Tuesday, January 29

As Seinfeld would say – “What is it with the mail?” Just a few days ago, we received a Christmas card that was sent in the States on the 14^th of December, others sent on the same date came just before Christmas! We wonder where this one was hiding.

The weather here has turned cold and rainy. The temperatures have been in the 40's at night and 50's during the daytime. Some of the students were telling Pat that people who do not have adequate shelter have been found dead in their "shelters". When we go for our walks we see these "shelters". There is one family who lives in a shelter made up of old boards and blankets nailed to each other and rags hanging for a doorway. (Eileen, do you remember walking by this place?) Most of the year we see small children sparsely clothed around the “house”. They have an electrical cord running into their shelter because we see the line dangling across the path. It is unlikely that they have any heat other than an open fire. These days must be very difficult for them. But it seems there are many families like this in Egypt (very, very poor) who struggle just to get by.

But to be fair, cold weather affects all Egyptians regardless of social class because there is no concept of central heating systems, furnaces or even the old oil burning stoves. People rely on portable space heaters and small room heaters that also double as AC units during warm weather. Buildings are not insulated as most are made from cement or stone blocks.

The elementary school is getting ready for our "100th day of school" celebration. It will be Feb. 10. The Pre-K 4 up to 6th Grade will all plan together to come up with activities. Pat continues to stay busy with grading, cutting, pasting, and anything else that is needed for the teachers. In the evenings, we have been getting a new online grading program ready for all the teachers. We will be transferring all of our student data to an online grading and reporting program. This will allow the staff to work from home or even Starbucks! The high school started the 2^nd semester this week; my class schedule has changed a little as I have two students doing advanced web design 3 days a week.

As you know, Egypt has been in the news worldwide with an ongoing border dispute near Gaza with Palestinians crossing over into Egypt. It is strange living in a county that is embroiled in a world news making event and most of what we can find out about it is on the Internet. Local news is very hard to come by here, especially in English. The school did receive a warning that Americans are not to travel anywhere in that area. Egypt is in a precarious position being an Arab country that is friendly to the US and on non-hostile diplomatic terms with Israel with several thousand Palestinians seeking refuge here. From an economic standpoint, the country cannot handle such an influx in population for any period of time.

Our head of school and his wife are over in Iowa recruiting staff for next year. From there, they will head to Boston for and 2^nd overseas recruiting fair. We have at least 10 positions to fill for next year. The market is very competitive but we hope they are successful in finding quality staff who are willing to make at least a two year commitment to the school.