museum to the Khan, I feel like I did everything under the Egyptian sun.

The weekend ended with a traditional Tanoura show- a beautiful display of music, singing, and dancing. Sufi dancers have large colorful skirts and twirl for about an hour. How these men don't pass out is a real head scratcher.

Camping in Ras Mohamed

While the East Coast was being slammed by an awful storm, I was sitting pretty on the beach with the desert as the backdrop. It took years to get there- no exaggeration- with security checkpoints making us pull over about an hour each time. But it was all worth it because it was beautiful, relaxing, and a much needed getaway from Cairo's insanity.

We slept in tents right on the beach and I woke up to the sound of water before I even opened my eyes. We went snorkeling every day- not bad for someone who hasn't even swam before. We passed time with volleyball, Frisbee, and cards.

All of our meals were homemade and delicious and served right on the beach.

Even better, coming home was a much smoother ride thanks to clever strategies that worked better than trying to look Egyptian. 

Classroom Update

Since my life has been taken over by 15 kindergartners, my blog has died. So I decided to take pictures of my classroom a month later because that's all I have going on in my life now. It's Reading Week at our school and we have Dress as a Book Character Day. I'm thinking of going as Dora (if I can find the duds) since we're going to go see the show on our next trip. That'll be another school-based blog update comin' later this week.

My very cozy classroom. 

Temperature is Raising. Keeping track of how many books we read this week!

Art based on literature

We went out to a nice restaurant tonight and I was going to take pictures but no one thinks of snapping pics when you're hungry and food arrives.
We have a short work week this week because of Eid. We will have a sacrifice at school on Wednesday so that will provide an 'I'm definitely in Egypt' moment. A long weekend means getting out of Maadi, finally! Camping on the beach awaits me in a few days. :) 

Kids say the darndest things...

Yahia: "Did your mother make you that tea?"
Me: "No, Ms. Laila made it for me."
Yahia: "Ms. Laila's your mother?!!"
Me: "What?!"

Teaching responsibility:
Kid 1: "If your friend falls down, you must help him."
Kid 2: "If you spill your water, you must clean it up."
Kid 3: "If you see a hungry cow, you must feed it!"
Me: "I suppose so."

Ali: I have a tiger and a bear at home.
Me: Please bring them to school tomorrow so I can meet them.
Ali: Ok, they will try to eat you but I will save you.
Me: Thanks, Ali.

Kids: "Hey, where's Mr. Apple?" (Mr. Amril)

Picnic in the desert

An extra day off meant time to actually relax. Sure enough, I took work with me to the park but at least I was at the park. Al-Azhar Park was beautiful and only about 20 minutes away. Beautifully landscaped, clean, and perched high above the smoggy city.

We ate lunch at a fancy restaurant that clearly only foreigners frequent. At 6 bucks for my sandwich, it's pricey! Sometimes it boggles my mind that such beautiful architecture exists besides some of the most sketchy workmanship in construction I've seen since Vietnam.

We had the place to ourselves since we were earlybirds (10:30) but the place was bustling with Egyptians by the time we left. It's fascinating to watch Egyptian teens (who are probably playing hooky) roll in laughter in the simple pleasure of running down a grassy hill. No rubble, dust, garbage in sight- just flowers and grass and water fountains.

The other fancy restaurant on premises.

Before the bird pooped on the homework I was grading. 

Mohamed Ali Mosque in the background.

Entrance to restaurant.

Leaving the park.

It's pomegranate season

And time to hide all your white shirts. I'm going at a pace of two pomegranates a day. The feeling of accomplishment after you shuck the fruit fades after the third or fourth one. Move over mangoes- I gotta new obsession.

Off to another day at the office on my day off. The work of a kindergarten teacher never ends. Luckily, it's a long weekend and I have tomorrow off to lollygag.

Cheeese!

100% attendance called for an impromptu photo shoot. Here are all my 15 little ones. You're not supposed to have favorites but can you guess which ones are heart melters?!

Bills, bills, bills

I finally have internet in my apartment! It only took a short ride to TE Data, about 30 bucks, and almost getting kidnapped but it was all worth it because I have internet!

I paid my first electricity bill, about 110 L.E. so less than 20 bucks for the month. I run that AC all night. Why is it so cheap here? What are we doing wrong America?

For some reason, I have an outstanding balance on my pre-paid phone so I'm ditching it and just buying a new SIM. Take that Vodaphone.

Let's see, I also have a monthly maintenance fee of like 200 pounds that I split with my roommate. Considering I don't pay rent for my fancy flat, I can't complain about 15 bucks a month.

It's nice to splurge once in a while. My latest splurge has been at the fruit vendor- the fancy one with the really good/expensive mangoes. I also picked up a pair of green pants at Espirit that I'll be rockin at school tomorrow. SO GLAD IT"S THURSDAY!!

Food!

You really have to be careful here. Food is cheap, it's good, and it can always be delivered to you. 

Koshary-Carb heaven.

Pizza comes with a fork and knife...and ketchup.

My Thai dinner last night. 

Dessert for the week.

For my dad- McD's Apple Pie. Fried, not baked. 

In my fridge- Ketchup, soy sauce, Nutella and fresh mango juice

My dinner tonight to make up for all the junk I've eaten this week. 

Pooped

This is how I feel at the end of the day.

Such a long day in Kindergarten...

Smartie

Children: "What is your sister's name?"
Me: "My sister's name is April."
Children: "And what is your brother's name?"
Ali:  "November!"

Bookworms

This is what my students do when I give them no direction. They finished eating their breakfast before some of their classmates. Money well spent!

Work and Play

It seems like there's been more work than play lately but I guess it's even because it's been all play and no work for quite a while.
Last night we went to a beautiful restaurant, Sequoia, out in Zamelek to celebrate a co-workers birthday. It was right on the Nile and we indulged in everything from sushi to mojitos to fondue. It was the first time I've had sushi in a while and hopefully not the last.

Birthday Girl

My classroom is a work in progress. You would think 2 weeks would be enough to set up but between meetings and having limited resources out here, this is the best I can do. I bought a lot of stuff from the States- like the pocket charts and letter cutouts. They have everything here- it's just so expensive because it's imported. My alphabet stick kids- letter F- is waving an American flag. 

It was the first day of school and those kids were exhausting! I passed out as soon as I got home. A nice bunch but I need to get back in the kindergarten mentality. Explain 20 times, then proceed. If all else fails, they love the hokey pokey.

Aren't they precious?!

Sidewalk Art

Artwork along Port Said. There is artwork everywhere, particularly on walls, demonstrating pride and resilience. This is just a small snapshot of what I see walking around everyday.