Alexandria

After we got home Thanksgiving night and put Luke to bed, I set about packing for our trip to Alexandria with the Simons. I was so tired that I packed about halfway and then crashed. Friday morning I got up to finish the job. We got in a cab around seven and headed to the train station. We boarded the train around 7:45 and left the station around 8:00. The tickets there and back cost us about $20 each, I think. Assigned seats, non-smoking cars. Luke sat on our laps and looked at books (here we’re looking at the Sphinx) and watched Barney. This is Rachella in her neck brace pillow. We made fun of her but I actually think it looks sort of comfortable. The trip was 2 hours. We’d all heard how nice Alexandria was, but when we exited the station we were less than impressed with what we saw. It was trashy like parts of Cairo, and we couldn’t figure out exactly where we were. We crossed a big square to try to find a street sign, and there on the ground was the decaying neck and head of a goose, as if a butcher had just chopped it off and thrown it on the ground. I was thoroughly grossed out.

We spoke to a few local guys and figured out we’d gotten out at the wrong station. Luckily, we were in Alexandria, but we had gotten off one stop too early. In hindsight, I think the train attendant was trying to tell us that, but none of us understood what he meant. :\ We hopped in a cab to get to our hotel.

Our hotel, The Union Hotel, was rated one of the best budget hotels in our Lonely Planet book. It was situated near the water (Alex is on the Mediterranean), and we’d called ahead to book our rooms so that we’d be sure to get a sea view. The hotel is up on the 5^th and 6^th floors of an office-type building. The ground floor was not impressive at all. Actually it was really sketchy looking, but we knew to expect that because we’d read reviews online. Once we got up to the actual hotel we were totally satisfied with the looks of the place. It was a clean, bug-free 2-star hotel. We had a really nice view of the sea, our own bathroom, and two twin beds. (Yes—for those of you who haven’t traveled overseas the cheap way, there are hotels with shared bathrooms, and you do pay extra for having your own.) Our room rate included breakfast. We paid $20.

Oh, and just outside our hotel was a gym. Here is the sign advertising it.

“Top GUM” Funny on a few levels. Did they mean Top Gun? Or Top Gym?

The hotel didn’t have our rooms ready until noon, so we left our bags with the front desk and went off to find the tourist information center and some food. We were really adventurous. We ate McDonald’s.

After filling our tummies we returned to the hotel, got our room, and regrouped before going on a whiz-bang tour of Alexandria.

Our first matter of business was to buy our return train tickets to Cairo. We walked the mile or so from the hotel to the train station where we should have gotten off. It was really nice around the tourist train station! There were plazas and parks, and it was cleaner than pretty much anywhere I’ve seen in Cairo so far. We went in and bought the tickets for the next day. Noel and Rachella decided to leave early the next morning, and Jason and I decided to catch the 2 PM train home.

The Roman amphitheatre, called Kom el-Dikka, is just across from the train station, so we stopped by there for a look-see. We did not go in, but peered through the fence and snapped a few pictures. Here’s what our Rough Guide to Egypt says about Kom el-Dikka: “Since 1959 Polish archaeologists and staff from the Greco-Roman Museum have removed the Turkish fort and slums on Kom el-Dikka (Mound of Rubble), revealing a substratum of Roman remains beneath a Muslim cemetery….The elegant Roman Theatre has marble seating for seven to eight hundred…” So under a bunch of trash, a cemetery, and a fort lay the remains of this place. Some of it looks like it was created last year.

After the amphitheatre we caught a cab to go to the catacombs. That cab ride was the longest, yuckiest cab ride I’ve been on yet. The driver kept rolling down the window to holler at other drivers, which terrified Luke. (“He’s not going to talk anymore!” Luke kept saying.) It was hot, we were squnched all in there, and there was a mega traffic jam. We never figured out why, but we could’ve walked to the catacombs faster than we got there in the taxi. Oh well, it gave us a chance to see parts of Alexandria SLOWLY. As we drove through a souk area I watched one hawker hold up different items of clothing from his stall and advertise them to the crowd by yelling out the virtues of each piece, and then he auctioned it off. I tried too late to get Jason to video it. We saw a lot of interesting things for sale, as well as a cooking fire right in the middle of a street. It was next to these birds.

