What's in a name?

     The other week as I was booking my flight to the UK, I told the lady at the travel agents my name and then spelled it out for her. As we were waiting for the ticket and receipt to be printed she asked me whether my name was Nora or Noora as I had pronounced it Noora (I was speaking Arabic at the time) but spelled it Nora. This lead to me explaining that it's the way it's spelt on my birth certificate and it's easier for non-Arabic speakers to pronounce that way.

     I love the fact that my name sounds completely different, but still correct, depending on who's saying it. It's like I have two names that are both me; Nora has both Greek and English origins, the former means Light while the latter is honour. Noura (نورا)-of Arabic origin- is a derivative of Nour (which was my grandmother's name) which means light.


   So that's me, Nora, Noora, Noura, Norah, however you say it I'll answer!

Revolution 2.0

     This Friday (July 8th) Egyptians around the country returned to major squares to reapply pressure on the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) to ensure demands are met. These protests have been called for for a while but escalated following the release in Suez of 14 police officers accused of killing protesters during the 18 days of revolution in January and February. People in the city famous for the Canal have been protesting for most of last week after this court decision and this greatly helped raise the enthusiasm around the country to protest on Friday. 

     The atmosphere in Tahrir Sq. was great, a cross between a carnival, rock festival and in some parts a slightly more angry and grieving crowd. The demands were, as always, posted around the square on banners and placards carried by people.

   The demands vary according to political affiliations but there are those that are common across the board;

• The swift and public prosecution of members of the former regime, most prominently former President Mubarak and former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly (the former's trial is -tentatively- set for August 3rd while the latter has had his trial into the deaths of protesters 3 times so far). 
• Lifting of the emergency law. 
• No military trials for civilians, and the immediate release of those already detained and convicted.
• SCAF handing over power to a civilian panel to hold power till elections are held.

    The sit in is planned to continue until these demands are met. Hopefully it will continue peacefully and not be broken up by security forces in the middle of the night.

And another year's over and done with.

    Academic year that is. The end of the 2010-2011 academic year also marks the end of my career as a co-teacher, as of September I am a class (homeroom) teacher.  As I've said in a previous post, I'm in turns terrified and excited about the new direction in my career. I've spent the last 4 years working with different teachers, age groups, I've been a subject teacher and a substitute and I've finished my teaching degree and all but completed my Masters in education. It's time to move on to the next step and even though it may be considered premature, I'm already thinking of looking at schools abroad in a few years time.

   Right now though, my focus is on next year (actually 2 months away!) and how I can survive my first year as a teacher, luckily I have a great team of teachers around me whom I know I can rely on when I need help, ideas or a shoulder to cry on.

       This is what the class I have claimed for next year looks like at the moment (I've already got some stuff in the cupboard), I'm already planning how I want the furniture arranged and how to use the bulletins. I think the teacher's desk will be the first thing to move! And I want to make it as bright and airy as possible!

    And just as a reminder as to what exactly I'll be doing next year, watch this.

Total Eclipse of The Moon

  On Wednesday night Egypt experienced the first total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. The full moon had been the night before and was brilliantly bright in the night sky. I would have loved to have gone on a trip out to the desert to have a view unaffected by Cairo lights and pollution. As it was, I am still taking a Master's course and actually had a class that night so the starlight eclipse viewing was out of the question unfortunately.

   Luckily, our professor- one very cool lady btw- was as excited as we were about it so we went down to the field to have a look at around 8pm, but at the time nothing had happened yet.

Yes I know it's sideways!

     After checking up on Twitter for more details, we realised that nothing was expected to happen till about 8:22 pm and since we have a presentation to prepare and a paper to research for and write up we all traipsed back upstairs. Class was let out early so that we could watch the eclipse begin.

  

   The shadow started to appear over the bottom left of the moon and then spread out across the rest. 

 

    

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. 

An Ode To English Plurals.

I was sent this poem from a colleague today and I had to share. What a crazy language we speak, no wonder the kids we teach get confused!
Thanks Wendy!

AN ODE TO ENGLISH PLURALS

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and
Get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out, and
In which an alarm goes off by going on.

And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

A sense of accomplishment--TCNJ Class of 2011

    This has been a very long, very stressful week. For the past 18 months I have been enrolled in The College of New Jersey's global programme for teacher training. Last month I earned my teacher certification (qualification) and then this week I began the Masters program with the same college. The first step was the comprehensive exam to bring together all the content we have covered so far.

   To say that revision was tiring would be an understatement, bringing together the notes, presentations, papers and articles in a week was a mammoth task. We took each of these courses over a week in condensed form and all of us were teaching full time alongside that, not to mention that most of us went back home to families (often with young children).

   Although I have learned plenty from my professors and the course content taught over this time, I have to say that my true inspiration has been my fellow student-teachers. They are all wonderful women (and the occasional man!) who are passionate about their profession, their subjects and most importantly, their students.

  With the changes happening in Egypt now, we have a bigger chance than ever before to really make a true difference to the future of our country. The future's bright!!

TCNJ Class of 2011