accomplishment...

every month there are more and more accomplishments i experience with living here in cairo. you can imagine that moving to a new city, country, etc. that is crazy like cairo and covered in arabic that i can't understand or even read the characters...this was quite a challenge and the feeling of accomplishment has been so important for me since moving here.

it's those little goals and milestones that keep me encouraged about making it to a place of "comfort" in the newness. and i feel i'm almost there. most days i am pretty comfortable. 

and when Rany travels for work, its actually the time when i experience the most accomplishments. i take my independence to another level every time he flies away.  this last week was no exception. again, i felt even more accomplished in my efforts as a daily living Cairo girl.

just to talk a bit about it...

one big thing is planning a schedule. this is nearly impossible here and calling different people to set up hang-out times ahead of time is definitely challenging...but really important so that i don't sit home at night, bored and feeling lonely. this last week was by far the easiest! every night filled itslef with great times with girl friends that are becoming so important and close to me these days. this was a huge indicator to me that i really have come to a place of having a strong support network here of friends and family that i can feel really comfortable with and depend on.

another thing is driving and especially directions! i am happy to announce that i really understand directions here in the city of crazy Cairo now :) my husband will actually readily admit that i understand directions here better than he does now! i can even know the "fastest" way to some places according to traffic. one big thing for me was going to and from an area in cairo called "shobra" that is extremely difficult to get in and out of...and i didn't get lost once!! of course, i asked to confirm every turn every 5-10 mins or so...but that's even another accomplishment (all in arabic!).  to wrap that up, if you look at my week last week, i drove to virtually every area of town: maadi, mohandisseen, shobra, menyal, haram, downtown.  all that's missing is heliopolis/masr gadida and that's the usual one for the weekends!

one last big accomplishment this last week was spending time with my husband's family without him. i don't think i've done this except once or twice. usually when he is gone, i just stick with hanging out with friends and his sister and parents. but this time, the extended family was having a party for a cousin and i decided to join them, even without rany. i think they were all pleasantly surprised and this really helped me feel like a part of the egyptian family. i even made a cake and they were all touched by that :) 

so, last week was a great week and full of accomplishments...thank you God! i need those encouragements often and i'm so grateful when they come!

i can't wait for the day that i can post that i have accomplished mroe in arabic (its slow going right now!)...but it will come one day soon!!!