We were not supposed to take pictures in the catacombs. I rebelled. Usually I obey rules like that, and I actually do feel guilty about ignoring the rule…but I didn’t use flash (except on this first one) and I need the pictures to help me remember what I’m going to write. (Well. I wouldn’t accept those excuses from a student…what a bad example I am.) Still, here are the pictures. I thought the catacombs were pretty cool. Smaller than I remember the ones in Rome being. There are three levels of catacombs, and the lowest is flooded with water, so it’s not accessible, but we could get to the first two levels. The second one even had water down in the bottom of some of the tombs. Basically all there was to see were rectangular openings in the walls where bodies were laid, but then it was also interesting to see the different types of decoration in certain parts of the catacombs. Apparently this burial site blends Greek, Roman, and Egyptian cultural traditions. This part is called the Central Tomb, and the carvings are spectacular. You can see the Egyptian gods Sobek and Anubis wearing Roman armor. (Anubis is the jackal-headed one in the center.)

It didn’t take too long to see the catacombs, and after that we decided to walk past Pompey’s Pillar to take a picture. The pillar was erected to honor Diocletian (not sure why it’s called Pompey’s) and was originally part of a temple which served as a “daughter library” to the original library at Alexandria. Having heard the site is pretty disappointing, we paused to take this picture but did not go in.

We enjoyed the walk from the catacombs through the market streets. We thought this part of Alexandria was really neat and quite pretty.

We saw these goats eating trash. It’s unfortunate that the picture is so zoomed in, because they were basically grazing on a huge hill made all of trash. I’m talking a hill probably a story high.

There were also shops where you could purchase live chickens. Here is Luke looking at the chickens.

Next we went to the Fort Qaitbey. It looked so cool; I wanted to build it out of Legos. The fort sits on the site of the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the original Seven Wonders of the ancient world. This is what the lighthouse probably looked like: The base of the fort actually incorporates some of the red-granite pillars that were probably part of the Pharos. We were supposed to be able to get into the fort, but for whatever reason it was closed. It was really pretty outside the fort near the water. There were several vendors selling souvenirs along the walkway and lots of people enjoying the fresh air.

After the fort we went to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It sits near the site of the original ancient library at Alexandria. This new library was opened in 2002. The outside of the building has letters and symbols from every known alphabet carved into it. A suspended spherical planetarium (looks like the Death Star) is just outside the library. I got to tour the library with Noel and Rachella. Jason sweetly let me go in while he stayed outside with Luke, who was not allowed to go in the actual library. (Kids 6-18 can go in the children’s library, and the main reading room is only open to adults.) The library itself was really neat. There are seven levels. The bookshelves are lit from within. It has the largest reading room in the world, with desks with neat reading lights attached. There are over 300 computers there for public use. The library also houses a COMPLETE copy of the internet—every page since (I think) 1994 is on its servers, and a plasma screen in the library displays a different page every few seconds. The most amazing thing is the Espresso Book Machine, though. It can produce a complete copy of any book that has been uploaded to its memory in ten minutes. If this machine were to become widespread it would totally revolutionize the publishing industry. As of now, there is only one other in the world, in Washington DC.

We also went in the children’s library, which was really cool. It was decorated with bright colors, had books in several languages, and had lots of activities for the kids. I found an Arabic copy of A Wrinkle in Time and a Braille copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

We had dinner that night at a restaurant called Mohammed Ahmed’s. We ate a delicious Egyptian meal with lots of pita bread, hummus, falafel (which tastes like hush puppies to me), and fuul (think refried beans). It was a feast, and it only cost $7. To feed five of us.

When we got back to the hotel we said goodbye to the Simons, who were leaving early the next morning. We went to bed by 8:30! It was an exhausting day. Here is the view from our hotel room. The fort is on the left side, and the library is somewhere over to the right.

The next morning we decided to skip breakfast at the hotel and go to a restaurant Noel had read about in his guidebook. After breakfast we went back to the tourist office and asked about somewhere we could go to walk along a beach. The lady told us about a park that also had beaches, so we took a cab there. The park was really nice, but we found out we couldn’t get onto the beaches without paying an access fee that was pretty high. So we enjoyed the park. I couldn’t resist climbing this tree, though when I got onto the lowest branch it felt way too scary, and I didn’t go any higher. Luke got up there with me, and then Jason showed off his climbing skills and went even higher in the tree. It was fun to share Luke’s first tree-climbing experience.

We boarded the train for our trip back to Cairo. Luke fell asleep on my lap shortly after departure and stayed asleep almost until we got to Cairo. Alexandria was a neat place—I wouldn’t mind living there (instead of Cairo)!

Thanksgiving

I’m sitting here in the dark. It’s 10 PM and the electricity has just gone out. I probably have about 10 minutes of battery power on my computer, since the battery is shot. Since I’ve lost my internet connection I figured I’d blog a bit.

