Early morning – late night.
I was up at 5:30am to do some homework and then make it downtown for the 8am train to Alexandria.
Our MCC group was going to hear a speaker discussing Egypt in the Bible and various ways of interpreting events. Mostly about the situation of the oppressed vs. being the oppressor and ways to present the situations to Jews and Muslims.
I slept for most of the trip, so that was good! *smile*
The talk was really good and with questions/answers it was about 2 hours. After that, we went for a nice lunch with lots of red meat (I don’t eat that very often here due to low availability and high price), then we had a couple of hours before our train back.
So we wandered over to the Bibliotecha Alexandrina -- check out the site for good information and some pictures. I took a few pics of my own and will have them available soon. The building just opened this winter, so it still looks new inside and out! It truly is gorgeous and I was pleased to see people using the library for research. Well, mostly for research. Many of the computer terminals were being used by university-aged students to watch movies or listen to music online. *smirk*
On the way back, the train stopped briefly in Tanta! That’s where I will hopefully be teaching, so I hopped out of the train for about 30 seconds. Now I can say that I have officially “been in Tanta”. *grin*
We made it back by 8pm and I rushed back to meet Darren, Annie, and Hashem at the office to watch “The Fellowship of the Ring”. Since I’ve been reading the books, I thought it would be nice to watch the movie, too. We had pizza to go along with it, so that was fun!
Off to bed now. Studying, studying, and more studying is the plan for Sunday.
Saturday, April 05, 2003
Friday, April 04, 2003
For a good laugh, go to:
http://people.albion.edu/jenzer/_test.asp
(then click "Refresh" or "Reload" in your browser to see different pictures.
This is what the Albion College website (that's where I went to college and worked for 2 years) looked like on April Fool's Day! I'm glad they have a sense of humor there!
I've been messing with the layout of my journal a bit, since I added the weather update. I got a comment that it was hard to read the entries b/c they were so narrow so hopefully I've fixed that. I also updated some of the links and what I'm reading.
Frisbee was good. Met more random people. Need to shower and study, then sleep so that I can have energy for Alexandria on Saturday.
http://people.albion.edu/jenzer/_test.asp
(then click "Refresh" or "Reload" in your browser to see different pictures.
This is what the Albion College website (that's where I went to college and worked for 2 years) looked like on April Fool's Day! I'm glad they have a sense of humor there!
I've been messing with the layout of my journal a bit, since I added the weather update. I got a comment that it was hard to read the entries b/c they were so narrow so hopefully I've fixed that. I also updated some of the links and what I'm reading.
Frisbee was good. Met more random people. Need to shower and study, then sleep so that I can have energy for Alexandria on Saturday.
Thursday, April 03, 2003
*burp*
I just got back from a big “International Dinner” at church. We had representatives and foods from different countries – Armenia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, India, Ireland, Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Russia, Switzerland, and the U.S. People from each country sang songs for the group and then we shared our foods. It’s quite a diverse church, eh?
My contribution was a modified version of my mother’s wonderful lemon cake. It seems that lemon pudding doesn’t exist in Egypt, so I had to substitute custard mix. I also had to replace the yellow cake mix with orange cake mix. Let’s just say it didn’t quite turn out like “Mom used to make”. *laugh* But it was pretty good. I’ll have to keep experimenting to see different ways of making it. The unique part is the orange juice/powdered sugar/water/margarine mixture that you put over the top and I was able to do that (with juice from an orange I squeezed, even!)
I went for some things new and some things familiar. From the Sudan, they had this really thick porridge-type thing. Basically flour, starch and water in quantities so that you had a sticky, thick mass that could be cut into pieces. Very bland, but filling. That was my first taste of Sudanese food.
In addition, I tried some spicy dishes from Sri Lanka and India, plus beef in Guinness from Ireland. On the U.S. table, I chose a bit of corn bread and some baked beans.
While eating, I chatted with a couple of people I’ve been getting to know, plus an older couple that’s new to the church. An Egyptian woman joined us at the end and then asked for my help walking her elderly mother back to their apartment. What a sweet old lady!
Now I’m digesting and procrastinating. Friday and Saturday are both going to be really busy days and I have lots to do in preparation for class on Monday. But I’ll manage!
I just got back from a big “International Dinner” at church. We had representatives and foods from different countries – Armenia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, India, Ireland, Philippines, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Russia, Switzerland, and the U.S. People from each country sang songs for the group and then we shared our foods. It’s quite a diverse church, eh?
My contribution was a modified version of my mother’s wonderful lemon cake. It seems that lemon pudding doesn’t exist in Egypt, so I had to substitute custard mix. I also had to replace the yellow cake mix with orange cake mix. Let’s just say it didn’t quite turn out like “Mom used to make”. *laugh* But it was pretty good. I’ll have to keep experimenting to see different ways of making it. The unique part is the orange juice/powdered sugar/water/margarine mixture that you put over the top and I was able to do that (with juice from an orange I squeezed, even!)
I went for some things new and some things familiar. From the Sudan, they had this really thick porridge-type thing. Basically flour, starch and water in quantities so that you had a sticky, thick mass that could be cut into pieces. Very bland, but filling. That was my first taste of Sudanese food.
In addition, I tried some spicy dishes from Sri Lanka and India, plus beef in Guinness from Ireland. On the U.S. table, I chose a bit of corn bread and some baked beans.
While eating, I chatted with a couple of people I’ve been getting to know, plus an older couple that’s new to the church. An Egyptian woman joined us at the end and then asked for my help walking her elderly mother back to their apartment. What a sweet old lady!
Now I’m digesting and procrastinating. Friday and Saturday are both going to be really busy days and I have lots to do in preparation for class on Monday. But I’ll manage!
Wednesday, April 02, 2003
Tuesday, April 01, 2003
April Fools Day!
I tried to think of some good joke for today, but the joke was on me! Instead of joking, I ended up doing some serious thinking…
How different would the experience that I’m having now have been just 10 years ago?
By that, I mean that if people in their 20’s were doing this in 1993, how would their experience have been different than mine?
In 1993, they would _not_ have had:
-easy/cheap Internet/email access
-digital pictures to send/receive
-mobile phones so that people could reach them anytime
People just 10 years ago would only have had phone calls and letters to stay in contact. Imagine, mailing a letter and waiting weeks for a response!! *laugh*
What about 20-30 years ago? In Egypt and many places, the availability of a phone would have been severely limited at that time.
