As I've written many, many times before on this blog; Once you stop writing, even for a week or two, it gets very difficult to get back into it. The longer you leave it, the longer the list of things you have to write about gets. It becomes a daunting task. Without further ado...
First things first, and with updates demanded from parents, grandparents and even members of the Twitterati: The girls I mentioned in my previous post - now enjoying almost rockstar-like fame after the coverage they received on the Egyptian blogosphere - are fine, doing well and by most accounts enjoying their time here. When I saw Katie a few weekends ago, she was looking well and was raving about teaching English at the university. They eventually managed to navigate the Egyptian judicial system and get the man pardoned and let off with the beatings he'd already received.
Andrea is also doing well - she's admirably determined to read the impossibly difficult novels she is given each weekend, and has far more patience with them than I would have. The content seems to range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and the books seem to have a consistently depressing and/or violent theme. Just how you want to spend a weekend!
As for me, well I'm working hard, keeping busy, and still very much enjoying the madness of life in Cairo. Teaching is going well, although 4 evenings a week somewhat takes its toll. I've also started teaching a private student, which is great fun. She's a marketing manager at a firm owned by her and her husband and we have a good time practising business emails and discussing articles I find each week.
A few weeks ago Son of a Duck, SoD's housemate John and I headed for an only-in-Egypt style adventure to a camel market a little ways north of Cairo. I hope to write fully about this soon, for now I recommend SoD's thorough entry on our excursion.
I'm currently excitedly preparing for short break in Pakistan, I leave on Tuesday, arrive on Wednesday, see Michael (of Michael in Pakistan) ordained at the cathedral on Sunday, and am back in Cairo on Monday in time to teach Level 2. International flights are a wonderful thing.
In addition to packing, teaching, Meedan-ing and writing, I'm looking at options for next year. As fun as this year is/has been, I'd really like to find something a little more financially consistent and stable for next year. Suggestions on a postcard! I'm currently preparing applications for scholarships in various locales.
All for now, more soon. I'll try and figure out a way of blogging each day whilst in Pakistan to let everyone know I'm well and safe, although this may rely on Andrea relaying posts as I will be sans internet for a few days after I arrive.
One final thing; a word of congratulations to my granddad Philip Slack, from whom it seems I have inherited most of my good looks, who yesterday got married to Vivien. Sorry I couldn't be there, I hope my message reached you safely.
Salam and, as always, thanks for reading.
A few weeks have gone by since my last proper (or improper?) entry, so I'm sure I have lots to tell you. Where were we? Ah yes, on the train from Alex to Cairo. The week following my return to Cairo was filled with copy editing all over the city and interspersed with Meedan shifts and the start of some exciting online community development work there. It also saw the start of Ramadan, which is a wonderfully special time of year here in Egypt. Yes, it means that it can be difficult to get a bite to eat during the day, yes it means that people are sometimes grumpy at around 5.30, yes it means traffic can be chaos just before Iftar (the breaking of the fast) and yes, it means it's tricky to get a beer. I love the party atmosphere every night though. Streets downtown are full of people until the early hours shopping, buying clothes, sitting in cafés and generally embracing the holiday spirit.Great fun, and we still have a three day long Eid to look forward to!
Aside from enjoying Ramadan, I have started teaching at the ETC again - 12 hours, two levels, plenty of challenges -and made an unexpected trip to Alexandria to sort out my visa and pay a visit to a certain Mr. Nevadomski. Because I have received two residency visas from Alex (I studied abroad there 07-08), that is where my files are. As such, immigration officials in Cairo would/could not process my late application for a visa extension, and I had to make a Joseph style return to the city where I was registered. Only without the donkey. After some tedious waiting, and after a fine for overstaying my tourist visa, I was finally given the extension I had requested, but am now faced with having to go back to Alexandria to try and collect the multiple entry stamps I need to prevent my visa from becoming void if I leave the country. All quite complicated and not a lot of fun!
As the more regular readers amongst you may have noticed, I have started writing more regularly for an Egypt-based site, Bikya Masr, where I hope to continue writing in the long gaps between Meedan shifts and teaching. As we're talking about the blog, there is some housekeeping and introductions to be done - I've added various applets down the side from some clever sites that I'd recommend to anyone and everyone:
- My beautiful Meedan blog badge, showing the most recent event, my most recent translation and my most recent comment - all in beautiful Arabic as well as English.
- My Diigo roll of links I'm tagging as I find them, complete with comments. Usually, but not always, interesting stuff I read about the Middle East.
- My Good Read widget - a good-looking and well-resourced online library of sorts, allowing you to track what you've read, what you thought about the books and see what friends are reading. Be warned, this is completely addictive and you will quickly be trying to remember every book you've ever read.
What else, what more? The new apartment is working wonderfully (one AC broke as I was writing this entry); Andrea is doing well and has started back at CASA, where she will be reading an Arabic novel a week. An important, and enjoyable, part of the summer has been getting to know some of her coursemates better and I'm looking forward to spending the next 9 months or so experiencing Cairo and Egypt with them. Also importantly, in addition to the aforementioned Mr. Nevadomski, it's been great to find out that more of mine and Andrea's friends will be returning to Egypt; Clare and Naya.
All in all, we're both excited to be here, although we now have to start plotting next year - more on this in the not too distant future.
I hope you're all well, please keep in touch - I have thus far been disappointed with the quantity of comments, dear reader - and please continue to read Tom in Egypt!
Salam, love, peace.
It's been an exciting, busy, tiring, stressful, fun, chaotic, excellent first month back here in Egypt. Four weeks have flown by and I feel like I've been here forever, and as a result of my ever increasingly busy schedule I've not posted an update for a little while. After spending a little while sitting on my hands, cleaning the flat and generally not doing very much - much needed after a busy last few weeks at uni, no regrets - I decided to be a little more pro-active with my job search and started ringing people, firing off more emails, and turning up unannounced at offices. Happily the first office I tried was that of the Episcopal Training Centre, a language centre run by the Diocese of Egypt. After explaining what I was looking for and what I was willing to do, I was hired as an English teacher by the director and have now been an English teacher for almost two weeks. As I'm new and my experience is limited, I only teach one class (6 hours a week) with a view to taking on more in September, but I've really enjoyed the first couple of lessons and the staff and students at the centre are extremely welcoming and accommodating.
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