Saeed !

That is our 5th grade neighbour's kid , who came in yesterday  for me to teach him some math . His mother used to send him over sometimes whenver he has some exams . She is a very nice lady who finished her secondary school education . She is very careful about his grades and school performance . She revises lessons with him at home , and when she stumples over something in english or science she sends him over expecting that that i have studied medicine ! ..i'll be a genius , and iam supposed to know every little thing under the sun !! ...l0o0o0o0ol ..I just love how ppl look up at me sometimes



Anyway , so when i asked him what the exam was about , and he replied it was math , i was like , I JUST HATE MATH ! , ive always hated it and if i was happy i left secondary school , it was coz i wont  have anything to do with math or physics anymore !!! ..Maybe it had something to do with how my mother used to give us a hard time while revising  lessons  . She has always been a mathmatics genius !!  , and she  could never get how could anyone not get it or be intersted in it .  & To forget the ( Multiplication table ) was as sinful as anything !!



So anyway , i had to face my own demons and see what was all these  practice sheets about . There were lots of these exercises in division , multiplication ...etc etc . I was  lucky that this Saeed kid is a smart kid , coz if he wasnt i think i would have passed away , l0o0o0ol ..i just cant stand repeating something for hours and hours only to find that my efforts went to waste ...it drives me nuts !!



So i went explaining few stuff to him , when my sister called saying that she is going to the bookshop with her colleagues , asking what books i wanted  . I have given her the name of 2 books before , but she forgot them , and i had to search them again on ( amazon .com ) , with the ISBN codes and stuff . so i excused myself and told our little ( Saeed ) that i have to search something fast over the net , and that he should go on revisisng . But the guy was in hurry :



- ( Btw , i will have to go on bycycling before Magreb( sun set ) , u better finish fast with me ! ) !!! , l0o0o0o0l , i wasnt surprised , ive heard the same phrase before when he had his science and english exams ! , so i knew his schedule already !! ...l0o0o0o0l .



I said FINE ! , it wont take too long , and kept chatting to distract him . I asked how his previous science exam went , he was like ( i got  BIG FAT ZERO !! ) proudly !! , i said : ( I was sure u will get it , that day u weren't concentrating , all what u wanted to do was to finish off fast and go out playing ! ) , he siad : ( Actually that wasnt the reason ! , i slept in the middle of the exam ! , and the teacher had to wake me up few times , as i spent that previous night playing video games till ..... guess what time ? ) .  me : ( 12 a.m ? ) . Saeed : ( No ! ) . me : ( 1 a.m ?  ) . Saeed proudly : ( 2 a.m !!! ) .... WOOOOOOOW !



And then he went on gossiping about his dump Egyptian math teacher , his little gang at school , some of his sissy class mates , he didnt even spare his father or uncles . l0o0o0o0l ...Kids !!



when i was done with my little search , and gave the book names to my sister , our little ( Saeed ) , got bored out of his head , as it was already ( 5. 15 p.m  ) , only half an hour is left for sun set .



So i had to encourage him to finish the few exercises i gave him , i said : ( if u finish these 5 exercise in less than 15 minutes , i will give u a gift ! ) , At once he got all excited : ( What gift ? ) ,



- ( Not telling you ! , finish the exercises , and u will see )



- ( Promise ? )



-( Promise ! , and its not some sweet mind u :)



So our little kid got all excited and finished the exercise and got 4 / 5 score . So i went on and gave him 2 educational CDs , one about the arab history , the other was about how to perform some little science experiments . He got all excited at first , then decided , he cant get them , coz his Mom wont approve . I said he can get it , and i'll talk to his Mom . she wont mind it , but this kid was tooo stubborn !



So i had to find another trick to make him finish the remaining 5 exercises . I can tell u it was a very hard job !! , coz the evening has already came in , and the kid lost all hope in playing out . so now , NOTHING !! , could keep him to finish those damn 5 exercises ...he went on singing out loud , jumping around , and pretending that he would stab himself with the pen . I had enough !!! ...( QUITE !! ) . i shouted !! ...the kid gave me a half amazed, half unbelieving look . he said : ( Are u trying to act the tough teacher ? )



- ( I am the tough teacher  ) !!



- * Moaning *  : ( But iam getting BOOOOOOORED !! , and my brain is fried up ! , these exercise are stupid !! )



- ( U know what ? ..iam getting bored too , and i have many other stuff to do ! , and i hate math too , but u have an exam tommorrow , all what u have to do is to finish these short ,  easy , nice exercise * reassuring smile * ......and we are DONE ! )



Still he didnt look motivated , i said : ( Fine ! , i'll try to solve them with u , how about that ? )



And then we went on , id ask ( 6 x 4 = ? ) , the kid will go on calculating on his head and i'll take out my mobile and calcualte them beforehand , or  shout out loud to my mother : ( Mom !!! ...5x9 = ? ) , and Mom will rush in looking disappointed and bringing in a piece of paper of the multiplication table !!!! ...i cant believe she still keeps them !!! ...l0o0o0o0o0ol !!



- ( That isnt fair !!! ) he said ( U r a doctor !!! ..how come u dont memorize the multiplication fractions ? )



What the .......... !!!! , where did that come from ?



- ( Iam a medical doctor !! ..i dont have a Doctorate in mathmatics !! )



He almost rolled on laughing hearing the phrase ( Doctorate in Mathmatics ) !!



- ( Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ? , there is DOCTORATE degree in Mathmatics !! )



So we went on with the exercises ! ...we would make a little challenege about who gets the answer right ! , most of the times he did ( Yeh ! , that was a little bit embarassing ! ) , and when he got the answers right i would go on mark a big ( tick ) beside the exercise and write ( EXCELLENT ) , ( WELL DONE ) , he didnt like the ( V. GOOD ) or (GOOd ) he wanted an ( EXCELLENT ) . well ...fine ! , if that will make u enthusiastic



Finally we finished all the exercises , he asked me to write a little comment in the corner for his mother to read , i wrote : ( Very smart kid ! , had done a very good job , and put on lots of effort . wishing him the best ) .



- ( Why is ur handwriting like that ?..tell me what did u write ?  ) .



      * sigh * .......



I told him , he giggled , held his book and exercise sheets proudly and headed home