abookh abookh
abookh abookh means blah blah blah in Arabic. That is my word of the day. The other teachers at the school think it's hilarious that I pick up the most random words. I was at the coffee shop paying my bill and one of the waiters standing at the register said something in Arabic & followed it up with abookh abookh. Of course like a little kid I repeated it and they about fell on the floor laughing. I say blah blah blah all the time in English anyway so it's only appropriate that I learn it straight away in Arabic!
So, I guess I should post about the school since my mom mentioned that I haven't talked much about it yet. School has been my secondary care since trying to live everyday life has been such a challenge. I really don't think people understand what it's like here. Imagine the worst slums in New York or Chicago & then multiply it by 10. But, I guess you can't imagine that either unless you've actually walked the streets of the slums in those cities. It's like nothing I've ever known & even other people couldn't describe it to me before I got here and I can't describe it much better. There is garbage everywhere. A rule in Egypt is that if you see a trash bin, you must place your trash about 10 meters away from the it, but NEVER inside of it. That would not be the Egyptian way...and it shows in the streets. On the street with this internet cafe there is a lot (kind of like what you would see in the states where a trailer would sit) and it's piled about 15 feet high with garbage...and it's loose garbage, not in bags. It's quite discouraging. I keep thinking to myself that I'm so glad for the sanitation and laws in the U.S. I really can't believe that people live like this. When I put my trash out I open a door and throw it down a trash shoot. I hear the bottles tumbling into oblivion and I'm not really sure where it ends up. Actually, I'm pretty sure it just dumps out on the street so I might as well just throw it all out the window. It doesn't help that this is the desert and where there isn't concrete there is sand. It's quite filthy all the time and my hands are always dirty.
Anyway, back to living in Alex. Everyday living is much easier now. When I first walked into the grocery store EVERYTHING was foreign...even the WAY to the grocery store is foreign with all the Arabic signs and guys everywhere traveling in packs with their arms threaded through each others and speaking Arabic. It's quite a shock...and it takes A LOT longer than a few days to get used to it. In the grocery store everything is foreign and written in Arabic. Once I figured out how the store was set up I could see that there are a lot of American brand foods here and they are VERY expensive. $9.00 for a of Honey Nut Cheerios! WHATEVER! They can keep their stupid cereal! Anyway, EVERYTHING is in Arabic. Another thing...when walking to the grocery store and on ANY street there is about 1 out of 100 women who are NOT covered which gave me a bit of a complex. I was quite proud though today I went to the grocery store by myself. I put on a hat and walked determinedly (is that a word? haha) (walked in a determined manner) and didn't care if the people were staring at me. I didn't have any problems walking down the street and when I went into the grocery store the guys at the cold cuts counter greeted me with a hearty "Shereeeeeen!" It was kind of comforting so I felt better. People are getting more used to me being around now so hopefully people will look out for me a little bit (if they're not the enemy...) I'm taking the X-Files approach to Egypt...TRUST NO ONE! and I think it's a good way to live while I'm here.
I did see a man wearing a traditional thobe (long olive green gown) with a shriners looking hat on standing on the side walk with a huge goat! I turned a corner and literally almost ran into this man & his goat and I looked and looked and walked and looked back and the people around where kind of smiling at it because I must have looked like a total tourist! This goat was sooo huge, too. It literally was the size of a large pony and had curly horns...almost exactly like the zodiac sign of the Capricorn. I wonder if it was dinner?! ;-)
Oh yeah, so I'm supposed to be talking about the school...see life in Alex keeps getting in the way. Anyway, the school is fine. I really like my 11th & 12th graders. They are in the same class & I teach them SAT prep and literature. It's not like teaching ESL in the states. These students are like teaching literature to American students. I'm not teachin grammar skills & stuff...I'm just teaching content which is a dream come true for me because it's SOOOO much easier than Bama! I have another class with 2 ninth graders. One has Down Syndrome & the other is mildly retarded. The Down Syndrome kid (Mohammed, go figure) was absent today so it was just me & Said (pronounced Saeed). Saeed is a GOOD student & tries really hard. He's not at the ninth grade level, but he tries hard. Today we talked about baseball and I spent the whole time introducing vocabulary to him and having him repea the words, spelling, and definitions. I drew a baseball diamond on the board and explained the rules and even took colored paper and wrote the vocabulary words & definitions on those to help him remember the words. I was told that he will probably fail the class no matter what. But as I was recycling the vocabulary over and over and over and having him spell stuff he was remembering it and doing well. We'll see how tomorrow goes, though. The one problem with Said is that he drools and he smells! Oh no...just like the FS's! The smell wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that EVERYTHING in Alex smells like garbage and there is no fresh air. I'm used to it now, but when I got here I hardly wanted to take any breaths for like the first 3 days. So, poor Said, he's a good student and works hard and I think we'll be fine together. Mohammed is another story. He acts out in class and doesn't always behave. It was nice without him there today.
