Angela in Egypt

random videos

2009-02-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Blake plays in the snow while we were trying to get out of it... Munich? Berlin? I can't keep all the Amy Angela Blake trips straight. :)

After about 6 months of living on Road 9, a major construction job began, right next door. I was impressed and astounded by the daily goings-on... no safety regulations, no age requirements, just some local men and boys in their street clothes, flip-flops and brute force constructing an eight story building, using the same methods they had used for... well, forever. The most frightening image was the day they had gotten about three stories up and needed more rebar (sp?) on the upper floors.... So, one guy on the ground level, standing at the edge of the building (no walls yet) passed these 12 ft long, heavy, awkward lengths of rebar up, shimmying them upwards, to the outstretched arms of the guy on floor above him, as the metal poles wobbled and swayed, the guy reached out his hands, trying to steady the long rods before the guy below him let go... then he would do the same routine, shimmy the rebar on up to the guy waiting on the very edge of the next level...

It was pretty horrifying to watch because the rebar would sway and vibrate with each movement, threatening to fling the small, Egyptian man off the side of ledge that he was precariously perched on. But like all things there, my silly, overly-concerned westernized preconcieved notion of "correct procedures", etc were uh, err, unfounded. Those guys completed the framework of the building with minimal machinery and in record time. Then the shell of a building stood there, incomplete, and with nobody working on it for the rest my stay in Cairo, another year and a half.

Leah and I make our way from Ma'adi to City Stars. It was a pretty tame ride that day, the pedestrians on the side of the road didn't run out in front of us, as they were often want to do. Oh, and Leah uses her most polite voice/language to invite Snarr to join us for lunch.

Sharmy Thanksgiving

2007-12-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

Oh my, Sharm El Sheihk is lovely. More specifically, the Sofitel Hotel in Sharm is lovely. :)

The rooms all look out over Na'ama Bay, the main beach, tourist, shopping, hotel and restaurant area of the city.

I sat in the sun, finished a book, went to coffee shops, had some Mexican food and otherwise tried to do things that I'm not able to do/find in Cairo.

This was along the pedestrian walkway, right off the beach. Leah and I were headed out for the night.

The food wasn't fantastic, but it sure hit the spot! See the banner hanging in the background? They had Corona (only 8 dollars a bottle), but I opted for the "Texas Tea" .

We got to the club around 9:30, picked up the tickets for "House Nation Night", got a sneak preview of the place from Ahmed, and then went to grab some food and shisha.

We resorted to amusing ourselves with the camera. It was cold and we still had an hour to kill.

By 1:30 Pacha was packed with people from all over the world (including one of my 11 yr old students whose father *surprise* owns the place) It was crowded enough that I could say hello and forget about it. I happen to be on my best behavior that night anyway.

It was excellent. I can usually gauge how much fun I had by how difficult it is to walk home (not from alcohol, from dancing). :)

The dancer girls got the crowd warmed up and then some faux whirling dervish dudes came out spinning this fabric... it's hard to tell in the photo.

The next day was coffee, shopping and walking around until our flight out.

Look! It's a "Salt & Pepper Festival" !!!

There was the main touristy shopping area, and then, on the other side of town Leah and I stumbled upon this strip mall area that has gone to great lengths to look Russian.... complete with curious sculptures of oddly painted animals in grassy medians. Very surreal.

So that was my Thanksgiving.
No turkey dinner with family, but my latte here was called "Pumpkin Spice". That's about as close as you get to turkey day here in Egypt.

BYE!!!

Basketball and Kittens

2007-11-19T11:38:00.001-08:00

So here are the Bball girls I have somehow ended up coaching the last couple of months. They have done a great job, considering that many of the girls have had little or no experience shooting hoops.

And in other news... I was walking Arthur last weekend and we discovered some shivery kittens under a parked car. I know the mama cat. One of our neighbors gave her and her kittens a little covered cat bed and there is often food left out next to the bed. However, we live on a busy street, and I doubt these guys will be around long. :( They were alone this morning, one of the first chilly days we've had this "winter". I guess Mom was out finding breakfast and they were left alone, meowing their heads off... so I sat down on the curb, with Arthur next to me and soon they were curious enough to come over and check us out. They're so young they don't even know that they're suppose to be afraid of Arthur (rather, my ferocious terrier was afraid of them!). The biggest of the three kept climbing up my pants leg to get a closer look at Arthur. I let him get far enough along to see what would happen. The guy was going for Arthur's belly; his nipples to be exact. Poor things, I haven't seen them around here since that morning. The stray animal situation here is really depressing. Obviously, there is no concept of spaying or neutering here. The worst stories involve poison being put out on the street as a means of "animal control".

spooky times

2007-11-02T04:41:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween. Leah wouldn't stop crying.

I looked terrible and nobody would carry on a conversation with me much less make eye contact... so I washed the spook off my face by 11pm. Then the fun began.

This photo doesn't seem nearly as bad as I remember looking (maybe because the light is really bright? It takes away some of the sunkenness?).

hear no evil
speak no evil
see no evil

Later in the night, the monkeys turned into those wind-up dancing musical monkeys with the hand cymbals and kazoos.

Um, ya, it's a jellyfish. :)
She was "stinging" people with her red Crayola marker all night.

Smoking the shisha and drinking a Sakara.
Ahhh, now there's a true Egyptian couple.
Myra and Jed hosted the party.

Purple dude, Will, and chick in bathing suit, Erin, are dressed as characters from movie The Big Lubowski, Jesus and Bunny.

Paul and Traci are also characters from Big Lubowski. Can you guess?

Guy in middle, John, is going as the High School VP, Brad, dressed in the Egyptian cop uniform in the photo above.

G&T night

2007-10-31T09:20:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Steve and Marion hosted G & T (gin and tonic) night. Leah and I have known Steve and Marion since "the beginning". We had the honor of being the last two leases to be signed from our group of incoming teachers. We go way back. :)

Anyway, they're fun to hang out with and have a great patio/balcony area. Plus, they have a great record collection. What? You don't believe me? Ok, here's the proof.

Album designs don't get any better than this.

As close as I'll get to a dance party here in Ma'adi. Translation, "make my own".

Oh, poor Michael. He had no idea what was in store for him.

Sweeeeeeet!!! Sooooo good!

A photo of the view from my balcony.
Looks like it'd be nice and quite here, huh? Yeah, well it's not. They're building a place called "Hubbly Bubbly" next door, the newest shisha restaurant/bar in town apparently. They start warming up the electric saw around 10 pm.

Ending on a positive note as usual!
g'bye. write me.

more moscow, per anne's request

2007-10-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

Michael has some really good photos on his camera, especially while at the Chemical Brother's show, but
I wasn't able to get them from him before I left Moscow...

These are all from the same day, walking around the city. I was attempting to navigate the subway on my own when I realized that the museum I was headed to was closed on Mondays... so I just picked a random stop and went above ground and braved the weather for an hour or so before heading back to Michael's apartment.

The subway system there is really impressive! It's massive, (goes all over the city) and kept really clean. There are several photos at the bottom of this entry showing how beautiful they are. Waiting for a train is like being in an old historic building or museum. Many escalators are extremely steep. You get on at the bottom and then just wait and wait and wait, getting to the top.

Why won't this stupid video load properly!? I rotated it and saved it.... but it won't listen to me! arrggggg! I'm leaving it! Watch for Heidi's entrance, it's very cute.

Women dress very fashionably or at least trendily. This chick on the left had on a purple fur coat, with fluffy black trim. The sexy tall boots were ev-ry-where. Unfortunately, I did not leave with a pair.

Taken in a long tunnel connecting two different lines of the subway. This was a rare moment of few people. I was surprised at how busy busy busy everybody is there. The pace of people walking and moving through the city is very much like New York City.

See what I mean about the long escalators? ...although this was taken pretty near the top, so you don't really get the full effect.

The outside of a subway entrance near Michael's house.

There he is, red jacket, pulling my suitcase on our way to take me back to the airport. :(

There's the back of Michael's head again, so now I've gotta throw in a photo of myself. Here's the only one I have, from the little park with the skinny trees that surrounded his apartment building. You walk along a sidewalks through the trees to get just about anywhere from his building. It's a nice feeling, especially all snowy and cold.

Here I am, wearing the jacket I bought on the Porter Colorado trip.

Moscow, a sneak preview

2007-10-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

What a great, great visit.

I really enjoyed getting to catch up with Michael, seeing the Chemical Brothers (eee!!!) and getting to look at all the cool stuff around Moscow.

I think what sticks in my mind the most, besides getting to see the first snow fall of the year, is the beautiful architecture around the city as well as underneath it in the metro stations.

Oh, and the clean, organized grocery store by his apartment (I'm tired of these dark, dirty corner stores here in Cairo).

I love the bright colors and designs of St. Basil's!!

I'll post more soon. It's getting late here and I've had a long day. This is my first night with DSL, so I thought I'd stop in and try adding a video to my blog.

Remember, DSL means ichat and skype with loved ones, so get hooked up! :)

El Arish

2007-09-28T08:10:00.001-07:00

not such a great map, but maybe you can get an idea of where all these places are located. I've been to Alexandria, and these photos in this entry are from El Arish, about 4 hours east of Alex. Then if you look down toward the bottom of the Sinai, you'll see Dahab, Sharm and Hurghada, towns that I've mentioned in other blog entries.

Our hotel in El Arish, "The Swiss Inn".

Last weekend a group of us teacher-types took a weekend trip to El Arish. It's about a 4 hr drive north-east of Cairo, off of the Mediterranean Sea.

I went last year as well, around the end of May, but I don't think I ever got around to sharing any of those photos, so I've picked my favorites and mixed 'em up here. The crab photos are from my first trip. They were all up and down the beach, but they'd quickly scurry out of the way. Unlike the many jelly fish that were there this time. Just about every person that went into the water was stung. I kept to the salt water pool.... which was so salty I effortlessly floated on the surface.

