Breakdown and Recovery

I had a breakdown on Wednesday night. I guess it's about time. I've been here a while. I was stressed out because I didn't have a reader to help me grade papers, tests, or quizzes. So in addition to lesson plans and writing worksheets and tests, I had to grade six periods worth of work. I'm adjusting and learning a lot. I know have Sara Miller, the missionary daughter of the nurse practitioner and maintenance man, helping to grade for me. My assignments do not have black and white answers, so I needed an English speaker. I am so grateful.

I'll be very open with you (whoever you may be) and write some of what I wrote in my journal:

October 15, 2009 1:04 am - on my bed

God... I need Your help. I am so stressed. I would love Your peace, but I also need help grading papers. Ah. I just want to cry. How can I not have a reader? But a reader can't grade essays and sentences. Stupid English. Lord, please. I am so tired and I have so much to do in so little time. My grades are a week overdue. I am disorganized and inadequate. I want to bond with students, and I want to help them, but there's no time to grade anything or plan anything at night. I'm so tired. I need help. I don't know what to do. If 7/17 people turn in an assignment, is that my fault? I need to cover things more in depth because they don't seem to be learning a thing! So many have Ds and Fs... what am I supposed to do? DO YOUR HOMEWORK! TAKE MY CLASS SERIOUSLY! Basketball is not spelled "beicetball," (name 1)! (name 2), sit down and shut your mouth! (name 3), stop being so lazy. Just because you people can't cheat on my homework doesn't mean you can skip it. God, I just want You to hug me. I'm so inadequate. ... (stuff I don't want to broadcast to everyone with internet access) ... I'm tired of wearing the same clothes every day. I'm tired of breaking out. I'm a bad person... I could and should be better. Why am I ruining my only SM year? I owe Mrs. Peggy ___ LE for that package from ____. (name 4), stop talking. (name 5), shut up! (name 6), sit up in your desk and act like you are alive. Do not say, "That's enough, ya Miss," or I'll punch you. (name 7 and name 8), why are you in tenth grade? (name 9), open your eyes and close your mouth. (name 10 and name 11), if you lay your head on your desk one more time, I'm going to flip it over. (name 12), don't you dare try to act like I'm an idiot. You need to mind your own business and READ THE DIRECTIONS! To myself: Shape up. Why do you do what will harm you? Oh God, I love You so much.

So now you saw into my ugly soul. Hm. There I am. (For the record, I wouldn't punch anyone or flip their desks over...)

October 16, 2009 1:08am - on my bed

Today started out really rough. I was incredibly stressed, and 10 minutes before my 10th grade class started I had no idea what I was going to teach--no idea. Anything would have pushed me over the edge to make me cry. I was almost crying when asking Jessica for ideas five minutes before class. She saved my life. I taught topic sentences, and it took 80 minutes. Abanoub Khamis asked me to check one of his sentences. It was supposed to be, "I like ___ because ___, ___, and ___." It said, "I like my best teacher Mis Sara. She is my sister because she tell me I need help, she offer to help me, and she patient with me." It was something really close to that. I wanted to cry. He is such a quiet and sweet guy, and I just praise God for using him. To hear that someone thinks that I am patient with him means so much to me.

God has never given me anything more than I could handle. Never. I am so happy to be here.

My Students

I realized that I have been writing about things that are out of the ordinary, and I want to tell you about a normal day for me, especially in describing my students, whom I love. :)

I wake up at 5:50am, and attempt to act awake for my P.E. class. We do taebo on the cement volleyball court because guys can see all the grassy places, and the girls get embarrassed. Hey, if you want to lay on the cement when we stretch and do abdominal exercises at the end, that's fine with me. There are 19 girls in my class. A lot have been skipping lately. Our class average is a C- because the entire grade is attendance and participation. Failing PE... how embarrassing. The girls love to punch. They don't like to kick as much, but I think that the punching makes them feel empowered. Some of them are so cute and try really hard, and some pretend to get hurt. Some girls think that they have the week off if they have their period. "No. Exercise actually helps you to feel better." I own you. I can already see a lot of improvement in the level of cardio activity. I feel really good about that. We offered the class to upperclassmen whose need for PE credits is more urgent because of graduation, but we have a couple girls from ESL in it. Why do they think they're in the class? I have no idea, but we'll give them credit anyway because they come every day. I face the huge orange sun as it rises every day, and if I wasn't doing side kicks and knee raises I would take pictures.

