The Funny 5's

One of the things I love most about 5 year olds is that they'll just lay it all out there. They're hilarious.
So today my kids were eating lunch (they eat in the room here), and 2 of my boys are thick as thieves. They ALWAYS sit together. So they start eating, and all of a sudden Marco jumps up and starts yelling, "He caca-ed!" over and over again. Mansour, not one to let any falsities be said regarding himself jumps in with, "NO, NO, NO!" So I tell them both to be quiet and let Mansour explain. "I just did a disgusting smell. Everyone does it." Very matter-of-factly. I told him he was right and just to say excuse me and move on. Marco SO could not handle this though. He moved to the other side of the table, now sitting diagonally away from Mansour. Apparently he was still traumatized, because about 30 seconds later he got up and moved to a new table. As he walked off Mansour muttered under his breath, "I don't know how to stop it..."

Smartypants

So this week I decided to break my kids in easy and do the "Getting Ready" section in our math book. Normally they would get a good month of prep before any real curriculum (those routines must be flawless first), but seeing as it's October 15th and today was the 10th, yes, TENTH day of school, I sort of have to move a bit faster. They're smart and well behaved and ready for it, but nevertheless, we took this week to review the basics.
A few days ago our review topic was colors. After the lesson I gave each kid a blank circle divided into pie pieces and instructed them to color the pieces with whatever colors they currently had on. Seeing as they all were wearing the navy bottoms and the white collared AIS shirt required of them, we had to get creative to have differences in their work. I challenged them to look at everything- their socks, shoes, hair accessories, etc. and color any colors they saw on them. We came back at the end of the activity and I let a few present their work to the class. I called one student to the front. We began going through the colors on his wheel with him telling us where they were found. Yellow on his shoes, grey for the stripes on his shoes, green... I looked at him confused. He's pretty much on top of things so I wondered why he possibly colored green since I couldn't see any on him anywhere. So I said, "Green, Ali? Where's your green found?" "In my underwears." Oh. Thank you. You really took the instructions to heart. :)

In happy news... we received an email today stating that our a/c will be allowed back on beginning Sunday. PTL!!! Oh, did I forget to tell you? In order to prevent the spread of swine flu in Egypt we:
1. Closed all schools for the entire month of September.
2. Are required to be in the country 8 days before going to school to make sure we aren't sick. Mind you, we can go to the mall, grocery store, ride the Metro, etc.
3. Have the students wash their hands every hour.
4. Send anyone who coughs, sneezes, or has a temp over 98.6 home.
5. Not use the a/c at school or on buses, and open all windows and doors to have proper airflow within the school. (Did I mention that the playground is behind my class? Or that I live in the desert and it's stinking HOT?)

Yes. So you can imagine the joy that rippled through the school as we heard the a/c would be on when school resumed on Sunday. You know, since we haven't had it since school started and all. But, we all have that Egyptian word in the back of our minds... That one that means, "Maybe, maybe not.", or literally means, "God willing".
Insha'allah.

Coupon THIS baby!

So it seems to me that a lot of the blogs I read are frequently discussing coupons. Here's one for you- no coupons required (that would take something similar to organization, and I'm pretty sure there's no Egyptian Arabic word for anything remotely looking like organization).

5 large bottles of name-brand (Dasani!) water
1 liter of skim milk, refrigerated (most milk in Egypt is sold in boxes and is unrefrigerated)
1 bag of Hershey's chocolate chips

Total: Just under 38 Egyptian pounds.
Conversion: About $6.90

What's in a name?

My first year of teaching I had Zavion, Trevion, Diovion, 2 Cameron's and 2 Zion's (but one went by "Lucky").
My second year of teaching I had 10 million J & K names: Joseph, Josephine, Janiah, Jeremiah, Jade, Jada, Jaidyn, Jaylyn, Kayln, and 2 Katelyns.
This year:

4 Omar's (one who's first AND last name is Omar)
2 Ali's
Kenz & Kenzi
Sara, Lara, Yara
Yasser & Yessin
Mark, Marco, & Mansour
Lamia, Ahmed, Shahd

... and 1 more, but for the life of me I can't remember who!

In the last month...