We spent this Thanksgiving with Noel and Rachella. We had the day off from school, since it is an American school. We divided up the cooking tasks between the two families and made a feast. Jason, who loves Thanksgiving because it begins his favorite time of year, decided we’d begin our celebration early in the morning with breakfast at the Simons’ house. He went over there with the first load of stuff at 8:30 or so. They don’t have kids, so I was just hoping they were awake! I would’ve been really annoyed if someone as cheerful as Jason is in the morning showed up at my door at 8:30 on our day off of school! While Jason was gone, Luke and I started making my Great-grandmother Riley’s homemade rolls. Luke loves to help in the kitchen! He also loves to taste whatever we’re cooking!

Anyway, Jason made breakfast for us—eggs and biscuits (no bacon—it costs $8 a pound here) with fruit and juice. It was delicious. Then he began cooking the turkey and Noel started on the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green bean casserole. Luke stayed at the Simons’ house to help.

Rachella and I came back to our house to finish making the sweet potatoes and homemade rolls. I’d made a peach cobbler for dessert (pecans for pecan pie were $10 a bag!) and Rachella ordered a pumpkin pie from a local bakery. We went back to the Simons’ house around 2:30 and started setting the food out. We sat down to our feast at 3:00. (You may notice we have tons of food, all served in whatever dishes we could find. I find it very dissatisfying that I have lovely serving dishes in storage at home. I never use them at home because I never cook large meals for many people at home. Now that we’re here and have to cater our own holiday meals I am thousands of miles away from those dishes!) Here are the boys all ready to eat.

We ate and then watched Elf to kick off the Christmas season. Rachella fell asleep about ten minutes into the movie. I lasted thirty. Finally I’ve met someone (other than Daddy) with my talent for falling asleep during movies.

We had a great day from start to finish with a few exceptions. Luke passed his tummy bug on to Jason and me. Also, Noel and Rachella have a dog, Dobby, who is absolutely the most terrifying creature you’ve ever seen. See?

Well, Luke thinks so anyway. Dobby let out one loud bark and Luke screamed bloody murder. Poor Dobby got put away in the bedroom for the rest of the day. Luke was also a little bored, even though I brought toys for him. He repeated “I don’t wanna be here!” about 20 times while we were watching Elf. I tried to tell him not to say that because it was rude, but I couldn’t help sympathizing with him. There was also some drama over finding canned onion rings… But all in all, it was a wonderful day.

Luxor

I’m way overdue in writing about our trip to Luxor back in the middle of October. We had a long weekend because of the feast at the end of Ramadan, Eid el-Fitr. We flew from Cairo to Luxor at 5:15 in the morning, which meant we had to leave our house at 2:30. That was fun! We arrived in Luxor at about 6:15, got our bags, and got a taxi to our hotel. We stayed in the Pavillion wing (yes, that’s the way they spell “Pavillion” in Egypt) of the Old Winter Palace. (The hotel is mentioned as one of the places in 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.) The hotel had a gorgeous pool and beautiful gardens. When we checked into our room, I stood on the balcony, looked out over the gardens, and thought about how I’ve taken the color green for granted all my life! It was gorgeous, and a nice change from brown sand and dirt. We headed out to find lunch and figure out what to do with our time in Luxor.

Our hotel was right near the Nile, so we crossed the street and headed down by the river. Crossing the street, we were accosted by no fewer than 10 men wanting to offer us rides in their horse carriages, others offering taxi rides, and others offering tours of all the sites. Ignoring them, we forged ahead and ate lunch near the felucca docks. Just up the river we could see the Nile cruise boats docked, puffing black diesel fumes. Tourist shops lined the walkway next to the river. As we walked, proprietors stood outside their shops and said things like, “Hey, American, I have what you need.” And “Take a look inside, lady. Fixed price.” We ignored them too, and returned to the hotel after lunch. We took a BIG nap that afternoon before getting ready to head out to the Temple of Luxor.

The Luxor Temple was literally next to our hotel. We probably had to walk 200 yards to get to the entrance. Once we’d bought our tickets we were free to explore the temple at our own pace. Very little of the site was roped off, and we were free to touch the statues and hieroglyphics as we walked through. We arrived about an hour before sundown, so the weather was cooler (Luxor was much hotter than Cairo). We were able to get the stroller through most of the temple without much problem, and we were lucky to have it since Luke fell asleep halfway through. We finished our stop at the temple just as the sun set, marking the end of Ramadan.

After that, we got adventurous and found a place to eat. Jason ordered Egyptian food, and I ordered a hamburger. This is what I got!

