Today I had my first class as a music teacher, for refugees (well, refugee). I volunteered to work with the STAR (Student Action for Refugees) program as a music teacher a few weeks ago and actually attended a class last week, but I could only sit in on the class since there was only one student. This week, however, I actually had my own student, in my own classroom, without the main teacher of the music program. I have to admit I was really nervous going in as I have never taught music before and had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn't know how well my student(s) would speak English, if I had any idea how to teach music, or how I was supposed to even try without a piano available.
A few minutes before the class was supposed to start, I met up with Abas, the main music teacher, who is a little Sudanese man, himself a refugee, who speaks a very accented English in a very quiet voice. He is almost impossible to hear and understand sometimes, so I often only catch about 20% of what he's saying. He went over a little more of what I was supposed to be teaching while I mostly smiled and nodded since I didn't hear most of it; I knew what he was explaining to me anyway since we was talking about the basic music theory I started learning in elementary school and solidified during my first few semesters as a music minor at GW.
I then went up to my classroom and met my student, Elias, a refugee from Ethiopia who has been living in Cairo for about 5 years and has never had any training in music. I started from the very beginning with him, moving quickly through rhythm and pitch until we got to the concept of a 1/2 step (the smallest space between 2 pitches in Western music; Asian music and others have quarter tones, which are smaller). Without being able to use a piano, it was a very difficult concept to teach; I didn't have any source of absolute pitches, so I was relying on my voice to differentiate between a whole step and half step by pulling notes out of the air, which was very difficult. By the end of the class, he had grasped the concept, at least in theory, and was able to build all of the major keys. We finished the last major key with about 3 minutes to spare before the class was over, so we called it a day and planned to meet next Tuesday, as scheduled.
Next week, Elias will hopefully be bringing a keyboard as Abas told him that purchasing one was the only way he would actually be able to learn how to play, through practice at home and such. I'm also planning to bring my pitch pipe with me, as I meant to today, in case he isn't able to buy a keyboard by next week.
After the class, I walked outside and happened upon Abas, who decided to buy me dinner; I couldn't hear him well enough to realize what was happening in time to object. It was cheap street food that I was going to buy anyway, but I felt bad having him pay for it. We then went to an Ahua (Egyptian Arabic for "coffee shop", which is actually a small cafe mostly for men that serves drinks and shisha, aka hookah in the US... I could write another whole post on this) to eat our food and drink tea. It was a really nice gesture on his part to buy me dinner, and I enjoyed spending the extra hour with him, talking about music and a little about his life.
All this just goes to show the cliche: you never know what opportunities will present themselves if you keep an open mind. I found this one by wandering up to the STAR booth on campus one day and stumbling upon the music classes; most of the classes are for teaching English. I never knew my music training would amount to anything. I thought that it was all for my enjoyment, following my passion, and I never expected to find myself teaching music to refugees.
And the kicker? The director of STAR, who I've worked somewhat closely with on all this, is a GW grad.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
A bit of AUC awesomeness
Here's an email I received today from some school official. It's typical AUC... note the part that I bolded.
Dear colleagues:
Late yesterday afternoon, power cables delivering electricity to the New Cairo Campus were accidentally cut by a contractor working on a road outside the campus. Unfortunately, the emergency power generators did not activate as they are designed to do and it was approximately two hours before emergency generator power became available.
AUC's facilities and operations staff, in cooperation with GasCool (the operator of the utility plant), worked to resume power as quickly as possible. I do regret that this incident resulted in power not being restored to time to allow all graduate classes to meet last evening.
We are reviewing the specifics of the incident to ensure that the necessary changes are made to guarantee that there is a minimum level of emergency power available at all times. We will also be meeting this week with officials of the New Cairo municipality to explore what preventive measures can be put in place to avoid further accidents resulting in interruptions to our power supply.
As always, I appreciate your understanding as we look to make the necessary changes to our processes.
Brian
Dear colleagues:
Late yesterday afternoon, power cables delivering electricity to the New Cairo Campus were accidentally cut by a contractor working on a road outside the campus. Unfortunately, the emergency power generators did not activate as they are designed to do and it was approximately two hours before emergency generator power became available.
AUC's facilities and operations staff, in cooperation with GasCool (the operator of the utility plant), worked to resume power as quickly as possible. I do regret that this incident resulted in power not being restored to time to allow all graduate classes to meet last evening.
We are reviewing the specifics of the incident to ensure that the necessary changes are made to guarantee that there is a minimum level of emergency power available at all times. We will also be meeting this week with officials of the New Cairo municipality to explore what preventive measures can be put in place to avoid further accidents resulting in interruptions to our power supply.
As always, I appreciate your understanding as we look to make the necessary changes to our processes.
Brian
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Travel Discoveries/Noticings
I have some general observations from my Middle East travels to share:
1) Think the Middle East is anti-American? Think again.
My American passport was like carrying an All-Access Pass to the world. Need to get into Lebanon? No visa necessary with an American passport. Need to get through customs quickly? Oh, you have an American passport, the line isn't for you, just go to the front. Line is too long here? Make your own.