(since September 26th) I have:
-planned and booked a trip to Eastern Europe
-spent 5 days in Budapest
-spent 7 days in Croatia
-spent 3 days in Krakow
-spent 3 days in Prague
-spent 3 days in Vienna
-seen the Danube in 2 different countries
-gotten a tan on 3 islands in Croatia
-slept in a hostel for the first time
-seen Auschwitz
-met lots of Aussies... 2 that I loved, many more that I did not love
-seen the famous astronomical clock in Prague
-fallen in love with Vienna
-found all my U.S. TV somewhere online
-caught up on emails
-caught up on sleep
-caught up on... well, everything
-enjoyed getting to know people better
-spent 11 days in Egypt
-been to school 3 times

Not a bad month ;) Maybe this time next week school will be started. Maybe...

Using a public hammaam

So we walked 3 miles to the market tonight and then there was a problem. 3 miles away from my home and I need to... you know... use the facilities. In America, no problem. It's usually relatively clean, and you don't HAVE to sit. In Egypt... oh Egypt... you never know what you're getting in to. Will it be clean? Will there be a door on the stall? Will there be toilet paper? Will I have to pay? Where is it? How do you say "bathroom" in Arabic? Will it be a hole in the ground? Will I be able to find it? Luckily Em knows some Arabic and asked a guy where it was. He directed me toward the cashiers. I searched. Found Cinnabon (shouldn't have noticed that!!). Found the furniture section. Found the ice cream. No bathroom. So I waited. And waited. And when we finished our shopping I told Em I had to go before we went home. She asked again, and was directed past the cashiers into the housewares section of the store. I wandered through the disorganized aisles full of cheap (but costly) housewares. Thankfully by this time I had learned the word for bathroom (hammaam!), asked again and was pointed in the correct direction. I saw a gap at the back corner of the store and peeked around, thinking that surely couldn't be it. Then I saw a shrouded woman with a mop in her hand, and she must have read my quizzical look because she nodded and motioned with her hand. One question answered: If there's a woman sitting at the door of the bathroom, you will indeed need to pay. Or be yelled at. But it's easier to pay. I peered into the stall. No toilet paper. I looked into the next stall. Um, no toilet paper. So I said, "Toilet paper?" and made a wipe your behind sort of motion. She shook her head and pointed into the stall. I gave her another confused look and she came in and showed me a knob close to the floor on the right side of the toilet. "Ok. Ok, I can do this. I think I know what that's for..." I thought. But I had to make sure prior to the toilet usage that I would in fact be able to, ehm... clean off. So I leaned down and gently turned the knob. I was promptly squirted in the hip with a steady stream of water. I knew it worked, now I just had to use the awkward thing to take care of business. So I took care of business and then the hose took care of business. But then what? You're clean, but not dry. Is this a problem for anyone other than me? And just my luck, I'd cleaned out my purse before coming. I knew there wasn't a stray kleenex to be found. But at that moment I remembered my shopping list. PTL. Some paper. You know, to dry things off. Sorry if this is a bit much, but this is Egypt. You should get used to it. It's going to be an interesting 2 years...

Moral of the story: Carry kleenex or TP at all times. If you must use a piece of paper, try not to use one written on with marker.

Missing home

Sorry H-town, I do love you and miss you. And my friends, family, and my babies. But this Q-banita is really longing to be home in the other H-town (and it's only been 23 days... this will be a long year). It's a strange thing, this splitting of the soul. The gift of I Cor. 9:19-21 is one the blesses me, but is accompanied with agony. I have been given a distinct ability... for the inner city families I can become as one of them, for the Q-bans I am a Q-ban, for the Houstonians I became a Houstonian that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I might share with them in it's blessings. Because I thank my God in all my remembrance of them, always in every prayer of mine for them making my prayer with joy, because of their partnership in the gospel from the first day until now (Phil. 1: 3-5).
Yet here I sit, in my new living room of ornate Middle Eastern furniture, sitting in heat because I often forget to turn on the a/c after a few Q-ban summers. And maybe somehow it reminds me of home, makes me feel a little closer to that tangerine sun kissing the clear aquamarine sea. But as I hear the Call to Prayer being chanted at sunset for the first time since arriving, I am keenly aware that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Still I can't deny the feeling of verity as Spanish rolls off my tongue. So I wait on the Lord, in animated existence, resting in the confirmation of one word. Interim.