Sufi Dancers!

Christopher has seen just about everything.

Tonight, A, K, Mommy, and I went out into DownTown to see the Sufi dancers.  First we stopped in at the Khan el Khalili, of course, but we didn’t find much of anything.  We got a little bit lost trying to find the building where the dancers are.  It doesn’t really stand out of a crowd much.  We wound up going into the Old Khan, where Egyptians shop.  It was very neat.  There were no little pyramids or rugs that look like they’re made of real cow skins.  Just shirts and shoes and stuff normal people need to buy all the time.  It seems to be built right on top of a pipe full of Mommy-doesn’t-know-what, though, so we won’t be going back any time soon.

Finally we just doubled back and found the dancers.  Sufi dancers are more often called “Whirling Dervishes” in the States.  They practice a type of prayer that involves music played on drums, string instruments, and a wind instrument that is like an oboe.    While they play this music in prayer, they dance.  All of the dancers are men.  They move together as one.  As they drum, they kick up their feet and twirl from left to right and right to left.  Near the end of the night, one of the men puts on brightly colored skirts over his clothes and spins and spins and spins.  Sometimes he would touch his head and sometimes he would touch his heart.  He spun for so long Mommy almost couldn’t watch anymore.  We had a really nice time. 

Here are some more pictures.

  

Remembering the Rainbow

Christopher can’t decide whether he wants to be blue or indigo more.

The spring play was yesterday and everything went though without a hitch.  The kids were in their costumes on time.  The songs all looked good and sounded better.  All of the parents in the audience were quieter than we’ve ever heard them. 

The play was about how everyone needs to remember that it is the things that make us different that are valuable.  The kids learned that everyone has their own special gifts, and that each is as important as the next.  We dressed as a rainbow to show that everyone together, being him or herself, can make something wonderful.

The second graders were blue, representing honesty, and indigo, representing thankfulness.  Mommy didn’t get to see almost any of the play because she was busy and because it went by really fast.  After it was all over, everyone was really glad about how nice it was and about how now we can all go back to having class!

Next time I’ll tell you about Mommy’s Literary Magazine. 

Laters,

Chris

Theatre Practice Day

Christopher takes center stage!

Yesterday was our last Saturday lesson of the year.  We spent almost the whole day practicing for the Spring play.  Even the preschoolers and kindergarteners had to come in to practice with the big kids.  They got to go home early, though. 

We learned where we should come on stage, and where we are going to be in between the times when we are on stage.  Mommy calls it the Second Grade Dressing Room.  We want to bring the classroom rug and stools and some beanbag chairs down for the day of the play so the kids have comfortable places to sit.  Yesterday we all sat pretty much on the floor.  We played Spelling List Hot Potato. 

Besides the play, interesting things that have happened this week include the fact that lunch has been moved an hour later.  We finally had daylight savings time here in Egypt and that means that the prayers are now at different times, since they go by the sun and not by the clocks.  This means the lunch prayer is an hour later.  So now lunch is too.  Luckily, Mommy’s students have always tried to eat their entire lunch at snack-time anyway.  They are not especially hungry at the old lunch time.  Mommy and the other teachers are pretty much starving, though.  They get up earlier and make breakfast.

I’ve got to go eat my toast before the Suzuki comes to pick us up.  Until next time,

Chris

Ma’adi and 6th of October City

Christopher loves shopping.  His mommy love it somewhat less.

Yesterday we went to Ma’adi.  It’s the part of Cairo we used to live in before we moved to be nearer to the school.  Mommy and the other teachers like to visit there whenever they need to walk around.  Yesterday, we really wanted a burger.  Our favorite burger place is called Lucille’s.  We like to go to Lucille’s even though Ma’adi is very far away from New Cairo where we live.  There is only one place to get a burger in New Cairo and that is the McDonald’s.  Lucille’s burgers are a lot better than McDonald’s.  We also got to meet up with A and Mr. D, because they live super close to Lucille’s.   We had a lot of fun there.

