It is a busy time of the year for us.  Final exams are next week (and I actually have one early final in a few days!), projects are due, Brandon has lots of grading and work to get done preparing for the summer term, we have summer travel to plan, and unfortunately for everyone around me, my patience seems to be in a little shorter supply than usual (sorry everybody!).  I think I must be suffering from some serious “grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” syndrome.  I am really ready for summer and can’t wait to see family and friends and enjoy all of the wonderful, wonderful comforts of home.   I am sure by the end of summer I will be getting excited about returning to Cairo, but for now, I can’t stop daydreaming about all the things I want to do and places I want to go and food I want to eat back in the States.

Anyhow… we just got home after a relaxing weekend at the beach in Ain Soukhna.  It was really nice to get out of city, enjoy a little fresher air, and swim in the ocean.  We saw about a million sea urchins, but fortunately avoided getting pricked.  I did hold one in my hand, which after overcoming my initial fear of the spikey little creatures, was pretty neat. They can crawl!  Who knew!?

There were lots of shells and coral washed up on the beaches.  Kids were finding teeny tiny hermit crabs, urchins, fish, and harmless purple jellyfish.  Brandon found several strange shells that looked something like a cross between a sand dollar and a horseshoe crab. We went out with our snorkels and fins and found some live ones which were covered in strange, flexible, moving spines.  They were really bizarre!  After looking online, we think they are Lovenia Elongata which I think is like a significantly more animated and really bizarre type of sea urchin.

All in all, we had a great time.  Now it’s time to wrap up all my studying and finish the semester!