I run back to the room and get in the shower and run off to staff meeting at 7:00. At 7:20, we meet the students on the front steps of the ad building for any announcements. I go back to my room and pray and read my Bible. Then I start working on lesson plans for the day. I don't mean to procrastinate, but I just happen to work better under pressure. I can spend hours and hours trying to plan good things for them to do, and I usually end up changing my mind a half hour before class starts and sticking with those plans. I don't like my system, but it's hard to catch up because there is so much to do every night that I really don't have time to work on them before that.

My first class is 10th grade English, and there are 38 students in the class, which is way too big. We are reading the book Night by Elie Wiesel, and some of the despise it with a passion. It is most definitely a challenging book for them to read because a lot of the vocabulary is very descriptive, and a lot of it has to do with cultural and historical things. I'm really trying to teach them to figure out the meaning of words from the context. Most of the Sudanese students sit in the back and look half asleep. A lot of the girls who are very good students sit to my right, and there are some loud Egyptian guys in the very front right by my desk. Lately we've been having too much talking while I take attendance, so I have been making everyone get out of the classroom and practice coming back in quietly. Krista, Jessica, and I have started doing that with all of our classes. I took attendance in 9B probably four times the other day. For each time we have to practice, we deduct points because it is a waste of time. I thought that it would be a good review of the parts of speech to do mad libs with a partner--a horrendous idea. There was so much noise and confusion and frustration. No, it does not make sense. For some reason the only adjectives people could think of were colors. It was a mess. We started on our next thing, and there was way too much noise today. I don't know what was wrong. It got so bad that I made them put everything away and sit in silence for five minutes--no sleeping, no reading, no writing. We practiced being quiet. Overall I really like the class. I just feel bad because the classroom is so crowded, and it's hard to make sure that everyone is understanding the material when there are almost 40 kids to teach.

Next I have lunch--rice mixed with chopped up fried noodles with this thin red sauce on it. Whatever is in the sauce is the variable--potatoes, okra, eggplant, potatoes, or green beans. I have a little free time then, which is when I finish preparing for my afternoon classes. I don't mean to procrastinate and always feel so rushed, but that's how things always seem to turn out.

Next I teach Grammar & Writing to 9A. This is the more advanced ninth grade class. I am very good with grammar, and I can write well because I am very detail-oriented, but teaching these subjects is hard. I ask Jessica for suggestions a lot because she is so creative. I get bogged down by the details, and she helps me to see the big picture. She is my hero. I teach an idiom every day at the beginning of my classes, and, just as Jessica strongly warned me, they use whatever I teach them... all the time. "To drive someone crazy." The first example that popped into my head as loud music at midnight on a minibus. The second one was when students snap their fingers and shout "Miss! Miss!" at me. So they did it intentionally. haha. I taught "dressed to kill"--biggest mistake of my life. I said that it meant "wearing one's best clothes and looking good." I will be coming back from my PE class covered in sweat with the frizzy hairs around the crown of my head running wild, and someone will say, "Miss, you are dressed to kill!" There's one guy in 9A that always tells me I am dressed to kill. Stop. Just stop. We have figured out that we need to be really careful with the definitions for vocabulary that we give them. Category means "group," right? "I love to sing, so I joined the singing category." I can't remember the hilarious example that Jessica told me about... but just so you know, it was good. I teach Grammar and Writing for two periods, and they are really tired because it is right after lunch. Some of the students are in their own worlds and stare at the walls and ceiling. There are two students in 9A that are good friends, and Krista, Jessica, and I just laugh and laugh when we think about the combination. They seem like the least likely friends in the entire world (I don't want to go into much detail), but the one has his arm around the other one (perfectly normal in Egyptian culture) and they joke and punch each other. It's just too funny.

After 9A, I teach 9B for two periods. They are a very... energetic class. I think they're hilarious, but there's just too much noise. There are some students in this class that just make me laugh to think about. I love them, but sometimes I just think, "Why did getting up to erase the board in the middle of class ever seem like a good idea?" We made a seating chart for both ninth grade classes, and it seems to help somewhat. The students all shout out the answers when they know them (not just 9B, but more so than others). I make them raise their hands, so they wave their arms frantically while shout and snapping their fingers and yelling, "Ya Miss!" Then they apologize when I remind them yet again that snapping at me is very rude and I will not answer them. There are two students in 9B that will shout out the answer no matter what the teachers say. I'm laughing really hard as I write this, but it's so frustrating at the time. 

