week one

I've been home a little over a week and apart from missing Ira all the way in the Congo, it's gone by really fast. The flights were hard and it took my pregnant body almost a week to recover. I had swelling in my legs and feet, some sort of weird pain in my knee that didn't go away for a few days, and a twinge in my hip that I'm still dealing with. I have to say thank you to the Air France guy who let me have my own row on the way from Paris to Dulles, even though the rest of the plane was packed. I can't imagine what kind of shape I would be in if I wouldn't have been able to put my feet up for 8 hours. But I arrived in one piece, stayed at Kelly and Andy's the first night, went to breakfast with Kelly and Laurie the next morning (Lox, bagel, and cream cheese!) then Kelly drove me halfway and we met my dad in Maryland. The rest of the week was filled with dinners and lunches catching up with friends and relatives. Then, this past weekend, I went to Rehoboth Beach with my mom, grandmother, Aunt Nancy, and cousins Elizabeth and Sarah to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. It was 3 days of shopping, eating, beaching (when the weather would cooperate), and lots and lots of giggling. I don't miss Egypt yet, other than Amanda and all my friends. Maybe in a few more weeks...

Bye-ro Cairo

Yeah, I''m weird and bye-ro isn't a word but it rhymes so I'm going with it. This is the last post from Cairo for at least a couple of months. I will still post from the States, for there will be lots going on and fun pictures for you to look at I'm sure! So let's see...
Suitcases? Barely started packing.
Flat? A mess.
Gifts? Not done getting them yet.
Why am I blogging instead of doing these things? Good question.

Eggs? No, figs!

Today we had a good bye lunch with the Westmorelands. Gordana and the boys are off to Serbia and various other parts of Europe and Mark will be joining them as well as doing some research in Lebanon. After lunch we walking and I spotted some cherries at one of the fruit stands! Yay! So I bought a half kilo, although I have a feeling they'll be gone by the end of the day. I was really looking for figs because Amanda and Pete had told me they bought some and the word is they are in season now. Plus, I had an idea to make fig bars for the airplane. I asked if they had them and he said "how many?" I asked if I could see them and he proceeds to walk me 3 doors down to a little grocery store. There, the shop keeper pulled out some eggs. "Eggs?" he asked. "No, fiiiiiiiiiiigs" I replied. It was all very funny. Or at least Ira thought so. In the end they didn't have any, but the other fruit stand (my favorite one) had both green and black figs. The man there proceeded to break one of each in half and hand them to Ira and me to try. They were both amazing but I thought the black ones would be better for cooking. So we got a kilo for about $3. I don't even want to think about how much they would be in the States! I had to resist buying tons of other fruit that looked delicious; mangoes, melons, peaches...we're leaving in a few days and although I could probably eat it all, I wouldn't want any to go to waste. There are some figs on the stove right now cooking down to be made into bars. If they are any good, I'll post my recipe!

Swine Flu

Oh yes, just what I wanted to hear 5 days before leaving. The Swine Flu is here and it has hit close to home (sort of). 2 AUC students who arrived from America last week have it, and it's suspected that at least one other student has it as well. The good news is, Amanda has the week off so I'll get to see a lot of her before I leave (and spend extra time at the pool, which my ever swelling feet can use). The bad news is that Ira isn't allowed on campus which means some unresolved insurance issues before we leave as well as inconveniences like not being able to print things, go to the bank, and get my brother an AUC t-shirt : ) Oh well...I'm happy that Ira and I will get to spend extra time together since we won't see each other for a month after Saturday :( But that means that I am less motivated than I already am to start packing and organizing the flat! I shouldn't be complaining when the poor AUC kids are quarantined in their dorm! I just hope it was an isolated incident and everyone is ok...

duh

So, having 2 blogs is not usually an issue but today I accidentally posted something on the baby blog that I meant to post on this one. So if you don't mind, you can go over to that one and see some pictures of the Maadi House I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused your fingers, extra clicking is SO annoying!

Just plain crazy

Alright, so my everyday blogging idea has not worked out so well. I admit. Things are getting ready to burst around here. I can feel the tension and energy from everyone around me. We're all ready to leave. But with that comes the work of leaving. It's not just packing a suitcase and saying "have a good summer". We have to make sure the apartment is sealed up, cover furniture and electronics to protect it from the dust, suspend or cancel things like internet service, I think we probably have to pay the doorman for the summer, I still have gifts to buy for some friends and family, Ira is still finishing up things on campus, I'm still teaching yoga, oh and we have a house guest (a lovely house guest but still a house guest) until Monday. Ira and I have some fantasy that we're going to have some semblance of alone time before we depart. Since he's going to do research in Congo for a month, I'm not going to see him for the first month that I'm in the States. And then there are the things that I'm trying to plan from here for when I will be in the States. We normally make a trip up to New York to visit friends, but it doesn't look like we'll have time for that this time around so I'm trying to coordinate some meet ups in Philly (a much shorter train ride for me). But it seems so funny to me to send an email asking someone if they are free on July 31st! But this is my life, everything needs to be planned that far in advance or someone will get left out and I'll be sad. And then as I mentioned in another posts, there are the impromptu parties and get-togethers that will go on here until every last one of us is on our way somewhere. Not that I'm complaining about that part, or any of it really. It's just a lot. So forgive me, loyal bloggers. I'll try to be better...