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.