Cairo Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 8, May 12, 2001

Second to last Chronicle!  We have exactly 23 school days left.  Our time has been taken up making decisions about next year and finishing what we need to do here.  (Buying plane tickets, hiring movers, finding storage, etc.) But that does not mean that this last month was uneventful!

During our mid-April break, we took quite a few walks around Maadi.  Because of Egypt's desert culture, you don't often think of Cairo as a colorful place -- mostly grays, tans and browns. But in the spring, the areas of town near the Nile River burst in to rainbow brightness.  Flowers everywhere!  Maadi is one such place.  Every street in Digla (our part of town) and much of Sakanaat (where the old villas are) had flowering trees and bushes, in every color.  Dominant were greens, purples and reds.  It is incredibly beautiful.  It felt like we had much to celebrate that week.

This tree hangs over the wall of Cairo American College, the other K-12 American school.

The week after, the entire AIS third grade went on a field trip to The Pharaonic Village. It could best be described as a small outdoor historical park. The trip was organized by an Arabic teacher. He is a second-year teacher at the school with some delightfully grand ideas and plans, even if they aren't completely thought out. Our buses left late, with one of the buses getting lost and stuck in horrible traffic. Though we arrived late, most all of us were in good spirits. Kids, parents and teachers were then loaded onto two rafts that took them on a finger of the Nile River through a papyrus farm. Papyrus, as you remember, is the plant that Ancient Egyptians used to make paper. The papyrus plants themselves are quite tall, and end in a feathery plume at their apex. The plant root was cooked and eaten by Ancient Egyptians. The boat ride covered aspects of both religion and daily life in Ancient Egypt, with actors demonstrating such events as fishing, brick making, farming, and perfume making among the papyrus plants. 

One additional scene shown by the actors was the Biblical story of baby Moses' rescue by the Egyptian princess, seen here. You can see the papyrus plants in the middle-lower left and right.

After the boat dropped us off, we went into a life sized model of a rich man's house and a large local temple structure. Interestingly enough, the rich man's house included a drinking fountain, bathroom and separate bedrooms.  A bathroom break was had, after which we went into an indoor museum that showed how pyramids were made. To say that the museum was small (for our 120 kids plus adults) is putting it mildly. Cramming our entire set of classes inside was a chore -- not to mention listening to the one college-aged tour guide who had to speak over the din of young (and loud) voices. She was a great sport, though, especially when the kids' interest heightened and they began to press in to hear her better. They almost pressed her against the display cases, barely giving her comfortable personal space. But the kids were fascinated by her information. We had lunch in a semi-covered pavilion at about 12:30 -- we had to be back at school by 1:30 and the ride back was going to take about 45 minutes! That meant a 15 minute lunch -- way too quick for anyone's tastes. Besides that, our Arabic teacher had scheduled *at least* three other museums for us to visit!!! Oh well. It actually ended up being a fun day all in all. The third graders learned a lot, and couldn't stop taking about the trip on the way back to school. The next day was Sinai Day -- a holiday -- giving all of the third grade teachers a time to rest and regroup. 

Sports Day -- AIS' version of Field Day -- happened the day after Sinai Day (April 25th - national holiday celebrating the return of Sinai to Egypt from Israel).  Todd's class was split into two teams -- a red team and a green team. The high school students, in cooperation with their PE teacher, set up about 20 different games and stations for the elementary students to enjoy. And boy, did they! Our class began the morning with a sponge relay that got Todd more wet than his kids. It being a comparatively cool morning with a brisk wind, the kids didn't always appreciate when the water from their sponges would "drift" onto their shirts! And Todd, who demonstrated and played with the green team, had more water on his shirt than the sponges! We all had a good laugh. Our kids then went to a hockey station, where Todd played goalie for the green team. The game was a heated, and sometimes desperate, attempt to score a goal -- any goal. It wasn't until the green team's forwards lost hope that the red team spurred itself toward the hapless teacher. He tried to wrest the puck from his opponents, but in the end an 8-year-old did a fake shuffle to the right, and the puck flew past him into the net. Cheers rose from the ranks of the red team. But the green team was undaunted. Within a minute, the green forwards, now having regained their stamina, burst through the red defenders to score a goal. The face-saving move was short lived, however. The red team brought out its fastest runner, and most skilled athlete, Adel by name, who dodged, weaved and stiff armed his way toward the goal. Todd was ready for him, though, and smashed the puck away. But Adel was quick. In a trice, he had bounded away only to return the favor with a slapshot that whizzed past the goalie. An attempt to tie the game was for naught as the whistle blew for the next station. By this time, the kids (and teacher) were exhausted. 

Luckily, the next station was parachute games, which Todd captured with his camera. 

After the parachutes, Todd's class went to play beach ball volleyball. The wind, being what it was, tossed the beachball everywhere except where it was intended -- which made for an interesting game! On one side of the net, the kids would send the ball over only to have it fly back at them and cause a point for the opposing team! Other times, the wind would change and cause the ball to go left or right (instead of the intended straight ahead)! You HAD to pay attention, or else lose any advantage you had. Basketball and a relay awaited them afterward, culminating in a much deserved snack and water break! The final event of the class' day, a tug of war, was -- well -- a class struggle. First one side, then the other, then the first, then the second. We teachers were kept guessing the outcome. Eventually, the red team was victorious. The overall score of the day: Green Team: 7 points; Red Team: 9. 

