My First Visit to my School

It is so fascinating and wonderful to be in a place where everything is new and exciting. I could not sleep again last night as always and when I was still up at 3:45 am to hear the morning call to prayer. I enjoy the calls to prayer (which happen 5 times a day). I find the sound to mesmerizing and hypnotizing in a way that it puts me in sort of a daze. I like that it reminds me how far I am from home and what an amazing new world I am experiencing (not that everything I see doesn’t make forgetting impossible). Anyway of course I don’t understand but I have learned that one of the things that is said in the morning call is “Wake up. Prayer is better than sleep” This has quickly become my favourite time of the day! Anyway around 4:30 I decided to go for a walk which is just as people were getting up to eat before sunrise so there was that feeling in the air of being connected to something bigger than myself. I walked around, smiled at (and tried with very little success to talk to) some children who were out playing, sat on my steps and watched the recycling collector do his work. I love the overwhelming feeling when everything is so new. When you want to get up before the sun and watch the mundane events that start of the day, when you are captivated by something as everyday as the man who collects the empty bottles of water.

I went to see my school today and I don’t think that I can explain to you how beautiful it is. Marble floors, a man playing the piano in the foyer, huge open air windows, the most beautiful garden, intricate staircases with wrought iron railings. I stood today gazing out the window onto the most beautiful courtyard imagining how perfect it will be once the buildingis filled with the life that little voices talking and laughing will bring. I have posted a few pictures but they definitely don't do it justice. I think you really need to be there to feel that.

There are only two other foreign teachers – both male so that makes me the

only non-Egyptian woman in the school. I like that this will grant us the opportunity to interact with Egyptian people. Too many North American teachers would likely mean that we would just interact with each other and this makes for a much more genuine and authentic experience. I had a very nice conversation with the assistant library Sahar who had never spoke English with a foreigner before. She is one of several people who will be a joy to work with every day. Tomorrow I will meet the other teachers.

One of the American teachers speaks, writes and reads Arabic so while going through resources in the library we had an impromptu hour or so long lesson. My very first! He taught me 11 of the 29 letters today and sent me home to practice these. Arabic is written entirely phonetically but it is tricky because the letter takes different forms depending on the position within the word (initial, middle or ending sound). I even wrote my first Arabic word (it was door or Bayt in Arabic) and then a few more. I have been practicing writing these tonight and once I have them he will introduce more letters. He also taught me some words and we worked on pronunciation a little bit (he is very supportive even though I am terrible and never laughs at me). He is excellent at teaching languages as well because he has a Masters in Spanish and teachers it to adults and also seems to have a linguistics background which helps us to discuss the way the sounds are made and other details (those linguistics courses are finally proving to be useful!). I was approached in the market yesterday by a woman who is living in Rehab city teaching Arabic privately so I think I will call her and start some lessons. It is challenging but very very exciting. Here are some of my study notes: I am mostly just writing out the alphabet but it looks fancier and more important than that right?!

I feel like I am trying to take in as much as I can – to observe every interaction and seek to understand the culture and religious reasons for things. I think this hyper aware state along with the stress of navigating through this school that is so different from what I am accustomed to is partially responsible for my lack of sleep.. It has been days since I have slept and I am not at the point where everything is fuzzy. ( It is 3 am while I write this, I have not been to bed and I have to get up at 5:00) On other news, I have figured out that my stove needs to be lit like a BBQ and I have matches, but, having never lit a BBQ in my life and having flashes of burning down this beautiful apartment every time I light the match…well lets just say I am sticking

to dates, nuts, mangoes, bananas and today green beans. Also there is still no water. I hear that a main pipe broke in the city and this is the reason. It is very hot and a shower would be wonderful. It is different living in an orphanage and not being able to shower but my school looks like a palace - it would be nice not to be filthy. It has been a week now and I do wash as much as I can in the sink with bottled water but i feel guilty enough having to buy bottled water to drink, let alone bathing in it. The word is that it will be back tomorrow but I have heard this for several days now. "insha'allah" I remain optimistic that this tomorrow will be the day!