MY WORLD

2007-09-26T10:02:00.001-07:00

Covering all the bases:

"Congraulatioins"
"I LOVE YOU"
"HAPPY MARRY"

In the kitchen

In the studio

"A Bathroom Poem"

The shades of green
set off
so perfectly
by overhead florescent lights.
Morning,
I've never looked better.

And Now, Year Two

2007-09-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again, faithful readers.

I am back into the full swing of things here in Cairo. I took loads of photos while in Mexico and Texas, and they're all posted at Picassa. Clicking on the below links should take you to all my Picassa web albums. I think there's a total of six or seven.

amsterdam layover

see you next year :(

A week in Tulum, Mexico

I tried to attach a video here of Leah driving us around Cairo, but it took too long. So, you'll just have to imagine us taking our lives into our own hands until I have more time. We were driving to the British Club (there are several of these "members only" type clubs here where your friendly Canadian, American or Brit signs your non-member self in for the evening). I was very happy. They serve real beer, yeah for Boddington's!

They had these little wall paintings all around the courtyard area where we sat.

Here's the apartment for my Year Two experience. Not as swanky as last year's, but better in many ways. The second photo is of my studio, which I could have straightened up a bit before taking the photo.

See Arthur in the corner of the studio in his new kennel? I guess KLM didn't like his small blue kennel that he was traveling in because this is what he was in when I picked him up at baggage in Cairo.

FYI, when I talk on my land line, this is where sit.

So, last night was the first night of Ramadan, only a whole month left to go. This holiday means leaving work an hour earlier every day, but it also means fire crackers all day and night (poor arthur HATES it, he stays in the closet). Ramadan also means from 4:30am to 6:30pm Muslims are fasting (Morning break is called sohour and evening fast breaking is called Iftar. Thanks for the correction connie!).

Below, some messing around in the studio
Of course, nobody expects foreigners to fast, but it still greatly effects our lives, much like the explosive consumer frenzy during Christmas in the States. Obviously, during Ramadan there's no eating or drinking in front of students. And going out to eat or to a coffee shop before 6:30 p.m. makes one feel like a super jerk, since nearly all employees are Muslim and they haven't eaten or had anything to drink since before sunrise.

Any restaurants that do serve alcohol, certainly don't sell this month of the year, and our trusty delivery liquor store, "Drinkies" is closed for the month as well. In fact, most businesses adjust their hours in some way, some closing completely until the end of Ramadan. With just cause, the students are pretty tired and grumpy. They eat a huge, celebratory meal at 6:30pm with tons of friends and family and then don't get to sleep until quite late, waking again at 4:30a.m. for prayer and the other chance to eat and drink for the day. Muslim fasting here includes not being able to drink water. . . On a brighter note, Ramadan means there are lots of colorful lights around town and some very pretty Ramadan lanterns lit up around town.

In other news, I'm going to spend this coming weekend at El Arish, with about 70 other teachers who also want to say a final farewell to beach weather. I'll post some photos.

Oh! and some final, shocking news. In fact, those of you that know me well might want to take a seat before reading the following information. . . I am coaching Middle School girls' basketball! Don't worry, there's another, uh, real coach in charge, my friend/coworker, Jennifer. It's been fun so far, and nice to be outside right now, with the weather cooling off. And yes, they actually call me "Coach Maxwell".

Above, Miss Jennifer visits with Arthur. The night she and Cheri came over to watch a movie, our television refused to cooperate. I guess it was feeling old fashioned, it would only play in black and white. Occasionally when it felt creative, it would burst into red, with yellow horizontal lines. Nice.

Here are the winners for my new blog contest, best Egyptian packaging or logo design of the month.

Love,
Coach Maxwell

Dahab, this time climb Mt. Sinai

2007-06-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

Some people have asked about the title "Dahab, Habibi" on my previous post. "Habibi" or "Habiba" is an Egyptian Arabic term of endearment, like "mijo" or "mija" in Spanish. It is used like "my sweet little one", or "my love".

Anyway, this little girl reminded me of all this. She was selling handmade bracelets along the beach.

Jasmine knows some super cool people in Dahab and they graciously offered us the use of their spare room. From what I gathered, Robert and Vi (sp?) divide their time between the UK, Singapore and Dahab. They are renting a home right on the water, from a Bedouin man. This first photo is basically their drive way. Then their backyard, and home, a stones throw from the water.

Just across the water are the mountains of Saudi Arabia.

The hammock in the living room clues you in to the Dahab lifestyle.

"Welcome" indeed. Thanks Robert and Vi!

These photos were taken just outside their backyard.
I wish you could have seen the stars at night! Amazing!

The water is very shallow (the light green water) and then supposedly there is some of the most breathtaking coral and marine life where it drops off into the deep.

Robert prepared a tasty meal. It was greatly appreciated after our 7 hour drive.

Our hosts watching us drive away.

Day one was all relaxation and recuperation after a tough school year...

I guess we missed having a daily challenge (work) because we certainly found an adventure for ourselves for our second night in Dahab. Jennifer, Leah and I decided to climb Mt. Sinai.

About 13 of us crammed into a minivan at 11pm, ready for our 2 hour drive out to the mountain where we met our guide and began walking up the rocky path (with hundreds of others).

The stars were fantastically brilliantly amazing... the few times I was able to glance up from focusing on my footing.

There were any number of camels one could hire to walk you up the mountain... they're not very comfortable though. Well, maybe on the way up they are, but Leah and I tried to ride a camel on the way down (so tired!) and that got old real fast. The camels didn't seem to like bracing themselves on the rocky path with the additional weight on their backs. They complained with a loud moaning and the going was very slow. Also, the saddle horn type things that you hold onto were digging into our backs, as the camels leaned into the decent. The boys leading the camels were none too pleased to let us down. They wanted to charge us the full fair, but we refused... Leah got off first and my 10 yr old camel jockey was keeping me up there, holding me hostage, until he got some money out of us.

Anyway, back on the trail.... Leah said climbing Mt. Sinai was possibly the stupidest thing she'd ever done. Two hours into it, I believe her exact words were, "I don't know if I had ever made a dumber decision than climbing a mountain in the middle of the night with 400 strangers."

I have to admit it was really tough going there for awhile.

The guy in the purple was our guide.

Jennifer was all energy and smiles, not like some of the other hikers.

Once at the top, after 3.5 hours of steady climbing, what a view! We made it as promised in time for the sunrise. It was surprisingly freezing up there after the heat of the day and our sweaty hike. Of course, the Egyptian entrepreneurs had blankets and mattresses one could rent.

...and then the treck down. We did it!

Here I am, pretending to be happy and then later, at the top, watching the sunrise.

Sudanese English Lessons

2007-06-08T01:35:00.001-07:00

Leah has been tutoring Sudanese refugees every Thursday for several weeks now. Nancy (in the right corner) has been 6 or 7 times. I've been 2 or 3 times and am in awe of the positive, eager attitudes. One would think it would be depressing, going to this rundown, basement gathering place... But these men bring warmth and joy to the building. Those who come here are always smiling and wearing their best clothes. These men (and sometimes one woman shows up) are hopeful that there will be peace; that will be able to return home. Many of the men say their motivation to learn English is to communicate with the UN peacekeepers once the violence has ended. And to find work in the meantime.
Adam, taking a knee in the center, runs the community center, where English lessons are provided.

These men have lost everything, in many cases their entire family has been wiped out. And yet they hold onto their faith and hope. They say that the only help they've recieved is from local Christians, mostly Americans and teachers like ourselves. They are literally relying on the kindness of strangers. At my school, AISE, during charity week, the students raised over 6000 LE and are contributing a portion of this to pay 5 months of rent for the sudanese community center.

Most Egyptians dislike the Sudanese refugees being here. The men tell stories of rights refused. They were made to turn in their passport (and visas?) for refugee status certificates, and once the documents are taken from them, no paperwork is issued, so they are held in limbo. They are not able (legally) work in or leave Egypt. They are stuck here, in a country that does not want them here. They share stories of racism, even when trying to pray in the mosques. They talk to friends and family, other refugees in places like Lybia who are bad off, but much better than here. The few that have attempted to return to the Sudan turn up dead.

Words of inspiration hang on the walls: "One is never too old to learn" , "That what cannot be cured must be endured", and "God helps those who help themselves."

Sequoia on the Nile

2007-06-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Miss Jennifer celebrated her birthday by inviting friends to dinner at Sequoia. We've all heard (first yr teachers) from the "veterans" that this place is fantastic, but none of us had been yet. What a treat. They had good wine, at least 20 flavors of shisha (flavored tobaccoa smoked with a water pipe), and a SUSHI menu as well. I was in heaven; we all were!
The front entrance, and long boardwalk up to the restaurant.

After turning the corner, this is the first thing you see, the large, open eating area.

Ed, Mark and Jessica check out the shisha tray. I tried melon and apple. smmmoooooooth!

yumm!

Jennifer pointing at one of the small containers of flavored tobacco (and the sanitary/disposable bong hose in her right hand)

Fagnoon with 7th graders

2007-06-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

FAGNOON ART CENTER

So we took our pre-teen monsters on a field trip to this neat-o art center here on the outskirts of Cairo. It was such a great place. The kids were encouraged to climb, crawl and run around this big hammock-like area made of tightly-pulled fabric strips. They loved it.

Then we divided them into three groups and headed off to the art making areas. They made clay objects using rustic pottery wheels, they silk screened using paper templates, and then they painted on a wall and on small canvas boards.

I was able to purchase a small silkscreen kit for under 10 bucks!

A fun day for all.

random photos, the flavah of egypt

2007-05-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

Leah wrote this on a table inside our apartment, the evening after a really bad sand storm. Yes, we do have windows. The sand is so fine here it gets into and covers everything.

Fog had settled along the coastline (i guess that's what it was?). It felt as if we were in London or Iceland rather than Egypt.

only 2 pounds to use this luxurious restroom?!

we went to the mall recently.
um, surreal.

