My last day in Egypt

 My last day in Egypt was nice. I had no real responsibilities anymore and just got to have some fun with Miss Mona the department head and Ms. Nourhan, the English teacher who is coming to visit us next week. They wanted me to help them choose books to help them improve their English program including AP.  At home this would  mean looking through a catalog and getting for approvals done. Apparently the approvals has been done ahead of time and shopping for a boooks Cairo means going to the English language bookstore by bus.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but everything in Cairo is a forty minute to one hour drive away, so after we chit chatted a while it was nap time. Shopping was fun. It's not common for me to going to the bookstore and buy 10 or 15 books. They even chose An Egyptian author for me to read. Here is his bio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naguib_Mahfouz.

Here is a picture of Ms. Nourhan, Ms Mona and I at the bookstore.

 And just for fun here's a picture of two little guys that wrote the bus with me the one with the curly hair is the one that fell asleep  on my shoulder the first day. I just think they're adorable.

 After school Miss Mona took me to one of the malls to have Indian food. It was delicious. I was also able to maintain good at status and get something for my two nephews. On the drive home it started to get stormy, not raining, but windy and super hazy. So it turns out it was a sandstorm.

My flight was at 1 AM and Mr. Mohammed the driver was going to pick me up at nine. He didn't say, but I guess because of the storm he came in at eight. Well I  scrambled to get ready and we left for the airport. At that moment after I got out of the car for the airport I realized this was a full fledged sandstorm. I have no picture to capture it, but you'll just have to trust me when I when I say I took my scarf and wrapped it around my nose and mouth just like Indiana Jones. Since the airport doors were open sand was getting all worked up inside. Because I was so early I couldn't go to the gate yet. So I just sat with my scarf over my mouth people watching and having a brief moment of wishing I could teleport myself home.  It passed.  Now it's just a good story.

Well the flight was a little late, but not too bad. I guess they know what to do when that happens.

My route was Cairo-Dubai-19 hours in Dubai and now I'm waiting for my flight to Fort Lauderdale.

Next post about 19 Epic Hours in Dubai.

19 hours Epic Hours in Dubai!

Really it was more like eight good hours , a 30 minute nap and Café and  two hours of exhausted despair. I have made this grand plan to use my 19 hour layover well, so I could see Dubai. For the most part I feel like I saw Dubai.

Here's the first thing you notice upon landing. There's a sign saying there will be no announcements; that it's silent airport, and it is in fact so quiet...and shiny. Stood in a 40 minute line to get my visa and immigration drop my bag off at baggage storage and headed to the metro. I had arranged at tour of the old city I need to meet at a metro station.  Here is the metro station. Quiet, clean, air conditioned.

Cairo/Dubai difference: say old city in Cairo and you're talking about thousands of years. They old city in Dubai and you're talking about 1971. That's when Dubai and seven other cities in the area became the United Arab Emirates.  That is not to say that people weren't here; they were, but it didn't start to thrive until 1971 when the seven cities united and formed United Arab Emirates. An Emirate just means city.

Other fun facts.

• Many Iranians emmigrated here when the Shah came to power.
• The UAE is 90% expatriot. They don't let anyone but UAE born people obtain citizenship, so people have lived here 20, 30 or 50 years and are still considered expats.
• Many Emirates wear native dress.  

We visited the spice market as well.  Here are some pictures.

The Gold Market

The Spice Market

Emirati Water Taxi

It was a good tour, but I had a reservation for lunch at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I took a taxi and the driver got lost, but I got there.  Here are pictures.

 

Dubai is also known for its malls, and it was time to go tot he Dubai Mall which is a fairly long covered walkway away from the Burj. The mall was essentially a large shiny mall with a few highlights. Here they are: An awesome sculpture, an aquarium, an ice skating rink and of course the outside view of the Burj

 

 

About an hour into my visit is when lack of sleep caught up with me. After wandering for some time and trying to rally I decided something had to be done. Mind you, when despair set in it was still 9 Hours until my flight. I found a cafe with a cushy chair, ordered a water and slept. Deeply. I'm sure I was quite the spectacle. It helped somewhat. I shopped a bit and then wanted to see this fountain show on the list of must sees.  Well one of the best spots is the terrace outside of the Apple Store. Look at this picture and you'll know why despair came back. Bucket lists are important, but I'm not sure this even counts.

