quick updates

I just found out that Ill be teaching summer school starting next week Tuesday at Edison High School, a HS which DOES have air conditioning. ALHAMDULILLAH.

Today, our first day, consisted in 10 hours from 7 am to 4 pm sitting in Edison HS listening to Curriculum Specialists and Corps Member Advisors speak on the important aspects of planning and organization in lesson plans and curriculum.

We also heard the founder of TFA, Wendy Kopp, speak at our opening ceremony. I must say, less than impressive. Jason Kamras, a DC Corps member from the 90s however, GREAT SPEAKER, FUNNY MAN.


pillow- $4.50, mattress pad= $6.99, a full night's sleep at institute= PRICELESS

buenas noches

Settling In

I just arrived in Philly today at about 1 PM and have taken the day to set up my dorm room and just hang out before $h!t hits the fan tomorrow. We have to be at breakfast by 6 AM (a 10 minute walk from the dorms) and on the bus by 6:45. I was going to skip breakfast and just grab a granola bar but we also have to take our lunch from the dining hall. So skipping breakfast means skipping lunch too! No thanks.

As of now, I'm feelin good. We haven't really started anything yet. Induction has just been a mix of social events and informational sessions about the master's program at American University, the DC region and the Achievement Gap in DC (as I explained earlier). Tomorrow we'll actually be going to the high school and figuring out what our next 5 weeks will look like. It's nice to know that we'll be here for 5 weeks- we at least have the chance to settle in a little bit. As much as I love to travel, I do NOT like living out of suitcases.

So far, I'll be teaching at Edison High School this summer but have no further information about my class or exact teaching assignment. Our first day of teaching is the upcoming Monday.

Apt Viewing

We have a 3 hour break til our next meeting, so I am going to check out the apartment for which I just signed a lease in the eastern market area. It's a row house with 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths and 2 half baths. We also have a porch and small yard because we're a corner lot! This is extremely exciting for me becuase ever since living in he house near the stadium in Madison I have wanted to have a porch and mini-yard like I had there. Perfect for happy hour on the porch and barbeques in the yard! My stop- Staduim Armory- is next... Hasta pronto!

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Induction, Day 2

continued from earlier...

The heat in this city does not lower as the sun lowers. Last night at 9 pm, it was still 91 degrees! I guess I had forgotten how intense heat is when there is a high humidity involved as well. But complaining doesn't make it any better, so on to more important topics.

Today was the first day that I felt truly inspired to embark on the journey that I will in the next two years. We took the metro this morning to Central High School in Prince George's County to see more or less what we will be working with/ in. The high school that we visited was not too shabby-- the gym and classrooms were intact and utilitarian. Nothing nice about them, but at the same time, nothing bad about them either. A solid facility. But of course we are not in these places because they have poor facilities, but because the students who attend them are not achieving to the levels that they should. Prince George's county is an interesting county in terms of demographics. Many immigrants who in the past have moved to DC are now finding respite in PG County, as gentrification of DC neighborhoods have pushed them out the of the district. This has also happened with many Black families in DC throughout the past 30 or so years. It's great for us whities and wealthy folk who come to DC for vacation because it means that more places in DC are suitable to our preferences- bars, restaurants, apartments, specialty grocery stores, etc. However the high cost of living has pushed former residents into surrounding areas. Gentrification does not mean a overall improvement for everyone, but instead just for the people who invest money into the area and for those who reap the benefits of these commercial ventures.

Nonetheless, we have many families in PG county who are very wealthy. In fact it is the wealthiest majority African American county in the United States. However these wealthy families are not always spending their money in PG County because of other, more prestigious institutions in the vicinity, but outside of the county. Thus, the schools are not receiving the attention that they need and deserve. One PG community member told us today that she moved her family to PG county so that they could be in a more diverse community, but then did not feel comfortable sending her students to the schools there because they were so sub-standard. The truth of the matter was that no one cared about the children at these schools enough to fight for their educational rights.

In the last few decades this has been changing in the DC region. TFA and other programs which bring education to the forefront have emerged and are pushing school districts, leaders and politicians to invest not only money, but time and attention into the school areas and districts which need it most. Especially in DC it has been proven that failing or successful schools are not defined not by the students, but by the integrity of the teachers. This is demonstrated by several DC schools which are close in proximity to one another, but just because of the presence of several strong and encouraging teachers, the students are achieving at higher rates. In this situation, the students are not the variables. Instead what varies from school to school is the teachers.

