So long, farewell...

Of necessity our goodbye was short. I have a tendency to cry a lot when it comes to saying goodbye so I now try to act like my mom and pretend that when I have to say goodbye for a long while I'm only saying goodbye for a little while. That way I don't end up bawling all day long (as Abra and I have been known to do) and can instead have a little fun before the time comes to say goodbye.

So Karen, Rachel, and I had a little fun today. We went over to the CSA bazaar and did a little shopping. Karen bought a cute dress for Rachel that was made in a village oasis called Bahariyya. The proceeds of the dress go back to the woman who stitched it, which I think is cool. It's really cute!

Rachel playing in her new dress

Rachel was having a bit of a grumpy day so we had to come home and take a nap; Karen was brave enough to venture out into Maadi all by herself in quest of more band aides. She successfully navigated the streets, although she didn't turn up many band aides.

When Andrew came home from school (he left class early...he said it was because he missed me, but I think it was because class was boring) we went out to have dinner on the Nile at TGIFriday's. Rachel insisted that she sit in a regular chair and climbed out of her high chair and onto my lap and then proceeded to kick and push me until I stood up and said,

"Fine! You can have my chair!"

She just looked up at me gloatingly and very self-satisfied. I ended up sitting across from her and she was very well behaved for the entire meal, besides trying to climb on the table once or twice.



When we came home Andrew and Karen went into the kitchen to caulk the splash board for our sink. The old caulk was long since gone and so water had been splashing and dripping down behind the faucet, rotting the wood and creating all sorts of mess for who knows how long. It was one of the cockroaches' favorite places so, even though we haven't seen a cockroach in over a month, we decided that we needed to patch up all possible entry points.

We bought a caulking gun a couple of weeks ago and Andrew's been so excited about using it.

"This is the first caulking gun I've ever owned! And we live in Egypt!"

I can understand his amazement. I didn't ever think I'd be buying a caulking gun in Egypt, either. But here we are and we have a caulking gun.

They did a great job! The sink area looks so much better. Hopefully the rotting smell will go away soon...

Karen showing Andrew the ropes

And after that it was bedtime. Grandma helped once more with getting Rachel ready for bed: brushing her teeth, and giving her lots of hugs and kisses goodnight.

Brush those teeth!

Sealed with a lick 'cuz a kiss don't stick...

Smooch and Smack!

Muuwah!

Rachel is going to be one confused girl in the morning, even though we've been talking about Grandma leaving all day today. Maybe I'll just tell her that Grandma went to school. That's what I say when she asks where Daddy is and she rarely gets upset about that...

Don't be silly, Grandma! You're not really leaving...you live here now!

But I'll give you a hug, just in case.

With Rachel in bed and a few hours to kill before Karen's taxi arrived, we decided to play a game of Hand and Foot. Karen won, which I'm very happy about because Andrew totally whipped us the first round and took a huge gamble the last round. He beat me...but only by one book (which, by the way, I totally had but decided not to take because I wanted to see what was in my foot...so we'll pretend that I had it and that I came in second and that he lost).

That game took us right up until quarter to midnight, so Karen just had time to do another inventory check before we were out the door and saying goodbye.

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There were hugs, there were tears...and now I think I'm the most homesick I've been since coming to Egypt. We'll miss you, Karen! Come again soon! (And anyone else in our family that wants to visit (apparently the spare bed isn't too comfy...but we can work things out) we'd love to have you!)