Ups and Downs

This past week has been interesting to say the least.

Mira handled her punishment very well. When Mira goes out to play, she will need to check in with us every hour until we decide she is once again "off the hook" as she likes to say.

Hassan hardly ever goes out with just his friends. He finally had planned to go out with his friends one night and was kind of in between on whether or not to go out to begin with, but decided to go which I thought was a good idea. He left, arrived an hour later at his friend's business. About the same time he arrived to his destination, Mira called him to tell him I was stuck in the bathroom. Yes, for some reason the latch was jammed and I could not get out. I felt awful. So, of course Hassan returned home with his friend, Shabaan, and they got me out. Hassan then took Shabaan home and returned around 2:00 a.m. with dinner in hand, and dessert.

Last night we went out with one of Hassan's friend, Ehab and his wife Jihan on a Nile cruise/dinner ship. It was really nice, except Ehab and Jihan do not get along. Mira danced with the belly dancer and other tourists on the ship and I stood underneath a whirling dervish (a lifelong fascination of mine). It's truly amazing how they keep spinning for minutes on-end.

We had a really nice time and returned home. For some reason we all feel like tourists and look every bit like tourists, but that's ok. I keep thinking this is one long vacation/sabbatical from life and someday in the near future we will return.

Mira has been battling allergies and/or her asthma over the last couple of days. We are still trying to get to see the doctor but he is not in until 7:30 p.m. so we will see.

All in all it was a very exciting week, with many reasons to be happy, but for some reason I've been feeling quite down nonetheless. I can't place my finger on it -- some of it is homesickness (which includes everybody and everything), some of it is still feeling like I don't belong, and some of it is just plain old sadness.

Peace,

Marian