Today is a memorable day for us as we celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. Guess we never thought we would celebrate it in another county – especially living there for the next 2 years, but we are glad we have taken the jump. Our school week ends today as Friday and Saturday are the “weekend” in Egypt.
Pat is volunteering in the PK-6 area. On Sundays, she will be with the PK and Kindergarten. The PK teacher is a doctor who has given up her practice to teach here (she has students in the school). On Mondays, Pat is with the 1st and 2nd grade, Tuesday is a project day where she does a variety of tasks for all the staff (such as assisting with the annual play). Wednesdays she is with the 3rd and 4th grade while on Thursdays she is with the 5th and 6th grade. Each day she helps supervise the lunch room for PK through 2nd grade Students in PK through 4th must bring their own lunches while the 5th through 12th can eat in the cafeteria, canteen or bring their own. Today in the elementary the staff performed a skit to demonstrate what a nutritious lunch would look like. Lunch periods are 45 minutes in length so the students of all ages will be found playing soccer, basketball, and of course playground activities for the younger kids. Some use the time to hang out and socialize. Overall the elementary school is much like a typical American school. Each day has been very busy for Pat.
My day is a little different. We are on a block schedule for the middle school – high school. Class periods are 75 minutes in length for three periods and 90 minutes for the 4th period to allow the middle school (5-8) to take exploratory type classes. There is a ten minute homeroom and 10 minute breaks between each class period. I teach a middle school Intro to Technology (right now I have a 5th grade class and a 6th grade class for 45 minutes each every other day) and a high school Information Technology class 3 days a week. Grades are very important to the majority of students as they are seen as a measuring stick for the type of college they will attend. I have two technicians that assist me with technology issues. One is here each day from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm and the other comes from noon to 4:00 pm. Both of the young men are very helpful and knowledgeable. They have strong training in technology and a good understanding of the setup here. Sometimes we have a little difficulty understanding each other – so they are teaching me Arabic as I teach them English. I am very pleased with their assistance.
Our campus is unique. It is a walled campus with security on the outside and a locked entrance that must be opened to allow people in. We have two main educational areas along with other buildings for specials. The high school is a 3 story building with an open courtyard. Each door is brightly painted and all open to an inner open air court yard. Around the high school is an open air basketball court, a swimming pool and a covered all purpose court that can be used for tennis, volleyball and basketball... We have a canteen where students can order food, a serious of connecting building for the clinic, foreign languages, art and PE. There is an adjacent campus with a large open air grassy area, playground and a new 3 story K-6 building. Across the courtyard is the Villa which houses the business offices (finance, government liaison, headmaster, etc.) Our living quarters are located on the high school side of the campus. It is a 4 story building that was once a hotel. The first floor holds the cafeteria, maintenance office, laundry and family room. The upper three floors are the apartments. There are 4 apartments on each floor and each one is different. Other apartments are located on the 3rd floor of the high school building and in a separate building right by the main apartment building.
The campus is very open air and spacious yet it is no more than a 5 minute walk to get from one side to another. It is very handy to be close to everything, yet it is nice to venture off on a regular basis to really experience the culture and lifestyle. Tonight after the fun night Pat and I decided to take a walk before we went to a staff social function. We were talking a lot and turning many different ways and before we knew it we were in an area we had never been before and weren’t sure what direction to go. We remembered that one of our “buddies” told us to go to a pharmacy because someone there will speak English. We located one and asked for directions back to the school. A kind gentleman wrote some out but could tell we looked confused so he had his assistant walk us back. This is just another example of the kindness that people show us here. While they may not like the US government’s policy in the Middle East – they do like Americans. We have found these walks to be a very good way for us to get out and really experience life here as a resident (which we are now considered). Our staff is very close knit and fun loving group. It is interesting to share “tales” with them and for us especially to hear of their travels. Many have traveled extensively through the Middle East and Europe.
Our next item on our agenda is to plan for our fall break. We will have 5 to 7 days off in late October. We are planning to go to Turkey with our neighbor, Dennis. Incidentally, Dennis is from Cedar Falls so he is also a neighbor to us back in the States. He is also a big Hawkeye fan so we will be getting together on game days to listen and hopefully view the games over the Internet. Go Hawks!!
