Beginning of July

So my Sabbath was really nice. After church we had a potluck out in the yard by the preschool and the food was sooo good! There were about 12 ppl there I believe. After we finished lunch we stayed outside just talking for a good while. We also watched the missionary pastor play with his kids in the sprinkler which was amusing. He wasn't intending to get wet but the sprinkler fell and got him all wet so he ended up drenching himself and playing with his children. Later on I had some time to relax in my room, and then after sunset Manal and her sister Jackline and I went over to Karin's house to visit with her since she had been feeling sick that day. She was doing ok by then, besides her usual shoulder pain. We had a nice time with her and she offered us some really yummy food as well.

Sunday was back to work. We made sunshines out of yellow and orange construction paper and then put the kids names on them and let them decorate it with small colored pom-pom ball thingys and also glitter. Then we put them up on the wall above the bulletin board. Since the preschool is called Sunshine Preschool I thought it would be fitting to have sunshines up on the wall with the kids names on them. In the evening we went to the evangelistic meeting in the church and then I talked to some of the church members for awhile after the meeting. So those were the main highlights of the day.

Monday I worked on implementing a somewhat modified schedule from what the preschool had been operating on. I'm still trying to find what works best and then make my ultimate schedule, but so far the mornings have been working out really well. I couldn't believe how well the kids behaved for worship on Monday. They were as good as gold. We're doing the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho this week and so after worship we made a craft that was related to our Bible story. We colored on paper and then rolled the paper into a horn, like the horns that you hear of being used in Bible times, and to call the army to march around the city. The kids loved the horns and really enjoyed tooting through them too. I'm so glad for some of the items that I brought that I almost didn't bring. I was going through all my old things at home this summer before I came to Egypt and I came across quite a few items that I was going to get rid of, but then realized I could use them in the preschool. One such item is this blow-up ball that has a map of the world on it...so it's like a ball and globe in one. The kids absolutely love playing with this ball. When we play outside they kick it or throw it or bounce it off their heads. It's really cute to watch. They don't have any large-sized balls at the preschool so I want to buy some for the children. Anyways I'm so glad I brought my globe-ball. Oh, after work I finally got around to sweeping the floor in my room. People keep telling me that in Egypt you can sweep one day and then the next day the floor will have dust all over it again. I believe it...it's impossible to go outside without your feet getting completely dirty. At nighttime I went with Anita and Manal to a store. Cairo is very busy at night...people also tell me that Egyptians come alive at night, and it seems to be true. This works for me since I'm definitely more of a night owl than an early bird. But I'm trying to go to bed earlier than I usually would because I have to get up early and also because I've been getting tired pretty early while I'm here...probably because of all the work in the preschool. So anyways that was my Monday.

On Tuesday we used puppets to tell the Bible story and the kids really loved it. Oh I also taught a couple of the older children how to play bingo. We did color and shape bingo on Monday and then did number bingo on Tuesday. They like the game but still find it a little tough. They know how to count out loud but aren't as familiar with recognizing numbers. But it's ok, we'll keep working on it. They're doing pretty good considering they're not even in Kindergarten yet. All in all they're pretty good kids. I went on another excursion at night with Anita and Manal, and also Ranya (a church lady) and her son Youssef, who helps out in the preschool sometimes in the summer. I also witnessed a fight on the streets when we were about to leave. I don't know what happened but 2 men were mad at each other and people were trying to hold them back so they wouldn't fight each other. It was a little scary since it was right on the road in front of the Adventist church and my apartment. All the traffic was stopped behind these 2 vehicles because they got out of their cars. So people were upset at them and honking their horns, but that happens every second of every day on the streets of Cairo so I guess that's nothing new. Anyways that concludes my updates. Oh and don't worry cuz I'm having a great time. It's a lot of work and I'm very busy, but it's also very fun too. I'm sure God has a great year in store for me.