Right now I'm only teaching 2 classes that are 1 hour 20 minutes each. After the holy month is over they will be 1 hour 30 minutes each. Plus, I think I'll have a class added. I'll be social studies to one fourth grader. I've met here & she's really smart so it shouldn't be a problem. Mish mush killuh (not a problem) :-)
Oh my goodness...again, just trying to live life and get to school & back is like nothing I can explain! Getting to school with the traffic & stuff isn't quite so bad, but me and 3 other teacher usually get picked up by a taxi driver a the same time every day and get picked up at school at the same time every day. Well, today I was standing out on the corner & no one came so I went to school by taxi with Patrick & Kate. When I got to school one of the teacher who I ride the taxi with said the driver was poisoned and was in the hospital! WHAT?! Was he cheating on his wife? hahaha Apparently he has food poisoning and they don't know when he will return. So, this morning there was a rush to get to school on time. Then in the afternoon trying to leave school grounds is a absolute and utter chaos until I finally get back to my apartment. Miriana's husband picked us up after school but they had to wait for me because Hasnaa needed a copy of my passport and this is Egypt which means NOTHING happens quickly around here! So, Miriana was getting impatient and yelling at Hasnaa in Arabic and people were all standing around and trying to talk to Hasnaa & everyone was yelling in Arabic I just wanted to scream because I had no idea what was going on. Then after Hasnaa got the copy I was rushed out of the office by Miriana where 5 of us, plus Miriana's daughter piled into her car with her husband driving. So there was her husband, Miriana & Kate in the front seat, and me, 2 other girls & Mirian's daughter in the back seat. Then driving and navigating the 15 minutes back to the apartment is like being on a thrill ride, except it's not all that thrilling...it's more like utterly terrifying. One of the rules of being a true Egyptian is to drive so that the lane lines are UNDER your car...you're not an Egyptian if you drive in a lane. Imagine that with 3 lanes of traffic and NO ONE is in a lane and there are HUGE buses and mini buses and taxis and private cars and horses and buggies all on the road at the same time and NO ONE is in a lane! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa After all of that, when I get out of the taxi people are blaring their horn behind us to move out of the way. I literally RUN to my apartment, which is on the main road, and I go upstairs and can't WAIT into get into my apartment so I can get away from the chaos. I never escape the noise but I can escape the people & crowds & at least breathe. WHEW! I get all worked up just thinking about it! So, as you can see, LIFE is why there has been very little posting about the school. The school is actually my safe haven where I know that there is a routine and there is at least a LITTLE bit of order. Although it takes an act of GOD to print anything from a computer. If I want to print something then I have to go down and sign out a few pieces of printer paper, take my USB stick to the computer lab where some lady gets really pissed off if I try to print anything on my own. She must be the one to push the print button. THEN I have to write down how many pieces of paper I used and what was printed on it. WTF? Today I got impatient with the printer lady. I pulled up on the computer what I wanted to print and was ready to hit PRINT and she told me to leave it and she would print it for me later. I was like, "Why? I'm standing right here, I have the paper, I can just hit print and it's done." She kept telling me to leave it. I finally told her that I didn't understand and she said to me, "It's my responsibility." How could I argue with that? So, I let her hit print but I was NOT coming back later for it!
That's how Egypt is. There is so much bureaucratic B.S. in this country that it's no wonder it's considered third world. If people approached problems the way they do their driving I think this place would be alright. I also heard that is someone insults the government in any way the person gets beaten and then put on T.V. and beaten again...so I guess I'd better watch what I say.
Oh and I had a case of Montezuma's Revenge 2 days ago...although I guess here it would be considered King Tut's revenge! hahaha I thought I was going to die! My stomach hurt from my navel all the way up to my heart. I was running a fever and had diarrhea. I took Imodium and an antiobiotic and now, 2 days later, I'm finally getting my strength back and can eat more than just bland foods. I'm afraid to eat anything now! Everything was well cooked and I've been drinking bottled water. I guess my stomach just needed to adjust to this place. I hope it's adjusted because I don't want to go through that again!
