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Feb 25, 2008

Finally finished report card drafts. Had another visit from the plumber yesterday, he unplugged my clogged sink. Today the washer repair man came and worked on the washer for about an hour. Then he came out and in universal sign language said, it was dead, not repairable. Now my heater quit, another repair man tomorrow I hope. It gets cool in the evening. One of the other teachers woke in the middle of the night to running water. Her toilet tank fell off the wall. Flood!! Now I know why every bathroom had a drain in the floor. Report cards are March 18- 19 To celebrate we are going desert camping for 2 or three nights after parent teacher. Got to watch for the scorpions!

Sunday Feb 23, 2008

I got up early so I could get to work on the report cards, but I got a call and I couldn’t refuse a trip to Port Said, that is the Mediterranean end of the Suez Canal. We drove North through the Nile delta area and saw a lot of nice country, much cleaner and less trash than Cairo. Nora would be interested to see groves of Mango trees, but without any mangos, out of season. The roads were the usual unbelievable chain of events. Lots of people waiting by the road for all types of busses. No regular stops, a bus stops where people are congregated on the road (not on the side of the road) waiting. Some are regular (black smoke spewing) what we would call a bus. Other busses are small Chev pickup trucks with a box on the back. It stops and as many people as possible climb in, that leaves some on the roof and others hanging off the sides. (no kidding!) There are a lot of small farms by the side of the road. The houses are mostly mud brick and cement brick or regular brick. The road follows the Suez canal and in the background behind the farms, every three Km are the huge container ships and other huge ships just driving by the farms. The ships all line up and go through one way at a time in convoys. Then the boats on the other side line up and it is their turn to go the other way. http://www.atlas.com.eg/scg.html So we were driving just on the other side of the Sinai Peninsula. Every so often there are police check points, we were lucky, they waved us on every time. We were at the last check point and had to turn on the road to get to the lane we needed, as we were turning the back door to the back seat where I’m sitting opens and in jumps a fellow speaking Arabic very excitedly. I could understand Cairo, didn’t know what to do so we drove to the police check point and told the Arabic speaking police man, get this fellow out of our car, he smiles and waves us on, meanwhile the fellow is jabbering on is Arabic, pointing beyond the check point. As we drive away he throws money out the door to the police. We drove a short distance and pulled in at a garage. He jumps out and that was all he wanted. Who knows who or what he was. Sure didn’t want him with me all the way to Cairo. Lock your car doors when you are driving. I'll post more pictures here. http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27

Thursday Feb 21, 2008

After school Thursday about 12 of us too the Metro to the downtown area, that is where the Egyptian Museum is found. We had dinner outside. It was pretty chilly and we were in the street (closed in), motorcycles going by our table. Peggy Burke would have loved to be there, the cats were begging for food and putting their paws on our legs or crying loudly for food. The food was good but slow coming. The buildings in that area are Victorian and very interesting. We took the metro home and took a taxi from the metro stop. The metro is an above ground train which costs a pound each way. A pound equals about 18 cents. The trains are a circus, there is always some vendor trying to sell small packages of Klenex, this time there was a lady with a large garbage bag of stuff to sell, There is a ladies car which is good to take if the place is crowded. Sometimes the men can get too friendly in confined quarters. Friday night after being in school all day doing report cards, 8 of us went to dinner at a restaurant called Crave, which is within walking distance. There are so many plces to eat and it is very inexpensive. Every restarant has male waiters, never do you see a waitress. Also the buisness all have a very large staff. Going by a garage selling gas, there are always about 2 people working there for each gas pump. I'll post more pictures soon, my favourite subjects are over crowded vehicles and donkey carts.

Very busy with reports

Report cards are due Monday so I'm super busy with them, blog will resume with back posts when reports are out of the way. Now I remember why I retired, reports are the least enjoyable part of teaching especially when you have just a month to get to know the students.

