Sand Storm

We had a sand storm yesterday. It was interesting and defiantly a new experience. We were teaching in the class rooms and next think I knew it got all white outside and all the kids were out of their seats and at the windows. At first it looked like the city was covered in a thick fog very quickly but then the air turned an odd orangish color and stayed that way all day. You couldn’t see the buildings the next block over. It was icky to be outside, a little hard to breath and it made you cough and your skin felt very gritty. I had to take volleyball practice inside to the weight room. I looked at the weatherchannel.com to see if you could see it on the satellite, which you couldn’t, but it gave the weather report for Alexandria as 95 degrees and sandy. The photo is the actual photo from their website. I had never seen a weather report like that before. Now there is a thin layer of sand over everything, and since the architecture here builds all the buildings with everything open for air flow there is sand inside all the buildings too. Luckily we still have the AC on in the apartments and the windows closed.

Anniversary

Today is our six month wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to the hospital and getting my cast off. It’s so nice to have that off and be done with the crutches. My ankle is still a little sore and swollen and I need to wear a brace for the next couple weeks. Seth also gave me gorgeous flowers.

How to take a shower...

How to take a shower when your leg is in a cast.


























I also found out that the lights in the hallway up to our 4th floor apartment are on a timer....I can only make it halfway up the stairs before they go off.

Many kids have made me get well cards, they are so special. The little kids hop on one foot at recess pretending to be me. It's so cute. The older students have been so good asking to help me and getting things for me.

The upside is that earlier in the day I fell, two friends and I went and got pedicures so at least my toes have looked nice sticking out of the cast.

Ramadan

Ramadan started on September 1st this year and is the Muslim religious celebration that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslim's believe this is the month that the Qur'an was revealed to Angel Gabriel, to deliver it to the Prophet Muhammad. During this month Muslims fast and do not eat or drink anything from sun up to sun down and offer up more prayers than usual. They get up before dawn to eat Suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, and perform the fair prayer. They do not eat or drink anything after this prayer is said, until the fourth prayer of the day, Maghrib, is due and then they break their fast with Iftar. Only people that have reached puberty are required to fast but most often the children want to try to fast also. This makes this month difficult for our students. Since we are an American school we don't change our schedule for Ramadan. So our kids are often tried and very hungry and thirsty, but for the most part we have been very impressed with how well the handle themselves and their school work. They usually get up are 4:00 am to eat their Suhoor and the go back to sleep for a little bit, then come to school. After school they usually take a nap because they are tired and hungry and wake up to give their Maghrib prayer and break their fast with Iftar. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are very active and social, they invite huge gatherings of friends over for the Iftar and celebrate late into the night eating, they also participate in many sports and it's common for our students to have soccer tournaments at the Sporting Club till midnight and sometimes even later. The streets are decorated with streamers and special Ramadan lanterns. They are also lined with lots of food sellers for the big Iftar fests every night, including lots of butchered animals hanging up at the butcher shops (gross). There are extra calls to prayers during this month that we hear and on Friday's (the Holy day) it seems like the Muslim services, which are played on loud speakers all over the city, never stop. During noon on Friday it's almost impossible to get around town, there are so many people on their pray mats that they spill out of the mosque and sometime into the streets for one or two blocks past the mosque. We are also woken up by a special call they have in the morning to wake people up for their Suhoor before the sun rises. The holy month of Ramadan ends with the week of Eid ul-Fitr which we have off from school and are going with a couple of our friends to the Red Sea.

Volleyball try-outs

I (Kristal) am the varsity volleyball coach this year. I’m very excited. We are part of the EMAC league with other international schools in the surrounding countries. We practice about 6 weeks on a sport and then all the teams go to one school for a long weekend tournament. The volleyball tournament this year is October 22-25 in Amman, Jordan. Today was the first day of try-outs. I had 15 girls try out and can only take 10 on the team. I saw a lot of skill and a lot of hustle on the court but heard little communication on and off the court. We have another try-out tomorrow and then I post the roaster on Sunday morning. I felt like a dorky and bad coach sitting on the side line with my leg in a cast.