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28 aprile Testing WeekGreetings again from the sandbox! It took us a full afternoon (6-7 hours of steady housecleaning) to dig our way out from under the sand. We left a bunch of our windows open (did I mention that?????)
Testing: I like it and I hate it. It is a nice change of routine for the first day. It also means less planning for the mornings (yay!) But it can also be very hard on the kids. But I was really impressed with my little grade ones (six and seven year olds.) They spent three full mornings sitting quietly, concentrating on some pretty tough academic stuff. All of them were very quiet and focused, and this is the class that I can't keep quiet for a ten minute spelling test!
We just finished testing last week, so we were all pretty wiped (except for the kids who responded by acting very wired by the end of the week! Like climbing the walls wired...) On Tuesday, by the end of the day, they left the classroom screaming about anything and everything. Their parents were probably wondering what I fed them. (Nothing, honest! Not even the tiniest bit of sugar, yellow food dye, or anything else of the sort! I promise!!!) Wednesday I had three kids in tears at afternoon recess, and by the end of the day, the count was up to five ( including a couple of repeat offenders.) Thankfully, Thursday was a little bit calmer. For all of us.
My kids came out with some classic lines last week. For example: one girl came racing up to me and said "Mrs. K., Mrs. K., my blood is in space!"
To my blank look, she elaborated "Aliens and space are calling out to my blood!"
Another blank look (possibly blanker than the first), and then "I mean I really REALLY love space and planets!"
Aaaah, the coin drops. Space is in my blood. Now it is clear.
Same girl, about an hour later: "Mrs. K., I have LE15.00. I can't decide if I should spend it on a new book folder, or a golden mermaid I saw at Carrefour!" Hmmm, I have to admit, I'm stymied too...how to choose? I think she thinks her teacher is completely retarded!
Finally, another student. "Mrs. K, I forgot my library book at home."
"What was the name of your book?"
"The one about the dogs...you know...Lady and the Cramp!"
At which point, I began to giggle. Not just a nice little chuckle, but the kind of little giggle that rapidly grows into uncontrollably shrieking. (Perhaps they weren't the only ones that were wired...) Thankfully, it was just about recess, so I could send them out before I lost it completely.
So, after a moderately restful, and not-at-all productive weekend, I'm ready to go back into the land of short people, with great hearts. I love my job! (Cover me, I'm goin' in!) 17 aprile Post Sham-en-Nessim Sandstorm As I type this, my fingers are becoming coated with yellow and brown dust. We had an interesting sandstorm today. It wasn't the worst I've seen, but it was impressive. It went on for most of the day, off and on, and the wind was strong enough to bring down trees. We left windows open in the house, and pretty much everything has a quarter-inch of dust/sand all over it. Argh! Part of me is tempted to not dust until mid-June, but the other part of me hates having dirty hands, and so if I don't want to have skin lesions from washing too much, I'd better do something about it! Kelvin mopped, bless his heart, so it is a matter of dusting pretty much everything, washing the linens on the bed, and etc. Anyways, after all that, here is a photo of the sky late afternoon (around 4:30pm. It was quite a bit more orange this morning, but we didn't have the camera at school! The last photo is the dirt that came out of the mop bucket after Kelvin mopped four rooms.
Apparently no one told the weather man that Sham-en-Nessim is supposed to signal the END of the spring winds!!!! 12 aprile A New and Surprising Love! Kelvin and I just returned from an amazing trip to the desert. Now, I must confess, that since first arriving in Egypt almost ten years ago, I've had a love/hate relationship with the desert, mostly hate! There were times that I remember flying in or driving back from green spaces to Cairo and the Sahara, and feeling my gut tighten, and every sense resisting the return to the dry barren land that is our home. That has slowly changed over the last few years, and while I haven't LOVED the desert, I've learned to appreciate some of its aspects. Like the fact that lizards, birds and beetles can survive, and the occasional flower and tumbleweed as well. Or the contrast of yellow sand and blue sky that can dazzle the eyes. I've been going out to the local dry riverbed (the Wadi) for walking weekly for several months now, and I've learned to enjoy the quiet and clean air that can't be found in the city. However, that said, going to the desert wasn't a major excitement for me, and this trip was not really something that I was anticipating.
Boy, was I in for a shock! To my surprise, I absolutely LOVED our time in the desert. We travelled to Bahariyya Oasis by bus, and then headed out with our Bedouin guides for two nights camping in the great outdoors. The first day was interesting - typical khamasiin weather, with lots of wind and dust, and reduced visibility. It was also 34 degrees celcius outside. We stopped in the black desert, which is totally covered with caramel coloured sand and incredible pieces of black volcanic rock in various shapes and sizes. We carried on then to the "Old White Desert" and off-roaded to our camping sight in the "New White Desert." It was incredibly strange - a completely wild, barren, beautiful landscape, that looks like something you might see on the moon. We ate our dinner that had been cooked over the campfire, with grit in our teeth, eyes, nose and hair, and sand stinging any exposed skin. It was a bit uncomfortable until the wind and sand stopped around 2am, and then it was beautifully clear.
The second day we walked a bit in the White Desert, visited some springs in the area, and then drove a ways to part of the Western Desert. That was absolutely beautiful, and more remote than the first camping spot. There were huge limestone/sandstone cliffs, and huge drifts with no human tracks or marks. There was more volcanic rock, as well as some really interesting rocks that looked like some sort of fossilized somethings, and quartz all over. The weather was absolutely amazing, and as we lay under the stars, it was impossible not to think of our Very Imaginative Creator! The next morning, I woke slowly, but opened my eyes to see a beautiful backdrop of hills and blue sky, and white and yellow sand. I then realized that an early morning visitor had hopped up on my chest! A little yellow and green bird was hopping around investigating everyone as they woke up. I could wake up like that more often!
We carried on that day to "Chrystal Mountain" which again is a beautiful reminder of who made this earth! We saw a train of camels returning to Bahariyya from a trek to one of the other oases in the area, and saw a pumping station on one of the spring sites in the area. We returned to Bahariyya to spend the last night in a hotel, before returning to Cairo the next day. It was the day after Sham en Nassim, and the bus was packed - literally standing room only. Thankfully we got seats, but I felt sorry for some of the folks who ended up standing for the full six hour trip. However, everyone was good-natured about the whole thing, and we all ended in Cairo late Tuesday afternoon. There was sand in everything, and even though I washed my clothes, my bag, my shoes, I still have pounds of sand to remove!
All of that said, I am absolutely blown away by the variety of landscapes and the breathtaking beauty of the desert. I can't wait to take another trip down there ( minus the bus-ride, of course!) Kelvin is quite keen on taking a longer trip - maybe in the fall, and maybe going by camel! I'm in love - who knows, maybe this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!!!! |
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