They are a lot of fun, and it reminds me of any high school class I've ever been in. There are a few kids that always want to volunteer. There are a few that pretend to fall asleep to look cool even if they're not really tired. There are some that completely understand the material, and there are some that... well... There are a couple people that have a very difficult time in the class, and I have sympathy, but it is also really frustrating. I will go to great lengths to write notes on the board and then go around and check to see that they wrote everything down. The problem is that they have no idea how to use their notes, and they don't like to think for themselves. That sounds harsh, and I don't mean it to be, but they would rather find a direct quote from a book than to interpret things or apply principles themselves, like almost anyone else.

Students haven't been turning in homework for my class, and the quarter is over in a few weeks, so they are all coming to me to try to make up what they missed. First my policy was absolutely no makeup work, but then I decided to give 50% for latework, and now my policy 70% credit. It's just frustrating. They think that my class' homework is not important because it is writing and not math. Excuse me? You don't know the difference between "is" and "are," and you don't think my writing is important? Good luck writing 15 page papers in college. I say to write 15 sentences, you write five, and then you get mad because I give you a 33%? Seriously? It's just frustrating.

I'll just post this because it's better to get something up than nothing. (That's what I tell my students--it's better to get some credit than none...) I love them though. I love them so much.

Water Fight, Dream Park, etc.

5:25 pm

This past week was a little bit different. Tuesday was a holiday, so we played sports in the morning and had a huge water fight in the afternoon. There were supposed to be three teams, who attacked anyone who crossed into their boundaries by practically drowning them above water using water bottles, mop buckets, tupperware, and anything else that could hold water. I forgot about the teams... so I just ran out and started dumping water on people. I almost died. haha. Boys were just running at me with their mop buckets, and one after another they would pour everything over my head. I couldn't see, and it was hard to breathe. It doesn't sound like fun, but it was a really good time. I am attempting to upload a video onto Facebook of being attacked. Let's see if it actually uploads. After the water fight, we were planning to play a game called "Hunt the Staff," where the staff hide somewhere on campus, and whichever team of students finds them wins however many points the staff member was worth. I was worth 30, Jessica was 40, and Michael was 80. This gives some perspective. Krista told me to go hide, and then they would explain the game to the students. I thought, "I'll show you 30 points! You think that I'm a wimp and would probably stand behind a tree." So I went and hid crouched in the dirt under a tree in the orange orchard. The mosquitos attempted to annihilate (10th grade vocabulary word) me, but I thought that I was taking one for the team. I waited a long time, ate some oranges, stood up, squatted back down, smashed mosquitos all over me. I heard a voice yell, "Ya Miss?!" But no one found me. After probably an hour, I decided to quit and then found out that the game had been cancelled. Thanks, friends. Pastor Tom had told Jessica and Krista that he had just seen me talking to people, so the students that they sent out must have found me. LIES! I ate your oranges, so take that.

Thursday we had an SA field trip to Dream Park, an amusement park. It was like a mini Egyptian Six Flags. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the students and going on the rides. I owned all the guys in the go-carts--I just had to mention that. Sometime in the late afternoon, there were a bunch of us standing around, and there was some commotion, which ended in a huge mess. Apparently some guys at the park were saying things or blowing kisses to some of our girls (which is a huge no-no), so one of our guys started to get protective. These outsiders (whose ringleader I will refer to as Green Shirt) started to get aggressive and were mocking this guy now. Another one of our students stepped in and started to defend the first guy. Other NUA guys tried to walk Green Shirt away from everyone and just avoid a fight. Green Shirt left, and the next thing I knew, he was running back with a couple friends, he whipped off his belt and just cracked it against one of our guy's legs (who was not involved at all). To their surprise, our school made up a huge chunk of the people at the park, and they came to his defense. They tried to separate crazy-eyed Green Shirt from everyone, but soon belts were flying, people were on the ground, and it was a huge mess. Jessica, Krista, and I couldn't do a thing because we are girls and we have no authority with these outside guys. One of Green Shirts friends ran in with his ID yelling (in Arabic) that they had messed with the wrong guys because his father was so-and-so. Apparently connections are everything. The fight was a big deal, and we ended up leaving the park. But apparently fighting is really commonplace, and using your belt to fight someone is not unusual. "Well, it's unusual to me." It seemed really animalistic. (I don't think I just made that word up.) Different cultural perspectives are so interesting. I watched the whole thing, and I recognized that most of our guys tried to avoid a fight as much as possible, but even some of them that I have the most respect for said that it would bring great dishonor to the girls if no one "defended" them, and to treat them the way that they were treated was completely inappropriate by Egyptian standards. One of the guys was saying that in Upper Egypt (which is really Southern Egypt), the fights are crazy. People will fight until tons of bones are broken, blood is all over the place, and sometimes even until death. One of my students was saying that even if a guy knows that he will lose a fight, he has to be the one to initiate it if the girl he is with is mistreated. Pride seems to be a much bigger deal here than in America. I didn't like it at all, and it was really scary to see some of these people so angry. Green Shirt looked completely crazed, and his eyes were on fire when his friends were holding them back. I didn't like it.

