September 18, 2018: Mariachi in Alexandria

The Mexican consulate brought a mariachi band and Mexican dance team to Alexandria for in incredible performance.  If you told me a year ago that I would be sitting in an Egyptian theater watching listening to a Mexican band, I'm not sure I would have believed it.

September 17, 2018: kitties everywhere- part 2

The official Schutz mascot is the falcon, but Schutz kitty cats has a nice ring to it.  And while I've seen zero falcons around campus, I have seen lots of these little guys.  And the cats here can be just as aggressive and majestic as a falcon.  I'll probably bring this up at our next staff meeting ;)

September 16, 2018: SemSem

Can anyone show me how to get, how to get to SemSem street?

Could this be the same store where my coworker found her daughter some bed sheets with a cute black and white dog with the word, "Snoppy" written on them?

September 15, 2018: Issa

This is my buddy, Issa.  We have matching beach hats and we both have Mickey Mouse on our watches, so we are basically best friends.  Issa has been a JOY to have around.  I have been going through small child withdrawals not living near my nephews anymore, and Issa makes that a little easier. 

September 14, 2018: A parade of their own

I spent quite a bit of time today exploring the city.   I went on a run on the corniche again, and then my friend Kate and I took a cab to a new neighborhood and walked the streets for the afternoon.  We found great shops, green city squares, decorated alleyways, and happened to see an impromptu "parade." We were walking down the street when we heard a loud ruckus coming toward us.  Honking, whooping, loud music, cheering.  We assumed there must be a wedding procession coming down the road.  We saw multiple motorcycles and trucks PILED high with men.  Loud, excited men.  They had no signs sharing who they were or what they were celebrating, but they were happy about something. When they saw us, they shouted and waved and I was tempted to hop on board.

September 13, 2018: I can't even...

Meet my friend, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is one of those life size helium balloons you would have in a parade, only I deflated her and draped her over the couch.   She is Violet Beauregarde after being drained of her blueberry filling and left with the outside skin.   She's an adult sized Flat Stanley.   She's one of those cartoon character that melted onto the floor.  Either way, she doesn't usually look like this.

Elizabeth is actually a tiny human, but she likes wearing baggy, flowing clothes.  She came into the room and sunk into the couch, exhausted at the end of the week.  When I turned around to talk to her, I died laughing because... well.. you can see why.   :)   

September 12, 2018: kitty cats everywhere

There are cats all over the place in Alexandria.  They don't bother you, and many of them are actually sweet.  On campus, we have a few kitties that are regulars here.  They live on campus but don't really belong to anyone in particular.  Mishmish is one of those cats.  Here he is, just hanging out at the front desk.  :)

September 11, 2018: CREPES! (part 2)

We had crepes with real dessert filling today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Next to macaroni, crepes are my favorite thing to eat.  I love them savory and I love them sweet.  Today they were served with chocolate, caramel, and a white cream sauce.  My heart was so very happy.

September 10, 2018: Metro tracks

These are the tracks I walk when I head to the mall/corniche/grocery store near my house.  Some day I will ride the metro.  I've even seen people hop on as it pulls away, which is strangely one of my life goals.  Big things can happen in Alex.

September 9, 2018: Obviously Alaskan

Tonight we took a trip to a school supply store.  Among the rows and rows of binders, pencils, markers, and sharpeners, there was a section of lunch boxes and water bottles.  I found these in the mix.  Totally identical to the water bottle I had in Kodiak ;)

September 8, 2018: If you have to work on a Saturday...

...it might as well be from your hammock on the balcony...

September 7, 2018: Corniche Run

I went for my first run outside of campus today!!!!!!  I have to wait to run early on Friday mornings.  Friday is the holy day, so most people are at mosques which leaves the streets relatively clear.  My friend and I left school around 7:30 am and ran for about 2.5 miles along the corniche.  It was wonderful.  It was still hot and humid, and I have to wear long pants on my run, so I was sweating in enormous amounts, but to be able to run in a straight line for more than 35 seconds made all the perspiration worth it.  It's an added blessing that there happens to be a Starbucks at the end of the route, so getting an iced coffee and breakfast afterward makes a delightful morning.

This picture is of Stanley Bridge, about a mile and a half from school. 