After dinner we explored a nearby bazaar, where I bought a beautiful peacock colored scarf and another scarf to use as a valance in our bedroom here. Luke ended up with a little wooden snake toy because Jason caved in to his “I want that snake!” cries. ;)

The next day we didn’t leave the hotel except to find meals. We spent the entire day by the pool, napping in the room, and by the pool some more. It was great. Luke got over his fear of the swimming pool (he’s been terrified of the jets all summer) and had a great time. Every other kid in the pool came to play with Luke. To our delight, he was very friendly and outgoing around them. School has done wonders for his social skills among his peers!

(Actually I did leave the hotel to go find a drugstore. I walked down by the water by myself. I had had just about enough of the hasslers asking if I wanted a taxi or a carriage, and the men who make comments or hiss at me really annoy me. Hardly ever happens in Cairo, but in Luxor it was a different story. One shop worker said to me, "Hey American lady...woo hoo...you are so sexy!" I rounded on him, stuck my finger in his face and said to him, "You show me some respect. You would NEVER speak that way to an Egyptian woman. You will NOT speak to me that way." He cowered, saying, "Sorry, madam, no...you're right...I would not...sorry...so sorry." I don't think he expected to get chewed out.

The following morning we went to the Temple of Karnak, which is enormous. It covers several football fields (in my scientific estimation) and was added onto over several centuries by various rulers. It was really hot that day, and exhausting to try to see the whole temple and appreciate it. I think we all got pretty tired of looking at hieroglyphics. Ironic, seeing as how I was so disappointed in the bare walls of the pyramids.

I was thrilled, however, to see some beautiful brightly colored pictures atop the columns of the hypostyle hall, and then crestfallen to see that some tourists, who fancied themselves modern-day scribes, had carved their names in one of the columns just below some of the hieroglyphs. As Daddy used to quote, “Fools’ names and fools’ faces often appear in public places.”

We had dinner one night at a neat little restaurant owned by an American. It was set up like a little house, with rooms off to the side of the foyer. We ate in a room with another American couple who was on a round-the-world trip. It was nice to chat with them and hear about their adventures. The owner of the restaurant also stopped by our table to talk, and he sent us on our way with some free chocolate chip cookies! Yum!

We decided to forgo the west bank of Luxor, where the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens are located. Getting Luke around on those long sightseeing trips is complicated at this stage, and we figure we’ll be back. We decided to spend our last morning in Luxor by the pool before heading back to Cairo.

We had to check out of the hotel by noon, and our flight wasn’t until 10 PM or so. We spent the whole day at the pool, and thankfully, the hotel gave us a room to shower in before we headed to the airport. All in all it was a very relaxing weekend.

Silly Stories

Those of you who know Luke well know that he is very much a creature of habit. He likes to know what to expect. He eats oatmeal every morning for breakfast and peanut butter every day for lunch. He anticipates questions that he knows you’re going to ask, and says them aloud before you can do it. He loves routine. As I mentioned, oatmeal is part of the daily routine. He has watched me make oatmeal since he was tiny, but I don’t think he’s ever paid attention to the raw oats themselves. The other day he climbed up on the step stool in the kitchen and saw the bowl of oats on the counter. He put his fingers in them and said, “Mommy, this oatmeal is WEIRD.”

Even though I know what he’s going to say, I ask Luke what he wants for breakfast every morning. When he says “oatmeal,” I tell him we have to go make it. He helps me measure it out sometimes, and then we put it in the microwave. He also has helped me make cookies. (That’s background info for this next anecdote.)

We’ve been talking a lot about Christmas and going home to Texas and Santa. He is very excited about Santa, except he is still learning little bits here and there about him. The other day he was pretty sure Santa lives in heaven with Jesus… Anyway, we were talking about the things Luke wants for Christmas. He’s actually asked for toys lately, like a basketball and a set of his own keys. I’ve said, “Well, maybe you can ask Santa to bring it to you for Christmas.” (Gosh, I hear echoes of my mother in my voice.) The other day he asked me how Santa gets the toys. I told him he has to make them at the North Pole. Luke said, “In the microwave?” “In the microwave?” I replied. Seeing the connection he made in his mind, I laughed and said, “No, silly, not in the microwave.” “In the oven?” he asked next. Of course, I explained that toys were not like oatmeal—they’re made in a workshop by elves, not in the microwave by Mommy!

We’ve also been talking a lot about Jesus and the things He would want us to do. (Funny story about that later…) We talk about how Jesus wants us to obey our parents quite often, actually! He asked me the other day where Jesus is. I told Luke Jesus lives in our hearts, and that he also is in heaven. His answer was, “So Jesus is with Mimi’s kitty?” (Mom’s cat died this year at 18 or 19 years old. Mom and Luke have had some discussions about where Kitty is now and why she isn’t around anymore.) I was pretty impressed that Luke remembered those discussions and that he put together the ideas that both Jesus and Kitty are in heaven together. She’s probably sitting on His lap right now meowing incessantly to be petted and asking to go out!