Doesn't it seem like Barbara has a program every month now?  Yes, it's true, at least for the end of the year!  She will be incredibly glad when it's all over and summer begins.  On May 2nd and 3rd, the ninety-five fifth graders performed the musical "Carnival of the Animals."  It is a play based on the music of Camille Saint-Saens.  If you don't know the piece, Saint-Saens wrote it for a party to amuse his friends, and never wanted it published until after his death.  Regardless, people love it, because each animal (and some non-animals) are given such clever music.  It has been a children's concert staple for almost a century.  This play took most of the orchestral suite, and added words and connecting narration.  It was cute and the kids really enjoyed performing for the school.  Barbara divided the musical selections between small groups and full classes, while combining the entire fifth grade for the opening and finale.  There were 12 parts, which helped give the show more variety.  The fifteen fifth graders in the cast worked for three months on the show, and delightfully surprised her with how quickly they memorized the script.  The fifth grade classes only had to learn five numbers each (one for the specific class, four for the full grade level), so they worked in class during the three months.

Despite all the grueling, extended work on this show, Barbara isn't the only one who thinks this is the best program she has directed.  There were very few problems, the casting worked out well, and the children were steadfastly dedicated to its success.  The art teachers helped with the "costumes" (head pieces made in class, with specially made black T-shirts as well), our art intern did special props, and the fifth grade teachers were very supportive about playing the soundtrack in class and attending the morning rehearsals at the end.  Barbara wishes she could send all the pictures and video of the show, but this one humble photo will have to do...

We also had a Spring concert with Maadi Community Choir during the same week.  We sang a variety of songs. Among them were three madrigals: Lady Your Eye My Love Enforced, April is in My Mistress Face, and Now Is The Month of Maying; three Latin pieces: Missa Brevis, Ave Maria (chant only), and Tantum Ergo; and a wonderful solo art song performed by Barbara. Well, at least it was wonderful to her. Todd had a very boring part with the tenors -- practically one note the entire way through with a repetitive rhythm.  It was Debussy's "Quant j'ay ouy le tambourin" from Trois Chansons.  It called for an alto/mezzo soprano solo part, and the choir sang "la" and "mm" for the accompaniment.  The chords and textures were lush and interesting. Even the audience seemed to think so and slathered Barbara with compliments afterward. Even the tenor section, which had groused the whole time about their part (Barbara: Get over it, guys! You know how tenors are...), ended up praising her musicianship. 

To celebrate the end of that horrendously busy week, we finally got to go to Taba on the Red Sea.  The trip had earlier been cancelled due to Julie and Jason feeling ill.  So we gave it another shot.  We shared the price of a driver and van with four other people.  The trip started out inauspiciously.  The driver wanted more money than the company had promised us, so after losing the argument he was quite surly.  He drove at the bare minimum speed, and got us to Taba barely before the restaurant closed for the evening at 10:30pm.  Two of our friends, who are regulars at Taba, and can get incredible rates, were really upset with him.  We feared another altercation on the way home.

But Taba was well worth all that.  The town sits directly on the Egypt-Israeli border, on the tip of the Northern part of the Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba.  The location allows one to see four different countries from the shore: Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The dive center was less than 100 yards from the Israeli border crossing, and swimming past a long white pier adjacent to it was not allowed.  We decided not to chance an Israeli visit; too much hassle for one weekend.  Instead, Barbara and Todd got to try snorkeling at last!  We bought an underwater camera (expensive at about $20) and borrowed gear from our friends.  It was breathtakingly beautiful (evidenced by our repeated intake of salty sea water!), and people tell us there are much more beautiful places along the Red Sea than where we were.  Barbara forgot to put on sunscreen for the snorkeling and got cooked! 15 minutes in the water only!

Our friend Tom took this of Barbara with the underwater camera.  Neat, huh? Okay, so we're neophytes at ocean/beach vacations... The black dots are actually colorful fish!

Todd after his snorkeling expedition

However, Taba is all about relaxing.  The Taba Hilton (5 stars, and we only paid $50 a night, half board! >very special price<) has lovely places to sun and swim, dive and snorkel.  Barbara slept on a beach chair one afternoon, completely unmolested by noise or people.  All in all, a great way to unwind.  And the driver was much nicer on the way home, although he wanted Barbara's phone number.  Todd emphatically refused him.  He probably wanted to practice his English, which is common. Todd thinks otherwise!

Our ninth (can you believe it!) anniversary was May 10th.  We celebrated it as well as our coming life in Japan with four hours of karaoke.  Twelve of us took over the upstairs bar at the Pine Tree. It is a new restaurant behind the Sofitel Hotel, and their karaoke system has many more songs than the one we usually go to.  They also have a small dance floor.  Some of the highlights were "YMCA", "Stayin' Alive" and "Summer Nights."  We had so much fun that a group of us wants to go back in two weeks.

Our final notes concern next year.  Barbara has agreed to teach Pre-K half day and music in the afternoons.  This is quite a blessing, as she won't have to search for tutoring work when we arrive in Japan.  Only snag, she has never taught Pre-K before... Any of you with materials or ideas, PLEASE write her with some.  She would like as much help as possible with the practicalities.

And to those of you who will lose internet access over the summer - now is the time to tell us if you want to receive the new "Stories from Sendai" due out in late August!  We haven't heard from some of you all year, so drop us a line.  If you don't reply, we'll take you off the list.  We usually reorganize our mailing list for the newsletter once a year.

Love,

Todd and Barbara Thomas