During Ramadan we actually turned our clocks back an hour, in spite of daylight savings time. Now that Ramadan is over, we’ll be turning our clocks forward again until October 7, and then turning them back again for daylight savings time. Crazy.
Now that that’s done, Dylan and I are looking forward to starting our Arabic classes at ETC (Episcopal Training Center). We’ll be in a small class (probably 4 people) meeting 3 days a week for 2 hours each day. It sounds like a lot (6 hours/week), but at that rate it’ll take us 6-8 weeks to finish Level 1. We’re only here for a year; we’ll just have to learn fast!
In addition, I’ll be starting my second part-time job – teaching adult English classes, also at ETC. These classes are twice a week, for three hours a night. I’ll be teaching Level 4 (out of 12), which is actually pretty good – they can get through a conversation at any rate. I have a teacher’s book and attended a brief teacher training this week, and that’s about it. Yikes! Pray for me Wednesday as I teach my first 3 hour class (6:00-9:00pm). Wednesdays will be especially challenging because I have Arabic from 3:30-5:30 in the afternoon, right before teaching.
Finally, now that we have our jobs and schedules worked out and are both getting paid, we’re looking forward to some possible travel and sightseeing around Egypt and the Middle East. Desert Safari? Hiking Mount Sinai? Touring Alexandria? So exciting!!