Cairo Chronicle, Issue #12, June 18, 2000
Hey everyone!
This will be our last edition before the summer break. You should expect the next Chronicle to appear around the beginning of September.
The last month of school was, of course, very busy. We spent the majority of our time trying to prepare antsy and unwilling students for the next school year -- a task that naturally sapped our energy like a sponge sucks up a single drop of water. We did find many a fulfilling moment, though, despite the feeling of slogging through molasses. While these phrases might describe the way life was inside the classroom, perhaps the opposite could be said of events outside the classroom.
During the last week of May (the 29th), Barbara conducted her final concert of the year. It lasted about 45 minutes, and had one solid song each performed extremely well by the fourth, fifth and sixth graders. The parents were actually quiet and reserved (a la USA audiences), even though quite a number of them appeared to support their child's performance. The primary (PK-3rd) program was very long, hot and noisy. Todd's class was GREAT! They survived 40 degree-plus Celsius temperatures and 7 hours of being outdoors! PLUS, my friends, they sang gorgeously and behaved better than any 3rd grade class could have hoped to behave under the same conditions. During the almost two-hour concert they sang six songs, and were quite ready for home when all was said and done.
While it's not uncommon for some teachers to go more often, we went over to the flat of one of Todd's students for the first time. Joseph, who entered AIS later in the year, and his family, live not too far from us in Heliopolis. And when we say family, we mean the greater extended family. They and their various relatives own and share the entire apartment building. This is not unusual in Egypt. We started out in Jacqueline's flat (Joseph's mom) and later moved to his grandfather's flat for dinner. The grandfather is the owner of the Kiriazi appliance company in Egypt -- roughly the Egyptian equivalent of General Electric Co. Our refrigerator in our apartment was that brand. His flat was extremely impressive - the epitome of Egyptian style. Basically, this means gilding on everything, Louis XIV-style furniture, many, many rooms. The family touch came from hand-embroidered wall hangings that all of the women of the family have made over the years. Those of you who like to cross-stitch, imagine one of your cross-stitches taking five years to complete (provided that you had lots of time on your hands, worked at least five hours on it every day, and had the patience to endure). We were even shown a work in progress, which will look stunning when it is completed. Joseph was one of three Christians (Catholic mother, Coptic father) Todd had in his third grade class this year. His cousin, Michael, was also there. He was a fourth grader in Barbara's class. Michael presented Barbara with a lovely crucifix necklace during the evening, which included a dinner of such exotic foods as pigeon, molokhayya, dolma, fattah, and roasted chicken (that Jacqueline made especially because she knew that Americans were squeamish about eating pigeon). Todd liked the pigeon quite a bit, but was only able to eat two helpings with all the other delightful offerings. The table was decadently decked, and the conversational atmosphere was highly enjoyable. The after-dinner delights were Praline and Chocolate ice-cream cakes (Todd let Barbara have two slices) and fruits. Barbara was also highly impressed that she could watch ABC-News and American television shows brought in by their satellite dish.
Graduation at AIS was mandatory for all teachers -- though some of the teachers did not bother to show. It was in the Cairo Convention Center -- essentially across the large Autostrad from where Anwar Sadat was assassinated. The affair was marked by a relatively well-behaved senior class -- and many a rude and noisy bunch of underclassmen in the balcony area shouting names and Arabic epithets, which we were sure were congratulatory in nature...or not! Whatever the reasons, the noisiness distracted our attention and made us relive the undisciplined nature of the high school students here. As a side note, both Barbara and Todd work in the elementary school and so our interaction with the high school students is mostly in the hallways -- where they speak in Arabic, curse profusely in both languages, and in some cases disrupt the goings-on of the school by not attending classes when they should. This behavior, then, was just par for the course for us. The ceremony was well done, with the Egyptian Minister of Education giving the key-note speech. The valedictorians (two of them) preceded him with EXCELLENT speeches worthy of the highest honor. They both were females, so Todd hopes the Egyptian guys were listening :-) Afterward, the exit was mass chaos. It seemed everyone was trying to get out at the same time (which was true!) and then once Barbara and Todd got to the lobby, it was all they could do to hold on to each other to swim through the sea of humanity, to the shores of the security gate, and into the wide open seats of the AIS teachers' bus. Once there, relaxation and sighs of relief could be had.
Todd and Barbara spent two of their evenings the last full month of school at parties -- one hosted by a couple of teachers and one hosted by the school. During the first party, Todd was approached by a Floridian and a New Hampshire-ite and asked to perform a song for the second school-sponsored party. He agreed, knowing that Barbara had already made a commitment to perform with another teacher. We could have sung a duet together, but that wasn't to be as we couldn't decide what to prepare. That week, though, after the party, Barbara was approached by the New Hampshire-ite and asked to perform with Todd (Texas), the elementary principal & his wife (New Hampshire), the elementary assistant principal and husband (California), the high school assistant principal (Florida), and two high school teachers (Vermont). Soooooo, Todd and Barbara were invited to parody a VERY politically incorrect song made infamous by a VERY politically incorrect television-show-turned-movie, which shall remain (South Park) nameless. We must admit that we cleaned up the song "Blame Canada" considerably with our version!!!! The song we made up essentially poked fun at (lambasted?) the Canadian teachers at AIS by blaming countless Egyptianisms and AISisms on them. We attempted to keep the mood of the song light, with a lot of shtick that our friends at Tempest Productions in Dallas would have been proud to see! NOTE: 40 percent of the staff at AIS is, in fact, Canadian and most all of them received our parody well. Judith Brown -- a Canadian Kindergarten teacher, whom Todd has come to know quite well -- vowed vengeance for next year :-) We shall see what she's planning...
Two words on our move to a new flat in Maadi: Thirty Boxes! Yes, that's right. Most of them were smaller boxes, but we certainly had more than the eight larger ones we brought with us. Barbara and I had initially contacted a taxi driver to help us -- this about three weeks prior to the move -- who gave us his phone number and repeatedly assured us he was willing to come. When Barbara attempted to confirm the appointment, however, the taxi driver's number was disconnected or otherwise disarmed. Without any way of contacting him, Barbara and Todd thought of getting another driver to help, but were concerned that if this first driver showed there would be a big to-do, Egyptian-style. So, Todd walked downstairs at about 8:55 a.m. to wait for the driver, who was to show at 9 a.m. By the time 9:15 came around, Barbara was on the phone with a second taxi driver, recommended to us by some AIS colleagues. The driver had just finished a scheduled run to the airport, but said he would come after an hour's time. He came at 10:30 a.m. -- but in a small sedan, not a long 7-seater as we both had expected with our 30 boxes. His English was impeccable, though, and he was quite congenial. He was able to stuff and load almost half of our boxes and all of our suitcases in his tiny sedan. Once in Maadi, a second trip was needed to haul the rest. The taxi driver secured a truck (an ancient flatbed Datsun) to help with the move, and by 3 p.m. all the boxes had been successfully unloaded in the new apartment. It has taken us now a day to unpack and store our things until our return in late August.
We leave for the States very late tonight/very early the 19th. Should touch our feet down on US turf at about 2:00pm the 19th. Barbara, for one, might just kiss the ground when we get back. Hopefully Nigel will have a good flight under our seats, and adjust quickly. He's a good traveller, and has become quite a survivor, no matter what we put him through.
Can't wait to see many of you in July! If you are wondering if we'll be near you, send us a note. The itinerary is pretty firm now.
Love,
Todd and Barbara
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