Trying to Figure Out the Students

The days are getting increasingly interesting lately. My job position has switched around a lot as of late. I am now teaching a Bible class to the 10th grade and a vocabulary to the "B-Group" of the 9th grade, also known as the misfits, slow learners, and/or they speak VERY LITTLE English. It is always frustrating finishing the day with this class because they are a little bit ridiculous, to say the least. It always leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth when I finish class with them because they are, with the exception of the about 1/4 of the class, rude and disrespectful. It is funny to me how how the measures I have to take as a disciplinarian crescendo as the classes get younger. I think the 9B graders are used to "push-over" SMs that are willing to go the extra mile for them and allow them to get away with laziness because it is hard to not be really sympathetic to them. For some this is their 2nd year here and for some, it is their third 3rd year repeating in the same grade. I want to be personal and get to know them, but there is no way I can do that with them. I think I will have to be ruthless with them first, we'll see...

When I came here I was immediately impressed by the work ethic of my 11th grade class and by the intensity of my roommates. I assumed that the whole school was a focused, hardworking group of kids, but it isn't that way. It is utterly fascinating that it seems wherever I go there is always the same class system. There are the complete slackers, the hardworkers who are driven by fierce dedication, the talented group of kids that "coasts" through because they can rely on their abilities to allow for their laziness (a very BAD way to live), and then there are the middle ground average group that has a bit of all of the above traits. You would think that the similarities to the American education system would be different, but they are pretty close to alike. It is humorous to watch the 17 and 19 year old Egyptian 10th graders act like the 15 and 16 year old 10th graders in America. In Geometry I have been teaching symmetry and I will have to say that they are pretty darn symmetrical! Even with the age gap... What causes them to act like this I'm really not sure. Maybe it is the fact that this is a boarding academy and when you are in your 2nd to 3rd year of school you act a certain way? I don't know.

The one thing that I am learning very quickly as I write this is that there will always be diversity. There is always a gap between the motivated and the unmotivated. I don't know how life would be if everybody was extremely focused and disciplined, what would it be like?Even at the service academies; West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy in particular there is the same distinct difference between "classes" I guess you could call them. How do I know? I have friends at each one of them and they say that there are completely lazy people there. I guess it is a much more concentrated talent pool and a slacker there might be viewed as extremely focused at a party school, like Florida State. The fact still stands, though, that there always seems to be the same system of the focused and not focused.

It brings me to a point, is there the same social system within the Christian Church?? I would like to make a conjecture and say, "yes." People are people wherever you go and I don't know what to think. It turns out that someone who is "lazy" in the Christian faith ends up coming short of the standard of being an ideal "Christian." Does God hold it against the unmotivated person that can't get their stuff together and be a better person? I fall in that category. I know that the Bible says somewhere that we are saved by grace and we can never be good enough, except by accepting the blood of Christ. So are we saved all of the time and we can just go do whatever we want or does God look at our level of effort? And in that case what about the people that don't try hard? Is it only the hard workers who go to heaven because they are intentional about pursuing Him that make it? Well time to help a student with Algebra, as the Egyptians say all the time when they're done talking to you- "God be with you" or the classic American "Goodbye"

Gabel Asfar

Life is "going" in Egypt. I've finally unpacked my 41 kilos of stuff into my room and it is nice. I'm regretting my decision to not bring out a fan, but I'll get over it and adapt to the heat. It is hot here! At nights it will get down into the 80's and I sweat like a pig in my bed; it's gross to, say the least. I'm liking the place, though. It is definitely DIFFERENT! I went on a walk through Gabel Asfar with my American comrade, Monty, and it was crazy. The drivers in Cairo are lawless. They don't follow any rules, they will drive in the middle of the road, on the opposite side, tail gate people by inches, and they use their horn- A LOT. I honestly believe that taxi drivers from New York wouldn't last an hour here in the cities. Ok, that was an exaggeration, but you get the idea, right?? I went into to downtown Cairo last night with Daniel, the school's French SM, and Monty. It was pretty cool. I would say that it is decently "Westernized" because we ate at a pizza place. What can I say, we're really trying new things in Egypt!

It is Ramadan here for the month of September and the people here celebrate pretty hard. They drive around with trumpets and make a raccous. It's really important to them, they get upset if I take a bottle of water into the city and drink out of it because I'm "tempting them." I think they kind of just want an excuse to yell at me because they don't understand me, but lesson learned. Needless to say I don't take my water into the city during daytime. They have this service that they do between 3:00-4:00 am. The cleric gets on this loud speaker and takes them through their prayers and songs. I think that it is the most important service because it is so loud! I will confess that the idea of sabotaging their speaker system has crossed my mind a few times, but I don't feel like getting killed, so I've decided against it... Time to run and make lesson plans.

And so it begins...

I arrived In Cairo, Egypt this morning at 2:00am and I will be honest that I am really tired! When I got picked up this morning I met the Principal, Dwight, and his wife, Donna. They are really great people- kind, genuine, and sincere (just to name a few...) They're somewhere in their fifties. but they seem really young because they're so full of energy. It was funny when I first met them, I was walking out of the airport and I was looking for them. Then all of a sudden there were literally, somewhere between 10-15 Egyptian guys saying all at once in my face "Cheap Taxi", "We give you ride", and "I good driver". I replied politely that I had a ride and then scanned desperately for American faces as the cab drivers swarmed me like vultures. As I walked around, they found me and I could say in complete and utter honesty to them, "It is SO GOOD to see you!"
Once they found me, we jumped on board a shuttle and drove to the car. It was interesting watching the guy that was next to me. He had his fingers on the zipper of my bag and I know that he was attempting to steal my stuff because he kept inching toward the zipping end, but I had my eye on him. He was acting nice, but I know he was trying to scam me. I'm curious to see how many of the people in the main populous fall under this category..
Time to go make lesson plans for my four classes tomorrow!