As many of you know, our return to Egypt was delayed a bit this year because of health reasons. We arrived on Wednesday, November 13th at the airport at 2:00 AM after a 27 hour flight (including layovers). Our plane landed at the Borg El Arab Airport which is located approximately an hours drive from the school. This was a military airport that has been converted to a civilian airport and is used instead of the Alex Airport because it can handle large jets. Our longest layover is in Frankfurt, Germany (10 hours) so this year we reserved a room at a nearby airport hotel in order to rest and freshen up. It really helped our transition.
When got to the school around 3:30 AM, we unpacked and got settled in to our apartment by 6:30 and then went to breakfast where we were greeted warmly by our kitchen staff. After breakfast we went back to the apartment and rested until noon. I got up and went to lunch to begin meeting our staff. Throughout the afternoon I was able to see all the staff, both new and old. It was so nice to see everyone. They were very happy to see us and know that we are doing fine. It is especially neat to see the workers – we have known many of them now for three years and they were very concerned about us. The school was holding Parent-Teacher conferences on Wednesday so we did not see any students.
Classes resumed on Thursday, many students stopped by to say hello. They had made “Welcome Back” signs for both of us and had them hanging on walls outside our work areas. After school, the staff hosted a “Welcome Home” reception for us. As a small school with a unique on-campus staff living arrangement, our school seems like a family. This is a description that is often used to describe Schutz. Indeed for us, Schutz is part of our family and we know that the friendships we have made here will last a lifetime because it truly is a unique place.
