Dahab

OH sweet vacation. SO after a long year of work, without vacation when many egyptians and most of my fellow westerners enjoyed all the holidays that run so plentiful in this country, I finally had a wonderful long break!! I love my job, but the vacation has been a great time to really rejuvinate, recooperate, re-energize and all those other "re" words that mean I feel a whole lot better about facing 100 degree weather and work all day all week long :o) Egypt is, well, hot lately, so the past two weekend I escaped to a beautiful place called Dahab! one of the most magical places in Egypt, gorgeous water, snorkeling, international community, and here is the kicker, you can wear shorts and tank tops! heck, I could wear a bathing suit to lunch if I wanted to, I didn't of course, but it was nice ot know I had the option. The only tricky part about dahab is teh fact that there is no fresh water really except what you buy in bottles, so you are showering with slightly saline solution during your trip, which can be a bit tiresome, but other than that it is beautiful.

The first weekend we went, Kim and I met a lot of people, but the two that stood out the most were two Israeli guys, Roy and Yenev, who were so delightful. I had heard so many bad rumors about Israeli travelers which could be true, but werent' with these two guys, they were super. I think what I liked the most about talking with them is that, Yenev and I got into discussions about the israeli/palestinian conflict, and it was really interesting to hear a perspective from an actually israeli and not the media and not from egypt or america. It made my view slightly more balanced. It seems everywhere I go I meet some great people, because the next weekend when I was in DAhab ( I had to work a few days in between my two trips) One of the highlights of DAhab, besides wearing shorts in public without harrassment and meeting all the new people, schooling people at the pool tables (Thanks to nathan who made my pool skills happen) was the unbelievable snorkeling at a place called the blue hole. It is one of the most beautiful places I have seen yet here in egypt. underwater that is. I loved it, and this is from a girl who is scared of deep water, things touching her while she swims, fish and is a week swimmer. and I loved it! so anyone can survive there. :o) All the colors of the fish and the coral, no picture I think could capture it.

NOw as I return back to cairo, and get back to work and planning summer school (starts next week) I am starting to realize how close my time here is to finishing and it makes for some crazy interactions with my Egypt life. simmultaneously absorbing every last bit of experience I can from this year, and saying goodbye to friends, and yet, I'm not gone yet and there are a lot of good memories to build and lessons to learn in the next month. thank you to everyone who has kept in touch and supported me this year. I sit and reflect a lot lately on what I have learned and where I am spiritually and my plans for next year, but I've also picked up a little african culture since I've been here, and have moved away from planning my next turn in the trail so much, but rather, trying to enjoy the view from where I am... and it's pretty awesome.

A fantastic teacher at St. Andrews, Miss Mariam Hashim and I are the two full time females working in the CEP at St. Andrews. This is a picture from Hashim's going away party the last week of school (it was a busy week for me) She helps me with everything at work, is one of the most experienced and creative teachers we have. I look forward to having her around during summer school, and soon we are going to have a day where she has requested I teach her how to make "american cookies" (I bake a lot and bring the goods to work for the teachers) and hopefully in exchang eI can get a lesson in cooking authentic Eritrean food. yum. :o) 

these are a few of my students from the first class I taught.  

For the past two months I've been teaching adults at the Cathedral down the street and I love it. L-O-V-E. nothing I think could have better reinforced my aspirations toward being a professor than having this experience. It was sort of a last minute job when the person who was teaching an English class suddenly had to return home, so they asked if I would teach. Of course I said yes, even though it kept me busy considering I still had my job as director of the children's program at St. Andrews. So for awhile I was teaching three nights a week a few different levels, but pretty advanced. Currently I teach two different conversation classes and those are going really well. It continues to be a great way for me to interact with more Egyptians in a positive way outside of street harassment and I really enjoy my students, we have a lot of fun, speak English and hope that they learn something!

After a hard Friday afternoon of Frisbee we always go to the local coffee shop to drink tea and maybe order a juice and chat. This picture is from Annie's visit in April. From left to right" Mustafa, me, Annie and Hashim. Every week those fake flowers on the table still make me laugh. some things don't' ever really stop being funny. haha.

My brother, Hashim (on the far right) and I are posing with some students in the hall on his last day in Egypt. Annie, Hashim's wife, is american and the former AEP director and office mate and continues to be a good friend of mine. She and Hashim guided me around Cairo for most of the year. Hashim is my Sudanese brother, is was one of the teachers at St. Andrews and was always there to give me advice on culture and life. He is currently with his Annie in Davis California, and I miss them both, America is lucky to snag this guy as a new citizen.  

This is the entrance ot my office at St. Andrews, and these are two of the older boys in the children's program. Bwong on the left and Abdullah on the right. They are both really funny and sly boys, always getting in and out of trouble. I had a consequence for awhile that any misbehaviour or lateness and they would be sent to pick up trash around the school with the director (me) let's just say these boys and I spent a lot of time together, smart kids though.