Am I really working here?

I finally got to see the school where I'll be teaching at today. It is about 30 minutes away from where I live in New Cairo. A bus (not like a big yellow school bus) will pick me up everyday, and drop me off near my apartment. And Holy Toledo... the school is freaking amazing. It is gated and there are 24 hour security guards. You have to give them your name and check in to even be let in to the school. It is only going into its 9th year, so it's still new. The facilities are fantastic... there is an olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, restaurants, Smart Boards, and grass!!! Which is very hard to find in the desert. There is air conditioning in every classroom, but not in the hallways.

Hayah is an international school, but it is pretty much all Egyptian students. They speak English in all their classes, except Arabic class (obviously). I kept thinking to myself... how did I get this amazing job?!?! I have no experience. And the staff is so supportive and helpful. They're communicative and actually have goals. They actually focus on the staff and support them and value them. That seems to be extremely rare to find in a school unfortunately. Of course this is only my orientation... everything could change once school starts. Oh... and my principal is wonderful. She's funny, likes it when people stop in to talk, and she's caring. I feel so blessed to be working here.

There are certainly going to be challenges. The first year teaching is ALWAYS the biggest challenge because I don't know what I'm doing yet really. I mean, I know what I'm doing, but I don't yet. You know what I mean? And I'm teaching in a completely different culture than I'm used to. Western thinking is very linear... we have steps and like them. Egyptian thinking is very... non-linear. We will see how this pans out. To be continued...

I am going to something fun tonight that I don't know the name of! Some fun market or something with some new expat teacher friends. And tomorrow night, I'm going on a falucca ride on the Nile!! I'm not sure what "falucca" means... but I think it's some kind of boat. Am I right?!?! Anyway, it sounds extremely fun!! And I'm hoping there's wine involved. And yes, this is all with fun teachers. I'm not actually looking forward to school starting and having to do work... but I guess that is why I came here. Oh yeah! And there is a TGI Friday's near the Nile. Who would have thought that?