So on the note of what Jesus would have us to do…I was convicted this week about my own selfish behavior while trying to teach my son to share. We have an Egyptian acquaintance, Youssef, who works as a driver for a doctor in our neighborhood. Youssef has young children, and he and his wife invited our family over one evening for a visit about a month ago. Luke and I run into Youssef frequently as we walk to and from Luke’s school. Youssef likes to joke with Luke. He points to Luke’s shoes and says, “These are my shoes.” Or to Sweet Puppy and says, “This my dog.” This disturbs Luke quite a bit. He gets very worried and sternly says, “NO! These are MY Elmo Blinky Shoes!” Or, “NO! This is MY PUPPY!” Despite Luke’s frequent protests, Youssef insists on joking with Luke in exactly the same way each time. Now Luke heads him off. As soon as he sees Youssef, he says, “These are MY shoes. This is MY puppy.” Unfortunately, he now thinks that all Egyptian men want his shoes and his puppy, and so he greets total strangers with a scowl and tells them the same thing. We’re working on that.

Last week we were walking home from school. Luke and I had just stopped at the market to get a package of cookies, and we were eating them on the way home. I saw Youssef down the street and tried to get Luke to offer Youssef a cookie. Luke did NOT want to share. I walked him through the dialogue of offering a cookie to his friend. After sharing a cookie and saying goodbye, I told Luke that Jesus would like us to share our cookies with others. And then I remembered a scene from the night before. We were at McDonald’s ordering ice cream. I asked Jason if he’d like me to order one for him and one for Luke in addition to the one I was getting, or if he would like to share his ice cream with Luke. (Notice I said if JASON would like to share. I do not share dessert.) After ordering only 2 ice creams, Jason got really disgusted with me when I wouldn’t share with Luke. Of course, I was disgusted with him because I thought I’d made it clear that I didn’t want to share. Anyway, as I was trying to impart spiritual wisdom to my son, the Holy Spirit convicted me that just as Luke shared his cookies, Jesus would also have wanted me to share my McFlurry!

Mom bought Luke a few pairs of shoes before we moved. One is a pair of Elmo blinky shoes. Luke love, love, loves them. When I put them on him for the first time I was afraid they were too big. I asked several times, “Are they too big, or do they fit your feet?” He insisted they fit fine (and indeed, he gets around in them without falling down all the time!). I think he still worries that I’ll decide they’re too big for him, because he periodically tells me, “Mama, these shoes fit for my feet.”

Madam Librarian...

Time for an update—I’ve been subtly hassled by several friends, and I realize I’ve been slack in keeping you all posted on our little lives here in Cairo. So…here I am!

I am now working 2 days a week at Cairo English School as a library assistant. I wasn’t looking for a job; the librarian approached me and asked me if I was still looking for work. When I told her I was very purposefully not looking for work, she said that was too bad because she needed an assistant. After two months of thinking and waiting, I have the job. The library does not have its collection in the software database yet, so I will be helping to enter books into the system. I also get to help organize books, help put together a big order of books for the library, and update the recommended reading list for middle and high school students. It’s perfect for me! I get to take Luke with me. We bring toys for him and he plays in the library. He enjoys seeing the big kids and hearing the stories I read to them. He even helps me choose books to share with the kids. Some days this arrangement works better than others. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be back in a school again, without all the stuff I don’t like about being at school attached to it! I have always thought I might like to be a librarian someday. I hope this will help me figure out whether that’s a path I’d like to take.

By the way, for those of you musical theater lovers--the librarian's name is Marion!

What's that stuff falling from the sky?

Cooler weather is here! The transition has been like fall in Texas so far—a subtle cooling-off over a period of about a week or two. The days are not as oppressively hot, and the nights are really pleasant. The other day I was sitting on the couch (probably on the computer) and I thought I heard thunder outside. I dismissed this as crazy, reasoning that the noise probably came from something being rolled down the street or was related to construction going on nearby. When Jason got home a little bit later, he said he’d been rained on! We went out later that night to go to Bible study and there was lightning about every thirty seconds! After the summer of thunderstorms we had in Texas, I never thought I needed to see rain again, but I was wrong. The lightning show was spectacular, and we got to see it from a 4^th floor apartment with an unobstructed view of the sky. We felt sprinkles on the way home. Mud covered the streets when I took Luke to school in the morning. (Nasty mud…what I imagine the mud at Woodstock looked like.) We had to slog through mud puddles down at the unpaved end of our road, and I realized Cairo has no gutters or drainage system of any kind! Why would they need it, I guess? It was great to have a little rain wash everything off and clean the air out. I never thought I’d be so happy to see a dreary cloudy day!

