An Excursion

Hello again,

Last weekend one of the teachers involved as volunteer with an organization called Resala, organized a trip to a small village on the delta.

Resala is a completely volunteer organization which renders aide and assistance to people who are in desperate need.

This was a small farming village. It appears, from all I could make out, that the farmers live in the town/village and go out to the fields which are quite close by. It was along one of the many t

ributaries in the Delta that flow into the main Nile.

Resala, the charity organization, visits a village twice. Once to assess the needs and the second time to actually do the work and distribute the food and clothing,

We collected the teachers going and proceeded to one of the Resala buildings in Cairo to check in and collect our guide for the day--Karem. In the Resala building the organization collects donations of any kind; furniture, clothes, appliances, heaters--you name it and they refurbish ,recycled and reuse. The Resala volunteers spend their time cleaning these things up, refurbishing them and re-distrubuting them to those who are in great need.

Our task on this day was to repair roofs and distribute food and clothing to needy families. The men would do the carrying, lifting and building and the women would distribute the food, etc.

So off we go to the village of Elmanshia, in the governante of Gharbia. (There are 27 governantes in Egypt.) It was well down the delta, more than an hour from Cairo.

The lushness of the delta was surprising to me. There was green eveywhere. You could see bananas growing, vegetables galore, sugar cane and everything else one could consume, growing on the delta. There were orchards full or oranges. I saw my first water buffalo working in a rice paddy---lots of rice paddys. Egypt, like Turkey, is a food producer and can feed its own population. The fruits and vegetables available for purchasein little stalls all over Cairo, attest to that. They also prduce some grapes and make some Egyptian wine. Now you may wonder about that, but it is produced for the foreigners and it isn't too bad, really. It is eminently drinkable, especially with food.

A tuk-tuk

Along the way we stopped for various train crossings which created traffic snarls, with the little Tuk-tuks. These are not allowed in Cairo. They are a three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaw affair. They operate like taxis. They are everywhere in the country. Can you imagine the traffic congestion is they were permitted in Cairo??!

Another train crossing. You can see lots of the tuk-tuks in the congestion. The red and black vehicule just in from of us is a tuk-tuk, and next to him and in front as well.

We arrived in the village in time for prayers. So off everyone went to pray and we non-muslims waited for their return. The children were facinated by us, and very curious. Their image of us comes from television and is often inacurate.

Facinated children--all trying to talk to us in English--Miss, Miss, what is your name." That was all they could say. But I answered them very slowly, telling them my name was Cristina. They know that name.This is one of the teachers from school, Debora, and some of the children that followed us all day.

Work began in earnest with the men carrying beam material and corregated roofing material out to trucks that then took it to the house being worked on. These roofs were not elegant affairs. They were simply beams set on the mud walls, with corregated roofing material nailed to it. There is little rain here, so it is more for the sun than anything.

One of the teachers, Ray, on the tote and carry detail.

Some of the men from our group as well as Resala, beginning repairs to the roof of one of the older buildings.

A bedroom under repair

The bedroom, now completely covered over. Notice the three beds in this room. It is the sleeping room for the family. There is a chest cooler (blue) in the foreground. I am not sure, but I think it was used as a refridgerator. Also note that this room, as did the rest of the house, has a dirt floor, with a rug near the bed.

This is the mayor of the village and a Resala worker. The Mayor is the older gentleman in grey. The Resala worker is a young volunteer active in the organization, from Cairo.

While the men constructed and repaired, The women went around the village with the mayor, who had a little list, and passed out bags of non-perishable food and bags of clothes. Here is one of our teachers with the mayor and a Resala worker checking the bags before giving them to the little man. Here is one of the teachers getting ready to give the bag of goodies to the little may with the mustache. You can see the mayor and some of the Resala workers giving the goodie bags to the old woman in the doorway.

The group of teachersalong with guideand interperter, far left in black t-shirt, who went on this incredible outing.

I saw parts of Egypt I never would have seen otherwise, experienced things I never would have otherwise and I learned a great deal.

This type of outing makes one realize how incredibly lucky we are. We had the opportunity to look through a window at another way of life, alien to ours. Yet these people were not sad. They were all happy to see us, and delighted with their gifts, but not one of them seemed saddened by their circumstances. This is their life, beginning and end of discussion. They are content. The children played in the streets and had a grand day following us around asking our names. We told them. We peeked into their homes and learned how they live. As in all villages, some do better than others, and it with the help of organizations like Resala, that a little relief comes into the lifes of the most needy. I enjoyed my day, and hope to do it again sometime.

The Eid Holiday and Feast

The Eid

Monday most of the Islamic world will celebrate The Eid. This is a feast that comes 70 days after Ramadan. It celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son out of loyality to his god. God intervened just in time and had Abraham slaughter a sheep instead. So, here in Cairo, for the last week sheep and cows have been brought in to various staging points around the city awaiting slaughter on Monday. The holiday is to be a reminder of each one's need to sacrifice in their lives and to share what they have.

