Unexpected Common Ground

Last Friday I was madly dashing about running errands before leaving town. (Never want to leave the hubby and tykes without making sure they have all they need) Anyway, I noticed that there were lots of children at the strip mall, with their parents, not at school. It came to mind that it was the beginning of the 3 day feast to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Instantly I recalled the feeling I have every year at Thanksgiving time, which is such a big deal for our family, a day that we let the kids skip at least half a day of school, but for the people around us it is a day like any other. I thought, this must be what it feels like for my Muslim neighbors to be celebrating one of their biggest holidays while everyone else is having a day just like any other. It is another day in the ex-pat zone.

Back to the Pyramids

Hello from Cairo. I am back in the beautiful country of Egypt--at yet another conference. This time we are meeting with a few people who are director of operations for their national ministries. We are having great discussions and making progress on some important issues, but blah blah blah. That is surely not what you want to know. Of course you are wondering what happened in the Rugby semi-finals this weekend.

France lost
South Africa won

France Wins!

Ah, the Monday sports news was glum for a KSU/Chiefs fan. The only ray of sunshine is the fact that FRANCE DEFEATED NEW ZEALAND! Now I realize that this is no news to Americanos. I scoured AOL sports and could find nothing about the Rugby World Cup--but it sure is BIG news in the southern hemisphere. I encourage you to do a YouTube.com search for the Haka, which the All-Blacks perform before each match. The French team were staring them down with determination and ended up winning the match. France faces England in the semi-final-- South Africa v. Argentina in the other semi match. Woo Hoo! Maybe it will be a France/South Africa in the final. Only in our own little bizarro world is that a thing worth pondering!

And the winner is . . . .

The smile on her face revealed all! She won! As the highest vote-getter, our little Princess has entered the world of politics. The election was not held until Thursday, thus the delay in reporting the results. She is happy, but also serious about bringing justice for the sixth graders at Rosa Parks middle school. (yes, it is really named for the American civil rights hero)

In other news: The Austins took a HUGE leap of faith and signed a "promesse de vente" on a house in Villabe. The signing took 2 1/2 hours as the agent explained all the details in the lengthy documents we had to sign. So, after procurring a loan and going through all the legal and bureaucratic steps we will move in January to our own little nest.

Tonight "les Bleus" (France) face the "All-Blacks" (New Zealand) in the quarter final of the Rugby World Cup. We would love for either team to advance--we shall see.