Rocks for Dates

The last 24 hours have been busy and exciting for us!  You never know what will happen when you step out the door and the last day has been no exception.  

We had been asked by the school to help out the new teachers in our area to ensure that they were adjusting well and to help them with anything that they needed.  It has added an extra layer of work over our first few days, but, it has been very fruitful.  It is nice to be able to pass on things that took us awhile to figure out on our own.  We had a lovely dinner with them yesterday and a couple came over in the evening and stayed visiting until the wee hours of the evening.  

In the early evening yesterday, Princess and I went for a walk for a bit.  As we were walking we came across a man that was chucking large rocks into the palm trees to collect dates.  I had always wondered how they got the dates down from the top of the palm tree and now I know!  He offered us a couple of rocks and together we chucked the rocks up to the top of the tree.  When we successfully hit  the bunch of dates or the branch holding the dates, the ripe (or soon to be ripe) dates fell from the tree to be collected.  Princess found such joy in this activity, even though her rock never made it high enough to hit the dates.  It was like trying to hit a piñata...except you get dates when you are successful instead of candy.  I wish I had a camera with me to capture the moment, but, it will exist in my memory.

Today we took the teachers out to Maadi to meet the other new teachers and to have lunch, a walkabout tour and a felluca ride.  A felluca is essentially a large sailboat that floats down the Nile.  We have never been on one and it was very lovely.  The kids were thrilled to be on the boat and talked about the crocodiles in the river and that there were SO many crocodiles.  Princess has a vivid imagination.  Again, I wish we had a camera, but, we did not because the little one was out of battery and the big one was too cumbersome for our day trip without a stroller (we forgot it in Winnipeg...turns out we were quite forgetful the day we left).

We are now back home and getting ready to settle in for the evening.  The kids are quickly readjusting to the time zones, while mama and papa are still adjusting, thanks to very little sleep on the plane.  Tomorrow we are heading out to the Red Sea for the day.  It will be a great time to swim in the water and play in the sand.  The kids cannot wait.  (I promise the camera will make the trip tomorrow).