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Akilah's PlaceJust somewhere to witter on to anyone who may be out there. . . . June 15 An Even MORE overdue UpdateThere have been a few changes since my last entry in *cough*
 October. First of all, the job at the new school didn't work out, so I'm now working at an American cultural exchange organisation as an EFL teacher. My planned return to England in January got postponed until early April. However when I did go back it was for a VERY hectic 6 weeks as it was, as hoped, to make the arrangfements to move permanently to Cairo. Believe me packing up my entire flat almost single-handed was no joke! By the time I had finished I was absolutely exhausted and at the end of the actual removal day I ached from head to foot and I had to take a dose of Ibuprofen to dull the aches before I could sleep. By the end of the whole business I had lost count of the number of boxes I packed. My best estimate is 65 but between 60 and 70 anyway and must have used a few hundred yards of bubble wrap and I counted 11 rolls of parcel tape used too. Now I just have to wait for the stuff to arrive at my Cairo flat before starting to UNPACK it all again. It's a good thing I had it sent by sea as I daren't think what it would have cost by airfreight.
Lately I've been spending nearly all my free time playing World of Warcraft - an mmorpg it's great fun; my character is an elf who has a grey tabby sabretooth tiger as a pet who fights alongside her and an even bigger one to ride. Ohh, and a mechanical squirrel pet as well just for the fun of it, lol.
The weather has been pleasantly cool for the past few days, around 32C but today it's due to go up to 37C but at least it's not 41C again as it was about 10 days ago. I've a nasty feeling that by the time my stuff arrives and I get to start unpacking it will be regularly 38C plus. Ahh well, that's my life.
I've absolutely no idea when I'll post another update, so all I can say is - "watch this space" Sorry, couldn't resist the bad joke, though I suspect few of you will be old enough to get it. . . . . . . October 06 Overdue UpdateWell, since my last entry was 5th June and its now 6th October, I think it's high time I did a bit of catching up.
So what has happened since June? Quite a lot actually. . . . I hopped back to the UK for two weeks at the end of July / early August to do my Open University Residential School week. Then in mid August I was lucky enough to find a very nice job. Teaching again; and again at a school within walking distance of my flat. It is a brand new school. The watchword of the school is QUALITY in the standard of teaching, the curriculum, course books and equipment. My job is teaching English fluency and phonics and I teach the whole school except KG1 so I have classes with KG2, Primary 1 - 5 and Prep 1. I also have a very well equipped multi-media language laboratory in which to do my teaching. English language learning is compulsory, but there is a choice between French and German. At the moment I am the only native speaker of English on the staff. This is unusual not because I am the only ne, but because I am there at all as national schools don't usually employ native speakers as language teachers at all. Only the British and American schools do that. My colleagues from the Principal down to the Teaching Assistants are all really nice people that I get on with very well. I like it very much there and I think I will be happy there long term insha'Allah.
My next trip back to the UK will be in January for a month and that will be to arrange to make the move to Egypt permanent.
At the moment I am busy buying some furnishings for my huge apartment. I have got two carpets, identical ones, 2m x 3m green with a gold acanthus leaf type pattern very classical/antique style and exactly what I wanted. The next thing to get is a bookcase. Again I want a classical/antique style in real wood - no melamine rubbish or cheap stuff. and not just a plain bookcase either, I want one that is a bookcase on the top half and drawers and a cupboard on the lower half.
I've als bought some nice plants to brighten up my balcony and one of them recently sprouted a lovely yellow flower, a sort of cross between a lily and an iris.
I'd love to add some photos but annoyingly I left my camera in the UK in August.
I'm finding Ramadan here very different to the UK. There it was a very solitary time as there were so few muslims around me there. Here it is just the opposite and the whole atmosphere in the weeks leading up to the start was very like the run up to Christmas in the UK with the sense of anticipation and special foods and decorations and things in the shops. And of curse, the working day is shorter because of the fasting. Also it is passing so quickly - I can't believe there is only a week left now.
