Busy May in Cairo: lice, swimming, birthdays, and work

So many things keep happening, I can’t keep up with the blogging the way I would like to. Here are some random things that have occupied my mind and body recently:

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My friend in Boston had a baby girl. It was a long, long wait, and we’re so happy for them. Incidentally, she was born while I was somewhere in the Sinai, passing by Mount Sinai or Moses’ wells, and remembering the stories about the places we passed in the Bible.

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William turned seven. His birthday was already a busy day with a baseball game in the morning, and tennis in the afternoon; we threw him a small party at home in between activities. He loved his presents, and had a great time.

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The boys got lice! It was a gift from kids we spend a lot of time with – they got it from school. I did about 14 loads of laundry over the matter of a couple of days, and washed everything in the house on the hottest cycle. I de-liced the boys’ hair three times over a week (I got all of them, including the nits, out the first time, but you can never be too sure, right?), and did my own hair as well, just in case. It was a pain! This only happened to us once before, in Belgium; the boys came home from school one day with a note saying the nurse had found lice on at least half the class’ kids. We went through the same painful procedure then, and it was just as effective. I haven’t found anything since that first comb-through of the boys’ hair, but I swear, every time I think about it, my head itches!

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The father in our neighbor family left for the summer. He had work to do in the US, and had to go about a month early. We’ve spent a lot of time with them this year, and seeing that we still don’t know if we’ll be here when he gets back after the summer, it was sad to say good-bye. I’ve talked about this before, the easy come, easy go friendship, although I think the “easy” is misleading. It’s not easy to say good bye to a good friend. We’re happy the rest of the family is still here though, but it won’t be long before they too leave for the summer.

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The boys continue with their tennis lessons, and have also started taking swimming lessons. They finished Taekwondo, but have yet to do the belt test. (I still need to find out when that will take place). Another extra curriculum activity we do regularly is our Homeschooling group Wednesday afternoon get-together. Add the tennis and swimming that Courtney and I do on a regular basis, and I would say we’re a fairly active family.

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I went for my very first pedicure last week with my neighbor and friend, at the N Bar. It was great! Afterwards, Courtney and I, courtesy of our neighbors and friends, went without the kids to a dinner at a friend and colleague’s house in Garden City. Good food, adult conversation, a beer – I even wore make-up, my pink pearls, and the fancy purse Courtney bought me in Hong Kong that doesn’t fit diapers. It was the first time in a very long while I went out like that, and it was fun.

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On top of all this, add the usual work, house work, homeschooling, baby care (Abraham has grown up to be quite a handful), midterms and finals, papers, articles, applications, and our worries about our future, and you may see that I have trouble finding the time to write, at least something more than just the beginning of a post. I’m not complaining though – I like busy – and I know that in about a month when everyone has left and we’re still here waiting to hear about this or that, stuck in Egypt, I’ll have plenty of time to write. Silver lining.