random videos

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

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

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

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

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

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.