Chancellor of DC public schools Michelle Rhee has taken this as her charge and revolutionized the way that schools are run in DCPS (Public Schools)-- or rather, the way in which these schools will be run in the future. She, and other advocates of strong, quality educations for DC youth regardless of their upbringing focus on the progress of the teacher in the classroom when it comes to compensation. No longer will the eldest teacher be paid the most and have the most job security. These teachers are equally welcome to prove their successes in the classroom but will not automatically be grandfathered into the system (and as you can imagine, cause quite an uproar in this movement.) But when you consider this, I'd like you to think of what career in the whole world allows its employees to lose money, fail or fall short year after year, but allow them to still stay on board as a part of the business. I personally can't think of any. And when you further consider the raises that teachers will receive for setting and achieving goals with their students, it only makes sense that when salaries are raised, other, equally bright and intelligent teachers will be attracted to doing the same job.

Time for bed yall.

besitos

Welcome to my first post from DC! I'm writing from my iPhone as I sit and wait for our next session to begin. First things first- this city is HOT! hot and muggy. I feel like I am a 300-400 pound person wearing a sweatsuit as I romp around this city. I'm pretty sure every pore in my body has excreted about 1 gallon of sweat each. I am constantly drenched from head to toe in SWEAT! ick. But what I hate more than sweat is people complaining about the heat and sweat.

The DC communtiy leader panel is beginning here in the auditorium at the National Geographic Museum. To be be continued!




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Black Hole

I have known that I would be spending the majority of my summer training to be a secondary spanish teacher since mid-October of 2009 when I found out that I was accepted into Teach for America. I've know that I would be thrown in front of a group of kids, many of whom do not care to be sitting in front of me, many of whom have already accepted the feeling of academic defeat. I've known that for 6 weeks out of my summer I would get about 3-5 hours of sleep each night. Yet for the last 8 months, I have not felt even the least bit apprehensive, nervous, or scared. However I suppose the culmination of that prior knowledge is NOW. It's 12 hours before my Milwaukee-->DCA Airtran flight, and I just feel FUNNY. What I have realized is that in all my other endeavors--study abroad, travel, summer jobs, academic year-long jobs--I have gone into knowing that at if its not for me, it will all be over soon. But this, Teach for America, is not a summer job. Nor is it a part time job to pay the rent during the academic year. It's a two year adventure that I'm sure will consume the majority of my time and leave me feeling exhausted at times and accomplished at others. I'm not walking five minutes out of the Embassy to Gordon Commons, nor am I riding my bike 15 minutes to Madison West High School. I'm packing up EVERYTHING I have (which, to be honest, fills just about 4 large suitcases and about 4 filing boxes) and taking it cross country. I've signed a lease on an apartment which I have yet to see, work in a county that I've never been to before and in a school which I haven't even been assigned yet.

While I still don't feel scared or nervous, I just feel a little uneasy. Uneasy that I'm throwing myself into this vaguely defined black hole which I know will consume me, yet into which I still willingly jump head first. So ladies and gentlemen, here I go.

Blast from the Past--Reflection on Egypt 2006

This past summer, I had the chance to do something that not every teenager, or person for that matter, has the opportunity to do. I spent six weeks in Cairo, Egypt as part of an Egyptian family and as a student at an Arabic Language and Cultural Center. Two weeks after having returned to the United States, it is strange because I almost feel like my journey to Egypt never even took place. I am again sitting at the same computer as 8 weeks before, chatting with the same friends from high school, and I have even moved out of my home and am making a new transition into college. On the surface, my life is the same. But looking deeper into the thoughts and actions that I carry out on a daily basis, one can see how much six short weeks in the Middle East has drastically changed my outlook on life and my purpose in it.

Before Egypt, I considered myself a very open-minded, knowledgeable person. I started an International Awareness Club at my high school, and I hosted several exchange students. And as I can imagine my Egyptian host mother telling me, smiling “meshi, ok.” Which, in this situation implies “Okay. Thank you for sharing, Maria.” I did have an open mind and I did know a thing or two about the worlds different cultures and peoples. But by the end of my six week adventure, I realized how much how much my mind could still be opened and how much more I could actually learn. What I learned came did not come just from five weeks of Arabic class or just from time spent with my Egyptian family. Instead it was these experiences, combined with many others. It was the school and family combined with ith the two hours I spent on 6 different microbuses every day, or asking directions from a woman on the street, or us Americans asking our Arabic teacher Mohammed about an uncomfortable or confusing cultural situation we had gotten ourselves into. The knowledge that I gained came from the week I spent in the Egyptian countryside, sleeping under the stars on the balcony and living without running water. It came from from how I felt as a veiled woman at a conservative family wedding, how part of me wished I could have worn a sexy new dress, and then how the other part never thought of what I was wearing but instead on the interactions that I had. What I felt, what I ate, what I saw, what I heard, what I dreamed and even what I smelled contributed to all that I discovered during my stay in Egypt.