So here I've been abookh abookh about my life in Egypt. It's absolutely crazy and I know I'm gonna miss the hell out of it when I leave. For some reason amongst all the chaos I feel strangely at peace.
So, I guess I should post about the school since my mom mentioned that I haven't talked much about it yet. School has been my secondary care since trying to live everyday life has been such a challenge. I really don't think people understand what it's like here. Imagine the worst slums in New York or Chicago & then multiply it by 10. But, I guess you can't imagine that either unless you've actually walked the streets of the slums in those cities. It's like nothing I've ever known & even other people couldn't describe it to me before I got here and I can't describe it much better. There is garbage everywhere. A rule in Egypt is that if you see a trash bin, you must place your trash about 10 meters away from the it, but NEVER inside of it. That would not be the Egyptian way...and it shows in the streets. On the street with this internet cafe there is a lot (kind of like what you would see in the states where a trailer would sit) and it's piled about 15 feet high with garbage...and it's loose garbage, not in bags. It's quite discouraging. I keep thinking to myself that I'm so glad for the sanitation and laws in the U.S. I really can't believe that people live like this. When I put my trash out I open a door and throw it down a trash shoot. I hear the bottles tumbling into oblivion and I'm not really sure where it ends up. Actually, I'm pretty sure it just dumps out on the street so I might as well just throw it all out the window. It doesn't help that this is the desert and where there isn't concrete there is sand. It's quite filthy all the time and my hands are always dirty.
Anyway, back to living in Alex. Everyday living is much easier now. When I first walked into the grocery store EVERYTHING was foreign...even the WAY to the grocery store is foreign with all the Arabic signs and guys everywhere traveling in packs with their arms threaded through each others and speaking Arabic. It's quite a shock...and it takes A LOT longer than a few days to get used to it. In the grocery store everything is foreign and written in Arabic. Once I figured out how the store was set up I could see that there are a lot of American brand foods here and they are VERY expensive. $9.00 for a of Honey Nut Cheerios! WHATEVER! They can keep their stupid cereal! Anyway, EVERYTHING is in Arabic. Another thing...when walking to the grocery store and on ANY street there is about 1 out of 100 women who are NOT covered which gave me a bit of a complex. I was quite proud though today I went to the grocery store by myself. I put on a hat and walked determinedly (is that a word? haha) (walked in a determined manner) and didn't care if the people were staring at me. I didn't have any problems walking down the street and when I went into the grocery store the guys at the cold cuts counter greeted me with a hearty "Shereeeeeen!" It was kind of comforting so I felt better. People are getting more used to me being around now so hopefully people will look out for me a little bit (if they're not the enemy...) I'm taking the X-Files approach to Egypt...TRUST NO ONE! and I think it's a good way to live while I'm here.
I did see a man wearing a traditional thobe (long olive green gown) with a shriners looking hat on standing on the side walk with a huge goat! I turned a corner and literally almost ran into this man & his goat and I looked and looked and walked and looked back and the people around where kind of smiling at it because I must have looked like a total tourist! This goat was sooo huge, too. It literally was the size of a large pony and had curly horns...almost exactly like the zodiac sign of the Capricorn. I wonder if it was dinner?! ;-)
Oh yeah, so I'm supposed to be talking about the school...see life in Alex keeps getting in the way. Anyway, the school is fine. I really like my 11th & 12th graders. They are in the same class & I teach them SAT prep and literature. It's not like teaching ESL in the states. These students are like teaching literature to American students. I'm not teachin grammar skills & stuff...I'm just teaching content which is a dream come true for me because it's SOOOO much easier than Bama! I have another class with 2 ninth graders. One has Down Syndrome & the other is mildly retarded. The Down Syndrome kid (Mohammed, go figure) was absent today so it was just me & Said (pronounced Saeed). Saeed is a GOOD student & tries really hard. He's not at the ninth grade level, but he tries hard. Today we talked about baseball and I spent the whole time introducing vocabulary to him and having him repea the words, spelling, and definitions. I drew a baseball diamond on the board and explained the rules and even took colored paper and wrote the vocabulary words & definitions on those to help him remember the words. I was told that he will probably fail the class no matter what. But as I was recycling the vocabulary over and over and over and having him spell stuff he was remembering it and doing well. We'll see how tomorrow goes, though. The one problem with Said is that he drools and he smells! Oh no...just like the FS's! The smell wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that EVERYTHING in Alex smells like garbage and there is no fresh air. I'm used to it now, but when I got here I hardly wanted to take any breaths for like the first 3 days. So, poor Said, he's a good student and works hard and I think we'll be fine together. Mohammed is another story. He acts out in class and doesn't always behave. It was nice without him there today.