A wall mural inside the mall adequately captures the true Man of Egypt.

Outside, on the busy street in front of the mall... yep, that's a donkey pulling a cart.

i see signs like this all the time, but it never gets old. :)

Outside the coffee shop where we wait for the bus each morning. I collected a bunch of those long pod things growing from the tree on the right (for my kids to draw). they're really hard, like solid wood.

on the way to dahab

Dahab Dreams, Habibi

2007-04-30T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have a vision.
I want to start an artsy furniture, interior design, clothing, art store in Dahab. Ok, so it's not a new idea. I'm sure tons of people have the exact same thought when visiting a little town like Dahab... but the difference is, I'm going to do it. ;p

Jasmine is a self-admitted Dahab junky and I invited myself along last weekend, during our four day holiday. She teaches PE at the school where I pretend to be an art teacher, and she leads evening yoga classes two times a week...

Anyway, we could really do this store thing. There's room for everybody. Jasmine wants to sell a clothing line there. So with her clothes, my mom's furniture, some art... Come on! Come open a little sea side store with me. I sent my mom an email telling her to get out here. She could move here, manage the place and retire in luxury. :)

Who else wants to be in on this? To be able to live and travel as you like, plus have a little vacation home off the red sea! ahhhh

So let me start at the beginning, before my Dahab shop obsession. My friend Jasmine, her baby girl, Annica and I drove there. It's off the Sinai peninsula, a 7 hr drive from Cairo. Most of the drive is pretty monotonous: desert, desert, desert. But once you get about an hour from the coast, the landscape changes pretty dramatically.

There are amazing mountains.

Let me try to adequately explain this neat little town I recently spent four days exploring. The cost of living is extremely inexpensive and the atmosphere is so relaxed: people riding bikes and walking around these cute little shops and cafes. The coast line is pretty rocky along one stretch. There's a meandering pedestrian sidewalk where shops sell touristy trinkets as well as high-end collectibles. On the other side of this walkway, one after the other, about 15 or 20 bars and restaurants hug the shore of this low, rocky coast with the sea breeze rolling in! Many of the restaurants have low tables with huge throw pillows. So you lounge around, sipping beverages and lazily eating, right off the water. It's lovely! That's the touristy side of town.

About a mile away, relocated foreigners live among the local Bedouins. The Bedouins are the equivalent of America's Native Americans. They've been there "since the beginning", before the Egyptians or the Israelis, living off the land, herding, fishing, and farming. Traditionally they are a nomadic, desert people. Anyway, there's this expat community living among these native peeps in Dahab. Foreigners rent stucco-like, mud brick homes from them, living around the free-roaming goats and camels (and garbage)...

A photo of the little hotel where we stayed.

It's owned and run by the famous Jimmy. What a character! He also owns the restaurant above, The Funny Mummy.

The restaurants were festively lit at night.

These two photos are from a little shop in the less touristy part of town, a German bakery/cafe. mmmmmm

We were in this (non-touristy) area of Dahab several times. Jasmine and I did a two hour yoga session each morning we were there, from a German woman who has been living in Dahab 9 yrs. She rents one of the places I was talking about and uses one of her rooms for yoga classes. It's such a cute house with a small front yard and all the dogs and cats she's rescued. From the outside street these places look miserable, but like New Orleans, the unimpressive, street-side gate opens into a lovely courtyard area. A huge flowering plant grows in an arch, shading one corner of the yard, where she's arranged a couple chairs and a table.

These shots are from the side of town where the locals live.

Inside the house is simply, but warmly decorated. A hammock in one corner, brightly painted walls, and traditional woven rugs fill her cozy home with color. She visited Dahab once, nine yrs ago, and then decided she was going to move there. She makes a living giving yoga classes to people like me who visit, and other foreigners (expats) that have moved to that area.

Dahab has amazing coral reefs, so foreigners vacation from all over - but it's not over-crowded or over-developed like some of the larger cities along the coast.

There's this great "community" feeling there, although it might have been mostly from this performance we went to on Friday night. It felt like everyone in the community had some role in the production. It was a children's' circus! The brain child of a few adult volunteers who now live in Dahab and wanted to do something with the local kids. One woman used to be a gymnast, there's the yoga woman I already mentioned, and another woman who was an ex-ballerina. They taught the kids all kinds of acrobatics and dancing and singing. It was really amazing and fun, with costumes and changing sets, like Cirque de Soeile (sp?) for kids.

Jasmine is posing under the shaded area of the yard I mentioned above.

Cool kitty taken in by the nice yoga lady.
He has such beautiful markings and long, gorgeous legs.

and another adopted kitten. ahhhh

Chillin' out by the water having some juice, bright and early. That stray cat was quite determined.

The main room at our little yoga get away.

Another photo of the long boring ride there.

Annica was getting all kinds of play

Hippity Hoppity

2007-04-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, Ya'll

Arthur and I walk by this display at least twice a day, but I never see anyone buying anything. Back home, he'd be hit pretty hard this time of year. The baskets stay out, uncovered, 24/7. Gives you an idea of how often it rains.

There are some really beautiful flowers blooming around town right now. I think I notice them here more, because everthing else is the same muted color: concrete, desert sand, limestone.

temple of Ramses III, Dendara & countryside

2007-04-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

These first ones are of the temple of Ramses the III. This temple is not as much of a tourist "hot spot" so it was nice and quiet. We were 4 of the 7 people viewing this a-maz-ing compound.

Anytime there's a bit of color left on the temple walls it reminds me that at one time, nearly every inch of these buildings were brightly painted. Our tour guide told us that it was a type of fresco process, so the color was actually fused into the wall. They used ground up semi-precious and precious stones for their pigments. How gorgeous it must have been!

Our tour guide was excellent. He took us to several specific carvings and explained their meaning.

This one documents the spoils of war. From what I could gather, and from what I remember, sometimes slaves were taken from conquered lands. Other times, when soldiers were killed in battle the egyptians "gathered" a hand from the slain men and took them back to the pharoe to be counted and recorded. I guesss that's one way of documenting a battle.

These second set of photos are from the temple complex of Dendara. We got up early our second morning in Luxor and drove for about an hour to see this one. It was well worth the drive, and getting there was great because we were able to see the countryside which is made up of small farming communities. I'll include some of those at the end of this entry.

The quality of this photo isn't so great, but I've included it just to give you an idea of scale.

It's one of the "newer" temples, influenced by greco-roman temples in that it was an enclosed structure, so the lighting made picture taking difficult.

And finally, photos of the small towns and farms in Upper Egypt (which is actually south of Luxor). They have rotating crops. This year sugar cane seems to be the main crop. It was everywhere!

Touring the temples of Luxor

2007-04-01T00:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd go back to the photos of my Spring Break holiday with my mom and auntie.
These first four are from Luxor Temple.

The rest of the photos are from the temple of Karnak. I love the ones of the women dancing. If you click on the image to get a closer look, you can see that from the right to the left they're slowly arching backwards into a backbend.

It's impossible to capture how huge these columns are, but thousands of tourists keep trying! :)

Ancient pornography?

Daily Views

2007-03-30T00:17:00.000-07:00

Friends and family have asked what my commute is like. Well, we ride in a nice, air-conditioned , 20-seater van.
It's really bumpy and the driving here is crazy...

Here are some photos of what I see each morning.

As over populated as this city is, I don't understand why there are all these half-built buildings. Tons of people sleep in makeshift, cardboard houses, while brick and cement highrises sit, unused. On some buildings, construction seems to have haulted several years ago, never to resume, and new construction starts up all the time. It's weird. Someone told me it may be because of a law that allows the government to take your land if something hasn't been built in a certain amount of time?

This humongo billboard advertises a swanky new development that will maybe be built one day, in the luxurious middle of nowhere.

Here's where we turn off the main road and head down the street to our campus. That big tower and the wall around it has something to do with some police training campus.

That teeny van is the type we ride in. The sand actually looks kind of pretty here. It doesn't seem as colorful in "real life".

Fascinating stuff, I know.

Feild Trip Frenzy

2007-03-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Wissa Wassa Community Invaded by 8th Graders

This small community was started by one man who hoped to keep alive the art of traditional Egyptain weaving and batik fabric painting. The people were very gentle, humble and gracious.

We got a tour of the grounds and their museum, which documents the history of the village and the crafts they expertly make by hand.

I'm guessing the palm shoots are put to some use? I was lucky enough to get a video of the man climbing the tall palm tree. I'll post it on my youtube site for those that are interested. It was amazing! Just a rope around his waist and his strong legs and he was at the top in about 5 seconds.

There were 3 small children checking us out, the oldest of which was quite bold. I took his picture with my digital camera and showed him the image. He seemed quite pleased with the results and starting pushing various buttons, with a big smile on his face. One of my students spotted us, and grabbed up my camera saying, "Here Ms. Maxwell, let me take your picture with him. He probably thinks you're a ghost because you're so white."
Thanks Majd.

This was just inside the entrance to the museum. They had photos depicting the history as well as examples of various types of weaving and batiking. The largest woven piece took three years to complete.

The highlight of the morning (besides being called ghostly white)? A student came up to me and said, "Ms. Maxwell, there's an example of perspective and proportion! The ducks are really big in the front and the buildings are really small in the back."
Moments like that help me make it through. God bless 'em.

Felucca with ma n deb

2007-03-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

After the sweaty, sunny trip around the pyramids we grabbed some lunch and ate during a relaxing felucca ride. Lunch consisited of some sandwhiches from an egyptian fast food joint, (fallafel or tamaya as egyptians call it, and fool sandwhiches will set you back about 20cents each). And we threw in some adult beverages from "Drinkies" as well. That's about as good as it gets here in Egypt. It was a perfect afternoon.

Pyramids n Camels

2007-03-16T04:29:00.000-07:00

Of course, one of the most coveted spots for any foreigner visiting Egypt is "the pyramids". I doubt the camels and horses get very excited about our visits though. My first time (with my father as my readers may recall) I fretted and mumbled about the poor horse pulling our carriage the entire trip. Somehow, this time I felt less sorry for camels. They looked less stressed.

