Look out! It's a long one
May 24, 2004
In yesterday�s post I briefly mentioned that I had �taught my first class� and done some translations. I realize that those of you I actually chat with don�t even know what I�m talking about so I guess it�s time to do some explaining about what I�ve been up to these last two crazy weeks.
But first I have to thank my friend, Goldie, for opening up a floodgate of good karma for me. See, Goldie is this awesome girl I met a couple of months ago through Meeni. A little over two weeks ago, Meeni and I took her out to the Jazz Club (that�s really what it�s called) for her birthday, and Goldie and I got to talking about how I was really bummed about not having a job. Goldie got really excited and said that maybe she could find something for me with her dad, who is the president of one of Egypt�s largest private universities (there are very few, as most education here is public, through college). Anyway, a couple days later she got in touch with me and let me know her dad was really enthusiastic about having someone who spoke English well and had been educated abroad work with him in administration, and he wanted to meet up with me. Unfortunately, he�d be leaving the next day for a couple of weeks (apparently he got back yesterday) but would like to interview me when he got back.
OK, so, the very next day I got a call from a place I�d interviewed at about a month ago for a temporary summer teaching job, offering me the position. That Friday I went to a job fair at the American University and gave out my resume to about 13 different schools, embassies and NGO�s. On Sunday and Monday I got about 2 or 3 phone calls each day, asking me to come interview, including one for the school I�ve had my eye on since last summer, and an NGO I�ve had my eye on since meeting with a lawyer friend of my dad�s in January. So, suddenly, after 3+ months of giving out my CV I was getting all the interviews I�d never thought I�d get. And it�s just so odd to me that all this happened right after Goldie got me that interview with her dad. I mean, she was just so excited for me and so enthusiastic about helping me find a job and I really do think that she�like�sent a lot of positive vibes my way. I realize that going to that job fair might have had a lot to do with it, but a shout out to Goldie anyway for being so kind. Mwaa! Also, thanks to Meeni for being there to cheer me up, Mr. Inkwell, Jing and BK for being so supportive and letting me know they all went through this slump, and also to Lady Di for reassuring me that it�s not me it�s them. Hehe.
So, moving it along, cause this is taking forever�.I got that job at the school I really wanted. You can go here to check it out � www.isccairo-sabis.net. Ideally, I would have liked to teach Middle School English or Social Science, but 1) they didn�t have any openings, and 2) I�ve had two friends who worked for this school and they told me that the kids can smell your age like animals smell fear. They know if you�re young and they�re not afraid to use it against you, so they both encouraged me to go for an elementary school position. I actually met with the principal�s wife (didn�t know she was the principal�s wife, when I met her, uh, and before I interview with her husband J ) at the job fair, and she told me that she didn�t agree with my friends. She said that I seemed confident and able to handle an older class (woohoo!) but unfortunately they didn�t have any openings in anything but the �infant department.� So, folks, I am going to be teaching kindy-garten. I wasn�t sure how I felt about this till I told BK whose immediate response was �Oh my God, that is SO CUTE!� Heh. Yeah, it is kinda cute. I�ll be sure to send pictures of me with my hair in a bun, surrounded by 30 3-5 year olds.
Some may be wondering why I want to teach anyway. Well, the deep, meaningful answer is that I love children and I think education is really important and I think teachers are great and very influential in a young person�s life. Which is true. But the short, less-sensitive answer is that you can get paid really well teaching at an international school in Egypt. For example, as a, what they call �foreign-local� hire, I will be making 7,000 Egyptian pounds per month. I won�t convert that into dollars because it doesn�t come out to very much at all, but it will be enough for me to make my monthly loan payments, have a decent amount of spending money, and a little bit of money left over for savings. Also, to give an idea of how good a salary that is in Egypt my sister, an ICU doctor, makes about 450 pounds per month. And, no, I did not forget a zero. Plus, they�re going to give me one round-trip plane ticket or cash equivalent to my �country of origin�. So, next summer? I get a free ride to see y�all. Inshallah.
Having said all this? I don�t start teaching till the fall, so that statement about me teaching my first class above still doesn�t make much sense. Well, I�ve mentioned a few times that I�m taking this course to get ESL teaching certification. Even though I�ve found a job (yay!) and don�t really need the course anymore, I�d already started it and paid the money by the time I�d found out about the job so I didn�t want to back out. I�m sticking with it and who knows? Maybe I can work after school hours teaching English for a little more extra cash. In any case, this course is set up so that we have teacher training workshops only once a week, and then the rest of the time we are in actual ESL classes observing the instructors and then taking over for parts or all of the lesson. Of course, in the beginning we will only be asked to do an exercise or two with the class, leaving most of the material to the chief instructor. But by the end of the two months that is this course, we should be taking over the entire class time. So anyway�.yesterday I was the first of the teachers-in-training to take over part of the class. I didn�t think I would be, but I was so so nervous. I had to sit through 45 minutes of the chief instructor teaching her bit with my stomach churning. Then I got up there, and introduced myself (the class is pretty elementary so I had to keep it very simple) and I managed to strike up a nice rapport with the students (who are all male, mostly in their late 20�s or 30�s, and mostly blue collar) and I taught my bit. Two minutes into the lesson I�d calmed down quite a bit, so that was good. Right after me, my fellow classmate, Nadia, had to teach her bit and then class was over. Afterwards, we both got evaluations, and I have to say I got rave reviews from the instructor and from my peers. So yay! I have a very �warm and calming presence when in front of the class,� and I was able to communicate the topic fairly well. Unfortunately, I gave some very confusing instructions to one of the exercises, but overall I apparently did very well for my first time. I totally think Farida, the main instructor, loves me anyway ever since I kicked ass (by Egyptian standards) on that TOEFL. Heh.
Ok, last thing and then I�m outtie. (If you�ve read this far, Thank You). I�m just going to explain about the translations. Well, I mentioned that I got an interview with an NGO I�d had my eye on since January. The place is called, simply enough, �Arabs Against Discrimination� and you can check out what they do here � www.aad-online.com . They basically take articles from various Israeli sources and translate them into Arabic, English and French so that people can stay informed about what is being said about AY-rabs in the media. Eventually they plan to branch out and address discrimination in the Middle East in general (i.e.- Arabs against Arabs, Christians vs. Muslims and vice versa) and a whole lot of other things. In any case, I don�t know how I feel about the organization as a whole, but the people there are really cool and they kind of offered me a part-time position on the spot, so who was I to refuse? Besides, I really like translation, thought it�s taking me a hell of a lot more time than I expected�
PHEW! So that�s it. That�s the whole story. I�m sure there are bits I�m forgetting, but this is so long anyway, and I really have to get out of here.
Class dismissed.