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. .