September 6, 2018: TGIT!

We made it through two weeks of school!  Thursdays are Schutz pride days, so we're all looking stylish in our blue polos.  This is Amira, my teaching assistant.  She is phenomenal.  I was really anxious about having an assistant since I have never had one before.  Would our personalities clash? Do we have the same classroom management styles?  Would she realize too quickly how weird I am and judge me for it?  She's the best.  She's full of great ideas, we get along really well, she's a super hard worker, she's MUCH neater than I am so that keeps me organized, she makes me laugh, and the kids love her.  It's a perfect match and has made my first two weeks easy and enjoyable. 

September 5, 2018: wine tasting

My coworker Bob organized a wine tasting for us by the pool.  We got to sample 12 different Egyptian wines.   TWELVE.  And as you can see, our "samples" were not small tastes.  He prepared a rubric for us so we could take notes on the color, smell, and taste of each wine.  Needless to say my notes on the first few wines were thoughtful, detailed, and written in nice handwriting.  By about wine #8, I found that I had scrawled notes like "I ate this with tacos, so it was AWESOME" only to be crossed out and "JK this turned gross" written over it.  I also have notes that say, "das ok," "meh, I think it's good" and "ok, ok, ok then WOOO" written on my rubric.   I am extremely fancy and cultured, can obviously hold my wine very well, and if this teaching thing doesn't work out, I'll probably become a sommelier.

September 4, 2018: My favorite spot

I love this little section of campus.  The patterns in the painting, the details on the wall, the big tree looming overhead.  It just makes me smile when I walk by every day.  While Ludington High School was a nice school to attend, it's a bit of an eyesore compared to Schutz.  :)

September 3, 2018: Balcony complete

I brought my hammock with me, but I was disappointed to see that there aren't many places on campus to hang it.  I asked Hab, our director of all things maintenance and transportation, and he hung special hooks on the balcony for me!  Now I can relax in style anytime I want.  Hab and his crew are incredible people.  If there's anything you want or need, they can find it or make it for you.  I don't know how many times I ask him for something while saying, "if this is impossible, no worries..." or "I know this is a long shot..."  and he has it done for me the next day.  I'm constantly impressed and amazed.

September 2, 2018: she knows me so well already!

This morning, my teaching partner, Noor, walked into my classroom with this box of macaroni and cheese for me.  I haven't seen mac and cheese anywhere in the city yet, and she found some for me!  This is just one of the thousands of reasons I'm grateful for her.  She has been so easy to work with, has helped me become a more energetic and fun teacher, and has kept me sane!  The macaroni and cheese is just icing on the cake.

September 1, 2018: Corniche walk

A group of us went for a walk along the Corniche tonight.  The sea was roaring and the wave spray was incredibly refreshing. It smelled a little fishy tonight too, a scent I haven't noticed much here.  Felt a little like Kodiak :) 

August 31, 2018: A day at the villa

One of our very generous coworkers invited us out to his villa for the day.  This place was incredible.  His family was up visiting for the summer, so we got to spend time getting to know them, relaxing by the pool, eating ridiculously delicious food, and enjoying one another's company.  I am reminded over and over how hospitable Egyptians are.   They treat you like family, which is a wonderful feeling!

August 30, 2018: open air

Sometimes I walk around campus and feel like I am on the set of a 90s high school romcom. I used to watch She's All That or Clueless and the kids' lockers are all OUTSIDE.  There are courtyards and outside hallways and kids eat lunch on a lawn.  Growing up in Michigan, I thought these schools were completely made up.  Then I found out they existed.  In California.  And Egypt!  Our school is a (much much smaller) version of some of those super cool high schools in the movies.  And our apartment buildings even have great open air spaces.  This is the hallway where some of the teachers live.  The ceiling is completely open.  This might not be a novel idea to most of you, but please remember I spent my entire life living in Michigan, Chicago, and Alaska.  This is cool.

August 29, 2018: RAIN!

