Snapshots, Thoughts and What-nots of Living in a Foreign Land

Together Again

2011-12-04T05:29:00.000-08:00

This is part of the family on my husband's side.

I know, I know. I have really neglected my blog since being back in America. There just isn't as many exciting things to post about here in the States as there are in Egypt, but, I just thought I'd post to let you know how life is going here.

We just made it through Christmas and New Years. Hard to believe it is 2012, isn't it? Well, it was our first Christmas in the States in 7 years, and it was the first Christmas in 6 years that all 5 members of our immediate family were all together. It was great! We have kids who have returned to the States from Egypt to finish their schooling, so over the years usually one or two of them have been in the States while we were in Egypt for Christmas. This year, our oldest would have been in Egypt had my husband not flown her back (as a surprise) for me and the whole family for Christmas. My husband, youngest son and I had not seen her for 6 months, but other family members, such as our middle son and extended family had not seen her for a year-and-a-half. I was the first one surprised on the night before Christmas Eve, and it was great to see the faces of all of the family as we showed up to their homes for all of the Christmas celebrations. Needless to say, there were more than a few tears shed.

Our daughter will be in Egypt until sometime in June because she is teaching 6th grade there in the school she attended while there. She will return and finish her University studies where she is pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. The sad thing is, we will be going back in July, and this time, we may return as "empty nesters". Our youngest will be a senior in high-school and will probably stay and graduate from the school his two older siblings graduated from. Please pray for our family, as this will probably be a very hard thing for us.

But for now, I am still relishing in the memories of a wonderful Christmas and New Years spent with the whole family and in the fact that I am so wonderfully blessed.

Life in the States (So far)

2011-10-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Attending a special wedding when we first got back to the States. The bride and groom are friends who met in Egypt, and all of the people here are people we know from Egypt who are from the States and actually made the trip to Houston, Texas for the wedding.

Our son (on the far left) with some of his friends from Egypt at the wedding.

It has been a long time since I last updated my blog. I guess the excuse I could use is that we have been really busy just getting settled. It has taken a while to feel like we are finally settled, and sometimes, I still get that "unsettled" feeling.

We have spent the majority of the last 10 years in Egypt, so really, Egypt is where we feel like "home" is. We returned to the States around the 1st of July, and stayed with my in-laws till the 1st of September, when the house we were moving into opened up. We had most of our furniture, but we did have to start searching for bedroom furniture for our bedroom, as well as our son's bedroom. That did not take too long thanks to Craigslist. We found 2 beautiful sets in no time. There were some other small purchases we had to make, but we are mostly settled now.

Our youngest son, who is a junior this year, is doing well and enjoying his new school experience here in the States. He has gone to a small private school in Egypt since the 1st grade. The school he is attending here in the States is small according to people here, but it is quite large to Levi. He is getting to experience lots of new things, such as playing on a school soccer team, being in the school chess club, choir, and worship band. What is kind of funny though, is that one of the things our son is most excited about is that he has a study hall. In all his years in his school in Egypt he has never had a study hall, and he is thoroughly enjoying having that extra time to work on his homework.

Our son participating in Spirit Week at his new school. The picture above is from "Mime Day", and the picture below is from "Nerd Day."

There are other things going on in our lives here and many things we are adjusting to, but more about those things later. I hope to keep my blog updated more as we are getting more settled and adjusting to life while back in the States.

A Trip to the Salon

2011-07-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

Since being back in the States, I have made a couple of trips to the salon. Once for a slight trim and low-lights, and once for a manicure and pedicure. The prices for things here are much higher than they are in Egypt. I get a cut for about $5.00 there, compared to $18.00 here, and the manicure and pedicure there would cost me around $3.50 (total) compared to $20.00 here. Now, I have to admit I go to a Cosmetology school and have the manicure and pedicure done because I refuse to pay what you would normally pay in a normal salon.

I have gone to the same guy in Egypt for about 8 years. His name is Osama. He is a really nice guy and speaks excellent English. That is one of the reasons I go to him. I speak Arabic pretty well, but my hair is not something I want to be misunderstood on.

This is Osama.

Also, I have become very good friends with some of the women who work there doing manicures, pedicures, etc. It was really nice because a couple of months before we came back to the States, we moved to an apartment that was within walking distance from my salon. This made it nice for me to just be able to pop in on them and visit.

A Very Dangerous Discovery

2011-07-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I miss our favorite coffee place called Costa, in Egypt. I also mentioned that, in Egypt, there is a coffee shop on almost every corner. Well, here in the States, it is that way with ice cream, frozen yogurt and frozen custard places. This can be much more dangerous due to the amount of fat and calories in these items.

Inside "The Orange Leaf"

Well, recently, some good friends took my husband and I out to eat. After dinner, they took us to a place called "The Orange Leaf". This place is AMAZING! It is a frozen yogurt shop, and it works like this:

1st, you get your bowl. They come in two sizes: large and extra-large.

2nd, you walk around the room and get as much and as many flavors of frozen yogurt as you want. The choices of flavors are:

Tart, Vanilla, Chocolate, Honeydew, Green Tea, Kiwi, Strawberry, Mango, Pomegranate, Mint Chocolate, Coffee Lover, Raspberry, Lemon, Orange, Peach, Green Apple, Passion Fruit, Watermelon, Cherry, Dole Pineapple, Blueberry, Peanut Butter, Cheese Cake, Cookies & Cream, White Chocolate, Banana, Coconut, Cake Batter, Red Velvet, Pistachio and Chocolate Raspberry

This picture shows a lady getting ready to choose which kinds of frozen yogurt she wants from the many flavors available.

3rd, you put toppings on top. Again, you can choose as many toppings as you want. The toppings to choose from are:

Kiwi, Pear, Mochi, Pecan, Peach, Honey, Mango, Banana, Granola, Coconut, Nuts, Pineapple, Blueberry, Strawberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Honey Dew, Jelly Bellies, Cranberries, Watermelon, Oreos, Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Brownie, Gummy Bears, Dark Chocolate, Captain Crunch, Sunflower Seed, Dried Fruits, Graham Cracker, M&M's, Sprinkles, Marshmallows, Butterfinger, Reeses Cups.

A small section of the selection of toppings.

4th, you weigh and pay. Your yogurt is weighed and you pay for the amount you have taken.

And last but not least, enjoy your one-of-a-kind masterpiece you made yourself.

A sample picture of what your "masterpiece" could look like.

Like my title says, this is a very dangerous discovery for me. I love frozen yogurt, but I hope I can resist the temptation to stop at "The Orange Leaf" when I am passing by.

Things I Miss

2011-07-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

We have been back in the States for 2 weeks now. Even though it has been such a short time, there are things I miss.

One thing I miss is the wonderful coffee shops in Cairo. When we arrived in Cairo back in 2002, there was really only one place that we found that offered a good variety of coffee choices. Now, there are lots of different places to choose from. The place that has our favorite coffee is a place called "Costa", but there are other places such as Starbucks, Cilantro, Harris Cafe, Beanos, Gloria Jeans, and probably several others I am forgetting.

My favorite choice of coffee from Egypt: Cafe Mocha from Costa.

Another thing I miss is being to get almost anything you need delivered to your home. We especially took advantage of the restaurants that delivered. I think I have mentioned this in a post before, but almost all food places in Egypt deliver. You can order by phone, or there is a wonderful website you can go to and order almost anything there, and it is usually delivered to your home in 30 minutes to an hour.

These are the motorcycles McDonalds uses to deliver with. All restaurants, pharmacies and other places deliver with these types of motorcycles.

A third thing I miss is all the wonderful friends we have made while living in Cairo. Not only has God blessed us with many Egyptian friends, but we have made friends from many countries. We have been blessed beyond measure to have been given the opportunity and pleasure of meeting so many interesting and wonderful people.

This is Samea. Samea works at the hair salon I have been going to for around 8 to 8 1/2 years now. I have known her for most of that. The day I went in to say good-bye, she cried.

And last, but definitely not least, the thing I miss the most is my daughter. Our daughter came back to Cairo to live with us last year. She taught some classes at the school our son attends, and when we decided to come back to the States (this time for a year), she decided to stay and teach for another year. It was such a blessing to have her back with us after being away from her for 4 years. Now the tables have turned though, and we are in the States and she is on the other side of the world. It feels different knowing she is there without us, but we do not worry about her much. Remember those friends I talked about earlier? Well, there are enough of them there that I know she will be well taken care of, and besides that, I know God is there with her and watching over her.

Our daughter with some of her students. She is such a good teacher, and she loves her students so much. I'm so proud of her.

I'm sure in the months to come there will be many more things I will start missing about Cairo: this place that has been our home for the past 9 1/2 years, but for now, I'm going to try to enjoy the things I have missed from the States. I'll be posting on those things in the days to come.

Settling In

2011-07-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been back to the States for a week-and-a-half. We literally hit the ground running and have not slowed down. There are so many things to do to try to settle in for a whole year. Usually when we are here, we are only here for a couple of months so we stay with my in-laws, but I really doubt they want us hanging around and living with them for a whole year.

We have kept very busy during the time we have been here. That is why I have not been able to post much lately. We have been to a family reunion, bought a car, bought cell phones and gotten service, celebrated Independence Day with family, went to Silver Dollar City (an old-fashioned theme park in Branson, Mo.), and, as I mentioned in my last post, been looking for a home to either rent or buy. We actually decided on renting, and today found a house to rent. We are both happy with the house we found. It is very close to the school our son will be attending, plus, it is only a stone's throw away from Wal-Mart: LITERALLY! When we look out our back door we can see Wal-Mart. Of course, this is the part that made me happy. The house will not be ready to move into for 2 more weeks, but that is ok. I think my in-laws may be able to put up with us for that long.

Sorry there have been no pictures for the last two posts. Hope to get some soon though.

Greetings from The Other Side

2011-06-30T04:18:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pop in and say hello. I have not been able to post in several days. The reason is that we have recently returned to the States. The flight, even though it was long, was pretty uneventful. We had an 11 hour layover in Jordan, but we were given a hotel room to spend most of the night in. I think that helped us stay more rested up than spending the night in the airport.

This is our 4th day in the States, and it seems like we hit the ground running, and have not slowed down since. We are staying with my in-laws, but we are trying to decide what to do about a place to live, since we are back for a year this time. We looked at a lovely apartment which is within walking distance from the school Levi might be attending. We have also been looking for a house (it has to be fairly cheap) to buy. Please keep us in your prayers on this matter.

It has been great to be able to see family, especially our son, who lives here in the States with his grandparents.

Hopefully when things settle down a bit I will be able to get back into blogging mode and keep you all up to date about what we miss from Egypt and about our re integrating back to this culture.

McArabias and Mango Sundaes

2011-06-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

We all know that different cultures of the world have different foods, but I think one fast food place is becoming very common among most cultures, and that is McDonalds. When we first moved here, I know there were McDonalds restaurants here, but I was really surprised to see how many there were. They are everywhere. Just in the suburb we now live in, I can think of 5.

One of the nice things about living in Egypt is that we can order McDonalds. We can call on the phone, or we can even order on-line. We have just started using the on-line site lately, and it is something I am going to miss. Actually, you can order from any restaurant by phone, and the on-line site has a large variety of restaurants to order from.

Another thing that is neat about McDonalds here is that sometimes they have choices of food that are culturally adapted. By that, I mean that they have items on the menu that you might not see in other parts of the world. Above are some pictures of some of the different foods that are offered here in Egypt. I have tried the McArabia (grilled Kofta) and I have recently discovered the Mango Sundae. The McArabia was very good, but it is a huge sandwich; almost too much for me to eat. And the Mango Sundae: I think I am addicted. I love them. It is too bad we are getting ready to leave Egypt for a while. I will really miss them.

Parking Frustrations

2011-06-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

Two different views of the tight parking space we found in front of our apartment. Some of you may say you have parked in tighter places, but for me, this was an accomplishment.

I have posted this picture before, but this is a picture of our very narrow street.

One thing that can be very frustrating here in Cairo is finding a parking spot for your car. When we lived in El Rehab this wasn't as much of a problem because we actually had wide, open parking areas in front of the building, and the area was not as populated. But in most places in Cairo, you only have the streets in front of your apartment. Most areas are very populated and as time goes by,there are more and more cars on the streets.

If you are lucky, you can find a parking spot fairly close to your apartment, but more than half the time, we have to park a fair walking distance from ours. Then, when you do find one, sometimes it is very hard to get into. Either the space is very small, or the streets are so narrow it is almost impossible to parallel park.

I believe I have gotten better at parallel parking. In the States, it is not a skill you have to use that often, at least not where I am from. Almost every where we go has wide open parking lots, and all you have to do is pull straight into a space.

Yesterday my skills were put to the test as we rounded the corner to our apartment and there was a small space directly in front. Now to make things worse, it was on the right side of the road. (You can parallel park on either side of the road here.) I am much better at parking on the left side because I can see the curb and judge it better. Also, my husband was in the car with me, which makes me even more nervous when parking. (Don't really know why.) But anyway, I was surprised when I didn't have too much trouble getting our car into the small space that we found.

Later in the day we weren't as lucky. We left and came back, and to our frustration had to park a fairly good walking distance from our apartment. But a little walking never hurts anyone I guess.

Cleaning Up Egypt

2011-06-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

My son Levi out helping to clean the streets.

A picture of Levi and some of his friends that spent the day cleaning the streets. Does it look like Levi is cleaning to you?

A picture I posted before of some youth, cleaning up the streets of Cairo.

A man, that is employed by the government to clean the streets of Egypt. This particular man was cleaning the street I live on.

Ever since the revolution, there have been people who have been trying to "clean up" Egypt. There is not a "no littering" law here, and people are used to just throwing their trash on the ground. The youth of Egypt have especially taken an interest in trying to change this. It was not uncommon, right after the revolution, to see large groups of teens and children out cleaning and painting. (The "painting" is a topic for a future blog.)

But, before the revolution and now, it has always been the job of men, like the one above, to "clean up". It isn't easy to keep the streets here clean, especially in Cairo, where there are so many people. While I still have a hard time dealing with seeing people litter, I have to admit, at least it gives some people here the opportunity to work.

I just happened to be walking down our street the other day and saw the man above cleaning up our street. I asked if I could take a picture, and he was happy to oblige.

Another View of Egypt

2011-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

It was such a blessing to be able to look out our window and see "The Nile River of Egypt" any time we wanted to.

This is a park, and the view of the street below.

This was the view out of our boys' room. The city just seems to go on forever.

The beautiful window. We had these curtains custom made.

When I changed my header photo, it brought back lots of good memories, and I thought I would share.

This was actually a picture taken from one of the apartments we have lived in here in Egypt. After being here for a year and a half, we decided to move to an area called Shubra. We have many friends in this area, and the Baptist church we attend here is also in this area. When we decided to move there, we had friends that did not want us to because this is an area where there are not very many foreigners, but a good friend found us an apartment that was on the Nile, and it just happened to be in the same building as his parents (so he and they could keep an eye on us).

This apartment was on the 18th floor. Now, I have to admit, I was not crazy about that. Egypt is known to have earthquakes, and I was a little nervous about that. But, we rented the flat anyway, and it ended up being a very good experience.

I loved the view out of our beautiful, huge living room window. It was wonderful to be able to look out our window and see the Nile River of Egypt. I have to admit it blew my mind more than once. And some of the sunsets God allowed us to enjoy are still imprinted in my mind.

We only stayed in this apartment for a year because after a while we decided it would probably be better for our kids to move back to an area of Cairo where the people were used to seeing foreigners. Our kids were getting to an age where they could get out a little more on their own, and this was not a good idea in this area.

I am very thankful for the year we spent so close to the Nile though, but better yet was the year spent so close to the wonderful friends God has given us in that area.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Praying for a Very Dear Friend

2011-06-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know all of the specifics, but I have a very dear friend here in Egypt who needs a lot of prayers right now. All of us here know her as Miss Mary. Miss Mary has been with our school since it began 17 years ago.

Miss Mary is from Sudan. She is one of the nicest and sweetest ladies you could ever know. She is kind of an assistant to the teachers, helping us out in various ways, and she also helps to run the library at our school. Not too long ago, it looked like things were settling down in Sudan, and it looked like South Sudan was going to be able to separate from the North and become independent. Because of this, Miss Mary was thinking about returning to Sudan to be with her family.

Miss Mary accompanied the Arabic teacher and me on a field trip to the vegetable and fruit market with the Kindergarteners.

Not a lot has been in the news about the situation there lately, but the violence has once again escalated, and it seems this times things are even worse than before. This is the exact message I got from a colleague from our school last night.

"Mrs. Mary's home area in Nuba Mountains, the border of Abyei, has erupted in extreme fighting and violence. The news from home is very bad. Her cousin, who is in the army, fighting against Northern Sudan died today. Her family and friends are no longer living in their homes. They are in the mountains, hiding in caves. People are very afraid that the North will use their air-force to destroy their area. She is on Skype with people giving her the latest news. Please pray for Mary and her family."

