AMA? Help me get two stars?

[Deleted]

Niq's post made me realize that I am really close to getting 2 stars.

I am sitting home tonight alone because H is out looking into joining a softball team. I don't really have much to do.

Feel like a short AMA? I will prob go to bed in like 3hrs. It's 7:30pm here now.

[madDawg228]

How many kids do you have in your class?

[madDawg228]

Do you have a favorite student?

[madDawg228]

Do you have a least favorite student?

[madDawg228]

How well do you read/write/speak Arabic?

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:36:45 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

How many kids do you have in your class?

I have 12 kids. 8 boys and 4 girls.

Here's a picture. There are no photo regulations....

This was the best picture I could get because they would not stand still. This was supposed to be a normal, stand still and smile shot. :-|

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:37:01 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Do you have a favorite student?

One of my girls is really sweet and bright. I like her. She is probably a favorite right now just because she is easy and the rest are really tough.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:37:42 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Do you have a least favorite student?

I have a student that drives me nuts! lol. But I don't hate him or anything. He is very defiant and I think he is also kind of a bully to the kids.

He also has diabetes which apparently in this country means that he can be defiant and it's ok....

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:38:07 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

How well do you read/write/speak Arabic?

Read: I can read some numbers up to 10
Write: same
Speak: I know--- no, thank you, no thank you, you're welcome, goodbye, road 200 (my road), road 9 (a good road with cafe's and shops), and road 7 (another nice restaurant and teacher's house)

----yes, i did not write hello. i do not know how to say hello. it is long, because it is something like "peace be upon you" or something.

[hallows]

Do you get lonely/miss family?

[hallows]

Are there after-school programs?

[hallows]

Do you think you'll join any kind of group, like your H is doing softball?

[hallows]

What does your H do while you're teaching?

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:58:10 GMT -5 hallows said:

Do you get lonely/miss family?

No, I haven't felt lonely at all. I do miss family, but I don't think about it often. I really just miss that I don't get to be part of their lives. Like my younger cousin (son of my matron of honor) is a senior this year and he is the quarterback this year. So I am really sad that I won't be able to see him play in any games as quarterback...

But I don't sit around and think....wow, I miss so and so. We are very content here.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:58:28 GMT -5 hallows said:

Are there after-school programs?

There is supposed to be. Nothing has started yet. They told us to think about groups we might be interested in starting.......but I am pretty sure they don't pay extra for it....so I don't think I will be doing it.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:59:05 GMT -5 hallows said:

Do you think you'll join any kind of group, like your H is doing softball?

No. There are some girls who joined a rugby team. H keeps saying I should too. But I am SO not the athletic type and I am a wimp. I would die in rugby.

I am going to join the gym soon. But they charge by the year, so I am waiting til I have enough money to join.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 12:59:24 GMT -5 hallows said:

What does your H do while you're teaching?

Lots of things. His new little hobby is illegally downloading movies.....no one to track us here.

He goes around and gets things we need for the house. Does grocery shopping. Goes out for coffee.

He starts school in a few weeks so he will be more busy then.

[hallows]

Not a question, but I just wanted to say I'm so glad you two are so happy there!

[dawnyp]

What's the one thing you miss from the US that surprised you?

[dawnyp]

Is living in Egypt what you expected so far? Any surprises - both pleaseant and unpleasant?

[dawnyp]

What is the first place outside of Egypt?

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 13:26:21 GMT -5 hallows said:

Not a question, but I just wanted to say I'm so glad you two are so happy there!

Thanks! We are glad too. We really love it here and don't really find any negatives....but maybe we are just the type to not focus on negatives.

We do however see those around us caving into the culture shock and worry that they may not make it. Some people just can't handle the lifestyle changes that living in Cairo brings. It's interesting to watch how everyone adjusts differently.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 13:29:23 GMT -5 @dawnyp said:

What's the one thing you miss from the US that surprised you?

coffee! .......but I don't really think this surprises me. But I am dying. My personal goal for this weekend is to go find and buy a coffee maker, regardless of price. Lol. I am also in love with like flavored liquid creamer, and that is non-existent here. So I am going to have to resort to cream and sugar.

Maybe just regular stores like walmart here. and meat. It is really hard to find good meat here. Usually the meat looks and smells awful....so we are kind of turning into vegetarians....at least for cooking at home. We eat meat from restaurants....but don't buy it.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 13:29:54 GMT -5 @dawnyp said:

Is living in Egypt what you expected so far? Any surprises - both pleaseant and unpleasant?

I think it is better than I expected. Maybe a surprise is that it feels very normal and sometimes you can forget that you are in Egypt. Truly.

Again, an unpleasant surprise could be the meat/food situation. We kind of expected that we would have to revamp our cooking here, but I definitely didnt realize it would be to the extent that it is. There is pretty much nothing here that you would be used to finding in the states. Well.....sort of. A lot of the markets have lots of processed American foods for really expensive, but that's it. It's just hard to figure out how to cook here. We order out pretty much every night because it is just easier than trying to figure out what to cook.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2012 13:30:53 GMT -5 @dawnyp said:

What is the first place outside of Egypt?

do you mean the first place we will visit?

I am not sure yet. Probably Greece. Its really close and really cheap to fly to.

There are tons of places we want to go though. Egypt is my first time out of the country, so my list is long.

[sarack]

i hope you get there!!! i wanna go to greece!

[dawnyp]

Sept 19, 2012 13:39:56 GMT -5 @kinmir30 said:

Sept 19, 2012 13:30:53 GMT -5 @dawnyp said:

What is the first place outside of Egypt?

do you mean the first place we will visit?

Ooops typing fail on my part. I didn't finish my thought. Yes that's what I meant.