Right now I'm only teaching 2 classes that are 1 hour 20 minutes each. After the holy month is over they will be 1 hour 30 minutes each. Plus, I think I'll have a class added. I'll be social studies to one fourth grader. I've met here & she's really smart so it shouldn't be a problem. Mish mush killuh (not a problem) :-)
Oh my goodness...again, just trying to live life and get to school & back is like nothing I can explain! Getting to school with the traffic & stuff isn't quite so bad, but me and 3 other teacher usually get picked up by a taxi driver a the same time every day and get picked up at school at the same time every day. Well, today I was standing out on the corner & no one came so I went to school by taxi with Patrick & Kate. When I got to school one of the teacher who I ride the taxi with said the driver was poisoned and was in the hospital! WHAT?! Was he cheating on his wife? hahaha Apparently he has food poisoning and they don't know when he will return. So, this morning there was a rush to get to school on time. Then in the afternoon trying to leave school grounds is a absolute and utter chaos until I finally get back to my apartment. Miriana's husband picked us up after school but they had to wait for me because Hasnaa needed a copy of my passport and this is Egypt which means NOTHING happens quickly around here! So, Miriana was getting impatient and yelling at Hasnaa in Arabic and people were all standing around and trying to talk to Hasnaa & everyone was yelling in Arabic I just wanted to scream because I had no idea what was going on. Then after Hasnaa got the copy I was rushed out of the office by Miriana where 5 of us, plus Miriana's daughter piled into her car with her husband driving. So there was her husband, Miriana & Kate in the front seat, and me, 2 other girls & Mirian's daughter in the back seat. Then driving and navigating the 15 minutes back to the apartment is like being on a thrill ride, except it's not all that thrilling...it's more like utterly terrifying. One of the rules of being a true Egyptian is to drive so that the lane lines are UNDER your car...you're not an Egyptian if you drive in a lane. Imagine that with 3 lanes of traffic and NO ONE is in a lane and there are HUGE buses and mini buses and taxis and private cars and horses and buggies all on the road at the same time and NO ONE is in a lane! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa After all of that, when I get out of the taxi people are blaring their horn behind us to move out of the way. I literally RUN to my apartment, which is on the main road, and I go upstairs and can't WAIT into get into my apartment so I can get away from the chaos. I never escape the noise but I can escape the people & crowds & at least breathe. WHEW! I get all worked up just thinking about it! So, as you can see, LIFE is why there has been very little posting about the school. The school is actually my safe haven where I know that there is a routine and there is at least a LITTLE bit of order. Although it takes an act of GOD to print anything from a computer. If I want to print something then I have to go down and sign out a few pieces of printer paper, take my USB stick to the computer lab where some lady gets really pissed off if I try to print anything on my own. She must be the one to push the print button. THEN I have to write down how many pieces of paper I used and what was printed on it. WTF? Today I got impatient with the printer lady. I pulled up on the computer what I wanted to print and was ready to hit PRINT and she told me to leave it and she would print it for me later. I was like, "Why? I'm standing right here, I have the paper, I can just hit print and it's done." She kept telling me to leave it. I finally told her that I didn't understand and she said to me, "It's my responsibility." How could I argue with that? So, I let her hit print but I was NOT coming back later for it!
That's how Egypt is. There is so much bureaucratic B.S. in this country that it's no wonder it's considered third world. If people approached problems the way they do their driving I think this place would be alright. I also heard that is someone insults the government in any way the person gets beaten and then put on T.V. and beaten again...so I guess I'd better watch what I say.
Oh and I had a case of Montezuma's Revenge 2 days ago...although I guess here it would be considered King Tut's revenge! hahaha I thought I was going to die! My stomach hurt from my navel all the way up to my heart. I was running a fever and had diarrhea. I took Imodium and an antiobiotic and now, 2 days later, I'm finally getting my strength back and can eat more than just bland foods. I'm afraid to eat anything now! Everything was well cooked and I've been drinking bottled water. I guess my stomach just needed to adjust to this place. I hope it's adjusted because I don't want to go through that again!
So here I've been abookh abookh about my life in Egypt. It's absolutely crazy and I know I'm gonna miss the hell out of it when I leave. For some reason amongst all the chaos I feel strangely at peace.