If you have been reading my blog long enough, you may remember that my husband used to be the head of a Sudanese school board here. The people on this school board help to keep this school running for the kids that otherwise would not be able to receive an education. I know that there are many of these Sudanese kids and families that probably have family in the area where the violence is taking place. In fact, the man who started this particular Sudanese school went back to Sudan a couple of years ago to start a school in his village, which just happens to be in the Nuba Mountains. His wife and kids have been here in Cairo, and had been planning on joining him this summer, but now, due to the violence, their plans have changed.

This is my husband with the man that started the Sudanese school here 11 years ago.

Another teacher at our school told me today that she had been upset and angry about some things that had been going on in her life lately. Then, she received the email about Miss Mary's situation. She said it really put things in perspective for her. She said it was very hard to imagine what it would be like, thinking that your family was having to hide out in caves for fear of their lives.

So, tonight, before you go to bed. Please say a prayer for Miss Mary and the other Sudanese people who are suffering and going through so much. Then take time to thank God, for the many blessings in your own life. I know I will.

Blooms of a Different Color

2011-06-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Just happened to be driving around today and saw this tree with some blooms of a different color. I don't quite know what you would call this color, but it is one of the colors that is more prominent in early spring. During that time, this tree was probably filled with blooms of this color. Just thought you might enjoy imagining what that might have looked like.

The Colors of Egypt

2011-06-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Normally, there is not a lot of color here in Egypt. Because of all of the sand, and the buildings, most everything here is different variations of the color beige. I have been surprised though at how much "green" there is. Egyptians take pride in their park areas, and they are always watering, tending, and sculpting them.

In the States, my favorite season is Fall. I love the way the weather starts to cool, after a hot, humid summer. I love the smells associated with Fall, such as cinnamon, apple cider, and warm pumpkin pies. But my favorite thing about the Fall is the lovely colors the trees turn this time of the year. Well, in Egypt, we don't have much of any of these things in the Fall. It does not cool down much from the summer, if we have the smells, it is only because I, or other foreigners are baking (around Thanksgiving), and the trees do not turn different colors, at least in the fall.

When in Egypt, my favorite season is spring. There are many beautiful colors that come out in the spring, and believe it or not, many of these colors are in the trees. Now, the leaves do not turn colors, or anything like that, but the trees have many different colors of flowers that bloom in them. Now I have to admit, at this point, that I am a little late on catching some of the colors. We have some trees that bloom with lavender and a deep reddish maroon color that I missed getting a picture of, but I did happen to catch a couple of trees with blooms of a bright orange, and one with yellow.

Hope you like the pictures above. I will try to get some more pictures of the colorful trees and bushes and post them soon.

Saying Good-Bye is Never Easy

2011-06-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is a Brazilian couple whom we have gotten to be very close to. They are leaving today, to go back to Brazil for the summer.

This is an Iraqi family who came here 4-5 years ago. I have gotten very close to the ladies of this family. (In particular the little one I am holding.) They are relocating and will not be returning to Egypt.

This young man has been a friend of both of my sons and my husband's student for the last 6 years. He is graduating and going on to University in the States.

This is one of my very special KG-2 students. She is Brazilian (the daughter of the Brazilian couple above).

This time of the year is always a time of many emotions. The end of the school year is quickly approaching, so there is excitement, joy, and happiness. Also, though, there is sadness, because the end of the school year, and the approach of summer, means having to say good-bye.

As a person living on a foreign field, there are always people coming in and out of your life. This is something that can be particularly hard on your kids. I know my kids have personally experienced this way more than they would have liked. Every end of the school year means there are probably friends who are leaving for the summer, for a year, or maybe even forever.

Our kids are not the only ones who have experienced this though. We have been very fortunate to have our kids in a wonderful American school. Through this experience, we have met some wonderful people from all over the world, and as I said before, each year we have to say good-bye to some.

Yesterday, we saw some of our friends that are leaving Egypt: some for just a short time, but some forever. Yes, this can be a very hard thing to do, year after year, but then again, I thank God for bringing all of these people into my life, even if it is for just a short time. I have been so richly blessed with friendships that will last forever.

A Change of Scenery

2011-06-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

The previous view from our balcony.

The narrow street on which we now live.

This is the view of our new apartment from the outside.

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted. There are so many things going on here and it is hard to get the time to post. We just recently moved, and we are still living out of boxes, and it is the end of the school year. So many things go on at this time, and it is very easy to get a little overwhelmed. Also, I like to supply my readers with pictures, and it has been hard to find the time to just get out and take pictures.

In about a month, we will be heading to the States to stay for a year. We have some issues going on that we feel would be better taken care of by doing that at this time. Some of my immediate family is experiencing health problems, our youngest son will be going back to complete his final two years of high-school, etc. So, I want to do a few blogs before we leave. It should be easy to get in several. The area we live in now is much more accessible to different aspects of daily life in Egypt.

This is the first blog pertaining to those things. I wanted to post some pictures just to give you an idea of the difference in scenery. In our last apartment, we were in an area where there were a lot of wide, open spaces. The view out of our window was of large, grassy places where kids gathered to play, but the area we now live in is nothing like that. As you can see from the pictures above, the street we now live on is very narrow, and the apartment buildings are very close to one another. Because of this, there is more noise. It is very usual here to hear people in building next door to you, just having a normal conversation. It gets very interesting though, when the neighbors have an argument. I have heard one or two since moving to the new place, but last night we heard a good one. People were yelling, screaming, slamming doors, etc. For the most part, we just go on with our lives and stay out of their business. In the States, we would have been calling the police because of a domestic disturbance. The people here are a very passionate and expressive people, and we know there is nothing we can do anyway.

Another noise that is heard here more than at our old apartment is the cats that live on the streets. This is even made louder by the fact that we now live on the ground floor. We have one cat that pretty much "lives" on our balcony. I think she has been tamed by someone before because she is always trying to come in the house, and one day while I was out on the balcony, she was rubbing up against my legs. Now this can be a problem in several ways. First of all, we do not want her to come in because that might draw more cats into the house who are not so tamed. And, second of all, our daughter Kaily is allergic to cats. (I'll try to post some pictures of some of the cats at a later date.)

One more noise I'll mention in this post, is the sound of the street vendors who walk up and down the street trying to sell things. The most common one we hear is the man who sells the local bread. He walks down the street yelling "aieeeeesh" (pronounced with a long "i" sound at the beginning). We have many other types of vendors that do this, and one day, I will post a blog about them too.

It is very different, after being in Elrehab for 3 years, but it is like being with a long lost friend who you haven't seen in a while. I did not realize how much I had missed being away from the things I had gotten used to in our first few years here.

Are The Streets Safe Yet?

2011-05-25T00:33:00.001-07:00

When in the States, we are always asked if we feel safe when we are in Egypt. We have always answered "yes". In fact, there are certain aspects of life that we have felt safer with here in Egypt than we did in the States. One of those is that we felt that our children were safer on the streets here. In the States, there is always the thought in your mind that your child might be taken, or snatched away if they are out by themselves. But here in Egypt, the streets are always full of people, and those people always seem to watch out for each other. If someone is hurt, people come running to help.

Before the revolution, Egypt was seen as a country with a pretty low crime rate. People were fairly scared of being caught by the police because being in custody or in prison here is not quite the "pleasant" experience it can be in the States. During the revolution though, the police just disappeared off of the streets, and things became quite chaotic. If you saw any scenes from the revolution, you would know why. But lately, the police are once again making their presence known. I believe they are still a little gun-shy (as we say in the States) because the happenings of the revolution are still fresh in their minds. But I also believe the police are trying harder. I have seen places they are posted, and they are trying to help traffic maintain order, and they are trying to stop people from doing things that are supposed to be illegal or could endanger others.

The depressing part of this situation though, is the fact that there are still people out there who want to do things "their way", regardless of the fact that it is illegal and dangerous. I have been sitting at traffic lights, where the police will stop traffic so the traffic crossing in front of them can go, and there will be people either totally ignore the police or stop and sit there, blaring their horn or yelling at the police officer until they are able to go.

My husband found the following short article on-line. It is from a magazine here called "almasry alyoum", which I believe means "The Egypt Daily". (Any of my Egyptian friends can correct me on this if I am wrong.) After the article is a comment left by an Egyptian woman which sums up how I feel.

article
Police Officers Attacked in Three Governates

Police officers on Thursday were attacked in three Egyptian governates.

In Cairo, people stormed the Muski police station downtown, beat an officer, and broke his arm for having confiscated an expired driver’s license that belonged to one of them.

In Giza, a taxi driver tried to stab a police officer who tried to stop him from driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street. Another taxi driver assaulted an officer who was inspecting his license.

In Arish, two police officers were shot at while chasing thieves who were trying to steal cars.

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Please people use common sense. Let the police do their honest work. Break his arm because he took a license from someone who was not supposed to be on the road endangering other people's lives?? You've got to be kidding me! I only hope the creeps who did this are punished. You want a honest police department? Then be honest yourselves. They have a lot to prove to themselves and to you but things will never change with things like this going on. Let them prove themselves. To read things like this and the other treatments of the police doing their honest work makes me sick to my stomach to think that people can act this way. I guess those same people want the police to protect them if someone is beating or robbing them?

It kind of reminds me of what the Bible says in Judges 17:6

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

I'd like to put this challenge out there for all of my friends here in Egypt. Take this woman's advice. Start showing the police here respect, and start encouraging others around you to do the same. I know I have some great friends here in Egypt who want their country to become something better, and I challenge you to do what you know is right, "in your own heart".

Sectarian Clashes Again in Egypt

2011-05-18T08:02:00.000-07:00

More violence in the streets of Egypt: this time over religious issues.

The church burning and firefighters trying to put out the fire.

The Egyptian military standing guard in front of the burned out church. Tim and I actually attended a wedding in this church.

Coptic Christians inside of the burned church.

The following article is from "The New York Times". It is about the current clashes going on between Muslims and Coptic Christians. It is a little long, but worth the read.

PLEASE BE IN PRAYER FOR THIS SITUATION.

I like this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

CAIRO — Muslims and Coptic Christians clashed with bullets, rocks and Molotov cocktails here for the second time in seven days on Saturday night, sending at least 55 people to the hospital, officials with Egypt’s Interior Ministry said.

The officials said that at least 33 of the wounded were Muslims, 22 were Christians and that 28 were arrested for playing a role in the strife.

Fears of such sectarian violence have kept Cairo on edge since a nightlong battle between mobs of Muslims and Coptic Christians in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba a week ago left at least a dozen dead and two churches in flames. (Egyptian state news media said Sunday that the death toll had risen to 15.)

On Sunday, hundreds of Copts angry at the failure of the Egyptian police and armed forces to protect their churches more effectively held a sit-in outside the state television building, known as Maspero.

The clashes on Saturday began about 10 p.m., officials of the Interior Ministry said. Witnesses and officials said a small group of Muslims had fired shots at the sit-in. Soon groups of young men from each faith were battling each other for hours with rocks, sticks and Molotov cocktails.

In the aftermath of the bloodshed, Pope Shenouda III, the leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, urged an end to the sit-in on Sunday, Egyptian state news media reported. “To our children who are protesting in front of Maspero, the protest is now no longer about expressing your opinion and has been infiltrated by those who use different means than the ones you use,” the pope said in a statement, according to the Web site of the state newspaper Al Ahram. “Now there is fighting and hitting, and that negatively affects Egypt’s reputation as well as your reputation. Therefore, you have to immediately end the protest.”

The paper’s Web site said that he added: “The patience of the rulers is starting to end, and you will be the losers if you continue in the protest.”

But thousands of Copts ignored their patriarch’s admonition and continued to rally into Sunday night. “With our blood, with our soul, we sacrifice for the cross,” they chanted.

Tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population here, have risen steadily since the sweeping vows of unity during the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak three months ago. Copts say they have felt increasingly embattled since clashes just south of Cairo left a church burning last month.

The battle on the night of May 7 in the neighborhood of Imbaba began with a dispute over a woman. Neighborhood Muslims were convinced that Christians were holding her in a church against her will to talk her out of converting to Islam and leaving her Christian husband for a Muslim man — a recurring theme in sectarian disputes here, where a combination of custom and law make it easier for Muslims than Christians to divorce.

With memories of last month’s church fire still fresh, about 500 Copts rallied to defend their church — some with firearms — even before more than two dozen Muslims had approached it. Casualties were roughly even on both sides.

The anger among the Copts had run so high that many continued to protest at their sit-in on Friday, even as thousands of other Egyptians held a rally for Muslim and Christian unity in Tahrir Square.

In addition to sectarian violence, general crime has jumped in Cairo since the revolution as the military council running the country has struggled to rebuild the police force. Many police officers, who were a primary target of the revolution because of their past abusive practices, deserted the force or have returned timidly. Some leaders of the protests that brought down the old government suspect a counterrevolutionary conspiracy to stir up lawlessness.

Third Culture Kids

2011-05-16T01:01:00.001-07:00

Levi helping steer a falukah (Egyptian sailboat) on the Nile.

One of the magnificent touristic sites we saw while on the Nile Cruise. If you look carefully, you can see Tim standing at the bottom. This shows how big these statues are.

Dillon and Levi at the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

Levi's school playing soccer or "football" against a Sudanese school here in Egypt.

Anyone who has lived abroad, or knows someone who lives abroad and has kids has probably heard the term "third culture kids." I like the definition found in Wikipedia: A third culture kid (TCK) is "someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture."

It is very interesting to raise kids in a culture other than the one you were raised in. I often find myself "feeling sorry" for my kids because I think they are not getting to experience the "normal" things I experienced growing up. But, when I think about it, they are the lucky ones.

My kids, and other "third culture kids" here have gotten to experience things others only dream of experiencing. My kids have seen the PYRAMIDS of Egypt! They have gotten to see the King Tut Exhibition in the Cairo Museum, along with many other artifacts. They have ridden in a falukah (Egyptian sailboat) on the Nile, and have even taken a cruise on the Nile, where we visited many Egyptian historical sites, including the "Valley of the Kings."

We are getting ready to pack up and go back to the U.S. for a year. There are several reasons for this year-long visit, but that is not the focus of this post. Our youngest son Levi has lived 9 of his 16 years of life here in Egypt. He is probably more "Egyptian" than any of us. I know he is a little worried about making the transition to a "new" culture. I am praying that things will be easy for him, and that he will transition well. He will be a junior in high-school next year; not an easy age to change schools, make new friends, etc. But Levi is a very outgoing, special young man. I know he will be okay. Please pray for him, and pray for us as parents to have wisdom over this next year. Only God knows the plans He has for Levi, and knowing Levi, they will be something special.

Saying Good-bye is Hard

2011-05-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of some of the furniture we bought a few years ago.

One of the hard things about living in Egypt is having to move so often. There is a law here stating that owners of apartments have the right to raise the rent of them 10% every year. This is pretty ridiculous to me because who can afford to pay 10% more every year indefinitely? So, we stay in an apartment about 3 years before we are having to start the search for a new one.

This move is particularly hard for me because several years ago we bought all of our own furniture and rented an unfurnished apartment. Most of the time foreigners rent furnished apartments here, and we have rented our share of those.

Due to recent events in the country, we decided to sell our furniture and move back into a furnished apartment. Things have become more unstable here, and the government has never been as unpredictable as it is right now. This is what helped us to make this decision. If something happens and it is impossible for us to return to Egypt after our visit back to the States later this summer, then we will not have an apartment full of furniture sitting here that we can not deal with.

As the title of my blog states "...living in a foreign land," these issues do not just pertain to me, living in another "earthly" country. These types of issues pertain to all of us. We are only on this earth for a little while. Sooner or later, we all pass on to another life, and we cannot take our earthly possessions with us, so as the Bible says in Matthew 6:19-21

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Mixed Emotions

2011-05-05T00:57:00.001-07:00

When I first heard Osama bin Laden had been killed, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was happy that the world was void of one less terrorist, but on the other, I began to wonder what God thought of this whole ordeal. The following link was posted on Facebook, and it is a viewpoint that comes from someone I have learned to respect from his teachings and writings.

I hope you find it as interesting and thought provoking as I did.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/is-god-glad-osama-bin-ladens-dead

A Wonderful Weekend Getaway

2011-05-02T02:07:00.000-07:00

Tim and I, on top of our building, with the sea in the background.

The retreat center had so many beautiful flowers. This is me, in front of a bunch of daisies, one of my favorites.

This is me and a very special little friend that I tried to spend as much time with as possible.

Levi playing soccer.

Every year, the church we attend goes to the North Coast on the Mediterranean for a retreat. Every year it seems more and more people go. This year, we had 180 people go. There are certain traditions, such as, capture the flag on the first night, a talent show the second night, and the "free ice cream for everyone" that one man buys each year for his son's birthday.

One thing that is nice about the retreat is that we get to get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life. There is nothing real pressing or stressful to worry about. There are daily activities, such as soccer, swimming and basketball, or you can choose to just sit around and visit with friends or make new friends. Another favorite past-time while we are there is to take an afternoon nap, usually unheard of in our busy lives back home.

