End of September/Mid-Quarter/Break

Friday, September 26
As hard as it is to believe, we have already come to the halfway point in the 1st quarter. It has also been almost seven weeks since we arrived here in Egypt. It's like anything, I guess. Once you arrive at a new location or begin a new job, it takes a while for one to adjust to the new locale, but then once you sort of get into the system, the days begin to fly by.
Kris and I keep VERY busy here, and there isn't a lot of "down" time, or at least there hasn't been that much to this point. Even on the weekends we tend to spend at least a part of each day working on school-related tasks. I don't like to do that, because I really do believe that weekends should be spent recharging one's batteries. However, we are trying to limit our time at work.
This week we will have our first long break. We'll go to school on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and then the next 6 days will be off from school. On our calendar it is listed as Ramadan Feast/Armed Forces Day. Ramadan comes to an end at the end of the month, and the 28 days of fasting will be completed. I guess people throughout the country take some time off at the conclusion of the month of Ramadan each year.
In any event we'll be off until the 7th of October. Kris and I are joining four other couples from school on an outing to the Sinai Peninsula. We've hired a bus and driver that will take us on the 8-10 hour journey eastward across the desert. We'll be staying at a small town called Dahab, which is located a bit north of the famous tourist city of Sharm el Sheikh. If you get your maps out you will notice that the Sinai Peninsula is somewhat triangular in shape. Sharm El Sheikh is located on the southern tip of the triangle, and Dahab is northeast of that on the eastern side of the Red Sea.
In that area there are some fantastic spots for scuba diving/snorkeling. Some of the teachers will be scuba diving, while Kris and I will probably be more than content to do some snorkeling. The waters of the Red Sea are supposed to be filled with a variety of colorful fish and fantastic coral reed formations. Of course we'll also be close to Mt. Sinai, Moses' old hangout, but I don't know that we'll be taking a hike up the mountain. Whatever we do, it will be nice just to see new territory and to have a break.
Each year during Ramadan, children collect food items for food shelves in the area, just like we do at St. Vincent's. I have a boy in my room whose father owns a shipping company. Every year, during this food drive the class that brings in the most items wins a class pool and ice cream party. Well, every year the class that this boy has been in has won the contest, as he brings in HUNDREDS of boxes of food. In fact, on the last day of the contest (Tuesday of this week) his dad sent a TRUCK to the school. It took quite some time to unload it, and the students from my room pitched in and brought the items into a storage room. Thus our class won the contest....I guess you could say that it's sort of a stacked deck; as long as this boy continues to bring in the goodies, his class will continue to win the contest. All the other kids at school have gotten used to it, and they try to beat his class each year.
The skies at school yesterday were a yellowish hue as there were sandstorms in the desert, apparently, and the winds were blowing tons of it into the atmosphere. I was on recess duty at lunch time and you could feel the particles of sand as they drifted through the air. It was just a bit difficult to breathe....Yuck!!
That's all for this week....