Taxis

Taxis are everywhere in Cairo. They cruise the streets looking for passengers, and most of the time we can walk out the front door and get one within a block or two of our apartment. When we are not looking for a taxi, they’re even more ubiquitous!

Taxis honk all the time. It’s like New York, but not as aggressive. Their honking is more a way of communicating that they’re coming up behind you, or available to take you somewhere, or to tell other drivers what they’re about to do. It is very annoying the first week or so, but we are pretty used to it at this point. There is definitely a code to their honking patterns that I am still trying to figure out. They also do not use blinkers to indicate turns. They use hand signals out the window. Haven’t figured those out, either.

Most of the cabs are pretty old; some are definitely nicer than others. I rode in one that looked like it was held together with rubber bands and chewing gum. Cab décor varies from one to the other. They’re all painted very dark navy on the outside and have an official registration number. Inside it’s a different story! They may have CDs glued onto the back windshield or stuffed animals on the back dash. Many of them have seat covers of some sort; the most interesting so far made me feel like I was sitting on a Muppet. Almost all the cabs have a dashboard cover made of some sort of fabric. (The things they feel the need to cover here…my washing machine also had a vinyl cover decorated with maps of Hawaii. Strange…) None of the taxis have seatbelts, so it’s pretty frightening to ride in them at times. Also there are no lanes on the roads, no stoplights, and no crosswalks in Cairo, so until you get used to the “system,” getting around here is nothing short of terrifying. I do feel, though, that Cairo taxi drivers are skilled drivers, and are aware of their surroundings and able to anticipate what other drivers will do, much more so than those at home.

We’ve had some interesting rides. We’ve had at least two trips where we told the driver the address, and then they took off with us in the car as if they knew where they were going. We found out quickly, though, that they really had no idea. Taxi drivers are embarrassed to admit that they don’t know, though, so they take us anyway in order to save face. Luckily, though, they have no qualms about stopping to ask other drivers or random people on the street for directions. We did actually get out of a cab once when this happened, high-tailed it to the other side of the street, and found a cab driver who did know where to go. (They also have no problem stopping to chew out other drivers! We frequently see two cars going head to head, trying to squeeze through a one-lane space. The drivers stick their heads out the window and jabber at each other until one relents and backs up. They need practice taking turns!)

The person riding in the cab determines the price. We have had to determine appropriate prices for certain distances. The drivers expect us to pay more because we are Westerners, but we’re slowly learning what locals pay, and we try not to pay more than that. When we arrive at our destination, we get out of the cab and hand the driver his fare through the open window. Then we walk away. Sometimes drivers complain about how much we give them, but most of the time we’ve done this routine with confidence, so we haven’t been hassled much.

We have liked a lot of our cab drivers. They generally seem very helpful, and they act appreciative of our attempts to speak Arabic with them. They like it even better when Luke begins counting in Arabic. Their faces light up in big smiles and they count right along with him. They’re always surprised when he continues on past ten.

There is one cab driver I’ve used fairly frequently. His name is Mostafa. The first time he drove me I went to Jason’s school and back. I used him again the next time I went to Jason’s school, and on the way home we had a blowout. I have never been in a car during a blowout. I heard a loud pop, and then Mostafa looked out at his mirrors. The car never swerved or felt any differently, so I thought it was someone else’s tire. Only when we pulled into the tire store did I realize our car had had a blowout. That was back in September, when the weather was easily a hundred degrees. Luke and I sat in the car while the guy changed a tire. Mostafa went inside and bought us some croissants to eat while we were waiting. (Why did they have croissants for sale at a tire store?) We got back home safely, just really sweaty and tired.

Egyptians are very proud of their cars. They wash them every day (or they have them washed). Each morning I walk Luke to school the streets are wet because ba’waabs and older ladies are out washing cars. There’s a taxi driver who lives near Luke’s school, and an old lady washes his car every morning. On the other hand, there is also a car out in front of our apartment that has about a half-inch of sand covering it, but that car seems to be abandoned. It hasn’t moved since we got here.

Traffic is pretty light here during the day, but at night everything comes alive. People emerge from their homes around dinner time, and that’s when they go out and do their shopping and socializing. Malls are open until midnight or later, and restaurants are open late, too. As a result, Luke and I get around pretty easily during the day with the stroller. I’ve learned to cross the street (into oncoming traffic) carefully but confidently. Sometimes I have to head out in front of cars and make them stop so that we can get across. It was so scary the first few weeks, but I’ve learned that the drivers are used to dealing with pedestrians trying to cross, and many of them are sympathetic to our plight and slow down to let us in. Luckily, most of the places we go are in the residential areas, and we don’t have to cross really busy streets.

