Well spring break is over. I would love to tell you about all of the amazing things that I did but mostly I was cat-sitting. That kept me in town. Then yesterday I discovered that I had a paper due then. So that took care of my last few days off. Tomorrow it is back to school. Only two more months to go and then summer vacation. I am super excited about it. I will be going to London, Belgrade, Tennessee and Georgia and then to Stockholm. Suppose I will spend a small fortunate but I haven't travelled all year (except for school trips), so I have managed to save more than usual. I have become quite frugal. Don't buy as many things as I used to. Just pay for my maid, my internet and the occasion Subway sandwich next door. Well have fun.

TV Shows

I know I should be doing more and learning more but sometimes its just great watching tv. The internet speed is much faster here than in Shanghai (and now right?), and because of this I have been able to catch up on some shows. Just watching the new season of "Homeland" and also an older show called "Portlandia." I must say I have a little crush on the female lead on that show, even though I have heard she is a lesbian. Also been watching all of the superhero shows, particularly like "Flash," "Arrow," "Shield," and "Gotham." Also I don't know how this happened but I have gotten sucked back into wrestling. It's a bad habit I need to break. Now I just need to learn how to hook up my dvd player. Why is it so difficult? And this is a photo of me as Santa Claus. Don't ask.

Greetings from Cairo

I have been away awhile. Sorry about that. I know there is one reader out there who will be happy today. Poor fellow. You really should read more than my one side. Well I am alive. I am now in Cairo, one of the more interesting cities in Northern Egypt. I must say I have enjoyed myself here, but the pollution, particularly the litter, has been a little off-putting. I saw an Israeli movie recently, "Big Bad Wolves," and I think I spent half of my time looking at how clean all of the sidewalks were. I can now see the route to the Arab-Israeli conflict: litter is what it comes down to. The Israelis brought in clean streets and the Arabs couldn't stand the pressure. If there was an Olympic event for littering, Egyptians would win the gold every four years. But besides that I have been enjoying myself. I met someone nice and lovely and we went out for two months, and then she threw me under the bus. The age old saga of me being too old for her. While this was probably true, it also didn't make me feel any better. I am almost fifty and she has just turned 33 so there is quite an age difference. She is also a Muslim and would have needed me to convert. I am not sure I am quite ready for that. But hopefully we can be friendly. So far she has mostly been ignoring me. I will play nice. The school where I am working is quite nice. Great staff, lovely kids, lots of nice teachers to hang out with. I really need to do more hanging out with people, since I can sometimes be a loner. I shouldn't be. I am actually quite entertaining, but I just get into ruts I guess where being alone is the nicest way to be. Have three big trips coming up to Europe and I am thinking of also going to Israel for my April Break, so a great big shalom to all of my Jewish peeps might be in order. Well hope you are well, dear one reader. 2014 has been interesting. Hopefully it will continue in this manner, and hopefully 2015 will be even better. And here is a photo of the oldest synagogue in Cairo.

School's Out for Summer

I haven't posted much on my return to this blog. I guess I should, but you know how it goes. Here is the update: I have left Shanghai. That was actually kind of tough, since it is such a nice city. After finishing my school year, I stayed on for another week, and then headed to Malaysia. Spend a few days in Kuala Lumpur and then headed to Tanah Rata, which is in the mountains in Cameron Highlands. Spent five days there and then returned to KL. This turned out to be most fortunate, since my friend had a break-in that night and if I weren't there, I might have lost quite a bit of money that I was storing there. Fortunately I woke up and caught the burglar, before he could get my money. In his efforts to escape, he fell five floors, but he got lucky. The awning broke his fall. If it hadn't he would have died for sure. Now I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have a few weeks in Thailand and then back to Malaysia. And then on to Oman before heading to Cairo. New changes are afoot. I hope I have made the right decision.

Should I stop working?

International schools are weird. You get jobs months before they begin and everyone thinks you are about to move somewhere even though you aren't leaving for almost a year. That happened to me recently when I got the job in Cairo. Now I just have to wait in Shanghai for nine months. It's great though, since you have no real worries, and can just relax. Oh course, you have to keep working but some teachers really do shut down in the last few months of the school year. I don't think I will be one of those teachers. I came to school 90 minutes early today to prepare for the four classes that I had to teach. Then I pulled a whole day of work. So should I just quit working and relax for nine months? I don't think I should. The kids would hate it, my colleagues would think I am a loser and I would probably go nuts waiting for something to do.

Got it!

I am really excited. I was offered a job with Cairo American College the other night and I accepted. Now I just have to finish the year here in Shanghai. Overall this is a pretty good place, so I cannot complain. However, I know as the temperature starts to drop, I will be happier and happier with my decision. I have never really been a big fan of winter, even if the one here isn't really that cold. The apartments here seem to suck in the cold weather and I am always freezing. So that is my exciting news. I still don't know what I will be teaching, but I am okay with that. I am just happy and excited to be going to such a great school. When I visited there, there were many people who had been there for 20 years. I would love to be at a school that long. Really get to be part of the community. Well, next school year: Cairo, Egypt!!!

Cairo American College

Well I had my interview with Cairo American College (CAC) the other night and I think it went pretty well. I spoke to three principals and the head of school. It is a place that I have been interested in working for forever. I think it was one of the first schools I ever knew about way back when I really wanted to go to the Middle East but didn't really know much about it. I thought Cairo could be an interesting place to visit, and perhaps live. So hopefully, I will now get a chance. That being said, I am still waiting. Fingers crossed.

International Schools

It is difficult to judge schools but there are ways that this is done in the international community. We don't have grades like students but some are definitely better than others. My current school, Shanghai Community International School, is actually quite good. I would give it an overall B in the international community. Shanghai American School is one of our big rivals and it probably is an A school based on its reputation. I have known a lot of people who have taught there, however, and they weren't anything too special, so reputation is key for a school. The school were I was before Shanghai, the American International School of Kuwait, was probably a C level school when I arrived, but it improved every year I was there. We had pretty good administrators and the community was mostly interested in education. We did have a fair bit of problems, however, as all schools do, so I would say our grade would have still be in the B minus range when I left. Still it was a great place to work, and I hope it keeps improving. My first international school was the New School of Collaborative Learning. It was small (only about 80 students) but everyone worked really hard to make it work. For effort we would definitely have gotten an A, but the quality of life in Beijing was low, the material needs for the teachers were never met and the pay was just awful (and got worse after I left). Unfortunately that school never had a chance to get better, and it ended up going out of business a few years after I left. I would say it was a C school, that never quite had a chance to improve. I write all of these reflections today, because I have just applied to what I consider an A school, The Cairo American College in Egypt. I have an interview on Wednesday and am super-excited. I interviewed with them last year, but didn't make the cut. Hopefully, this year will be a little better. Their enrollment has fallen a bit because of the Arab Spring and the recent overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, but I think it might be a great time to get to Cairo to see what is going on there on the ground. Insha'allah I will get the job. Wish me luck.