Teachers Pretending to Be Cooks

Saturday, February 21--Teachers Pretending to Be Cooks


About a week ago, Tamer, one of the teachers on our staff, came up with a great idea: how about if the teachers take one day of the school year and serve the cooks at supper time? Every day of the year our Egyptian cooks do a fantastic job serving us appetizing and nutritious meals. How about if we, the resident staff, return the favor for one evening meal? Now, as it turned out, we didn't really have to slave over a hot stove all day. The cooks still ended up doing most of the work. They cooked the food, with the exception of the meat, which Tamer grilled outside. However, we did serve the cooks and had them sit at the tables and eat first as our "guests". It was really just an occasion for us to tell them how much we appreicate all they do for us. Next year we are thinking of having a real, honest-to-goodness pot luck dinner where we DO cook all the food, and have them take a day off from their chores. In this photo you see Kris and Tamer visiting at our table in the residents' dining hall. Incidentally, Tamer is our P.E. teacher. His wife and he came to Schutz with us this year from the state of North Carolina. They have a 5 year old son, Noah.

Mark and Pat McCright, our very good friends from Iowa.

Kris, slicing up some bread for our meal.

Hab, who is one of the greatest guys around, hails from Egypt, and has been working at Schutz for about 15 years.

Tamer, outside at the grill, sizzling the steaks.

Mark, doing his best to be a true servant of the people.

This is what our well-stocked kitche looks like..behind the scenes.

Two of the guys who were being honored yesterday. The man on the right has been working at Schutz since he was a little boy. His father worked her for forty years!!

Another one of the cooks......even though they were being honored, they were doing most of the work

Kris, Mike, and Kelly( one of our teachers--she hails from California) serving one of the cooks.

From left to right: Mike and Nada C.(Nada is our elementary principal and hails from North Carolina; Mike is from New York; on the right is Clay, a high school Chemistry teacher from Houston.

Hab, Mike, Kris, and Tamer enjoying some mealtime conversation.

Left to right: Dr. Joyce, the school director-from Denver, Jane and Frank Walsh(Jane is the school librarian and Frank is the high school principal--they hail from the state of Maine, and in the foreground with her back to the camera is Kristal, who comes from Missouri. She teaches and also is an aide at the Middle and High School level.

Tamer, Hab, and Mike------I don't have a clue what we were talking about

Middle School Sports Festival-Cairo-Feb. 2009

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I just returned this morning from Cairo along with 14 energetic 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and Miss Shadia, the school's elementary P.E. teacher, who has been at Schutz for 33 years. This weekend the EMAC (Eastern Mediterranean Athletic Conference) Middle School Sports Festival was held at the British International School which is located in a northern suburb of Cairo. Last August, when the teachers signed up to teach or coach different events/sports I volunteered to chaperone this event. What attracted me to helping out in this endeavor was the fact that it was a non-competitive activity in the sense that there were no trophies awarded, no official scores taken, and that the athletes chosen to participate were not necessarily the best athletes from a given school. We chose students who have a good academic record and have had a history of being "good sports", but we did also look at their athletic ability.On Wednesday, Feb. 4, after school, we drove by bus from Alex to Cairo and arrived there at about 8:00. Each of the athletes/coaches were hosted by families who send their children to BISC(British International School Cairo). I stayed at Dan Dorrin's apt. Dan is a Chemistry teacher at BISC and is from Ireland.The Festival is a three day event. There were four other schools participating in it. (Cairo American College, a huge school with about 2,000 students, The American Community School of Amman, Jordan, The American Community School of Beirut, Lebanon, BISC, and Schutz American School. During the Festival three sports were played. On Thursday the focus was on basketball. Each of the four teams played each other during the course of the day. The next day, Friday, it was soccer, and on Saturday we completed the tournament with a round of volleyball games.Now, of course, even though it was not a trophy event, and there were no scores taken, the competitive blood did flow. Schutz American School with its small enrollment of only 260 students, has a David vs. Goliath complex when it comes to playing the "home state" rivals, BISC and Cairo American School. Both of those schools have many more students then we do. Well, the boys' team just about cleaned the slate against all opponents, ending up with a 10-1-1 record, and the girl's team played at about .500 level.We were able to take a quick trip to see the pyramids during one of the mornings. Each evening the students would be picked up by the host families and taken home for an evening of entertainment. We called each home at 10:00 p.m. to make sure the students were in bed or at the hosts' home.All in all it was a very enjoyable, but also, VERY exhausting weekend for both students, and ESPECIALLY for the two 55 year old coaches.