Something else we have on this retreat is a daily message from the Pastor or a guest speaker, then we break into small groups and have discussion questions together. I know the guest speaker was a blessing to everyone, and his messages spoke directly to many. I know they spoke to me.

Another great thing about the retreat is that we have wonderful meals. All of the meals are Egyptian food, which I love. And it is great to be able to enjoy 3 days of it, especially not having to cook it myself.

The only bad thing about the retreat is that it is just not long enough. We stay 3 days and 3 nights, and it seems like those days and nights go by so quickly, and we soon find ourselves back in the city, going through the routine of everyday, normal life. But at least a few days away has given us a rest, a renewed energy, and a message from God to help us through it.

There's Something to the Saying "Nice Guys Finish Last"

2011-04-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hopefully our family will never understand discrimination to its fullest extent, but every once in a while, we do experience something just because of our nationality. Being, in particular American, we are sometimes even told by the people here that they do not like us. When we ask why, there are different reasons given. Among the top reasons given are the following:

1. America needs to stay out of other country's affairs. By this, the people here are usually referring to Iraq, the war there and other similar incidents in the world.

2. America needs to do more in certain incidents in the world, such as the situation in Libya. (This is funny because it is a direct contradiction of #1.)

3. The people in America are rich. A lot of people here see America as a very rich nation, and the American people are sometimes portrayed as spoiled and wasteful, and that they are uncaring to other countries and the problem of poverty.

4. Americans hate Islam and anything to do with it.

I am not writing this blog-post to make you feel sorry for me or to even make you think bad of the people here. The people here are a lot like us, and when you get to know them as well as we have, you start to understand that. Like us, they believe what they are taught, their media is a little biased, and they are scared of what they don't know and understand.

While discrimination usually happens because of the bad thoughts someone has towards others, we actually felt "discriminated" against because of good thoughts someone had towards us. We were sitting at a coffee shop that we frequent quite often. Our son was getting a meal from another restaurant and was going to meet us at the coffee shop. Well, when he arrived with his meal, we were told we could not bring the food onto the grounds of the coffee shop. Now, we would have had no problem with this, but we see the nationals here do it ALL OF THE TIME. When Tim confronted the manager with this, he denied it. After a few minutes of talk back and forth, the manager finally admitted it. He actually said that the people here are too hard to deal with. If confronted, they are totally unpredictable to how they might react. Tim tried to tell him how discriminating that was; that this guy was actually forbidding us to do something they allow others to do because "we were nice people". It isn't like we were dealing with a manager we had never met before either. We have gone to various branches of this coffee shop for at least 7-8 years, and we have known this young man from the very beginning. I think it would have been easier dealing with a complete stranger than with someone we have known for so long. Well, I am disappointed, because we told them we would no longer return to their establishment if they could not be just and fair to everyone, but I am not disappointed about being discriminated against for being "nice people".

Happy Easter

2011-04-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

He Lives

I serve a risen Saviour,
He's in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.

In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And tho my heart grows weary
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading
Thro' all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing
Will come at last.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
To Jesus Christ the King!
The hope of all who seek Him,
The help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
So good and kind.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives
today!
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.

One of my favorite hymns on the real meaning of Easter. I couldn't think of a better way to express just what He means to me. Just wanted to post it and wish you all a happy and blessed Easter.

Trip to Mt. Sinai

2011-04-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Just a view of the mountains early in the morning. Off to the right, in the valley, is where the monks from the monastery have a garden area. It really isn't visible in this picture.

This picture is taken about 6:00 AM. On the left, you can see the rooms where people stay, and straight ahead is where the cafeteria is.

One of many of the beautiful olive trees on the grounds.

Me, with some friends, and the mountains in the background.

Last weekend I traveled a second time to Mt. Sinai. The rest of my family was off on a retreat with the high school where my husband and daughter work. There is a church here who takes this trip annually, and we have gotten to know some of the people who go on this trip, so it was a great opportunity to just get away from the hustle and bustle of every day life in the big city.

I took the trip mainly for a chance of relaxation and fellowship with friends. I was debating on whether to climb the mountain again or not. I ended up not climbing because when we arrived I had a terrible headache due to lack of sleep the night before. But as you can see by the pictures above, the trip is worth it just for the beauty and the experience of being there.

Random Thought: What do you Crave?

2011-04-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

What do you think of when you hear the word "crave"? I don't know about you, but I think most people think of foods. I personally think of "CHOCOLATE", and if you are a woman, you can probably identify. (And some men might too. Don't want to leave you out if you do.)

Well, this "random thought" just popped into my head yesterday. Sometimes when I pray, I ask God to help me "crave" His Word and His Ways. For some reason, this word "crave" just stuck in my head, and I started wondering why I use that word. I find it interesting that there are food terms that are used to refer to the Bible and Jesus, such as "bread" and "water". These things are necessary for us to live, and as a Christian, God's Word and Jesus in our lives are just as necessary, if not more. Immediately, I started getting thoughts about what people crave in their lives.

This acronym came to my mind about the things that people crave.

C-Compassion (Bet you thought I was going to put "Chocolate" here.)
R-Relationships
A-Attention
V-Values
E-Encouragement

We all crave compassion, don't we? When we are suffering in some way, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual, we like to have someone around who cares. I think the greatest example of compassion can be found in John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth, should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We all crave relationships. No one likes to be alone. We all crave interaction with others, and we crave to have people in our lives that we are close enough to to share the good and bad times with. In the first few chapter of the Bible, God made Eve for Adam. It says that he made her as a companion for him because "it was not good for him to be alone." Also, the best and most fulfilling relationship we can have is with Jesus.

In some ways, we all crave attention. This can be good or bad, depending on what you are calling attention to. The way we live our lives calls attention to what is important to us. I want to live my life in order to "call attention" to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John 3:30 - He must increase, but I must decrease. This is saying that we do not live for our own purposes, but for His. I challenge you to take a look at your life. What do others see you showing as most important in your life?

I believe also that we all crave things to value, or at least we should. We need to have something to believe in. If we didn't, this world would be impossible to live in. The Bible speaks of many values; too many to actually go into, but having values gives us hope. If we do not have hope, we do not have anything. What is your hope in? To quote a popular hymn, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."

And lastly, I believe we all crave encouragement in our lives. We all have things we love to do. God has given us talents, gifts and abilities, and we should use those things to the best of our ability. Sometimes though, we might be afraid. We might be afraid we will fail, or be afraid of what others may say about us. But I just want to encourage you now. You are special, especially to the One who created you. He made you for a specific purpose. He gave you specific talents, gifts and abilities, and if you use those things to honor and glorify Him, you will never fail; at least in His eyes, and that's all that really counts.

(If you have any questions about anything I said above, please feel free to contact me with those questions. I would be happy to answer them for you.)

Till next time, Jackie

Open House

2011-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is the beautiful cabinets we had made when we first moved in.

You can get an idea of what our living room furniture looks like from this picture. Plus, this apartment holds loving memories of Miss Kitty.

This is the wonderful food court in our area.

The beautiful view I will miss when we move back into town.

About a month ago, maybe more, we decided to have an "Open House" at our apartment because we are selling all of our furniture. We also wanted a reason to just have our friends feel welcome to come and visit, so we scheduled it for April 9th. Well, most of our furniture was spoken for before April 9th even got here, but we had a great time visiting with a lot of friends.

We have some friends who are getting married this summer, and they came by to take a look at everything. They needed to do it earlier than April 9th because they had found an unfurnished apartment they were interested in, and they wanted to see our furniture so they would know if they liked it and could afford it in order to go ahead and sign the contract. Well, they ended up taking about 2/3s of our things. The only things we have left are the kitchen items, the washing machine, and 2 TVs. This has worked out well for us though, as we have decided to keep the washing machine, the stove, and a small refrigerator.

We also have someone that wants our car, so we feel like things are just falling into place for us.

We live outside the city right now, but we will be moving back into the city when we return from our visit to the States. We have already found a furnished apartment where our daughter will stay (probably with a room-mate), and we will store our items in another of the rooms. Our daughter has decided to stay another year or two and keep teaching (mostly 6th grade classes) at the school.

I will miss all of my lovely furniture we bought just about 3 years ago, but I know those things are just that "things". And besides that, most of our stuff is going to a lovely young couple. I know it will be put to good use.

1st April Weekend a Success

2011-04-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

A little friendly competition before the race.

Levi at the finish line.

Just a few of the younger runners that ran the 2K.

Me with some of the teachers from our school.

Well, as I said in my last post, we have activities scheduled for almost every weekend in April, and yesterday was the first of these activities.

It was our school's annual 2K/5K. I ran this last year, but I just didn't have the time to train properly this year to be able to participate, but even if you do not run, it is a lot of fun just to be there. Our son, who is in the 10th grade did run though, and he did a great job. He came in 4th overall, and 1st in his age division. We are so proud of him. There is a Nigerian man that always comes in 1st or 2nd, and our son's goal was to beat him. He said he did not even care about a trophy or a medal, but he wanted to beat this man. As you can see in the picture of them together above it was just a little friendly competition, but in the end, this man came in 2nd, and Levi came in 4th.

The weather was so nice for this event. The day before was very hot; I think in the 90s, but yesterday it was a little cloudy, and it may have gotten into the 80s, but all in all a beautiful day for the race.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of last year's 2K/5K

So sorry to have been away for so long. I had no idea homeschooling my son would keep me so busy. Also, things really pick up for us this time of year. Even though our son is not going to the school anymore, there are still activities we attend with the school because my husband and daughter are teachers there.

This Saturday, there is the annual 2K/5K that our school does. Kids 4th grade and down run a 2K, and everyone over 4th grade runs a 5K. I ran this last year, but decided not to run this year. They need a lot of help running things, so I decided to be there to help in whatever area help is needed.

The next Saturday, April 9th, we are having an "Open House" at our apartment. We are doing this because we have been so busy this school year that we have not been able to see lots of our friends since we came back to Egypt last September. It will be a good way to see friends and have a good time of fellowship.

The next weekend, the high-school and middle-school will go on a retreat. They go to a "camp" where there are lots of challenging activities. They are put into two teams and these activities teach them to work as a team. My husband, daughter and son will go on this retreat.

I don't think there is anything planned for the next weekend, but we will probably be so busy playing "catch-up" that it will be busy too.

Then the last weekend of April is a family retreat with the church we attend here. This is always a great time of being with great friends and getting to "relax" a little.

From now until the end of the school year, it is like someone pushes a "fast-forward" button, and we seem to do everything in fast motion. Another school year will be over before we know it, and our family will be heading back to the States for a while. It is always a sad/happy occasion because we have to say good-bye (for a while) to our friends here, but we get to see friends and family back home.

In the weeks to come, I'll try to post on some of the activities mentioned above. Meanwhile, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. During the next few months, we will be packing up our stuff and moving to a new apartment. So, on top of all these activities, we will be busy with this as well.

Till next time, Jackie

Will Egypt vote 'Yes' or 'No' to constitutional amendments? - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

2011-03-19T05:29:00.000-07:00

Today, the people of Egypt are casting their first vote since the revolution. I am not the type of person to keep up with political "talk", I thought I would just post an article that tells more about it. So, if you are interested, just "click" on the link below.

Will Egypt vote 'Yes' or 'No' to constitutional amendments? - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Our Cleaner

2011-03-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

The picture above is a picture of our son Levi with the Sudanese man who cleans our apartment. He comes once a week and cleans for about 6 hours, and we pay him somewhere between $11.00 and $12.00 for the day. That is good money for cleaners here in Egypt. There are lots of Sudanese here in Egypt. They are either refugees, or they come for work because there is no work for them in Sudan.

His name is Deng, and he is very tall. I tried to take the picture with someone so you could tell how tall he was, but since our son Levi is so tall, you really can't tell. I should have had Levi take the picture of him with me.

Sudanese men are sought after for cleaners here. For one thing, they are strong and can move furniture if they have to. Also, they take pride in what they do.

He is a very quiet, mild-mannered young man. Every once in a while he will accept something to drink from us, but I have never known him to accept food.

It is very beneficial here in Egypt to have someone come in and clean at least once a week. No matter how well a person cleans here, the sand is a constant problem, and to have someone come in that one time a week helps keep the "sand" problem under control.

Christian-Muslim clashes in Egypt kill 11

2011-03-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Read the link below.

Christian-Muslim clashes in Egypt kill 11

Prayer Still Needed

2011-03-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

Of course these days, when people mention Egypt, people all over the world are going to think of the recent events that have happened here. The protests, demonstrations, riots, killings, unity among Egyptians, and ultimately a "presumed" victory for the people were all over the news, and these events were all that people could think about for a couple of weeks. Well, it seemed like as fast as these things started happening, they ended. We all hoped and prayed that what seemed "too good to be true" could really happen; that no matter what their differences, religiously, economically, or even gender, Egyptians were uniting and fighting for a better Egypt.

I believe there truly are thousands of people here in Egypt who truly hope and pray for this kind of Egypt, but there are still those here that are looking out for themselves and only wanted the regime to topple in order to bring about their own agendas.

Even as I am writing this, one of the minorities here in Egypt is ensnared in a battle; some even in such danger they are fighting for their lives and existence. I am speaking of the continuing battle between the Christians and the Muslims. Yes, the pictures we saw of Muslims and Christians uniting during the revolution were awesome, and I still stand up and applaud those who were sincere in this, but the fight and tensions that existed before all of this happened were embedded too deep in the hearts and minds of most people here to just go away in a couple of weeks. Just in the past few weeks following the revolution there have been churches burned down, and there was even a monastery that was attacked. Tensions have not eased since the bombing of a church in Alexandria near the 1st of the year also.

There is an area here that people refer to as "garbage village". One of my first posts ever was on this "village", and the picture I am using for my blog right now is taken in this area with some of the children. The majority of the people who live there are Christians. The people who live in this area began protesting against the violence going on against Christians, and they have come under attack for this. There are reports of their homes being burned down, and people being shot in the streets. A friend of ours, who has done a lot of volunteer work in that area has been receiving phone calls from many people in this area saying they are scared for their lives. Please keep these people in your prayers. They deserve the "freedom" that the Egyptian people have been fighting for as well.

See the post above for a news article on these events.

Little Patriot

2011-03-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd post this picture of a small boy holding an Egyptian flag. We rounded a corner, and here was this small boy with such a huge flag. He and his dad were selling flags. They are selling these flags all over Egypt. We have already bought one this size or maybe a bit bigger, but we stopped and bought a very small one and also asked if we could take a picture of the boy. He doens't look like it in the picture, but he was excited about me taking his picture. So cute.

Learning Together

2011-03-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

There have been so many changes in our lives here recently due to the recent unrest in Egypt. One of the things that has changed, just this past week, is that we made the decision to pull our son from his highschool and homeschool him for the rest of this year. This decision was based on several reasons. First of all, and one of the main reasons, is because of the school he will attend in the States next year. The credits he will need upon graduating were not going to be met if he continued. There is a certain subject that he needs 4 years of and he was already behind one year, so we decided to pull him, drop one of the courses that he is ahead in, and double up on the one he is behind in.

Another reason for pulling him is that we are still missing two of the highschool teachers that left Egypt during the uprising. One of them is trying really hard to return, but the other has said she will not be returning. This has put the school in a position where things are much more stressful, and the teachers that stayed are taking on more responsibility. Our son was having some struggles, even before all of this happened, but we saw an increase in his stress as things got more stressful at the school.

Most of you know I recently quit my job teaching the KG 2 class at this school. Little did I know I would still be used in the role of teaching, at least for a few more months. It has been a wonderful experience so far. I know we have just gotten through the first week together, and that week was not very organized, but it has been enjoyable to be able to sit with my youngest son and teach him, and just really get to talk to him. I am trying to get things much more organized for the weeks to come, and he and I are "learning together" how to do all of this. It is such a responsibility to feel like you are in charge of what your child is learning, but it is also such a privilege.

As a Christian Mom who is homeschooling, I feel it is very important every morning to have a morning devotion with my son. Our devotions this past week have challenged us to think about our purpose for our lives. I can think of no better way to be used of God than to have such an opportunity with my child; to be able to be with him more, and just be able to enjoy his company. I ask all of my readers to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we take on this challenge. I pray that I can be a good teacher and keep things interesting for him, but I pray most of all that I can be a godly influence in my son's life and teach him that it doesn't matter what the world thinks our purpose should be, but obedience to God, and His purpose for our lives is the most important aspect of living.

(I will try to take some pictures of us in our homeschooling environment and post them soon.)

Last Official Day of Teaching

2011-02-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday was my last official day of teaching. I was supposed to be able to quit about 3 weeks ago, but the lady that was supposed to take over for me left, due to the unrest Egypt experienced during the protests and demonstrations.

On my last day, I surprised the kids with McDonalds Happy Meals. I had called all of the parents the night before and told them I wanted to surprise the kids and not to send them any lunch. Well, it was quite funny at snack time when the kids discovered their Moms hadn't sent them any lunch. I told them I would share my pretzels with them for lunch, and they seemed quite pleased with that. As you can see above, they enjoyed their Happy Meals.

