A Pleasant Surprise

Those of you who have been reading my blog might be thinking a couple of things. I was told by a friend that I've written some intense stuff since I've been here and after reading through all my blogs I would have to agree. I guess I've just been doing a lot of thinking and I feel like letting you guys know about it. It's a lot better than just giving you a play-by-play of my day because if I did, it would be pretty much the same all the time.

            Yesterday was a different story. It's time to lighten up the mood and focus on the simple and pure joy of a game called tennis. A lot of you know that I love this game. What you may not know is that I even brought my racquet to Egypt hoping by some miracle I would live next to a court. That is not the case so my racquet has been collecting cob webs in the corner for the past month and a half. Yesterday after PE one of my students asked me if I played tennis. I told him yes and that I had even brought my racquet. He got all excited and told me to go get my racquet. I did and met him at the volleyball court. I don't know why I never thought of this but he said that another SM from last year liked to play tennis so they would untie the volleyball net and tie it around the base of the poles. It was just like a regular tennis court minus the lines and the fact that the net didn't stop the ball. Minor detail. One advantage though was that the sand around the court helped stop the ball when you hit it out. Even as I was playing I was thinking, now this is something to write home about. I mean we even had all three surfaces in one. Mostly concrete for the hard court. Grass and weeds popping up through the cracks. Wimbledon anyone? And finally the sand that accumulates around the edge of the court makes for a perfect clay like surface. I think even Nadal would be impressed with my hit and slide. I only fell once.

Just simply being able to hit the ball back and forth with someone made my week. Plus the viewpoints and comments that some of the students have just make me laugh inside. One of them asked to see my racquet and upon examining it, told me that the one he got in his small village is better. Who am I to judge, maybe it is. Another student ran to his room and brought back two Badminton racquets. When I tried to explain what sport those were used for he didn't really get it. Come on how do you explain a "birdie" to an Egyptian?

All in all it was a great day in Egypt. Definitely have to do it again sometime.