Weekend Feb 14-16 2008

February 14, 2008 Inservice today and I did my presentation on Irlen Lens. www.irlen.com It went over very well and two teachers came to me later saying they had it, one severely. She felt so relieved to finally realize why learning had been so difficult for her. She was a perfect match. After school 12 teachers packed up and went off to Al Fayoum. It is an Oasis about 100 Km from Cairo. We took two taxis and arrived there after dark. The accommodations are rustic to say the least. It was so good to get out of the city and the smog and breathe some clean air. This place is in a very rural area. It is known for its pottery. About 30 years ago a Swedish visitor , who was potter recognized the clay in this region was perfect for pottery, so she set up a school to teach the people how to make pottery to sell. This little village now has many pottery shops and they also sell their goods in the city. Friday four of us took a taxi out to Wadi Al Hittan, where there are fossils of whales just lying on top of the sand. There are fossilized bones every where. It was shallow sea that dried up, and left thousands of whale and other aquatic skeletons just being uncovered as the shifting sand erodes the landscape. Now this dessert does not have cactus, there is vegetation by the oasis but the desert is barren. Friday evening we were entertained by 5 locals, They had a drum, pipes and their hands and voices. They were lively and played for more than 2 hours. An Egyptian lady (more liberated than most) did an impromptu dance to their music. As we were eating dinner in the dining room a frightening figure came in dressed in local clothing with a large gun slung over his shoulder. We found out later the government requires tourist operators to have security on hand when he has foreign tourists. So our host recruits one of the local farmers to hang around his establishment toting his ancient rifle. All the rooms of the ‘cabins’ we stayed in and dining room, were made of mud bricks, plastered over and whitewashed. The roof was held up by tree trunks, placed strategically holding up the roof made of palm leaves and mud plaster. I walked around the villages and the main mode of transportation is donkey and motor bike. Children work along with the adults and I was persuaded by a very savvy 7 year old to buy one of his wicker baskets. Women carry everything on their heads, cabbages, water buckets and bags of groceries. There are donkeys, water buffalo, goats, sheep, horses, cats, dogs and sheep everywhere. Whole families work in the fields together and I saw some picking chamomile flowers. Their living conditions are very primitive. As we drove home we saw many boys and men standing by the road, near the oasis holding up strings of fish for motorists to stop and buy. Traffic included donkey carts, we even see that often in Cairo, busy 5 or 6 lane traffic with a donkey cart making its way through crazy traffic along with the crazies who run across the road in the middle of traffic. The weather was lovely, have sunburn. For pictures on this weekend go to http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27

February 13, 2008

It is the day before Valentines day. Egyptian chocolate is very, very good, or perhaps the kids just gave me expensive chocolate. This afternoon I planned an afternoon of games for the Grade 1, 2, 3, and 4 classes, it was a lot of fun. This evening we took a cab and went to see the ‘Whirling Dervishes’ or ‘Sufi’ dancing. It was a 1 ½ hour performance. The performers (men) were dresses in especially full white galabaea (my spelling) (long tunics the men wear) and danced accompanied to Egyptian pipe music along with drums and string instruments. They music reminds me of the bag pipes, has the same squeal. The main dancers had very elaborate appliquéd skirts which they twirled as they dances. One fellow twirled for about 30 minutes or more. Three twirls in a square set and I’m ready to fall down. On the way through the city to find the theatre we passed through the furniture district. Blocks and blocks of massive armoires, over stuffed couches and chairs and ornate fabric covering them.

Feb 12, 2008

Was dozing off on the couch this evening when I got a call to meet some of the teachers at the Abused Restaurant on Road 7, so I jumped up caught a cab. The Abused is Egyptian in atmosphere and food choices. We ordered appetizers and one main dish to share. At every meal you always get a big dish of flat bread which is a lot fluffier that what we get at home. We ordered the little packages of rice wrapped in grape leaves, cheese dip, little meat balls, falafel (very good), Tatzeki (sp), and an Egyptian chicken dish with walnuts and in a sauce over rice. Cost us each about $10.00. We walked back along Road 9 and stopped in to see the beautiful silver jewelry, lovely scarves and appliquéd wall hangings, $35 for such beautiful work.

Jan 10, 2008

Tonight Egypt played Cameroon in the finals of the Africa Cup and they won for the third straight time. When they scored I could here a collective cheer out in the street. They are still out there hooting and tooting. Just like when Calgary won the cup when Alan Mac Innis was playing. Wow they are going crazy the whole area is out side shouting, setting off fireworks and driving areound sitting on cars and in trucks, making as much noise as possible. Today one of our school busses was in an accident. One of my students had a cut to her hand and a bus monitor and driver were shook up but I guess all is well. Still very nice and warm.