Here, notice our expert riders: such form! such confidence!

My mother threatened my life several times for even suggesting this adventure in the first place. But later, both auntie and ma admitted it was a piece of cake once you got used to it.

It was neat checking out the camels, up close and personal. Their big, blinking eyes are so beautiful. And their awkwardly moving, crookidy legs and padded feet. cool cool.

My mother was a bit less impressed (afraid, really) since Debby's camel kept tail-gating her camel, curiously sticking its face right up against my mom's thigh, looking up and blinking.

and what a dismount! beautifully done!

Khan el Khalili with the ladies

2007-03-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I told you guys how much I enjoyed my visit to Khan El Khalili with a friend/coworker.

When I found out that my aunt and mother were visiting Egypt, I thought, "they've gotta see this place!" Khan El Khalili is so unlike anything I've ever experienced.

We went on a Sunday evening, the day it's supposedly closed. Off day or not, this outdoor market is always bustling, and the fact that it was less busy than usual was probably a good thing. They were shocked enough as it was.

Here, in this first photo, my peeps were admiring the arabic logos printed on the soda bottles when I asked them to pose next to what I gather is a wool shop.

Pictured next is a typical little shop: small and packed full of interesting objects.

There's something about the spice shops that intrigues me: the jars, the bright colors, the old scale for weighing. I would include the exotic smells, but rarely do I notice spice scents. My nose is already overwhelmed by the trademark scent of Egypt: wet mud (the nile?), freshly baked bread, a dash of urine and loads of exhaust.

Mom and Aunt Debby, Arrive in Egypt

2007-03-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm so impressed with these two. They survived a full day of travel to get to me, and then once here they remained open minded and full of curiosity. It's so much to digest in a few days, but they were pros by the end. I knew they had crossed over to comfortable when they knew the money well enough to be outraged by a 12 LE candy bar... or when making it both in and OUT of the subway turnstile.

I can't believe how much we crammed into each day, without feeling like we were cramming a thing (well, maybe once or twice). So I'll start from the beginning.

DAY ONE --
By the time they got through customs, passport control and waited on their no-show luggage, it was 1:30 pm. And because their checked bags were delayed indefinitely, shopping for clothes, rather than a relaxing felucca sail along the Nile, was the first order of business. We piled into my friend Mohamed's taxi and Aunt Debby jokingly asked, "What, you ain't got a Wal-Mart here?" and Mohamed replied, "No, The Grand Mall." But Debby, having a hard time with his Egyptian accent and with all the background noise of the street, clarifies at full volume, "What? The store is called "The Granma's?"

Oh my!!! I don't think I've laughed that hard since I arrived in Egypt!! "the grand mall"... "the grandma's"... And because my Mom couldn't hear from the backseat, I repeated it for her and we started laughing all over again!!! I think the fact that Mohamed found it funny made it even better.

So, they found clothes and headed back to my apartment, on busy Road 9. My plan was to show them a bit of the neighborhood while walking to exchange their dollars into egyptian pounds. Look at the photo above, not even 10 minutes after leaving my apt, and they already have purchases dangling from their arms. :) In their defense, this friendly gentleman and his tidy shop were hard to resist. And the prices are so reasonable in Egypt, everything seems like a bargain.

Here we are posing on my smoggy balcony. The view usually clears up by late afternoon when all the polution dissapates. Then later, it builds again from the downtown rush-hour, starting the whole smelly mess over again.

After the money exchange, we walked to Abu Said's, an upscale egyptian restaurant. We sat outside, enjoying the delicious food and the occasional wiff of strawberry-scented, second-hand shisha smoke. Shisha pipes are similar to hooka pipes, and very popular here. I often see groups of men gathered near the side of the street, having tea and shisha late into the night, sometimes gathered around a small TV or radio, cheering over a soccer match.

Just the little bit of walking around Road 9 and shopping at "Grandma's" gave them a pretty good idea of Egyptian culture and prepared them for the next few days.

We had a fantastically fun five day holiday!
Thanks for coming ladies!

It's still February

2007-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

So I said wouldn't have anything posted until after Spring Break, and yet here I am, only 4 days later. I've had a couple of Crappy Crapfabulous days that are worthy of documentation.

In my last entry I was rightfully accused of being "morose" (thanks for reading douglas), however, I figure I am way over due. After months and months of oh-so-chipperness and entries like, "ewww, look where I went" and "ahhh, see where I've been", a couple of morose posts help to even the overall tone, don't you think?

Thursday evening Leah and I called Eurodeli for delivery the 4th time this week, and decided branch out from the much-loved, tried and true Chicken Philladelphia Sandwhich. We had two pizzas delivered (they're not State-sized pizzas, thank you very much). Guess who got the lucky pie? The one that came with freeee food poisoning?

Whhhhhyyyy, Eurodeli?? Wwwwhhhhhyyy?!!!! All Thursday night and Friday I was mis-er-able. And of course, Friday was the first gorgeously clear day we've had in ages. Yet, I spent the first half of my weekend huddled under the covers, nursing chills and a fever.

...BUT WAIT, the second half is JUST as GOOD!...

This morning I felt much better and was REALLY looking forward to taking an extra long shower since I skipped it while on my death bed, but... there was NO FREAKING WATER!!!!!!
"No worries," I tell myself, "this tends to happen here." Sometimes we're without electricity for several minutes, or more often, there won't be water in the building for a couple of hours. So I ignored it and did my usual weekend morning, long walk with Arthur to the bagel shop, returned home, and... Anyway, I'll save you the play-by-play of the ENTIRE DAY because that's how long it's been, and still, no water. We found out at 9pm that a main line is being repaired, and "maybe tomorrow" we'll have water. Great.

I guess I can give up on getting the coveted "Patient American" award. Although, hands down, I could win the "Stankiest, Bitchiest American" award.

This calls for a day off! Looks like I may be celebrating President's Day with a long weekend myself.

The pictures I've included here are some fun I had with Illustrator while I was "holed up" this weekend.
G'bye from BFE!

Tune in next time for,
"The Nile, It Ain't so Far ta Water" and the ever popular "Sanitize for Sanity, 32 Fun Ways to Clean your Food"

yippieeee!

February, nothing personal, but Good Riddance!

2007-02-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hey look, there's arthur back there, doing what he does best.

February has brought confusion, loneliness and finally, introspection.

I've been here long enough to have sorted out a few things about how I feel about this place. On a personal level, my lack of social life is beginning to make me feel very old, nearly dead infact. But the upside is (and it's a good trade off) that I have been reading my arse off, which I LOVE, and watching a TON of DVDs. I rarely had time for either in my previous life, or for art, so I am grateful for this experience.

However, I'm thoroughly over the idea of immersing myself in the culture. There is only the slightest trickle of an art/music scene and I'm no longer excited or curious about discovering what it really means to be an Egyptian, like when I first moved here... From afar, the differences were pretty fascinating, but living here, I find that the people are quite married to their self-imposed restrictions and close-mindedness... It's not a very fun culture for women, to say the least.

So, my new angle? I lose myself in my own world of making art, downloading music, listening to NPR podcasts, reading books and watching movies. Good thing I like myself. My split personalities have never gotten along so well. har har har And, if one MUST be stuck with a single companion, I guess Leah, my "flatmate" ain't so bad. She and Arthur gang up on me sometimes, but I for the most part, I can't complain.

In other news, I'm back at the language thing, trying to learn some Arabic. If it wasn't for Leah's kind persistence, I'd have given it up before the FIRST session was over, back in December. But as it is, I find myself once again dreading the classes two evenings a week. It's really humiliating, but also quite hilarious in a sadistic sort of way. I'm so BAD. Studying outside of class would probably help, but somehow I never quite get around to it. Level Two feels more like Level Twenty-two. The instructor has a fun trick: she introduces a verb and her five brave students are instantly suppose to memorize it, conjugate it, and use the word in a variety of FULL sentences. hmmm.

So, that's it from the field. Not very exciting this month, but March will bring a long break and a visit from my dear ma and auntie. So, the magic eight ball is predicting many photos and adventures will appear sometime after March 10th.

p.s. I've been working on illustrations for a friend's book.

Khan el-Khalili, the mother of all markets

2007-01-22T02:40:00.000-08:00

I finally made it out to Egypt's most famous market, "the Khan".

Martha my Khan el-Khalili companion, was in search of a specific section of the market called the tent-maker area. In this long, narrow, covered isle, there are dirt floors and dozens of small spaces to the left and right, where tent-making fabric and other brightly patterned material is sold.

But as it usually goes here in Egypt, getting there proved to be an adventure in and of itself. We good naturedly wandered around the market, turning left or right as the mood struck us, often backtracking and stopping for directions along the way.

I love the colorful banners that hang in some of the narrow alleys.

Spices anyone?

A rare scene: this narrow alley opened up to a peaceful courtyard area.

At one point we ducked into this fabric store. Both Martha and I bought some really great fabric to have some clothes made. I have a favorite pair of pants that I'm going to have copied a few times by a tailor here. The fabric was so inexpensive and very well made.

One shop had all these creepy looking dolls as window displays. One guy's hair looks like road kill, another kid's arms are put on backward!

These kids were laughing and running around this small side street. I asked one of the more outgoing boys if I could take his photo (Mr. "Just Do It") and before I knew it, the whole group had gathered into the frame.

Like the public fountains all over Italy, these clay pots are set out so that locals can grab a quick drink.

At this point Martha felt like we were getting closer.

And she was right. Five minutes later, and after 3 different "guides" leading the way, we found the tent-maker shops. I realized I could by meters of canvas, which they use as backing for the bedspreads and pillow covers. I bought 4 meters (very wide as well) for 40 LE, under 10 dollars!

If you looked through the covered tent-maker area, it opened up onto some buildings that have some sort of wooden bridges as walk-acrosses between the two sides.

