Now's that is't finally "cooling" off . . .

My body is having a difficult time adjusting to "cooler" air. Cooler air here is about 75 degrees. Although it may sound very warm, there is absolutely no humidity here which makes it actually feel 10 degrees cooler. And since the buildings are all made out of concrete, it is difficult to have a warm home in the cooler weather. Additionally, the school where I work is "open" meaning there are no doors, so I go from my office which is quite warm and extremely sunny (my office faces south) to the cold hallways where the wind always blows from the north. I know it's no NJ, MD or PA, but it is still cold in its own way.
I've been either very warm or freezing, which has resulted in a cold.

We had our parents' meeting last night where about 300 parents descended on the school to sign out their child's report cards. What a fiasco. The Egyptians I'm dealing with are pushy and very persistent. You have to be pushy and persistent here or else nothing gets done. This place is definitely a good place to grow a backbone.

I have been working non-stop day and night inputting about 400 report card grades on excel. It was a terrific program to work with; the vice principal of the school created. I input the grades into a very general spreadsheet and then he converted the files to Access. I keep wondering why DateAble never used this approach in dealing with its database, but that's water under the bridge so to speak.

We are looking for a larger apartment to live in here in El Rehab, but the market is very tight. Anything that becomes available is gone almost the same day. We've missed out on two apartments. There is no sense of contract or allegiance when it comes to buying a place. One seller met with us and then he turned around and sold the apartment to someone else. We could look outside of Rehab but we're not giving up the fight right a way. If we look outside of Rehab we will have every convenience in the worl, moreso than what we have here, but we will be in the city - Heliopolis, the greatest area inmy opinion to shop in Cairo - next to the Khan e Khalili.

I found an area in Heliopolis that only sells sewing machines so I hope to pick up once again on my quilting. I met a seamstress who hemmed some pants for me -- now get this the pants cost all about $2.00 to hem, and $4.00 to put a new zipper in one of Mira's jackets, anyway the seamstress told me, "In Cairo, buy either a Pfaff or Brother sewing machine. Stay away from Singer." Wow, I can actually afford a Pfaff? Incredible. The prices are comparable to the US, but in overall assistance, they repair absolutely everything here. An item has to be in pretty bad shape to get thrown out.

Ma'salaam,

Marian