Dear all

As some of you know, I've moved out to Egypt to live, and teach yoga. If you didn't know, you do now - I came out here for a month over Christmas, fell in love with the place, met a rather cute diving instructor, was offered the chance to set up a yoga studio and holidays and so decided to come back - who wouldn't! Apologies for the mass email, but until I get my website set up, I thought this would be the easiest way to stay in touch. So, how has my first week back in Egypt been?

I'm so happy to be back. The sun has shone all day every day and I can probably count the number of clouds I've seen on one hand. I already have a Brit-tan (red neck, chest and arms and the rest still all white) after I put oil on as moisturiser and then went and sat in the sun for two hours! Doh!

On the settling in front, though, things are going excellently. You know me, I never like to take too much time over things.... Anyway, I've had my first two arabic lessons and can now say and write the alphabet, which is a far more impressive feat than it sounds as I've had to learn a whole new, longer (29 letters) alphabet, which is really just a bunch of squiggles, that go from right to left across the page, and you have to start at the back of the book, and put the wierdest sounds to them. But all my arabic friends seem to be impressed with my progress so far. I'm now itching to get some basic phrases under my belt. Shwayee, as they say here - All in good time...

I shall have to travel across the Peninsula at some time before mid-April to get a year's visa. I was meant to go two days ago with Tristan, a British guy I've met here, but my alarm didn't go off and so he braved the Egyptian public transport system all on his own - true British grit! It's a scary experience, I can tell you! And once that's done, I can get a bank account here and feel like I'm really living as an Egyptian. Online banking hasn't quite reached Egypt yet, but I'm told it won't be long.... Hmmmm, I won't hold my breath on that!

I've got my own house, although I haven't moved in yet - housewarming/birthday party (with Tristan, who's birthday is the same day as mine! What a coincidence!) on 30th! It is absolutely my dream house and I'm so excited to have found it!!! It's huge by Egyptian standards (and London shoe-box standards, for that matter!) - three bedrooms, huge hallway, massive lounge, but the best bit is the garden.... It's over 100o sq metres, I think, complete with a bedouin tent and fire, covered prayer area (perfect for yoga!), roof terrace the same size as the whole house - and, wait for it - another two bedroom house in the back and my very own camel called Welma!!! She's gorgeous!!!! So, as well as the PR and yoga, I'm going to run the other house as a self-catering/yoga holiday business - more details to follow! I can also run camel safaris with Welma (either myself or by renting her to the local Bedouins) or just use her as transport to get to work in the morning!!! The house is five minutes max from the sea - you can see the sea from the garden, and about 15 minutes into town. Once I get the website up, I'll send you links to the photos so you can see for yourselves exactly why I decided to move out - it's a complete no-brainer as far as I'm concerned (although I wish I could have taken all my friends and family with me, of course!)!

I've totally lucked out on it. The owner is an Egyptian guy called Mohammed, who is amazing. He's done a PhD in psychiatry at Cambridge Uni and splits his time between building houses all over the world and therapy practice. He's really in tune with things, loves animals and people and is really gentle. He has built the tent and prayer area, garden wall and second little house in the garden all on his own. He times his gardening with the cycles of the moon, and leads a very simple and wholesome life as a Muslim. We get on so well and I really trust him, which is a relief here. And of course he's delighted to have me, such a trust-worthy, responsible, reliable person (!) living there, who will look after and love Welma. I haven't told him about my appalling track record with plants, but the house comes with a gardener, so hopefully all the trees and flowers will still be alive when he gets back. Oh, did I mention he's also very sexy but he's leaving Dahab to go back to his girlfriend/wife in the States.

But for the timebeing I'm living in town with Adel and his three adorable cats, Lily, George and Delores. George is causing us some worries as he's developed a growth on the inside of his upper lip and keeps bleeding everywhere - including over all of my yoga whites, which were in a bag 'safely' out of the way until George decided to go exploring one day while I was out!!! Thank goodness I remembered to bring my Vanish with me - everything's at the launderette today (you don't do your own washing here, another great thing about Egypt!!) so I'm hoping they'll come back clean. The wash people will think Adel's a wife-beater as George seems to have chosen all of my clothes to bleed over rather than his. We've put him on antibiotics, but they haven't had any affect on it yet, so we think it must be some form of growth. The vet gets back into town today or tomorrow, so I think another trip with the cat in the back of an open jeep is on the cards!

