Hey there! Well, the work thing has been quite interesting. Long story short: my former boss pulled a load of crap on me (and my flatmate) when he discovered we were planning to work for another school in Cairo after completing our contracts with him. He said we weren't allowed to, we pointed out that the contract he gave us didn't prevent us from doing that, he said we'd got the wrong contract, we said it was the one he'd given us, he pointed out that he'd never signed it so nyah nyah nyah nyan. Things could have got really nasty, but they didn't, so much. Flatmate and I lost out on a month's salary, but otherwise everything was hunky dory.

Now, however, our new employers have informed us that the new school we're moving to isn't going to open until September 2006. Surprise! But they've offered her a teaching job at a sister school in Cairo, and me a non-teaching job preparing for the opening of the school. So we get to go back to Cairo, we get the income and benefits we were promised, but we don't get to (a) work together or (b) teach the UK curriculum for which we've been trained.

I'm a bit gutted, but I do appreciate that I'm still going to be employed, and still going to be getting the benefits and salary I was promised.

t /mememe

How's things going with you? It's all happening right now, what with this Gaza pullout business - what's the general feeling at home, would you say? Pro? Con? Ambivalent? I'll be interested to hear how my Egyptian friends feel about it all when I get back. I think it seems like a very positive thing, but I probably don't know enough about the whole situation.

Has anyone seen the kitten huffing?

Well, that was...interesting?

Well, that was...interesting?

nods

Now if someone says they're looking for a little pussy, I'll know that they aren't just being crude.

me a non-teaching job preparing for the opening of the school

Oh, this must be difficult - not working in the field you studied so hard to get to. I'm not sure how to phrase this question, but I'll try anyway: will this preparation job be beneficial for you as a teacher? Technically, in your future CV, in any other way?

But I'm glad things are at least sort-of sorted out. Will you still share a flat with that same flatmate? When are you coming back to Cairo?

[Edit: and the post # is not a multiplication of 3. No ice cream for me.]

Now if someone says they're looking for a little pussy, I'll know that they aren't just being crude.

Suh-nerk!

Waves to Nilly two mornings in a row.

two mornings in a row.

Oh! Third time, ice cream for Frank!

[Edit: I'm TAing a summer class, this week and in the upcoming two. It's for lessons a week of two hours each. When I'm back, I'm unable to focus on practically anything. So I'm playing on b.org until I can remember my name and how-many-fingers and the like again. At least, that's my excuse.]

[Another Edit: Don't you love posts whose "edit" is way longer than the post itself?]

Gronklies.

Listening to the world through an ear infection is an interesting experience. Everything sounds kind of echo-y and far away.

Oh, this must be difficult - not working in the field you studied so hard to get to. I'm not sure how to phrase this question, but I'll try anyway: will this preparation job be beneficial for you as a teacher? Technically, in your future CV, in any other way?

Well, my initial response was to worry about missing a year's classroom time, when I've only got two years under my belt in the first place. However, I am pretty excited about the opportunity to really get my teeth into setting everything up, and I think that it will probably be useful to me CV-wise. This way we should be on top of every damn thing when we eventually open, and that's really good. We've got time to go through all the resources and teaching materials, to unpick the planning for all the subjects and make it appropriate to our environment (adapt the history curriculum so that it incorporates more Egyptian/Middle Eastern history, adapt the Science planning so that it fits with the physical and geographical environment in which we're learning, rather than being predicated upon the expectation that the children are used to UK conditions [radiators, snow etc etc], build in ESL support across the board...). Plus we'll be able to do lots of recceing, I hope, of the various locations appropriate for school trips and make up pre-prepared packs for the different locations, with differentiation so it can be adapted to each year group. There's more time for the Principal to be networking - finding out what the top schools in Cairo do, seeing what we can learn from them, how we can make sure that we're setting the bar properly in terms of what we can offer the kids. Planning ways of incorporating professional development into our timetable. I mean, I haven't met the principal yet, and I don't know what her thoughts are, but I can actually see a lot of good that we can do in this time. And it will give me the chance to really think about how to make the whole school work, and how to build in assessment and planning and recording and reporting and stuff.

So - disappointing. But still kind of exciting.

If it seems, though, after a few months, that I'm really not being useful, I'm going to look into what other teaching work is available in Cairo and if I find something I want to do I think my employers will be open minded about it. They've been very decent about the situation, and it's in their interests for me to be the best teacher that I can be; I feel confident that, if I've not really got much to do after a few months, that they'll be okay with me taking a job elsewhere in Cairo for 2 terms in order to make sure that my teaching skills don't atrophy, and then returning to join them at the start of next teaching year. They offered me the chance to back out of the 2005-2006 period, with 3 months' salary from them, and then come back and teach when they actually open - but it's very late in the day to be looking for teaching jobs right now. Still, if something crops up at one of the other schools in Cairo whilst I'm there...well, we'll see how it goes.

I came in here and dumped my personal crap all over the thread yesterday. Apologies to all.

Gus, you aren't the first to do that, and you won't be the last. The Buffistas are lots of things, including a support group when the personal crap gets to be too much.

So - disappointing. But still kind of exciting.

Oh, I love the way you're looking at the state of affairs. You do seem to have a lot of good that you can do, and I hope it turns out to be as good for you.

For my national service, I worked at an education center regarding enviromental issues. The first year I was there, the place was only opened, not completely built yet, no lesson plans or teaching materials ready. I loved the opportunity to actually create things from scratch, shape the way the place will end up looking. So it was a sort of a combination - both preparing things for the first time, and using them "on the spot", since that's all we had then. Years later, they're still using the library there the way I organized it, my lesson plans, the toys and sets that I made, and the movies that I tried to collect. I love that fact. For the second year of national service, the girl can choose whether to continue at the place she was on the first year, or go to a new place. I chose to stay - I wanted to get a chance to really use all the things I've just finished making. And that was wonderful, to me, as well - check my thoughts and former attempts, comparing reality with theory for a longer period of time, fixing things. So I sort of see what you mean, I think.

So I guess it's a sort of an unknown to get into, isn't it? Then again, you were adventurous enough to go all the way to Egypt for a job, so I guess you're not easily intimidated. I hope things will continue to work out for you!