Some people honestly believe that women are worth less than men. In Sabbath School today, we were just having an open discussion about Biblical questions, and one guy brought up a passage in 1 Corinthians about how men are the head of women, etc. Pastor Tom explained the cultural information behind that passage, which made complete sense, but this guy next to me kept whispering to me about how men and women aren't equal. I threw out the verse in Galatians 3:28 about how there is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. He looked bothered, and I had thought that he had been joking until he kept going on and on. I recognized how American I was with my passion for equality, but I told him in the most straightforward way that my soul was just as valuable as his was in the eyes of God. Some people... To me (Yes, I'm an American), but speaking like that is just as ignorant as racism. YOU ARE IGNORANT! No, I'm not going to argue that I am stronger than all the guys--we were made differently, but good luck trying to run a country or even family for that matter without a female perspective. I'm not one of those obnoxious feminists who think that we're all the same (because obviously we're not), but you are ignorant, buddy.

Krista needs her computer. GOODBYE!

Biblical Understanding

I apologize for not writing anything in such a long time. I have a blog typed out on my computers (I'm using Krista's) to post, and so I am planning on posting it later. I just wanted to give a quick update in the meantime.

I am still loving it here. The weather is ridiculous, and I am being eaten alive by fleas, but that really doesn't matter. I thought about hiring a student to scratch my legs all day while I teach. Then I realized how creepy that is.

I love Krista and Jessica. I couldn't ask for better girls to be with.

I need to cut back on eating spoonfuls of Nutella. I didn't even like Nutella in America. What am I doing? I do really like the food here though. The bread... eh... I could do without it, but I am really happy with everything else. Except guavas, I guess. They sound like such a nice fruit, but to be honest, they taste like garbage. Literally. I am trying to get used to them because the people here love them. I'm working on it. My favorite food here is koshary. Ah. So good. It is rice and lentils with a couple different kinds of pasta, topped with tomato sauced and deep friend onions. I probably just made it sound disgusting, but I'm a fan--a big fan. 

Every Tuesday night instead of study hall, we offer fine arts classes. We offer guitar, sign language, PowerPoint, drama, praise sing (for song services), and... I think that's it. Michael and I are teaching a drama class. We're going to work on some musical skits with them and also a Christmas play. The students really love to act. They're not as shy and self-conscious as the kids I'm used to. I'm really looking forward to working with them. I just don't have much time to prepare. If only Andrew Crane was here to help with the improv games.

One thing that I was really impressed by was how much these kids want to learn. For vespers on Friday night, we printed out song sheets so that the kids could follow along and not have to read the words from the screen. We put guitar chords on them so that the kids who wanted to learn guitar could practice using them. I printed 70 copies so that we could share them. I expected to have to pick them all up off the floor, but at the end of vespers, not a single paper was left. I was so impressed. They keep them in their pockets and try to learn the words to the songs that we teach them. Most sing intensely off-key, but they sing at the top of their lungs, and I love it. They sing like they mean it, and that really hits me. I'm just a little bit tired of singing "I Surrender All" and "Shout to the Lord," however. :)

These kids are like kids all over the world, and they are really struggling to understand God and how they relate to Him. I love talking to them. I have to be careful about how many one-on-one conversations I have with male students though. That's kind of unfortunate because I feel like I am much better one-on-one.

Addressing someone in Arabic, you add "ya" before their name. I love the sound of people calling, "Ya Miss." I love it.

