Oh, the Craftiness of Me!

We’re leaving Cairo in just a few days. There’s things to clean, lists to make, souvenirs to buy, suitcases to pack with three months worth of stuff. I’m up to my ears in things that need to get done. So what does my gnat-sized attention span do? The usual, get a totally unnecessary project idea into my head and not be able to do anything else until I’ve completed the project.

Soo….I made a diaper bag! A real-looking one, messenger style, with pockets and a strap and everything!

Maybe now I can get to thinking about packing.

As requested, here are our tour dates:
McAllen June 4-25
South Bend June 26-July 2
Salt Lake City July 3-Aug 8
McAllen Aug 9-Aug 29

Baby Finn: International Traveler

One of the perks of the academic life is summers off. (Although Patrick will be quick to argue that he’s working the whole time doing research and writing, but if you don’t have to clock in, I don’t think it counts). So we’re doing with our summer what just about every other expat in Cairo is doing: getting the heck out of Cairo.

Barefoot in the Park

If you recall, around the time we took our Nile Cruise we had come to the realization (as everyone living here eventually does) that if you lower your expectations, you’ll have a much better experience. We had heard about Al-Azhar Park and intended to check it out eventually. But come on, when a guidebook starts its al-Azhar paragraph with the words “Built on a former garbage dump…”

Caution: Falling Babies

Last Friday I experienced the scariest moment of my life. Finn had been dribbling all over himself, as usual (we just realized he’s teething. He’s been doing it for weeks but we just now picked up the baby books and found out what all that weird behavior was) so I took him upstairs to change him into a new cute outfit. I remember telling one of our friends here before Finn was born that I was going to totally love dressing Finn in all his adorable outfits and would probably change him just for fun. Conveniently, the fact that he’s drooling approximately 8.5 ounces of drool per minute means I have reason to do just that very thing.

Anyways, back to the scariness.

The New AUC Campus

In case you’re interested, there was a short story about the new AUC (American University in Cairo) campus on NPR yesterday. You can read/listen to it, and see pictures, by clicking here. The university also has a regularly updated website with lots of pictures, that you can see here.

It really is a beautiful and architecturally stunning campus, and I look forward to working there. Many of my colleagues are pessimistic about the prospects of the campus actually being ready by the start of the new school year in September, but I’m hopeful. The exteriors will definitely be done — I just hope we’ll have the little things…like electricity, water, internet, desks, etc.

My Life List

A few summers ago, I found myself shiftless and unemployed, having recently quit my job at the Center for the Homeless to go to law school, and then deciding not to go to law school after all. I was thinking a lot about what I wanted to do in life and what would give me personal fulfillment, so I started a Life List.

A friend recently mentioned that the movie The Bucket List was playing here in Cairo, which is about two dying men crossing off their lists of things to do before they die. This made me think of my own Life List and I searched the house looking for the scrap of paper where I’d started writing goals down several years ago. I realized that since writing it, I’ve actually fulfilled a few items. I thought I’d share my Life List with you.