So, what did I learn? How exactly did it impact me? Like my peers who accompanied me on this trip, I feel that a summarization of what knowledge I gained is impossible. More appropriately, the feelings and emotions that I now possess can expose what I have learned about Egyptian and Arab culture. I must first say that my feelings are strong. Upon returning home, I was surprised to feel an even greater longing for Egypt than I did for my home while abroad. I was both extremely happy for what I had accomplished and having met the people I had met, but also exceptionally sad to have to leave it all behind when I was just becoming comfortable and beginning to understand. I feel strongly about many of the experiences that I had while in Egypt.
Primarily, I feel strongly connected to my Egyptian family. Whereas anyone could read a book about Egyptian family life, when in Egypt, the trials and tribulations that I went though in the process of connecting with each member of my family helped me gain an understanding of exactly what it meant to be a family in Cairo, Egypt. What role did I have as a daughter, an older sister, a teenager, a woman? At first I had no idea, but the more time that I spent with my family and walking around the streets of Cairo, I believe I began to understand. When my host sister told me the she could only hope that the family’s next exchange students would be as respectful of the home’s rules and traditions as I was, I felt that I had accomplished one of the greatest feats in my life. Or when my host father called me “ya habibiti” or “ya binti” (my love or my girl) rather than just “Maria,” I felt as if I had picked up on even the smallest cultural fragments that brought together a family.

Furthermore, I feel strongly attached to the Middle East and recognize it as a significant region of the world. Before I went to Egypt, I was aware of the problems that seemed to be growing there. However, I did not concern myself with them. I felt that it was some Muslim extremist’s fault for creating wars and that there was really nothing more to it. Like many other Americans, I didn’t want to make “their problem” my problem. Here, however, is where my views have changed most dramatically. Whereas I previously laughed with my Waukesha friends who told me that they only hoped that I would come back alive from Egypt and that I would not meet any terrorists, I now become appalled and angered by these kinds of jokes. It frustrates and saddens me that the majority of the American population, as I once did, sees the Middle East as a place only for violence, war, extreme religion and terrorism. It is true that these types of corruption exist there. However, I had an experience most opposite from this stereotype. Though Egyptians dislike American governmental policy, I, as an American citizen, was welcomed with open arms into the homes and hearts of more families and new friends than I can name. Bombs? I didn’t see any. So-called "terrorists" ? I didn’t meet any.

Yes. The people of Egypt are mostly Muslim, and yes, the women cover with long sleeves and veils. Yes. Many stereotypes that people have of Egypt and the Middle East are true in many situations. But in no way do these ideas prevent the Egyptian people from learning, growing and sharing just like Americans desire to do. My conservative Muslim family who never missed any of the five-a-day prayers and who were the first ones at the mosque every Friday, taught me only about kindness, sharing and community. My mother, who veiled from head to toe, always stayed up until I returned home safe at night. My sister, who will not date until she has accepted a marriage offer, and I bantered about the order and atomic weight of the elements on the periodic table and also which shirt looked better with which pants. In these situations, it wasn't until I felt the sweat dripping down my brow and looked out the window to see the desert as my backyard that I was in a foreign land half-way across the world.

It is true that Egyptian culture is so incredibly different from that of the United States. I am not lying when I say that many times I was uncomfortable or felt awkward because of a cultural difference or misunderstanding. I will admit that I was at times scared of finding my way around Cairo during my daily transit from school to home. However, I cannot begin to explain the unbelievable feeling that one attains when he or she finally can get from school to home without a problem, jump into a conversation with your average, everyday Egyptian, or walk down the street without feeling like a stranger. For the past summer, being "just like Asmaa, like Afnaan, like Ayatt, like Abd-alRahman" as my host mom would say in reference to my 4 sisters and brother, this is what I feel I have accomplished. By the last week in Cairo, I felt part of the family, part of the culture, and most notably, a part of Cairene society.