The variations of colors, patterns and designs were overwhelming, and all beautifully handstitched.

Egyptian Museum of Modern Art

2007-01-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

An amazing sunset I happen to catch a couple of weeks ago.
I didn't doctor the image at all. It was unbelievable.

Last weekend I went to the Museum of Egyptian Modern Art. They have some pretty good stuff in there, although the initial impression is that it is waaaay overhung (like my blog space, too many images) and that about a third of the work has no business being in there.

This photo gives you an idea of how tight the wall space is...

Here are some pieces that I really liked.

Berlin, Day Two

2007-01-12T01:32:00.000-08:00

Our second day in Berlin, we were more comfortable with the subway. Fortunately, our hotel was very close to a stop.

Amy looks so cute trying to decipher the subway map.

I left all the navigation in her capable hands. I was still recovering from my stupid vertigo crap. As you can tell from how horrible I look in all the Germany photos.

We went to Check Point Charlie, and saw pieces of the wall decorated with graffiti.

This memorial-type display has been put up in the place where the wall used to be. In souvenier shops all over town you can buy quarter-sized pieces of the wall, covered with a thick coat of spray paint.

I spotted an advertisement for the current show at the Guggenheim, so we stopped by that as well. It was close to an ice skating pavilion, so Blake was especially good inside the boring museum. :)
I really loved the show. I was in heaven with the delicate drawings and beautifully textured materials... The first thing that strikes you is the amazing comparisons made between such seeminly different artists. Unfortunately, absolutely no photos were allowed, or I'd show you what I mean.

We wrapped up the afternoon with iceskating, and then headed back to Schweinfurt.

Good-bye Supercool Berlin

Berlin

2007-01-12T01:17:00.000-08:00

Amy and I decided on a last minute trip to Berlin. We headed out early in the morning, and arrived 4.5 hours later, finding our hotel fairly easily. We were only staying one night, so our plans were to walk around and get a feel for the city. We loved it. Definitely a city I could picture myself living in.

It was such a welcomed treat to be back in civilization: good food, good drink and a clean, organized city.

I ate sooo much pork and enjoyed many different types of beers during my week in Germany. ahhhh.

Blake was beginning to tire of my documenting every moment.

It snowed while we were in Berlin. Amy said most areas of Germany still had not had their first snow fall, so it was a treat for us all. As we explored the city, Blake entertained himself by scooping up what he could to make snow balls.

Christmas Morning, whether you like it or not

2007-01-12T00:50:00.000-08:00

Some of us were more excited than others to be opening gifts so early. Blake woke me up the first time at 3am, with a breathless, heartpounding wisper of, "HE CAME!"

I tried to lead him through some deep breating, relaxation techniques to calm his nerves and get him to fall back asleep. As you can imagine, that tactic worked real well with a 9 yr old. Finally I gave up and asked him if he wanted to watch a DVD I brought with me, some classic PeeWee's Playhouse episodes. They did the trick and freaked him out enough that 30 minutes later he had crawled into bed with his mother.

Later that day he told me the PeeWee episodes were "too weird". hmmph, kids these days. :)

Look how cute Blake looks holding his resin-suspended scarab beetle! Actually, I think he was a little grossed out by it. "It's reeeeaal?"

The rest of Christmas day Blake spent playing with his new gifts and Amy and I spent trying to ignore the fact it was Christmas. I think we both just wanted it to be over. We both were lonely for loved ones that were too far away.

I thought these canopic jars were pretty cool, so brought them along for Amy and Blake. Probably not a very Christmassy gift though. During the mummification process, each jar was used to hold a different organ.

Schweinfurt for Christmas

2007-01-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

A couple shot of the snowy, Austrian mountains.

I left Cairo on Dec. 24th at 10am. I was very much looking forward to a break from the culture shock of Egypt.

I met a friendly Chilean guy, Alberto on the flight. It was such a pleasure to have a normal conversation with a man, without any weirdness like most Egyptian men bring to the conversation. No strange, intense staring or oddly romantic undertones. Just a normal, pleasant conversation. Whew, just in time. Being a single, white female in Egypt makes it easy to forget what it's like to be treated like a normal human.

Amy and Blake met me at the airport (yippie). Blake practiced some pretty sweet, coffee stick skills at the McDonald's in the airport.

And then it was back to the homestead. It was neat going back to Amy's, sort of like returning home, after my 6week stay in the summer. The perfect Christmas break.

I arrived on the 24th, so after a couple hours of unpacking, and relaxing, we went over to Riner and Sabine's for a Christmas Eve visit.

(Translate "unpacking" as Blake weasely opening nearly all the little treats I brought him.)

Good thing I'm not vain. Nice photo, huh? Just following Blake's lead there.

Pyramids with Pop

2006-12-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

My daddy pops arrived in Egypt at 2:30 am on Dec 12 and stayed through Dec 24th.

Our main trip (only trip) was to the nearby Giza Pyramids. We planned on taking a Nile River cruise around Luxor to see the landscape and tons of history along the banks... but I got very sick on the 16th and we were unable to do much of anything after that...

Here's a photo of Dad and I on the way to the pyramids. Our driver, Mr. Mussa, stopped on this bridge so we could get a photo infront the Nile River. It only took about 20 minutes to drive here from my apartment.

I love this picture. Cairo, in the background, feels like a continuation of the pyramid stones.

The carriage ride was very bumpy and jerky. Not at all the romantic scene from an old movie, floating along, lost in idle conversation. I felt really sorry for the horse, but of course I would. I wanted to avoid the camels because they looked so tired... but in the end I realized it's much more humane to go the camel route. This poor horse, "Mickey" as our driver told us, had a messed up hoove.

We definitely went the long way around up to the pyramids. Our carriage driver took us through some narrow, back allies, and around to this major road, and then up to the pyramid entrance.

These girls were soooo cute! They kept smiling and saying hello. Very cute.

Mr. Mussa introduced us to his friend, a local scent shop owner, and we had tea together.

Then we hopped back into Mr. Mussa's taxi and headed to CITY STARS, the mother of all malls. While there, we had dinner, shopped for awhile, and then saw "Casino Royale". Very nice day! Thanks for coming Dad!!
:)

Christmas in Cairo

2006-12-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA'LL!

I laugh everytime I look at this photo. It was December 10th when Leah and I first spotted this tree just down the street from our apartment. The poor thing was good and dead well before then.

The title of this adventure will be

Relearning Lessons I Thought I Already Knew

Leah and I had been planning a trip into downtown to find a postcard/bookshop that we happened upon during one of our first outtings. Saturday was the big day. Needless to say it took awhile since we didn't have the name of the store, an address, or even the street name.

After about an hour of random taxi drives and pointless walking, we ducked into this coffe shop, The Americaine Coffee Shop (?!?that's not even egyptian for "American"), to look at our map and strategize.

Can you tell how much Leah really loves having her photo taken

Despite our attempt at regrouping, once back on the street we continued to look like lost tourists. I was fine with it though, we set out that morning thinking it was a long shot. Plus, the shops downtown have huge window displays (lots of shoes), so I had plenty to keep me amused.

We had nearly given up when Mr. Hussler showed up. He spoke perfect English, showed us his official tour guide I.D. (to prove his trustworthiness?) and so Leah and I headed out, against our better judgement.

Then the hussle began. During our walk, he started out by telling us he had just spent a few weeks in Germany visiting family. Then he told Leah I was arrogant and wanted to know why I was giving him the cold shoulder. A conversation ensued about how we've learned to distrust men in this country because rarely is their intention innocent, or straight forward, or honest or, well, you get the point. And he said he was SO sorry that we had experienced this and he looked so shocked and hurt and disappointed in his fellow male Egyptians. HAH!

Ok, so Leah and I are picking out postcards to send home for roughly 15 minutes. The guy waits for us. Leah and I give each other questioning looks... We figured he'd try to talk us into tea, dinner, etc. even though we said we were going home after.

So we're paying for our stuff, and we say "see ya", but because he's such a helpful, nice guy, he insists on showing us the way to the closest subway stop... oh and by the way, he has a half-american, half-egyptian friend (the guy he was on his way to meet when he just happened to bump into us), that we really should meet, come on, he's working just over here, on the way to the subway stop...

Ten minutes later, we're sitting upstairs in a small perfume/scented oil shop that the friend runs, ("let's just go up here so I can get you a business card") ---getting the grand presentation on various scents. He's pouring oils, packing stuff up, asking which free glass container we'd like. Not once did we say we wanted to buy anything. Infact, we both said we already had perfume we liked and didn't want any more... ugggg. We knew what they were up to, but as Leah said, Mr. Hussler DID help us find that postcard shop.

Ahhh, look how happy we are! We enjoyed some tea with our hosts and had some lovely conversation... right before buying overpriced scented oil that we didn't ask for.

So the distrust is confirmed once again... The irony is that conversation we had when walking to the postcard shop... about how most men here have ulterior motives. His reply was, "but why?" "For money" should have been my answer.

At the time, each thing just led into the other, but on the subway ride home, when we retraced our steps... the more Leah and I talked about it (how disgustingly charming they were trying to be, etc), the more angry I got. I felt like a schmuck. Oh well, it could have been worse I guess. We weren't physically harmed, etc... AND I got a new perfume that I really, really like! The name is complete cheese, and must be said with a husky, raspy whisper, "Desert Secret"

The politically correct side of me understands that when so many people are unemployed, earning a buck is tough. If he had said, "hey come check out these perfumes", we would have said, "no thanks". But the idealistic part of me says that deception and shadiness should not be a natural result of poverty.

Alexandrian Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

So maybe it's due to the enormous volume of movies i've been watching while drawing, including "Cleopatra" and "Lawrence of Arabia", or because of the books I've been reading, but really, I was not at all prepared for the Alexandria that awaited me. When I thought of this Mediteranian, sea-side town I did not picture falling down buildings and WWI-era street lights.

