Appreciating The People Around Us.

  This morning my principle called me as I was writing the morning assignments on the board for my homeroom class and told me that the security staff were looking for me as there was a problem with my car. My car (named Veronica by my brother and fondly nicknamed The Lady V), was hit by a minibus driver as she was parked outside my workplace. He had been driving in the wrong direction down the road, lost control, slammed his back into a lamppost and then went forward into my passenger side.

    The situation, although bad, could have been much much worse. For a start, if it had happened 15 minutes earlier we would have still been in the car and my mum-who was in the passenger seat-may have been injured. The damage to the car itself was also less severe than originally feared. We had thought that the axle may have been broken, or at least damaged by the look of the wheel. Luckily, that was not the case, it was something to do with the suspension that was bent (hey, I watch Top Gear for the stupid challenges not the car specs!).



         What a way to start the day! Now on top of the fact that I was staying at the school till 8:30 p.m for my Masters course, the fever that I've had for nearly a week and a full day of work (with kids who have advanced in leaps and bounds in terms of bullying) I had the added stress of worrying how I was going to get home!

     The real heroes of the day were the school security personnel. As soon as the accident happened, they stopped the driver, contacted me, made him contact his boss to claim responsibility and confiscated his licenses. They got the school mechanic to take a preliminary look at the car and once the owner of the minibus arrived they made sure he left his car keys with them as security while he-and one of them- took V to a mechanic.

    All ended well. At least I think it did, V got her ER surgery and I was able to -slooooooowly- drive her home. On the way home I was escorted by two male friends following along behind to ensure IrishAlexandrian and I wouldn't be alone if anything happened.

   So a big, big Thank You to the security team at school and my knights in shining armor. 

First Taste of Democracy!

   Today Egyptians took to the polls to vote in  the referendum on the proposed amendments to the constitution (for more details please see my post HERE).

   I'm 26 years old and I voted for the first time today. Even though I've been eligible to vote in Egypt since I was 18 there never seemed to be any point before, the results were a forgone conclusion; Mubarak's National 'Democratic' Party would win. In some cases even dead people would manage to vote!

  My brother and I were at our local polling station by 8:20 and there was already a queue winding its way from the office on the second floor to the street outside. By the time I left at 9, the queue had spread further down the street and I couldn't actually see the end of it when I came out, and that's just one of the polling stations in my area! Egyptians willingly and quietly lining up with no pushing or shoving is in itself is an amazing sight to behold!  

    The atmosphere was great, very positive and everyone was eager to ensure their voice will be heard, anyone who started to try and convince people to vote one way or another were told to keep their opinions to themselves and just vote when it was their turn. I had a woman behind me in the queue, whom I can only describe as a traditional Egyptian Mama, who was welcoming everyone who joined the line and told me she'd spent last night going around her neighbourhood reminding everyone that it was their right to vote and brought some of them with her today. She was talking about all the changes she's hoping to see in Egypt including an all-female police force to deal with sexual harassment. She got a big cheer for that one!

  In the end, I went into the polling room handed in my National I.D, took my ballot paper behind the screen, popped it in the box and dipped my finger in the fluorescent ink to prove I'd voted.

WHAT A FEELING!!

 To think that a mere 2 months ago, all this would have been impossible. In 3 months Egyptians have toppled a corrupt government and taken the first steps to re-build the country democratically. That's amazing.

  If you live in a democratic country, don't ever take your right to free and fair elections for granted. We had to fight and many died for us to get this far today. 

VOTE!

Anticipation, Excitement and a Healthy Dose of Fear

     Over the past 4 years in various classrooms I've been lucky enough to see several experienced and talented teachers at work. I've been in very different classroom environments and seen a variety of discipline systems and organizational techniques. As these classes have been across a range of age levels I have gained an idea of what children are capable of and how they behave.

    Next year I will be in charge of my own class for the first time after finishing my teaching degree. While I'm thrilled to bits and very excited to be working with my favourite age group I'm also whisper it...terrified. What's brought this on you wonder? Well it's probably down to the fact that one of my colleagues has been out for the past few days and I've taken her class. The kids have been, to put it politely, not very well behaved. I walked out of the class at the end of my lessons today convinced that I will be a failure as a teacher next year. That my plans and ideas will be good but the execution poor because I will not be able to control the students.

  So here's hoping it's all in my head and that next year I will have a class of -fairly- well behaved students who will learn, follow rules, get work done and have fun!

Out in the cold?

     You know that feeling you get sometimes, that people are talking about you or keeping secrets behind your back? You probably felt it the most when you were between the ages of 11-13 when everyone had secrets that you weren't included in. Most of the time it was just your imagination and there was probably someone else saying the same thing about you, on the other hand, if you're a woman, chances are some of those girls really were being mean. We can't help it and it's a sign that you've started growing up when you realise that you are-unintentionally- hurting people around you and you begin to reign in some of those comments. Not all the time though, sometimes saying those couple of comments to someone who you know will agree with you is all that gets you through the day!!  So imagine the frustration of people who walk into a room to find people speaking a language you can't understand and not feeling welcome to share in a conversation.

     Being considerate and switching languages won't endanger your national identity or language, nor will it make you look like a show off to your fellow countrymen, who knows, you might even enjoy talking to someone with a different point of view. You could even learn something and broaden your views.