So today was our first day visiting the Recycling School and it was AMAZING!!! Really, truly amazing.
We got to sit down and have a meeting with Ezzat and Laila, the principal of the school who only speaks Arabic, and we re-planned out our budget with more precise figures. We discussed ways of getting to and from the school every day and settled on pre-arranging a taxi cab driver to pick us up and take us home on a schedule every day. We will work every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a one hour lunch break every day except Friday and Sundays, when the School is only go part-time.
It seems the main thing that needs to be accomplished through the Davis Project is re-plastering the walls, which right now are only brick, making the structure unstable. There is a contractor coming in tomorrow, and we will be overseeing his progress on initiating the re-plastering, as well as assisting in whatever ways he requests of us. Ezzat and Laila are very on-board with our high participation level in the renovations; they agreed that we should be working hands-on as much as possible, and we will be accompanying them to finalize all purchases, such as the tables, chairs, computers, and a projector.
Casey brought lollipops, which were thoroughly enjoyed by all (especially the teachers!) and I brought bouncy-balls, also a big hit, although they disrupted class flow a bit.
We definitely have a ton of work to do, which is nerve-wracking, but both Casey and I feel much less stressed now that we have tangible goals to overcome, a way of getting to the school and back, a more exact budget, a more complete timetable, and a real sense of the people our work will benefit.
Also, as luck would have it, there happens to be a small group of college students working in the area on a mission project. Two were teaching English in the school today, and they offered to show us around to places we can eat lunch, etc. before they leave for the U.S. on Thursday.
So, in conclusion, today exceeded our expectations and we feel optimistic about the next five weeks.
Here is a link to a video of the day: http://sharing.theflip.com/session/af3832e116dafeae575a8e9b22d588a8/video/16443452
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