Saturday, February 19

The weather has finally gotten warm again. Maybe it is just for the time being, but maybe it is here to stay. Of course, when it's blazing hot in July, I'll be begging for the cold weather again. I do think it's supposed to get windy during March. We've heard that there will be so much dust and sand blowing in the air, even if the windows are closed we'll get a lot of dust inside. Yippy.

Not much is new. I've started a new tutoring job. It's with a 14-year-old boy, Amr, from the national section of our school. His parents want him to talk with a native speaker. They also want him to start working on S.A.T. skills. These kids work so hard to pass the S.A.T. They have to pass it if they are part of the American program. I think this job will be a good deal. It's not too tough to go and talk with someone for an hour or so.

The interesting thing is that I've finally met a woman who wears a full burka (or is it burqa?). You see women in burqas and wonder, "Does her husband force her to wear that?" Or, "What does she look like under there?" I know that it always makes me feel weird. However, Amr's mom wears a burqa in public. Her husband keeps telling me, "My wife is religious." He wears very western clothing and he travels to America frequently. She chooses to wear the burqa.

At home, she wears just normal clothes and only puts on the burqa to go outside where people will see her. The thing is that I am not supposed to tell anyone what she looks like. No one but her husband can see her. I go back and forth between understanding, and then sometimes I think it takes equality from women. The thing is in this case is that she chooses it.

She's so very sweet. When I arrived at their apartment, she kissed me on both cheeks. Then, of course, I had to have something to drink. They treated me very kindly. After I was finished tutoring, I got the grand tour of the apartment. It's very nice (Egyptian style), and I guess she put together everything herself. She was beaming as her husband told me about all the creative things she had done with the apartment. You have to love Egyptian decor. It's okay to have zebra stripe furniture mixed in with gold and glass furniture. It's all very glitzy.

One of the best parts is that they live in front of a huge park, and they told me that people run and walk in the park all the time. They said they would take me if I wanted to go. It's a ways away, but sometimes Joe and I could go and walk there. It's very difficult in the streets here. The sidewalks are always blocked by parked cars, and you have to be careful walking in the street because of the traffic.

So, other than that, we've been keeping the students busy at school. We are going today to set the date for our flight home this summer. I'm sure we will be back in July, probably around the 9th. It seems far away, but also so close!