Khan el Khalili

There is an enormous bazaar in Cairo called Khan el Khalili. For those of you who’ve been to Hong Kong’s Stanley Market, imagine that, times about a million, and way more crowded than Stanley on its busiest day. It’s unfathomably huge. Jason went to the Khan a few weeks ago by himself. The adventurer in him needed something to explore, so he took the metro and set out to see as much of Khan el Khalili as he could. He got there right around Iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan. It is the custom during Ramadan to be generous and share whatever you have, so when Jason arrived at dinner time, he met some local people who insisted he join them for the meal. After eating his fill and practicing his Arabic with them for a while, he spent the next few hours exploring the market. He came back home later that night excited to tell me all about his adventure, and decided we should go together later that week. However, the Khan is not stroller-friendly (none of Cairo really is, but there is no way we could get a stroller through the crowded walkways in the Khan), so we had to find a babysitter. Our friends Paul and Traci came to babysit Luke that Thursday night while we went to the Khan with Noel, Rachella, and Beth.

We took the train to a station near the Khan. It was about a 20 minute train ride, if I remember correctly. The train was clean and not too crowded that night. Once we got to the station, we got out and began walking to the bazaar. Just outside the station street vendors sell all kinds of merchandise, from cell phone covers to hardware to clothes and food. (Note that you can even buy "pharonic status" in this shop. I've always wanted to be royalty...) We made our way through the crowds and started toward the Khan. Ours were the only Western faces I saw until we got to the actual Khan. I imagine we walked for about 20 minutes before reaching what is technically Khan el Khalili, but the part of Cairo between the metro stop and the Khan was solid shops and vendors, so that I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference in where the Khan began and ended. I think we were there at the time when many Egyptians were out shopping for gifts to give at the end of Ramadan, and the best analogy I can give you is that it was like the day after Thanksgiving at the mall, but on steroids. We kept thinking of the phrase, “crush of humanity.” The crush of humanity almost crushed me several times!

We fought our way through the crowd and finally emerged in front of the Egyptian Pancake House. We sat down outside and ordered dinner—these delicious pita-like pancakes covered in honey or with bananas baked in, or filled with cheese…all yummy. While we were eating we were approached repeatedly by people selling their wares—wallets, necklaces, papyrus pictures, and bookmarks—and none of them wanted to hear “no.” We kept sending them away, and most of them did go away, except one little girl who looked to be about four years old. She was by herself wandering through the market. She kept coming up to us asking for our cokes. None of us gave her any, though we did offer her food, which she refused. She would not leave us alone. One of the waiters kept sending her away, but she ran back to our table each time. I felt sorry for her, because she appeared to be so young and unsupervised, but the others thought she could have been seven or eight, and just small. Still, I wouldn’t let Luke wander around like that at seven or eight! Noel snapped this picture of the little girl after dinner.

We spent the next few hours walking around the Khan. There were some really neat little shops with various Egyptian crafts in them. My favorite are the glass shops. They make some amazing Christmas ornaments and also hanging light fixtures with neat glass teardrop baubles hanging from them. They’re hard to describe, but of everything I’ve seen so far here, those light fixtures are really the only thing I’d buy to put in my house. Most of the Egyptian handicrafts don’t suit my taste, which is probably a good thing for our budget! I didn’t buy anything on this shopping trip, but Jason bought some old Egyptian money. (I think it’s weird to buy money, but that’s just me!)

After about 2 hours of looking around, we girls decided we had had enough. The crowds and the shopkeepers trying to get us to come in their shops really wore us out. We told the boys they could stay and keep exploring and we’d go home, or they could go with us. We decided to all go home at once. We caught a cab to the metro station. It was a small cab, and Noel, Rachella, and Beth climbed in the back, while Jason sat in the front seat with me on his lap. Very cramped and unsafe! I couldn’t sit up straight at all, and the most comfortable way to ride would’ve been to hang my head out the window like a dog! Noel got a picture of me doing this, but I don’t have it yet. I’ll post it if I can get him to send it to me!

The Khan is definitely an interesting experience. I’d like to know if there is a time that it is less crowded than it was that night to go again. The shopping stresses me out a little bit, but I could eat those Egyptian pancakes once a week and be happy!

What a roller-coaster couple of weeks. Let’s just say that losing a wallet and phone (or having them stolen) in Egypt is a frustrating experience. In addition to that, I’ve gone all over Maadi trying to get that sorted out, as well as get travel plans finalized for this weekend, Jason’s trip to San Antonio, and Christmas. This has involved a lot of fast walking (because I’m always cutting it close) in the heat of the day, and repeated trips to the various places of business I’ve had to deal with. Thankfully, most of that is behind me…I think.

