Ahhh contentment. It feels as though Russell has been here all along and it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet! So strange to have him here finally - I cannot stop smiling!
As I expected he was up at 5am this morning! I told him my theory on jet lag – it is your STOMACH that keeps the old clock and makes it hard to adjust. So, of course, by 5 am (the equivalent of 10 PM the night before) your stomach is saying –“Hey! Didn’t we miss dinner? Where’s dinner?” and it wakes you up.
Even though I was sleepy I got up too around 7 ish. After a small breakfast we took what we thought would be a short walk (10 min) to the local gas station / grocery store. Got to show him the laundry hanging out at the unfinished buildings where people live - even one laundry stretch that had a rooster walking along the clothes - not sure how clean THAT laundry was! That is when I found out the little grocery store is not open at 9am so we went further (20 min) to the “big” mall and grocery store. This building is not full with stores but has about 5 restaurants including Chinese and Italian plus some fast food ones and does have a modern, almost all English, grocery store in the sub ground basement level. How we were gong to ascend the elevator with our grocery carts was a mystery to me the first time we shopped there until a couple of grocery workers came and grabbed all our bags and went up with us. We tip them a pound each and it is all good. The amount of people here in Egypt
We toured around the grocery store and I think Russell was a little disappointed at its Westernization. (Have I mentioned that we are not know as the “American teachers” but as the “Westerners? ‘Git along little doggie!) But it is still fun to look around! On our way home the driver for the director of the school drove up to us to give us a ride back. At first I was shaking my head “No thank you.” for the ride since we get a lot of beeps from the taxis and Suzukis that are for the public who want to know if we need them. I thought that Houssein was one of them at first and was really happy to see his smiling face behind the wheel of the Mercedes SUV.
On the way home he told us his wife had a baby girl yesterday! This cleared up something he told me on Christmas Eve which I did not understand at the time and he must have mixed up his usually excellent English. He had told me that his wife was giving a baby to the mosque! Now I even knew what to say – “Mubarak!” I think that means Happy or Congratulations – but have yet to look it up and check. Either way I think it is acceptable. He will go to see his family tomorrow he said. I hope he is right since I know that the director of the school is very busy and does not drive. So, she cannot get things done if he is not around and I have heard him say he was going to see his family and then noticed that he did not go. The most I could do was say “Humdi la le” (thank God!) and congratulations! and silently hope he gets to see them tomorrow.
The lack of clear communication affects everyone here! It is very frustrating for us “Westerners” who demand a lot of communication on a regular basis. So, I can only imagine what it is like for the other classes who are just told what will happen – as it is happening. We go through phases where we completely give up trying to ascertain what is going on – with everything from what our students' abilities and needs are to what are these exam days on the calendar (still do NOT know the answer to that one) to– is anyone working on the water today? But, if we go too long in that mode of not asking and not knowing we realize we have to make the effort to open some dialogue up and then go right back to making little questioning moments in the hallway or emails etc. and then share info amongst ourselves back at the residence. It is completely foreign to us to be in such an unprofessional situation! We all shake our heads and just muddle along as best we can. Of course, on the best days, when we can get information about ANYTHING it is also futile because often the best info they can give us is “We don’t know.” It is so ingrained in our culture to be as efficient as possible and as informative as possible that this one culture clash causes the most unhappiness. It is too bad since it does not cost any money to fix and would improve things in many directions. Oh well, Egypt
So, now Russell is sound asleep but he must get up! We want to go explore Ma’adi – take a felucca ride, buy cookies from the fun cookie store, and have dinner at a restaurant that is on a patio under a BIIIIIG tent! Fun! And of course, a few days after you arrive in Egypt
It is strange – I want Russell to see all the amazing and wonderful parts of Egypt – the Nile – the history – meet the friendly people. But I do NOT want him to see the layer that also makes this place a virtual dystopia – the poor – the pollution – the mistreated animals. But, here in Egypt Egypt
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.