Happy Canada Day!

Well summer camp is up and running. I am team teaching with my Mother which has already been the source of a certain amount of conflict...3 days in. :) The kids in our group are 6-7 year olds. They are cute and funny, and total disaster areas. Most of them are quite spoiled and a lot of them can't even do up their own pants. Today we are painting faces, decorating with balloons, and being as silly as possible.

We have moved into a temporary place of residence. It is quite the place, Bonnie and Dan live there, Kelly and Emily have moved all of their things in because they are moving into the apartment when Bonnie and Dan leave in August, and Valerie and I are staying there over the summer. So the living room is piled high with boxes and crates. There is a television that works so I have been able to watch some movies (heavily censored of course).

Everyone from the school is gone now which has had a surrprising upside for me. While here teachers buy all kinds of souvenirs which means on their way home they need to get rid of a few things. I have been the happy recipient of all kinds of moisturizers from the body shop, manicure stuff, sun lotion, and clothing!

The heat here is ridiculous, I am in a constant state of melting. Sweat starts running down your body the minute you step out the door, and continues until you reach air conditioning.

A Sprain is a Pain...

Last night I went to help some friends move, and I thought I had walked away relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, I managed somehow to sprain my right shoulder, which makes doing pretty much anything (including the typing I am doing right now) rather painful.

Thankfully the lovely pharmacist man has given me fluorescent pink and purple pills to take. I call them my pretty pinky-purple painkillers.

Valerie and I are moving tomorrow which will be rather awkward so wish us luck. We don't have a lot to move but it is just the two of us and she has osteoporosis, and I am a gimp. We have three flights of stairs to move everything down and then at the new place three more flights of stairs to move everything up...sigh.

It is the time of year in Cairo when all expats migrate back to the place of their birth in search of colder climate, and long-time friends and family. Most of our friends from school left last night.

Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

So the school year has come to an end. All the classrooms are packed, and the school is empty of all little people.

Until Sunday.

Sunday is when Summer Camp begins! 85 Students and 6 teachers, it will be an interesting two weeks.

After that we go to the dahab, which is like tofino only African beach side.

Valerie has accepted another year long position at the school which means I will come home in August, stay until just before X-mas, and then leave for another 6 months. I have applied for residence housing and a student loan. Another 6 months of work at the school is a god thing it will pay for the rest of my degree at Malaspina, and help alleviate some of my debts. Also I have registered for my esl certification in August so that is a go.

phew...

Perks and Quirks

Yesterday was the grade eight graduation ceremony. It is kind of a big deal, anyway I spent most of my day printing and folding programs for the 200 guests. The ceremony was quite nice and thankfully brief. The highlight of the evening for me was lets face it, free food. There was a massive buffet, and a huge desert table. mmmmmmmmm

The school had quite the set up there were glass tables with lights in them and golden centerpeices. There was even a string quartet, the music was magical.

The validictorian's speech was short and funny. After the ceremony he came over to me and said "I am a great actor." And I was confused so I said "Why?" His response "Because you taught me acting!!"
Aaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww
In all fairness though I only had his class once for an hour, charmer!!

Today is the last day of classes and I have very little left to do. I supervise a swim class at 11:30, will probably flirt a little with the lifeguard :)
There may be some birthday cakes arriving, or not we don't really know. Then at 1 the kids are watching a highly legal (ahem) version of Kung Fu Panda.

Little Malak, one of my favorite students gave me two really cute bracelets as a good-bye present. She is so sweet. One of the grade seven students bought me a present as well, a fork holder. LOL

Its just another day for you and me in paradise

So yesterday I went and did something almost totally foreighn to me.


I went to a MASSIVE shopping mall. The place is called city stars and it is THE mall to go shopping at in Cairo. The grade eight graduation is on Sunday and it is mandatory for all teachers to attend, and while I am not a teacher there will be free food so of course I am going. Anyway I had nothing to wear so Haley and I hopped in a cab and went forth bravlely into the air-conditioned interior. The mall is bigger than metropolis, it just goes on and on. It was another ICE (interesting cultural expereince) there is so much affluence in Cairo, and this is where all the wealthy people and upper middle class people come to spend money. There are all of the major brand name stores, and the food courts are huge! We decided to go to the Rainforest cafe because many of the students at school had been chatting about it, and when we got there we discovered a bunch of students in the midst of a birthday party. They invited us to join them and we did. The kids were really excited and they gave us a tour of the place, they were sooo funny. "Look miss Naomi, look at the toilets!!!" They were as excited about the bathroom as they were about the animatronic tigers and gorillas. We were treated to birthday cake, and then the party left before us, they had almost finished eating when we arrived. When we went to pay the bill we discovered the girl's father had paid for our lunch!!

A H&M store had opened up recently so we decided to look there for clothes. It was funny because one of the Kindergarten teachers had told me about it opening she was so excited about it, and then I had run into her daughter the same day and she had also told me about it. Who should we run into in the changing room? Virpi and her daughter!!

Not a bad day, I got two pairs of shoes, a black top, and a purple shrug. I think even Amber would approve of my shoe choices, hot pink, and navy flats. And when I got home I had a caramel milka bar mmmmmm heaven.

