My First Preschool Party

So this week was a rather interesting one. There were some unfortunate events that happened in the preschool and I am quickly becoming aware of all the difficult situations that can arise when you teach preschool to a group of 2-4 year olds (and sometimes 1 and 5 year olds) in a foreign country. There were lots of good parts too though. I just am learning that it's not all fun and games, especially when there are children who have behavioral and/or aggressive issues,not to mention having to worry about potty training a couple children too. But all in all I'm loving my job and Sunshine Preschool and the children and their families. I don't think there's any other place I would rather be, or any other student missions job I would rather be doing. I feel as though God lead me to this place and wants me here, and that He knew where I was needed and where I would be happiest. There's so many people here I have met and therefore I don't have homesickness or problems with loneliness, so I praise God for that! My roommates have been amazing and we have become to be good friends. The sad part is that one of my roommates spent her last day here yesterday, as she is getting married in a couple weeks. So for awhile it will be just two of us in the apartment. I'm not sure yet if someone new will come to help out in the preschool, but I hope so because the way that the preschool is operated really calls for more than 2 teachers, and especially more than 1. I find it hard that they accept children as young as 2 years old, and that they actually want us to accept children who are 1 year old also. It's also hard that the preschool runs 5 days a week and its hours are from 7:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon, and that some children stay 1-2 hours after the time the preschool ends. We accept children who are not yet potty trained, and also the parents are free to drop off and pick up their children at any hour in the day, so sometimes when all the children are being very well behaved and listening or working or playing quietly, then a parent comes to pick up their child and then all the children become distracted and we have to pick up where we left off after the child leaves. These are all issues I don't have much control over since I can't make the rules of the preschool, but I have learned to work around these little bumps in the road and try to just find the best way to handle them.

One interesting tidbit is that within maybe 1 month's time I will (apparently) be having a roommate. She will work at the Adventist elementary school here in Cairo, but I don't know really anything about her at the moment. I hope we can become good friends though. It will be nice to have another girl around to hang out with too.

So the big news this week is that we had a party in the preschool which is the first one that I've had since I've been here. I was here for the party that the previous SM had before she left, but this is the first one that I've planned and been in charge of. It was fun and went pretty well. Some parts were not as organized as I would have liked, but I'm just going to do my best at everything and learn from every situation that I experience, and then the next time will maybe be even a little bit more successful. I hope that I'll be a pro by the end of the year.

So the party was a mix of a birthday party for 2 children who have birthdays this week and next week and are both turning 3, and also a goodbye party for Eriny who was my roommate and fellow teacher. Yesterday was her last day in the preschool before she gets married and then starts her new life at NUA (Nile Union Academy). We had cake and another type of sweet thing to eat called something like konafa. It was pretty good! The parents of the birthday kids brought the cake and konafa, and we provided mango juice. After we ate we gave the kids some little gifts from the preschool and then we sang the song Who's the King of the Jungle for the parents. I've taught the song to the kids and they really like singing it. Then we watched a video I made for the birthday kids Bibo and Dodo, and also for Eriny since it was a party for her too. The video had given me some issues because first my computer completely stopped working as I was making it into a video file, and then later when my computer finally started working again (thankfully!) then it wouldn't work when I tried to make the video into a file. So we ended up just watching in the window of my movie making program. I hope it'll make it into a video file when I try to later because the parents want to get it on their flash drive. Anyways after that we had the kids go outside to search for some eggs that had candy inside. Hehe, I guess it was kinda Easter-ish but we didn't have anything else really besides eggs to put the candy in, and the kids loved it cuz it was easy enough for all of them, even the little ones, to understand and they got to go outside which they all wanted to do anyways, and have fun searching for the eggs. I wanted to have another game for them to play but every game I've taught them so far has been hard for them to understand so we need to try it multiple times before they will be able to get it, plus the party was winding down by that time anyways so I think it was good to have it end there instead of keeping a good thing going for too long and turning into a not-so-good thing. I think the parents of the birthday kids were really happy because we had something nice and special just for them, and because there were a lot of ppl there to celebrate with them. Some people from the office came and some of the kids' families came, and also Anita, the wife of the missionary pastor from the Dominican Republic, and her daughter Cindy who turned 3 last week. We celebrated her birthday too since she came to the party.

