Meet My Little Monsters

The weather here has been so hot! It’s especially too hot for school! All my shenanigans (shenanigans being singing, dancing, and generally making a fool of myself) in the classroom causes me to work up a serious sweat. Last time I was there, I was trying to stay cool in the staffroom while I graded some workbooks, but the fluorescent lighting kept blinking on and off. Turns out, all of the administrative staff have air conditioners in their offices, and every single one of them was running it full blast, thus overpowering the generator and causing all of the lights to blink.

School is almost over. All of KG1 (that would be me) have just finished learning the last letter of the alphabet. Some of you may wonder why learning your ABC’s would take up to 9 months, but you have to understand that these kids are learning a foreign language, they’re only 4, and I only get about an hour and a half with each class everyday. Not to mention the fact that every time they learn a new letter they have to learn the upper and lower case version of it, how to write the upper and lower case version of it, the five vocabulary words that all begin with that letter, complete a zillion revision pages in the workbook, and find time to squeeze in oral drills, as well as verbs and worksheets from a separate workbook. My days are full! But since we’re finished with the alphabet, I have a little bit of time to catch up on anything I may have missed, or only skimmed over. My kindergarteners will be taking exams the first week of May, and then they disappear. I’ll still have to hang out at the school to do some grading for a few weeks, and I’ll have to debrief the KG2 English teachers so they know where my kids are at, but that's it.

Anyway, last week I had some free time with my classes, so I thought it would be a good idea to take some photos before the year is over. The kids were more than happy to ham it up for the camera...maybe even a little too happy considering that a fun photo-op turned into a lot of pushing and shoving. If it looks like I was having trouble framing the shot, it’s because I was. It was utterly impossible to get any of them to hold still.


This is KG1-C, my favorite class. My assistant wanted in on some of the action, so she volunteered to take this picture for me, unfortunately, none of the kids are looking at the camera and half of the class is cut off...hahaha! She really liked playing with the camera.


This is Sief, he's only adorable. I drew a turtle on the board for the letter "T" and he began shouting "ninja! ninja!" as in "ninja turtle". Thought some of you nerds out there might appreciate that.


This is more of KG1-C bothering me while I try and grade workbooks. Names from left to right are as follows: Mahmoud, Seif, Yousef Tarek, Yousef Hamdy, and Nour. Mahmoud is destined to be a dancer because he can't seem to do anything else during class. Yousef Tarek has made a lot of progress considering that at the beginning of the year he refused to participate in anything, he'd make that clucking noise with his tongue and shake his finger at me. We've since become friends. Nour is one of my favorites. She's a member of the A.D.D. twins. I ask her to sit down and stay quiet, and she'll try so hard that she makes little fists and starts shaking. Her sister is exactly the same way.


Yousef Hamdy (left) is one of my top students. He's incredibly smart and loves to draw. Nour (center) and Mahmoud (right).


Yousef Hamdy and Omar Rafat. Omar is a sweetie. Just want everyone to know I taught him that thumbs up.


These are the girls from KG1-C. Names from left to right: Yesmeen, Nour, Hagar, and Hlla. Yesmeen is incredibly bright and loves to translate for the rest of the class. Hagar is super sweet and very sensitive. She was terrified of me for the first couple weeks because she had no idea what I was saying. Hlla is also a star pupil and has the most beautiful blue-green eyes.


This is what my classroom looks like. It looks far better in the photograph than it does in real life. The shelf in the back is the only piece of furniture in the room other than the desks you see here. I liked this particular picture because it captures Ghassien "the Blur" perfectly.


Meet Ghassien. I love this little dude. He is so cute and clever and very, very, ornery. It is impossible to get him to sit still, but he's just so silly, I have a hard time scolding him without cracking up, thus ruining his whole "talking-to".


Karim, Ghassien, and Nour. Karim has a skin disease that makes him all blotchy, and his poor parents were so worried he wouldn't make any friends, but he's just so damn smiley you can't help but love him. Every time I walk into the class he says "Miss, bosa! Bosa!" or "kiss me!".


This is my other class KG1-E, at least the boys anyway. They have some behavior issues, which can drive me crazy, but I love 'em none the less.


These are the girls from KG1-E. All of them are incredibly bright and put the boys to shame. It is impossible to keep them from blabbering to one another though.


This is Eiad, one of my all time favorites. You can't help but smile when you're around him. He loves to tell and act out long drawn out stories in Arabic. For awhile I kept trying to explain to him that "Miss. Katie only speaks English", but now I just say "sa-h?!" or "really?!"...and then the story goes on and on and on.

