First Weekend

So on Sabbath we woke up and headed down to the children's Sabbath school which Ana has been teaching this year. The kids sang 2 songs for special music at church, so we practiced them at Sabbath school.I played my violin and Anita (another missionary lady) played guitar. We did God Is So Good and I Have Decided To Follow Jesus. The kids sang the last song in 4 languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, and Swahili, since there are a couple kids that know Spanish and Swahili here. It went great and everyone seemed to love it. There was communion after church which was really nice. Then Ana and I went to Pastor Llew's house for lunch. He's the president of the Egypt Field. He and his wife Karin started their 5 year term here about 10 months ago. They're from Scotland and are awesome people. A couple missionary people and families from Nile Union Academy were there too. We had a really nice lunch and everyone gave me a piece of advice for living here, and also taught me an Arabic word. After lunch we sat around talking for a nice while and then we had a really sincere prayer for Karin because her shoulder has been in so much pain lately that she can hardly work. So if you remember her in your prayers that would be appreciated a lot!

After I left their house I helped prepare for the preschool year-end party. Even though the preschool runs through the summer, Ana wanted to have a party because she's leaving the kids on Wednesday to go back to the states. The party was really fun. The kids sang the same 2 songs that were done for special music, and I played violin again. We ate this Egyptian food called kushari that was really yummy! Ana introduced me as the new preschool teacher, and then she had a little graduation for the kids. They wore these little blue grad hats made out of construction paper. They looked adorable. Then they showed a video of pictures from the year, and parents said some nice things about Ana and how much they would miss her. It was a great day all in all.

On Sunday I got up and went with Ana to exercise at the house of another missionary couple-Pastor Jim and Joyce. She went to their house to exercise most workdays this past year. We used a video and got a really good workout on all different areas of our bodies. Then we came back and worked in the preschool until it closed. Sundays are apparently quieter days in the preschool because not as many kids come since some go to church that day. We had 6 today I think, out of 9 who will be regulars this summer. One little boy came for the day but now it looks like he'll be here for the rest of the summer. His name is Omar and he's a pretty cool kid. After he was done his painting project today he came and asked if he could paint his teachers faces, so we ended up with rainbow faces. It was pretty cute. After preschool Ana showed and told me a lot of things I needed to know in order to run the preschool, and then later on we went to an evangelistic meeting in the church. Anyways that's all for this time...tune in again to hear more of my experiences!

Finally Here!

Hey, well I know I didn't write a blog as soon as I got here, but I have an excuse: my computer's internet wasn't working. But it got fixed and now I can finally write about my experiences so far. The first thing I wanna say is that I finally rode in a 747! I've always wanted to but have never had the luck of having one of those planes on any of my flights...not even really long ones. But I guess 747s fly into Egypt a lot. Anyways the trip over was good and there were no problems or anything...everything went smoothly. I got to Cairo after midnight on the 25th and was picked up by my hosts. We got to my new apartment at 3 in the morning and I promptly went to bed.

We got up at 7, so I didn't have long to sleep. The reason we got up so early was because we headed off to an Egyptian bath. Ana (the SM that was teaching the preschool this past year) took me with a couple of her friends. She has a Muslim friend from Cairo that knew about the bath and wanted to take her there. We took the metro and then walked for a long ways through the city to get there. We finally made it, and when we entered the bath area (which was only for females) we were struck by a huge wave of heat. It was super hot and humid in there. The place consisted of a small but deep hot tub type of thing, in a partitioned off section. In the main area there were 2 ladies who were scrubbing the girls' skin after they were done with the bath. It was quite an experience. I got all my dead skin scrubbed right off when I was done. I had gray rolls of dead skin all over me. After that there was a place where you could shower off all the skin. So that was the first of my adventures. When we got back home we quickly showered and then went off to buy things for the preschool year-end party that was on Sabbath night. Even though the preschool runs throughout the summer, Ana wanted to have a year-end party because she's leaving the kids on Wednesday and going back to the states. Friday finished off with vespers in the church, and then it was off to bed with me.

I'll write more about Sabbath and Sunday later when I have time. I miss everybody back home, but I'm having a good time so far. It's bound to be an adventurous year!

A Day of Observation, and 4 Days Till Departure

This week I spent a morning observing a preschool. Actually, it was the preschool at the academy that I graduated from, which is a Preschool-Grade 12 school. I know the preschool teacher from when I had attended the academy, and when I asked if it would be alright for me to come and observe a day of class she said that it would be perfectly fine. I had a really nice time there and got a lot of ideas from simply watching what occurred during the morning. The preschool runs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:30-11:30, which is quite different from what I'll be doing this year. The Sunshine Preschool where I'll be teaching in Egypt goes from Sunday-Thursday, since Sunday is a working day in Egypt and Friday and Saturday are the non-working weekend days. Also, it begins at 7:30 in the morning and goes until 3:30 in the afternoon. It sounds more like a daycare because it runs all day, but they call it a preschool. I think it must have qualities of both since it caters to kids of all pre-kindergarten ages.

Anyways, I really enjoyed myself and appreciated the fact that all the kids really seemed to like me, even though I was merely sitting and observing, instead of playing with them. They talked to me and showed me their coloring pages and dress-up clothes and other such exciting things. They waved to me from across the room with adorable little smiles on their faces. When the class moved outside to play, two little girls brought me a few small flowers that they found growing in the grass. They were all really sweet kids, and throughout the morning I found myself becoming more excited about developing relationships with the children that I will be teaching this year. I also got a few interesting quotes from one child. I added them to my Quotes page so feel free to check them out.

All in all I think observing the preschool was really good for me. I got a clearer idea of what was in store for me, I took some good notes and got some new ideas, and I became more mentally prepared for the year ahead of me. I'm leaving for Egypt in 4 days, so it's coming up really quick! I don't think it's fully hit me that I'll be in Egypt in less than a week. I have a lot to do before I head off and I know this year will probably be very challenging in a lot of ways, but I'm confident that God will bless me if I stay close to Him as I serve. I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but I'm prepared to go out and live this year as bravely, adventurously, and spiritually as I can. I just hope that throughout this experience I learn and grow and become the person God wants me to be.

Gradually Getting Closer

Time is flying by and my summer will soon be gone. I can't quite believe that I'll be leaving for Egypt in less than 2 weeks! My ticket has been purchased so it's completely official now...I'm leaving on June 23. I have so much to do before I go! I need to gather all my preschool plans together and get them in place before I leave so that I'll be prepared to dive in when I get there. I'm glad that I'll at least have a few days of overlap with the current SM whose job I'll be taking over on June 30. These next couple weeks will be busy ones. Pray for me as I prepare to leave on my year-long journey!