It rained last night for the first time since I have been here.  I hear it only rains a couple of times a year, but when it does, the rain can do quite a bit of damage.  Our court had a nice little puddle on the sides of it.  (I tried to capture the raindrops on top of the cars, but you can't really see them).  Unfortunately, the rain came in the middle of the night and I didn't get to witness it happening.  You'd think that after three years of Kodiak downpours and drizzles, I would be sick of precipitation.  That's just not the case.  I'm eager to feel Egyptian rain!  A few different times I have looked out the window and been sure I saw a mist of rain, only to find out it was actually heat rising from the pavement.  Not the same thing.

August 28, 2018: fanny pack power

On the first day of first grade, three years ago, I quickly realized that if I didn't get myself organized, my first graders were going to eat me alive.  Thus began my fanny pack love.  I guess I can't say the love began that day, I have picture proof that I was in love with fanny packs from around 1994-1997, so I guess first grade renewed my love for them.  I've been proudly rocking this gold one for the last 2 years, and I have no regrets using suitcase space to bring it here.  First grade essentials.

August 27, 2018: CREPES! (part 1)

I saw crepes at breakfast today and nearly cried from excitement. I didn't even care that there weren't crepe toppings to go with them.  I rolled cheese inside one and dipped the other in jelly and was the happiest breakfast eater in Egypt.

August 26, 2018: first day celebration

I survived the first day!  And it went better than I could have imagined.  For those of you who have lived in close proximity to me during my teaching career (or probably near any teacher for that matter), you know that I go into hiding the first few weeks of teaching.  There is so much laminating, organizing, printing, copying, gluing, and planning to do that I have no time for social activities.  If you try to hang out with me during these first few weeks, you'll most likely be given a glass of wine (or some Jack and Coke) and a pair of scissors, and I'll put you to work.

You'll never believe this, but I actually read for fun AND went for a run after school today.  When you have an INCREDIBLE teaching team (both my assistant and my teaching partner are phenomenal) and you have a school that makes your dinner for you, you have time to relax and enjoy yourself.  I don't ever read for fun during the school year except on breaks, so reading for an hour today felt like such a guilty pleasure.  It will take me a while to get used to not spending all of my evening hours on school work, but I'm ready for the challenge.

This picture is from tonight's run.  I'm not in love with the running situation here in Alexandria, but I am making the most of it.  It is very difficult to run outside of the school because there are very few sidewalks and the streets are too busy.  So I have been running laps around our campus.  Unfortunately, it takes about 6.5 laps to go a mile.  Podcasts help.  So do sprinkler systems when they pop on near the end of your last lap.  Standing on the very edge of the cement, I got a couple good sprays.  Delightful!

August 25, 2018: Twas the night before first grade...

...and the room was ready, but I wasn't quite sure I was.  I can't begin to describe how much anxiety I was feeling about the first day of school.  I absolutely hate the first week, because there are so many things that could go wrong.  I have anxiety nightmares for weeks leading up to the first day.  Things seldom go poorly, but my brain likes to anticipate worst case scenarios and play them out in in my dreams.  Don't get me started on the year when I had over 7 school related nightmares in one week.  Everything from showing up to school with no lesson plans to being locked in the supply room while the copier caught fire.   This year I had my share of nightmares, but I was just overwhelmed with the unexpected.  What would Egyptian kids be like?  What would it be like to have a teaching assistant in my classroom all day?  Where were the specials classes located (and how had I not figured this out yet)?  What do I do if the kids don't understand my English?  What if my humor doesn't translate here and the kids think I'm lame?  What if I realize I made a huge mistake coming here but there's nothing I can do about it?

**Spoiler Alert for tomorrow's post**
Like all years, I drove myself insane for nothing and the first day went just fine :)

August 24, 2018: bar with a beautiful view

We celebrated a friend's birthday today by having dinner and drinks at a nearby, open air bar.  This was the view.  Rooftop and outdoor seating is one thing I really missed living in Kodiak, so it's exciting to have found a few places with great views!  Happy birthday, Karma!

August 23, 2018: Pool friend

I was reading my kindle at the pool today when this huge dragonfly decided to land right on the corner of it.  And hang out there for a solid 4 minutes or so. 

I have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of creepy creatures here.  I was sure I'd be dealing with scorpions or snakes or desert spiders or sphinxes or Nile crocodiles or something.  Not the case.  I fear no animals here.  Every once in a while a street cat has a wonky eye and I cross to the other side of the road (provided no cars are going to run me over in the process), and the flies here can be a little pesky, but that's the worst I have dealt with.  I'll take it!

