Another Place to Belong

If there is one place I can say that has become more familiar than our apartment and its surroundings, it would have to be Hay el Ashr- which is the St Andrews site where Zuri, Ruba, Max and I work at. For one, I realized that we had a class where students showed up consistently and I knew all their names and this was a great moment- especially given the challenges we had initially faced in trying to find students to attend classes. I thought back to the days where we had only 2 students one time, or another day when we had started teaching a group of school-going children who came to learn at our site because their parents were watching a world cup game and needed their children to be pre-occupied for that duration. I also felt that the past week had been one of the best teaching experiences for me personally- finally understanding how to teach a group that was largely illiterate in English, some of whom had never heard the language before, and overcoming the idea of 'What is the point of teaching them if they can't read or write and therefore effectively retain the information?' Max and I tried our best with repeating words and phrases constantly for this week's topic- body parts and sickness- trying to come up with activities that would both engage the students and help them learn. At the end of each day, it was unbelievably satisfying when each one left with having learnt maybe two or three words after every class but what was most surprising was when half left with having learnt almost all the phrases relating to the body by the end of Wednesday's class. This was something that I would never have imagined and it has forced me to think about expectations of service projects. Even before my application for this program was accepted, I thought I was being incredibly mature by taking the perspective that two months of a service project in a foreign country could not yield great results and therefore I should be realistic, which for me translated to having almost no expectations of what my service project could achieve. This past week at Hay el Ashr has changed this mindset completely. There are many people who are enthusiastic about trying to bring change and that is an extreme, but I realized that the way I was thinking was not the right way to look at this issue either. Sure, being realistic may evade the frustration and anguish that comes along with disappointment, but at the same time the joy that accompanies small successes such as this week, are multiplied when you have believed and had faith that your efforts will yield fruit and I hope to keep this in mind for the last three weeks here.

This Week's Tidbits - June 21

This Week’s Titles:

• Teaching Troubles
• Crying and Smiling Children
• Journey to the Center of Hai al-Asher
• Homework Vs. Lesson Planning Vs. Sleep
• Professor Lo and the Eternal Battle For Interwebs
• The Birthday Party
• Street Fighter: The Victorious
• The Twilight Saga: Cairo (cause the kids at I the Egyptian are routinely getting bitten)

Songs of the Week:

• “Hot ‘n Cold” by Katy Perry
• “Down” by Jay Sean
• “Jump On It” by Apache

Quotes of the Week:

• “What do you mean by Hello Kitty drugs?” –Zuri, befuddled by her teacher’s story
• “Where’d the blondes go?” “Where the pigs went.” –John, on how beautiful blondes like Andy aren’t seen around here because they continually stop traffic
• “Don’t lose your stuff, or else it will end up on some old man’s Christmas tree,” –Hannah, on the moral of story she read in her Arabic class
• “I freakin’ love unicorns…I probably shouldn’t have admitted that…It’s like 10 Galleons a hair.” –Brendan
• “Pregnant is just a dot away from being camel.” –John, on spelling Arabic words
• John’s Vader Voice, in Arabic: “Luke, I am your father.”

Favorite Moments of the Week:

• Street Fight in Khan el-Halili
• Zuri Eating in Class
• Moana Caking
• Zoe’s Birthday
• Working at the NGOs
• Coptic Cairo
• Lecture with Raymond
• Teaching Time to St. Andrew's Students
• Teaching "Ninja" to the Kids at I the Egyptian

Today's Tidbits - June 8

Today’s Titles:

• FDOC
• Zuri Vs. The World, Part Ten(Thousand)
• The Girl’s Apartment Conquers the Stove
• Max, Ruba, Moana, and Zuri Vs. The Minibus
• Community Facilitators, Orientation, and Other Wonderful Things

Songs of the Day:

• “Pokemon Theme Song” in Arabic
• “Make It Through” by Sherwood

Quotes of the Day:

• “Don’t drive with Hannah. She’s a terrible taxi driver.” -Ingie, the Arab Academy teacher during a taxi-cab, role-playing game.
• “Legiternet” and “sly-fi” –John’s terms for “legitimate internet” connections and “possibly unsafe” ones

Favorite Moments:

• First Day of Classes
• Animal Toss Game at Orientation
• Minibuses
• We gave in…and went to McDonald’s

DukeEngager of the Day: Fernando, future bodyguard

Today's Tidbits - June 7

Today's Titles:

• Life Is So Much Better On A Boat
• Zuri Vs. Allergic Reactions
  
• Zuri Vs. Everything
• Crazy Taxi: Cairo

Songs of the Day:

• "How Bizarre" by O.M.C.
• "Come Together" by the Beatles

Quotes of the Day:

• "I don't know what you want, but I have what you need."
• "How can I take your money?"
• "It's kind of like a piggy-back ride." - Max

Favorite Moments:

• Fiona assuaging our anxiety
• Orientation at St. Andrew's
• Boat Ride on the Nile
• Mango Juice
• Dinner with Amr

DukeEngager of the Day: Zuri (she gets it two days in a row for her EXTREME patience and dedication)

Back to Day 1: The Video

Sorry this took so long to get up, but here it is: moving into the apartments and a few stories about our first two days in Cairo. Thanks to Mr. Magdy for all his help in getting this online!