While many of you are enjoying the last few hours of your weekend, mine has been over for a day now. Here in Egypt, and in the Middle East in general, the weekend starts on Friday instead of Saturday, so Sunday is like Monday and today we were back to work, and my Arabic lessons.

But the point of this entry was to recap the weekend. Friday evening we went to a place called Al Ahzar Park. It’s a kind of oasis in the middle of Cairo with fountains, grass, and palm trees. Along with my roommates and some friends we had a picnic dinner in the park, along with many other family scattered across the park enjoying their Iftar (the meal to break the fast) meal. Then on Saturday Rachel and I played the role of tourists and visited the Citadel of Salah al-Din, home to a few mosques, one of which we visited (see picture).

That had not been the end of our plans for the day but we received news while at the Citadel of a rockslide in the neighborhood where the project I am working on operates in Cairo. It is one of the poorer areas of the city, homes are not well built and the neighborhood is built on, below and around some large cliffs, one of which broke off Saturday morning crushing many homes and taking many lives. Go to http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80205 for a good article from the United Nations. Rachel and I met some other colleagues and went there to see if there was anything we could do but since the rocks were massive (some up to 70 tonnes) and they had not been able to get an heavy machinery in there was nothing we could do. Rachel and I went back today for a workshop with the children she is working with. With the main road into the community blocked to traffic it is much quieter than my first visit. The closing of the road also means that business in the community has also slowed which will be an added burden.

To end off the weekend, Carolyn, Rika and I took a walk through the city to a couple places both Rika and I had not yet visited and then came home to make dinner. With Ramadan may shops are decorated and people string up lights like we might do at Christmas. Once the sun sets the streets become quiet, and you can watch people eat Iftar on street corners, in cafes and on balconies all over the city.

The last thing I’ll say is that while walking down side walks it is not uncommon to feel water droplets on your head. One should not be fooled into thinking it might rain…this is Egypt and the sun is always shining….it is only the air conditioner dripping on your head.