A Familiar Sight For All Teachers: A Ride On A Bus

Our athletes sitting on the bleachers-British Int'l School-Cairo

Waiting For the Next Game of Basketball

Miss Shadia---32 Years at Schutz-Coach, P.E. Instructor and Friend to Each of the Students

Boys Warming Up For a Game

Wiping His Face or Smelling His Armpit

Three Middle School Dudes

The Coach With Some Sage Advice

Three Girls Who Could Care Less About the Game

The Six Girls Who Made Up the Schutz Line-up

The front of the new British Int'l School- Cairo

A Big Pile of Old Rocks

Horse and Carriage Near the Big Piles of Rocks

A Smilin' Camel Near Piles of Big Rocks

A Different Pile of Big Rocks

Another View of That Same Pile

People Standing on the Big Pile of Big Rocks

My, See How Big Each Rock in That Big Pile of Rocks Really Is

More Rocks

Three Piles of Big Rocks

Old Man Wearing SVDP Jacket in Front of Big Piles of Rocks

Lots of Sand, Camels, and Peopl

One of Our Students With Tourist Trapping Adorning His Head

Same Student Down for the Ten Count---Taking a Nap on Bus

Soccer Action

Water Break

Two Pools---Both Heated-The Large One an Olympic-Sized 50 meters in length. British Int'l School-Cairo

Happy Girls

Another Water Break

Boy and Girl Talk

Mr. Omar-A Guy With a Big Pile of Hair

The Coach and One of Her Students

The Boys' and Girls' Teams

Ireland-Christmas 2008-Goin' Home to a Place I've Never Been Before

Early Winter Irish Morn

Purple Haze in the East as the Sun Begins to Rise

Mom and Matt-Celebrating His 27th Birthday

Eating Matt's Christmas Pie, Perhaps?

Ice Cream to go on top of Christmas Apple Crumble Pie

Milk to Help Christmas Crumble Pie Slide Down the Gullet

Misty Mountain Views From Our House in Louisburgh

Swirls of Cottony Clouds Enveloped the Mountains Each Morn

Another View--See the Clouds Hovering Over the Mountain

A Chilly Walk Along the Atlantic Coastline near Louisb

Matt Taking A Ramble

The Atlantic--Looking Westward--Only a Few Thousand Miles to New Joise

More Ocean

A Christmas Tree in Our Rental House

Christmas Dinner---Pizza and Wine

Prince Albert-The King of All Louisburg Sheep and Our Neighbor

Shafts of Sunlight Shine Down Upon Us--Our House in the Background

I Think This is Lousiburgh--A Village of About 500 People

Stone Wall-Many of These in the Country

We Walked Many a Mile on Roads Just Like This One

A Teeny Tiny Tractor in its Teeny Tiny Shed

Two Members of the Infamous Bovine Brothers Gang

We're Not in Egypt Anymor

Our Rental Cottage in the Background

Another Beautiful Display of The Sun Doing its Ray Thing

OOPS--You Just Saw This One

Our Rental Van--Yikes! Hundreds of Miles Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road

The Cottage-Notice the Skylights-A Very Cool Feature---At Night We Could See the Stars Through Them-During the Day---the Mountains

Our Neighbors, Betsey and Lorraine--Outside Our Kitchen Window

The Mount of Jolly Green Men

Darkness All Around Us

Peek-A-B00-Moon Resting on a Fencepost

Matt Enterained Us For Many An Hour Under the Skylight in the Upstairs Living Room

The Upstairs Loft Living Room---A Comfy Place to Spend the Evenings

Another View of the Living Room--Lookind From the Couch Towards the TV and Electric Fireplace

Dublin-The First Three Days--The Breakfast Part of the Bed and Breakfast Place We Stayed At---Baldara House

Matt, Kris and Maura-the Owner of Baldara House---Scrumptious Traditional Irish Breakfasts Were Served Here

The Bed Part of the Bed and Breakfast-Baldara House-Dublin

Downtown Dublin---Center of City--Christmas Madness

Lord and Lady Greystroke in Pub---I Think-----Not Sure