-Typical conversation with an Egyptian shopkeeper in southern Egypt:
"Where from?"
"America"
"Oh, Obama good man!" or "Obama is my cousin!"
-On the bus to Dahab last week, I was sitting next to an Egyptian about my age who could barely contain his excitement when we went through a checkpoint and I showed the police my American passport. "I've never sat next to an American before!"
-On the way from Dahab to Mt. Sinai, at every checkpoint our mini-bus driver said "3 Americans" immediately after saying where we were going and only a few times mentioned the other citizenships in the mini-bus (French, Canadian, Korean...).
-Overall, telling people you're from the US generates excitement or at least positive reactions (maybe because they expect that you're willing to spend excessive amounts of money in the case of shopkeepers and such) and we never encountered any negative feelings when we mentioned we were American.
2) Related to #1. Middle Eastern countries trust foreigners, not their own citizens. A foreign passport (especially from the US or Europe) gets only a cursory glance, whereas local IDs and paperwork warrant a closer look.
3) Birds of a feather flock together. And by birds of a feather, I mean white people. It's amazing; no matter where we travel, we find other white people: Americans, Australians, Germans... They'll just walk up and start talking to you (and we do the same).
4) Everyone speaks English and assumes you do as well. Even in Beirut, where I thought I'd be able to use French, everyone just spoke to me in English. While my French and Arabic training did come in handy a few times, for the most part it's difficult to convince people to speak to you in anything but English. Middle Easterners and Europeans from non-English-speaking countries alike all converse in English as the common language if they're speaking to anyone who's first language isn't the same as theirs. It makes Americans seem pathetic in our linguistic skills. However, it is nice to know that English seems to be essentially the universal language. Makes traveling a bit easier.
That's all for now; maybe some more later as I think of it.
Kevin
1) Think the Middle East is anti-American? Think again.
My American passport was like carrying an All-Access Pass to the world. Need to get into Lebanon? No visa necessary with an American passport. Need to get through customs quickly? Oh, you have an American passport, the line isn't for you, just go to the front. Line is too long here? Make your own.
-Typical conversation with an Egyptian shopkeeper in southern Egypt:
"Where from?"
"America"
"Oh, Obama good man!" or "Obama is my cousin!"
-On the bus to Dahab last week, I was sitting next to an Egyptian about my age who could barely contain his excitement when we went through a checkpoint and I showed the police my American passport. "I've never sat next to an American before!"
-On the way from Dahab to Mt. Sinai, at every checkpoint our mini-bus driver said "3 Americans" immediately after saying where we were going and only a few times mentioned the other citizenships in the mini-bus (French, Canadian, Korean...).
-Overall, telling people you're from the US generates excitement or at least positive reactions (maybe because they expect that you're willing to spend excessive amounts of money in the case of shopkeepers and such) and we never encountered any negative feelings when we mentioned we were American.
2) Related to #1. Middle Eastern countries trust foreigners, not their own citizens. A foreign passport (especially from the US or Europe) gets only a cursory glance, whereas local IDs and paperwork warrant a closer look.
3) Birds of a feather flock together. And by birds of a feather, I mean white people. It's amazing; no matter where we travel, we find other white people: Americans, Australians, Germans... They'll just walk up and start talking to you (and we do the same).
4) Everyone speaks English and assumes you do as well. Even in Beirut, where I thought I'd be able to use French, everyone just spoke to me in English. While my French and Arabic training did come in handy a few times, for the most part it's difficult to convince people to speak to you in anything but English. Middle Easterners and Europeans from non-English-speaking countries alike all converse in English as the common language if they're speaking to anyone who's first language isn't the same as theirs. It makes Americans seem pathetic in our linguistic skills. However, it is nice to know that English seems to be essentially the universal language. Makes traveling a bit easier.
That's all for now; maybe some more later as I think of it.
Kevin
Beirut!
So, we didn't actually make it to the Dead Sea in Jordan, but it was worth the extra time to rest before Beirut. I'll have to work that into a future trip. Beirut is a crazy city. First off, about half the city is under the control of Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and an organization deemed by the US government to be a terrorist organization. Hezbollah controls southern Lebanon, most of the border with Syria (they started in Syria and get much support from the Syrian government), and part of Beirut. There are essentially two major groups of people in Beirut/Lebanon: those who support the current coalition government and those who support Hezbollah (which is now part of the coalition, but has been for only a few years). It is significantly more complicated than that, but that is the simplified version. We stayed in a government-controlled area (Hezbollah supporters claim everything is "government-controlled" insomuch as Hezbollah is part of the government) and never felt unsafe at all. We were a few blocks from the American University of Beirut (AUB), which is an absolutely beautiful campus with their own beach on the Mediterranean. We spend a little time on the campus just to check it out.
