burnt feet and cow chips - welcome to egypt

it all started
with a game of football.

wait, no. it started with twenty wasted matches.

light a match, push a button, hold for one minute, and wa-lah! you have heated water. twenty matches later, the starter finally, well, STARTS!!! of course, i hide the used, wasted matches at the bottom of the rubbish can so my landlady won't get mad at me for wasting her precious matches. i'll buy her new ones.

you'd think that, with the heater started, a nice hot shower follows. yeah, no! the shower consists of constant adjustments so i'm not freezing into an ice cube or frying like an egg -- the balance is delicately IMPOSSIBLE..................but not today. twenty matches later, it was perfect. which is why i didn't pack a lunch. i spent my precious lunch preparation time in the shower. which explains why, half way through my day, i'm strolling through the school's snack shop choosing between candy or chips for lunch....or a little of both.

today, i chose chips. but not just any chips. in true egyptian cousine (as i'm learning), i chose "Kebab" chips. yes, meat-flavored chips. chips bursting with cow flavor. perfect for us beef lovers who need a quick fix for those carnivourous craves. i had to try this...........i felt like i was eating fried potatoes prepared in left over roastbeef ajeu (spelling?)....who needs TGIFridays? i get my meat and potatoes in a bag. luckily for me, i grew up snacking (and on occassion, feasting) on military MREs.....this wasn't too far of a stretch...no offense chris, jared, and dad!

so how, you may ask, did i end up with burnt feet? while, it turns out that i wasn't lying when i said i was coming to egypt to play in the sand....i just didn't realize i'd be doing in barefoot. but that's what i get for selfishly spending my time in the shower this morning. not only did i steal my lunch prepartion period from myself, i managed to frivoulously spend the "rational, reasonable contemplation of what-to-wear" time.

therefore, i showed up to school in comfortable slacks with a cute shirt/dress thing, and comfortable, sassy sandals.....did i mention i'm the official PE teacher? and probably the only female PE teacher in Egypt who participates in all of my planned activities...including football.....but every rational, reasonable PE teacher doesn't come to work as cute as I obviously had...and if they do, they come prepared with PE attire. my bad. but, my cuteness didn't stop me (does it ever? ;).....shoes came off, slacks rolled up, the games began. at least football requires lots of movement, which keeps the foot to sand-covered concrete connection to a bare minimum (pardon the pun)......just wait until volleyball starts.

egypt continues to welcome me with arms wide open.......and i receive her sweet embrace!

until next time, your continued thoughts, emails, comments, and encouragment has been and continues to be very much appreciated :) i cannot emphasize how much your encouragement extends through all the excitement and exhaustion!