Well, it's almost a month since I left Toronto, Canada and arrived in Cairo Egypt - the other side of the world. -How daring of me!! My heart is still in Toronto- the clean, the good, however this is surely an adventure.
You can imagine how busy I have been as it has been since August 28th - three weeks- since I updated my Blog. I will need to remind everyone to see the update.
The school is like a palace with forever as far as the eye can see marble floors. We had days and days of meetings and time to prepare our classroom; plan and order supplies.
I'm really pleased that I did ship all the educational materials that I did as my class is a showcase. My numbers went from 5 to 11 ! Apparently there has been a cut-off to the numbers. I now have an assistant and of course a "lady in blue'. They are called the BLUE Team and do mostly errands and cleaning.
The children in my class are Pre-K and are 3 years of age so the first few days found several screaming, tearful and apprehensive as well as the daring ones. Now they mostly have settled in and each day is full of the unknown or unexpected. They are as cute as can be. Sometimes they chatter away to me in Arabic as if I can understand. I must say I am learning some Arabic but remember they are here to learn English.
One student is from the U.S. so she speaks English and I let her play teacher and lead the class in songs. They have snack time; lunch; and nap time as well as activity time, music, story and outdoor play. They go for art, gym and music class so I get some extra moments to catch my breath and plan. If you look at the photos on Flicker you will see "My Shinning Stars".
Tomorrow is "Meet the Creature or meet the teacher" day. I have some glitter play-doh for the children to play with. That was the best spent money in ages. They love it.
I was thrilled to receive my first piece of mail-delivered to the school. It was a card and letter from my sister, Ronnie and her special friend, Ginny. It took only a week to get here. Thank you so much. I had a surprise phone call from my son, Kevin and a wonderful e-mail with news about my sister from my daughter Karen and grand daughter Samantha. Thanks. Many family and friends have called and e-mailed me. Hugs to all of you. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and caring.
Now about what I have been up to.... I have gone many places with teachers...The British Pub; "Thank Goodness It's Friday" or should it be Thank Allah it's Thursday?; shopping at The Four Seasons; a one hour Felucca ride on the Nile; Then, shopping on my own -many times- for groceries or to add to my living place. I also purchased many gifts to bring home next end of June... for sure. I treated myself to a belly dancing costume which you can see me trying out in a photo on Flicker! - One size fits all!
I was good to myself and had a lobster dinner with champagne at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Cairo. The Seafood restaurant is in a small cave with glass walls where tropical fish can be seen swimming. It was wonderful, however I still prefer The Lobster Trap back home. I met a couple from Georgia there and chatted with them. He works for the American Air Force here.
Many teachers are going to a Hotel and the Beach this weekend. I am going to go to a Party at the Canadian Embassy and relax. Probably a massage; bubble bath and take it easy.
I plan to update my blog much sooner the next time.
Until then...
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