For those of you reading this with experience living “away from home” for extended periods of time, what do you think about my questions – based on what you went through.
…and for everyone else, what do you think? Are you glad about having this level of contact? Or would it be better to look forward to visits or hand-written letters?
Please post Comments or share your thoughts with me through email.
Which way is better? It makes me very happy that I am able to stay in touch with so many people by email and chatting online. I also like being able to have this journal available. But does this make me feel too close? It’s the _feeling_ of closeness, without the reality of being with/near people.
If I didn’t have all these ways of staying in contact, then maybe I would just go about my life and not think of people as often, or just look forward to people coming to visit. I think of my friends and family often – when I look at a picture, hear a song, see a certain car, or just remember back to happy occasions.
Now don’t get too concerned. *smile* Certainly, I’ve been a bit sad in thinking about this topic today and in typing out my thoughts, but I’m ok. A very good friend asked me today if I was feeling “culture shocked”. At the time, I denied that I was, but the answer is probably yes.
But I’ll get through it, and it’s not too bad. Today was a good day! The sun was shining and it was very warm. It was 25C (77F) when I was walking around at 6pm and it was much warmer than that at noon when I was getting a bit of sun and reading.
…listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” while typing this… Any other Fleetwood Mac fans out there? Will anyone be getting tickets for their N. American tour this summer? The song “My Little Demon” seems to be stuck in my brain now.
I still have some preparation to do for teaching on Wednesday (yeah, I’m a broken record when it comes to talking about class), but after tomorrow I have a few days off again. I’m surrounded by good people here, and I have plenty of support.
I tried to think of some good joke for today, but the joke was on me! Instead of joking, I ended up doing some serious thinking…
How different would the experience that I’m having now have been just 10 years ago?
By that, I mean that if people in their 20’s were doing this in 1993, how would their experience have been different than mine?
In 1993, they would _not_ have had:
-easy/cheap Internet/email access
-digital pictures to send/receive
-mobile phones so that people could reach them anytime
People just 10 years ago would only have had phone calls and letters to stay in contact. Imagine, mailing a letter and waiting weeks for a response!! *laugh*
What about 20-30 years ago? In Egypt and many places, the availability of a phone would have been severely limited at that time.
For those of you reading this with experience living “away from home” for extended periods of time, what do you think about my questions – based on what you went through.
…and for everyone else, what do you think? Are you glad about having this level of contact? Or would it be better to look forward to visits or hand-written letters?
Please post Comments or share your thoughts with me through email.
Which way is better? It makes me very happy that I am able to stay in touch with so many people by email and chatting online. I also like being able to have this journal available. But does this make me feel too close? It’s the _feeling_ of closeness, without the reality of being with/near people.
If I didn’t have all these ways of staying in contact, then maybe I would just go about my life and not think of people as often, or just look forward to people coming to visit. I think of my friends and family often – when I look at a picture, hear a song, see a certain car, or just remember back to happy occasions.
Now don’t get too concerned. *smile* Certainly, I’ve been a bit sad in thinking about this topic today and in typing out my thoughts, but I’m ok. A very good friend asked me today if I was feeling “culture shocked”. At the time, I denied that I was, but the answer is probably yes.
But I’ll get through it, and it’s not too bad. Today was a good day! The sun was shining and it was very warm. It was 25C (77F) when I was walking around at 6pm and it was much warmer than that at noon when I was getting a bit of sun and reading.
…listening to Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” while typing this… Any other Fleetwood Mac fans out there? Will anyone be getting tickets for their N. American tour this summer? The song “My Little Demon” seems to be stuck in my brain now.
I still have some preparation to do for teaching on Wednesday (yeah, I’m a broken record when it comes to talking about class), but after tomorrow I have a few days off again. I’m surrounded by good people here, and I have plenty of support.
Monday, March 31, 2003
Another day, another teaching experience.
Today was the first day with the “Upper Intermediate” group. What a change from the “Elementary” level students from the past couple of weeks. I still have some bumpy moments, but today went well for me.
This evening, I’ve been relaxing a bit. Scrabble with Darren, now some email, and then for tea and some Backgammon.
Tomorrow, the cycle of lesson planning begins again, as I get ready to teach on Wednesday. That’s about all I have planned.
Some random pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Today was the first day with the “Upper Intermediate” group. What a change from the “Elementary” level students from the past couple of weeks. I still have some bumpy moments, but today went well for me.
This evening, I’ve been relaxing a bit. Scrabble with Darren, now some email, and then for tea and some Backgammon.
Tomorrow, the cycle of lesson planning begins again, as I get ready to teach on Wednesday. That’s about all I have planned.
Some random pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Sunday, March 30, 2003
From Saturday:
Just got back from a performance of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House. The main piece was Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana -- it was amazing!
I kinda organized the evening. I had been hoping to attend this performance and I convinced a couple of other people to go with me. Carmen and Mike from MCC came along, plus this young woman named Charlie.
Now I’m trying to download my email, but somebody apparently sent me a message with a big attachment, so it’s taking a long time! I hope it’s worth it…
It was a big email with a Power Point slide-show with images from the war. Very well-done pictures, but the situation still saddens me.
Just got back from a performance of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra at the Opera House. The main piece was Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana -- it was amazing!
I kinda organized the evening. I had been hoping to attend this performance and I convinced a couple of other people to go with me. Carmen and Mike from MCC came along, plus this young woman named Charlie.
Now I’m trying to download my email, but somebody apparently sent me a message with a big attachment, so it’s taking a long time! I hope it’s worth it…
It was a big email with a Power Point slide-show with images from the war. Very well-done pictures, but the situation still saddens me.
Friday, March 28, 2003
I’ve been struggling with this entry. I have in my mind this really good comparison with Fight Club but when I try to write it out, it just loses all its meaning.
So I’ll just have to say that the past couple of days, I feel like I almost understand something or almost feel comfortable…and then some little thing happens to remind me that I’m still not quite there yet. I’m a bit discouraged right now about Arabic. I haven’t had the time/desire to devote enough time to it lately, so I’ve forgotten some of what I learned when I first got here.
But I suppose that feeling will pass. It’s a gorgeous, warm day out so I’m going to enjoy it!