Finally, it was back to the super quiet, serene airport and a 15 hour flight later I'm home.  It was a great trip.  I learned a lot and made new friends. Happy Travels.

School

Today(Monday) ends my third full day at school.  Here are some observations.
1. Taking the bus in the morning has its advantages.  I get about 30 minutes more sleep while someone else drives. Extra sleep, except for today, today when I walked out the door nd a the bus was pulling away. Luckily, one of the students saw me and told the bus. Yikes that was close.  I had no plan B.  Here is a picture of the inside.

2.  Students DO NOT use their cell phones in class or the hallways.  It's only allowed at lunch. Speaking as someone who loves her phone,it's kind of nice.  Students are distracted in other ways, not the phone. All the adults enforce it.

3.  This system has a great bilingual system.   Students have fluent conversations with me in English. They've had instruction in almost all classes in English since kindergarten. They take Arabic history, in Arabic.

4. There are cameras in the classroom.

5.  Students are the same everywhere.  I've taught and observed classes and each class has: the class clown, the introvert, the nerd, the slacker, the hall wanderer and so on. I found them right away.

I taught 4 classes while I was here. I did Born of Man and Woman, MLK's Why We Can't Wait and Company Man.  I even told jokes and they laughed! Success :-)

I also gave a talk to parents about AP English.  Here we are.
 
After the parents. I spoke with teachers and helped develop a plan for them to start their AP English program. They're ready.  The program is going to be great.  Here is my Egyptian English department. Tomorrow is my last day in Egypt.

 

Back to the Pyramids and something new

Saturday Ramez picked me up again and we went to the Pyramids. I had been before but it was January of 2000; eighteen crazy years ago. I was happy to go back. We had a tour translated by Ramez. I didn’t do the camel ride again, once is enough but I did get some fun, cheesy pictures. I think they’re a riot. You get a sample of two, not the 20 I have. 

COME ON!! This one is awesome. I have at n even better one, but I'm going to make you wait. 

Ok... one more.

After the Pyramids it was off to Coptic Cairo. Here is a little Wiki run down.

Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed in Christian tradition that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga).^[1] Coptic Cairo was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era, though most of the current buildings of the churches in Coptic Cairo were built after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century.^[2]

Another really awesome, small, walled area of town. Tiny little churches with lots of relics. Roman ruins, under Islamic and modern. 

Finally it was meal time. Ramez, (who PS will be in school next week) suggested I try Egyptian street food, in a mall. The highlight was koshari.  Basically  everything yummy in a bowl.  It's rice, macaroni, lentils, garlic and tomato sauce..  Honestly, what's  not to like.  Here it is.

Ok. As much fun as the weekend has been,I am here for school.  After all this touring I was whisked to school for a French Festival. The festival consisted of New Generation students performing songs and dances from different regions of Egypt. This guy was mesmerizing. 

I'm finishing this on Sunday, a school day, tomorrow I'll write about my school experiences.  Good night!

Friday is the day of prayer here, so no school and 12 blessed hours of sleep. I had the morning free, so I did what anyone would do, make coffee, go for a walk, and do a little school work. My walk consisted of going around the block.  Most things were closed and it was stifling hot.  Knowing my sketchy sense of direction I thought that was enough. Here is an example of something we don't see every day.

But make no mistake, right next door was a clothing store selling very westernized wear.

At 1:30 Ramez and Ali (another history teacher at the school) picked me up to go to the Cairo Tower. Ali was the history expert and spoke in Arabic while Ramez translated. It was a good story having to do with the 1950s, Nasser and the middle finger.  (You can ask me about this when we talk).  We had tea and then drove through the city. 

Here we are at the tower.

This picture makes me laugh because it's overlooking the Pyramids, but the day is so hazy, you can't see it. 

