Should I stay or should I go now???

Now since I wrote that I will be staying home some interesting events have taken place.

I have been thinking about how I will really miss the people I work with. The greatest asset to any school is its staff. This school is no different, especially as a foreigner living in Egypt.

I talked to the principal of the school today several different times about how I could stay -- weighing the pros and cons of staying at work and staying at home. I think that there are many more pros than cons overall, but since the principal suggested I write them down over the weekend, I told her I would do this and get back to her with my list on Sunday (the day we return to school - by the way I'm still in the Monday-Friday mode, so I need a calendar everyday to remind me what day it really is).

Also, she informed me that there is a group of teachers who want to petition the owner of the school to keep me; not let me leave. I was given warning about this from a co-worker, but didn't realize that it reached the principal's office. I am very touched that I am so well liked.

I'm not ruling out the possibility of leaving, but at the same time trying to think of ways I can stay at work and still be happy.

I'm worried that if I stay home all the time I will get bored too quickly and miss my friends at work. It's not that I'm very close with people at work, but just the social aspect of the place really makes my day. We all need contact with each other, and I am no exception. I have found that Egyptians are the friendlist people in the world. Of course they are, would I think anything different?

I know I am no different than any other woman who wants it all. But there needs to be a balance between my work life and my personal life.

Egyptians are very social. They will sit and talk for hours about everything and anything. They love to laugh and they love to help other people. With my inability to speak Arabic, I am now trying to speak as much Arabic as I know, which isn't much, and the Egyptians who cannot speak English try to speak as much English as they know.

We meet in the middle which is a good place to be.

Ma'salaam,

~Marian