Oh Ahmed! This one is just too smart for his own good and is always getting himself in trouble. Such a cutie though. How could you get mad at that face?

So those are my little monsters. I was kind of hoping to teach older kids at first, but I have really warmed up to this age. 1)I'm way bigger than they are, which means it's a lot easier for me to be the boss. 2)They're super cute. 3) The best part, society hasn't had an opportunity to taint them yet. They love hugs and kisses, they're happy to play with anyone and everyone, and they have unfathomable enthusiasm.

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Katie the Amazing Cairo Guide!

I’m sitting out on the porch, laptop in my lap, and a cool drink in my hand. The weather here has been hot and beautiful lately, and the nights are amazing. I’m enjoying a five day weekend and relishing the fact that I have absolutely nothing to do. It seems everyone we know has run off to do some kind of diving adventure, so we have the entire city to ourselves. I figure with some of the free time I have, I should catch up on the ole blog. Unfortunately, I have once again waited too long and have far too many pictures. Consider this a friendly warning that this may be a considerably long narrative, but hopefully the pictures will help break things up along the way.

So this month, I’ve become the ultimate Egypt guide. It all started at the end of March when my parents arrived. They didn’t disappoint either, as they walked through the gate of the Cairo International Airport mom did her typical "mom wave" and I got lots of mom and dad hugs along with lots of “oooing and aahhhing” over my new haircut which deserves a blog entry all it’s own. After all the fun meet and greets we crammed into a Cairo cab where dad and mom both insisted on sitting in the back with me. Mom surprised me by remaining calm as we zigzagged through traffic while her suitcase simply rested untied on the roof.

I must say my parents fared very well on the trip. While I was at school they adventured around the neighborhood and became regulars at a café called “My Day” just down the street. Dad experienced some authentic Egyptian hospitality when he bought a box of water for our apartment several blocks away from home, which fell apart only halfway there. He didn’t have to struggle long before a friendly guy gave him the sign for "wait", and promptly ran into his building to retrieve a new box so he could carry the water the rest of the way. A woman at the grocery store also helped my mom make her purchases by grabbing her hand throwing all her goodies in her basket and helping her pay at the register. Egypt, you can’t beat it.

While they were here we went to several swanky restaurants where mom and dad were brave enough to try sheesha. It's essential to the Egyptian experience considering that café’s with old men drinking tea and smoking the iconic water pipe populate almost every street corner in the city. Two of their favorites were Seqoia, a modern tent like structure that sits directly on the Nile, and Abu el Seid, a very traditional Egyptian restaurant complete with low lighting, Victorian style furnishings, and two enormous dungeon like doors at the entrance.

Insert series of sheesha pictures here.

Dad smoking Sheesha

Mom smoking Sheesha

Paul smoking sheesha

Sarah smoking Sheesha

Me smoking sheesha

The next day we wandered the crowded streets of the tent makers market, where mom discovered some beautiful hand quilted pillow cases. The man selling them escorted us up the crumbling stairs of a dilapidated building only to find a beautiful room covered from top to bottom with beautiful needlework.

Later we took the Metro to Coptic Cairo the Christian district of the city. There we stumbled through a breezy cemetery. To our horror (and perhaps a little morbid curiosity) we discovered several of the graves to be ill taken care of. It’s terrible for those buried, but it did allow us to peek inside some of the tombs, one of which contained a broken coffin and a glimpse at a real corpse, or what was left of it.


One of the oldest known depictions of the Virgin Mary. This is located in the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo. It's called the hanging Church because it's actually suspended upon ancient Roman ruins.


Pretty grave in the Coptic cemetery.


Corpse....ewwww!

Also during their stay we visited Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city, only a 3 hour train ride away. Some of our stops included the shipyards, where we admired the handiwork of the many artisans occupying the small shacks on the other side of the bay. It’s interesting considering this is one of the only remaining areas where boats are still made of wood and hand crafted rather than machine crafted with fiberglass. I also convinced mom and dad to walk through an area called Anfushi, the working class and incredibly overpopulated district of Alexandria. Dad had his reservations, but once in, people were incredibly friendly and were more than happy to ham it up for mom to take photos. Unfortunately, the experience was slightly tainted at the very end of our short walk. We were standing under an awning made from a sheet when we started hearing what sounded like explosions of glass bottles, which turned out to be exactly that. Some guy standing in a balcony above the street was frantically yelling and throwing what looked like drinking glasses. I have no idea who the glasses were really meant for, but it shook up mom and dad. Damn. I highly doubt they were directed at us, but we’ll never know.


