For countless Americans, nothing would be more thrilling than for the opportunity to live and be able to work abroad. Indeed, upon graduation, I had the opportunity to experience a new culture, travel, and simply learn and discover. My 7th month in, I was able to land a job abroad.
Teaching English offers us young wanders the opportunity to live the life we want. I got really lucky because this job came to me. I was recruited to be an English Teacher for a camp by YDC at Kattameya Heights. I had no idea what i was in for. The interview went something like this... Phone rings.. Caller ID says “Shaymaa” ME: Hey there! SHAYMAA: Hey rooj, what are you doing tomorrow? ME: mmm u know..absolutely nothing.. SHAYMAA : Ok meet me tomorrow at downtown at 7:15 am. Me: Ok?... Shaymaa: I have a job for u. Me: Perfect I’ll be there!.. Suddenly she passes the phone to a lady named, Mona, who by the way turns out to be an important lady working for the company, she tells me to meet her at a different location. The next morning, I do just that. 7:15 AM I am waiting for what i thought would be a yellow school bus to pick me up. 8:00am and no sign of a yellow school bus. I must've missed it I thought. 8:25, A white microbus pulls up and says hop in! I ride and mind you at this point I am still clueless as all hell. I am not sure how but somehow I knew I would be working in what would be considered a camp enviorment so i wore my Khakhis and a red tshirt. I go in and I introduce myself to the rest of the gang and get introduced to Mona, the executive director, who i spoke to earlier. After two hours, things are so hectic so the program manager, Ellen didn't get a chance to fill me in on everything except that days duty. I ended up teaching that same day. Completely unprepared, I had no choice but to ignore my stomach rumbles and acted like i knew what I was doing . Although i had no idea how to teach or how to even approach the kids I pretended to know. I was given the material and jumped right in and taught. My stomach continued to rumble but ignored. I was teaching 2 classes in one camp and 3 classes in another. The other camp program is called SMASH. The teacher before me ended up quitting because of the kids in that program. My kids were all very spoiled, loud and did not listen. It was the summer and I had 40 kids in some of my classes. Getting them to focus almost seemed impossible. Just imagine a bunch of 3-17 year old rich kids, who came into camp eating chocolate, for snack ate chocolate, after lunch ate chocolate and after camp ate chocolate. Sugar high 247. Unhealthy and hyper. Not a great mix while trying to teach and of course you cannot forbid them because god forbid these were rich kids who ruled over you! My gosh, I would love to be able to see how unhealthy these kids grow up to be. Egyptian culture is all about chocolate! Looking back, it was all very fun. Although, I shouldn’t have been so nervous I can understand why I was, since I had no prior experience I lacked belief and confidence.
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