Be Grateful.

I saw a man get killed today.

I was driving to work. I has just passed my office and was waiting in the left lane of the main divided street in Nasr City in order to make the U-turn (which is legal and encouraged) to pull into my garage. A handsome boy, about 25, clean shaven and smiling, in a business suit and tie, passed in front of my car, on his way across the street. He gave a thankful half-wave to show appreciation that I made a full stop for him, and once he had safely hopped up onto the median, I inched forward.

Then, for one moment, the whole world stopped.

Everyone saw the ancient white car barreling down from at least 300 feet away. The squealing brakes did nothing except draw everyone's helpless attention. Women screamed. I screamed. Except for our screaming, everyone was paralyzed.

Then came the worst sound I have ever heard, and the boy was suddenly airborne--he was thrown--and I'm not exaggerating--about 25 feet straight up up up, his body rolling and rolling in midair.

He landed on the median, arm's reach away from the car that had hit him, and no more than five feet from mine. The moment he landed, the world re-started in triple speed.

People jumped out of and over cars, the traffic vanished, and before I could process what was happening I was parked, in my garage, shaking.

I waited until I had regained the manual dexterity to take the key out of the ignition, dry my face, and walk out of the garage into the street.

The street was packed with people gathered around the scene. Traffic on the normally 6 lane wide road was inching past on the right side. AND THERE WERE NO AMBULANCES AND NO POLICE AND NO ONE WAS CALLING THEM.

I crossed the street--cautiously--to continue on my way to work. A mere 50 feet past the scene of the accident, life was exactly normal. Girls were drinking sodas, guys were being lecherous, and people were zig-zagging their way through traffic, completely oblivious.

Once in the office, I sat down with my coffee to read the news and calm down before getting down to work.

277 People killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza...
37 voters killed in a polling station in Pakistan...
24 hitchhikers killed in a truck crash in Bangaldesh...
14 Children killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan...

And I pulled out my notepad and wrote my one single New Year's resolution:

Be Grateful.

Never enough time..

I never seem to find enough time to blog. Work days are entirely devoted to eating, sleeping, and working. Weekends and holidays seem to be even busier. But right now, at 7am on a Weekday, I have found a few minutes between sleeping and working.

Last week we had the whole week off for the Eid holiday. We had big plans - and hotel reservations - to go to Dahab and hang out on the beach. But a couple of sinister glasses of village tap water intervened, and I spent most of the holiday in bed at home.

We did manage to buy a Christmas tree. It is a pathetic little thing - about 3 feet tall and scrawny - but it is a REAL TREE, it is still alive, and is covered in lights and shiny bits of plastic. And that's really what counts.

Unfortunately, that Vacation last week was the only winter time vacation that we get, so I'm going to take off Christmas day myself, and work on Christmas eve.

Getting into the holiday mood has been difficult here. Not counting the 80* weather, nothing about Egypt feels like Christmas. Stores don't have decorations, holiday offers, or gift wrapping done by girl scouts. I haven't heard Jingle Bells sung by cats (or any other Christmas songs) once. I guess the biggest hindrance to the christmas spirit is that I am the only person who cares about 'christmas stuff' like a great meal, lots of friends, gifts, decorations, music, and decent champagne, and I'm just too busy, too tired, and still not familiar enough with Arabic or Cairo to do anything about them. At work, while my computer is restarting, I'll make lists --buy gifts, buy paper, people to invite, meals that are both christmas-y and possible -- and then the list gets folded, put into my handbag, and instantly becomes "purse-clutter".

One shouldn't complain too much about missing Christmas, when faced with 75* days while her family and friends are facing ice storms. But a little variety would be nice. I'm getting a little stir-crazy, actually. I can't wait until Wahied gets his visa and we can go visit all of the places I so desperately miss. (New York, Connecticut and Chicago). I'm squirreling away my holidays so I can spend as long as possible there. The moment we get that visa....

Looks like I've run out of time again. I'll do my best to post whenever I can.