Volume Four

Hello to all,
I am currently sitting at school and I have spent my weekend camping at a place called Abu Sultan. (See attached map) It is located on the north end of a large sort of lake in the middle of the Suez Canal somewhat separated (though the same water) from the Red Sea. It is beautiful, warm clear salt-water, it felt like walking into a bath. Unbelieveable!

We had around 40 Scouts from 10-17 years old and there is a senior patrol that is supposed to organize the rest, which they do for the most part. I am designated as their Assistant Scoutmaster. After working with the little guys at school it is a refreshing change. They cooked in Dutch Ovens (Cast Iron Pots with charcoal above and below) I forgot my camera and was remiss about it when we saw the Blue-tailed Skink. This country continues to surprise. The Scouts were essentially set up on the lawn of a Villa which has a waterfront.

We had an inflatable motorboat and 5 canoes. The Scouts were working on their Canoeing and Motorboating 'Merit Badges.' Naturally I volunteered to instruct the Canoeing however I actually had never instructed Solo canoeing which was really fun. I personally ran 9 new scouts through the entire water program. I have been away from the youth too long it seems. They had a canoe race, beach campfire, and an ‘In and Out’ race on my suggestion. (Kids race their canoes but have to jump out and back into canoes on a whistle) The whole thing was great.
The mind-blowing part of the weekend was the fact that throughout the day we could look out into the middle of the water and see Oil Rigs, Cargo ships and Oil Tankers, and one Supertanker - you know the mile long ships. Absolutely amazing.

Coming back on the bus I realized that other than the terrain Scouting here is just like Scouting back home and I am having a blast.

SCHOOL NEWS!

I am now working the middle three days of the week at another campus of the school. I get a smaller bus to Heliopolis to work with 2 students who are developmentally delayed. One is 9 the other 10 and they both function around the level of a 6 year old. They are good boys, excitable and talkative and I think that working in this will be more interesting than waiting for someone to fall ill. Also I get good experience with Special Ed, and this should allow me to pick my job for next year. I want to go to the High-School and I want English and History (AT LONG LAST!).
On Wednesday night I am flying to Sharm-El-Sheikh with the Model United Nations. There are 79 High School Students who are going to have a mock conference. I'll tell you about that next week.

Tonight is the first game of the Fall Softball league and I am both playing a game and scoring a game.

Busy Busy BUSY!

Talk more later,

Grant