T.I.E. (an excellent example)

I came back to Egypt on August 22nd with the stress/excitement/nervousness/suspence of school beginning on the 3oth.

Here's another T.I.E. for you: we were just told that school will NOT be starting until SEPTEMBER 27th! The reason? H1N1 (or the "swine flu" as they continue to say in Egypt). As dictated by the Ministry of Education, international schools cannot permit instruction until after Ramadan. This is to allow Egypt sufficient time to accumulate their supply of Tamiflu.

A few things:

1) Apparently public schools are immune.
2) This is a little late to declare such a dramatic decison. (Well, I suppose it is "early" by Egyptian standards).
3) Our students were notified via TEXT MESSAGING. We were notified by a "what-do-you-need-details-for?" memo in our mailbox. (Don't even get me started...)
4) The teachers who are supposedly "bringing in the swine" are allowed to share it with each other when they attend UN-SCHOOL for the next three weeks.

AY, AY, AY! I'm sure you can sense the bitterness. I secretly hope the text messages don't get through and I have a full class of eager science students on Sunday. What is a school without STUDENTS?! The quiet halls and empty walls are going to bother me.

Ah well. Optimistically, I consider this a GRANDE prep.