A letter from Egypt

For some reason the internet is back on in Egypt. No one quite knows why—things are getting rather violent today! Still, at least it is something. I was able to hear from several friends still inside Egypt, whether by their own choice or because they have no means of leaving. Here's an [edited] letter from a friend who is married to an Egyptian:

Hello Nancy!!!

YOU got out in a good time. LUCKY YOU!!!

It is so great to have Internet back again. Thanks for your concern about us here in Cairo. We are just staying home as much as possible and staying off the street. Most of the families in our already small branch have been evacuated and so we are down to 4 ladies and the husbands of many of the families that left. ( me, ———, ——— and ——— ). It is quite sad really. I think that if things calm down then in a month maybe some of those families will come back to Cairo. I hope and pray that happens.

As for school we have not been evacuated and it didn’t seem like the administrators were planning to do so. Even if they did, I was not hired from abroad so I would not be included in those that could get evacuated. I will just hang tight with my family here and keep a low profile and out of harms way as much as possible! We do have small protests happening in my neighborhood and they have caught several thieves or men that were trying to break into places. We have a neighborhood watch out every single night, which consists of the men in the neighborhood armed with long sticks, baseball bats, kitchen knives and poles. They have the streets blocked off with anything that they can find to make a roadblock. Mostly fallen trees, old pieces of wood and piles of bricks. Between the men guarding the streets and the blocked streets, we feel pretty protected.

A few days ago the army came into town so we have big army tanks driving around and they are occasionally shooting off BANGS to let us know of their presence. It shakes me out of my shoes!

We were happy with the fact that the President announced that he would not run for election in Sept, but we all wish that the would resign RIGHT NOW.

The curfew has been changed to 5:00 pm instead of 3 for today until 8 in the morning. The streets do get very quiet of the most part in the afternoon and it is quite nice. Usually the streets are busy busy all hours of the day. It does also feel a bit eery.

Well I will keep you updated as time goes by, Thanks for your prayers and concern. 

I also got a couple of posts on my wall from friends:

We will hang in there and keep the branch hanging in there. Keep praying for us. We feel your prayers. We will make it through this all no matter how bumpy it gets!!

About 16 of us are left in the branch, 4 women, No YM or YW, 1 YSA, and the rest essentil emergency people from the government. President is even out of town working near Hurgada.

Things are getting pretty bad in Tahrir Square. I will post more later. Ironically I couldn't work yesterday but I was left completely speechless in regards to anything blog-worthy; blogging about everyday life seemed trivial given recent world events. Today, though, the server is back up at work and I have a ton to say. *sigh*