So I’ll just have to say that the past couple of days, I feel like I almost understand something or almost feel comfortable…and then some little thing happens to remind me that I’m still not quite there yet. I’m a bit discouraged right now about Arabic. I haven’t had the time/desire to devote enough time to it lately, so I’ve forgotten some of what I learned when I first got here.
But I suppose that feeling will pass. It’s a gorgeous, warm day out so I’m going to enjoy it!
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Today should have been a leisurely day, but it ended up being a "these are the little frustrations in Egypt" day. Nothing major, just a bunch of little things.
Arabic was tutorial and I don't think my tutor liked it when I basically told her that we need to slow down b/c of my need to work on teaching and have enough time to relax. Oh well.
More tomorrow...
Arabic was tutorial and I don't think my tutor liked it when I basically told her that we need to slow down b/c of my need to work on teaching and have enough time to relax. Oh well.
More tomorrow...
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
I’m passing!!!!
My teacher-training course, that is. Today was the end of the first two weeks (wow!) and we received our first evaluation. The course is “continuous assessment” so essentially they can be watching us all the time to rate our performance, participation in our learning sessions, etc plus we’ve had 1 written assignment (I got a “pass” on that too), and the teaching sessions we’ve done so far.
So, I’m fairly pleased. The class is tough and people do fail sometimes. They went more in-depth on our evaluation and in some areas I got a “Satisfactory” mark, but on a couple of them, I got “Satisfactory, but needs work”.
Overall, I’m getting a “Pass” grade. The scale goes “Strong Pass”, then “Pass”, down to “Fail”. At this point, I’d say most people are in the “Pass” category with some of the really good folks probably getting a “Strong Pass”.
I rewarded myself with a waffle covered in chocolate syrup and some chocolate ice cream at a pancake restaurant! This is the one near where I have my Arabic tutorial. I finally made it to one tonight, after calling to cancel for the past 2 weeks. It was good to be back! (and have a treat!)
Thursday night, I’ll have another Arabic tutorial, so I have homework to work on during the day. Thankfully, between now and Monday morning, all I need to do for my teaching class is think through my lesson and write out my lesson plan.
I think I’ll be up awhile tonight, since I can sleep in a bit on Thursday morning.
Oh, as an update on the weather, I think that Spring started today. Well, at least it was much warmer today than the last couple of days…
I’m listening to the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” album right now and I’m going to check on their tour dates/locations online tonight. Supposedly, they’re doing a world tour this summer.
My teacher-training course, that is. Today was the end of the first two weeks (wow!) and we received our first evaluation. The course is “continuous assessment” so essentially they can be watching us all the time to rate our performance, participation in our learning sessions, etc plus we’ve had 1 written assignment (I got a “pass” on that too), and the teaching sessions we’ve done so far.
So, I’m fairly pleased. The class is tough and people do fail sometimes. They went more in-depth on our evaluation and in some areas I got a “Satisfactory” mark, but on a couple of them, I got “Satisfactory, but needs work”.
Overall, I’m getting a “Pass” grade. The scale goes “Strong Pass”, then “Pass”, down to “Fail”. At this point, I’d say most people are in the “Pass” category with some of the really good folks probably getting a “Strong Pass”.
I rewarded myself with a waffle covered in chocolate syrup and some chocolate ice cream at a pancake restaurant! This is the one near where I have my Arabic tutorial. I finally made it to one tonight, after calling to cancel for the past 2 weeks. It was good to be back! (and have a treat!)
Thursday night, I’ll have another Arabic tutorial, so I have homework to work on during the day. Thankfully, between now and Monday morning, all I need to do for my teaching class is think through my lesson and write out my lesson plan.
I think I’ll be up awhile tonight, since I can sleep in a bit on Thursday morning.
Oh, as an update on the weather, I think that Spring started today. Well, at least it was much warmer today than the last couple of days…
I’m listening to the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” album right now and I’m going to check on their tour dates/locations online tonight. Supposedly, they’re doing a world tour this summer.
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
This afternoon, it was 12 C here. *brrrrr* It’s probably more like 10 now that we’re into the evening. Converted , that’s around 54 F this afternoon and 50 F now. Plus rain. I got rained on 2 different times today as I was out walking around!!!!
Not much going on today. This was my “day off” from my teaching class, so I spent a few hours this morning on work for class, and went in to meet with people from my group for 2 hours this afternoon, and now I have work yet to do tonight. Some day off! *laugh*
I did take some time for myself today. I’m happy to report that I finished reading “Fellowship of the Ring” and I’ll soon be starting “The Two Towers”. I’m really enjoying Tolkien, but I’m glad I saw the movies first.
Links to some pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Coptic Cairo (about 20 pics):
and
Walking along the Nile, pretty trees and the "Nilometer"
Not much going on today. This was my “day off” from my teaching class, so I spent a few hours this morning on work for class, and went in to meet with people from my group for 2 hours this afternoon, and now I have work yet to do tonight. Some day off! *laugh*
I did take some time for myself today. I’m happy to report that I finished reading “Fellowship of the Ring” and I’ll soon be starting “The Two Towers”. I’m really enjoying Tolkien, but I’m glad I saw the movies first.
Links to some pictures...
Username: jpics
Password: easy
Coptic Cairo (about 20 pics):
and
Walking along the Nile, pretty trees and the "Nilometer"
Monday, March 24, 2003
COLD!!!!!
With a capital *shiver*
*laugh*
The past couple of days it’s been pretty chilly. I’ve needed to wear a jacket outside, no big deal. Well, today it rained and then got really cold! Yes, it rained again. That’s now 6 times it has rained in the 6 weeks or so that I’ve been here! Very unusual!
Today, our tutors at class who have been in Cairo for 3-5 years all said that this is the longest they can remember winter “hanging on”. I guess usually it’s getting quite warm by this point. Oh well, when I’m sweltering in the heat this summer, I’ll probably be glad that it was cool for awhile longer.
How cold is it? I’m not sure b/c we don’t have a thermometer and I didn’t walk past the one that’s near here. It’s definitely the coldest it’s been in my time here. I could see my breath while walking – if that’s any indication! Colder here than in Michigan, I bet. What an odd concept!