It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. Just want to let you know right up front that if you are thinking, "Ohhhh, Alexaaaaandria" and picturing some romanticized, ideallic vision... well, like me, you would be quite off the mark. Once again I was reminded that expectations can be tricky.

So, after that QUICK realization, I eagerly looked around, ready to enjoy the real Alexandria.

Alexandria is Egypt's second largest city, with mmmm, I think, around 8 million people. In many ways it reminded me of different parts of Cairo. It felt very similar, except a bit less dry --oh, and the taxi's are yellow and black rather than white and black.

Here's a photo taken at while Leah and I waited for the train in Cairo. I don't know if I'll ever get used to the completely veiled women. It strikes a whole range of emotion that I'll save for another entry (this one is long enough already).

These women seemed to be tourists and were taking pictures of each other standing infront of various things, including the two white chicks with blond hair.

Seriously, I kept moving to the side thinking I was ruining the photo, and the woman would change her pose and the camera would end up in my direction again.

Here's Leah walking the wrong way from the bus station.... and proof that the cabs are yellow and black.

Leaving the train was a bit intimidating: strange city, no map or guide book (it was just a quick day trip). That combined with the rubble and the not-very-nice-glances, made us slightly uncomfortable at first. But we soon found the trusty tourist office inside the train station, with a very friendly, helpful lady working inside. She gave us a map and circled the location of the library, the "lighthouse", and where we could have a fresh, seafood dinner.

She said we could walk to our first destination, the Alexandrian Library, so we head out. As you probably know I have an impeccable sense of direction. Just as Leah started to feel guilty (haha) for getting us lost, we hopped in a taxi and in 15 minutes were standing in front of the very modern (and starkly out of place) Library of Alexandria. It really was amazing. Inside the impressively arranged library (all sterile and attractively lit) were a couple of art exhibitions. It was a solo show by some internationally known Egyptian dude whose name i don't remember. I took a photo for yous guys.

Photos taken from the the Cafe on the second floor, overlooking the entry plaza thing place. I had some turkish coffee. wow.

Then, we headed to "the lighthouse". Only we never really found one, and I think I remember hearing somewhere that there are major plans to rebuild it? I dunno, but people were talking about a castle that is next to the no longer there lighthouse...

ANYWAY, somehow we found ourselves paying 2 whole pounds (an extra pound for my camera) to go inside a display or exhibition of some sort that one might find along the boardwalk of Coney Island... just look, you'll see what I mean. It was by far my favorite part of the trip. Seriously, I am not kidding.

The use of florescent paint and black lighting was... spectacular.

please click on this photo to get a better look under the flipper. yikes.

Leah couldn't believe how real everything looked.

Well, what did they expect me to do?
Who painted this?

We finally tore ourselves away from the "museum" to go eat.

We saw this brilliantly colored, humongo mosiac on our way to the restaurant. Leah made me pinky swear that I'd mosiac some wall in her imaginery house one day.

The waiter was very sweet and offered to take our photo... he wanted to practice his focusing skills.

Then I messed around with the mirrored ceiling above our table, which was almost as fun as the florescent fish museum.

The ride home was jam packed.
People crawling all over one another for a seat on that 8pm to Cairo.

Annnnd as a grand finale... a photo of my new most favoritest snack, "Borios!"
Just like Oreos, only with 1/8 of the filling.

Images for Sharing

2006-11-15T01:32:00.000-08:00

More random photos.

Arthur is so great. This was taken in JJ's livingroom, on the funkybright couch, in Switzerland. I enjoyed that visit so much. Although Arthur wasn't too keen on the cold weather.

Aren't my students cute ?
These are some of my 6th graders.
I teach 6th, 7th and 8th.
They're holding up paper tubes that they rolled and are now using to construct their abstract, expressive sculptures.

Here are some cookies from the sweet shop on the ground floor of my apt building. They make deeeelicious chocolates too, individually wrapped in fancy foils. They're as pretty as they are tasty. I took a photo, but can't find it.

My dorky self. I think I may have already posted this one? But you guys have been asking for more photos of me, so...

These beach photographs are from my recent El Eid vacation. I spent several hours one morning, laying in one lounge chair sunning, and taking photos of all the different types of people. I got so into it... snapping unauthorized photos of my fellow vacationers.

I took nearly 200 pictures of all ages, ethnicity, body types, etc. looking oblivious, or painfully aware, awkward, crispy burnt, sexy, trashy, lazy, superbuff, flabby, leathery, etc...

and here's another of Arthur ...

...because i can....

...the end.

Adventures Before Headin' To Hurghada

2006-11-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

Bright and early, at 4:30 a.m. Leah and I loaded into a very crowded van and began the 3.5 hour ride to Abu Simbel to see the Ramses and Nefertiti temples. These are spectacular, and it's even more amazing when you think about the fact that they've been moved from there original location. Carefully cut into pieces and then reconstructed here at Abu Simbel.

When the High Dam was built, to prevent the annual Nile overflowing, Lake Nassar was created, putting a bunch of old stuff underwater. These two temples were saved by being relocated to this spot.

Fortunately, I was able to sleep most of the ride, and caught a lovely sunrise just in time to entertain myself with some shadow puppet theater on the inside van wall. Here's one of my better attempts.

When we arrived at the temple compound, we parked in a huge, empty lot. Our driver said we were lucky because that morning there were about a third of the tourists that are usually there. He sent us on our way, to meet back at the van in a couple hours. We had quite a way to walk, past the restroom pavilion, through many stalls selling souveniers and trinkets, and then past a coffee shop (or "cofe" shop as the sign advertised) and finally around to the ticket office. Leah and I excitedly whipped out our "Residence" status passports for our discount price.

Anyway, after another long walk around some very uninteresting mountains of sand, we arrived at this point, were you are able to get a look at both entrances to the temples. The boring sand mounds I mentioned, it turns out, are the man-made constructions that house the relocated temples. A hollow dome of sorts was constructed around the temple, then sand was poured over the top, and the ancient entrance added to the front. I read this from a book that I bought from one of those many stalls I mentioned above. I paid about three times what it was worth, but the guys selling the stuff there seemed like they could use the cash.

As a side note, these past few weeks have me trying to absorb the idea that I am considered wealthy by Egyptain standards. It's not an idea that I am used to, since my entire adult life has been spent living from pay check to pay check, with no savings, and always in debt... And yet here, I have met people that personalize what it means to really squeeze by financially... they work for slave wages, for about 50 dollars a month they are expected to put in over 70 hours a wk. And they are happy to have these jobs. I spend 50 LE on a meal here and it's nothing to me, where as to them, it's probablly enough to feed their family for a week.

Alright, back to the temple tours. They were amazing! Really! The scale is hard to grasp, unless you're standing there in front of the monstrous statues... I was sneaky and broke the only rule on the hand written sign just outside the entrance, no photos inside the temple. I didn't use flash, and I DID buy their horrible postcards, cira 1967, so I figured taking a few pictures wouldn't hurt. Especially when I saw other tourists actually TOUCHING the freakin walls! Morons. Although I guess when you see "John was here 1855" carved next to a heiroglyphic, nothing seems sacred.

Ok, sorry for all the tangencies... I really wanted a few shots of the inside to give a sense of scale. The postcards don't show the people milling about, and that's the images I like to remember.... so here they are for your illegal viewing pleasure.

Look, there's Leah again!

and here's one of the inner chambers. It was quite dark, and a bit creepy.... until a group of twenty people with matching yellow hats filed into the room.

This poor dude to the left of the entrance suffered some damage after, i think i remember reading, an earthquake? well, however it happened, his head is now on the ground at his feet. It does help though, to see how big they really are.

...and then it was back into the van for the rest of our day trip: the Philae Temple, where we had caught the light show the night before, and the Aswan dam, which was quite anti-climatic.

But that's a story for next time.
:) bye for now!

Egyptian Pizza and the Philae Temple Light Show

2006-11-07T04:51:00.000-08:00

After our Nile River felucca ride in Aswan, Leah and I went back to the hotel, across from which is this creepy window display, barely noticeable in daylight, but obviously hard to miss by night.

Our next stop was pizza. The "Lonely Planet" guidebook promised a tasty and different treat, with an Egyptian flare. It was all of that and cheap too. Check out the kiln-looking oven where they bake the dough. Pretty cool. Here, a rare occurance, Leah allows me to take a photo of her posing, with the friendly pizza dudes.

We took our freshly baked Egyptian pizza on the road. We ate it in the van...which was taking us to the boat, which would take us to the Philae Temple. :)

The Light Show was beautiful, but since it was presented in "German only" that evening, Leah and I agreed we could have skipped the last 30 minutes. From what I could gather, ancient egyptian gods (speaking german) were having a dialog while different sections of the architecure were spotlighted with various warm and cool colors. Next time we'll catch the English audio.

My favorite part of the evening was the boat ride to and from the island. It felt like we were on the set of a "B" Horror movie. Even though another bus load of tourists had arrived, somehow Leah and I got an entire huge boat to ourselves. Complete darkness, a gazillion stars, the sound of black water rushing away from us... and then the island becomes visible, with the glowing ancient architecture perched on top.

As part of our package deal, the next day we were taken out to this island again. Of course, I took more photos.

Aswan, Felucca and Botanical Gardens

2006-11-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

Leah and I survived our 16 hr train ride from Cairo to Aswan, and were looking forward to the felucca ride that was a part of our two day package deal. As I mentioned before, the Nile is at its finest down in Aswan.
There couldn't have been a more perfect way to spend the 2hrs before our scheduled appointment to see the Philae Temple Light Show (in German only that night).

We boarded our felucca, "The Freedom Flower", just before sunset and our captain took us up the Nile to the island where the Botanical Gardens are located.

He and his assistant let us out and waited for us at the opposite end of the island, a 15 minute walk. It was perfectly relaxing, strolling among the amazingly tall trees and lovely flowering plants. And even better, because it was so close to closing time, there were very few people. Perfect....

