Egypt!

Pyramids, camels, pharoahs and the Sahara Desert.  Even though I know that Egypt is more than that, those are the images that immediately leap to mind when I hear the word.  In fact, as the mentor teacher for Wael Saleh and Mohamed Abdelsamad of the Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education I know a lot more about Egypt than I used to.  Being a mentor teacher and working with TCLP teachers has been extraordinarily rewarding in spite of the amount of work that it added to my plate. As a result of this program, it has been a hope that I would one day get to travel to Egypt to explore the place that my new Egyptian friends call home.

My dream has come true sooner than I would have expected.  American Councils for International Education recently invited me, as an alumna of the program, to travel to Egypt to interview and assist in the selection of the cadre of Egyptian teachers for the 2012-13 cadre of TCLP teachers. My first response to the invitation was whether or not the district would let me go.  Of course, the answer was yes and so...here I am, preparing to leave for Egypt in about a week.