-----------------
My teaching class went really well today! Sure, there were little glitches and I still got some feedback from my tutor and fellow students about my talking too fast, but it was definitely an improvement over my first time teaching. Yeah, I need to work on my delivery – I’m trying to slow down and I did better with that today, but when I get a bit frazzled I have the tendency to juststarttalkingreallyfastandrunningwordstogether. It’s tough for the students, so I really need to work on it.
But I enjoyed today’s class much more than my first one that I taught. I was told by one classmate and my tutor that I look very natural and comfortable in front of the class. I’m getting there, that’s for sure. Two of my other classmates weren’t so sure about that. They thought I looked nervous up there. I was, but my confidence and comfort levels are increasing. Unfortunately, so is the difficulty level of the classes we have to prepare!
My part of today’s lesson was to introduce the topic of “What is a loner” and go over some potentially difficult vocabulary words like: “country” (as in green places with trees, not a nation), “suburb”, “meal”, “guests”, “lonely”, and “loner”. First I just did a bit of talking about myself and had the students listen. Then I had them do a matching exercise with the definitions and words.
No scheduled class on Tuesday, but I need to do my lesson plan for teaching on Wednesday. A few of us from my group are going to meet on Tues. afternoon to discuss our ideas/plans.
Sorry for all the teacher talk.
-----------------
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s topic about the best and worst experiences of our lives…
I haven’t checked my email to see if anyone has been sharing, but hopefully you have been. Since I started thinking about all this, I asked one of my new friends here that question and found out that he/she (to protect their identity) is married! I would have never suspected! This person is separated from their spouse (by the other person’s choice) and is really struggling with the situation. The best moment of the person’s life was falling in love with the person and the worst was when the separation took place. Sad…the person is and has been praying about the situation and now, so will I.
-----------------------------
Another link to look at:
Bloggers join the war effort -- soldiers and other with personal reports from Iraq
With a capital *shiver*
*laugh*
The past couple of days it’s been pretty chilly. I’ve needed to wear a jacket outside, no big deal. Well, today it rained and then got really cold! Yes, it rained again. That’s now 6 times it has rained in the 6 weeks or so that I’ve been here! Very unusual!
Today, our tutors at class who have been in Cairo for 3-5 years all said that this is the longest they can remember winter “hanging on”. I guess usually it’s getting quite warm by this point. Oh well, when I’m sweltering in the heat this summer, I’ll probably be glad that it was cool for awhile longer.
How cold is it? I’m not sure b/c we don’t have a thermometer and I didn’t walk past the one that’s near here. It’s definitely the coldest it’s been in my time here. I could see my breath while walking – if that’s any indication! Colder here than in Michigan, I bet. What an odd concept!
-----------------
My teaching class went really well today! Sure, there were little glitches and I still got some feedback from my tutor and fellow students about my talking too fast, but it was definitely an improvement over my first time teaching. Yeah, I need to work on my delivery – I’m trying to slow down and I did better with that today, but when I get a bit frazzled I have the tendency to juststarttalkingreallyfastandrunningwordstogether. It’s tough for the students, so I really need to work on it.
But I enjoyed today’s class much more than my first one that I taught. I was told by one classmate and my tutor that I look very natural and comfortable in front of the class. I’m getting there, that’s for sure. Two of my other classmates weren’t so sure about that. They thought I looked nervous up there. I was, but my confidence and comfort levels are increasing. Unfortunately, so is the difficulty level of the classes we have to prepare!
My part of today’s lesson was to introduce the topic of “What is a loner” and go over some potentially difficult vocabulary words like: “country” (as in green places with trees, not a nation), “suburb”, “meal”, “guests”, “lonely”, and “loner”. First I just did a bit of talking about myself and had the students listen. Then I had them do a matching exercise with the definitions and words.
No scheduled class on Tuesday, but I need to do my lesson plan for teaching on Wednesday. A few of us from my group are going to meet on Tues. afternoon to discuss our ideas/plans.
Sorry for all the teacher talk.
-----------------
A bit of follow-up from yesterday’s topic about the best and worst experiences of our lives…
I haven’t checked my email to see if anyone has been sharing, but hopefully you have been. Since I started thinking about all this, I asked one of my new friends here that question and found out that he/she (to protect their identity) is married! I would have never suspected! This person is separated from their spouse (by the other person’s choice) and is really struggling with the situation. The best moment of the person’s life was falling in love with the person and the worst was when the separation took place. Sad…the person is and has been praying about the situation and now, so will I.
-----------------------------
Another link to look at:
Bloggers join the war effort -- soldiers and other with personal reports from Iraq
Sunday, March 23, 2003
In case you missed this article from the Washington Post, check it out:
"Attack was 48 hours old when it began"
For some reason, I'm having a bit of trouble downloading my email right now, so I'm sorry if I don't get back to you right away.
"Attack was 48 hours old when it began"
For some reason, I'm having a bit of trouble downloading my email right now, so I'm sorry if I don't get back to you right away.
In class today, as one of our practice exercises, we were asked the following questions:
What are the best and worst moments of your life? Why are they so memorable?
(pause)
(pause)
It took me a few minutes to really think about this and I should still probably think about it more. I’m pretty sure about the best moment, but I don’t know about the worst one. Is that a good sign.
The worst moment I could think of was when my Grandma Gautsche was at the hospital, dying. So many family members and loved ones were around, but there was so little to say to anyone.
*frown*
But it makes me smile to think about my happiest moment. It’s a fairly recent memory from within the last year.
My happiest moment was when I helped my nephew Justin learn to tie his shoes. At least I think I did. *grin* I was at one of his soccer games and he asked me for help tying his shoe. Turns out, he hadn’t learned yet so I tried to teach him. I don’t know if he remembers or if someone else actually taught him, but that’s a really happy moment in my life.
So it’s time for a bit of feedback. To all those reading this, please email me and share the best and worst moments of your life. (if you’re comfortable sharing, of course)
I did nothing but go to my teaching class today. I was there from 9:30am – 7:15pm. *sigh*
At the very least, I am being presented with a lot of information about teaching. I'm still not sure how much I'm learning, but I do regurgitate a bit of jargon like "communicative" or "Task-Based Learning" every now and then. *laugh* It's prettty good, but some of the days are really long. Tonight, I didn't get back from class until 7:30 (got there at 9:30) and now that I've finished dinner it's almost 8:30. I teach on Monday, so I need to finish up a lesson plan and some materials yet tonight.
What are the best and worst moments of your life? Why are they so memorable?