This morning I am going out for brunch with some friends and then luggage shopping with Valerie. We have to move next week into another apartment so if I post less frequently, I'm not dead just busy :)

Against my better judgement I let the grade fours perform their dance. It wasn't very good, they needed more practice time but they really wanted to do it, so I let them. Ordinarily I wouldn't have allowed it because they weren't ready but it was their last oppurtunity to perform something before year end. They had a lot of fun dressing up and wearing their costumes, I think the best part was watching them march through school in raggedy costumes with lots of face paint on!

Chasing Children

This is how I spend most of my days now, running down errant children and making sure they are where they are suppossed to be. The dance was a lot of fun, there was very little actual dancing but the kids all had a good time, and there were too many chaperones so we mostly just hung out.

Today I agreed to help the grade eight teacher prepare her graduation dinner, which meant a lot of running around (this time after teachers). There is also the performance of the grade four dance, which I helped choreograph. I am excited about seeing them in costume but I think the dance is going to be pretty lame. They just don't put any energy into it, no pizzazz or whatever.

Most of the teachers willbe leaving for Canada on Tuesday or Wednesday which is kind of sad. There will be a skeleton crew here for summer camp, and loads and loads of kids.

I am down to 136 pounds, my weight loss has slowed the last little while, I need to focus on it a bit more.

La Vida Egypt

We are in the last days of school now, in fact there are really only 3 days left. I am a little sad because the kids are so much fun and the teachers aren't bad either :)

However summer school is kicking into high gear and a week after regular school ends camp starts. Each of us working at camp has to come up with ideas and themes for summer camp, my theme days are P.E.I. and Newfoundland. I'm having the kids do a huge mural for Newfoundland day, should be fun.

Today I have a pretty full schedule. First thing I am teaching grade 6 drama, and then I have two periods of hip-hop, followed by drama, and tonight I am doing pool duty (watch kids swim make sure they don't drown) and finally I am chaperoning the grade6-8 dance.

Allan continues to send me horrid emails about reconciliation, and how I am throwing everything away and how I am so horrible, and why am I doing this...

Bits and Pieces about Life in Cairo
We have three or four taxi drivers who know us now and who we usually ride with, there is Magdi, Wagdi, and Georges, and then a fellow whose name escapes me but whom I refer to as Crazy hair. He comes his hair up from the base of his neck forward over his forehead, and he isn't balding this is just a unique fashion statement.

I have discovered the best chocolate bar ever the brand name is milka, and their caramel bar is freakin' orgasmic! I am going to try and bring some home with me.

The cost of having things tailored here is miniscule so most of the teacher's have copies made of their favorite articles of clothing. We went to attaba the other day to pick up some of the made items, and we had to walk through this massive street market it was amazing. Everything was available for sale there, strange exorscist-like demon dolls wearing pink teddy bear suits, vegetable magnets, high fashion shoes, strange angry Arabic music, burned corn, glasses, tea, etc etc.

Everything here is inexpensive, you can live very well off of a relatively low Canadian salary. Teachers here who are making $23,000 a year are able to save $6000-$10,000 a year. And these are teachers who do not live poorly, they eat out, take taxis, buy souveniers, and travel to other parts of Africa.

Red Sea

Went to the red sea yesterday. We spent the day on the beach, it wasn't a very nice beach but it was warm and there was a long pier that we ventured out onto. From the pier we saw a manta ray, strange missile shaped fish, a needle fish, clown fish, parrot fish, pilot fish, and not 20 feet away from us a pod of 5 dolphins. Not a bad day at all. Totally worth the strange shaped sunburn I aquired on my back LOL. I have been trying to aquire a tan and so far I just seem to be collecting more freckles.

We are into our last week at school and there are lots of fun activities lined up but little work for me. I am satisfied to roam the school watching year end musicals and plays, my time here has been so rewarding.

Party People

Last night my new friend Hailey and I were on our way too a party. This was a party I didn't really want to go to because it wasn't really going to be my scene. At any rate I have recently been accused of being Valerie's shadow, and that stung so off to the party I went. We got lost, the instructions were simple, go around the corner and flat three building eleven. We found 5 building elevens, and as we were pondering our next step we heard a loud familiar voice, it was our friend Emily (a kindergarten teacher from school). She was on a balcony above us, and when she saw who it was we were invited up for drinks, so we abandoned the search for the party and went for drinks.

It turns out Emily and her roommates were having an I.C.E. (Interesting Cultural Expereince) they had signed a 12 month lease for the very apartment we were sitting in not less than two weeks ago, they had bought the furniture from the outgoing tenants, and re-hired the house keeper. Then today out of nowhere Emily got a call from the landlord saying "Oh we rented to someone else"
Emily goes back to Canada in 13 days and has nowhere to put her things, and both of her roomies are in the same position. So Emily called the current tenants, and they invited her over for wine, and they were on their fourth bottle when we happened to walk by.

Valerie and I were suppossed to house sit for Emily and Co. over the summer, in a roundabout way this means Valerie and I are homeless as of the end of this month. Not to worry though we always land on our feet, and our friends who have lived here for awhile assure us that this is probably just a negotiating tactic.

