My Last Day.....

Okay, I know I'm cheating, two posts in one day, but I head home in the morning and I want to get it out of the way.

The morning started with a walk through the Jewish Quarter, probably the only part of town that truly seems like a normal city. It's so laid back and it has a fantastic atmosphere that it's just fun to walk in.

I then went to check out the Dome of the Rock and hopefully the Temple Mount, the place it is believed that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son because God told him to. The Dome of the Rock (the big golden dome associated with Jerusalem--not the one in South Bend, IN) is a sacred Muslim site and can not be entered by any Jewish person. It is a huge complex that consists of another mosque where worship takes place, a lot of trees and open space, the Dome of the Rock (which covers the Temple Mount come to find) and the Golden Gate, where the Messiah is supposed to enter the city when he returns. Unfortunately the security folks foiled me again by stopping me from entering the Dome of the Rock, so I was unable to see the rock that Abraham nearly sacrificed his son upon.....so that was a bummer. The bonus was that I made a friend, Natasha, from Utah and we spent the day checking out sites together.

We then headed to meet with David, a student at Hebrew University (in town) and someone she met the day before. The three of us went to the Israel Museum, which would have been incredible, but the archaeological wing was closed....so we had to settle for just seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls. That was pretty sweet and totally worth the hour long walk.

After that came the highlight of the day. We took a bus to Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus. We crossed over into the West Bank (Palestine) without any problems and took a taxi from the border to the Church of the Nativity. It was truly an awesome site to behold. There are three churches in one on the site, the oldest dating back to the 500s (at least that is what the tour guide said, I haven't checked his facts yet). There were some beautiful mosaics in the church and some pillars that had been painted during the Crusades. It was amazing to still see some of the paint on the pillars and to actually be able to see what they looked like.
We then visited the other churches, which was neat and then we were lead to a souvenir shop nearby. Then as we were leaving, the guide invited us to his family's shop (there's always one of these) and we were told to look around. Today only, the entire store was.....you won't believe it.....50% off!! Just for us! (uh-huh).
After this we took a taxi to what was supposed to be Rachel's Tomb, but we could find it, plus we wouldn't be able to get in since we weren't Jewish. So we walked up to the border crossing to head into Jerusalem. The crossing was insane. You would have thought we were leaving a detention center or just getting released from prison. If you aren't familiar with what has happened.....
........Israel has created a giant wall all around the West Bank and Gaza, to keep the Palestinians in and out of Israel. The problem is that this wall is huge....at least 20 feet of cement in some places (I had thoughts of the Berlin wall dancing in my head). On the Palestinian side, you see all sorts of Anti-American and Anti-Israel graffiti and you honestly feel bad for these people. Walking from on side of the fence to the other is literally a night and day type of experience, they are that different. Once we crossed back into Jerusalem, it was as if we were back in the West. However on the Palestinian side, it was almost as if I was back in Egypt.
Palestine says that the Israelis have taken some of their land in the building of the fence. The Israelis say that they are keeping terrorists out of Israel. Ultimately, the people losing out are the citizens, the everyday folks like you and I that just want to work, earn money and help their families. Hamas (the Palestinian Gov) hasn't paid their Gov. workers for the past year, so the Postal workers in Palestine are on strike. It's truly a sad situation.

After returning from Bethlehem, we took a walk downtown to eat at Burger King again, I know two days in a row but we don't have it in Egypt and I won't see it again till July!!!!
Then we walked around downtown before Natasha and I headed to the Central Bus Station to check the schedules for tomorrow. I'll be headed to Eilat tomorrow, probably around 10 am. Then I'll try and catch the 4:30 pm bus to Cairo from Taba in Egypt. Hopefully I'll get home around 11 pm Tuesday night......but as I've learned on this trip, some things don't go as planned.

My Second Day.....

Day two in the Old City (okay, technically this was Sunday, but I was a tad busy) was pretty sweet as well. I started off the day by trying to head to the Western Wall, aka the Wailing Wall, which is the last remaining wall from the Second Great Temple of Jerusalem and is the most sacred site for the Jewish people.
As I walked in that general directions, I took the long way around the wall and around the Armenian Quarter, which is pretty empty. I then stumbled upon a sweet archaeological park in the corner of the city, next to the wall. It was fantastic and I'm surprised that it wasn't that busy. It has remains from Palaces built in the 7th and 8th Centuries, as well as some remains from basic houses at the time. The park gives you a basic history of the city and area through the years, so if you're over here, it's worth the stop.
And then decided that I was going to try and get into the wall, since it was nearby. I had been thwarted on two early attempts by the local police and the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) agents that patrol the city and the site. (Brief side note--Many IDF folks are just teenagers serving their time in the military, so imagine if you will 17 yr old high school students, guys and gals, with automatic weapons and really big guns--good call).
This time, Success!!

I managed to get through security and I was able to say a brief prayer at the wall. Next I wandered into a little room to the left of it where many people were praying, because I thought this was the Wall Tunnels.....but no, it was a bunch of men praying. I was stopped at the entrance and asked if I was Jewish....upon replying no and asking if that was a problem, the man said, "No, no problem at all, you just need to smile as you walk through."

So I walked around as these men prayed and then I left that area and found the tunnels. The tunnels were pretty interesting. I bought my ticket at 1:30, but was told that I should have been on the 1:20 group, so I hurried through and looked for the English speaking group around the corner....or at least these were my directions.
Upon not finding the group, I decided that I could wander around the tunnels solo, which looked a bit shady no doubt, but it was still fun. You got to see a lot of the wall, so arches and some pretty cool cisterns. Good times.

