Today is the beginning of the work week in Egypt. At least it starts the banking week and we needed to make a withdrawal from our bank's ATM. As the machine dispenses LE 200 notes, I generally go inside to break them into smaller 100's and 50's. Even those can be hard to use if buying from farmers at the Tuesday Markets. Additionally, we hadn't been to our main supermarket on the East Bank since before our cruise. It is a relatively short walk from the HSBC branch, so we did a little grocery shopping too. Going over on the Ferry Boat and back took some time and, as a consequence, we were probably away for more than a few hours.
I've long maintained that errands are basically the 'stuff of life'. Rather than trying to rush through these type of chores, one should embrace the experiences. Waiting in a queue at the bank might not be the epitome of fun, but most all of life can be savoured with the right mindset.
Today, though I have a few more related thoughts to add. This is mostly because of a Facebook response from my old friend, Bret. He commented on the fact we'd arrived back from our Nile cruise by saying, "Welcome back from vacation to ... vacation?" I assured him that this would be real life for our remaining seven or eight weeks in Luxor.
Words are funny things. I don't consider our five months here a vacation. That would mean rushing back to work at the end of it. We have simply chosen to live in a different environment for the winter. I guess when one is retired there are no vacations; instead, one has the chance to get one's own life back.