I just don’t know where to start or what to talk about in this post. The past few days have been ridiculously intense and not the best of days.
So I still don’t have a bed. And I haven’t slept more than 6 hours per night. Supposedly I will have a bed tonight. But I’ve pretty much given up hope on that front. I’ve figured out how to sleep as comfortable as possible on the couch. It involves benedryl. I worry about becoming addicted.
On the topic of benedryl, my allergies are going haywire here. With the pollution, tobacco smoke everywhere, lack of cleanliness, dust, and animals here, my allergies have taken on a life of their own. Yesterday, I had to just abandon the group for a while and just sleep in the apartment in the afternoon.
I knew that it was going to be hot here, but I’m not accustomed to sweating in my sleep. Our apartment has one air conditioner in the living room (where I sleep), but we have to turn it off every time we leave the apartment and before we go to sleep at night. Since we’re never in the apartment, we essentially have no air conditioning. Oh, and there aren’t any fans here either. So the girls with windows open their windows to sleep at night and get eaten alive by bugs.
Speaking of bugs… We have ants. Tons of ants. Everywhere.
Just to give you a glimpse at life here, here’s a rough idea of our schedule.
Sunday: 7-11pm Arabic Class
Monday: 10-2pm Teach English 5-11pm Arabic
Tuesday: 10-2pm Teach English 5-11pm Arabic
Wednesday: 10-2pm Teach English 5-11pm Arabic
Thursday: 10-2pm Teach English 7-11pm Arabic
Friday:
Saturday: 5-7pm Arabic
During the free time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we are supposed to develop our own programs/projects for other NGOs in Cairo. I will be teaching first aid and CPR to volunteers at a local orphanage.
During the 3-5 hour break in the middle of the day on most days we have to do Arabic homework and write our lesson plans for our English classes. None of my schedule includes travel time which, depending on insane Cairo traffic, varies.
I think that is all for now. I have class soon and I need to get ready. Please leave comments for me on the blog and/or send me e-mails! I need to hear what’s going on in the real world!
PS, I bought a cell phone here. It has a local number, so it’s not for international calls. However, it is the kind of phone that can be used pretty much anywhere. It’s blue. And it only cost me 325 LE (~$60) plus a $20 SIM card.