The other good thing is that the sweeping and mopping in this huge flat is much easier now I have a maid come in four times a month to do it for me. I just do a sweep and dust in between times.
Well, I think that is all the main points covered now, hopefully It won't be another four months before I update this blog again. June 05 Dateline: CairoWell, I'm back here in Cairo for a second six-month sojourn. I arrived in Cairo 5 weeks ago and moved into an enormous apartment four weeks ago. It is more than double the size of my flat back home so I'm rattling around like a pea in a tin can but nevertheless, I've settled in just fine. As is usual here, the floors are all ceramic tiles and believe me, the size of the place makes for a LOT of floor to sweep and mop!
 The best thing about it though, is that I have one of my dearest friends living next door.
 As I finally got a DSL internet connection set up here 2 days ago, I've decided it's time to update this blog, especially as I have a nice new laptop to do it with. I'm gradually getting things set up on it, like research websites for my dissertation project, Acrobat reader for all the PDF files I'll need to download for it, MapleStory of course and some e-books for my copious (ha, ha) spare time.
 Before I got the connection here, I didn't know much more about DSL other than the fact that back home in England it has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaurs. Now I know why - it's SLOW, only about five times faster than dial-up but it is still the standard here for domestic use.
Hmmm, that's about all I have to say for now but watch this space (yes, of course the pun is intended - you should know me better than that by now!) I'll have moree to say later. October 21 HousekeepingI definitely seem to be in 'computer geek' mode at the moment. Yesterday evening was frittered away downloading Internet Explorer 7 and the updated MSN toolbar as well as running the usual scans and checkups. I've even downloaded a new cursor symbol a little brown bunny, bounding along. Yeah, I know it sounds twee, and 'girly' but there is method in my 'childishness' - with my limited eyesight I am constantly losing an ordinary arrow cursor, but this, being larger, colourful and animated is much easier to spot.
I've had two good things happen, alhamdulillah ! First, I've found an Arabic language course I can both get to and afford (just). It is not only at the same place that I do my volunteer teaching, it's in the same building, on the same day and even immediately precedes my teaching hours. It even runs from November to February so it fits in nicely between the end of this year's Open University course and the start of my 2007 course. Second, my request for my exam resit in April has been approved. October 16 Victoria & Albert MuseumI seem to be getting a bit more prompt with these entries. This one is only two days after the event.
Well, the trip with Sam to see the Leonardo da Vinci drawings exhibition was not quite a success. We arrived at the V & A museum around 2.00 pm to discover after we had reached the end of the queue for tickets, a very small notice, on an A4 piece of paper, hidden by the people queueing for tickets, saying the next admittance to the exhibition was not until 4.45 pm. Not what I would term an example of good planning. We decided instead to visit some of the other sections of the museum, including the casts gallery, the ironwork section and the Islamic art section. (see photos) The casts gallery has plaster casts, very skillfully painted to look just like the stonework or bronze of the original items. There are representations of medieval tomb effigies, a copy of Trajan's column, figures on the facade of Westminster Abbey and many other things. I think this is an excellent idea not least because it allows a close up view of many of these artefacts impossible then looking at the originals.
Another positive aspect of the V & A is that it does not limit its exhibits to things of the past. It acknowledges that art, whether it is 'high' art or applied art is a living, changing entity and many items on display are of recent creation. For example there are two benches in the ironwork gallery produced in the mid 1990s.
Some of the weavings in the Islamic gallery were quite simply exquisite. The lighting on many of these items was fairly dim, as strong lighting would fade the colours. Indeed one particularly valuable carpet was only illuminated for 10 minute periods on the hour and half hour. Which regrettably did not deter at least two idiots from photographing it with flash during the times it was not lit. You might expect they would realise the carpet was kept mainly in darkness for a reason, but then, that presupposes they have something with which to think in the first place!
I took photographs myself with my digital camera, but without flash knowing in advance the pictures would come out dark; but then, that is why photo editing software exists.
Next month Sam and I will probably go to the National Gallery for our day out.
I think, unfortunately that photography is prohibited in the Gallery. |
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