(pause)
(pause)
It took me a few minutes to really think about this and I should still probably think about it more. I’m pretty sure about the best moment, but I don’t know about the worst one. Is that a good sign.
The worst moment I could think of was when my Grandma Gautsche was at the hospital, dying. So many family members and loved ones were around, but there was so little to say to anyone.
*frown*
But it makes me smile to think about my happiest moment. It’s a fairly recent memory from within the last year.
My happiest moment was when I helped my nephew Justin learn to tie his shoes. At least I think I did. *grin* I was at one of his soccer games and he asked me for help tying his shoe. Turns out, he hadn’t learned yet so I tried to teach him. I don’t know if he remembers or if someone else actually taught him, but that’s a really happy moment in my life.
So it’s time for a bit of feedback. To all those reading this, please email me and share the best and worst moments of your life. (if you’re comfortable sharing, of course)
I did nothing but go to my teaching class today. I was there from 9:30am – 7:15pm. *sigh*
At the very least, I am being presented with a lot of information about teaching. I'm still not sure how much I'm learning, but I do regurgitate a bit of jargon like "communicative" or "Task-Based Learning" every now and then. *laugh* It's prettty good, but some of the days are really long. Tonight, I didn't get back from class until 7:30 (got there at 9:30) and now that I've finished dinner it's almost 8:30. I teach on Monday, so I need to finish up a lesson plan and some materials yet tonight.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
Last night, I was able to chat with my Mom and with my good friend Rob on MSN Messenger. Is anyone else out there using it? Let me know… I’m registered as: jallgire@hotmail.com
Today I had class for most of the day. I handed in my first assignment and then we spent most of the day talking about lesson planning. Tonight, I need to finish up my lesson plans to hand in on Sunday. I’ll use them for the 30 minutes I teach on Monday.
Beyond that, I didn’t really do much of anything. I came back home and chatted with Darren to get the news of the day. The young Presbyterian volunteers I’ve become friends with are leaving early on Sunday for a 2-week vacation in Cypress. Essentially, their organization in the U.S. is ordering them to go. Darren and I both think it’s a bit silly and a huge over-reaction. However, the 3 people going are all female and in their early 20’s, so they are having a different experience here than we are.
So that’s a bit odd. Just another reminder of how much things have changed in the past couple of days. I still feel safe, especially here in Heliopolis, since it’s quite a distance to downtown. Basically, I’m not going to find trouble unless I go looking for it. With that said, I’m still being cautious. I’m not volunteering that I am American and I’m only selectively saying that in public.
Sometime soon, I want to go back to the coffee shop I’ve been going to. They guys I’ve talked to there already know that I’m American, so it won’t be necessary to talk about my nationality.
Darren and I thought about going out for dinner tonight, but we got lazy as the evening went on, so we ordered Dominos Pizza. There’s a great website called otlob.com that lets us choose from quite a few local places. It’s even cheaper than ordering by phone!
I still need to finish my lesson plans, so I should get to that…
Yes, I’m still safe!
Today I had class for most of the day. I handed in my first assignment and then we spent most of the day talking about lesson planning. Tonight, I need to finish up my lesson plans to hand in on Sunday. I’ll use them for the 30 minutes I teach on Monday.
Beyond that, I didn’t really do much of anything. I came back home and chatted with Darren to get the news of the day. The young Presbyterian volunteers I’ve become friends with are leaving early on Sunday for a 2-week vacation in Cypress. Essentially, their organization in the U.S. is ordering them to go. Darren and I both think it’s a bit silly and a huge over-reaction. However, the 3 people going are all female and in their early 20’s, so they are having a different experience here than we are.
So that’s a bit odd. Just another reminder of how much things have changed in the past couple of days. I still feel safe, especially here in Heliopolis, since it’s quite a distance to downtown. Basically, I’m not going to find trouble unless I go looking for it. With that said, I’m still being cautious. I’m not volunteering that I am American and I’m only selectively saying that in public.
Sometime soon, I want to go back to the coffee shop I’ve been going to. They guys I’ve talked to there already know that I’m American, so it won’t be necessary to talk about my nationality.
Darren and I thought about going out for dinner tonight, but we got lazy as the evening went on, so we ordered Dominos Pizza. There’s a great website called otlob.com that lets us choose from quite a few local places. It’s even cheaper than ordering by phone!
I still need to finish my lesson plans, so I should get to that…
Yes, I’m still safe!
Friday, March 21, 2003
Another entry for Friday…
Today didn't end up as I thought, but that seems to be a theme for me! *laugh* There were protests downtown again today and Darren and I tried to meet up with a friend of ours to play Frisbee, but we couldn't even get to her building. We think we heard the protesters in the distance, but all we saw were hundreds of riot police -- the big shields, sticks, etc. Crazy! So we stuck around for awhile and then were nicely asked to leave. No real danger, so it was interesting.
Yesterday, the protesters were right at the area by AUC, the American Embassy, and the big government building. Today, the police weren’t letting them get anywhere close! Dozens of trucks with many, many police for crowd control. No way the crowds were getting through today! On the way back, Darren got into a long conversation with some guy on the street who wanted to talk with him because he was white. The guy was fairly emotional and fairly anti-American, I guess. For some reason, people today kept asking Darren where he was from, and he answered “Canada”, which is true. People didn’t ask me, which is good. I’m not sure if I would have told people today that “I’m American”.
It’s tense here, that’s the best way I can describe it. Tense, but safe.
Just for reference, all of this is happening in downtown Cairo, which is nowhere near where I am living. Most of the time, I don’t make it down to that area.
Most of my day was spent working on a homework assignment for my teaching class. It's done and now I'll hand it in on Saturday. Thankfully, I also had some time to relax, too. Darren and I watched "Tommy Boy" here at our place tonight. What a silly flick!
I have class at 10am Saturday and I’m mostly done. My assignment is complete and printed out, but I should look over a couple of things in the morning.
Seems like I might be getting a cold. That’s not good, but we’ll see what happens.
Today didn't end up as I thought, but that seems to be a theme for me! *laugh* There were protests downtown again today and Darren and I tried to meet up with a friend of ours to play Frisbee, but we couldn't even get to her building. We think we heard the protesters in the distance, but all we saw were hundreds of riot police -- the big shields, sticks, etc. Crazy! So we stuck around for awhile and then were nicely asked to leave. No real danger, so it was interesting.
