First week back from Christmas

I’m back in Egypt after flying from home in America.  I had a wonderful time visiting family, friends, former coworkers, and students!  My trip took me first to Newark airport, then Munich, Germany, and finally to Cairo.  I saw some large, fascinating churches as we were circling and descending to land in Munich; I wasn’t able to get pictures of them because my seat was not near the window.

School started on Sunday the 11th.  Usually we will have a morning assembly on the soccer field, but it was cancelled because it was drizzling and abnormally cold: about 5 C, or low 40’s F.  It was also very cold inside the school.  Since Egypt does not have as much lumber resources in its arid climate, all the buildings have walls made of concrete and no insulation.  Pairing this with standard high ceilings makes them ideal for keeping relatively cool in the summer.  But with the winter temperatures we were having, the concrete walls having no insulation, and the high humidity, every room felt cold even with heaters going constantly.  Thankfully the moisture was mostly gone the next day, and temperatures warmed up by Wednesday.  In the last few days, temps have been ranging daily from 50-65 F, with forecasts of 55-75 later this week.  I’m not sure if the forecast is more normal seasonal weather, or just a warm spell, but I’ll take it!

It definitely would be nice to have the low 40’s back home, I’m sure!  But with living in any new country, there are trade-offs.  In America, and particularly in my home state, winter months are colder, sometimes as low as -15 C or 0 F.  But the houses are built with insulated walls and good heating systems, so the coldness only gets to you when you’re outside.  In Egypt, the winter nights are generally warmer– sometimes 5 Celsius, or the low- to mid-40’s F.  However, with the walls naturally being cool and having no way to retain heat, I sometimes have to go outside to get warm!  Thank goodness for flash water boilers and plenty of tea!

This week my school will have Monday off as a holiday since it is the Coptic feast day of Epiphany.  So I hope to go to the Egyptian National Museum then.  Then next week, we will have a Sunday off as a government holiday, making a longer weekend.  During that time I hope to go with a Coptic parish on a day-long retreat to the monasteries of St. Mina and St. Philopateer (Mercurius).  It will be the only three-day weekend until Palm Sunday in April; might as well take advantage of the breaks while I have them!

One thought on “First week back from Christmas”

  1. Enjoyed reading your blog this morning. It has been cool here in Fl. This week with a lot of rain,I have had my heat on all week. Went to Matt’s Saturday and stayed with Nathan while Matt and Loren went out with friends,we played every game a child can play from pic up sticks to card games ,but I enjoy being with him.
    Barbara and Mickey came over for dinner Friday evening had a nice visit. Mickey likes the paintings you gave me he said he has the tools to make farms and will make some for me when he has time,so that is good.
    Have a good week and take care.Love you.

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