Also, one of the little girls and her Mom surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Aren't they beautiful?

What's Going On Now

2011-02-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well, most of the excitement has died down now. There are still lots of young people very excited about the possibilities of the future of Egypt. Everywhere you go, people are still talking about "the revolution" and what took place between January 25th and February 11th. We still have a military presence around, but it isn't as heavy, and still, there is not much of a police presence. Even when there are police around, the people do not trust them or like them. Because of this, violence is up a little. For such a huge city, we used to feel like it was ok to let our kids run around with their friends pretty freely, but some of that is more limited now.

Very few schools and universities have started back. Because of this, it seems like summer vacation, and people are everywhere. Restaurants, malls, food courts, etc. are filled to capacity with kids and young people. And the worst thing is that young kids are out very late playing outside. They are so noisy at night it is hard to get to sleep and have a good night's rest. I have heard though, that schools will reopen tomorrow (Saturday), and hopefully that will give everyone more of a symblance of normalcy.

Young people are still out in droves cleaning the streets and even painting the curbing of the streets. This is a good thing. I truly hope and pray that the young people will gain such a pride for their country that this type of attitude and enthusiasm continue, and that they will rise up and make Egypt as great a nation as it used to be.

On a Lighter Note

2011-02-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

The boys playing.
The girls playing dress-up: two princesses and their cook.
The group that went to the fruit and vegetable market with their fruits and veggies.
With all that has been going on here in Egypt, there hasn't been time to think about much else. Our school is one of the only schools now back in session. I have heard the government schools have cancelled again for this next week, and alot of the private schools are following their example. There are a few, scattered here and there, that are open though.

Our school, even though we are still missing a few teachers, started back last Sunday (Feb. 13th). The week that the demonstrations started, the KG1 and KG2 classes were scheduled to take a field trip to the fruit and vegetable market. We had several "lessons" in our agenda. KG1 had been studying "community" and "money" while KG2 had been studying measurements. We also took the Arabic teacher along so they could practice their Arabic, since this is a yearly trip for the Arabic classes. As you can see above, there were only 6 out of the 8 students here, so we all piled into a car and drove to the market. It was such a beautiful day that we had debated on walking, but at the last minute decided to take the car. I'm so glad we did. The kids bought a lot of fruits and vegetables, and one little girl even bought a watermelon, so that would have been a lot to carry back to the school.

When we got back, we decided to let the students have some play time because it was less than an hour before school was over. I snapped a picture or two, as you can see above. They look like they are having fun, don't they?

A Breath of Fresh Air (Literally)

2011-02-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd post a picture of my favorite cup of coffee on Valentine's Day.
A group of kids cleaning the streets of Egypt.
Since last Thursday, February 11th, things have seemed a little different here in Egypt. For the most part, Egyptians are walking with their heads held a little higher and with more of a smile on their faces. When walking the streets of Cairo, you normally see the sadness in their faces. Sometimes they are very angry and hateful in traffic, but we always keep in mind that alot of these people do not have a reason to smile.

As you know though, that pride and happiness they are feeling is coming from their victory in their demonstrations in Tahrir (Liberation) Square last week.

One thing that has resulted from this is that the people feel a little more proud of being Egyptian. Because of this pride, people have decided to try to "clean" up Egypt, literally. You see, normaly the streets of Egypt are filled with trash. There are people who are hired to clean the streets, and because of that, people are very used to just throwing their trash in the streets.

I just happened to be walking down the street with my family last Saturday, and we saw a young group of people cleaning some trash off the street, so I asked them if I could take their picture and they said yes.

Also, people are in better moods because all of the normal shops and restaurants are open again. Just thought I'd post a picture of what my husband's mocha from Costa looked like on Valentine's Day. I know that I am much more cheerful now that my favorite coffee shop is open again.

What Now?

2011-02-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well, like I said in my last post, "Who knows what tomorrow will bring?" When I wrote that post, the farthest thing from my mind that I expected to happen, was what happened. I expected the demonstrations to go on alot longer. People in Egypt were saying they could go on for months.

Yes, I'm glad it is over, but I can't help but think, "What will happen now?" The world saw the masses that demonstrated, the hundreds of thousands of people across Egypt that wanted Mubarak out, but I would be interested to know just how many people did not want him out. Egypt is a country with 80 million people, and I have already heard from people that are sad and anxious about what has happened and what will happen next.

While I am hopeful, and remain optimistic, we have to face the fact that Egypt's future has never been so uncertain, and regardless of what the media is showing, there are people here who are worried.

We saw what looked like the whole of Egypt united. Now that the demonstrators got what they wanted, the true color of the Egyptian people will come out. I am proud of what they did, especially that they did it peacefully. If you know anyone from this part of the world, you know that they are very passionate people. I hope and pray they stay united; that they do not break into the factions that exist, such as secular/fundamental, Christian/Muslim, rich/poor and even factions within these factions.

We have lived here for 9 years, and during that time we have made friends that span all of these factions. We have come to know some of them very well. We have been there for their celebrations and their hardships. We have been there through weddings, new births, business openings, deaths in the families, and they have been there with us when we have needed them. We have come to love these people and feel as close to some of them as family.

Yes, we do not know what is next for Egypt, but we can only hope and pray that its future will be bright and all of its people will stand united and be proud of what they accomplished together.

Just a Quick Update

2011-02-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Don't remember if I posted these pictures on here before, but this is me and my KG 2 class. The little Sudanese boy is not here anymore, so I am down to four, but, aren't they cute?

Well, somethings are back to normal. McDonalds and other restaurants are now open. A couple of days ago I got to enjoy my favorite cup of coffee from Costa Coffee; my first in two weeks.

But, some things are not back to normal. There are still tanks on the streets and lots and lots of people still demonstrating. I do not believe, at this point, things will every be back to the "normal" we experienced before.

As I write this, rumors are circulating that Mubarak is stepping down. Who knows if it's true. Only time will tell. Also, at this point, I don't think Mubarak stepping down is going to please the demonstrators. They have so many demands. I just hope and pray that his stepping down, if that happens, will please the majority. Mubarak is supposed to address the people tonight, so, hopefully we'll know more tomorrow.

Another thing that seems like it is not changing for the time being is my status as a teacher. I will be continuing as a Kindergarten teacher, at least for a while. We have had several of our teachers and their families leave, so we are scrambling to get substitutes and fill the positions so we can get back to school. I was so looking forward to being a full-time housewife again, but hey, life doesn't always go the way we want it, does it?

In times like these, who knows what tomorrow will bring, but as a popular song says "I know who holds tomorrow....", and that always makes tomorrow a little easier to face.

Changes

2011-02-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

The McDonalds and our favorite coffee shop in our suburb. Still closed the last time we checked.

During the past two weeks we have been living our lives with a few changes. Some would say these changes would make life more difficult, and in a way, they are right, but some of these changes have been blessings in disguise. Up until now, I have been teaching kindergarten at the school our son attends, and while I love being around these precious little ones, it has been difficult at home. With my husband teaching in the high-school, our daughter teaching in the middle-school and me teaching in the elementary, our home has not been receiving the attention it deserves. So, starting the 2nd semester, I will no longer be teaching. I will become a full-time housewife again. I am greatly looking forward to it.

Little did I know that I would be spending much more time at home and getting to much more of those housewife chores than I had bargained for. Most businesses shut down during this time, and that means restaurants and fast food chains. If you have been reading my blog for long, you probably read the one about how restaurants and fast food chains deliver. Well, that was one change our family had to adjust to. All of our meals had to be cooked at home. Now that has not been a bad thing because we are home and not going to work/school. This has been one of those "blessings in disguise", except I think my son may be having McDonalds withdrawals. ;o) I am also missing our favorite coffee shop.

Another thing that happened was that our cleaner was not able to come this past week. Ok, I can hear alot of you saying "You have a cleaner come to your home?" Well, what you have to understand is that we do have someone come once a week. He gets paid somewhere between $11.00 - $12.00 for about 6 hours of work. He is a Sudanese man named Deng, and this is how he makes his living. Also, it is very helpful for him to come since we live where the sand and dust can build up in homes very fast. So, there is more of those "housewife chores" that had to be done, but fortunately, the whole family has been home so everyone has chipped in and helped out a little, plus, Deng should be back tomorrow. :oD

It has been nice being home with my family, but I can't wait till things get back to "normal". I just wonder when that will be, and if it will get back to the "normal" we were used to before, or if there will be more changes.

Focus on the Good

2011-02-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

A widely circulated photo of Christians surrounding Muslims during their prayer time to keep them safe.
Egyptians are using whatever they can find to make barriers into neighborhoods to protect the people and their belongings.

These next 2 photos are of the men who have come together and are protecting the streets, literally around the clock.

The whole world is watching what is going on in Egypt. It is kind of surreal being here at this time. As my younger son said "It's kind of cool being here right now." For those of you who know him, you understand. Our family has received so many emails, phone calls, and posts on Facebook to tell us they are praying for us. There is nothing like being in a country going through a revolution to help you get thrown to the forefront of peoples' minds. We are so thankful for all of the prayers.

The sad thing is, in lots of cases, people who have reached us have told us of things they have heard on the news that is not true or are over exaggerated.

For one, someone told us they heard on the news that the US was recommending all US citizens should get out of Egypt. A dear friend of mine called Washington, and my husband called the US Embassy here. They both told us the same thing. They said they are advising Americans, if they have enough food, to stay put. They did not know why people were getting the idea the US was promoting the idea of "getting out". There are reportedly somewhere between 50,000 and 90,000 Americans in Egypt, and the last I heard, there had been only around 2,000 that have left.

Another thing that had been reported was that the violence had turned towards foreigners living here and that foreigners were being hunted down, kidnapped, etc. This is very untrue. The Egyptians are very focused on the revolution. They are very focused on coming together, Christian and Muslim, young and old, rich and poor, for one reason: their freedom. They are not even thinking about the foreigners living here right now.

One of the things that can really hurt is the way the media goes about reporting the news. Usually they focus on the bad things that are happening. They fail to focus on the good things. There are so many good things happening here. Neighbors are helping each other. We have met neighbors we may have never met before. They are asking if we are doing ok and if we need anything. We had neighbors bring us water one day when the water had been turned off. This has never happened before. Neighborhoods all over Egypt have formed "Neighborhood watch" groups, to protect their homes, families, and friends.

As a Christian, I read from the Bible that we go through trials. Those trials come into our lives to make us stronger. This is our prayer for Egypt right now. We are praying that what they are going through right now will make them a better and stronger nation. There have been inspiring pictures of people helping each other and putting their differences aside, such as the picture above of the Christians surrounding the Muslims to keep them safe as they pray. This mirrors what happened a few weeks ago when Muslims surrounded churches to keep them safe after a bombing of a church in Alexandria.

How ironic as I am sitting here writing this that CNN is doing a report on how people are helping each other with food and drinks down in Tahrir Square. It is showing how everyone is bringing food and drinks and sharing it with each other. They even offered the reporter and the camera man some. I hope that many across the world see this report of acts of kindness amid all of the reports of violence and anger.

So, even though there have been very rough times during the last week and a half, there is a lot of good coming out of the situation as well. As we say in Egypt, elhumdulallah (sp?), which means "the praise goes to God". This is our prayer.

My Bi-Polar Week

2011-02-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

This post is a little longer than my usual posts, and I have posted no pictures because frankly, I'm tired of the images of the demonstrations, and there are plenty of other places to find pictures if you want to see them.)

Wow! I don't think I have ever experienced a week filled with such a range of emotions. It all started more than a week ago really. We started hearing about a "calling" for Egyptians to gather in Tahrir square on Tuesday, January 25th to hold a peaceful demonstration calling for the resignation of Egypt's president.

Tuesday, January 25th: We decided we should cancel school, after all, it was a national holiday called "Police Day", and all other schools would be out and even most businesses would be closed. So, my first emotion of the week was "happiness" at the thought of having a day off from school, after all, we don't get snow days.

Wednesday, January 26th: Wednesday started out pretty typically. Awoke early, got ready, and went to school. Everyone figured it would be a normal day, but around noon to 1 PM our principal got a call saying the demonstrations were starting up again, and it was rumored some would take place in the suburb where our school is. So, again, a little happiness, but this time with some dread at the thought of what might be starting to take place.

Thursday, January 27th: Nothing extra-ordinary happened this day. The demonstrations grew, but they were still peaceful. I was again happy and content to have a full day off from school. Plus, Thursdays are the last day of our school week here due to Fridays being the Islamic holy day, so this meant a long weekend.

Friday, January 28th: This day also started pretty typically, but we had heard that a lot more people were planning on joining the demonstrations after the Friday prayers. So some concern began to creep in. We were all advised to be in our homes starting around 1 PM. The demonstrations still started off pretty peaceful, but this was the night things started changing. As most of the world knows, there was quite a fight between the police and the protesters. I have to say it was at this point my emotions were starting to take a nose dive.

Saturday, January 29th: I awoke with anticipation to find out what had happened the night before. I'm an early-to-bed kind of person, and I could not stay awake long enough to hear President Mubarak address the nation. We had to drive across town to pick up our kids that morning. They had gone to a different part of town to watch a friend in a school play, which was cancelled because of the 6 o'clock curfew which had been instituted. They ended up having to spend the night with friends because of this curfew. It was eerily quiet that morning. There were people out, but one thing was missing: the police. That was a strange feeling. Usually there was police officers everywhere. On our way home, after picking up our kids, we actually passed a department store that was being looted by what looked like hundreds of looters. Later that evening, we were called and told to beware of looters that were now breaking into homes. My emotion then went to being terrified. Even though I was still scared, I later was relieved to hear that most of the men were taking to the streets to form a kind of "neighborhood watch". At that moment, I was very "proud" of the Egyptian people that were taking a stand to do what was right. A lot of these so-called looters were caught by these normal men of Egypt and turned over to the military.

Sunday-Tuesday, Jan.30-Feb. 1: Things grew more peaceful on these days. People were still panicking though. There had been a run on the grocery stores and shelves were clearing fast. We were doing ok though. We had stocked up on groceries and gas earlier in the week, so we just stayed home and enjoyed a few quiet days.

Wednesday, February 2: And that brings us to today (our first day with internet in several days). It started off as a beautiful day. For the first time in about a week, Tim and I headed into the area where our school is. Imagine our surprise when we saw lots of traffic and what looked almost like "business as usual". So different from the little suburb we live in. Store shelves were stocked and people were out everywhere. One thing we noticed was how happy the Egyptian people seemed. Once again, my emotions were heading for the mountain tops. But, things, and sometimes emotions, change quickly. If you have seen today's news, you know the tragedy that has taken over this once peaceful demonstration. The so-called Mubarak supporters have changed the whole atmosphere here. In just this one day my emotions have gone from the mountain tops down to the low-low valley. I am so sad and sickened at what is going on.

I don't know what is in store for the people of Egypt for tomorrow, for the next week, months or even years, but there is one thing I do know, and that is that God is still in control. Our God is bigger than any situation, and I would like to ask my readers all to pray for the situation here. There are many, many lovely people here who we have come to love. Please pray that God will take this situation and turn it around and use it to glorify Him.

Unrest in Egypt

2011-01-27T04:18:00.000-08:00

Just a few of the images I found on the internet of the demonstrations. The particular site I found these on is "http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/01/protest_spreads_in_the_middle.html". You can go here for more dramatic pictures.

Well, if any of you have been watching the news, you know what is going on here in Egypt, and in the Middle East. My husband has been predicting this would happen for a long time. Food prices are so outrageous, so many people can not find jobs, and wages are just unrealistically low. Can't say I blame the people here for the demonstrations. We cancelled school last Tuesday because it was known people were supposed to start protesting, but our principal had us come to school on Wednesday. We ended up sending everyone home early because the protests started again. Home again today (Thursday) because we just don't know what's going to happen. Friends of ours have said these demonstrations could go on for weeks. We'll see. For now, we are in a pretty quiet area. No demonstrations have taken place close to us. Just pray that everything will turn out for the best, and who really knows what that will be. Even if they topple the current government, things could get worse instead of better. So, for now, we are just trusting God for the outcome.

Learning Arabic Part 2

2011-01-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

Two more examples of how the Arabic language can be used beautifully. I believe the top one says "I love Cairo", and the bottom one is the Lord's prayer again, and an example of how Arabic can be beautifully used.

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about learning Arabic. I talked about how hard it was to learn. Just thought I would write another one and show a few things that makes it different and harder than English.

First of all, not being exposed to a second language while growing up, you can imagine how surprised I was to find out that there are languages out there with words that have gender. In Arabic, words are either male or female. The way you can tell is there is an extra letter on the end of the feminine words. For example, the word for cat is "ota", with a long "o" sound. That "a" sound on the end is the clue that the word is feminine. The word for dog is "kelb", and since there is no "a" sound at the end, it is masculine. One thing that was so confusing to me at first, was I could not understand why there was not an Arabic word for the word "it". I started to understand later when I found out that things are referred to as either "he" or "she" instead of "it".

