Recap of a Coptic Adventure

So, our day off yesterday was long-awaited and much appreciated. We had a chance to go to the bank, pick up groceries, clean up the apartment a bit, and do a little sight-seeing! My afternoon was spent wandering aimlessly through Coptic Cairo, the traditionally Christian part of Cairo which was more touristy than I had anticipated but still beautiful and worth seeing. The churches were intricate and people are allowed to wander through just about everything. I didn't go that far from the metro station, but that was mostly because I was too busy wandering through shops admiring the scenery and brainstorming on gifts to bring back. And a few of us found a lovely little cafe near a cathedral where I had some delicious chocolate ice cream and the local cats found us very intriguing.

Anyway, though I am tired, and sore, and covered in bug bites, I feel content. It was a trying afternoon at Ana al-Misri, but I don't feel that it was too terrible. And though we complain about our Arabic classes a lot, I don't find them to be necessarily bad - today one teacher randomly brought in a papaya and we made juice, which was really nice of him and absolutely lovely. Nothing here is perfect, but I'm okay with that.
Now, note that I wrote this before I finished my homework- my opinion may soon be a little different.

The Initial Introduction, The First Class

So yesterday was a milestone for us DukeEngagers - the first day at our St. Andrew's sites. Let me sum up my Monday: I left for Ana al-Misri at 8:30 in the morning, and, besides the 1 hour break between Ana al-Misri and my St. Andrew's site, did not return until 9 at night. Ana al-Misri was much less stressful than that first day, but was still draining. And, it's about an hour drive from here, past the pyramids (yeah, that never gets old). But I was in art again, and most of my time was spent with only a few younger kids who taught me the colors in amiya and took turns picking colors for me to use as I was drawing. I'm going to really enjoy my time there, I think!

But on to the new stuff. The first day was... exciting and intimidating and absolutely rad. We had twenty students come to register, some of whom were not on our list (which was expected), and which was many more than went to the other sites. Fernando and I had not planned a lesson, since we had no idea to expect, so we just chilled in our classroom, did some brief introductions, let them ask us questions, and explained our expectations for the class and how it was gonna work. We came back that night very tired, but super excited.

Quick Update

As you may have guessed, we're just now beginning to really throw ourselves into our work here. Classes are in full swing and giving far too much homework, and I went to Ana al-Misri for the first time yesterday (Saturday), and tomorrow is our first day at our various St. Andrew's centers. So things are just now starting to get busy. I'll try to update pretty regularly, but don't be alarmed if I don't post every day or something. Also, thanks for all the well-wishes, I'm feeling much better now.