August 22, 2018: YEEEEESSSSS!!!

PAPA JOHNS DELIVERS TO OUR SCHOOL!!!!  And just when I thought this was the best news I could receive, I found out MCDONALDS DELIVERS TOO!!  So tonight we feasted on Papa Johns and flurries and my heart was very, very happy.

August 21, 2018: Snorkeling

I signed up for a full day snorkeling trip today.  Thirty of us piled on to a three story boat and headed out on the Red Sea.  I went snorkeling in the Keys about 10 years ago, freaked out a little, but overall enjoyed it.  I heard the snorkeling here is incredible, so I was pretty pumped for the day's adventures. I signed up alone, and knew nobody else on the boat.  I met other people who spoke english, but there were a lot of people from all over the world (mostly Europe), so a lot of different languages being spoken.  When we got to the first reef, our boat tethered up to a group of 4 other tour boats.  With little instruction, other than "don't touch the reef, some of it is poisonous," we were told to jump in and take a look.  There were probably 80 people swimming around this one tiny reef.  People were crashing into one another, other people were being accidentally pushed into the coral, there were bloody feet and legs from coral puncture wounds, people were yelling in like 13 different languages.  Not my idea of a relaxing trip.  I swam back to the boat and decided reading my book away from this chaos might be a little more enjoyable for me.  We ended up stopping at one more reef and a huge sand bar, and I braved getting into the water both times.  Thankfully, both stops were a little less chaotic than the first one.  Fish and coral are definitely cool, but I think my snorkeling days may be over.  But look at how gorgeous that water is!

August 20, 2018: Desert Camel

Contrary to "popular belief", people aren't over here riding camels to work ;)  This is the first one I had seen since moving here.  He was huge and a little grumpy.  When the guy asked us if we would like to ride him, I contemplated it before seeing the large, foamy mess around his mouth.  The man invited us to simply pet him, and that seemed ok.  As soon as we touched his neck, he made this throaty grunt noise, and that was enough for me.  One of my life goals since 8th grade has been to ride a camel in the desert, but today was not the day to bring that dream to life.  I can only hope that other camels are less off putting.  After we walked away from this camel though, we learned that my friend's son Issa rode this same camel.  Issa's almost two.  And the man. 

August 19, 2018: Welcome to resort life

I am not a resort kind of gal.  When I go on vacation, I want to be active, explore, get dirty, push myself, try something new.  This week is Eid, and we are all off for a full week during the celebration.  I didn't try to plan a vacation before I came here because I was overwhelmed enough with figuring out the logistics of moving to a new country that I couldn't be bothered with trying to plan a vacation within my first two weeks of being there.

 A few of my coworkers were in the same boat, so we all made a very last minute decision to hop on a plane and fly to Sharm el Sheikh for a few days.  It's a resort town on the Red Sea.  We splurged on an all inclusive resort, because we didn't want to figure out little details like transportation and food.  I felt really silly going into this, knowing that this would be by far the fanciest thing I have ever done.

I loved it.  Relaxation at its finest!  I won't give up my adventure vacations, but throwing in a resort weekend here and there sounds like it could be in the future.

August 18, 2018: I can get used to this

kindle.  pool.  shady spot.  I'll take it. 

August 17, 2018: My Egyptian percentage

The second full day I was here, I left school campus and went on a walk with a coworker.  He has been here a few years, and he gave a group of us for a short tour of the neighborhood.  Every street in Alexandria is traffic heavy, and many of the sidewalks are nonexistent, so people, cars, donkeys, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and bicycles all share the same street.  There aren't any traffic signals or signs, but everyone knows the system of how to navigate through the streets.  Everyone except the group of newbies who showed up here two weeks ago.  On our first major walk I was so overwhelmed.  The streets all looked the same and had no rhyme or reason to them, the congestion of people was intimidating, and attempting to cross the street seemed impossible.  I was told by my coworker that there is a running joke that the percent of Egyptian you are directly correlates with how well you can cross a major street here.  I think he joked that he's made it up to about 70% since being here :)  Fast forward to today, and I successfully went on my first solo walk.  I made it all the way to the grocery store near our house, which is about a 10 minute walk.  But get this- I had to cross one of the major streets.  And I totally did!  I'm officially 4% Egyptian!