If you look closely you can see a little bitty Leah walking between the trees.

We met a friendly dog during our walk, he's pictured here under the weird "No Bowling" ?? sign. I had my first pang of missing arthur. Fortunately, he was left in Cario in very good hands.

The neat thing about the Nile here, beside the fact that the water is blue, is that there are amazing bolders jutting up out of the water. There's an island close by called Elephantine Island that gives you an idea of the color and shape of the rocks I'm trying to describe.

I spotted some hieroglyphic carvings along some of the rocks, as well as patches of more contemporary graffiti...

The Eid Holiday

2006-11-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

The feast celebrating the end of Ramadan is called Eid al-Fitr, or as folks around these parts say, "The Eid". Leah and I had already decided to spend the time off in Hurghada, a town off the Red Sea. However, the Muslim calendar is based on a lunar cycle, and thanks to the unpredictability of the tricky moon, we were given two additional days off of work! Armed with our extra days, and having read an article in the paper about the Abu Simbel Temples, we decided we could go down to Aswan before heading back up to Hurghada... Aswan
isn't close, about a 12 hr drive, so the overnight sleeper train sounded like just the thing: board at 9pm, arrive at 9am. However, our train had technical difficulties and we crawled along, finally arriving in Aswan 5 hrs late!!! Oh well. I was just glad to not be working. I amused myself by making fun of the breakfast (served at 11:30 instead of 8am) which was four types of bread (Egyptians sure do love their bread) and by finally starting the fantastic book "Middlesex" by Jeffery Eugenides, and by taking videos of the scenery passing outside the train window. Halfway through the novel, around noon, Leah and I began to feel like we were in a prison cell... and the train dude kept saying, "one more hour", and the WC was beginning to reek, and... well you get the point. One good thing about the extra time on the train was that we were able to gussy up our Aswan game plan. My "Lonely Planet" guide book suggested we stop into the Tourist Office next door to the train station, and since we weren't able to make any type of reservations from home before leaving, this was our plan A, B, and C. The brothers that run the office are supposedly very helpful. However, they also close shop at 2pm, so thankfully our train was only 5 hrs behind schedule, cuz we caught them just as they were walking away from the building... A very Egyptian exchange ensued: we were handed off to a friend, who took us to a driver, who suggested his hotel over the ones in the guidebook. I think Leah and I are getting used to the Egyptian mindset of going with the flow. As we loaded up into the battered old school station wagon with two strangers, we exchanged nervous, white-girl glances only half a dozen times, way less than we would have a month ago. Our "guide" took us to the main drag, a stones throw from the Nile, and for 50 LE a night, we agreed on his suggested hotel. The place was dark and a bit crusty, but there was an amazing view of the river. The Nile is gorgeous in Aswan. The water is actually blue, not brown like in Cairo or Ma'adi, and there are picturesque, bolder-sized rocks that form mini-islands here and there. After we checked into our room, we discovered that our new friend could also hook us up with alllll our traveling needs (of course!... all Egyptians wear multiple hats: taxi driver, realtor, tour guide, etc). We were able to get a 3hr bus ride to Abu Simbel, a taxi to the light show at the Philea Temple, a sunset felucca ride including a visit to the botanical gardens, and our bus tickets to Hurghada. Two days of activities, all for 277 LE each, about 50 bucks. Of course, all these tourist attractions have entry fees, etc, but still, I was so glad we stumbled upon this guy who was able to get all of the planning out of the way in one thirty minute conversation! Even though our train had been late, we had time for a quick snack before catching our sunset felucca ride, after which we'd try the famous local pizza and then head over to the Philae Temple light show at 7pm. Not bad for an unplanned evening. :) Tune in next time for photos and impressions of the stuff we were lucky to experience in Aswan.

Coptic Cairo

2006-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

A guided tour at "the hanging church"

A couple of weekends ago Leah and I went with three other teachers to Coptic Cairo, the christian part of town. As you can see it is quite the party spot. harhar. We rode quite comfortably in the womens' car of the subway. I really like the subway, but two factors have made the novelty of it quickly disappear: the continual, steadfast stares and the fact that it's always too crowded get a seat... Anyway, Coptic Cairo looks just like every other area of town, well, except the tops of buildings have crosses instead of moons.

The red "M" is the metro sign. Our destination was just outside the subway and across the street. It's pictured here, on the left side of the photo. Yeah, the building with all the white people streaming out of it.

Our first stop was the Al Moallaqa Church known as the hanging or suspended church.

Just inside this large, stone archway is a small courtyard leading to the entrance of the church. Several mosiacs surround the tourists, the colored tiles shimmering in the bright, afternoon sun.

First, this was the sight of a roman temple, then a roman church, and finally a coptic church. Carbon dating shows wood from the church dates back to 140-150 B.C. But some historians believe it to be even older because of the pre-christian wall frescos of roman pagan gods.

The "hanging church" was built on top of a roman fortress. Wood from palm trees and a layer of stones serve as the foundation on top of the roman fortress that it was built on top of. The church's nickname becomes most poinent when visitors discover the two small sections of glass floor used to freak out tourists who peer down into the empty cave-like rooms below. In 1984 they discovered an additioinal small room under the tiles of the east end of the church which they believe was used as a catacomb and had a stairway leading to the mountain during the time of persecution of the church.

Unfortunately, it was quite dark and no flash could be used inside the building, so these photos are blurry.... but hopefully you get an idea of what it is like. You can really tell from this photo how badly the building is in need of rennovation. They've been working on restoring it for several years.

The icons were beautiful, but my favorite part of the church was the delicate, intricately carved wall-sized panels made of walnut and cedar wood, inlaid with ebony and ivory. They're dated from about the 10th century.

After the hanging church, we walked a couple of blocks to another nearby church.
The call to prayer sounded out, longer since it was the weekend, and much louder than the one near our home (each mosque sounds different) but this seemed somehow appropriate considering where we were.

This church was much larger and had well-kept, green grounds to walk around, including a cemetary with many old family tombs - some of which are in pretty bad shape and look as if people had broken into them to find a place to sleep.
The groundskeeper had his laundry hung out on a line tied around a headstone.

At the back of the grounds is a small chapel built on the sight of the Holy Family's Egyptian home. Mary, Joseph and Jesus lived in Egypt for four years in exile. It's pretty amazing to think about how old and loaded with meaning all this stuff is...

Well, that concludes our tour of Coptic Cairo.

Tune in next week for vacationing in Hurghada.

Ramadan is soon coming to an end and the feast celebrating this, The Eid, gives us a school holiday, and Leah and I the opportunity to escape to the Red Sea for a few days. We found an incredible deal through a friend, and some diving lessons might even be included! We'll ride the sleeper train to Aswan where, if we're lucky, we'll arrive in time for a rare occurance. Oct and Feb 23rd, twice a year, the sun sets, lighting up ancient sculptures inside the back tomb of a temple.
Sounds very "Indiana Jonesish", huh?

The Road Nine Club

2006-09-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Look, here's the front of our building. We live on the top, the apt with the satelite (classy).

Leah, Mondro and I walked the few blocks to Lucille's for breakfast this morning. I took the opportunity to take some pictures along our street, Road 9. People are very friendly. The shopkeepers wave and smile now that they recognize us (not that it took very long). The pharmacy downstairs repeated over and over again that if there was anything we needed just let them know and they could get it for us. The electrician two blocks down the street let us take several items on I.O.U. until our payday because we are "neighbors". Living on Rd 9 often feels like you belong to a little club. The Pharmacy said "we are like family."

This morning was our first visit to Lucille's. We enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, and a big ol' plate of eggs, chicken fried chicken, hashbrowns and toast. It's now after 2pm and I'm nowhere near hungry.

Poor Leah has a cold. It's going around the school like an epidemic. I've had allergy problems for over a month, so maybe I'll be spared? Does it work that way?

Last night, Arthur and I went later than usual for his nightly walk. The sounds and smells of Ramadan were out in full force. Ma'adi is a quiet neighborhood, so this really just means that we see the Ramadan lanterns along the street, that we hear the occasional fire cracker, and that the shop keepers and "security guards" are breaking their fast together (iftar). Security guards is in quotes because I don't really know what these guys do. Unemployment in Egypt is quite high so there are usually 2 or 3 0r 4 people doing what 1 person could do. There is no concept of multitasking. For example, on one of our first outings Leah and I went to Radio Shack. It is a perfect example of what happens all the time here. One of the guys spoke English and was helping us pick out our phones. I guess he was in charge though, because when other customers came into the shop he would stop helping us and turn his attention to them. BUT THERE were TWO other guys working there... just smiling and standing there. I dunno. But it shines new light on the pre-Egypt advice I was given by veterans:, "you will need patience to live here." The country runs on an entirely different sense of time. Every appointment we've had with our landlord, he's been almost exactly one and a half hours late. everytime.

Alright, I'm closing now. I'll leave you with this smoggy photo of the pyramids taken from my balcony........ bye.

Before and After

2006-09-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

Cousin Robin made me want to find photos of the apartment to show you the "before" and "after". It still has a long way to go, but look at that fabric on the living room couch things...!!! I am sitting here in the living room with our landlord. The after can be found in my next blog, where I am sitting on the recovered couch with Arthur. whew, what a difference. And Leah got us a great deal on the fabric at the market in Cairo. The guy who recovered the cushions did it in two or three days! All twelve cost about 75 dollars, fabric and labor! Some things are so cheap here. Don't try to buy U.S. brand cookies or chips though. Cheetos or Oreos could set you back 8 bucks per package!

Ain Souhkna and Ramadan

2006-09-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Life here is finally starting to develop a routine and I've been able to explore a little, esp since Mondro is here.

One of our first stops was to see the ball park here in Ma'adi. It is quite the experience since you can wear shorts, eat hotdogs and drink beer. Once you enter the park you might forget you are in Egypt... until the call to prayer sounds out, echoing around the sound of the cracking bat.