Another thing I found strange about Arabic is that words can be put together to make one long word. For example, if I were to say the sentence "I don't like her." (her referring to an object that is feminine), word by word the sentence would be "ana mish bahibha", but this can all be put into one word "mabahibhash". Learning how to say the negative form of past and present verbs is very difficult because this is the procedure used.

Now, even though there are strange things about the language, and even though it is so difficult to learn, it has been one of the greatest experiences and challenges of my life. Like I said in Part 1 of "Learning Arabic" I don't believe I will ever be totally fluent. I am happy to be able to communicate as well as I do, but given the chance, I would definately take more lessons.

Sorry for the delay!

2011-01-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

I am sorry it has been a while since my last post. I really want to get back in the groove of posting every few days, but as you might guess, school started again. I am probably going to be taking a break from teaching here in about a week and a half, so hopefully I will be able to blog more. So, please be patient with me while I finish working. Just thought though, that I would post a couple pictures of me and my class. The little Sudanese boy in the front is not with us anymore, so we are down to four. One of the girls is Egyptian, and one is Brazilian. One of the boys is half Egyptian, half American, and the other is half Egyptian, half Phillipino. It has been fun teaching this group, but I am so ready to be a full-time housewife again, and my family is ready for it too.

Learning Arabic: Part 1

2011-01-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

The area across of North Africa and the Middle East where Arabic is spoken.
The Arabic Alphabet
The Arabic language in written form. This is "The Lord's Prayer".
I have always heard that the younger you are when you start learning a language, the easier it is to learn. When we arrived in Egypt, I was 36 years old. Now, that is a little old to start learning a new language. None the less, I was excited, and I jumped right in and started taking lessons. Over the years, we have taken lessons a couple of different ways. We started out at a language institute, which was a "school" like setting. Then, we found an Arabic teacher and took private lessons for a while.

The Arabic language is a very difficult language to learn, and the majority of Egyptians I talk to would agree that Arabic is more difficult than English. One of the reasons Arabic is so difficult is because there are 3 different types of Arabic to learn. There is the spoken Arabic, the Classical Arabic, referred to as "fusha" (pronounced: foos-ha), and then there is the Modern Standard Arabic which is based on the Classical Arabic. The majority of our lessons have been in the spoken Arabic, and very little in the Modern Standard. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Qur'an. Modern Standard Arabic, based on the Classical Arabic, is used in most current, printed Arabic publications, and is spoken by the Arabic Media across North Africa and the Middle East.

To me, it has been an enjoyable experience learning Arabic. One of the things that I have particularly enjoyed is learning to write in Arabic. When writing Arabic, it goes from the right to the left, instead of left to right as English does. In my opinion, written Arabic can be beautiful. I will share in a later post how Arabic writers use the Arabic language in some very beautiful ways.

I do fairly well in speaking Arabic, and can hold pretty good conversations with most Egyptian people, but I do not think I would be fluent in the language, even if I took lessons for 40 years.

My Struggles with Cooking

2011-01-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

Bread, bought very easily off of the streets of Cairo.
An Egyptian food called "Kushary". This dish is popular because it can be bought, already made, or make it in your home very cheaply.

Some of the beautifully displayed vegetables that can be bought very cheaply here in Egypt.
The McDonalds' motorcycles used to deliver food to homes.
Ok, I am not one to make New Years' resolutions, but this year, I am going to work on making cooking fun and creative. I love to crochet, paint, etc., and make things, but I have never absolutely LOVED to cook. Since moving to Cairo, that "Love" has dwindled even more. So, I am going to try to combine the love I have for creating with my cooking, and see what happens. There are several reasons why I don't enjoy cooking here in Cairo.

One of the biggest reasons I do not like to cook while living here is because of the weather. Most of the year it is so hot here that even the thought of stepping into the kitchen and cooking something makes me nautious. The apartments here do not have central heat and air. If you want air conditioning, you have to have wall units in each room, and even then, people do not usually put them in the kitchen.

Another reason I do not enjoy cooking in Cairo is because the kitchens are usually very small and closed off from the rest of the apartment. I love big, open kitchens. You know, the kind where you can be cooking and at the same time be visiting with others, or maybe even watching something on TV. I am a bit clausterphobic, and I just hate to be stuck in a small, hot place where there is not enough room for others to be there too.

Then, there's the whole "we don't have that here" problem, or the thing that is very cheap to buy in the States, but is outrageously expensive here. I do have to say, I've been here long enough I've pretty much worked through this one, but there are still things I miss. One thing that I just found the other day for the first time in two years is canned pumpkin. We didn't get to have pumpkin pie for the last two Thanksgivings and Christmases. But we are going to have pumpkin pie here really soon.

Speaking of expensive, meat is extremely expensive here. We just bought 2 lbs of ground beef the other day and it cost us 70 Egyptian pounds. That comes out to equal around $6.00 per lb. Chicken and other meats are expensive too.

A really nice thing about Egypt though is that fruits and vegetables are really, really cheap. At the vegetable market the other day I bought a head of lettuce, 1/2 lb. onions, 1/2 lb. cucumbers, and 1/2 lb. of carrots for around $2.00.

One last reason I don't like to cook here is that it is just too easy to order food by phone. ALL restaurants and fast-food places deliver to your home. How cool is that? Just pick up the phone and you can have your order from McDonals in your home in about 30 minutes. Like I said before, it is ALL restaurants, and fast-food places. If we ever move back to the States, this will be one thing I really miss.

So, wish me luck. You may just see a recipe or two on a post here in the near future.

A Sad Beginning to 2011

2011-01-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do a post on this a couple of days ago, but I didn't feel like it was a good way to "restart" my blog, or a good way to start off a new year. But I feel a "nagging" in my heart to go ahead and do this.

I know some of my readers already know about the awful event that took place here in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year's Eve, but there are probably some of you out there who don't. On New Year's Eve, a car bomb exploded outside of a church there. The last I heard there had been reported around 21 deaths, and many, many injuries. As I said in my title, this is such a sad way to begin 2011. My heart and my prayers go out to those who lost loved ones.

I do not know if the authorities know who was responsible for this horrible act, but I was encouraged when my husband showed me a video of Christians and Muslims alike protesting what had happened.

I'm not going to post any pictures. It is a sad enough event, and some of you may not want to see any, but if you would like to, I'm sure you can find the news articles on the internet.

I just wanted to post this in honor of all of those who lost their lives for the sake of their religion, and also to ask for everyone's prayers for their family members.

A friend on Facebook posted a picture of a young girl, only a couple of years older than my own daughter. Her last status on FB, before she went to that New Year's Eve Church service said something like "Jesus, I want to walk with you closer than ever in 2011", and I am sure she is.

A New Year: A New Beginning

2011-01-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting on the perfect time to start up my blog again, and what a more perfect time than the beginning of a new year. One of my resolutions for 2011 is to start blogging again. It has been difficult to find the time, due to my work schedule, but I am hoping here in a few weeks to be a full-time housewife again. More on that in later posts. I thought for my first blog of the year I would just post some beautiful pictures of Egypt and let you see the vast differences in this great and ancient land. Hope you enjoy them, and hope to see you around this next year.

One of the most famous tourist sites the "Citadel" with the city in the background.
A beautiful Nubian house in upper Egypt, which is actually Southern Egypt.
Though barren, the mountains of Sinai are beautiful during sunrise.
And, of course, the most famous and well-known destination of tourists here in Egypt, the Pyramids.

Pollution in Egypt

2010-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

One thing that we have to put up with, if we want to live in Cairo, Egypt, is the pollution. The pollution or smog, can get quite bad at times. We happen to live right outside of Cairo, where the pollution isn't quite as bad, but we have to drive into Cairo almost every day, and on our way we can see the black, luminous cloud, hanging over the city.

Most of this pollution can be blamed on so many cars on the streets and lack of regulated vehicle emissions. Plus, many cars on the streets are old, so they lack modern emission cutting features.

Our family rode in taxis for the first year-and-a-half here. Then finally we got a car. One of the main reasons I was very happy that we finally had a car was because of the pollution. Most taxis, even in the cooler months, drive around with the windows down. When traffic is bad, and sometimes even when it isn't, it is so hard to breathe because of the exhaust in the air.

So, if you are reading this somewhere where the air is fresh and clean, next time you go outside, take a huge breath, thank God for that wonderful fresh air, then take another one for me.

I'm Back

2010-09-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the long delay between posts. We just returned to Egypt about 3 weeks ago. As we say in America, we hit the ground running, and we haven't stopped. Also, our internet has been a big source of stress since we got back. We just got it back to normal yesterday.

Most of you know that last year I taught the 3rd grade here, but this year I am teaching KG 2. It is such a big change, and it is taking alot of my time to make the switch.

Above are some pictures of some of my students in their computer class and also some pictures of some of the 2nd graders reading to my students. Aren't they cute?

I just love teaching at a school like this. There is so much variety in the nationalities of the students. Our school has Egyptians, Americans, Koreans, Brazilians, Sudanese, Mexicans, and probably even others that I cannot think of right now.

This is just another experience of living in a foreign land.

Thought: The Hardest Part of Living Overseas

2010-09-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

The "whole" family.

My parents with my sister and me.

My Mom and Dad. I just love this picture.

The hardest part of living overseas is having to say good-bye to friends and family. We have had a wonderful time here in the States this summer and have really enjoyed getting to see friends and family that we do not get to see most of the year. After living for so many years overseas (8 1/2 years), this part is hard which ever place we are leaving. Of course, all of our family is here in the States, but we have made many, many friends in Egypt as well, and it is hard to say good-bye to them when we are travelling to the States. It isn't quite as hard though because we still spend the majority of our time in Egypt.

Above are some pictures of me and my family here in the States. It is a picture of my sister and her three daughters, my parents, and me, my husband and our three kids. This is the first picture like this that my family has taken, and I think they turned out rather well.

The reason for this "thought" is that we leave to return to Egypt tomorrow. In a way I'm excited. We get to get back to our own home and our "normal" life and routine there, but in another way I'm sad. It will be at least another 9 months to a year before we get to see our family members again, and that is if we don't decide to just stay in Egypt for the summer next year. Please say a prayer for us that our trip will go smoothly and that the jet lag won't be too bad.

Well, next time you "hear" from me will be from my other home, on the other side of the world.

Snapshot: More Transportation

2010-09-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

In Egypt, there are lots of ways to get from one place to another, and since I have been talking about transportation, I thought I would post this picture we took one morning on our way to school. Now, I don't know if these young men were on their way to school or not, but apparently the mini van was too full for them to sit on the inside. We see this quite a bit, and honestly, it scares me to death. As you could probably tell, they don't have as many "safety" laws here. Basically, you can travel almost any way you choose.

My family and I NEVER ride in one of these mini vans, let alone ride on the outside. These vans almost literally "fly" down the road and zip in and out of traffic like there's no tomorrow. I think there are more accidents and deaths related to these vans than any other type of vehicle on the road here. With so many options of transport, I have no idea why people choose to ride in them.

Snapshot: Transportation to School #2

2010-08-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

If you thought riding to school in the back of a small truck would be difficult, try this one.

Even in the States, where we are from in SW Missouri, I would not be too excited about riding a motorcycle to school, but here, in Cairo Egypt, it would be my worst nightmare. First of all, just thinking about breathing in all of the exhaust from the traffic makes me tremble. I do not even like to ride around in my car with the windows down because of this. There are so many cars on the road, and Egypt does not have the regulated laws on exhaust emissions. Secondly, it would just be scary because of sheer number of cars and the crazy way they drive. Being in a car on the streets of Cairo is dangerous enough, but being on a motorcycle is even more dangerous. Unfortunately, we have seen lots of accidents involving motorcycles. And, last but not least, some families (like the one you see above) probably can only afford a motorcycle, so, the whole family travels together, on the motorcycle. We have seen some crazy things in Cairo, but this one blows my mind every time I see it. My son Levi said he has even seen a family traveling on a motorcycle with a goat sandwiched in between two of the riders. Maybe someday I will see something like this and be able to snap a picture for you to see. If you are like me, and from the "Show-me" state of Missouri, you may not believe it until you see it.

Snapshot: Transportation to School

2010-08-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

Click on picture to make it larger.

If you are reading this from the States, you know that most schools are starting this week. The public school here where I am at the time (SW Missouri) did anyway. The majority of kids attending public schools here ride school buses. The others are either taken by parents, or, if they are old enough, may drive themselves. In Egypt, there are lots of modes of transportation to and from school. Most of the private schools do have buses that run and pick up the kids, but this is not a free service. If the students attend a public school, there are several options. One of those options is pictured above. Now, we do not see this very often in the areas we are usually in, but in the more poorer areas of town, you can see this quite often. They are picked up in the back of small trucks. Can you imagine having to travel this way? First of all, it can be a very dusty ride. Most of the streets in these areas are not paved. Most of the time it is very dry, but if it does happen to rain, this can cause problems too. One problem can be that you are in the back of a small truck, with no covering, and you could start out your day getting drenched. Another problem is that it can get very muddy in these areas which can cause many more problems, from vehicles getting stuck in the mud to children who have to walk through it. Then there is the problem of the weather. As you probably know, it can get quite hot in Egypt, so travelling in the back of a truck can be pretty uncomfortable in the heat. It can also get pretty cool in the winter time. The coolest I have known it to get in Egypt is around 45 degrees Farenheit, which is a little over 7 degrees Celsius. Now, while that is not freezing, it can be very, very cold to someone who is riding down the rode in the back of a truck. So, the next time you are tempted to complain about your mode of transportation, just think back to this post, and about the people and kids that have to travel this way. I think most of us who are wealthy enough to have a computer to be reading this blog in the first place would not have a reason to complain at all. In fact, it might just make us a little more thankful.

What-not: Sorry

2010-08-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting a new post. I had a wisdom tooth removed recently, and also, we are starting to get busy packing to go back to Egypt. I hope to get a post or two done before we actually leave.

What-not: The Town of Dahab

2010-08-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

A beautiful view of the hotel we stayed in with the beautiful mountains of Sinai behind.
That beautiful "golden" sunset.
Levi on a camel ride.

Me, with a couple of little bedouin girls.

"Dahab" is the name of a beautiful little town in the Sinai that we visited several years ago. It is situated among the mountains of the Sinai. It used to be a small bedouin fishing village. Now it is mainly a touristic site, known for its great diving spots. Following the Six Day War, the town was occupied by Israel and is known in Hebrew as Di-Zahav, a place mentioned in the Bible as one of the stations for the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian rule in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in 1982.

Dahab enjoys large numbers of tourists. It is world-renowned for its windsurfing. SCUBA diving and snorkelling are also popular activities with many reefs immediately adjacent to waterfront hotels. The nearby Blue Hole-Which is nicknamed as "The World's Most Dangerous Diving Site"- and Canyon are internationally famous dive spots. Land based activities include camel, horse, jeep and quad bike trips. Mount Sinai is a two hours drive, with Saint Catherine's Monastery being a popular tourist destination.

The word Dahab is Arabic for gold and is possibly a reference to the geographic location; gold washed down from the desert mountains may have accumulated on the flood plain where the town was built. The name may also be a reference to the colour of the sands to the south of the town itself. Some locals attribute the name to the colour of the sky, just after sunset.

Snapshot

2010-08-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, when I don't have time to post much, I am just going to post a picture, probably with a short explanation. I just thought I would post this one of me and the camel. Lots of you have probably seen it because it is the first picture I used for my blog, but there may be some out there who haven't seen it.

I am fascinated with camels. I think they are so neat. My son just happened to snap this picture one day when we were at the pyramids, and it looks like the camel is smiling. I just love it.

Thought: Cairo's Night Life

2010-07-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I will NEVER get used to in Egypt, is that Egyptians love the night-life. Now, I haven't really determined what the actual reason is, but I have a feeling it originates from the fact that it is much cooler at night. Our family still operates on a pretty typical American schedule. That is, we try to go to bed by 10:00 PM. Now one thing that helps us do that is we have to wake up pretty early. We have to be at school by 7:30 in the morning to attend the teachers' meeting, and school starts at 8:00. We leave our home at 6:45 AM to be able to arrive on time. It does not take us 45 minutes to get to school, but we have come to realize that if we leave any later than this, the traffic is already getting bad, and that can cause delays. So, Tim and I get up at 5:00 (sometimes Tim is up earlier than this), and we wake our son at 5:30. It is so quiet in Cairo at this time in the morning. It is actually quite nice.

Now another thing that is quite annoying to us Americans, is that most shops and businesses do not open till at least 10:00 AM. This, of course, is due to the late-night hours they operate by. Also, their meal schedule is quite different. Breakfast is usually around 10:00, lunch around 4:00 in the afternoon, and dinner is around 10:00 PM. Typically, lunch is their biggest meal, and dinner is usually lighter.

There are Egyptians, of course, who operate somewhat more on an American-type schedule due to their kids having to be to school early etc., and I do not want to lump all Egyptians into this "night-life" habit. I know I have some Egyptians who read this, and I would love to have some of their feed-back on this. I definately do not want to put across anything that isn't true. I'm definately not the expert on these things. I'm just writing what I have experienced.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to go along with this post because I am never awake to take the pictures of how Cairo comes alive at night, but I promise to try my hardest when we get back to Egypt to get some.

