Where has the time gone? Hard to believe that it is over 3 months since I arrived in Canada. Have had winter, summer, spring, winter, spring in those 3 months. Gotta love spring in Canada – especially Calgary.

So far I have had no luck with finding employment. On May 4th I packed up and came to Fort MacMurray with my sister – in the hopes that I would be able to find work here – economy is much better here than in Calgary – so keep your fingers crossed that I am able to find work. My niece’s husband has a lead with the company he works for – heard that the company here in Fort MacMurray are looking for an Admin. Assistant – so will endeavour to find out where their office is and on Monday I will drop in with my resume and tell them that I had heard they were in the market for an Admin. Assistant and I am interested in the position. If this does not pan out may end up working at Timmy’s serving coffee and donuts – YEAH – oh well will beat nothing. And at least I have a place to stay here in Fort MacMurray.

Two weeks ago I had to move from my friend’s place, not sure what was going on – but I was asked to leave – so figured I would move in with my niece and her family along with my sister – was talking to Miles (son) and he asked me to move in with them – so I did. Spent 8 days with them – was nice to spend time with them – had not seen much of them since I had arrived. Did manage to spend some of the Easter weekend with them. We were invited over for Easter supper on Sunday, my parents had come into town – the arrived Friday night – and I had bought a small roast – cooked it up with potatoes, and made Yorkshire pudding (nummy) – invited Maurine and her daughter Maurghan over to join us. Saturday we went to WalMart – mom was looking for shoes – she found two pairs that she deemed suitable. Then we went to Shawna’s place for supper – it was quite a gathering – my two nieces and one nephew came up from Edmonton – had not seen the nephew for about 10 years – he has growed some – it was nice to see him – he was on his best behaviour – there were no major or even minor incidents – WHEW – my niece lives in a smallish place – and there were 10 adults and 4 little kids there – was nice to be together. Sunday we went to Miles and Shani’s place for Easter dinner – there were around 15 people there – mainly her family. Miles youngest sister Jennifer had been in Calgary and they got together for a couple of hours at Miles place – would have been nice to have seen her – but we missed her by 10 minutes – oh well. Had a very nice dinner there – good food and pleasant company. Monday we had KFC – Dad had a hankering for it – so we went out to Maurine’s place and on the way purchased a bucket of chicken – love it when Dad cooks. Mom and dad headed east on Tuesday morning. They went to Saskatchewan to visit family and friends. While they were gone we had a wing ding of a snow storm in Calgary and south – was really ugly – have actually had a few storms – as I said luv’n spring in Canada.

Marian was in Calgary waiting for the birth of her newest grandchild – Shawna’s fourth – little fart showed up late – she had booked a month off work – and he showed up 10 days before she had to head back to work – so she asked for 3 more days off – and we headed up on Tuesday – through yet another snow storm – roads were scary in parts – especially around Edmonton – they had had a really bad snow storm – whiteout conditions – cars and big rigs all over the place in ditches – apparently it hit around noon – so good thing we were late leaving – as usual – weather was so bad that a car got hit by a train – all 3 in the car were killed. We spent the night with Marian’s daughters Gloria and Annie – along with Gloria’s son. Wednesday we headed to Fort MacMurray and the roads were clear, weather was good, sunny and blue skies all the way up – a bit windy – but nothing compared to the wind we had on Tuesday, we made the trip safely – you should have seen the car – it was packed to the gunnels – good thing as the wind was so strong – at least the car was heavy and did not get blown around too much.

Unfortunately there is no gym here that is affiliated with the gym that I belong to in Calgary – so I am going to have to improvise – thank goodness (I guess) Fort McMurray is a very hilly town – so there are lots of hills to walk up and down – Marian’s place is not far from a walking path – and it has a humdinger of a hill – so I am walking that five days a week – plus another walk with Marian after she finishes her first shift in the morning – well at least until I find work that is.

I miss being home in Egypt – but this is something I have to do – I really need to earn some money – and it is kind of nice being here for so long – away from the drama that seems to be my life there. I miss my family there – and I really miss Aymn –this is the longest separation we have had since we married. I like being where I understand the culture, the language and how things are done – but I miss the people in Egypt.

Two weeks ago today I had my niece cut my hair – I did not particularly like the style that I had – so she used her clippers and cut it all off – it is about an inch long all over – most people really like it – I think it is funky – not sure how it will be received in Egypt – but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Should get a picture taken and post it – hmmm – I was bright and did not bring my camera cord – so will see if I can get Marian to take a pic and upload it.

While in Calgary I was fortunate to spend a fair bit of time with my cousin – Maurine. We had a lot of fun – miss her here – but such is life. Also got to spend a week with my folks shortly after arriving from Egypt. Would have been nice to have been able to go to Creston this weekend since tomorrow is Mother’s Day – and then next weekend is a long weekend – but I am finding life does not always work out the way we want it to – I know – just a tad slow on the uptake.

Not much more to report – have started back with cross stitching – have one project on the go and 7 in the wings waiting for me – so need to get myself organized here and figure out how I can work on it.