 



After tea we drove through the city to the Khan al Khalil bazaar.  I love a good bazaar and having Ramez and Ali there paved the way with their mad negotiating skills.

I'm not talking at all in this transaction. 

Ramez and Ali then took me for a delicious Egyptian meal at a restaurant directly in the bazaar. It's like walking into another world.

 

They also had me try this soup.  I did not take a picture.  It was delicious.  I just forgot. 

Delicious Green Soup

After dinner there was more shopping. Ramez and Ali were super patient with me and my desire to find the perfect trinket. They gave me a cool history of the area as a walled city built to protect against invaders. It was built in 970 AD and changed hands many times. It has 7 gates and there is one person who is still in charge of opening and closing the gates. History is always a good story.

Here are more pictures. You can tell I really like this area.

 Me at one of the gates.

I 












All right.  I'm a day behind in writing, but it gives me time to get organized.

Friday- A morning off

I finally have a moment to write.  After the plane it's been a bit of a whirl wind.  I have the morning off when Mr. Ramez will be taking me to the Cairo GeziraBTower  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Tower and then to Khan al Khalil Souk  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalil.  But all of the that will be for tomorrow's post.

The Flight and Arrival

As most of you know, I left Tuesday night. The flight was fine but long.  I  had an open seat next to me which is a huge score. The fun part came upon landing in Dubai where I had exactly an hour from landing to get a new boarding pass and make the next flight to Cairo.  Let's just say, I may have damaged UAE/American relations after almost body slamming ten people running to the flight. It was quite a sight, but I made it.

I landed in Cario around 11:00 PM local time. I cruised through customs and found Mr. Mohammed my driver holding the Jeanne Pellegrino sign. So the funny part (to me) is everyone here calls him the driver, but he's more of a facilitator.  Someone else drives (I don't know his name). Mohammed more helps me do things.  He opened the apartment for me, carried my bags etc. The apartment is very large and has lots of character. Just to give you an example, I just tried to open the shutters and window of my bedroom and couldn't. Here is a picture of my coffee this morning. This does not include my boiling the water a pot on the stove. When one needs caffeine.....

Getting in at midnight and needing to meet the bus to go to school at 6:45 am made for an interesting time figuring out the shower, and a few other things.

School

I ran out the door barely knowing my name.  So here is an interesting tidbit. The school has 35 buses and teachers and students ride the same bus.  Imagine seeing my smiling face before you go to school in the morning.  Apparently there are assigned seats, as I was immediately waved away from my first attempt at sitting.  I wound sitting next to what I think was a first grader who immediately put his head on my shoulder and fell asleep.  See....everyone knows I'm friendly.

After a 45 minute drive another teacher waved me off the bus. I was whisked into the office and met several very nice people.  Now you all know how I am at names, and being severely sleep deprived makes it worse. I did my best to be charming while we discussed the goals of the week.  Then it was breakfast time.  It was an Egyptian breakfast of foul,a fava bean dip, hummus and taameya which is like falafel, but also made of fava beans. The drink was a very strong delicious tea. I finally knew my name again. :-)

There was a school tour, a meeting with English teachers and then the KG (elementary)  show of Trolls. The school is K-12 and each level has a show. Well the kids were adorable and sparkly, but in a dark room I struggled to stay awake.

Then I observed two English classrooms. It's always funny to me how students are the same all over the world. There was the class clown, the slacker, the sleeper, the quiet genius and everything in between. The one thing I didn't see was the student married to their phone. The school seems pretty strict about phones not being out during the day.  They were doing Kahoots to review for exams on Sunday. Yes Sunday. The school week here is Sunday-Thursday.

This was a quote from one of the classrooms.

Internet has been spotty, so more pictures tomorrow.

A Spring Break Adventure

I'll be doing a (hopefully) daily blog of my adventures in Cairo at the New Generation School. I leave for the airport in two hours.  I'm all packed and just doing last minute odds and ends. As we know, my memory is not the best, so doing this will help me remember all the fun, interesting things I see and learn.  Feel free to ask questions.