The first night we were there, we got in a little late, so we decided to just stay in the hotel, which was beautiful, for the evening and relax. The next day, we spent some time walking along the Corniche, which is a sidewalk that runs along the Mediterranean. From there, we watched the sunset, which was unlike any I'd seen before. While we were watching the sunset, a man came up and asked us if we were tourists, to which we tentatively responded yes. He explained that he was Australian and was touring the city as well. We talked for a while and while walking back to our respective hotels, exchanged numbers and agreed to meet later (all the while being cautious about our new friend; we never told him where we were staying and made sure that we were meeting up with him somewhere that was in a safe area of the city). We grabbed dinner at this amazing Lebanese fast food place where we got Tawouk (I think!). It was basically chicken, turkey, french fries, pickles, a few other ingredients and some amazing sauce all in a huge pita, all for $5 including a drink. We visited that place several times over the course of our trip.
We met up with our Australian friend, Clancy, a while later at a bar in the same neighborhood as our hotel and went bar hopping from there to a few bars in one of the bar districts of the city. In our travels, we met a few students from AUB and spent some time with them. Sometime during our stay at the last bar, Clancy headed out and we stuck around with a few of the AUB students. We exchanged numbers and agreed to catch up the following night, concealing our hotel location once again.
The following day, the three of us walked down to downtown Beirut, where there are a few mosques, churches and memorials. It was fascinating to see the port area and everything downtown. In addition, because of the very recent civil war (1975-1990), the conflict with Hezbollah in 2006 and the war with Israel in 2008, you can see significant damage to some of the buildings, mostly due to bullet holes.
Later that evening, we caught up with the AUB students and went to a few bars, having incredibly interesting conversations. This was probably the most striking part of my trip, actually talking to real Lebanese people my age and hearing their perspective on events in their country and outside. Their English was very good; one had lived in Canada for many years and other had been born in LA. That being said, while they certainly weren't anti-American, I wouldn't say they were particularly pro-American. However, they were willing to explain things to us since it was clear that we only knew the American side of things. In the US, we hear a lot from Israel's point of view and little from the Lebanese point of view, which can be very different since the two countries have been enemies for decades.
A few notes about Beirut:
-the currency is worth 1500 to 1 USD, so they often just use dollars there; you can get dollars out of the ATMs and everyone takes both currencies, using the 1500/1 exchange rate.
-the city is incredibly advanced despite the fact that it has been torn apart by civil and external wars for the past 3 decades and is still very split by political factions (and every so often, a group like Hezbollah just decides to take over part of Beirut beyond what they already control, like in 2006). Beirut compared to Cairo is like night and day.
In summary, the trip to Beirut was definitely worth doing. I have a much deeper understanding of the country and their culture, although I still feel like I only scratched the surface. The trip has opened my eyes to a whole new culture, and I am actually planning to do much more research on Lebanon for at least one of my classes this semester.
Kevin
The first night we were there, we got in a little late, so we decided to just stay in the hotel, which was beautiful, for the evening and relax. The next day, we spent some time walking along the Corniche, which is a sidewalk that runs along the Mediterranean. From there, we watched the sunset, which was unlike any I'd seen before. While we were watching the sunset, a man came up and asked us if we were tourists, to which we tentatively responded yes. He explained that he was Australian and was touring the city as well. We talked for a while and while walking back to our respective hotels, exchanged numbers and agreed to meet later (all the while being cautious about our new friend; we never told him where we were staying and made sure that we were meeting up with him somewhere that was in a safe area of the city). We grabbed dinner at this amazing Lebanese fast food place where we got Tawouk (I think!). It was basically chicken, turkey, french fries, pickles, a few other ingredients and some amazing sauce all in a huge pita, all for $5 including a drink. We visited that place several times over the course of our trip.
We met up with our Australian friend, Clancy, a while later at a bar in the same neighborhood as our hotel and went bar hopping from there to a few bars in one of the bar districts of the city. In our travels, we met a few students from AUB and spent some time with them. Sometime during our stay at the last bar, Clancy headed out and we stuck around with a few of the AUB students. We exchanged numbers and agreed to catch up the following night, concealing our hotel location once again.
The following day, the three of us walked down to downtown Beirut, where there are a few mosques, churches and memorials. It was fascinating to see the port area and everything downtown. In addition, because of the very recent civil war (1975-1990), the conflict with Hezbollah in 2006 and the war with Israel in 2008, you can see significant damage to some of the buildings, mostly due to bullet holes.
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| From Amman/Beirut |
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| From Amman/Beirut |
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| From Amman/Beirut |
A few notes about Beirut:
-the currency is worth 1500 to 1 USD, so they often just use dollars there; you can get dollars out of the ATMs and everyone takes both currencies, using the 1500/1 exchange rate.
-the city is incredibly advanced despite the fact that it has been torn apart by civil and external wars for the past 3 decades and is still very split by political factions (and every so often, a group like Hezbollah just decides to take over part of Beirut beyond what they already control, like in 2006). Beirut compared to Cairo is like night and day.
In summary, the trip to Beirut was definitely worth doing. I have a much deeper understanding of the country and their culture, although I still feel like I only scratched the surface. The trip has opened my eyes to a whole new culture, and I am actually planning to do much more research on Lebanon for at least one of my classes this semester.
Kevin
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| From Amman/Beirut |
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