And...We're Back

After taking several weeks away from Egypt visiting family and friends in Canada, we are back.  

Our time in Canada was very fruitful.  It was so wonderful to reconnect with people we care about.  It was hard saying goodbye, but, at the same time, we are very excited to be back in Egypt.  Our travels were not without difficulties this time around, however.

Last year when we flew to Egypt, we were blessed by many “angels” along the way.  There were many people that went above and beyond any and all expectations that made our trip that much easier.  This time however, we seemed to encounter the opposite.  

Our travels started off very well.  We were quite concerned about Princess saying goodbye to the family, but, she was very brave.  The limo driver was very patient and helpful.  The lady at that checked our baggage and produced our boarding passes was also pleasant and helpful (Although, they weighed our carry on baggage.  This was a first for us...but, we were okay!  I hate having to shuffle belongings at the airport, while being watched by all the people waiting to get checked in).  

But then, we got on the planes.  The flight attendants were bossy and pretentious (on most of the flights, especially the last one), the flights were all late arriving at the layover destination, we left one of our carry-on bags on the plane (we are hoping they will find it and send it to us), the food was worse than usual, the seats were closer together than we have experienced, the entertainment system was not working in the bank of seats that we were sitting in on the flight from Toronto to London, the entertainment system from London to Cairo was inadequate and we had to rush to rush through the London airport to get from one terminal to another, go through security again and go through 2 checkpoints before we could stand in line to sit at the gate to Cairo.  Thankfully, the flight to Cairo was delayed, otherwise, it would have been a close call as to whether we would have made the plane on time.

Sheer sense of relief prevailed once we stepped off the plane in Cairo.  Having landed in Cairo 3 times now, we know the drill.  Follow the signs, get the entry visas, fill out the landing cards, go through customs, then, collect our bags.  This usually is a long and drawn out process, but, for some reason, everything ran smoothly.  The only troubling part was when we were going down the escalator to the baggage claim and seeing 40 men standing on the baggage belt that our bags were to be coming on.  People were shouting and women were screaming.  We had no idea what was happening, but, assumed that someone had died because it had that feeling to it.  I was perplexed as to why they would all be on the conveyor belt until I saw them pull a small, limp, yet screaming little girl off the belt.  Not knowing what happened, I can only assume that she was playing on, or near the conveyor belt when it started to move.  We do not know what happened to that little girl, but, we can only pray that she is okay.  It was a somber welcome back to Egypt.

We eventually found our driver and made our way back to our house.  It was so incredibly nice to walk into our home after 24 hours of traveling.  We quickly loaded our bags into the flat and started unpacking our things.  Princess and Dimples quickly went to their room and reacquainted themselves with toys that were left in Egypt for the summer.  It was almost like Christmas for them. They both seem happy to be home again.  Dimples dove right into the sand on our walk to the store.  It was almost like we had never left at all.  It was a good thing that we had energy when we arrived because the school had asked us to visit some of the new teachers that had just arrived.  We had lovely visits with them and look forward to working with them this year.

Meeting the new teachers got me even more excited about the upcoming school year.  I have been excited to start teaching my new students for a couple weeks now.  I have been creating documents daily that will help aid my organization throughout the first couple of weeks.  I am excited to use them...I know, only a teacher would get excited about an organizational document.  But, I feel that I have an advantage going into this school year that I did not last year.  This advantage comes from knowing the students that I will be teaching in the coming year.  I do not know them well, but, I have seen them around for a year.  Having taught grade 7-9 at the school, I have a good idea of how my class will run and that is a huge asset for the first couple of weeks.  Of course, there will be unexpected circumstances, but, nothing that I am concerned about. 

Anyway, now that we are back in Egypt, I will commence my weekly updates.   The posts will range in variety from school experiences, to travel and exploration stories.  I do not expect to be writing many posts on cultural adaptations this year as we are quite familiar with how things work around here now, but, WHO KNOWS!  Keep posted, stay in touch!