I am here - I am well - sort of - in a bit of mental turmoil - but such is my life. My 'best buddy' took off to Canada - she had the chance to leave so she packed herself and her five kids and headed west - she is now back home getting her life in order. Gave me pause for thought - what DO I WANT????? I know that I do not really want what I have here in Egypt - as I said to my husband if I wanted to be single I would prefer to be single in Canada - where at least I am not a fish out of water. My husband is spending 90% of his time in Libya - has to provide a future for himself and his family - only drawback is that I am not included in the list of providing a future for - that is up to me.

I took my car in to be fixed - at last. Insurance company was not happy - I am required to inform them within 72 hours of an accident - I had Aymn peruse the paperwork that I was given when I got the insurance - of course it is all in Arabic - and I cannot read it - go figure - so he read it and nowhere does it stipulate that the accident needed to be reported within 72 hours - so he phoned the company - fellow said come in and talk to his manager - and because they did not give me the terms and conditions they agreed to fix the car - YEAH. Then we ran into another snafu - my International Driver's Licence expired on January 4 - so here I am driving without a license - no insurance - BUT the accident happened in September so I was covered - WHEW. Took the car in to Toyota - and they had my 'baby' for 11 days - OMG - I am sure dependent on my baby - got the car back on Feb. 23 - could have picked it up on the 22nd - but was not keen about waiting around for the insurance guy to come and take pics of the thing before I could take it - so went early Saturday morning with my SIL - Suzanne - and picked it up. Looks soooo good. Almost like new - had both bumpers replaced, the back hatch replaced and the front windshield replaced (had a crack in it). Nothing is easy here - went to pay with my credit card - did not have enough cash - and I had to pay first and then I will get reimbursed by the insurance company (if I had taken the car to one of the insurance companies 'garage of choice' they would have paid for it right away - but I insisted on taking it to Toyotal - waned to make sure I got original Toyota parts) - and was informed that I could not use the credit card - ARGH - so I got on my cell phone and phoned Canada - asked why I could not use it - after of course answering 50 questions - woman asked me if the charge was around 1600 dollars - I said yes - she asked if it was for a car rental - I said no - I was getting my car repaired - hmmmm - when are you coming back to Canada - will be coming back in July or August (MAYBE) for a visit - are you LIVING in Egypt??? - yes I am - how long have you been living there? - since Dec. 2005 - okay will make a note on your file - try the charge again - it worked. Fellow who was taking my money commented - Canada 2008 Egypt 1998 - I agreed - my SIL was insulted. YEAH - had wheels back - big sigh of relief. As I am leaving the compound I am told to take the salvage to the insurance company - pardon me - there sit the two bumpers and I am expected to take them to the insurance company - I think not - told them if the insurance company wants them then they can come and pick them up - no way am I going to cart them around. I can just see myself in downtown carrying the two bumpers into the office building and up the two flights of stairs and dropping them on the reception desk - hmmmm - tempting - but no thanks. Sunday I had to drive to the downtown area - not my favourite place to drive - but there is a parkade (of sorts) next door to the office of the insurance company - so parked there - walked over and gave them the receipt proving I had paid for the car. Need to call the company tomorrow to start the dance about where my cheque is - need it so I can transfer the money to Canada to pay the bill.

After hitting the insurance company I went out to Carrefour - needed a couple of things - having wheels is so nice - and it hit me that I had promised to take my MIL to get her pension cheque - ARGH - oh well - too late now. When I got home I phoned Suzanne and apologized - told her to call mom and I would take her on Tuesday - felt like a real heel. I had completely forgotten that on Friday I had said I would take her on Sunday. Aymn arrived back in town on Monday -went to his family - Tuesday morning he came over to see me - and was not thrilled that I had plans to take mom to her pension - but after sulking and not getting me to change my mind - he came along - and it was a good thing he did - he finally got things sorted out - Mom had not received her pension for over a year - Aymn found out why - she owed them money - she had been receiving money for her youngest daughter - well said daughter got married and Mom did not inform them for about a year - so .... In shaa allah she will start receiving her pension next month - will be delivered to the post office near Mom's - so I no longer have to take her to the pension office.

Wednesday saw Aymn and I heading to Cairo - me dreading it - he had 'business' to attend to - which of course meant I spent 95% of the day cooped up in the car as we drove all over Cairo - and he picked up his buddy Mohammed - now do not get me wrong - I really like Mohammed - he is a great guy - but his voice gives me a headache - he is very loud and the pitch is like fingers on a chalkboard. So I am popping pills trying to keep the headache at bay - combination of Cairo pollution and the noise - enough to give me a migraine. And did we drive - we ended up at 10th of Ramadan - where my buddy used to live - then back through Cairo to drop Mohammed off - then we headed home. Stopped at Dandy Mall - pee break for me - and quick drop in to Carrefour - had planned on eating but my headache was just going to migraine mode - so eating was not at all appealing - and of course Aymn figured he could wait until we got home - it was after 8 by this time - tough to be so danged cheap. I popped 3 more pills and thank goodness the migraine did not end up being full blown.

About 1/2 way home Aymn drove over a tire tread - biggest hunk of rubber I have ever seen - and of course he was going very fast and could not avoid it - thank god we were not hurt - I was just shaken - but the car was not so fortunate - my brand new back bumper was half off - WAAAAAAAA. Oh well - such is life in Egypt - I now know why I refuse to drive after dark on the highways.

Thursday we invited Mom over for supper - Aymn had purchased some goat meat and he was going to roast it - I made a birthday cake - his birthday is Feb. 18 and of course he was not around - but figured it would be a nice surprise. Well Mom backed out at the 11th hour - Aymn phoned to say he was on his way - and she said that Mr. Mossad had arrived unannounced and she had fed him and he was still there visiting - ARGH. Oh well - so Aymn roasted the meat - I cooked some rice - I had cut up a bunch of veggies and had made a 'ranch' dip - so we ate that - except the goat was so TOUGH I could not eat it - so I ate lots of veggies. Then before we could have dessert Aymn got a phone call and he was off and running - would be back in an hour - work he had left to be done at a workshop was done - got a call after an hour - they were not even finished the work yet - would be another half hour - how do you spell pissed off - well that was me - he left before 7 and did not get back until after 10:30 - by which time I was in bed - just steamed. No birthday cake - good think I like the cake - mmmm - just what I need - but hey.

On the way to Cairo we stopped and bought some tangerines - they also had red grapefruit for sale - so we bought some - and I am now eating one - it is soooo good. I have never had a really fresh grapefruit - almost worth the trip to get some more - LOL. They were very expensive - 2 egyptian pounds per kilo - that is about 40 cents canadian. Should have got more than 2 kg of them.

That is my life - sorry for the lapse in updates. Will try to do better.

Oh and I did break down and share the cake with Aymn - he had a piece yesterday morning before he headed home - not sure he will get any more - but -he did at least get one piece.