First day: Lord of the Flies

I am sitting back in the apartment, drinking some very strong tea, and reflecting on the first day of volunteering, the activities which will comprise the bulk of my time for the remainder of my time here.

After getting in last night around 4, and going to sleep sometime after 5, I decided to sleep in.  Well, tried to sleep in - it was another cold morning in the apartment, which I don't mind typically, except that occasionally the shivering wakes me up in the middle of the night and then it can be hard to fall asleep again.

I made breakfast (I accidentally purchased small eggs, so my 4 egg omelet was closer to a two egg omelet with large eggs, and then headed to a meeting at the first school.  I feel like us focused on just teaching english is an under utilization of our collective skills.  I am in complete agreement with Feynman that when you are a stuck on a difficult problem, you should return to the basics - whenever he was working on a difficult physics problem, he would go back and teach basic physics and many times going over the fundamentals helped clarify something in the deeper problems.  But as a trained electrical engineer, and trained sociologist / anthropologist with experience in business, consulting, and many other things, teaching english is an under utilization of our potential.  I could be helping these kids minds grow, working with them on understanding from a different perspective some of the tensions that exist in this country from an outsiders perspective.  There is so much I could do (once I have a better command of the language) in broadening their horizons more than helping them with english.  It's just a tool, english.  Thinking doesn't require a language.

But, I was respectful throughout the meeting and didn't say anything about working in other departments.

Afterwards, I went to check mail with Ben and then it was to the Arab Kadima.  They were playing my favorite game, Lord of the Flies.  Chaos ensued, but it was controlled chaos.  I think the kids were a little more energetic than normal because we were there.  I worked with some kids on some english, and then asked them to show me the arabic alphabet.  The kadima is an after school program for kids that come rough familes, or facing other problems at home.  Building self confidence is really important, so letting the students teach me something, and showing them that I am really interested in what they know is a great way to do that.  And, I get to learn some arabic - though I better study, i think they have high expectations of their student!

I had a Lafa on the way home - I ordered it entirely in Hebrew which was very cool.  And, come to think of it, it was cheaper than when I got it the first time and did it in english.  It's like I am gaining membership to a secret society, and they have a great group discount at a falafel place near you!

I have been trying to watch Lost, but can't find a good site - I saw most of the recap, but then youtube took down the last section.  If I proxy into the US, I can get to the official website and watch it, but the connection is really slow.  I will have to figure out what I am going to do so I don't go into withdrawal.