Exam Week, ugh.

I feel like everytime I sit down to write, I'm about to write an essay of events that have happened. Honestly there are days I walk around and think about what I should write in here, but I think it might be a bit of overkill. I'll put things in headings for you to easily stop and come back.

School
So this week was Exam week, which means plenty of tears for me. The week before all we did was go over EVERYTHING they have learned in the past month. They have a monthly exam, so we have about three weeks of material to cover. I had to write the exam, the review worksheets and outline. Everybody has the same responsibilities so don't feel bad for me. Its what we have to do, because it changes from year to year what people cover. I've looked through old lesson plan books, and some of them are on point with me, but others are not. It depends on the teacher I suppose and the way they get through the material.
The teaching itself is frustrating some days and others its exciting because you know that they understood what you tried to teach. I'm getting really good with the names, there are still a few I stumble over pronunciation wise, but most of the kids laugh and tell me the right way. They are helpful when it comes names and assisting in class, but when they get upset they revert to Arabic, and I have to remind them that I don't understand them and to speak in English. I haven't given the grades yet, but I know it will result in tears because these kids are OBSESSED with getting 'full marks' or basically 100%. One point off, and they go ballistic. Its not something I'm looking forward to.

The Apartment
Our apartment has been under construction since the day I got here. There are workers coming in to install some sort of gas line, and my roommate and I just try our best to stay out of their way. The problem comes when they tear holes in our walls and then leave dirt, rocks, concrete, putty or anything else just laying around the area. It takes forever to clean up, and we never know when they might be coming back or anything. You learn to shrug and say "Well, its Egypt" and hope it'll be over quickly. They'll be away for weeks, and then show up for two days in a row. The last guy that came here broke our toilet and a screen in the window. Besides that, the apartment itself is fine. It's remarkably safe, and I feel better being on the sixth floor. My roommate is gone home for the next week (we have a week long holiday next week), and while I normally get uncomfortable being alone, I feel ok with the apartment. Don't get me wrong, I'll miss having someone else around, but our door can't be opened unless you have a key and we have a doorman. And we're on the sixth floor. So all those things combined make me feel safe.

Life in General
I wanted to make mention of the food here. Mostly, american food is prevalent - burgers, pizza, etc.. but there are a few foods that the girls eat daily. One is called Kosheri (I'm trying to spell that phonetically, I'm not sure of the actual spelling) which one the girls described to me as a bowl of carbs. It has macaroni and rice and other pasta, plus chickpeas and a tomato sauce of sorts. Its a relatively big bowl of stuff for only two pounds (which is like forty cents). We also get sandwiches of sorts. Its actually more like a pita pocket. The guy at the store opens the pita and we point to the tray of stuff we want, he puts it in, wraps it and hands it to us. Then we give him one pound for one sandwich (About twenty cents). The fillings can be anything from refried beans,tomato and scramble egg, feta/cucumbers/tomato, eggplant/tomato/potato or even just mashed potatoes. I've tried the eggplant one and the feta one and they are both delicious. The place that sells all this stuff is literally around the corner from our school and people go there pretty much everyday.
I also don't think I've mentioned that Egyptians HATE giving change. You pretty much have to have exact change for taxis, the shop we eat at, and they love you if they don't need to give you change at the restaurants.
Oh and speaking of taxis, I have to say one of the oddest things I have experienced is getting a cab that has no idea where its going, so it stops and asks people on the street where they are going. Its kind of funny, but frustrating at the same time.

Ok, I think thats enough :)
Miss ya!