Yesterday, the protesters were right at the area by AUC, the American Embassy, and the big government building. Today, the police weren’t letting them get anywhere close! Dozens of trucks with many, many police for crowd control. No way the crowds were getting through today! On the way back, Darren got into a long conversation with some guy on the street who wanted to talk with him because he was white. The guy was fairly emotional and fairly anti-American, I guess. For some reason, people today kept asking Darren where he was from, and he answered “Canada”, which is true. People didn’t ask me, which is good. I’m not sure if I would have told people today that “I’m American”.
It’s tense here, that’s the best way I can describe it. Tense, but safe.
Just for reference, all of this is happening in downtown Cairo, which is nowhere near where I am living. Most of the time, I don’t make it down to that area.
Most of my day was spent working on a homework assignment for my teaching class. It's done and now I'll hand it in on Saturday. Thankfully, I also had some time to relax, too. Darren and I watched "Tommy Boy" here at our place tonight. What a silly flick!
I have class at 10am Saturday and I’m mostly done. My assignment is complete and printed out, but I should look over a couple of things in the morning.
Seems like I might be getting a cold. That’s not good, but we’ll see what happens.
...and now I do homework…
*ugh*
I have about 4 hours now to work on an assignment due for class on Saturday. I have to analyze the Past Simple and Present Perfect verbs to contrast them, discuss their use, and talk about an example lesson. We’re only talking about 1000 words, but I’m not looking forward to it.
Thursday was unusual. In the afternoon, Darren and I went to the Khan, the big bazaar for tourists and locals. In the really touristy areas, there was a serious military/police present. We saw a few dozen Western tourists, but they were not English-speaking groups. Maybe French and German.
So, we felt fairly comfortable and I was even answering the “where are you from?” question by saying “I’m American”. One vendor had a response to that, by saying:
”America attacked Iraq today – I give you discount!” *laugh* Many of the shops had their televisions tuned to the news, so we took a peek every so often. I was looking for a silver ring, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. Darren came back with a red and white checkered head scarf and a strap of sorts to keep it on his head. I think he’ll only be wearing that around the flat, so I’ll take a picture at some point.
I felt safe all afternoon and didn’t really see any problems. We came back about mid-afternoon and then I went to a study session for class. While I was there, Craig and Karen (my CR’s from MCC) called to say that there were “violent protests” going on downtown and that I should avoid the area.
It’s a good thing they gave me a mobile phone on Tuesday! It’s really come in handy these past couple of days. There’s no charge to me when I receive calls, so that’s mostly what I’ve been doing. It gets expensive quickly to make calls, either to a regular phone or another phone.
After class, I decided to go visit the Presbyterian crew that is all living together. It’s the group that held the “green food” St. Patty’s Day dinner party. They had been asked/told by their coordinators not to leave their residence yesterday, so they called to say that they were going to watch the news, watch movies, and make cookies. I went over and Darren was there already. He made the curious choice of watching “Pearl Harbor”. Not really the movie to take your mind _off_ war, but it was good to watch it again. I watched it not long before leaving Michigan when I borrowed the tape from my sister Heather. (thanks!)
On the way home, Darren and I stopped at KFC. He needed to take care of his craving for greasy chicken, plus they were watching the news on TV. We saw footage of the protests downtown and they looked fairly peaceful. I had popcorn chicken, which I’ve never tried before. They have chicken legs, breasts, etc like you’d see in N. America, but also many sandwiches. Sadly, they do not have biscuits. I told Darren about the many times that my Dad and I shared meals together at KFC together after Detroit Tiger baseball games or on days when we went to the movies.
Today, the church service I have been attending was cancelled. It will not be held on Sunday, either. As a precautionary measure, Westerners are being asked not to gather in places as they would on a regularly-scheduled basis. So, since church is always in the same location, at 9:30 on Friday morning, we’re not meeting today.
My CR just called as I was writing this. Apparently, there were 2 protests downtown yesterday. One group was composed of American University of Cairo students and the other was members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The police tried to prevent the 2 groups from merging, but they got together and started moving toward the American Embassy. One report is that they were stopped about 100m away, but that was the Associated Press, so we’re not sure about the accuracy of that. It wasn’t really violent, but there were reports of some of the protesters being hit by the police.
And with that report, I need to start on my homework. I hope that we still play Frisbee this afternoon so that I can take a break!
*ugh*
I have about 4 hours now to work on an assignment due for class on Saturday. I have to analyze the Past Simple and Present Perfect verbs to contrast them, discuss their use, and talk about an example lesson. We’re only talking about 1000 words, but I’m not looking forward to it.
Thursday was unusual. In the afternoon, Darren and I went to the Khan, the big bazaar for tourists and locals. In the really touristy areas, there was a serious military/police present. We saw a few dozen Western tourists, but they were not English-speaking groups. Maybe French and German.
So, we felt fairly comfortable and I was even answering the “where are you from?” question by saying “I’m American”. One vendor had a response to that, by saying:
”America attacked Iraq today – I give you discount!” *laugh* Many of the shops had their televisions tuned to the news, so we took a peek every so often. I was looking for a silver ring, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. Darren came back with a red and white checkered head scarf and a strap of sorts to keep it on his head. I think he’ll only be wearing that around the flat, so I’ll take a picture at some point.
I felt safe all afternoon and didn’t really see any problems. We came back about mid-afternoon and then I went to a study session for class. While I was there, Craig and Karen (my CR’s from MCC) called to say that there were “violent protests” going on downtown and that I should avoid the area.
It’s a good thing they gave me a mobile phone on Tuesday! It’s really come in handy these past couple of days. There’s no charge to me when I receive calls, so that’s mostly what I’ve been doing. It gets expensive quickly to make calls, either to a regular phone or another phone.
After class, I decided to go visit the Presbyterian crew that is all living together. It’s the group that held the “green food” St. Patty’s Day dinner party. They had been asked/told by their coordinators not to leave their residence yesterday, so they called to say that they were going to watch the news, watch movies, and make cookies. I went over and Darren was there already. He made the curious choice of watching “Pearl Harbor”. Not really the movie to take your mind _off_ war, but it was good to watch it again. I watched it not long before leaving Michigan when I borrowed the tape from my sister Heather. (thanks!)
