Question mark

After talking to one of my top friends, Cristina, i realized i have an assignment ... actually is more of something that i am willing to do, so that it will take me out of the estate i am in.

Assignment is to enjoy the beauty of Egypt, discover new things, appreciate the blessing of being in this amazing country. A part of it is to go around the neighborhood and discover new plants, new fruits and veggies that i have never seen before, that do not grow in my country and find out as many things as possible about these.

Part of the assignment is done: i went around, took pics, but the question is: what are the names of these plants? I don't know the names in English, not even in Romanian so i can read about them!!!!!!!

I am still trying to figure out a way of completing this challenge ... Maybe i will ask an Egyptian for the names in Arabic and then, have them translated into English.

Wish me luck!

Cultural shock ... Round no ..?

I have not been myself for the past few days ... and this evening i thought i am recovered .. but i am not! I painted my nails, thinking i will feel better, had a chat wt the girls, painted their nails just to make them feel better ... but who's taking care of me?
I now realize how much i miss being home, how much i miss friends who call to say hello and check i am ok, that insist when it comes to details ... I miss that so much!!! I feel lonely although i have met a lot of people here and i socialized a lot ... but it is all so different! It is just a surface, as it is not quite "quality interaction", but more of "forced interaction" as i call it. I bump into people everywhere, so i cant really avoid them .. i have to chat with them and they have to chat with me ...
I do miss Romania and Romanians .. people i can be myself around and not having to think twice before i do or say something (which i kind of started doing here in the past week); it is not until you leave your culture and environment that you realize how different you are and what a pain in the ass you can be for the people around you ... who dont really understand you.
I got a bit upset the other day, thinking that everybody around me is so different and so American/British and i thought i should change, coz i am a circle that doesnt fit in their square shape; but then i thought: hold on a minute, why should i change?? We are all foreigners in a country that is not ours; why should i give up my culture and my individuality for one that is not mine, and more important, not of the country i live in?
I already speak a language that is not my native language, so that is a compromise for me; why should i compromise more? Dont think i am willing to do that! I feel i am getting a bit stubborn now and maybe inflexible ... but this is how i feel.
I have lived abroad before, but never encountered such struggles. I was even in an environment with more cultures than here, but i havent felt, not even a single time, that i had to abandon my culture or be someone i am not!
I admit, i am not perfect, but nobody is!!! I admit there are things about me that i dont like either ... i admit i can be very annoying to certain people ... i admit there are people who might not like me (not at home!!! i know u love me, guys!!! LOL) ... i admit i am not the smartest person (although i tend to think that my way of doing things is the best way - that is why i tend to take full responsability of things and i dont delegate);
BUT i know who i am, i know my identity, i know where i belong, whom i belong to ... and in the end, i should care less about my culture and my country because my citizenship is somewhere else!
I like to say i am from everywhere! I could say i am from Romania, but i dont feel my home is there; in the past 6 yrs my home was wherever i was, in whatever country/city i was in; i was like a snail - carrying her house with her, but i do know where my real home is.
Where is yours?

Living in Egypt

Just wanted to say that life in Egypt is cool!!! ..at least to me!! Of course, it is not easy, but i think i like it. I always find myself having fun with the shop keepers, trying to communicate... i just love it!! Besides that, i am good at bargaining... maybe better than some Egyptians (definitely better than John!!! Gosh, did i say that? oops!) I went with John and Sarah to Khan el Khalili some time ago and i managed to get a rug for the price of 15 LE, when they were initially asking 35 LE; i also got a bag for 20 LE, when they were asking for 50 LE. I think this is my favorite part of Egypt - bargaining!!! One thing all the people have to keep in mind when coming here, is: don't pay what they ask!! ALWAYS BARGAIN and pay half of what they are asking, if not less.
It is rather difficult, being away from home, from friends in a new place .... having to deal with so many cultures at a time, when working in an international environment (like me) and living in an international flat.
I like people, i get my energy from being surrounded by them, but sometimes it is just too much for me, and as Wendy says, we all need "cave time". For eg, we had a felluca (still dont know which is the right way to spell that word) ride on Thursday with a bunch of new people - i hated it!!!!! too many new people at a time!!! i cant interract with new people!!! and we were on the Nile for 2 hours!!! it was dark and cold... i wanted to go back!!! Luckily i sat next to Bronwyn and her friend, Tracy and we kept making jokes about certain food that was on the table!! LOL
This weekend i painted the pipes in our bathroom and kitchen; actually i need to do it again, so that it will look better ... probably next weekend, as this week is already full. I just wanted to be in my own world, on "planet Gaby" and i love painting (not pipes, painting beautiful sceneries, but sometimes pipes are good to paint too!) ... so i thought that is a good way to be in my own world. Thoughts and thoughts kept running through my mind about various things, about Egypt, flat, work, home, Christmas ... China, summer etc.
After being in my own world for most of the day, Wendy called and invited me over. So, i went to her place, had a nice glass of white wine, got a bit dizzy ... and socialized; Sarah and John came plus Kathy ... so, even though i didnt feel like having company, it turned out to be a relaxing evening.
One conclusion after the multitude of thoughts today: i might need to change!