The other thing that happened this week is that I started teaching piano lessons to Saif, a 3 year old boy who is one of my students. I've never taught piano lessons before so this week has been a new experience. I'm struggling a little bit because I'm not sure yet how to teach piano effectively and also interestingly, but I hope I can make it fun for him and also help him learn how to play well. He's pretty little but he understands English pretty well since he's been coming to the preschool for about 2 years I think. He'll be 4 in October so he's an older 3 year old instead of a just-turned-3 year old. His parents want him to have 2 lessons a week so every Sunday and Wednesday after preschool we'll be having a piano lesson in the church since it's right close by (attached to the preschool). It's also hard because his parents aren't going to be attending the lessons because his dad works till he picks him up after the lesson, and his mom is looking after Saif's younger brother at home, but I hope I can help him learn and understand.

Well that's about all for now. I'm ready for Sabbath, and then hopefully after that I'll be ready to forge into next week. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! Bye until next time!

It's Been Too Long!

I originally intended to write a blog post every day of my year here...trying to keep each one short and sweet, but write one daily so I could look back on my time here and see an overview of each day. I quickly fell behind though, and now it's been weeks since I've last written. But from now on I will really try to write more often.

So much has happened since I last wrote a blog! I went to a couple days of campmeeting at Nile Union Academy, and I also went to Manal and Eriny's village (Ashruba) in Upper Egypt over one weekend. It was quite an experience. It was even more hot than it is in Cairo, so my sweat glands got a really good workout while I was there. The trip to Ashruba was probably the hottest trip of my life. We were crammed in a microbus (like a large van) without air conditioning, and I wasn't beside a window. I was so boiling I could barely stand it. But we finally made it to their house, where the heat continued since they didn't have any air conditioning, and the fans did little to help. My roommates' family gave me a galabeya which was so nice of them. A galabeya is a long dress type thing that goes down to your ankles and also has long sleeves. Both men and women wear these in Upper Egypt. The galabeya their family gave me is a kind of turquoise/teal blue which is my favorite color! Manal asked me my favorite color and then told her family so they could find a galabeya that was that color. It was a really nice surprise. Anyways, we spent Friday night and Sabbath morning there and attending the Adventist Church in Ashruba which was a very interesting experience. They had no piano or anything so all the songs were sung a capella. Anyways since Sunday is a workday here in Egypt we had to leave that same day to get back for work in the preschool the next day. The trip back was much more pleasant because we were on a big bus and it was air conditioned. The whole trip was a great experience though and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit their home!

Since then I have also been to Sharm el-Sheikh which is a famous tourist city in Egypt on the Red Sea. I went on the annual Heliopolis church trip and it was quite an experience. I got so burnt that I couldn't sleep one night because any way I laid hurt my skin. We also went on a boat ride on the Red Sea, and I swam in the sea twice.

The preschool is running pretty good lately. We have 11 kids now so it's doing quite well. It's a challenging job but also very rewarding. The kids are so great and I love all of them so much! I can't imagine how much I'll miss them after I return at the end of my year here.

My roommate and fellow worker Eriny is spending her last week at the preschool this week. Thursday will be her last day because she is getting married in a couple weeks and then living at Nile Union Academy after her wedding. On Thursday we're going to have a party in the preschool at the end of the day because she will be leaving us, and we're going to celebrate 2 of the kids' birthdays as well because 2 kids have birthdays coming up very soon. It should be fun. Then in a couple weeks I'll be going back to Upper Egypt for Eriny's wedding. It will be so great to experience an Egyptian wedding! Oh I also started teaching piano lessons yesterday to Saif. He's 3 years old and is the first piano student I've ever had! I hope I can help him learn to play piano well this year. Well that's a brief overview of some of the things I've been up to. I'll try to write again soon!