Shrinking Pains

I am so pleased with myself, I keep losing weight. I`m losing it more slowly now which is probably far more healthy. It is hard to gauge exactly how much I have lost, because our scale is in kilos, but my clothes are looser.

Yesterday was our school play day. originally I was free for the afternoon just to watch and play but the woman I was covering for in the morning came in and told me I was working all day. So I had my own little team of followers that I took aroud too each activity. It was hilarious, my group had 6 kids under the age of 6 and no older kids, so we lost every event, but we had a SUPER time. The grade eleven kids organized things and it too a long time to get from event to event and then the explanations took too long and by the time we got started it was time to move on. So at the third station when it was becoming apparent we weren`t going to be able to play the game I picked up a bucket of water and dumped it on little Yahias head, and chaos insued. I was one of about 4 teachers who got soaked through too the skin. It was awesome, nothing is better on a hot Egyptian afternoon than a good old fashioned water fight!!!

In other news, the bird, the damn noisy bird is dead. I don`t know how it happened but I got a terse email from Allan this morning informing me that he had watched the bird die yesterday orning, oh dear. I should`not laugh but it is sort of darkl funny, poor Allan what else could go wrong!!

Its getting hot out herrrrrre

43 degrees yesterday. FORTY-FREAKIN-THREE!!
Phew. I taught a drama class in the morning and I had rivers of sweat pouring down my back, it was gross. No wonder all the Canadians go home over summer, phew!! Most of the teachers will be leaving around the 25th of this month, while Valerie and I brave the heat and terrors of summer school!! After summer school I think the two of us will be travelling to the Dahab, a summery resort place about 8 hours out of Cairo.

Today I am working half the day, which is good, better than no time at all I suppose. I worked with the grade sevens this morning and it went well, it is always nice when things come together.

Valerie spoke to someone about her finances and it has really set her mind at ease, which is good, because angry Valerie is not fun.

I'm having some problems transferring money from here to my accounts in Canada. As a result it looks as though Allan's power may get cut off...oooops.

The trots

Everybody here gets the runs. It is just a fact of expatriate life in Cairo.

When I taught the kindy class yesterday I had a little boy run past me streaming poop down his pant legs, the other teacher was like "Whats that smell?" And I was like "ummmm poop."

Kindy was fun, and I have another half day of it on Sunday. They are rehearsing a play and the children's delivery is very funny. One of the little girls is very soft spoken so the teachers keep telling them to be louder, and she isn't getting any louder but the girl who acts opposite of her has taken their words to heart.

"YOU HAVE TO GO TO OZ!!!!!!! THE GREEN CITY, GO NOW!!!! IT HAS EMERALDS!!"
Hee hee hee

Two weeks of school left to go, and then two to three weeks of summer school. This has been good, I will be able to pay off one credit card, and pay off most of my debts. The school renewed my working visa until November, so if I wanted I could stay and work here until November.

I am having so much fun here.

Pump it!

I was doing creative movement with the grade seven class this morning and I was amazed at the difference between their scenes and the scenes the grade four students had created previously. The grade fours were much more creative and far better thought out, I think it must be hormones and inhibitions that creep in with age.

Turns out other teachers are going to cover for the music teacher who left. I love working with the kids and wish I could stay on here next year.

Tomorrow and Sunday I am going to be teaching kindergarten...yikes! Should be fun and I will have two class assistants which is good.

Allan is vacillating between forgiving me and hating me with every email he sends, poor guy this must be tough for him. I think I mourned the death of this relationship too long ago to be much affected by it now.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

I just want to take a second here and say thanks to all of you!! You have been very supportive through a strange time, and you are all amazing!!

Anyway more news on my strange life...

Yesterday the poor beleagured music teacher had a massive breakdown and quit the week before the annual music concert. I'm not quite sure what this will mean to me but I am pretty sure it will result in more on-call work. Next week I already have three days booked, one with kindergarten (yikes), one with grade one and one with highschool art.

We don't have access to tv here, so I have been catching up on a lot of reading which is nice. Anyone have any book suggestions they want to share?

I don't have a lot of ways to practice escapism here, so I have been spending a lot of times mulling things over, and I feel much healthier than I was when I left Canada. I have lost 13 pounds!!

Registration for summer school is going well and it looks as though it will run for 3 weeks, I know I am hired for sure for two weeks but I have to wait to find out about the final week.


Allan and I spoke on the phone and it was horrible. He still wants us to be together and I am not going back. I heard from my friend that he is getting relationship advice from Mark of all people. He is moving all of my things out into the garage which is a bit dismaying considering it is a neighbourhood cat hang-out and my things might reek of cat piss when I get home. I am also concerned that things will get broken, but I'm trying to let it all go. I am here, he is there, not much I can do.

Cairo Quirks
-you have to pay an Egyptian pound to use public restrooms, and you have to take your own toilet paper.
-You can't flush toilet paper it backs up the horrible plumbing
-Egyptian Watermelon refrigerated is a gift from the gods, seriously it is the best thing I have ever tasted!!!