August 16, 2018: Best pants ever!

Michele gave me these pants before I left.  She had worn them when she lived in Spain.  They are my new favorite pants.  I sent this picture to her so she could see how excited I was to be wearing them.   And since I didn't happen to take any other pictures today, it became today's blog photo.  It's better than a picture of the ceiling vent!

August 15, 2018: dosage?

The cold hit hard today.  Hacking up mucus, snot dripping everywhere, pounding headache.  Thankfully we have a nurse on campus who can hook us up with medicine right away.  Thankfully that medicine also comes with english directions inside the package.

August 14, 2018: A long way up

I'm very thankful to be living on the third floor of our apartment building.  I was worried that coming from a mountain town and moving into a pretty flat city, I would lose muscle in my legs.  Climbing three stories a few times a day still won't keep me in the same shape that climbing mountains did, but it will help!  I came down with a pretty nasty cold today, so those three flights were killing me by the end of the day.  I stopped on the second story to rest and snapped this picture.

August 13, 2018: crafty teacher who doesn't make her own food

When your school makes all your meals for you, you use your pantry shelves as a drying rack for all your school crafts.  We don't have a color printer easily accessible (and no Lakeshore Learning or Amazon Prime) so I got creative with my library labels, number line, bookbox tags, bucket labels, etc.  I drew many of my own pictures or printed them in basic black and white and then water colored them myself.  It was surprisingly therapeutic.  And yes, the only food on my shelf at this point is a bag of chips, two bags of bagel chips, and a box of m&ms.  Judge away.

August 12, 2018: Sost

Meet Sost, my neighbor's dog and my new friend.  We share one long balcony between four apartments, so sometimes when I sit outside and read, Sost comes to join me.  I love it.  I get a little animal therapy for free.

August 11, 2018: Alexandria Library

Some of the teachers went on a little field trip to the Alexandria Library today.  Alexandria was known for having one of the largest libraries in the ancient world.  Unfortunately, the library burned down (around 48BC).  Alexandria was considered the capitol of knowledge, so the destruction of the library meant countless pieces were lost forever.   Alexandria built their current library in 2002, with the intent to make it a tribute to the greatness of the ancient library.  The building is gorgeous.

August 10, 2018: Corniche

The Corniche is a long stretch of walkway that runs along the Mediterranean.  I've walked along it once in the evening, but hadn't yet in the daytime.  It's about a 10 minute walk from school to get to the Corniche, and once you're on it, you can walk it for miles.  It's fairly crowded, but it provides one of the few places in the city that you can walk off the street.  So I like it.

Today one of the teachers who has been here for a while took us out for a walk.  I discovered that Friday mornings are the PERFECT time to walk (and RUN) in the city.  Friday is the Muslim holy day, so most Egyptians are not out in town.  Shops are closed, and streets are nearly empty.  We did see a few people out and about, but it felt like we had the city to ourselves.   We walked along one of the piers and saw a few kids flying kites.  When we got a bit closer we realized how huge the kites were.  Impressive!

I'm stoked for my first run outside of campus.  I'll most likely wait a few more weeks, because it is still so hot here, and I'll need to run in long pants.  Just walking this morning had me dripping sweat.  But running along the water again is in my near future, and that makes me pretty happy.

August 9, 2018: Rosetta and the Nile

The new teachers took our second field trip today, and this time we hopped in a van and drove to Rosetta.  Yes, like Rosetta stone.  This is the city where the Rosetta Stone was discovered.  We were unable to see the actual stone since it's located in the British museum, but we saw a replica of the stone and then saw the actual place where the stone was found.  After looking at a few museums, we took a little boat ride down part of the Nile.  This man was our navigator.  It felt so nice to be on the water!  Coming from Alaska, I am not used to this heat!!  It has been in the high 80s every day, with about 65% humidity.  I know that isn't too hot compared to many places in the US, but it feels that much hotter walking around in long pants.  I've found that I am acclimating just fine though.  But I'm secretly so excited for "winter" when all the tourists return to upper Egypt and the temperature drops another 20 degrees!

