January 15, 2008

January 15, 2008 Third day of school, I am staying at Linda’s and Barry’s. Went looking for an apartment. last night. Looked at one, not too bad, it had two large bedrooms, large L room and a good sized kitchen, all furnished, TV, Washer, bedding and some dishes. It was clean and no cockroaches or creatures. It has a balcony to both bedrooms and on the third floor. This will cost about 3000 LE, the school will pay more than half, that would leave me paying about $200 a month. Lots of room for visitors. The children are very nice, some ridiculously rich but you can’t tell, they all wear uniforms. Rearranged my classroom today, it is my room now. The whole place is made of cement, the floors and the walls. It makes a wicked amount of noise when they scrape the chairs on the floor. Every morning they play O Canada and the Egyptian Anthem. Thought I wouldn’t be hearing that again in a school setting. Didn’t think I would be supervising lunch in the cafeteria again as well. This is a good school, the administration is supportive and staff very willing to help. Only complaint is …..I thought this was a tropical country. I wear layers and layers…ay least 6 every day. Each classroom has a heater the teacher turns on when she/he comes in the morning. The open layout of the school doesn’t add warmth either, all the doors open to an outside hall way. Driving home today…. I still can’t get over the people running across the road in traffic. Also they transport workers crammed together on the back of little trucks. Took some pictures and the occupants of the truck were all smiling and waving. Typical… such a warm friendly nation.