I have had a better understanding of some Biblical principles since I have been here. 

• I understand that footwashing is disgusting. In the States, we take off our socks and feel embarrassed because our pedicure is not perfect. My feet have been eaten by bugs, and I have scratched all the bites like a madwoman... so now I have red scabby feet. (Great visual, eh?) They are dry and covered with dust. Praise God I have sandals and there's not an incredible amount of animal poop on campus. If we were to wash each other's feet now, we would surely be humbled.
• In one of our staff meetings, we were discussing situations with students in which we would need to inform Pastor Tom. One of the SMs asked about if a girl got pregnant. Isaac, the Egyptian pastor and boys' dean here laughed and said that that would never happen. "Sure... it's highly unlikely, but what if...?" "No. It wouldn't happen here. Her family would kill her." Can you imagine how the people must have treated Mary? And how they must have treated poor little Jesus? They looked at Him with hate and disgust because His mom was a "filthy whore who deserved to be stoned."
• If a couple does not have kids within a year of being married, people start to talk. It is very very shameful to not have kids. Then I consider Sarah and all the other barren women.
• I understand how important it is to visit the sick, as the Bible tells us to do in Matthew 25.
• I have a better understanding of hospitality as is shown in many stories in the Bible.
• I still can't imagine the shame that Mary Magdalene must have felt, caught in the act of adultery... or the shame that any prostitute must have felt. In Egypt, a girl's reputation can be ruined if she is seen out with a guy, not in a group. It would strongly deter people from marrying her.
• I have a better understanding of the importance of eating with people.
• I fully believe that the people here actually would give me the "tunic" off their back if they needed to.

I have been here for just over a month, but I know that I will never be the same. And I don't want to come back the same either.

Read Acts 16 if you get the chance. It's about Paul and Silas in prison. The story is incredible. If you have Acts of the Apostles, read the corresponding chapter. I underline so much in that book.

I am a celebrity

You know you’re absolutely beautiful when…

•        Groups of guys mutter “moza” as you walk past
  
•        An ice cream man asks you for your address and then asks two of your friends for it when you refuse.
  
•        Slick-haired men tell you that you are wonderful as they walk by.
  
•        You get followed around the library in Alexandria by a man with dark sunglasses
  
•        People you have never seen in your life shout, “I miss you so much!”
  
•        Fourteen year old boys say, “Hello everyone!” only to you.
  
•        People pull up chairs to watch you.
  
•        Someone pinches your butt as you ride up the escalator and sneaks off into a group of people (It happened to Jessica, and you better believe she would have decked him if she knew who it was.)
  
•        Someone asks, “What is your name, my beautiful queen?”
  

Meaning of Honking

In America, honking one’s horn primarily expresses two things, “I almost just hit you because you’re a terrible driver,” and “I’ve been waiting at this green light for five seconds, and you need to move it.” I’ve probably honked my horn three times in the last four years, but now that I am in Egypt, my eyes have been opened. Honking a horn could mean a number of things:

•  I almost just hit you because you’re a terrible driver.
  
• I’ve been waiting at this green light for five seconds, and you need to move it.
  
• You’re in my way.
  
•  Does anyone within a kilometer radius need a ride?
  
• I’m here.
  
• I’m bored.
  
• Hello foreigners.
  

and

• Sorry I just hit you with my car, Chim. 
  

Lots of Rambling

I now understand some of the difficulties of being a teacher. It is 1:55 am, and I have to teach my first class in five hours. I’m making worksheets for my ESL class and trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. I’m trying not to plan useless things that would take up 80 minutes, even though that’s a great temptation for me. I feel a lot of pressure because I am teaching them the very foundation of the next four years of their life. I’ve realized that some of the students don’t know how to write their own names. One girl’s name is Kristine, and she has been writing “Krsten” on her papers. George keeps writing “Goreg” on his. Oops… I probably should have gotten to that sooner.

Speaking of names, out of 137 students, 400 are Egyptian boys named Mina, 600,000 are Egyptiangirls named Maryam, and 12 million are Sudanese students with the first and/or last name Deng. It’s slightly confusing. I have Deng Garang Deng, Deng Pal, and Deng Mayol Deng in my 9A class. I’m not sure who is who, and they use that to their advantage. Funny kids. We also have several students with the names Magdy, Wagdy, Peter, Shagia, Abanoub, Mahmdouh, and anything that begins with Nya-. AH! I just took a break from writing this, and I saw a list of students with their pictures, and the Dengs switched names on me yesterday! I am so confused!

