9.
A Relaxed Day of Preparation

7th March

Saturday. We still have no specific plans for the day.

Brigitte is leaving us today. She is going on her own retreat to Mount Sinai. We might meet again when we come back to Cairo next weekend. Who knows.

We get in touch with our new friend Abeer to see if there is any news about our eventual trip to Siwa and then Alexandria.

In about two hour she has it all arranged! We are going with Mr Khaled, the driver that usually takes her sister there, for a touristic and well-being project she is developing.

We will stay until Thursday and then be driven to Alexandria, where Cécile gets us a nice room at the Hilton Alexandria Corniche for a fair price, as she has a connection with the lady that manages the SPA there: Mansoura. We will meet her once we get there.

Mr Thomas Williams comes and picks up the cash for our hotel and desert safari at Siwa and we are all set.

We decide to go for a swim in The Steigenberger El Tahir's swimming pool and have a relaxed day today, since we will be getting up early in the morning and travelling by car for 8 hours straight the following day.

We had only booked for the first two nights here at The Steigenberger but we booked for one more and now another, to avoid the hassle of packing and unpacking all the time. After all, we can afford it and it feels great!

After the busy days at the Conference and then yesterday with our day-long tour of Cairo, we now really feel the energies settling down, the whole intensity of all of the experiences lived so far, sinking in and it is so precious to be able to take this time to just be still and quiet, with no schedule, needs or wants.

We might have gone to the Bazar or the Egyptian Museum, but we decide to leave that for when we come back after Alexandria.

Right beside our Hotel there is a beautiful café with some delicious light meals and cakes and apparently it belongs to another Hotel - the Cleopatra. It turns out it is half the price of the Steigenberger so we have a look at the rooms and decide to book our last two nights in Egypt here.

Today has been a day of establishing our as of yet unplanned itinerary and simply taking in the sense of Egypt.

Funnily enough, it is no less intense than the days when we were moving about all the time. Actually, I consistently find that after a few very rich days, filled with experiences and people, I need a break in order to really receive all of it, otherwise its value is somehow dispersed amidst the piling up of more and more experiences and I don’t really fully acknowledge the more that each of them has brought me, if I don’t stop, step back and take my quiet time to breathe it in.

It is my balance between doing and being. And life has become so much richer as a consequence of this new rhythm, swaying out and in, in and out, integrating, perceiving and receiving much more than ever before, being present and giving the fruit of my receptivity with much more ease and grace, effortlessly available to share the bounty of each moment. When we finally go to bed this day, we are relaxed and also excited for our next adventures - though our sense of excitement is maybe different that regular. It is a soft serene smile. A warm welcome. An opening whilst staying Home within always.

See you tomorrow!

💙💚💛💜💗

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