On the way home, Darren and I stopped at KFC. He needed to take care of his craving for greasy chicken, plus they were watching the news on TV. We saw footage of the protests downtown and they looked fairly peaceful. I had popcorn chicken, which I’ve never tried before. They have chicken legs, breasts, etc like you’d see in N. America, but also many sandwiches. Sadly, they do not have biscuits. I told Darren about the many times that my Dad and I shared meals together at KFC together after Detroit Tiger baseball games or on days when we went to the movies.
Today, the church service I have been attending was cancelled. It will not be held on Sunday, either. As a precautionary measure, Westerners are being asked not to gather in places as they would on a regularly-scheduled basis. So, since church is always in the same location, at 9:30 on Friday morning, we’re not meeting today.
My CR just called as I was writing this. Apparently, there were 2 protests downtown yesterday. One group was composed of American University of Cairo students and the other was members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The police tried to prevent the 2 groups from merging, but they got together and started moving toward the American Embassy. One report is that they were stopped about 100m away, but that was the Associated Press, so we’re not sure about the accuracy of that. It wasn’t really violent, but there were reports of some of the protesters being hit by the police.
And with that report, I need to start on my homework. I hope that we still play Frisbee this afternoon so that I can take a break!
Thursday, March 20, 2003
War…what is it good for?
Absolutely nuthin’.
As I sat down to write this entry, those are the song lyrics that came to mind.
It’s 9:30 on Thursday morning as I write this and I’ve just learned about the beginning of the attacks on Iraq. I got up this morning, had breakfast, then went to the BBC for my news. I read through W’s speech, details of the reaction from Asia, and a summary of the first attacks.
After that, I needed to get off the phone line so that I could call and check in with my MCC Country Representatives who handle the administrative issues here. They asked that we call to check in with them once we heard that war had begun. So, I did that and they will be in touch if they hear anything from MCC in the U.S. or if anything big happens here in Egypt or neighboring countries.
Physically, we’re quite removed from Iraq so there’s little danger there but people are funny and tough to predict sometime. Just as there are “random acts of kindness”, there are also “random acts of violence”, and it’s impossible to predict what (if anything) will happen here. The government in Egypt has been effective with squashing the militant Islamic groups here over the past few years and has been known to arrest people during protest activities, so people seem hesitant to be vocal on issues.
What am I going to do today? Praying, I suppose…
While there will be some of that, I think I am going to go out and try to make myself available and not change what I had planned to do today. I want to pick up some groceries and then I need to be back here to study before going to a formal study session for my teaching class at 5pm.
Last night, I had a couple of brief conversations with Egyptians about the war. Usually, they don’t know what to say and I don’t know what to say. We end up saying that we are hoping for peace. I guess that is true now, as well.
That’s it for now. I don’t have any great insight on all of this, but I will try to keep writing my thoughts and observations.
Absolutely nuthin’.
As I sat down to write this entry, those are the song lyrics that came to mind.
It’s 9:30 on Thursday morning as I write this and I’ve just learned about the beginning of the attacks on Iraq. I got up this morning, had breakfast, then went to the BBC for my news. I read through W’s speech, details of the reaction from Asia, and a summary of the first attacks.
After that, I needed to get off the phone line so that I could call and check in with my MCC Country Representatives who handle the administrative issues here. They asked that we call to check in with them once we heard that war had begun. So, I did that and they will be in touch if they hear anything from MCC in the U.S. or if anything big happens here in Egypt or neighboring countries.
Physically, we’re quite removed from Iraq so there’s little danger there but people are funny and tough to predict sometime. Just as there are “random acts of kindness”, there are also “random acts of violence”, and it’s impossible to predict what (if anything) will happen here. The government in Egypt has been effective with squashing the militant Islamic groups here over the past few years and has been known to arrest people during protest activities, so people seem hesitant to be vocal on issues.
What am I going to do today? Praying, I suppose…
While there will be some of that, I think I am going to go out and try to make myself available and not change what I had planned to do today. I want to pick up some groceries and then I need to be back here to study before going to a formal study session for my teaching class at 5pm.
Last night, I had a couple of brief conversations with Egyptians about the war. Usually, they don’t know what to say and I don’t know what to say. We end up saying that we are hoping for peace. I guess that is true now, as well.
That’s it for now. I don’t have any great insight on all of this, but I will try to keep writing my thoughts and observations.
Monday, March 17, 2003
It's Monday night and in some ways, it feels like the end of a week b/c I don't have class on Tuesday, so there's a bit of a break. But it also feels like mid-week b/c it feels like the week started on Saturday, since I've had the 3 days of class. Very weird.
Today was the first time for all of us to be on our own, teaching students. We had a 25 minute block of time. Everyone was nervous, even the people who have been teaching. Some of the people in my group have been teaching for 6 years or more and are just now getting this certification. You can definitely see a difference when the experienced people are up there.
I did ok. For what we wanted to accomplish, 25 minutes seemed like not much time at all! I felt really rushed and then I started talking too fast and then some of the class got a bit lost. I also had a bit of difficulty with explaining some directions on an exercise I was having the class do. Hopefully I'll learn from it and improve the next time I teach.
The class was big today (and will be from now on), but the room was small. We ended up with 15 students, 1 teacher, and 5 observers in the classroom. That was a lot! Some of the students came in late, so we ended up pulling in desks from other classrooms so that they could all fit. One of the techniques we were shown and talked about for monitoring was to walk behind the students and look over their shoulder as they are writing. Sounds good, right? Yeah, except that it was physically impossible to get behind the students in this room! *grin* So we were stuck at the front of the room.
The students are all in the "adult learner" category, I guess. We talked about birthdays today and a few students were born in 1978, while 1 was born in 1983. Mostly university-aged students and a few people into their 30s.
Ah well!
I guess Dad has a computer now and will probably be online soon. Cool.
I've been getting my exercise and walking lately. It's about a 25 minute walk each way at a decent pace for my teaching class. Even if I took a tram, by the time I waited for it and then rode, it would be almost the same amount of time. But this evening, I did wait a few minutes and then got on one. I mostly just wanted to see how long it would take me and if it was worth it. I'll ride sometimes, but will probably walk most times.
Today was the first time for all of us to be on our own, teaching students. We had a 25 minute block of time. Everyone was nervous, even the people who have been teaching. Some of the people in my group have been teaching for 6 years or more and are just now getting this certification. You can definitely see a difference when the experienced people are up there.