In ESL, I am using techniques that I learned in Spanish in fifth grade. I am making them do motions with me to help them remember words. To learn the word “supermarket,” I make them do “The Shopping Cart” (one of the best dance moves of all time).

Spiritually, I am doing alright. I have been feeling so blessed and really appreciative of what I have. I hope that I grow here. I know that I will learn a lot, but I want this year to be what I had hoped for it to be. Change doesn’t necessarily happen, but many times it is a conscious effort. People argue that they haven’t stopped doing things that they consider wrong because it hasn’t been easy, so they must not be too convicted to do it. Are you kidding me? Self-control requires conscious effort for any Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist.

These kids are so normal. They have questions and they are really searching, and I think that’s great. I really don’t have the opportunity to discuss these things with my own students because the only English they know is “How are you?” and “Fine, thanks,” or we just don’t have time in class. I think Jessica is doing such a great job teaching grade 10 Bible. I’m kind of jealous of her. Maybe I’ll put tap water in her water bottle so that I can take her class for a few days.

Homeleave begins this Thursday after classes. Instead of having several homeleaves for a couple days, we now have longer homeleaves less often. The SMs are planning on going to Alexandria.

I have been greatly surprised by the place that I feel most impressed to reach. It makes me very nervous to think about the influence of this “area”, and I never really expected for it to be a problem. Sorry for my ambiguity. I am not big enough or wise enough to do what needs to be done.

Ramblings and Details:

I’m paranoid that my students watch my arm fat wobble back and forth when I write on the board as I did with my elementary school teachers.

I’m also paranoid that I smell like body odor. I get huge whiffs of it quite frequently, and it makes me really nervous. I try to subtly smell myself, and then I tell myself that it’s probably not me because I hadn’t had that problem before I came to Egypt. I then consider that even if it was me, they probably wouldn’t care here because they’re the ones that don’t seem to notice.

I didn’t come here to watch movies. I didn’t come here to eat American food. I didn’t come here to live in a five star hotel. I didn’t come here to be comfortable.

Conserving toilet paper has always been an innate skill of mine, but I am getting so much better at it. We went without toilet paper for about five days in our apartment, so we had to walk to the staff bathroom.

The doorknobs here don’t turn. On the one side of the door, it’s used to pull the door closed (I guess) and on the other side it’s just a decoration.

I don’t like running here very much. Running in the sand around the perimeter of the compound works my legs much more than my heart, and I would jump rope in my apartment instead if I didn’t feel like I would quit too soon. I’m grateful for the P.E. class that I teach, and I love teaching Taebo. I told my students to call me Dominique Wakefield from 6:00-6:40am… just kidding. Maybe Billy Blanks would suit me better.

We just got hot water in the shower… I don’t know how to turn it on though. But it’s available, I guess. It’s actually unavoidable in our washing machine. It boils our clothes—literally. Luckily I haven’t done laundry since I left home (yes, I’m a dirty person) because Krista’s stuff got tie-dyed from the hot water. The washing machine makes the bathroom so hot. My conditioner was sitting on top of it, and it was hot when I put it in my hair.

Ants are crazy. They are everywhere and in everything. If there’s even a crumb left on the counter, they’re all over it. We opened up a drawer that we had put Ramen in, and ants abounded. They’re the really tiny ones that aren’t scary, but I don’t like them because they can crawl under my fingernails very easily. Kuny is a 12^th grade Sudanese girl here, and she is the sweetest thing. Sabbath morning she left us a note outside our apartment door with beautiful red flowers on it. I looked at it an hour later, and ants were crawling all over it. Really? You’re going to eat flowers?

I eat way too much bread here. Way too much. Sometimes we find small rocks in it. Hardly ever though.

I don’t know what’s with cheese, but we have tons of it. John, a former student who just left for LaSierra University, took us grocery shopping when we first got here, and he loaded us up with cheese. Everyone else who has fed us has given us tons of cheese. It’s not normal, hard cheese… it’s more like cream cheese. Oh, there’s also this lie of a vegetable that looked like dark lettuce. I ate it and tasted the most intense… taste (for lack of a better word) in my life.