I have a grocery store, a pet store, and a fruit/veg stand I like that are all a short walk from the apartment. We also found a dry cleaner (they pickup and deliver and are super cheap, 9 items for six dollars). However, I still feel very new to the area and like I need some down time to really get settled into the apartment, to start some routines and daily rituals, like the studio.

We went to the Red Sea last weekend and before that, into Cairo a couple times on the train, once for an art opening.

Ramadan began Saturday while we were in Ain Soukhna, a beach resort off the coast of the Red Sea. It was a very relaxing trip. I did absolutely nothing other than sun by the pool and on the beach. The breeze coming off the water was great.

Mondro took lots of photos and was nice enough to share 'em. He took this one of the billboard from the bus window.

During Ramadan everyone fasts during the day, even small children. There is no eating or drinking, not even water or bread, from sun up (around 4:30 a.m. people will get up to break the fast) to sun down (most eat again around 7:00 p.m.). .

..But then come the nightly parties when the fast is broken and tons of food is consumed. I'm pretty much ready for bed by the time the partying begins, so it hasn't effected me too much. During the month of Ramadan the work day is an hour shorter (yeehaw) and most businesses close early. The one liquor store in town will be closed for the entire month. Good thing I had Mondro make that trip with me to Duty Free. Although I haven't been drinking much at all, even at the beach.

The other obvious result of Ramadan is that our students are sleepy from staying up even later than the culture is already accustomed to, that they are grouchy from no food, and that I eat on the sly. Obviously, nonmuslims are the minority and out of respect should refrain from eating or drinking in public during the day. Leah has decided to try this Muslim version of fasting for at least a week. So, that's my experience of Ramadan, so far, all two days it... I'll leave you with some more photos of Ain Soukhna.

Blogger shows that 70-something people have checked out this page... not one comment??
:( I'm homesick. Please email me or leave me comments. k?

Photo credit goes to Mondro for the photo of Arthur and I, the subway photos, the ballpark photo, the raft photo and these last photos of yours truly. Thanks man! :)

apt pics and recent stuff

2006-09-17T01:28:00.000-07:00

My Newest News:

Mondro made it into Egypt after 3 wks of partying in Thailand. He'll be here through oct 2nd. He's wondering where the night life is.

We've had a few adventures... We rode the subway from Maadi into Cairo. Less than a dollar there and back. It was mine and Leah's first time as well. The disparity between poverty and wealth, between east and west, is indescribable. in the span of one hour i saw huge, hind quarters of raw meat being unloaded from the bed of a small pickup truck and hung in front of a store, to sitting at the bar at TGIFriday's with all it's american memorabilia flopping off the walls. This particular TGIF is next to a place called Merryland. Strangest carnival type amusement park I may ever see. photos from that day to follow.

This coming weekend, Mondro, Leah and I are going with a group of 70 teachers from school to Ain Soukna on the coast. we had to get an advance on our pay, but I've heard it is well worth it. Only 200 dollars for transportation to and from, and two nights in a swanky resort hotel, The Stella Di Mare Beach Hotel. guess i could wear my bikini if I hadn't left it in Germany. :) oh well!

the apartment is shaping up. here are pictures.

living room (to the right) with dining room table

living room to the left with tv area (you can see a bit of the balcony too)

my bedroom furniture.
I can't believe how nice it looks in this photo.
Quite deceptive!

and here are some of AISE kiddos in Ms. Maxwell's art room.

Bedouin Markets Sell More Than You'd Think

2006-09-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Nancy had been on a tour that Leah and I missed due to excessive apt. hunting. So, she offered to take us there since she needed to go back anyway to pick up some dishes she was crazy for. The shop is great, and the owner is very warm and friendly. Unfortunately, he took quite a liking to Leah (and myself) and so "friendliness" soon turned into flirting. I don't really know how to explain what happened... It sounds worse than it is, but basically Leah and I were offered marriage by a very wealthy friend of the owner's. Whatever.

The bad part is that we didn't want to burn bridges at this store because we knew we wanted his hanging lamps for our apartement, as well as various other cool items he sells. AND of course it put us in a slightly uncomfortable situation when he gives us all items at wholesale prices, insists . He says we are like family to him, that he doesn't know why he feels so comfortable with us and that he is rich enough and doesn't need to make a profit, that we just pay his cost. So, you can see the dilemma??

Anyway, we gracefully declined the wedding invitation, explained that such offers made us uncomfortable, and things have calmed down a bit since then. It's all a learning experience, right?

And here is the "Grand Mall". Elements of a flea market and Houston's "Galleria" all rolled into one.

Felluca, Just Like Heaven

2006-09-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

So you can go to the pier by the Nile, you know, the one just past the TGIFriday's, and rent a Felluca. Leah and I were invited for a quiet evening with some friends who had planned on going. So everybody brings a beverage or some food and then you just sit back, relax and watch the world slowly float by. The sunset was amazing, as you can see.

We were invited by the nicest couple, Bob and Martha, who were so generous and helpful while all the newbies got settled. They had also invited Nancy, the woman who put Leah and I up for nearly two weeks, and another friend of theirs who Leah and I had never met. "The Family" was also invited. They were the second-to-last folks to find an apt. The third to last group, three guys who decided to team up, were known as "they guys". Leah and I were, you guessed it, "the girls"... so Leah and I really bonded with "the family" (Marian, Steve, Babbet and Raul) during the last couple of days of apartment hunting, and it's always a treat to hand out with them. Their kids are so great. They've lived all over, Amsterdam, central Africa, etc. and seem to just "go with the flow".
This is the very sweet Babbet (left) and (right) a photo of Raul and Martha.

I was in a picture taking mood since I've not been toting the camera around as much lately, so here are several from the Felluca Evening. :) Babbet looks just like her father, Steve, and Raul looks just like his mother, Marian.

We only stayed out an hour and a half, but it was perfect! A little wine, some hummus, pita, cheese, etc, the sunset, a festive wedding celebration after dark on the bank nearby.... ahhhhhh. If I didn't feel lucky before...

I think this family lives on this boat. I was just snapping away, and didn't realize the little girl was putting her nickers back on until looking at the photo on the computer.

Thanks for the invitation Bob and Martha! You made my weekend!

new apt and turning 32

2006-09-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my birthday with new friends, all of which are teachers at the American International School in Egypt (AISE). Because of the intensity of the situation, many of us have become amazingly close in a short amount of time. It feels like I've been here for months.

Look at that freakin' cake. I can't believe the fire power I created with my age. Jen, a very sweet coworker of mine, baked the cake of all chocolate cakes. It is even more poinant because quality baking supplies are difficult to find here, and candles are non existant. Another teacher donated the candles that she brought from home. They're all so thoughtful and amazingly generous. Friends and family that intend to visit me should pack bday candles. (More requested items to follow. ) ;)

Leah, my housemate, and I invited everyone over to our brand spankin' new apartment last night, our 4th night in the place. We were the last teachers to find housing. Nearly half found something on the first day... but that is another unbelievable story for another blog.

We are so happy in the space and finally feel like it was worth all the stress, waiting and hard work. Here's my pink on pink on PIIINK bathroom. I'll take a 6th story , street front, nile river and pyramid view from a balcony over a tasteful restroom any day. The entry way looks a 150% better. We put the largest chandelier there, instead of the living room. We decided to just "go with" the over the top, yellow-gold mirror and table. I painted "welcome" in the long, waste of space hall that leads to the bedrooms. The ceilings are all office tiles in this half of the apt, so we got creative with fabric. Going to the fabric souk (sp?) was an experience. It was my first trip to Cairo proper, which is very different than Maadi, where I live. The section we went to is famous for their miles and miles of fabric. Leah, who speaks no Arabic, was a pro at haggling for better prices (maybe from the year she spent in Guatemala?). She and the fabric guy (who spoke no English) passed the calculator back and forth until the price came down from 48 LE (egyptian pound) a meter to 17 LE per meter!! We got the 12 meters of hall fabric and enough to recover the 12 couch cusions (26 meters) for around 550 LE, about 100 dollars.

In the studio and my bedroom I'm going to try wall papering the ceiling for something different.

The party was great. It was nice to meet outside of school and talk about something other than work. Also, it was fan-tas-tic having other people acknowledge all the hard work we've put into the apt the last week. Several of them saw the dump that it was before the realtor took it on: a maid for 3 days, a plumber, three men painting, a carpenter and an electrician were constantly in and out from the day we signed (the first) until yesterday. It feels good to lay around with Arthur, drink coffee and use the computer in my own place. :)

Our kitchen is the envy of many teachers. One as large as ours is very difficult to come by in Egypt. And even though our fridge leaks, the wood under the sink is rotted through, and the cabinets are still sticky with filth, and the florescent lights make me wanna hurl, it has come a long, long way in just a few days. At least the cabinet doors don't fall on our heads now when we open them.

The subway is far enough down that we don't really hear it. I've been told that riding it is quite the experience. It's only 5 dollars for the hour trip to Cairo. Nancy, the woman who let us stay w/ her while we waited for our apt, went with several people to the opera house to see a jazz performance. She said that tickets to the best seats in the house cost about 5 or 6 dollars, and that the building is gorgeous.

Most people had been at the ball park all day. There was a mens' softball tournament, and our guys made it to the finals, so most people didn't come by until 10ish. I haven't been to the ball field yet, but I am looking forward to it. Rumor has it that you can wear shorts and tank tops and that they have beer and hotdogs. wow!

(notice Mr. Arthur making his rounds? He snapped at all the right people.)

We have a great view of the sunset from our balcony. And on clear days we can see the pyramids off in the sandy distance. This photo of the moon was taken from the other side of the apartment, from my studio window. Notice the satelite dishes? They are ontop of most buildings. Some rooftops have a dozen or so crammed together, all facing the same way, like a captive audience searching for something in the distance.

Ok, that's all for now. Love to all! I'm missing everyone more than ever now that things are quieting down. Please update me when you get a chance. :) angela