Last Monday was the first day of Bible study with my new group. Monday morning I took Luke to school and then went to the bank to try to get my card, with no success—a wasted hour. I’ll spare you the details of why I couldn’t get the card, but I cried my way home. I am sure the sweaty American girl walking down the street with tears streaming down her face was quite a sight for the people I passed. Once I got home I got ready and went to Bible study. I did not want to go, mostly because I’d had such a cruddy morning. I knew it would do me good to get out and meet people, and I’m very excited about the study we’re doing. It’s The Patriarchs by Beth Moore. I have never done a Beth Moore study before, so I’m excited to take on the challenge—though one week in, I don’t find it more challenging than a CBS study—and I think it’s so neat to be studying the patriarchs in the land in which they lived. (Plus the book is really, really pretty.)

I got to the study a little late. It took me a while to find the place. Building numbers in Maadi are assigned without logic. 35B might be right next to 37G and there might be another 35 a hundred yards down from 35B. A helpful policeman also sent me the wrong way down the street. I finally turned around and found it myself. When I entered the home, I relaxed almost immediately. Lela’s home is beautiful, and filled with her own furniture, books, and décor. I was relaxed…and jealous. J It was hard to sit and stay part of the group because I really wanted to get up and read all the titles of the books she has on her shelves. Anyway, we chatted a while about the study and the leader’s (Karen’s) plans for us. She has some really neat ideas for day trips we can take to enhance our study.

I really enjoyed meeting these women. There were only four of us that day, and since one lady had to leave early, Lela, Karen, and I sat and talked for a while. Lela’s been here since December, and may be leaving within 3-9 months from now. Karen has been here longer, though I can’t remember how long. I was so excited to hear their stories and to see myself mirrored in them. They will be my first friends who are not working at the school. I was very excited to learn that Lela is an artist who creates the kind of art that inspires me. She has her own studio in her home with every art supply I could name in it. It was like a room full of new school supplies. I felt completely at home and happy in that room, a feeling I’ve not had since being here, even in our own apartment. Someday soon I am going to take my stuff over to Lela’s house and we are going to have a playdate!

It’s funny how God works…I’ve been writing so much more since being here (only the blog. No fiction yet.) and I’ve been thinking about how I might get some of my work published. I do have a children’s story ready to submit to a publisher, but I am not sure how to approach that process, and I’m too lazy/scared/intimidated to do it yet. The Maadi Women’s Guild publishes a monthly magazine called The Maadi Messenger, and I was reading it on Tuesday. I always read everything, from the table of contents, to the articles, the ads, and the publication information. When I read the publication information, I noticed that the editor is my new friend Lela. Before I lost my courage, I sent Lela an email asking for a writing assignment, directed her to this blog in case she wanted to check out some of my rough work, and told her I’d write whatever she needed for the magazine.

I heard back from her today. I’m going this week to visit the Wadi Degla Club, where the Women’s Guild is holding its Christmas Bazaar. I’ll write an article about the club for the magazine. My deadline is next Monday! How exciting! I need an assignment and a deadline—something to procrastinate toward.

So, although the week began as a big, frustrating mess, it has ended happily.

Jason had a 3-day weekend, so we’ve had lots of fun family time, even some boredom mixed in! We haven’t had much of that since we’ve packed a lot into our first month and a half. Luke is growing like crazy—no traces of baby left at all. He sleeps very well in his “big boy bed” and has only fallen off once. He is much more independent and opinionated (resulting in many more time-outs and a few spankings), and his teacher commented the other day that he was very bright and very stubborn. (I told her he comes by that naturally!) She had tried to change his pull-up and he responded by squealing and saying “NO THANK YOU!!!” She got a big kick out of the “no, thank you”, but was happy when I told her that I expected her to be firm with him and not let him get away with any of that sort of behavior. He is doing much better with potty training. I don’t think he’s had any accidents for five or six days, and he proudly says, “I toot!” when he sits on the potty. Luke and Jason invented a game this weekend called Splat Daddy. Jason lies down on a mattress on the floor and Luke gets a running start and flops on Jason’s tummy. I am going to try to post a short video of this. They have a great time playing together, and I have fun watching and NOT being the splattee.

Tonight we’re going out on a felucca with some friends to escape the noise of Cairo. A few peaceful hours on the water does a world of good when the sounds of the city get to me.

Please keep your emails and comments coming! I love hearing from everyone, and news from home makes me feel “normal.” As of today, we will be home for Christmas in 72 days! Yay!