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!

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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.

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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.

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Another link to look at:

Bloggers join the war effort -- soldiers and other with personal reports from Iraq