We are now officially on holiday break. It has been a very busy week with numerous activities and parties. Wednesday evening we had our staff Christmas party at the headmaster’s new off-campus apartment. The apartment is located in a very nice area of Alexandria. Locals who have lived here a long time tell us that this area is what all of Alexandria looked like twenty years ago. If so, it must have been a beautiful city. But back then, the population was approximately 300,000 vs. the nearly 7,000,000 that live here today. Nearly all staff attended the party and everyone had a wonderful time. Earlier in the week we had the elementary winter program. The kids love to perform and the auditorium was filled to capacity.
Last Friday was the final day of the Eid. Pat and I went out for Chinese food at a restaurant near San Steffano Mall. After the meal, we decided to walk through the mall to see what was playing at the Cinemas. The mall was nearly packed with people – it was difficult to even walk through. Security guards stood next to escalators to help move the people along. Very few people were in the stores shopping, most were in the food court areas and the hallways of the mall.
Early tomorrow morning we are off to Spain for 10 days. We will be meeting our son Aaron in Madrid and touring Granada, Cordoba and Seville. We have spoke with several staff (past and present) who have visited these areas in Spain and they all have glowing reports of what we will see. We are very excited. Other staff members are off to various locations such as Ireland, Indonesia, Luxor and Aswan while several are returning to the states.