After Lucille’s, Mrs. M and Mommy and I went shopping.  We looked into every store ever on the whole of Road 9.  Road 9 is a really neat shopping district.  It’s only one street, but you can find almost everything there.  Mrs. M is getting a silver necklace with her name written on it in Arabic.  Mommy found some pretty black coasters in an alabaster store.  We can’t wait to serve somebody coffee on them. 

Today we went to the Dandy Mall in 6th of October City to hang out with F, the art teacher.  It was a long ride, but we got to do some more shopping.  We found a really nice little book shop.  If I hadn’t dragged her away, Mommy would still be there right now!  She bought a bunch of books for the kids at school, including a dictionary for the classroom.

I almost forgot!  The Science Fair was on Friday and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  Mommy had to judge the 4th and 5th grade projects.  Her favorites included an experiment to see if video games were useless, and the best amounts of baking soda and vinegar to make a giant fantastic mess of a volcano eruption.  We will announce the winners on Sunday or Monday at school.

The month of May is the time Mommy has set aside to work on the school’s literary magazine.  It should be very interesting.  Wish her luck!

Chris

The Beginning of the End

Christopher is looking forward to the Spring Play

Hello everyone!  Happy Wednesday.  First I want to say sorry because I forgot to tell about Earth Day in my last post.  Well, I didn’t really forget.  Mommy was sick so I don’t know anything about how Earth Day went at the school.  Mommy is finally feeling better though, and we are back at school bright and early each morning.

This week we have been mostly working on two things:  making science fair posters, and props for the school play!  The posters are really swell.  The second graders did them all by themselves.  The older kids made posters, too.  But they can type and stuff, so they look neater than ours :(.   Look at these things!   It’s lucky for us that the second graders will only be judged against each other.  They made some great projects, including floating eggs, and discovering the best way to make tasty yogurt!  I’ll tell you a secret, though- the yogurt scared Mommy, just a little.  She doesn’t like milk a whole lot.

The props for the play are looking really good.  Ms. K. works very hard getting them ready.  The kids do part of it, but she’s the one who puts them all together.  If you see your art teacher today, you should thank him or her for all the work they do.  Here are some of the props:

Lastly, I wanted to post about Mrs. M.  She is heading back to the States soon.  We will all miss her here.  She’s an awesome reading teacher, but she’s going to work for a library!  I love libraries!

Saturday will be the day after the Science Fair.  I will try and post some pictures from the day for you guys.

Until then,

Chris

Three Day Weekend

Christopher is going to party every night!

Sunday this week is an Egyptian national holiday- Sinai Liberation Day.  It is the day that Egyptians celebrate when the last of the armies from other countries left the Sinai Peninsula and it was recognized all over as being part of Egypt.  What it means for us today, though, is that there is no school. 

Our whole house is empty.  K had visitors.  Mr. D’s brothers came too.  A went on a field trip with the fifth graders.  Mommy and M had big plans, too, but at the last moment, they both decided to stay home and take it easy.  It’s been a nice couple of days.  It’s even nicer because there’s no school tomorrow. 

Shadow week ended and  we are very glad.  Everything goes back to normal, except that it’s a short week.  But play practice is going to start taking over our lives very soon. 

There will be a boring post for Tuesday, probably.  I’ll try and take pictures of something cool to make up for it, okay?

‘Til then,

Chris

Shadow Week

Christopher is pretending you aren’t here.

Our second week back from break is Shadow week.  It’s a whole week where parents can come in and act like shadows, following their children around the school.  We’ve had parents in the classroom pretty much every day.  It’s really hard to find someplace to put them, though, since our classroom is so small.  Mommy was kind of hoping the kids would be nicer to each other when their parents were in the room, but it’s not happening. 

On the other hand, we’re getting ready for the Science Fair at the end of the week.  All the second graders have projects to show.  And Thursday before that is Earth Day.  The kindergarteners are going to come and sing a recycling song for us and then we are going to do some street cleaning.  I’ll tell you how it went on Saturday.

See you then!

Chris