Now, my "thought" on this: Sometimes people can tend to be a little judgemental when it comes to differences in the habits of other cultures. I know I have been on this particular issue. I have thought, in the past, that this habit is soooo wrong. Why do these people have to stay up and visit and socialize so late into the night, keeping me and my famiy awake. But here's what I have come to realize. (This is a "duh" moment here.) I am living among 18-20 million Egyptians in Cairo. Am I so ethnocentric to believe that they are all wrong and I am right? Well, I'm working on it. I think it has helped to live in another country, and to realize that people are people, no matter where they live in the world. I will never be able to change the way an entire people group live and function, so why criticize and dwell on something which just makes my life more miserable. I think it would do everyone a bit of good to be able to live in a different culture at one point in their lives and realize this. Maybe the world would be a better place.

Biscuits and Gravy

2010-07-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

In the States, especially in the South, Biscuits and Gravy is a very popular breakfast food. If I were to mention "biscuits" in Egypt, that would mean something more like a cookie. This is something that originated from British culture, but the American biscuit is very similar to the British scone. It is a pretty easy meal to make, not to mention that it is also very inexpensive, and all of the ingredients are staples usually kept in all kitchens.

I'm probably a little prejudice, but my Mom makes the best biscuits and gravy I have ever tasted. Now, while this meal is fairly easy and inexpensive, if you make the biscuits from scratch it can take a while. One thing that can make this meal even quicker is that here in the States we have canned biscuits. Now don't get me wrong, homemade biscuits from scratch are always the best, but there are some brands of canned biscuits that are really good.

It's kind of sad that I have only had biscuits and gravy once since we have been back, and that was at a restaraunt. If you have never had biscuits and gravy, you should give it a try. I have supplied the recipes below.

Biscuit Recipe:
*2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all-purpose flour
*2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar (optional)
*1/2 cup (113 grams) cold butter, cut into small pieces
*3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
*1 large egg, lightly beaten

Topping:
*1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (use pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips). Add the milk and slightly beaten egg and stir until just combined. (The texture should be sticky, moist and lumpy.)

Place mixture on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently until it comes together and is a smooth dough.

Roll out dough to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thickness. Cut out biscuits with a lightly floured round cookie cutter. Place on prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with the beaten egg and milk mixture and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the biscuit comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Serve warm with butter.

Makes about 12 3-inch (7.5 cm) biscuits.

Gravy:
*5 tbsp. unsalted butter
*4 tbsp. all purpose flour
*Approximately 2 cups milk (vitamin D milk, not skim, fat-free, fat-less, or other, and nothing heavier, it won’t work.)
*Salt
*Freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Add flour and combine. Add ¼ tsp salt and around 10 grinds pepper.

Stir until the flower is about the color of peanut butter and smells nutty. Add ½ of the milk and increase heat to medium.

Allow to come to a simmer, stirring constantly to avoid sticking. On the first run, the gravy is likely to nearly seize, be ready with more milk.

Add milk by quarter or half cups until gravy has thickened considerably. If using a whisk you’ll know the gravy is ready when drawing the whisk through the gravy leaves “tracks” from the wires that remain visible for at least 5 seconds.

Add at least 10 more grinds pepper and another pinch of salt, to taste.

Recipe can be doubled if needed.

Additions:

If you like your gravy with a kick, feel free to add a dash of cayenne powder or ground chili. You may also add cooked sausage, or ground beef.

Then......and Now

2010-07-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

This is the oldest picture I could find of all five of us together.

This is our family about a month or two before we moved to Egypt.

This picture was taken about midway through our time in Egypt together.

This picture was the last one taken of our family all together while in Egypt.

This is the most recent family picture. It was taken 2 years ago, so the kids have changed a bit. Hopefully, we will have another picture taken this summer.

I love looking at pictures of our family. Sometimes, I really miss the times when our kids were small. I miss holding them on my lap. I miss the funny things they said and the funny way they talked. I also miss the fact that I can't take care of all of their hurts with a kiss. (Well, that still works for our youngest Levi sometimes.) ;o)

On the other hand, there are advantages to having your kids grow up. You don't have to take them to the toilet. You don't have to get all of their food ready for them before you can sit down and eat your own. You also don't have to listen to them cry when you say it is bed-time. It is fun though (and sometimes scary) to see them devolop their independence and start making decisions on their own. It is also nice to see them develop into an adult and start to live "life on their own".

Our two oldest kids have started this journey. Our daughter, who is the oldest, is attending University and is getting a degree in English literature. Our second, just recently graduated from high-school. He will be going to a military academy this fall. Fortunately, the nest isn't empty yet. Our youngest still has three years of high-school left.

I was looking through some older pictures of our family the other day and I decided post some pictures of how our family has changed through the years. Hope you enjoy them.

Attending Church In Egypt

2010-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

A picture of the cross on top of our church. I have always loved this picture.

The inside of the church building.

Two of our kids with some of their friends at a church camp.

The "church family" attending a conference about "being family".

The church pictured above is where our family sometimes attends church while we are in Egypt. The reason I say sometimes, is because it is a pretty far drive for us, but we have many friends here that we love very much.

We actually have two churches we attend. One of them is an English speaking church that our son Levi is very involved in, and the other is the one pictured above which is an Arabic speaking church.

The one I want to focus on here though, is the Arabic speaking church. We started attending this church back in the summer of 2002. The people were so friendly and welcoming, and the church and the people quickly became a very important part of our lives.

If you were to attend a service at this church, you would experience a very different type of service than you experience here in the States. First of all, the men and the women sit on different sides of the church. This is cultural. They do this in order for the people to keep their minds on the sermon and not on the other gender that might be sitting beside or in front of them.

The second difference you might see is that the people, including the youth, LOVE to sing, and they put their whole heart into it and sing at the top of their lungs. I love this part of the service in Egypt. It is so awesome to hear these people, who are such a minority, sing so loud, not caring who is outside the walls of the church listening. In fact, they want the people to hear the messages of the songs they are singing.

A third difference you would notice is that they are in no hurry to get the service over with, or to rush out of church once the service is over. The sermon always lasts at least an hour. They do not feel like they have gotten what they came for if it is any shorter. After church, it is not uncommon for people to stick around for a couple of hours. You hear about "church family" here in the States, but in Egypt, they are such a minority that this "church family" feeling runs much deeper. They start out getting to know each other when they are just little kids, going to Sunday school together. Then they grow up together and usually end up marrying someone within the church. It is not uncommon for adults to have many friends that they have known since they were small children.

In a way, yes, we are outsiders and always will be, but we have grown to love these people like family. In another way, we are insiders and very much a part of the family, the family of God, that is. We feel very blessed that we have gotten to know these wonderful people who live on the other side of the world, and that God has brought us together with brothers and sisters in Christ that have made us feel at home in Egypt.

Egyptian Engagement Parties

2010-07-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tim and I with the happy couple.

The young lady at the hair salon. It is a very special day for her, so she wants to look her best. BTW, this is my hair dresser Osama.

The women's room.

You are never too young to dance.

All over the world, I'm sure that all little girls like to think about getting married in the future. From what I've seen, this is an understatement in Egypt. Marriage is considered one of the most important, if not THE most important event in a person's life. Little girls are taught from a very early age that their goal in life is to be a wife and a mom. Now, I am not saying this is wrong, but to plant the idea in a little girl's head that she will amount to nothing unless she is married is wrong, and this is exactly what they are taught.

While I am no expert on the subject, I am writing about what I have observed since being in Egypt. You have probably heard yourself that most marriages are arranged. Arranged marriages still do go on today, mostly in the villages and among the poorer and more conservative people. From what I understand, things have changed some, and young people now have a little more say in the matter of who they marry. It is still a very strict routine though of how they go about this. If two young people start to have an interest in each other, they are not allowed to date, at least alone that is. They may go places with a group of friends, but you would hardly ever see them holding hands or even sitting close to each other. Usually the girls stick close to the girls and the boys stick close to the boys. (This is changing somewhat though as Westernization slowly creeps in and among the wealthier and more liberal.)

When they are old enough, and the young man has purchased a place for them to live, the parents of the young man go to the house of the young woman to get her family's approval to begin wedding preparations. After this meeting, the young couple is considered engaged. Usually a big engagement party is held with dancing and very loud music. For the most part, men and women are separated into different rooms for this, but there is a little intermingling allowed depending on how conservative the family is.

We had the privilege of attending one of these engagement parties while in Egypt. It was definately an amazing, cultural experience. While it was amazing, I don't think I would want to attend many of these. First of all, this particular engagement party was held in a small apartment on around the 5th floor. (Some are held in hotels or clubs.) The apartment was packed to what would probably be considered over capacity. It was hard just to move because of the number of people. Secondly, the music was very, very loud. Finally, the party went on till the wee hours of the next morning. Now, I don't mind being around people, but I am not a fan of anything loud, and I am not a night person. Needless to say, we left before the party was finished, and I do have to say I had quite a headache when we left.

More of my Favorite Things

2010-07-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

Aren't they adorable? These kids live in a very poor area of Cairo called "Garbage City". I've done a post on this city before. It is an area that is predominantly Christian, and the people here are the garbage collectors of Cairo.

This picture was taken right outside of the gates of an orphanage in this poor area. The kids are used to foreigners coming into this orphanage to volunteer their time. Volunteers come in and just spend time with the orphans. Volunteers come in and play with the toddlers, or they can help with the babies. Unfortunately, I have only been to the orphanage once. I helped with the babies. When you help with the babies you can hold them, help feed them, and then help with changing their diapers before they go down for their nap. I was not even aware of this orphanage until a friend took me there this past year. Hopefully this next year I will get to go back many times and I will be sure to take pictures and do a post on this very special place.

Back to the kids in this picture. Even though I love to stop and talk to kids like this, one has to be careful in this area. Not because it's dangerous or anything, but if you stop, pretty soon you could find yourself overwhelmed by the number of kids that will be surrounding you. These kids were asking for "hagga helwa", or candy. I had some mints and was handing them out. I had to do it quickly and discreetly so as to not draw too much attention to myself.

What I love about the kids, or even the adults, in this area is that they don't seem to let their circumstances get them down. The people in this area are very poor, but they are always happy and very friendly. Just goes to show you that money and riches are not what it takes in this world to be happy.

A Few of my Favorite Things

2010-07-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

My 3rd grade class from last year.

Me, with my 2 nieces and a friend's 4 daughters.

Some of the "special needs kids" I worked with.

The kids from the daycare in Egypt.

One of the cuties at the preschool I work at now.

Another cutie from the preschool.

No matter where I am in the world, one of my favorite things in the world is kids. If you know me at all, you know this to be true. While in Egypt, there were several things I did to work with kids. I taught the preschool class at our church. I worked with special needs kids in a very poor area of Cairo. My husband and I helped some friends start a daycare, and I taught 3rd grade last year, which I will be doing again this year.

While in the States, it is no different. I try to spend as much time with my two nieces and another friend's daughters as possible. There are six of them, and they are all 8 years old and under. Also while here, I am working at a preschool with two-year-olds. I am only working 2 1/2 hours a day, but it gives me the "kid fix" that I need.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

2010-06-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just a picture I found on the internet of what was a perception of what the "Pharos of Alexandria" would have looked like.

Most people are aware and know of the Pyramids of Egypt which are one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World", but not many people know that Egypt once contained one of the other "Seven Wonders" as well. The Lighthouse, known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was built on the small offshore island Pharos. It is said that the light from this lighthouse could be seen as far as 35 miles offshore. In ancient times, the lighthouse was used to guide sailors into the tricky harbor to what once was one of the world's centers of civilization.

The idea to build this lighthouse can be credited to Ptolemy I, who was the ruler of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. Construction was ordered to begin in the year 290 B.C. It was such a huge project though, that it was not finished during his lifetime. The lighthouse was completed after his death by his son Ptolemy II.

The "Pharos" consisted of 3 parts built on top of each other. The bottom part was square and was appoximately 183 feet high. The second part was octagonal in shape and was around 90 feet high. And the third and final part was a 24-foot-high cylinder. If you include the base, the lighthouse was a total height of 384 feet. This would easily be compared to a modern-day 40-story building. This is huge in comparison to lighthouses today. From what I could find on the internet, the tallest modern-day lighthouse is slightly under 200 feet.

The Lighthouse stood for centuries, first and foremost as a beacon to travelers and next as a tribute to the greatness of this ancient civilization. Earthquakes eventually brought down the famed structure, however. The first one, in 1303, shook up the entire area; the second one, 20 years later, did significant structural damage. By this time, also, the Lighthouse had fallen into disrepair because the Arab conqueror of Egypt didn't keep it up. Although the Lighthouse soldiered on, it was done in entirely by Sultan Qaitbay in 1480. The sultan used the stone and marble that had once made up the Lighthouse to build a fort on the very spot where the Lighthouse once stood.

A Window with a Different View

2010-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

When I look out the window here in Missouri, this is the view.

This is a typical view out of a window in Cairo, Egypt. In fact, this was a view out the window of one of our past apartments.

One thing I miss so much when we are in Egypt is all of the green grass and trees. In Egypt, almost everything is a beige/tan color. There is so much sand, and the buildings are made of concrete, and the majority of them are a beige/tan color. Coming from the Ozarks I was so used to lots and lots of green grass and trees. After being in Egypt for a long time, and then flying into the Ozarks area, it is almost a shock to the system to see the difference in the color of the landscape. For the first couple of weeks I can barely stop looking at all of the greenery that surrounds us here. Now, don't get me wrong, there are trees and greenery in Egypt, especially in the Nile Delta, the land on both sides of the Nile. Also, in Cairo, there are beautiful park areas that are kept really nice. These usually have quite a bit of green trees and grass. So, if I ever have the desire to walk in the grass barefoot, I can if I want to.

We Pushed the 2nd One out of the Nest

2010-06-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is D. when he was little. Isn't he just the cutest thing?

This is D. with his younger brother L. and his older sister K. (He's the one in the middle.)

In America, we have this saying: After all of the children have left the home you have an "empty nest". Well, today, our 2nd child "left the nest". We drove our 2nd child, who happens to be our 1st son, to a military academy he will be attending this Fall, if all goes as planned. For the next month he will be attending a Leadership Training Camp with the military. This "camp" is similar to normal boot-camp, but it also teaches leadership skills and gives each one participating, leadership opportunities.

As a mother, I had mixed feeling about this. I was (and still am) scared, nervous, and sad to see him go. But on the other hand, I'm also very excited for him. It is his time. It's his chance, and it's his choice. He's off and just beginning what promises to be a very exciting future, and I am very proud of him. There is a lot of work ahead of him, and it's not going to be easy.

My advice to him: Always remember to keep God first, and as I Corinthians 10:31 says "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

Special Delivery

2010-06-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

One thing I really miss about Egypt, is that almost anything can be delivered to your home. From fast-food to medicine, all you have to do is call, and it is on its way. Delivery is available at all restaruants, pharmacies, and most grocery stores.
The one we use most often is McDonalds delivery. As you can see from the picture above, most places use motorcycles to deliver. This is because the traffic is often so bad (as seen above also) it might take hours for your delivery to arrive if cars were used. On a motorcycle though, a person can just zip through and between cars, and if there isn't enough room between cars, they use the sidewalk.

As stated before, one of the reasons delivery is used for almost everything is because of the traffic. If delivery was not available, it would just be a hassle to get out in the traffic for whatever it is you need. Another reason people do not like to get out is because parking spots are very hard to come by. If you have a good parking spot, why get out and take a chance losing it. And one of the last reasons for delivery is because not everyone can afford a car. Delivery makes it easy for these people to enjoy the convenience of fast food or other items they may want or need as well.

I do have to say though, that having delivery of these things often makes it much more tempting. Sitting here in the States, if I get hungry, I'm much more likely to just go to the refrigerator and grab something already on hand, which is probably better for me and for my pocket-book. With that all said, I still miss it.

Under Construction

2010-06-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

As you can see, my blog is undergoing a few changes. I am currently in the U.S. I have been wanting to blog, but it is really hard to blog on what is happening in Egypt while here. I have changed the backgroud and even the title to make it more presentable. Also, I feel the title is appropriate whether I am in Egypt or the U.S. for a couple of reasons. First of all, I am truly a foreigner when I am in Egypt because of my nationality. No matter how long I live in Egypt, I will always be a foreigner. But, because I have lived in Egypt for almost 9 years now, I feel like a foreigner when we come back to the U.S. The second reason I feel the new title of the blog is appropriate, is because as a Christian, the Bible says we are all "living in a foreign land". As a Christian, "This world is not our home. "We are just passing through." For me, as a Christian, this means that I should never get too comfortable with the things of this world. When I die and leave this world, I will be going to my "true" home, and I won't be able to take my possessions of this life with me. That is why the Bible says "Where your treasure is, that is where your heart is also." If all I focused on was my worldly possessions, I would just be wasting my time. All of these things will come to an end. But living a life for Jesus and His glory will last forever. As an old pastor of mine used to say "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last ..."

