A Little Vacation Chez Moi

This was supposed to be a post about Luxor, Aswan and the cruise along the Nile between the two. That is what I had planned for this vacation. But as the day got closer I realized that not only had I not planned anything at all, but I also had not given it any thought. I was not looking forward to it. Even while wrapped up in my kids and report cards I should still have been excited about it. I found myself saying "I SHOULD go on this trip because I SHOULD see these places but what I really WANT to do is stay here and work". It seemed backwards. I was overwhelmed and stressed and felt that there were some things that I wanted to do better SO I stayed here. I read books about things I have been meaning to implement in my classroom and I got some sleep and I made some fun games. I feel a little bit guilty for not tackling the Luxor/Aswan vacation but I just knew it would be stressful and busy and I wasn't up for it. Soooo that leaves me with nothing to write to you about....

My life consists of watching kittens grow and chasing 6 year olds around the classroom ...I can't post any more about kittens because living with 8 cats makes me crazy enough, let alone if I were to talk and post more pictures of them. So that leaves me with school. A little story for you. We got to celebrate Halloween this year (not allowed last year for religious reasons) so on the day we carved a watermelon that I spray painted orange (SO fun) and went trick or treating to the older kids' classrooms and then we had a little pot luck/dance party. Anyway so the time of the party had changed and I guess I forgot so I got the kids all excited and gathered all of our stuff and started walking outside for the party. I got five steps out of the classroom when I realized it was NEXT period SO I had to turn all excited little 6 year olds in costume around and bring them back to class. Oops. So we got back and I was very apologetic, explaining that t I made a mistake. So they immediately jump in, in this concerned voice, "That's okay Ms. Don't worry. It was an accident". It made me smile. I now realize that I say to them all the time when they break/drop things. So even though I am always stressed out I really do love my job.

(This post would be so much better with pictures of the little ones....too bad!)

A Closetful of Kittens

I seem to begin every blog post with the admission that it has been forever since the last one. Truth be told I don't eventhink about writing them anymore. Life here feels so normal...it has just become my life...as strange as that is. Luckily I have my mother to tell me that it has been far too long. And, since the last one was posted in April, I suppose she is right. I got back to Egypt and I had to move out of my lovely apartment. So I am finally dealing with a little more of what I expected here - water that comes out pure white. Pure. white. An oven that will light but turns off within a minute, all kinda of hot water issues, an ice box in my fridge that serves as a freezer but doesn't really do what freezers are meant to do, bugs -the odd small cockroach

and these other friends I have never seen before but I now have the pleasure of watching the odd one scurry sometimes when I turn the lights on ("bugs don't bug me" right Daddo) and NO internet. On the plus side I can watch the sunset from my living room or right from my bed and I have two huge balconies. But it gets even better than that! Since I moved this pregnant cat has been following me home. I let her in and let her eat and stay as long as she wants. She always leaves when she feels like, despite my coaxing and bribing her to stay. I know, know I don't like cats..but I am desperate here and the stray dogs are not so keen on coming home with me. I started calling her Mama and would talk to her about what a great place this would be to have her babies. Surprise! I got home from school the other day and she was on the front steps, when she saw me she stood right up and we walked upstairs. A few hours later I heard mini crying coming from the yarn closet....it was a baby!! Seven such babies later and I had a...closetful of kittens. (*look at the picture closely)

She did not take instantly to motherhood. She looked very stressed. She was sitting on them and they were crying, they were all wrapped in wool, she would cry when I passed by her if she was sitting with them and so I would sit and pet her while she nursed. This would cause her to flip over and purr in delight, knocking seven crying kittens out of the way. Shewould try to leave the house when I did and every morning I was practicing stealth moves to keep her in the apartment. But she is doing well now. I love having them. I still sit with her all the time, especially when they are eating. The littlest one seems to be struggling...she doesn't really get how to nurse and is always being kicked out of the way. She makes me think of Wilbur in Charlotte's Web ...so I call her Wilma. I put her right where she needs to be to latch on and she will move around all disoriented (I guess that's an easy thing to be when you are 3 days old and can't open your eyes), walk down the other kittens parallel to mom crying and then settle in somewhere warm and sleep. I now wait until they have all eaten, move them all once they fall asleep and try to help her to latch on. Sometimes it takes forever. I stay and keep Mama calm and happy, otherwise she gets up once most are done feeding and moves around or starts to clean them. I was up most of the night with them last night and first thing this morning....but they are a pleasure. Darwin I am sure would not be impressed with my meddling ...

Wilma is the tiny white one.

Of course I am not sure what I am going to do once they are grown and need to leave here ...I know I won't be able to just turn them all out into the street (and I have picked the two that I want to keep). Anyway I have some time to figure that out. For now I am just enjoying them.

A Day in Life

I know I have not been very diligent about updating this blog. Work has been very busy. On top of all my regular work we have been working on getting our school accredited and I was on the team - it was a lot of latenights and extra work but we did it!

