At the beginning of the new year, we started with practicing the older songs, as we didn't know what gigs we'd have or what we'd play. We started a new song with our newest band member, Tombe Boud as our rhythm guitarist. The new song was 'In Memory of Elizabeth Reed' by the Allman Brothers Band, an instrumental. We then learned 'Fire' by Jimi Hendrix, and decided that was what we'd do for the Rockfest concert in February. However, we chose not to do 'Fire' and instead do our older songs, 'White Room' by Cream and 'Black Night' by Deep Purple. Another important thing that happened was that I discussed with my soon-to-be engaged cousin about her engagement, and she said that we could perform at the engagement party in March. So, now I'm starting to choose different songs (not songs we'd normally play) and learn them for the gig in March. I'm also trying to get in contact with people from BISC about their carnival in March, where I was told we could play for a considerable amount of time.

Raouf Zaidan is a pianist/singer who works in a centre in downtown Cairo and in the Opera House, and I began taking piano lessons with him in November or December 2013. My lessons mainly consist of working on sight-reading, playing technique, learning classical pieces and trying to learn the basics of jazz piano. I work on my sight-reading because I've decided that musical skill generally an important feature, so it is a good idea to be able to apply it to a variety of contexts. Raouf told me that after I pass a certain level, I could join him at his centre and play piano for opera singers, playing well-known musicals and parts. My technique was a bit weak before I began the lessons, so it was a good idea to solidify the basic ways of playing piano. In the summer, I purchased a book on jazz improvisation for keyboard players, and I've been trying to learn from the book over the past few months. Even though Raouf doesn't teach jazz piano, he helps me learn the chords, scales and basic guidelines on my own. Maintaining the classical piano playing is also important, because I could always have something to play if I apply to universities for music, which is one of my possible plans. It also helps me upkeep my level of piano playing. One very nice piece I'm learning is the 'June' Bacarolle by Tchaikovsky.

We learned two new pieces for the orchestra: the soundtrack highlights to the film 'Avatar', and a piece entitled 'Crazy for Cartoons'. The first piece is for a concert in the distant future (I'm not sure for what exactly) and the second piece is for the Circus day or Junk to Funk event, where there will be the Circus ECA people along with jugglers, etc.

In Gardening, we spend most of the time weeding and hoeing the patches, because most of the patches are full of large weeds and the other unoccupied patches need to be filled with something. We have recently started pulling out and eating fresh lettuce, kale, tomatillos, peas and coriander, while waiting for the corn, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes to grow. We recently planted some peppers, so we'll hopefully get some good results with those.

The Tigers League is the football ECA running on tuesdays, and is basically a continuous league consisting of several teams made up of the previous JV and Varsity Football students in the previous term. My team is doing relatively well, as we recently started to win more matches and move up in the league. There are other details on the NCBIS Tigers Football page on Facebook. The CISSA Tournament ran on the 1st of February, where we were up against teams from ISC (Choueifat) Cairo, ISC 6th of October and Al Alsson schools. We drew one match and lost the others, but got 4th place at the end, along with the Fair Play award. It was a pretty enjoyable experience, as I got to see people I knew from other schools and compete against other schools. This is the last football tournament this year, so hopefully we'll be able to win a few tournaments next year.

I started going to Gold's Gym in Maadi in the beginning of February, and so far it's been a really good experience. I'm going almost every day for at least an hour and a half, and I pick a pair of different muscle groups to exercise before I get there (i.e. biceps and triceps, chest and shoulders, etc.). My system has been working really successfully, as my target is generally to gain muscle mass and I've already gained 2 kg in the past 2 weeks. I go by bike and do 5 minutes of cardio there, so as not to waste any time on excessive warmups. I'm hoping to reach 75 kg, being at 60 kg now.

I started working with Jane Cowper, the woman who runs the thrift store at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Maadi, at the beginning of the new year. It started with basic assistance with handling the items being purchased by customers in the store, placing them in plastic bags, and mainly my job was to make sure that the customer got back the right amount of change. This thrift store is a little room at the corner of the church courtyard where expats living in Egypt donate used items, and Jane sells them at the thrift store for very low prices. The store's customers are only non-Egyptians, as there is a governmental rule that could put the store out of business if they sell to Egyptians. The profits from the store go to funding a Sudanese school, and so the running of this business is essential for the survival of this school. Hopefully, I'll start actually selling the items soon, as the sale process involves checking the item for any signs of damage, and basing the price on the quality of the product, on the spot. This means that when Jane sells an item, it is brought to the counter and she inspects it, then gives the customer a price for it without the price being on it already. So, I'll continue working with the Church and hopefully I'll gain a larger role in the running of the store.

We (the band) have stopped working with Tawseela ever since the new year started, mainly because the people in charge decided that Fridays were not good days for our teaching programmes. So, we weren't able to visit them ever since, and we have arranged to meet with Emad, one of the people who runs Tawseela, sometime this week so that we can discuss when we'll go to teach and what we'll teach exactly. We decided to bring Ali El-Shourbagy on board with our programme, as it's difficult for Tristan, the only guitar player, to communicate with the kids. So, we've decided that I will be teaching guitar with Tristan and Marwan will be teaching singing and rhythm with Ali to the younger girls, because Marwan and Ali are better with children. So, hopefully we'll get back on track with Tawseela and, if we're lucky, get some concerts for the girls.