Happy birthday Lydia!

At home, on occasion, we used to fill Pillsbury Crescent Rolls with sweet things like nutella, jam, and cream cheese filling then roll them in cinnamon sugar.  Sadly Pillsbury crescent rolls are not available here so I looked up a recipe online for homemade crescent rolls.  They ended up being a cross between cinnamon rolls and crescent rolls but I was glad I could make something similar. 

Lydia was really excited for her birthday. About a month ago I told her she could take the day off from school on her birthday which was likely the best gift we could give her. She planned the menu for the day and every meal included a breakfast item. We started with coffee cake and hot chocolate then ate filled crescent rolls for lunch and had crepes and eggs for dinner. It was a delicious day. Lydia spent her time reading and putting together some maker kits we got her.  She loves doing those. She got some sweet messages from friends and did a video call with her best friend in Charlottesville. Making friends here has been really hard for Lydia and it was really nice to hear her talking excitedly with a friend at home. We are really so proud of Lydia. It was a very hard adjustment for her to leave Charlottesville, a place she loves so much. She left everything familiar to her and ended up somewhere completely different. While she does not like school at all she does like Egypt and is happy to be here. Since adjusting to living here she has been more open to moving somewhere new after Egypt and often says, "when we move to....  after Egypt" which is nice to hear. Currently her wish is Japan. 

Lydia is kind, thoughtful, creative and proving to be very resilient. She loves making things from leftover boxes and other household items. She uses our garden space the most and comes up with lots of creative pretend scenarios, often involving making concotions/potions. Reading is still her go to option for free time and she has many favorite book series. She is a peacemaker and Jared is really lucky he got such a nice sister.  

Lydia had a clear vision for her cake this year. She wanted mint chocolate brownies with a winter theme for her treat. Mint ice cream is really hard to come by here in Egypt.  Awhile ago Mark and I found some mint ice cream dipped bars and Lydia loves them. She used two bars for a set of trees and then made some frosted snow covered ice cream cone trees. It turned out really nice.  I was doubtful and she proved me wrong and was so happy with how it turned out. 

Birthday Interview 

What is your favorite color? Light blue
What is your favorite toy? Creator sets
What is your favorite fruit? Watermelon
What is your favorite movie? Descendants
What do you do well? Read
What do you like to do with Daddy? Sing
What makes you happy? Creating and reading
What is your favorite scripture story? Noah's Ark
What is your favorite song? Evil from Descendants
What is your favorite animal? Wolf
What is your favorite book? Land of Stories 
Who is your best friend? Abby
What is your favorite place to go? Costa Rica
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swim
What is your favorite drink? Dr. Pepper
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What do you like to do with Mom? Bake
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Crepes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Breakfast
What do you want to be when you grow up? Fashion designer, engineer, or cartoonist

Covid 19

22 months into the Pandemic and Mark and I tested positive for Covid (Saturday the 15th).  Our school brought us down. We managed to avoid getting sick all this time but after the way last week went we were pretty sure our time was up.  We had someone come to our house Friday to administer a PCR test and got our results back Saturday afternoon, both positive.  Mark was sure he had Covid but I really had been feeling pretty good and did not think I would test positive.  I had been feeling normal enough that I even went on a 3 mile run Saturday morning (definitely regretting that today).  The run felt harder than usual but I just put it down to slight cold symptoms.  I do feel like my symptoms are stronger today (Sunday) but still nothing like Mark.  I was truly surprised when my results came back positive too.  I mean I had been around Mark enough to know it was likely based on how transmissible this virus is but if one was just going on how they felt it was a big surprise to me. 

Last Sunday we went back to school after Winter break.  When we started school on Sunday there were about 8 teachers in the middle school (including our Principal and Vice Principal) who had not made it back to Cairo.  A few had covid from travel and had to stay where they were and some could not get tested and make flights because of weather on the East Coast. There were also multiple students missing from most classes.  By mid week we were up to 13 teachers out.  Mark started to feel poorly Tuesday night.  He went to school Wednesday for Homeroom but knew half way through the class he was not going to be able to stay.  If so many other people had not been out he probably would have just stayed home Wednesday but he made a valiant effort.  He got back home from school Wednesday and was exhausted and miserable. He had chills, fever, body aches, and a terrible headache.  On Sunday he had met with some Social Studies teachers for planning and one of those teachers was absent the next day and ended up testing positive. It could have been from any number of students or a teacher that he got exposed.  He was miserable Thursday as well and Friday he decided to go ahead and get tested as his illness felt different than other times and since he was getting tested I figured I better too.  I had developed a few cold symptoms but nothing like Mark.  I had a headache and sore throat (I think this was more from overuse than an illness) and did develop a cough.  Since I wasn't feeling too bad and my job was literally made for times like this I kept going to school and taught various classes each day.  I feel bad that I went but I honestly did not think I had Covid, especially based on how Mark was feeling compared to how I was feeling. 

Jared had some mild cold symptoms on Wednesday so we went ahead and kept him home and then figured we might as well keep him home Thursday to be safe.  Lydia went to school Wednesday and ended up having 4 different substitutes as her teacher was home sick and there were so many teachers gone everyone was scrambling to get classes covered.  It was a crazy day for her so I told her she could just stay home on Thursday.  Each school day has 4 classes for students and generally teachers teach 3 classes and have 1 planning period each day (in the middle and high school).  Most days last week I taught all 4 classes and most teachers ended up covering classes for teachers who were out sick during their planning period.  Our Vice Principal made it back to Cairo Wednesday and was at school Thursday and 1 of the teachers who had been stuck in the States was back as well on Thursday but throughout the week around 4-5 more teachers who had gone to school got sick.

By after school Wednesday we (faculty and staff) had been informed by the school that we were going to be online the following week.  It was frustrating that our school didn't just plan to be online the first week back or that once the middle school saw how many teachers were out that they didn't just go online. I know there are a lot of moving parts to making that decision, especially here in Egypt with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education but it was a week of unnecessary stress for a lot of people and I don't think we would have gotten sick this week had we been online.  Lydia is quite happy to have online school, she will take any break she can get from her classmates and Jared is fine with it.  Mark is able to teach his classes and I am covering 6th grade science classes for a teacher who is still stuck in the States.  Because we tested positive we are teaching from our apartment instead of school which is nice.  Today (Sunday) I am feeling a bit more tired/ill and took a long nap this afternoon.  I am grateful I had that option. 

Because of holiday travel and rising cases our church schedule has been adjusted too.   There are not many families in our branch but quite a few are associated with the Embassy and they are all working remotely so there was some concern brought up about them following workplace guidelines.  We are meeting in person for Sacrament meeting but holding virtual 2nd hour for the next 2 weeks.  We did not attend Friday and I am so glad with our positive test. 

The other day I was talking to a friend at home about our test results and she made the comment that at least now we were boosted.  I hadn't really thought about it that way but I guess it's true.  I was feeling rather irritated we had gotten Covid when we lasted so long not getting it but she made a good point. We have not had an opportunity to get a vaccine booster here and neither Jared or Lydia have had a chance to get the vaccine at all which is disappointing.  (We left before it was available for their ages) I know people (American citizens) and their children associated with the Embassy can get vaccinated here but they do not plan to offer that service to private citizens which is too bad.  Our school mentioned setting up a time for students to do so but I haven't heard more about it.  We will see if that comes about.