Smiles which brighten my day

Many funny and exciting things happen in KG - too many to write them all down. But the ones that make my day, i do want to put down, as they're very important to me and make me forget about the disadvantages of living far from home or living in Egypt (and everything that comes with it).

We are learning to read and two of the words for this week were: "i" and "like"; so we all started talking about what we like (mainly food - chocholate in particular - especially that day, my boss came in and brought me a Snickers bar :D). So, the children started saying: "i like icecream", "i like Mc'Donalds", "i like Barnaby Bear" and suddenly, one of my little boys said: "I like YOU!"

I thought that was so cute, especially coming from this little character that does naughty things and whose name i call out 50 times a day! That was special to me and probably i will keep that moment in my heart for many years from now on!!

PS: the "fat like you" incident repeated ... it did not make me smile, as the first time but once again i asked myself: don't i just love being in KG?

The Citadel

We decided to be tourists every weekend; so our plan is to go sightseeing every Friday or Saturday. This last time, we went with Sarah and John to the Citadel.
It took us a while to find a parking space, but the good thing is that we got to visit this place.
The entrance fee is 40 LE – and we paid a guy to guide us around and tell us the story behind the Citadel. It was all very interesting … I will not go into details now, as I am not in the mood, but we took some great shots there.

There are a few mosques inside the whole site, plus a little museum (with portraits of kings of Egypt). The Citadel is fairly big on the inside, with a huge carpet brought from France, with alabaster walls etc.

From the top you can see almost the entire city plus the pyramids of Giza and Sakkara.

I've been looking for an Egyptian flag, so i can take my pic wt it, so i finally found it, right by the Citadel - i couldn't help not putting this pic on!!

A corner of Heaven: Anafora

A few weeks back we went on a staff retreat to Anafora, which is a nice, quiet place about 1 h drive from Cairo.

We've been looking fwd to that weekend, after being busy at school with the children, plus planning etc. It was nice to be with people, get some time off, relax.. talk, enjoy the nature ...

Anafora is a retreat center - it has a Coptic church there and everybody who works there is a christian - that is surprising, as Egypt is a muslim country; i have to admit it was nice to spend time in that quiet atmosphere. I think i saw more unveiled women in the 2 days that i spent there than in the whole month spent in Cairo.

Anafora has its own farm with cows and sheep, they make soap and some other things. We had a beautiful room, very bedouin style, with a mosquito net that made me feel like a princess. There is a nice swimming pool as well - i really enjoyed that!!! We had Barnaby bear with us in Anafora - he's part of my class, so he had to join me on this trip.

Nichole was saying she could live there; there are even corn fields - that reminds her of home!! no doubt she'd love to live there. i guess it is a nice place to go and relax, as it is far from the pollution and noise of Cairo, but i still preffer the city. I would get bored there!!

Apparently, it costs only 50 LE/day there with 3 meals included (buffet style). There was plenty of food - Egyptian food (not my favorite, but i have to admit i like it - i am not crazy about it, but it's ok). Anafora is a nice place to go and relax if you like peace and quietness etc.

Don't you just love the honesty and innocence of a child?

Wednesday .. special day for many reasons - my sister's bday, my boss' bday, plenty of teacher treats in the kitchen (we've been praying for some) and special because i got to spend another marvelous day in KG.

I just love the story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" because you can teach so much using it!! So, we've been using it for Literacy and for Science looking at the life cycle of a butterfly and of course - Art - painting our own butterflies. Luckily, one of the little girls brought in a video and we got to watch that too, after i struggled for half an hour to set up the VCR.

The funny part is that earlier during the day, i read the sotry to them and when i got to the part that says: "Now, he was not a little caterpillar anymore, but a big, fat caterpillar", i imediately got a reply: "JUST LIKE YOU!!" - i looked down and saw a happy face with a huge smile who was just as honest as she can be!! I did not get offended at all - it just brightened my day!! I smiled back and carried on with the story!

Well, i am not that big ... but i guess children see me big and they're not shy about telling me what they think; for eg: "do you have a baby in your tummy?" (of course i dont!) - in the end, i do think i should not wear that long dress, coz it makes me look pregnant; i was talking about my dress with Nichole ... she said i don't look pregnant at all!! Well, children are always honest and say what they truly think. :)

I love them so much and i am happy to be their teacher, though most of the times they are not angels. They bring a lot of happiness to my life at this point and every day with them is a challenge and a new reason to celebrate life!