It's Been Too Long!

I originally intended to write a blog post every day of my year here...trying to keep each one short and sweet, but write one daily so I could look back on my time here and see an overview of each day. I quickly fell behind though, and now it's been weeks since I've last written. But from now on I will really try to write more often.

So much has happened since I last wrote a blog! I went to a couple days of campmeeting at Nile Union Academy, and I also went to Manal and Eriny's village (Ashruba) in Upper Egypt over one weekend. It was quite an experience. It was even more hot than it is in Cairo, so my sweat glands got a really good workout while I was there. The trip to Ashruba was probably the hottest trip of my life. We were crammed in a microbus (like a large van) without air conditioning, and I wasn't beside a window. I was so boiling I could barely stand it. But we finally made it to their house, where the heat continued since they didn't have any air conditioning, and the fans did little to help. My roommates' family gave me a galabeya which was so nice of them. A galabeya is a long dress type thing that goes down to your ankles and also has long sleeves. Both men and women wear these in Upper Egypt. The galabeya their family gave me is a kind of turquoise/teal blue which is my favorite color! Manal asked me my favorite color and then told her family so they could find a galabeya that was that color. It was a really nice surprise. Anyways, we spent Friday night and Sabbath morning there and attending the Adventist Church in Ashruba which was a very interesting experience. They had no piano or anything so all the songs were sung a capella. Anyways since Sunday is a workday here in Egypt we had to leave that same day to get back for work in the preschool the next day. The trip back was much more pleasant because we were on a big bus and it was air conditioned. The whole trip was a great experience though and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit their home!

Since then I have also been to Sharm el-Sheikh which is a famous tourist city in Egypt on the Red Sea. I went on the annual Heliopolis church trip and it was quite an experience. I got so burnt that I couldn't sleep one night because any way I laid hurt my skin. We also went on a boat ride on the Red Sea, and I swam in the sea twice.

The preschool is running pretty good lately. We have 11 kids now so it's doing quite well. It's a challenging job but also very rewarding. The kids are so great and I love all of them so much! I can't imagine how much I'll miss them after I return at the end of my year here.

My roommate and fellow worker Eriny is spending her last week at the preschool this week. Thursday will be her last day because she is getting married in a couple weeks and then living at Nile Union Academy after her wedding. On Thursday we're going to have a party in the preschool at the end of the day because she will be leaving us, and we're going to celebrate 2 of the kids' birthdays as well because 2 kids have birthdays coming up very soon. It should be fun. Then in a couple weeks I'll be going back to Upper Egypt for Eriny's wedding. It will be so great to experience an Egyptian wedding! Oh I also started teaching piano lessons yesterday to Saif. He's 3 years old and is the first piano student I've ever had! I hope I can help him learn to play piano well this year. Well that's a brief overview of some of the things I've been up to. I'll try to write again soon!