I did ok. For what we wanted to accomplish, 25 minutes seemed like not much time at all! I felt really rushed and then I started talking too fast and then some of the class got a bit lost. I also had a bit of difficulty with explaining some directions on an exercise I was having the class do. Hopefully I'll learn from it and improve the next time I teach.
The class was big today (and will be from now on), but the room was small. We ended up with 15 students, 1 teacher, and 5 observers in the classroom. That was a lot! Some of the students came in late, so we ended up pulling in desks from other classrooms so that they could all fit. One of the techniques we were shown and talked about for monitoring was to walk behind the students and look over their shoulder as they are writing. Sounds good, right? Yeah, except that it was physically impossible to get behind the students in this room! *grin* So we were stuck at the front of the room.
The students are all in the "adult learner" category, I guess. We talked about birthdays today and a few students were born in 1978, while 1 was born in 1983. Mostly university-aged students and a few people into their 30s.
Ah well!
I guess Dad has a computer now and will probably be online soon. Cool.
I've been getting my exercise and walking lately. It's about a 25 minute walk each way at a decent pace for my teaching class. Even if I took a tram, by the time I waited for it and then rode, it would be almost the same amount of time. But this evening, I did wait a few minutes and then got on one. I mostly just wanted to see how long it would take me and if it was worth it. I'll ride sometimes, but will probably walk most times.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
Looking back on the weekend and today…
Ultimate Frisbee on Friday afternoon was fun. Beautiful and warm in the afternoon, so it was good to be out in the sun and running around. I’m out of shape, but all the walking I’ve been doing has helped to strengthen my legs, at least. I don’t think I was any more out of shape than anyone else who was playing, so that’s not too bad!
Started my teaching class on Saturday. We were in class for about 6 hours, I guess. It’ll be a lot to learn very quickly.
Sat. night, the Presbyterian volunteers who my flatmate has introduced me to were having a big dinner party for St. Patrick’s Day. We were each asked to bring a dish and it had to be green! Darren and I pulled the bachelor trick. I bought canned peas (imported from the U.S.) and put them in the microwave when I got to the party (but they were quite good) and Darren brought 2 big plastic bottles of Mt. Dew. But that’s b/c those having the party asked him to bring a beverage.
It was fun. Lots of good conversation and relaxing. After dinner, they got out a guitar and a few people played songs. Mostly praise/worship songs but also a good version of “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. *laugh* It was sung in a French accent by a guy from Chile and a few of us on back-up vocals. This is the world I am living in right now. Weird stuff.
Class today was good, but long. We spent some time on methods and most of the afternoon observing one of our teachers in a class.
My first Teaching Practice is on Monday afternoon, so I need to put together some notes. It's pretty weird b/c 5 of us from my course will all be teaching the same class of students. But not at the same time -- one after the other. The first person has 25 minutes to do part of the lesson, then the next person to do more for 25 minutes, etc. I'm the last person, so hopefully we're not too far behind by that point.
We talked over it all a bit with one of our instructors this afternoon at the end of class, I'll prep some tonight, then we're getting together for 45 minutes before class tomorrow. It's our first day of teaching, so it's just to get a taste. A bit daunting, though!! All we've been doing the past 2 days is learning through observing other teachers and not getting a whole lot of formal methodology. So we'll see...
Grammar kicking my butt, I was talking all the technical names and explanations for things. Sure, I'm a native speaker but that means that I do a lot of things naturally and just learned them along the way. Once you start talking about the perfect tense of verbs, why things are continuous, and all that I get a bit lost. It's all very important when learning English as a second language but if I ever learned it at all, it was in middle school, so that's been awhile! Some of it reminds me of trying to learn the grammar for Spanish (and now for Arabic), but English is unique in many ways.
These next couple of weeks are going to be pretty hectic, so I probably won’t be emailing or doing journal entries as often as I have been lately.
Ultimate Frisbee on Friday afternoon was fun. Beautiful and warm in the afternoon, so it was good to be out in the sun and running around. I’m out of shape, but all the walking I’ve been doing has helped to strengthen my legs, at least. I don’t think I was any more out of shape than anyone else who was playing, so that’s not too bad!
Started my teaching class on Saturday. We were in class for about 6 hours, I guess. It’ll be a lot to learn very quickly.
Sat. night, the Presbyterian volunteers who my flatmate has introduced me to were having a big dinner party for St. Patrick’s Day. We were each asked to bring a dish and it had to be green! Darren and I pulled the bachelor trick. I bought canned peas (imported from the U.S.) and put them in the microwave when I got to the party (but they were quite good) and Darren brought 2 big plastic bottles of Mt. Dew. But that’s b/c those having the party asked him to bring a beverage.
It was fun. Lots of good conversation and relaxing. After dinner, they got out a guitar and a few people played songs. Mostly praise/worship songs but also a good version of “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. *laugh* It was sung in a French accent by a guy from Chile and a few of us on back-up vocals. This is the world I am living in right now. Weird stuff.
Class today was good, but long. We spent some time on methods and most of the afternoon observing one of our teachers in a class.
My first Teaching Practice is on Monday afternoon, so I need to put together some notes. It's pretty weird b/c 5 of us from my course will all be teaching the same class of students. But not at the same time -- one after the other. The first person has 25 minutes to do part of the lesson, then the next person to do more for 25 minutes, etc. I'm the last person, so hopefully we're not too far behind by that point.
We talked over it all a bit with one of our instructors this afternoon at the end of class, I'll prep some tonight, then we're getting together for 45 minutes before class tomorrow. It's our first day of teaching, so it's just to get a taste. A bit daunting, though!! All we've been doing the past 2 days is learning through observing other teachers and not getting a whole lot of formal methodology. So we'll see...
Grammar kicking my butt, I was talking all the technical names and explanations for things. Sure, I'm a native speaker but that means that I do a lot of things naturally and just learned them along the way. Once you start talking about the perfect tense of verbs, why things are continuous, and all that I get a bit lost. It's all very important when learning English as a second language but if I ever learned it at all, it was in middle school, so that's been awhile! Some of it reminds me of trying to learn the grammar for Spanish (and now for Arabic), but English is unique in many ways.
These next couple of weeks are going to be pretty hectic, so I probably won’t be emailing or doing journal entries as often as I have been lately.
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