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| Sarah and Maureen "Hi Vicki and Dan Quinn!" |
January was a pretty regular month – nothing exciting enough
to fill a whole blog post happened. So this is a re-cap of a bunch of different
little things that have been going on with us since my last post.
Item # 1: Becca is playing basketball in a women’s league
that was put together to give the Cairo American College High School girls team
some extra practice. They play one game a week and are supposed to have one
practice a week. Becca missed one game because she had two exams the next day
and there have only been two practices. Nonetheless they are sitting in second
spot going into the “finals”. I will take some photos at the next game and post
the best ones for you to see. Mike has been coaching the team which everyone is
truly grateful for. (You didn’t believe he was going to step completely away
from basketball did you? Babysteps.)
Item # 2: Mike has written two articles for the Belleville
Intelligencer about our travels. I’m not sure why but we can’t access the
Intelligencer website from here so I can’t even attach a link for you to see. The
crazy thing is – we used to be able to. Thank you so much Brenda for mailing us
the first one. That was such a nice surprise! He plans to write one at the
beginning of each month while we’re here. They appear under the Opinions
section. If you haven’t seen them yet, perhaps YOU can find them on line.
Item # 3: Becca made it through her first semester at CISE
just fine. She didn’t run screaming after her sister to take her home with her
at Christmas. She studied hard for her exams and came home after writing them
saying that they were easy. Second semester has started and she now has Math,
Gym, Civics, English and Arabic. Report cards should come home sometime this week....inshallah...
Item # 4: We have joined a gym for 3 months: The Samia
Alouba gym and dance studio. This is the same spot where Becca takes her
Hip-Hop lessons so I figured it would be nice to be able to work out while she
is dancing. The gym has three branches that we can go to. Only one of them
interests Mike so he goes to that one, and I’ve been to all three. One is a
women’s only branch and I really like that. The third one is the one with the
dance studio and they also have aerobics. It’s expensive (same or more than we
would pay in Canada) – but we like it and as long as we’re going and using it,
it’s worth it. Becca doesn’t need a gym membership. With dance twice a week and
at the moment basketball once (or twice if there is a practice) a week, she’s
plenty busy.
Item # 5: Lots of friends and family have sent us e-mails
hoping that we are safe. I can assure you, we are. On the weekend of the
anniversary of the revolution (Jan 25th) we tried to go downtown to
the jazz club and the driver didn’t want to take us. He said it would be safer
for us to stay put. So even when we want to go near the action, we’re warned
against it. We’ll stay here in our little Maadi bubble, and all is well. The
school has warned us to have some US cash on hand and a supply of food and
water “just in case” so we’ve done that but so far, so good. Our next planned
trip to the jazz club is Feb 21st – here’s hoping we make it.
Item # 6: We’ve booked a March Break Trip!!! We are very
excited to be going on an African Safari in Kenya. Mike loves animals and I can
not wait to get my camera out and click click click. Becca seems excited enough
about it, but anyone who knows Becca knows that her excitement about it will
come as it’s happening or when it’s over. We’ll be gone from March 15-22.
Item # 7: It couldn’t be put off any longer – Becca and I
finally found a spot to get our hair cut. The salon is called Nefertari on road
233. And now that we’ve found the spot, we’ll be going back there again before
we come home for the summer. I had 13
foils put in (highlights) and a trim and Becca got a trim for a grand total of
295LE or $50. And we’re both very pleased with the results.
Item #8: Winter is officially over. February in Egypt is
like May weather in Ontario. It’s about 13 degrees in the morning and warms up
to between 19 - 24 degrees in the afternoon. I have put my socks away! My
winter vest is put away too. Becca never did put on uniform pants – she’s been
wearing shorts to school every day. We’re still wearing long sleeves and pants
most days but this past Saturday we were out and about in short sleeves and it
felt glorious.
Item #9: On Saturday we took a morning trip to see the
Citadel and tour the Mosque of Mohammed Ali then went to the City of the Dead
where we saw the mausoleum where Mohammed Ali’s family is buried. Photos of our
trip below ….
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