I really have not had time for much of anything worth writing about. Also, life here quickly becomes normal and daily events no longer seem exotic and interesting - it makes regularly updating a blog difficult. So today's events, like many others came and went without much thought - but then I remembered reading a friend's blog where she said that everything we do on this side of the world is interesting to you back home (or to my mom, who is likely the only person still reading this). Now let me start by saying that I was not planning on telling this story. The thing is, stories that involve people driving you too fast and anything that remotely resembles an accident makes parents very nervous and w

hen you are a blonde girl living in the Middle East alone you don't really need more things to worry your parents about. But for the sake of getting my mom to stop telling me it is time for a new blog post and for a complete lack of anything else of interest to write about.... here it is. First a little bit of background information: This weekend I went on a live on board diving trip to Brothers Islands. It is one of thetop dive sites in the world. It gets really strong current so it is a great place for sharks - so we went out in search of them. Every other group saw a few and on the last dive two people in my group finally saw one they say was about two and a half metres long, butby the time they got my attention I had missed it. I did make this lovely new friend though, and yes he is as big as he looks.

Anyway it was a very different kind of diving for me, very challenging and exciting.

Here I am (in the first picture) clinging to a shipwreck at 30 m waiting for sharks.

You had to hold on because the current was so strong.

So this is the story I was planning to tell when I started this post but got carried away with all those picture. Anyway, on the way home I am driving home with some people that I dive with. Around hour six, and only about 10 minutes from home we hit a speed bump going well...very very fast. I felt my body crumple in half and instantly I was sweating and I could not see or talk because the pain was so incredibly intense. So I have not been able to move since. While laying in bed moaning and nauseous from the pain a friend offered to bring me something to help. Now I should mention that in Egypt you don't go to a doctor to get a prescription. Here you just go the pharmacy and tell them what you want and you can get ANYTHING. I knew this. But still, I was a little taken aback when this friend arrived with not only some pretty intense pills but also ...

Yes we filled the syringe and administered it ourselves. Anyway I am feeling much better right now thank you very much strange Egyptian pharmacy.

A Day in Tahrir Square

They called it the Day of Determination - a day to celebrate the resignation of Shaviq and also to remind that not all of demands have been met. And I was there. I was starting to feel like I was missing out by being in this country while such amazing things were going on but not actually experiencing any of it, aside from the effects of events (namely a city full of tanks and soldiers decked out in camo and very large guns). So I headed to the now infamous Tahrir Square.

Within minutes of getting out of the metro I was wrapped in an Egyptian flag and was having Egyptian flags painted on my hands and cheeks. It was an amazing day. I looked around in awe, speechless at the joy that surrounded me. Standing in the exact place where

A Nation, Triumphant

Today I watched with the rest of the world as the Egyptian people rejoiced over their amazing victory. I wish that I could have been there for the party, watching their pure joy was incredible and inspiring, even all the way from Canada.

Of course there is still uncertainly and without a doubt there are long , tough days ahead but for today Egypt is triumphant! Today I am proud to be a part some small part of this country and to know people who helped to bring about this monumental change.

An Egyptian Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone and I survived. I went to the owner of my school's resort in Marsa Alam to do some diving. It was actually more likebeing in Italy than being in Egypt. The resort was ALL Italian - the people, t

he language, the food. It did mean that on Egypt's Christmas morning while I waited for Christmas morning to come to Canada I got to watch an Italian Santa ride in on a camel and hand out presents to Italian children. Life is strange. I always said I would never spend Christmas somewhere hot - but I did listen to Dean Martin sing about the snow so that did help. I was expecting it to just be a hotel but as it turned out it was my first all inclusive vacation. I can see why people like these: Dive...Eat...Dive....Eat.

Then I would go to sleep, wake up and do it all again. Also it turned out that the ownerof my school was there and so was the principal and assistant principal and their families...so Iwasn't all alone after all.

I was very lucky. I had a strong internet signal where I was staying so I stayed up all night and had a video skype marathon with my whole family (plus some wonderful friends that were at myparents). The connection is not very strongwhere I live so being able to talk to them was a real treat. It was the best present I could ever have asked for. It was almost like being there. I watched them open presents, watched Serena grab food off the table and watched the dance party that broke out as the night went on. It wasperfect. So Idid not really feel like I had missed Christmas at all thanks to the wonders of technology and the miracle of a s

trong internet signal. It was just what I needed. Before I knew it it was morning and time to go diving. The diving in Marsa Alam was amazing! Here are a few highlights (I don't have an underwater camera so these are just pictures I could convince people I was diving with to give me)

This turtle looks like he is just wants to say hello but he istrying his very best to bite me.

Turtles are my favourite thing to watch...they are so lovely and graceful. Amazing.

On one of my dives I was on the bottom peeking under some coral staring at these two baby sharks when I felt my dive master grab my shoulder to turn me around. I remember thinking that she was being silly - they were just babies...... But then I saw the dolphin!! She was lovely and played for awhile, rolling in the sand and showing off for us. Rare....and amazing!

We also went on an ATV safari through the desert. A few times I got stuck in the sand and smiled to myself that at home I would be in my car stuck in the snow, calling my dad to rescue me. We watched the sun set over the sand and then we had tea and hibiscus juice in a Bedouin camp. It was another great day.

We came to a sand and I climbed to the top (not easy)to get a better look. Here I am at the top!

I hope that all is well with all of you. I miss you and think of you all the time.

......Until next time.