Korrollos, a tenth grader, said to me yesterday, “Miss Sara. You do not look as beautiful with glasses.” Hahaha.

Chim is staring at me and chewing mustard-flavored potato chips loudly. I’m supposed to write all about him.

I already want to come back to visit after I leave.

LOVE YOU!

Dear Mom,

I just thought that you should know that one of the students I am friends with is named Ibrahim.

Love,
Sara

I LOVE EGYPT

Right now I am in Heliopolis, which is where the Field Office for the church is. Tonight we're staying with an SM named Ana who teaches preschool here. The internet at the school does not work, so I can only get online probaby once a week. Women aren't allowed to go to the internet cafe in Gabel, the town where we live, so we have to take a minibus and train to Heliopolis. A bunch of little Egyptian girls chased us and waved yelling ,"Hello! Hi!" at us. They are so cute. We stand out quite a bit. To be honest, I kind of like it. (But I don't really like it on the crowded metro, however. Yesterday I went to extend my visa, and Alec leaned down to me and whispered, "Nose bleed's eyeing you." I looked over and a man was pressing a kleenex against his nose and staring intently at me.)

Before I forget: Don't mail me packages or anything without telling me first. The postal system here in Egypt will not let a lot of things through. I can't even send mail other than typed cards.

I am teaching Grammar and Writing ESL, grade 9A (more advanced), and 9B, each for two periods a day. Krista and I are also teaching a 6am P.E. class for girls only. We're teaching them taebo-kind of things--Mama Weave, you should be so proud. They get exhausted so easily... which is kind of funny, but it makes me so grateful to teach the class. The second half of the period, we walk and then run for one minute, and they are drenched with sweat. They're so cute. One girl thanked me profusely for our class because she saw the boys in "Mr. Michael's class running and running and running." haha. In ESL, we sing the alphabet song several times a day. I'm teaching colors, numbers, letters, and extremely basic expressions. I didn't have a translator until today, which made things kind of rough at first, but the students are understanding me. I jump around, draw pictures, and use an absurd amount of expression in my voice if I have to. I am really stressed out by my grade nine classes because I don't really have a textbook to follow. I am really good with English grammar, but it is really hard to explain it to kids whose first language is Arabic and have a small English vocabulary. I'm really being stretched--and that is what I asked God for. My character could use shaping, and I won't be given anything I can't handle.

I love my students. Many people look down on the culture in this part of the world, but I have never met a more respectful group of kids in my life. The guys love to tease us, but they don't ever cross the line. We are really hard on them right now so that we can gain control of the classroom. "Excuse me. Next time you talk you're going out in the hall." I say that countless times a day. They listen too. I refuse to tell them how old I am because I don't want to lose any authority. Some of the guys were trying to trick me into telling them, I told them that I would tell them at the end of the school year.


Our apartment is nice than I thought it would be. We're picking up on the quirks--I turn off the shower before conditioning my hair to let the water drain so that it doesn't overflow all over the bathroom. The stove is now working, and the toilet is now fixed. We used to have to dump a pot of water down the back in order to flush. I'm still not drinking the tap water, but I use it to brush my teeth. I will slowly start to drink it. I'm just not too anxious for King Tut's revenge. I think it's inevitable though.


I don't really know where to start in my attempt to describe Egypt. It's incredibly dry and sandy, and there is tons of garbage in the streets. Most people don't have cars, so we take minibuses and the metro to wherever we need to go. People pack into those things. It's crazy. I have a feeling that I will be the first SM to get hit by a car... Well, either me or Alec. People will drive literally within one inch of another car. I've seen some drive the wrong way on busy one-way streets in order to get where they are going faster. Crossing the street is an art. I'm honestly impressed.


The principal and his wife, Tom and Gladys Decker, are my favorite people in the world. Gladys is an English teacher who has her masters in ESL, so she has been absolutely amazing. They have really raised the standards for the school, and they have been such a help to us. NUA is not accredited by the Egyptian government, but the students receive an American diploma, so the standards have to be high. Cheating is so commonplace in Egypt, that we have to enforce a really strict policy against it. Apparently in Egypt, the teachers will write the answers to the tests on the board so that the students do well and the teachers can keep their jobs. Cheating is just "helping" each other. NUA is a new experience for them. The staff members are also competing for who can collect the most cell phones and mp3 players in the Ad Building. I think Krista is winning. She's a beast. I feel like I'm at GLAA. I guess I would be a very awkward version of Ms. Rosas at this point. I'm working on it.