THE PYRAMIDS!!!

2010-05-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have been writing this blog for over a year now, and I have not done a post on the most famous thing about Cairo, Egypt: THE PYRAMIDS. I think probably most of the people of the world have heard about the "Pyramids of Egypt", and I could almost bet, that given the opportunity, just about everyone would love to have the privilege of visiting them some day. Well, I have been very blessed to have had that opportunity on many more than one occasion, and on every occasion, it is like I am seeing them for the first time.

When you are actually there, it is almost unbelievable. They are so luminous, yet breath-takingly stunning. It is so hard to imagine how the huge stones that make the pyramids were put in place. Each of these stones weigh approximately 2 tons each.

I'm not going to bore you with all of the specific details. If you are interested, there are plenty of websites you can go to to look up these details. I just wanted to post some of the awesome pictures we have taken of these awesome icons of Egyptian history.

A Nice Surprise!

2010-04-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

Being a teacher can be stressful at times, but sometimes it can be very rewarding too. Last Monday was my birthday. After lunch time, I went back to my room to find it all decorated, a chocolate cake sitting there, and all of my kids jumped out from behind their desks and yelled "SURPRISE"!!!!! It was a wonderful day, full of chocolate cake, cheese cake, dinner out with my husband and son, and then another chocolate cake when we got home.

We will be flying back to the States here soon because my oldest son is graduating from high school. It will be a bitter-sweet time because I am looking so forward to seeing my son and daughter that are in the States, but my school year will be ending early, and I will miss this wonderful group of kids.

Field trip to the Recycling Center

2010-04-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

The room where they sort the paper.

Sifting the paper onto the screen-type strainers to make it into flat pieces.

Laying the flat pieces of paper out to dry.

A woman assembling the paper into one of their products.

One of the beautiful bags they make by placing flower pedals onto the paper while it is still wet.

Most of you know that I teach 3rd grade. Yesterday, the 3rd and 4th grades at our school took a field trip to a recycling center where women actually recycle paper by hand. This recycling center is in "Garbage City". I did one of my very first posts on this "city". It is an area where most of the trash collectors in Cairo live. The people travel into the city and then bring the garbage back to be sorted through and recycled.

One popular tourist attraction is a recycling center where the women recycle paper by hand. I don't know about the 4th grade, but my class has been studying about recycling so we thought this would be a cool place to go. The women there make cards, pictures, bags, and other interesting things out of the paper they recycle.

Above are pictures I took of the process they go through. The paper arrives in bags, and the women sort through these bags by hand and have to separate things that aren't actually paper, such as plastic, cardboard, etc. Then, they put the papers they can use in piles. Then they put the paper through a shredder. After the paper is shredded, they put it in a machine with water that mixes it and makes it into a mushy mixture. After that, they move the mixture into more water where they use screen-type strainers to make the paper into flat pieces. After this, they take the flat pieces of paper, that are still wet, and lay them flat on a table where it takes one to two days to dry, depending on the weather. After the paper is dry, it is sent to a room where women assemble it into the products they sell.

Of course this is not an official recycling center, but it is a place where they teach women to do this, and it gives them a job. Plus, they use the profits from their products to give back to the community.

They also make rugs, quilts, purses and other things out of recycled fabric. They put the women through a 3-month training course, and after the course they either work for the center, or they are able to go out and use their newly acquired abilities to get another job. But that's another blog for another day.

An Interesting Holiday

2010-04-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from a couple of years ago when we traveled to the Red Sea with some friends. You can see in the bottom one a man holding up the faseekh, or salted fish.

Yesterday, of course, was Easter, and I do hope everyone had a great one, but here in Egypt, today is another holiday that is celebrated only in Egypt. It is called
Sham el-Nessim. In English this means "smell the breeze". It is the holiday that signals the beginning of Spring. It always falls on the day after the Eastern Christian Easter. It has nothing to do with the Christian-related date, and
Egyptians celebrate this holiday regardless of their religion.

It is a holiday that dates back to 2700 B.C. when it was a religious festival celebrated on the vernal equinox by the Ancient Egyptians. They used to offer salted fish, lettuce, and onions to their deities on this day. Because of this, these foods have become the traditional foods of this Ancient holiday.

The salted fish is called fiseekh. It is prepared in a traditional process, passed from generation to generation. Grey mullet is caught, piled high in containers, and left out until decomposes. When there is sufficient evidence of its putrification, salt is added and the fish are left to pickle for a few more months. Sounds yummy, huh? I have never tried it. I can hardly even stand the smell.

Another tradition on this day is to be outside. Anywhere there is a nice place to sit, people take their lunches outside and enjoy the outdoors. Others travel to the Sea or other popular areas. We are kind of party poopers on this day, because being from a small town in America, we do not like the huge crowds of people everywhere. Also, if you travel anywhere, and plan to return that night, you might as well plan on getting home rather late. The traffic is always bad due to so many people returning home from their holiday outing.

So, even though we didn't really do anything special for this Ancient Egyptian holiday, we still enjoyed having an extra day off from school and work. And, with this holiday comes the feeling that summer is almost here. Any you know what that means? Summer break! Can't wait.

A Wonderful Experience

2010-03-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

My husband, youngest son and I at the top.

This is what it looked like from the top no matter which way you looked. Amazing, huh?

And finally, another picture of me, at the top.

This past weekend, my husband, son and I got to experience something wonderful. If you live in Egypt or plan to visit, one thing that is a must is to be able to climb Mt. Sinai. We have lived in Egypt for 8 years now and have always planned on doing this, but for some reason we put it off till now. I will tell you it was not an easy experience, and along the way I had my doubts I would make it all the way to the top, but I can be pretty determined at times. So, I just kept pushing and pushing till finally, I was at the top. They say, it usually takes people 2-4 hours to reach the top, and it took me 3. Then we spent 30-45 minutes at the top before we began our descent, whick took 2 hours. So all in all it took us about 6 hours. Boy were we exhausted and ready to go to bed.

There are two ways to get up the mountain. One of them is a "camel path" that you can walk or ride a camel up, and we chose to walk. It is a 3-mile long path, with plenty of twists and turns and some obstacles (such as big stones) in your way. Then there is the wind and the cold. The wind, at times, was horrendous, and the farther up you got, the colder it got. The other way to get up the mountain is by steps. We did not take this way, so I do not know much about it, but I do know there are 3,750 steps. Like I said, I don't know much about this way, so I don't know if it would be easier or harder. Maybe, (and that's a big maybe) if we ever decide to go back we will try the stairs and be able to compare the two paths. In all probability though, if we ever decide to go back, we will probably ride the camels. ;o)

For right now I'm just going to post a few pictures of our wonderful experience, and I will save some of the other exciting information about the whole experience for future posts.

A 5K in the Desert

2010-03-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

This picture helps you to visualize the mountains and the landscape.

Here you can see the road that we ran on. In this particular area, the road looks quite nice.

This is a good friend of mine and me, just after finishing the race.

I know it has been quite a long time since I posted, but I thought I would try to get my blog going again. For right now, I am going to try to post at least once a week, and hopefully, once the school year is over, I hope to be posting a lot more than that.

This past weekend was our school's annual "Run in the Desert". Our school coordinates it and we have a couple of schools and a couple of churches that participate. The younger kids run a 2K, while the older kids and adults run a 5K. The area we have it is called Wadi Digla. A "wadi" is a valley, and this particular valley just happens to be desert. As you can see from the pictures, there is lots of sand and rocks, surrounded on both sides by mountains.

The "race track" happens to be a road that runs right down the middle of the wadi. It is really rough running because there are rocks and bumps all over the place. Another difficult thing is when the wind blows. You have to be careful when this happens because the sand will blow right into your face, and boy does the wind blow.

This is the first year I have taken part in the race. I really was not sure, right up to the time the race was about to start, that I was going to run. But, I got in with the crowd, and before I knew it, I was running/walking right along with them. I am really glad that I did. I found out that it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I actually enjoyed it. I don't know my actual time, but I know I came in 4th out of the 5 women that were in my age bracket. I'm hoping to be in better condition next year and run again, and who knows, maybe I could even win a medal.

Oprah Interviews Egyptian Women

2010-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

Recently, Oprah did a show on different cultural traditions regarding marriage and women's issues. The main crux of the show was an interview she did with a few Egyptian women that represented the full spectrum of the cultural issues of women. Sitting here in Egypt watching it was very interesting to me. Following, is a newspaper article that one of the women interviewed had published. It is rather long, but hopefully it will be as interesting to you as it was to me. If you have any questions for me after reading it, please feel free to ask. Injy is the name of the woman that published this article. She is the one wearing the pink "hijab" or "head scarf".

"Would you consider yourself to be a closed minded woman, Injy?" was Oprah's first question addressed to me on her episode on marriage around the world, broadcast live from Chicago on 13 January and first aired in the Middle East exactly two days ago, on the 26th. She had asked me the question teasingly, with a girlish look on her face, a suppressed giggle and a mischievous bob of the head. Her semi-rhetorical query, and my answer, made us both share a laugh that was to set the tone for the rest of our encounter: reciprocal esteem, underlying the mutual awareness of our cultural differences, and the consciousness of the significant role our conversation would come to bear on the global community. The Oprah Winfrey Show is, after all, the most popular talk show in the world today.

"How did you land this?" a friend had asked me when she heard I was interviewed on Oprah. "It landed on me!" I blurted excitedly, recounting how it all happened. It was a perfectly regular afternoon. I was sitting at my laptop, fiddling with my photography, when the mobile phone rang, drilling through Anouar Brahem's piano in the beautiful afternoon light bathing the apartment. A dear friend on the line asked in a haste: "Oprah is looking for Egyptian women for an episode about divorce and marriage, are you interested?" Sure, why not, had been my casual reply. Little did I realise, at that initial moment, the seriousness of my response.

A producer, Lindsey, called from Chicago on the same day to chat for what I assumed to be a preliminary interview. The line was terrible; we resorted to Skype -- my first experience with this ingenious software. Curled up on my couch in Cairo, I was bombarded with question after question on Egyptian women, and it suddenly dawned on me -- as I laboured to offer as comprehensive and clear an answer as possible to this American lady who was clueless about life over here -- that social, religious and cultural dimensions of life in Egypt were even more complicated and contradictory than I had hitherto thought.

I ventured to explain to Lindsey that "when you say 'Egyptian women', you refer to one entity whereas, in truth, it is constituted of so many different layers that to answer any of your questions comprehensively could take hours; religion, as a set of rules, versus its current application in Egypt, could take days." Lindsey was surprised, but hopeful that we could still shed some light on these matters for Oprah's viewers, who were just as clueless as she was about life in Egypt. "Anything you say will provide at least some information; we know so very little, in the West, about how things really work in Egypt, the Middle East and Islam," she encouraged me.

It was then that the sheer magnitude of the responsibility I would be assuming if I participated in this episode dawned on me -- overwhelming. At a time when misconceptions, misrepresentations and mistrust all but rule the relationship between the Western world and the Middle East, every word I say would have the potential to either bridge the gap a little, or widen it more and more. Despite the responsibility it placed over my shoulders, or maybe because of it, I realised that I must embrace this opportunity. I prayed; for three days, I prayed, asking God to guide my words and to make of me a means through which understanding and respect between the two polar worlds could increase, if only a bit. Let there be love.

Stage One of the episode's segment on Egypt took the form of a round-table discussion between sexologist Dr Heba Qutb, environmental economist Dr Hala Abou-Ali, interior designer Heba Shunbo, and yours truly, moderated by Nanna Norup, a lovely Danish lady whose participation Oprah had requested in order to draw the contrast between cultures. For over two hours, at Dr Qutb's home, we spoke of premarital sex, divorce, marriage, the veil and all their entwined subtopics including education, employment, intramarital financial dependence and single parenting. There were many laughs, but also moments of tension engendered by a couple of judgmental remarks -- an increasing feature of so-called "religiosity" in Egypt -- that served no purpose other than feed Western perception of Islam as a rigid and prejudiced religion. I hoped that said remarks would be edited out of the show, as we were informed that only about eight minutes of our discussion were to feature in the episode to be seen around the world. Sadly, they stayed.

The big day was finally upon us in Stage Two: Skype interview with Oprah, live. I experienced a strange combination of serenity and nervousness: I was internally calm, yet my hands remained icy. The world would be watching. The crew adjusting the light in the studio, setting up the camera and microphone to connect them with Skype provided welcome distractions until 4.55 pm Cairo time. Then the countdown began and, five minutes later, in walked Oprah on the studio plateau to applause. I thought the audience could hear my heart beating in my chest all the way in Chicago.

Lady O was her usual welcoming and casual self, deflating the apprehension we were experiencing on the Nile Corniche studio as we waited for the questions. The producers' choice of interviewees had settled on Heba Shunbo and me -- each of us representing a different Egyptian female voice, for a more realistic demonstration of the complex fabric of current local society. I had already answered questions about my hijab during the Stage One discussion, and knew I should expect more to pop up. I was right. The local disagreement about the necessity of hijab in Islam, the women who wear it without any conscious understanding of it but out of cultural conformity, the girls who adopt it over highly suggestive clothing and heavy make-up, those who take it to self- imposed extremes never required of them and the back and forth judgments cast among them all understandably confuses the West. Nor does the current Muslim world's slipping into a general focus on appearances and neglect of spiritual essence, translated into behavioural trends that are often self-sabotaging, help to advance its cause at all. Of course they are confused. We are confused.

It is quite telling, and closer to an accurate image of Egypt, that Oprah's questions elicited two opposing answers from her two Egyptian guests almost invariably. What seemed to come as a surprise to Oprah, however, was that the veiled woman felt the less "repressed" of the two. "Do you feel oppressed, Injy?" My honest answer was "no". Coming back for more, O asked again, "But do you wish you had more freedoms, Injy?" Again, in all honesty, "no" -- "Fill a room with women from around the world," I told Oprah, "and you will find that Egyptian women are just as qualified to compete 'as a woman' on all levels as any other, if not more. We are educated, we have a mind of our own...we have our obstacles and our challenges but we are perfectly 'capable', as women."

Divorce in Egypt which, according to Norup, was found to have reached the highest rate in the entire Middle East, was another hot topic. My answer to Oprah's question as to why so many marriages ended in divorce these days was simple: "Men are no longer really men any more, nor are women really women. There is a serious identity crisis here. Men and women still have a prototype, in their heads, of what a man should be like and what a woman should be like. Neither of them complies with this prototype, yet each of them expects the other to comply with the prototype. The result is disillusionment, frustration, and, hence, divorce." The more I spoke, the more I realised how confused our society had really become.

Oprah, who sent me a beautiful gift following our encounter, described our conversation as "fascinating". The world now has a clearer perception of today's Egypt. My wish is that my fellow countrymen, briefly in the global spotlight by proxy in every home around the world that watches the Oprah Winfrey Show, would seize this opportunity to take an objective glimpse at themselves through the answers provided on the show -- whether they agreed with them or not -- by attempting to answer them themselves. Why do women wear hijab? Why is divorce on the rise? Why do men and women not comply with the prototypes they still retain of each other in their collective unconscious and what are they replacing them with? Why is the economy not helping young couples marry at a reasonable age for sexual gratification in an Islamic country? Why do we judge the West while we lack basic understanding of our own culture? And why, just why, do we judge each other when we have so much work to do on ourselves?

28 January - 3 February 2010
Issue No. 983

Another Win For Egypt

2010-01-31T21:06:00.000-08:00

The team celebrates immediately after their win.

This is what the majority of the streets look like after a win like this.

Yesterday evening, January 31, 2010, Egypt won the African Cup for the 3rd time in a row. They did this by beating Ghana 1-0.

Earlier in the year, Egypt was ousted out of World Cup competition by their fierce rival Algeria. If you heard anything about the matches between these two countries, then you know the confrontations were anything but pleasant. There were reports from both sides about violence that caused several injuries. But, after all was said and done, Algeria beat Egypt, and sadly, Egypt was out of the World Cup.

Well, just a little less than a week ago, these two teams met again in Angola, this time battling it out for the African Cup. This time, Egypt beat Algeria and beat them good. It was a 4-0 victory. I believe it was a victory that felt good to the Egyptian team and fans. There was partying and celebrating in the streets. You would have thought it was for the African Cup, but, they had one more team to face, and that match was last night.

I didn't get a chance to actually watch the game, but my husband was watching it and kept me informed the whole time. They were well into the match, I think around 80 minutes into it, and my husband informed me it was still 0-0. Then, all of a sudden we heard our normally quiet neighborhood erupt into cheering along with fireworks, horns, etc. Before my husband could say anything, I knew Egypt had scored. They managed to hold off Ghana to the end for their 3rd African Cup Championship in a row, which by the way is a world record.

Mabrouk ya Masr! Which in Arabic means "Congratulations Egypt"

An apology!

2010-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to write and say I am sorry for not posting in so long. The school I teach at is trying to obtain accreditation, and we have visitors coming this next week. I don't think I have ever been this tired or busy my entire life. Can't wait till things slow down a little and I can get back to my blogging! Hope you all can hang in there and be patient with me till that time comes, which hopefully won't be too long.