Spectacular view of the bay with fishing boats and city backdrop.


The fruits of their labor. Fish, fish, and more fish. Alexandrians are known for eating more seafood than a hungry sealion.


View from within the shipyards.


Dad admiring traditional handiwork.


One of the many views of Anfushi.


Colorful produce in baskets.


Pigeon or rabbit anyone? Yup, that's right, they eat pigeon here. It's supposedly a delicacy, but the one time I had it, felt like it was mostly a bunch of skin stuffed with rice.

We also had a fun trip to the Pyramids, where we fended off numerous guys running up to the cab and trying to tell us they were closed, or it was a long walk and we needed a horse. The key is to be as persistent as they are. Mom really wanted to ride a camel, which we of course indulged in.


The Sphinx! It's smaller than you might think.


Family shot with our camel "Moses". Our guide was sure not miss out on any detail of our Pyramid experience and insisted on wrapping dad's head in a turban.


Mom and I chillin' on a Pyramid.

Just before my parents left, my sister flew in from Madrid. That’s right, Souder family reunion in Cairo! That day we took advantage of Sarah’s duty free capabilities and bought ourselves a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, which we promptly finished off that evening, and Paul and Dad took stock of the humidified section dedicated explicitly to Cuban cigars. It was a very jubilant farewell for mom and dad.

Sarah’s trip was fantastic. It was a lot of the same stuff I did with my parents. I mean, you can’t go to Egypt and not go to Khan el Khalili, the Pyramids, or do a day trip to Alex, but she got to experience more of the Cairo nightlife. On her first night here we took her out to Purple, a club on a boat that sits on the Nile. It wasn’t nearly as packed as I would have liked, but it was still fun and we proceeded to stay up to the wee hours of the morning. Wednesday night we went to one of my favorite night spots called the Cairo Jazz Club, where me, Sarah, Paul, and several of my friends showed up to party down. Drinks are always outrageously expensive at the club, so we always pack a special water bottle keep the evening cheap.

We also visited the beautiful green oasis known as Al Azhar park where she could admire the vastness of the city. We brought a picnic of Fuul and Tamaaya which of course impressed the curious Egyptians hanging out with their potential lovers and families. For those of you who don’t know, Fuul and Tamaaya are staple examples of Egyptian street food. Fuul is essentially baked beans (made with fava beans) served in pita bread, and Tamaaya is falafel and garden veggies with a little tahina served in pita bread. The sandwiches are a pound a piece, or 18 cents.


Sarah and I at Al Azhar Park.

After Al Azhar we made an unfruitful trip to the Pyramids. Traffic was terrible and we were already running a little late, so we didn’t make it until the very second they were closing. Sarah and I decided the long trip shouldn’t go to waste, so bargained for a camel ride in the desert. Paul was none too thrilled about the camel ride, but humored us anyway. Sarah and I shared a camel and giggled the whole way about how bouncy it was, and poor Paul got stuck on the back of the other camel with our guide…hahaha!


Sarah and I having way too much fun on the back of our camel.

The highlight of Sarah’s trip was our trip to Dahab. Faye was planning to get her advanced diving certification, so all of us jumped at the opportunity to tag along. We stayed at the Sphinx again, where a communal friend gave us a great deal on a room right next to the beach. We even had a small front porch, but no chairs; however, Sarah and I stealthily stole some from our neighbors allowing us to drink Stella in the comfort of our room. Outside of that the three days were dwindled away by afternoons on the beach, and of course, more Stella. We did get to do some serious snorkeling though. The Red Sea is known for its clear water and amazing dive sights where Europeans flock. There’s the Canyon and the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is essentially a large cylindrical area completely surrounded by coral reef that extends below for miles.


The road to Dahab through the Sinai. Lots of desert and winding roads.


All of us geared up for some hardcore snorkeling. I am the nerd wearing the snorkel mask.


Snorkel Paul!

Snokel Sarah and Snorkel Katie!


Scuba Faye!


Octopus!!!


Oh my Gawd! I can see Saudi Arabia!

I hope that’s more than enough for now, because I simply can’t bring myself to write anymore. The pictures I posted are just a few of many, so keep your eyes open. I will be posting a ton more to the Picasa album and relabeling them so people can get a better idea of what they're looking at.

I sent out a mass e-mail not too long ago, but in case I left anyone out, Paul and I have bought plane tickets and will be returning to the good ole U.S. of A. on June 2nd. I’m excited and sad at the same time. I can’t wait to see everyone back home, but I’ll miss all the amazing opportunities here. more...