Part of the ritual is to slaughter this animal and rub your hands in the blood then make handprints on things, like cars, and your apartment building etc. The animal is butchered and passed out to friends and family as well as given to the poor.

For many Westerners this sounds a bit barbaric, probably because the animals are so big, and the sheep have such a tender look to them. But there is high excitement here and everyone is looking forward to the Eid, including all the teachers and school children because it means an entire week off from school. I love school breaks, because I can travel. For this break I am off to Florence, Italy with two other teachers from the school. We return to school Sunday, December 14.

The Egyptian Museum

In Front of the

Egyptian Museum Recently one of the teachers who has been here for several years, and an expert on Egypt, took interested teachers on a field trip to the Egyptian Museum. Needless to say I went!

The exhibits were facinating. The Museum is so full of antiquities from all periods of Egypt's history that it will take many visits to take it all in. However the King Tut exhibit, alone, was worth the price of admission.

The famous death mask of King Tut, on display under glass, is what everyone comes to see. It is displayed in the center of a room full of smaller King Tut treasures and funery jars. You can walk completely around the headdress and see the intricate work involved in making it. Of course it is mobbed with people all doing exactly the same thing. But what a spectacular thing to see up close.

Then you can wander and view more treasures taken from his tomb. There is furniture; beds and chairs, and mummy cases.

Of course there is much more to see in this museum. And it will mean many more trips downtown take is all in.

School

My bus This little bus comes by the street near my apartment and picks me up for work. I walk out to the end of the block and wait for it to come by about 7:10 every morning. The school provides this service for the employees. Our driver is wonderful at weaving in and out of the monumental Cairo traffic. So far, only a couple of close-call, but no collisons. He seems to have eyes everywhere, and see everything. Staff Busses Here are the staff busses all lined up to take us home at the end of the day. The school is new, built about three years ago, on the desert, well out of main Cairo. Because it is so far out the school provides this transportation service for the employees--mostly teachers. You can take which ever bus is going nearest to where you want to go. So if you decide not to go home but rather to go downtown you can take a bus going to that area or going through that area. Most of the teachers know which busses go where and they hop of various busses depending on their activities for the evening. Of course afterwards they have to take a taxi home. There is another whole fleet of similiar busses for students. The busses go all over greater Cairo picking up students. For school sponsored evening activities, the school will run the busses in the evening from fewer pick up points throughout the city, but still a very nice service and convenience for the staff. My classroom. It was created by enclosing a balcony patio. It is a bit small for science but works well for the math classes. There is a computer for each teacher on the desk for attendance, grades, progess reports and report cards. My classroom overlooks the new Mubarak Police Academy across the road. I am not sure about taking this picture as there are strict restrictions about taking picures of military establishments. But this is what I see out my window. The cars in the foreground are inside the fence on the school campus. Many students have drivers that bring them to school and drop them off on the street you see here. The street gets quite congested in the mornings and afternoons. No drivers of students are allowed to drive onto the campus. If they are picking up a student's work they park outside the gate and walk onto the school grounds. The only vehicules on school grounds are the employee cars and the busses. This is my apartment building. I live on the third floor. My balcony is just out of view. My street is quiet for Cairo. In the evening the cars of tenants all along the street are stuffed wherever one can find room to squeeze them in. In the mornings you see the building guardians, called bo-aps, out washing all the cars. You can see our little man, in brown, in the center washing the car. Now you have an idea of where I work, how I get to work and where I live. .

Ah to have the internet. Recently, I finally got connected. While my Egyptian connection is not fast, it is a connection and I am thankful for that. Now I can continue my blog. Please stay tuned for more.

Packing

I have been madly putting things into my duffel, then taking other things out.

Packing for this trip is not easy. How do you decide what you will need to wear to teach, and what you might want to have for relaxation? In addition I need a light-weight coat for the winter time in Cairo, which is bulky to pack. I need to be mindful of the fact that I will be living and traveling in a country where the culture is very different from my own. Of course, that is the interesting and exciting part of all this. However, it does not make it any easier deciding what to pack. Any and all advice gratefully accepted.

A Change in My Life

Today I finalized plans to leave Michigan and move to Cairo, Egypt for the remainder of the 2008-2009 school year. I will be teaching at the American International School of Cairo.

The American International School of Cairo (http://www.aisegypt.com/) is located in the suburb of New Cairo City, Cairo Egypt.

As you can see from the photo the school is new. Check their wbsite and you will see that they are a modern school that uses American curriculum, where English is the language of instruction. I am excited about this opportunity to live in Cairo; explore this exciting and exotic country, where the old and new, ancient and modern, coexist, presenting the traveler something new and wonderful to discover at each intersection.

I am looking forward to exploring Giza and the pyramids. I may have to wait for my daughter to come visit, because that has always been a dream of hers as well as mine, and we have talked of making a trip to visit Egypt. Now we will be able to do it. I plan to update this blog as often as I can with my experiences of living and working in Egypt. This is an exciting opportunity for me and I am looking forward to this adventure. Look for more posts as time passes.