A Follow-Up on Bread = Life

2010-01-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

My husband sent me this article that he had recently read on the internet. It tells just how much bread/wheat Egyptians actually eat. I thought it was very interesting.

The article was from a link entitled: "Bikya Masr"

Cairo: The International Grains Council has ranked Egypt number five on the list of the top 18 countries importing grain worldwide.Egyptians eat about 220 million loaves of bread on a daily basis, which makes them the number one consumer of flour with an average annual consumption of 180 kg per person; the average consumption globally is only about 90 kg. Egypt annually consumes an amount of wheat equivalent to the consumption of 37 European countries.

The report of by council anticipated an increase in Egypt’s production of grain from 15.2 million tons last year to 15.5 million tons in 2010, which will mean a decline in importing grain from 15 million tons to 13 million in 2010. The report noted that wheat and corn would be the most likely imports to decline as a result of the expected increase in the production of local of crops.

The report also expects an increase in domestic wheat production of about 300 thousand tons in 2010 for a total production of 8.2 million tons.

The report pointed to a possible decline in Egypt’s imports of wheat from 9.9 million tons last year to about 8.2 million tons in 2010, and a drop in imports of corn from 5.2 million tons to 4.7 million.

Alaa’ Hasab Allahm, a researcher and member of the Scientific Association for Food Industries, said that Egypt consumes about 220 million subsidized loaves of bread per day or about 3 loaves per citizen. The country also consumes around 14 million tonnes of wheat and bread subsidies which cost LE 22 billion annually.

**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam

Bread = Life

2010-01-06T00:28:00.000-08:00

In Egypt, the most commonly eaten food among the people has to be "iesh baladi" (pr. long "i", lone "e", sh). This word "iesh" is the Arabic word for bread, and the Arabic word for life. I find this very interesting, because here, without this bread, in some cases, there would be no life.

Bread is an essential part of the Egyptian diet and served with nearly every meal. Access to cheap, ready-baked bread has helped liberate Egyptian women from the kitchen, allowing them to enter the workforce or spend more time with their children.

Traditionally, Egyptians baked bread in their own home. The women of the household would mix flour, water, yeast and salt, then leave the dough to rise. Fist-sized balls of dough were flattened out and left in the sun for an hour, then baked in an oven for 20 minutes. The bread was made in large quantities and what wasn't eaten fresh was consumed the following day.

This bread can be bought very cheaply here. At the bakery I buy from, I pay 3 Egyptian pounds (approx. $.40) for 10 pieces. I understand that in less modern and poorer areas it can be bought much cheaper. It has to be cheap, for it is a staple, and in most homes is eaten at every meal.

I love this bread. It can be eaten with so many foods. Egyptians eat it for breakfast with fava beans, eggs and cheese. It is good with a mixture of vegetables and cheese stuffed inside of it like a pita, and one of my favorite ways to eat it is with dips, such as hummus and tahini.

I have often heard people here say that it is the best bread in the world. I really do not know this for sure, but I do know that if I ever move back to the States, it is one of the foods of Egypt I would miss the most.

The North Coast

2010-01-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

The North Coast of Egypt is a very popular resort area. Situated on the Mediteranean Sea, it is a beautiful place to visit. These pictures are taken during our very first visit to the North Coast ever. We have friends that own a villa in a resort area there. The top two pictures are the view out the back of their villa, and the third picture is one of my favorite pictures ever. It is a picture of our two sons when they were small and they were the best of friends.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-31T23:06:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to pop in and wish all of my followers and readers a very Happy and Blessed New Year!

It's been fun for me, and I hope you have enjoyed it too.

Day after Christmas

2009-12-27T21:21:00.000-08:00

This year, we actually did not get around to opening our Christmas presents till the morning after Christmas. We were really busy Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day. Just wanted to post a few of the pictures we took. You can see our pretty tree and some of our bedouin furniture. Notice the beautiful light fixture. It is one of my favorite things we have purchased here.

You might ask, who is the other boy in the pictures? Well, one of Levi's friends has been staying with us. He is staying for 10 days while his parents are in South Africa for his brother's graduation from University.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas holiday. I just wanted to put a quote down that I borrowed from a friend on Facebook. Hope he doesn't mind, but it is the message I would like to send out this and every Christmas.

"The older I get, the less I look for presents for me under a tree -- the more I look for the Presence of the One who died for me on a tree."

Here's wishing all of you out there a wonderful holiday season and a blessed New Year.

Christmas in Egypt

2009-12-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

(Sorry this is a day late. I was so busy yesterday, I forgot to actually post it.)

I recently did a post on our traditions for Christmas. Well, today is Christmas, right? Well, right and wrong. While it is Christmas in the West, Eastern Christmas is celebrated on a different date.

The Coptic Church is an Orthodox Church, and in the Coptic Church, Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January. Every year, according to the Coptic calendar, our Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates "Christmas" in the 29th of "Kiahk"-a Coptic month-which is simultaneous to the 7th of January.

Advent is observed for forty days and during this period people are expected to fast eating no meat, poultry or dairy products. Some people only do this during the last week of Advent.

On the Eve of Christmas everyone goes to church wearing a completely new outfit. The Christmas service ends at midnight with the ringing of church bells, then people go home to eat a special Christmas meal known as fata, which consists of bread, rice, garlic and boiled meat.

On Christmas morning people in Egypt visit friends and neighbors. They take with them kahk (the "h" is pronounced) which is a type of shortbread, which they take with them to give to the people they visit and eaten with a drink known as shortbat. Christmas Day is a public holiday for Christians.

So, this is only good news for us, being that we are Westerners who live in the East, we get to celebrate Christmas twice.

Here's wishing all of my friends out there a very Merry Christmas, and a Blessed New Year.

2009-12-23T06:39:00.000-08:00

I bet not many of you knew that there are other pyramids in Egypt besides the 3 very famous ones. The pyramid pictured above is the "Step Pyramid" of Saqqara (Sakara).
According to tradition, it was built for Horus Netjerikhet, better known as Djoser, a major ruler of Egypt's 3rd Dynasty, by Imhotep, Egypt's most famous architect who was subsequently deified during the New Kingdom. Djoser is actually the name given to this king by visitors to the site one thousand years after its construction, but actually the only name found on its walls is that of Netjerykhet.

Built during the 27th century BC, it is the first Egyptian pyramid. It consists of six "mastabas" or layers, built in decreasing size. The pyramid is the main feature of a huge mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration. The pyramid was not simply a grave in ancient Egypt. Its purpose was to facilitate a successful afterlife for the king so that he could be eternally reborn. It really is quite a fascinating site for visitors. Off to one side is the burial chamber, where the ruler's household items and everything he needed for the afterlife would have been buried with him. The walls of this chamber have beautiful paintings on them, probably depicting his life.

If you ever get a chance to visit Egypt, the Step Pyramid should be on your list of things to see. There are other pyramids too, such as the "bent pyramid" and the "red pyramid" which I will post about sometime in the future.

Still Going Strong

2009-12-20T22:46:00.000-08:00

The outside of the daycare. It is called "Cairo Kids' Campus".
This was our first 3 students.

Some of the present students, staff, and parents at the Christmas party.

The director of the daycare now.

Some of my followers know that several years ago, my hubby and I started a daycare here in Cairo with some Egyptian friends of ours. I love little kids, and I would be around them all of the time if that were possible.

Well, the daycare started out really well. We started it in the summer, and hubby was available to administrate, but once it was time for school to start, he had to go back to teaching and wasn't around. Also, we hired several young ladies who spoke English very well, and they were young enough they were "teachable". After a while, one of the young ladies got married and moved to the States. Then one of them had to quit because of health reasons, and we eventually lost the third one also. We had to start hiring older women who were more "set in their ways", and things started slowly going down hill for us.

Eventually, the stress of dealing with cultural differences and the responsibility of being administrator (which is not my gift at all) got to me. In the beginning, we had made an agreement with our friends that if anything started affecting our friendship during this endeavor, one of us would buy the other out, or we would just sell the daycare. Well, the time came, and it seemed like our friendship was being strained, so, our friends bought our share of the daycare.

They held on to it for a while and soon they found a woman to come and be the director of the daycare. This woman was just the right person for the job. She had always dreamed of owning her own daycare and soon came to our friends and asked about buying the daycare herself, and that is just what happened.

Today, the daycare is still up and running, and in fact, I was just invited to attend their annual Christmas party. I was overjoyed when I heard the message she had for all of the parents who were there. She talked about the "5 Love Languages" of children. In the States, this is a very popular book, but I think in this part of the world these concepts are not so familiar.

So, to make a long story short, I am very happy and proud to have been a part of bringing something so beneficial and so needed to this areal. Also, I am happy to have been a part of making this woman's dream come true. It may not have been God's will for us to have started the daycare for ourselves, but I do believe it was part of His will for us to help this woman fulfill her dream.

Cross on Church

2009-12-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

Just thought this was a neat picture. It is the cross on the Baptist Church that we attend here in Egypt.

An Awesome Sight

2009-12-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

We took this picture when we were in Luxor, Egypt. We took a Nile Cruise that went from Luxor to Aswan. This is one of the ancient Egyptian temples. If you look carefully at the bottom of the picture you can see my husband. These statues are so amazingly big.

If you travel to Luxor (ancient Thebes) then it will be hard to miss the spectacular Luxor Temple situated in the center of Luxor city. The Temple of Luxor was built largely by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II around 1400BC. Many rulers built on to the temple yet it always remained a place of worship for Christians and later Muslims. A mosque built inside the temple still exists and is one of the highlights of the site.

A Christmas Tradition

2009-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, it just doesn't feel quite like Christmas time to me here in Egypt. First of all, the weather isn't quite what I was used to at Christmas time growing up. We are still getting up into the upper 70s here during the day. Also, there is never really the chance of a "white" Christmas. Yesterday, instead of snow flying around in the air, there was sand.

Second, the commercialism of the States during Christmas time is not here. That is not a bad thing, and that is not something I miss, but, because it is not here, it just does not feel like that magical time of the year.

The third thing, is that we are so far away from family. It is especially hard to be so far away from family during the holidays, especially our two oldest kids. When in the States, we have our traditions with our families. We always go to my in-law's house on Christmas Eve for lunch and the evening tradition of opening gifts. Then, we go to my parents' house for a Christmas breakfast (usually biscuits and gravy) and opening gifts there.

One last thing that I have to mention that I miss from the States is the bright, shiny, Christmas decorations. One of my favorite things about Christmas time in the States is driving around at night and seeing how people have decorated their homes with lights and the beautiful nativity scenes. Here in Egypt, you might see three or four homes decorated with lights and probably only a half-dozen Christmas trees.

But, no matter how far away from home we are, there are always several traditions that are always practiced this time of year. One of the first is the Christmas cookies you see above. This is a double batch, which made over 100 cookies. The first picture is before the icing, and the second one is after I had iced some of them. This is a tradition that Tim's family has had since he was very small.

Another tradition we have is decorating the apartment and putting up the tree. When we first moved to Egypt 8 years ago, it was very difficult to find Christmas items and decorations. Now, you can find almost anything you want.

The final and most important tradition that we hold to every year is celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. After all, without Jesus, there really wouldn't be a Christmas. He gave up his life and home in Heaven to be born in a lowly manger. He chose to come into the world, knowing that He was giving up everything. He came into the world to die on the cross, for sinners. If you do not have this tradition in your family, give it a try. He is not to be celebrated only at Christmas time though. With Jesus in your life you can celebrate every day.

Camels in the Roads

2009-12-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just driving along the roads that go up to Alexandria or the North Coast of Egypt, one can run into herds of camels. These usually are not wild camels. They are usually camels owned by the bedouin. The man or family that owned all of these camels is probably considered pretty rich. Camels are of great value. We were often offered very many camels in exchange for our daughter, but usually, this was their way of kidding around with us. I can't help but think sometimes though, that there were probably some of them that were serious. ;O)

The Citadel Mosque in Cairo

2009-12-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Citadel Mosque is a really neat place to visit when one comes to Cairo. It is beautiful from the inside out.

One of Cairo's most popular tourist attractions is the Citadel which houses a number of museums, ancient mosques and other sites, located on a spur of limestone that had been detached from its parent Moqattam Hills by quarrying. The Citadel is one of the world's greatest monuments to medieval warfare, as well as a highly visible landmark on Cairo's eastern skyline.

St. Anthony's Monestary

2009-12-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

I have decided to start trying to at least post a picture a day. I may not always write about it, but if you have any questions about the picture, just let me know.

Dahab (Gold)

2009-12-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Levi on a camel.

Me, with a couple of local bedouin girls.

The beautiful hotel we stayed in.

The beautiful morning view from our hotel room.

One of our first Christmases in Egypt was spent in the little town of Dahab.
According to Wickepedia, Dahab is a small town situated on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, located approximately 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab is still considered to be one of the Sinai's most treasured diving destinations. Following the Six Day War, the town was occupied by Israel and known in Hebrew as Di-Zahav, a place mentioned in the Bible as one of the stations for the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt. The Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian rule in 1982. The arrival of international hotel chains and the establishment of other ancillary facilities has now made this a popular destination with tourists. The nearest international airport is located at Sharm el-Sheikh.

Dahab enjoys large numbers of tourists. It is a very famous place to go for windsurfing. Reliable winds provide superb flat-water conditions inside Dahab's sand spit. Further away from shore, wavy conditions couple with strong winds to provide formidable conditions for keen windsurfers. SCUBA diving and snorkelling are also popular activities with many reefs immediately adjacent to waterfront hotels. The nearby Blue Hole and Canyon are internationally famous dive spots. Land based activities include camel, horse, jeep and quad bike trips. Mount Sinai is a two hours drive, with Saint Catherine's Monastery being a popular tourist destination.

We had a wonderful time in Dahab with some great friends. We didn't do any scuba diving, but our kids did go snorkeling, and we did do some camel riding. It has been a while since we went, so hopefully, we will be able to visit Dahab again sometime soon.

Egyptian Santa

2009-12-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Just a picture we took several years ago when we visited the small town of Dahab on the coast of the Red Sea. Will post more later about the town of Dahab.

Fresh Vegetables on Almost Every Corner

2009-12-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

One thing that is really nice here in Egypt is that there are fresh fruits and vegetables on almost every corner, literally. Egyptians eat alot of fruits and vegetables because they are cheap. Just look how nice these fresh vegetables look. The men that sell these fruits and vegetables always try to display them in a very attractive manner. I didn't really intend on buying anything when I stopped here. I just wanted to take a picture of the of the beautiful way the vegetables were displayed. The vendor just happened to be holding a very nice looking bunch of broccoli though, so I bought some broccoli and some carrots. I'll let you know soon if they are as tasty as they look.

Eid al-Adha - "Festival of Sacrifice"

2009-11-27T04:35:00.000-08:00

In Egypt today, and all across the Muslim world, they are beginning a 3-day celebration. Following is a definition of this holiday I found in Wickepedia. On the first morning, each family will sacrifice an animal, usually a goat, sheep or bull, depending on what they can afford. Then the families share the meat with others, especially the poor people who cannot afford their own. One-third of the animal’s meat is consumed by the family, while the other two-thirds are given away to friends and the poor Islamic residents of the community, respectively.

During the weeks before this festival you can see groups of animals everywhere. Large groups of sheep, goats and bulls can be seen in places all along the streets. As a foreigner here, it is sometimes quite a shock. For a week or two prior to the festival, one might have a neighbor that buys one of these animals. You get used to seeing it around. Then all of a sudden, you wake up one morning and the animal is gone. Or worse, you look out your back window and see what is about to happen, or has already happened to the poor thing.

I took all of the pictures above from the internet, as I could not bring myself to take pictures of the actual animals I saw in the streets.

(Definition from Wickepedia)
Eid al-Adha - "Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is a holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. It is also celebrated by the Druze, an esoteric non-Islamic faith, whose origins stem from Shiite Islam.

Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran.[1] Like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon.

Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for three days or more depending on the country. Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Our school vs. the Sudanese school in soccer

2009-11-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

Our son Levi in action.

This is all of our students that participated with their coaches.

Last Wednesday evening, a huge group of parents, teachers and children from our school loaded up and headed to a very poor area of Cairo. In this area, called "kilo arbau wa nuss" is located the Sudanese school that my husband works with. Because we have such close connections with this school, our son's school plays them in soccer every year. We had four different games: A 1st-3rd grade team, a 4th-6th grade team, a jr. high/high school girls' team, and a jr. high/high school boys' team. It is something both schools look forward to every year. Even though the kids from these two schools come from very different backgrounds and cultures, the love of football, or soccer, as we call it in America, brings them together.

The Sudanese kids won two games, and our school won two games. So, things worked out for the best. The most wonderful thing about these games though, was the good sportsmanship shown on both sides. In a time where the competition of the World-cup is heating up and tempers are flaring, these kids showed more maturity and self-control than I have seen out of full grown men. I am very proud of the kids from our school. People all over the world could learn a great deal from their examples.