Cat Lady

Apartment is in good shape now, the plumber spent almost half a day here fixing all the leaks. Landlord brought over a TV satelite reciever. Now I have thousands of channels but.....most are in a language I don't understand. Met the cat lady on my street, she was feeding about 15 cats and knew them all by name. These cats had green eyes, mine at home are yellow. One of the cats is an Egyptian, long nose and long body. Probably descended from cats at the pyramids long ago. Think I will buy some cat food to give to her. Can’t feed them, then I would want to take some home. Her cats looked very good compared to what you see on the street.

Master leather craftsman with finished product ($90 Cdn)

 

Feb8, 2008

Friday/Saturday, It may be Friday but it is my Saturday. Met Linda C at the ball field, it is the place where all the Expats meet, British, Canadian, European, US. We walked over to the leather coat shop to look at his coats and pick up Linda C’s coat. He makes beautiful coats for a fraction of the coat we would pay at home. I’ve been listening to the birds wondering what was making the crow sounds. Well Egyptian crows are grey and black, they are the same size as our black ones and sound like a crow with a cold. Plumbing troubles, someone gave me the blue print for getting something fixed here. First you complain and the landlord sends over about 5 or 6 people. They all confer and figure out they can’t fix it that day. Then the repair person comes, opps didn’t bring the right part, second time he realizes he needs something else. This goes on and on. Meanwhile I have 2 showers which only work when I use a wrench, a hot water heater which sprays water all over the bathroom when I take a shower and a bathrooms sink which drains all over the floor, then runs down the drain in the floor…..and a washer which still doesn’t spin!! A personal tool kit is essential. Tomorrow….the big adventure. Think I’m getting my hair cut. Maybe I’ll have to wear a head scarf!

Egyptian Crows, grey and black

 

A closer look at the fastenings of the scaffolding

 

Scaffolding Egyptian Style

 

A spot of Hibiscus tea with friendly Egyptian Patchwork Artist

 

Heating up a pot of tea at work

 

Alladin's lamp

 

Supper at the Market

 

Bread Delivery

 

Jeweler making a diamond ring

 

Sat Feb 2, 2008

Saturday Feb 2; Went for a walk on Road 9, by chance met up with some teachers going to the Cairo Egyptian Museum (where many kings including King Tut, many mummy’s and a huge mind boggling array of Egyptian artifacts are on display. Will have to go again, too much too fast. We took the metro, one pound either way, that is about .40 both ways. Every morning between 6:30 and 7:00 there is a small grey and black bird which comes to peck at my window and fly at the glass and I think tries to get in. Maybe the previous tenant let it in. I love in nice peaceful area not near a mosque. Many of the teachers have to put up with the mosque loudspeakers broadcasting the early morning and late evening chants as well as more during the day. One teacher complained and the people at the mosque did change the direction of the loudspeakers. There is probably one every two blocks. It is 5:30 PM and I can hear them in the distance, echoing.

Feb 1, 2008

Friday Feb 1, 2008 Waited around all morning for my landlord to show up but as usual with landlords and a lot a prearranged appointments here, he didn’t show up. After waiting three hours I left and went off with several other teachers to a large Market near the Old Citadel. It is all arranged into sections according to the goods sold there. There was jewelry, (silver, gold, gems, coral, ivory and more) copper goods, clothing, spices, scarves, blown glass, appliquéd wall hangings, frankincense, myrrh, fish, *roasted yams, ladies middle east dresses, bread carried on large platters on the heads of boys, linens, belly dancing outfits, and much more …almost anything you can imagine even live goats. Then each type of article was sold in one particular area with at least 20 -30 stores selling the same thing and all vendors very, very aggressively trying to sell to you. There were also actual artisans making their goods, spinners, jewelers, copper smiths, cabinetmakers, and cats, cats and more cats. All this is housed in the old walled city structures of Old Cairo, places where Napoleon and his troops came through. A very easy place to get lost. On the way there we passed by the City of the Dead where people are buried in crypts above ground. These crypts have rooms and a huge amount of people live in this area, over a million. The city of the dead has a highway running through it. Maybe Judique will loose its place in the Guinness Book of Records for having a graveyard with a road running through it. * One of the teachers said she had bought one of the roasted yams wrapped in newspaper on a previous visit and had enjoyed it so much. Then later on she saw the same vendor scavenging on the street for the dirty newspapers to wrap his potatoes!

Cable Cut February 4, 2008

I have very limited access to the net, none at all at home and at school sometimes it works sometimes not. Some of the emails I have tried to send are going through, some are not. All is well, but I will be glad to get back on the net at home.