Just about everyone has tattoos. The Christians get them on the underside of their right wrist or between their thumb and index finger of their right hand. The guys have tattoos all over their arms, and I have seen some on their chests (they wear v-neck shirts). I am used to the calls to prayer, and the silence seems kind of weird.

I'm sharing my testimony tonight for vespers, so pray for me please.

There is so much work to be done here and so much potential. These people have lots of questions and are looking for answers. I'm jealous of Jessica because she gets to teach grade 10 Bible. :) I miss everyone, but I am so happy to be here. I can't wait until my parents come to visit and can meet everyone.

Once again I am upset with the disorganization of my blog entry, but I don't have time to fix it. May you see God in a way that you never have before.


One of my favorites: "They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed." -Psalm 34:5

Finally online...

I wrote this on September 2, but I haven't had internet access for a while, so I am posting this and then going to update the rest.

8:27 pm September 2, 2009

Sorry it has been so long since I have update this. I have been so busy, and the internet here is very unreliable. Jessica and I left Hoogeveen on Sunday and met up with Krista at the Amsterdam. We spent the day wandering Amsterdam, which is a beautiful city with 3409583 bikes, tiny cars, and interesting people. We bought lunch and ate by one of the canals… and a crazy man almost hit me with his car, and then a swan tried to eat us. Swans… I’m telling you! They are evil!

Pastor Tom Decker, the principal at NUA picked us up at 2:00am from the airport. Arabic sounds like a very angry language, even if the people are having a pleasant conversation. Jessica and I decided that Holland smelled like black licorice and cows, and Egypt smells like… onions and body odor, but not too strongly. I’ve really liked it here so far. We have an apartment attached to the administration building that everyone refers to as “Upper Egypt” because it is in the direction of upper Egypt. Jessica and I share a room, and Krista and an Egyptian girl named Huida (?) share a room. We have a bathroom, where the water floods all over the floor if we don’t turn it off at some point in the middle of our shower, and a kitchen. Everything is much nicer than I expected. We got back at about 3:00-3:30, and the city was really alive. It’s Ramadan now, so the people don’t eat or drink during daylight hours, but we were told that that is how the city always is, which I am guessing is because of the heat. There is no garbage… system (for lack of a better word) in Egypt, so the people just throw their trash on the sidewalk, and it continues to pile up. Pastor Tom said that the guy SMs cleared off the sidewalk in front of the school, which included dead animals, used pads, and dirty diapers. We thanked them.
There are at least four mosques surrounding the school, and they turn their speakers toward the school and play loud moaning music periodically throughout the day. I don’t really mind it because it’s kind of funny. There are seven of us student missionaries here this year, and we have a really great group. There are the three of us girls, and then Chim (pronounced “Cheem”… which I am sure is short for something) who is teaching history, Paul teaches computer classes, Michael teaches P.E. and does maintenance, and Alec is teaching science.

There are about 140 students this year—110 boys and 30 girls. There are sixty more students on the waiting list. This is amazing because a few years ago the school almost shut down because the enrollment got down to about 30. We registered students today, and I did their medical history vision tests—there’s one nursing thing that I get to practice. The Snellen test is required because some students would never tell anyone that they needed glasses. Most of the students have never been to the dentist, and the ones that have went because of a major problem. Their vision was surprisingly good, and I think that that has to do with the fact that they hardly read any books, especially as little kids. The boys in general seemed better educated than the girls. The students are very friendly, and the guys make a little more eye contact than I am used to. Jessica, Krista, and I need to make sure that we are firm in our authority. Jessica told them strongly, “Miss Jessica.” And they responded, “Miss Jessica. Not Mrs. Jessica, right?” When we went into Cairo the other night we weren’t grabbed or anything, but some guys walked too close and grazed our butts as they walked by. Under normal circumstances we would have considered that accidental, and it wasn’t enough to turn around and punch them in the temple, otherwise I definitely would have. Some little kids came up and said, “Hello! Was your name?” So I talked to them for a little bit, and as I walked away they asked for a tip. Haha. People here tip for everything. I need to remember that so that I’m not a jerk.

I just saw a group of new students sitting together quietly. I guess I forgot that this was a real school with real people.

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And I guess I left off there without finishing...