Adel is being lovely. It took us a few days to get used to each others' company and rhythm but now that he's back at work, and I'm developing my own routine with arabic classes, house-hunting and building up my independence here, we both seem to be happier and able to enjoy each other much more. He's an incredibly strong character, which I often find challenging to deal with, but equally he's used to his life with his cats, and me coming in and changing things round, and forcing him to think about someone else is difficult for him. I guess that's relationships for you. We've decided not to live together when I move, as it seems too soon for both of us. I'm partly sad about it, as I love being with him, especially after being apart for two months, and it's great to have someone to snuggle up to at night, and of course I'll miss the cats - but I also need to establish myself in Dahab in my own right as my entire month here over Christmas was with him. I need to meet my own friends and have my own social life as well as spending time with him.

On the yoga front (the whole reason I came out here) I had a meeting with Ema, the hotel manager, a couple of days ago. The studio isn't built as they've had cash-flow problems (the hotel is owned by Bedouins who, since they have lived hand to mouth for thousands of years, find the concept of investing to make money rather foreign and won't start building until the cash is already there) but in the meantime, there is a beautiful room in the hotel over looking the sea, which we can use. Or we can use the roof as long as it's not too windy, hot or cold! This morning I went to the local spa centre to discuss including a day of pampering into the hols - steam room, jacuzzi, sauna, full body massage, and a day by the pool and the beach! We'll probably do that straight after a night in the desert on 'yoga safari' so guests will get a bit of spoiling after 'roughing it'. Of course, with my attention to detail and quality, I feel obliged to go and test the services before offering them to guests so I'm going back there tomorrow for a massage!! All in the line of duty of course!!!

I've also been talking to another friend, Nasser, who works with Adel - he runs a huge dive centre in the middle of town and wants to start yoga classes there too. He's got a beautiful wooden room already built, plus a huge roof terrace. So I'll probably be starting with two yoga classes each week for drop-in (one at Deep Blue, one at Coral Coast), and the yoga holidays will then start in April! Most people I've mentioned it to seem really excited about it so fingers crossed it will be a success!

I've picked up some interesting tit-bits about Arabic/Egyptian culture through conversations with people. The Bedouins have an extremely strong presence in town. Many of them now are extremely rich, and own most of the property and land, but of course, they have a culture and tradition of a nomadic people, and seem to have their own law and way of doing things. Abdullah, who will be my neighbour when I move in, told me about a conflict he's having with another Bedouin. Abdullah's grandfather planted some palm trees years and years ago. However, the land was recently sold by another Bedouin to a foreigner, who has built a wall around the palm trees. According to local custom, if you own a palm tree, you also own the land around it equivalent to the shadow it casts at midday. So Abdullah knocked down the wall so that he can still get to his trees, and the whole issue now has to be taken to the Bedouin council. All the oldest Bedouins will gather at Mohammed's (my!) house to discuss it and whatever they say then goes! Initially I found the idea of arguing over access to palm trees amusing until I realised that he will have a significant income from the dates. And the significance of the palm trees as a family heirloom is pretty big here - they even have official papers showing ownership of the trees as the rings on the trees also denote their age, so prove how long the land has been in a family. I love all these little quirks of the culture... I'll let you know the outcome!

I feel so much healthier out here - eating fresh fruit all day, out in the sunshine, walking everywhere I go and I'm sleeping like a baby every night! I'm excited about being in my own place, but am a bit worried that I'll rattle around in it. But it's such a great spot, I'm sure I'll find a flat mate and it's the kind of place that people should always be popping round - and hopefully you will all come out at some stage for a holiday in the little house for some sunshine and chilling! I haven't been diving yet as the wind is just too strong and I know from experience that it's freezing when you get out! I'm in no rush so I'll wait until it drops a wee bit!

The only thing that really isn't working right now, is my phone. I brought my T-Mobile contract phone out thinking I'd just be able to put an Egyptian SIM card in it, but it's blocked for anything other than T-Mobile, and Nokia is being incredibly slow in sending me the code to unblock it! Nasser lent me his wife's phone as she doesn't use it, but the battery's completely dead as it hasn't been used for 6 months, so I put my SIM card in Adel's phone if I need to make calls but it means that I can't really receive calls. I douby any of you have tried to reach me, but if you have, apologies! I'm hoping to get it sorted out asap!

I really do hope to see as many of you out here as possible. Once I get the house sorted out, I'll let you all know details - it'll be a great spot for cheap holidays in the sun! I'm missing the company of all of you, but can't say I'm missing the weather at all! Please do keep in touch - I love getting emails from back home. It makes living abroad so much easier! Oh, and if you don't want to receive any more ramblings from me, let me know and I'll take you off the list!

All my love, sending you sunshine wishes!

xxxx
Sara