August 8, 2018: Playing tourist

I loved today. We worked til noon then all of the new teachers piled into a van and went on a historical tour of Alexandria with our high school's principal as our guide.  Our first stop was the Citadel of Qaitbay, an old fort that was built at the site of the ancient lighthouse. (Picture). Up to this point, I've really only walked through the neighborhood surrounding the school, so I was eager to get out and see more of the city.  I've never seen any structure more than a couple hundred years old, so today was a new experience.  The citadel was established 1477 (so still fairly new, although by far the oldest structure I'd seen).  At the top you could see incredible views of the city and of the sea.  We ran into dozens of very friendly locals.  They were all eager to welcome us and to speak whatever English they knew with us.  Before coming here, I spent months practicing classical Arabic in my car using the Arabic for Dummies cd.  When I got here I realized that some of the words and phrases translated, but not very many since Egptian Arabic is a little different.  Today a big group of kids came up to me and my friend and immediately began to try to communicate with us.   One little girl introduced herself to us in Arabic, and I recognized the phrase, so I introduced myself to her in Arabic as well.  The kids got so excited.  One asked me if I spoke Arabic, so I replied in Arabic, "I speak a little Arabic.  What is your name?"  I even got some applause.  It was so fun!  We went around and shook all the kids' hands.  Their faces were beaming.  I'm sure mine was too.  As we left them, one kid yelled out, "Have a nice life" to which we replied, "Thanks you too!" (in English), and all his friends giggled.

After the Citadel, we went to see some of the ruins from a Roman amphitheater and bathhouse that dated to the 2nd century (NOW, I can say I've seen some old structures!)  I learned today that most of the ancient ruins of the city are buried multiple meters below the current level of the city.  These ruins were found by accident in 1960 when construction workers were clearing the spot to build a new government building!  Who knows what other treasures could be buried underneath the city, but you can't really go around demolishing everything just to see.   As I walk around, I like to imagine what kinds of things could be hidden underneath my feet.

We ended the day with a group dinner at a Greek restaurant that had delicious food and an incredible view.  Not a bad day!

August 7, 2018: The classroom

I got to spend the majority of the day today in my classroom.  I sorted through the cupboards and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had acquired the dream inherited classroom- the books were already leveled and there was a perfect amount of "stuff" left behind.  Not too much junk to sort through, and not so bare I had to start from scratch.  Just right!  Within a few hours I had sorted everything and was able to start with organizing and decorating.  I spent a good few hours pining away for the laminator I had to leave behind (it was almost as hard to say goodbye to the laminator as it was my friends.  That laminator and I have been through 4 long years together).  One of my goals this year is to be happy with less.  (My other goal is to amp up the fun and flexibility).  I made the conscious decision to stop whining about my lack of personal laminator.  And I found this little guy!  SO CUTE!  I've never had a "class pet" that the kids can take home and write about, but have seen other teachers do it.  I am most definitely adopting this dude as our class mascot.  I can't wait to hear what the kiddos decide to name him!

August 6, 2018: A whole new (classroom) ballgame

Today's teacher meetings mostly covered the nitty gritties of our classrooms and school life. I have worked in some amazing schools over the last 11 years.  Schutz will be no exception.  They spoil us here!  The people at the school are some of the most welcoming and friendly people I have ever met.  Everyone bends over backward to make sure that we are taken care of.  They understand that living in a foreign country is hard, so they do anything they can to ease the transition for us.  I began the day feeling really anxious about teaching an entire class of kiddos who have a completely different culture than I do.  Who on earth decided I was qualified to do this???  But throughout the day, I found myself seeing the "Schutz is Family" motto play out in front of me.  Teachers helping other teachers.  Principals and administrators easing anxieties and building the teams up.  Support staff smiling genuine smiles and being happy to help in any way possible.  I can already see that there is a reason so many teachers have stayed here so long.  I'm beyond grateful to be part of this family.

Also, my keyboard has arabic on it.   Pretty cool.  I used it to help me learn the numbers so I can know what to pay when I go shopping.  Because yesterday I just pulled out every bill in my wallet and asked the cashier to take what she needed.  I have a feeling this might not be the best strategy.