I'm laughing so hard.....

we were deep in concentration at school here in the flat, focused and concentrating....

suddenly as if on "cue" by a director of a movie

"cue lawnmower"
"cue over reacting family to run to window simultaneously and stare for 5 seconds before speaking"

HA HA HA HA HA!

another "you know you're an expat in Egypt when" moment, I think, huh?

Here's some other things that are just "normal" here but feel SOOO annoying....Teri reminded me of one, as they've not always lived in America...

You WALK to the bank 30 min or so, stand in line for 45 min - 1.5 hrs, while attempting to proceed with your transaction..here are the few things that could happen

A. 2 people shove their hand in front of yours and start speaking in Arabic to be next since their transaction is simpler (people, people PERSONAL SPACE?)

B. They don't have the right amount of bills to do what you need

Next is this - you need something specific, perhaps it's fitted sheets since no, a 'set of sheets' only includes one flat sheet (not big enough to tuck in if you were stuck in a pinch say the first 2 weeks of arrival) and a blanket. So you need something specific like that, you find a store after 3 days of hunting on foot....and it has a sign IN ENGLISH, you're overjoyed!

A. The store is only open from 11 am - 3 pm on Mon, Tues and Thursday - it happens to be none of those days.

B. You return to the store on Mon at 11:30 am and it's not open. You return at 3 pm and she says THAT day she's open from 3- 5 pm. no explanation, no apology, just...the way it is.

Maybe you'll enjoy this! You hire a taxi who speaks English...you explain the 'new' large shopping market you want to go to. He, thankfully, knows and takes us there. On the way, my knees go into the backs of the seats - I sit in the middle with a hand on each child's legs - but anyway, between the donkey carts, pedestrians and other vehicles....my knees are the seatbelt for us...oh ok back on topic...you get to the new market and these are a few things that will happen....

A. You'll be happy to find fruits/veggies in the same store as meat and bread! You get to check out and the cashier is very annoyed (speaks good English but seems a bad thing in this situation) that you did not get the fruits and veggies priced. So she takes me to where it is to be done...guess what? not only was the person not there when I went thru..but he's still not there...and guess what else? yep..the cashier will still be mad AT YOU!

B. They don't put beef out on this day..but you can purchase the old stuff...and then they're so confused why you wouldn't pay for old stuff that's green and slimey...cuz of course other "locals" are happy to pay cheap for rotten beef..why wouldn't I?

C. Your cheese is cut from a dried up block of cheese....WHY wouldn't you pay full price and eat it?

Finally today my weird story is....you're walking with 2 kids to the sports club, it's a 3 lane road NO sidewalk. I don't mean torn up, I mean NO sidewalk. it's bushes, etc, cars, one lane, parked cars, bushes...can you see it? So since there's cars parked on both sides ,there's only one lane....

you're walking with 2 kids...and there's a line of traffic behind you...and they're all beeping feverishly...WHY? where should I go? Should we swing from the trees? Should we hop on their hood and wait until the next intersection? WHAT GOOD IS THE BEEPING PEOPLE? I'm just as 'stuck' as you drivers are, thank you very much!

So - I'm just laughing! Today, I have good humor about it all again - PRAISE THE LORD FOR THAT RETURNED GIFT!! and our reaction to the lawnmower renewed it and so I thought I'd share ;)

Back to schoolwork......unless Sara S sees something shiney ;) Or Teri yells Squirrel or..... ;)

LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps - first day of school is Sun! :-) I think I now have the vocabulary of a 3 yr old! ;)