Stu's visit to Egypt (year 2)
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03/12/2003
Greetings Friends and Family,
March 1, 2003
Here's a pleasant change of pace.
Now you can enjoy all of the intimate individuality of a mass email
delivered with the personal touch of your
US
postal worker. Thanks to the mass
reproduction of photographs, return address labels and photocopying I am able to
personally communicate with each and every one of you without actually picking
up a pen and writing any of your names.
The big news is that I accepted a
position at the
American
Community
School
in
Beirut
,
Lebanon
. It's a two-year contract starting
September 2003. I'll be teaching 7th
grade science next year and possibly Environmental Science and Head of
Department the following year. It
was one of my first choices in schools and I'm looking forward to it.
I had mixed feelings about leaving
Egypt
. I have met some great people.
My current job is pretty low stress and not heavily demanding.
The cost of living is low. Travel
opportunity and saving potential are high. The
climate suits me fine and the weekend activities are fun.
So why leave?
Fair question. I'm feeling a
bit stagnant here. I don't mingle
with the local culture much and generally hang out with other westerners.
My school is going through some changes in pay structure, schedule and
personnel that I don't like. The air
and noise pollution is extreme. The
dirty conditions, littered streets and open sewer system are beginning to take
its toll on my tolerance for squalor. I'm
not quite ready to leave, but I feel like one more year would be too much.
I'd rather leave a place wanting to return than leave a place hating it.
So when I found out that there was
a job fair in NYC and three of my top choices in schools had openings in
my field and my sister was moving to
Brooklyn
I decided to go. I attended an
International Recruitment Conference for Overseas educators in NYC in early
February. I was able to stay with my
sister Kerri and her husband in
Brooklyn
and it allowed me an all too brief visit home to
Rochester
. That was great.
I really enjoyed the city, although I had to endure arctic conditions.
The conference was intense. Very
competitive and more than a little nerve wracking.
I interviewed with three schools and met many school heads from around
the world. My first choice was
Singapore
American
School
, but they had filled their positions already.
Taipei
American
School
blew me off and a school in
Bulgaria
was interested, but hired a couple instead.
(Couples always get preference at international schools.
Schools save recruitment money and resources by filling two positions at
once. They also save on housing and
insurance costs. Couples also tend
to be less transient.)
ACS Beirut offered me a middle
school position. I accepted after
consulting with my family. I was
concerned about their perception and their safety concerns.
They were concerned, to be sure, but they were also very supportive of
whatever decision I made. Talking
with my family made me think about what makes us think about things.
Remember that our perception of
things is based solely on information that gets into our heads.
Like many of you, my perception of
Beirut
was based solely on images of the civil war shown on the nightly news during
the eighties. Stories in the papers
and on television that told of death, destruction, and civil unrest.
Atrocities committed by
Israel
, occupation by
Syria
and the fear of every citizen in
Lebanon
was all reported with the caption "Middle East Conflict" over Walter
Cronkite's head. It was safe to say
that
Beirut
was crossed off many people's lists of vacation destinations.
Now I have new information.
Information gathered by visiting and experiencing the place.
Information gathered by reading books about the country and meeting the
people that live there. Let me share
some of that with you.
It is an eclectic, clean, easy place to live.
It is much less third world than
Cairo
. English, French and Arabic are
spoken in equal proportion and there are as many Christians as Muslims.
There is a much greater freedom of speech and less government
interference in the average citizen's life.
Starbucks, Virgin Records, restaurants, and nightclubs are abundant.
And the people are friendly. During
the last decade, the new government has spent millions of dollars.
Roads, buildings and infrastructure have been rebuilt.
The unique topography makes it possible to downhill ski in the morning
and hit the beach in the afternoon. Year-round
agriculture gives
Lebanon
a reputation of fine wines and decadent cuisine.
The French influence is still strong and it is easy to see why
Beirut
was once known as "The Paris of the East."
The wounds of civil war are still
fresh. But the people are young and
vibrant. Children who were able to
escape the ravages of war twenty years ago have returned home as adults and do
not want to repeat history. There is
an undercurrent of growth and healing that permeates the culture.
Today, my perception of
Lebanon
is vastly different than my perception was two years ago.
In this case a change in perception is a good thing.
Since I will be residing and making my living in the place for at least
two years it is healthier to have a positive perception.
I'm not saying that changing your
perception is always a good thing. I
don't want to be "Mister World Traveler Guy" and sound like I think if
you don't have an open mind you're a bad person.
For example, I have no interest in changing my perception about soccer.
I remain steadfast in my ignorance of the "sport" and believe
that I already know way more about it than I need to know.
Changing your perception is not always a welcome thing.
And there is no "correct" perception.
The very nature of perception makes it subjective and not objective.
So, I encourage you to gather information and learn new things.
But only if you want to. Be
careful. It may change your
perception.
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