First day of school

My first day of school was a little rough but I made it to the other side. I had every class that I teach and was completely unprepared for all of them. So for those who don’t know, I teach 3^rd, 6^th and 12^th grade English, 6^th and 12^th grade Spanish, 12^th grade psychology and one period of individual English tutoring. About half of the kids didn’t show up so that took a little pressure off and Mady and I combined our 6^th and 3^rd grade for the first period. I met Djamal and Fares, “Foozy” who are in the 6^th grade as well as Elyian who is in the 3^rd grade and Faris who I had already met.

Faris and I had 3^rd grade English alone so I asked him to show me around. He took me to see the sheep and goats. He told me that one of the sheep was just put down because she had given birth and was very ill after. They later found out there were two babies and one just never came out causing the mother to be ill and ultimately suffer so much she was put down. There are also two donkeys who just roam free during the day all over the beach which is a pretty funny sight.

Karim and I also had an individual lesson. He led me to the top of a hill to overlook the whole camp of Basata. It is very beautiful and Karim did a wonderful job of explaining where people live, how things work and who the Bedouins are. Many of the children who come to school in Basata are Bedouins and somehow or another are all related. Karim also showed me the pigeon house . Pigeons come and hang out,(many of the camps have them). Pigeons lay eggs and do other pigeon things. I have no idea why we have this thing. I was told there used to be chickens but they all had to be killed due to the Avian flu. Apparently, Egypt did a pretty poor job controlling that flu and had high rates of death.

I somehow made it through both Spanish classes and psychology by getting to know each student and getting the kids talk about themselves which wasn't too hard. I survived the first day. I think it's going to be a great three months!

I promise pictures on the next posting.