After this I made my way back to the hostel for a brief rest and falafel (awesome) and then I took a taxi to check out Jerusalem's best shopping area....the Jerusalem mall.

It sucked. Totally not worth the money....but they had a Burger King and you bet I ate there, since we don't have it in Egypt.

Then I came back to the hostel, walked to the bus station to check out bus rides to Eilat for Tuesday and returned to the hostel where we dissected US Marshals, a fabulous movie, for the remainder of the evening.

My First Day....

My first day here was amazing. It was so busy that I actually got a blister from my shoes on the back of my heel!

I started off by taking in half of the Rampart Walk, where you get to walk on the Old Walls that surround the Old City. The walls were last reinforced in the 1500s, so it is a pretty cool experience. You get to see almost the entire city and it makes you actually realize that people do live here! I saw a couple of schools, a daycare center and even a high school, not to mention the various churches and mosques.

After that I took a stroll down the Via Dolorosa, or the "Sorrowful Way" (I think). They believe that this was the path that Jesus walked with the cross through the city. It's poorly marked, so I managed to get lost and I appeared near my hostel again, which was a plus because my camera batteries died.

In the afternoon, I took in the Garden Tomb and Golgotha, or Skull Hill, where according to the Book of John, Jesus was crucified. The Tomb was nearby and it was truly an incredible experience. I had my Bible with me and read the two chapters in John about The Crucifixion and Resurrection. I was a little upset because so many people just clicked a picture and walked away, possibly just thinking this was another "Tourist" site. I thanked God for allowing me to be here for this truly is a blessing and an amazing experience.

After that I began to wander up the Mount of Olives, stopping at the Grotto (where Jesus often went to pray), the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, and the Garden of Gethsemane. The top of the Mount provides an amazing view of the Old City and the Golden Gate. On the Mount, I read from Matthew 24 before I began to walk back down to the city.

Then it started to rain and I didn't have my jacket, so my sweater is still wet today (Day 2). It is actually still raining outside, which is funny because I haven't seen this much rain since the summer.

Funny side note, the Hostel I'm in doesn't have hot water right now, so I barely got wet before deciding I could wait to shower. Awesome.

My adventure to the Old City......

As I was walking to the bus station in Cairo this morning, I was thinking about how smoothly this trip was going to work out. Bus to Taba, walk across the border. Bus to Eilat and then bus to Jerusalem. Pretty easy right?

Little did I recall that today is Friday and that everything in Israel shuts down at 4:30 for Shabbat. Uh-oh.

I didn't make it to Taba until around 12:15 pm (after leaving Cairo at 7 am. It was supposed to be 6:30, but Egyptians are always late). Standing around at a tiny bus stop, I was unsure where to go. So I started walking toward what I assumed was the border and I got lucky.
After a few minutes with the border patrol, I was able to actually leave Egypt. Then I had to get into Israel. I had to convince them that I was coming for tourism. They asked where I was going and I replied Jerusalem, the Old City.
She then asked, "What are you going to see?"
"Um.........everything?"

And with that she let me through. The drawback was that I discovered on my way to Taba that the last bus to Jerusalem from Eilat was at 1 pm on Fridays. I arrived at 1:28 pm (after paying 40 NIS for a 10 minute taxi ride). So now what???
I got lucky. There was a bus to Tel Aviv leaving at 2 and I started thinking about it. If I waited for the next bus, I would be in Eilat till 4:30 pm Sat and I'd basically miss out on a day. I decided to head to Tel Aviv and try to either stay there or get a cab/mini-bus to Jerusalem. So off I went with no where to stay and knowing full well that almost everything would be closed.

After many, many stops (Be'er Sheva and numerous bus stops ON the highway) we finally arrived in Tel Aviv. Now I was confused, do I wait till tomorrow or push my luck? Well, I pushed it. I spoke with the first guy knowing full well that it was going to cost a ton, but I just wanted to be in Jerusalem tonight. Period. Luckily (again....divine intervention?) he agreed, although it cost a ton, more than the two bus trips and previous taxi ride combined. Heck, more than my hostel for the four days.

It was worth it though. I spoke with an Israeli man that was very interesting. There was a little talk of politics and he basically has a one track mind--women. He asked many times if I was looking for women (pimp?). I said no, to which he replied, "Why not?"

An hour later, we arrived in Jerusalem. We had to ask for directions, but we finally made it. The streets are cramped, but I'm finally here........

My Conference Day...Part 2.......

My second official conference day has come and gone....fortunately without any incidents!

This time it was a lot easier than the previous. I didn't have as many parents show up, although there were still a lot. It was nice to be able to spend more than 5 minutes with a parent. Usually by the time you sit down and start talking, it's time for them to leave, but that wasn't the case this time.

Luckily all the interactions were positive. No one told me that their child was scared and actually many said that their child liked my class (which was the opposite the first time because I was still being the mean teacher, establishing my routine and expectations).

Sadly though, I began to wonder if this is to be expected, at least while I am here. The kids that are truly struggling and the parents that I've tried and tried to contact, weren't there. These are the ones that I need to talk to the most, but no luck. I wonder (and slightly assume) that this will be the case in the future as well, which makes it even tougher to try and reach some of my students (and future students).

My February break.....

I've been attempting to plan this February break ever since I got back to Cairo. It's the thing that I am currently looking forward to and excited about. I'm planning on heading to Jerusalem, Israel next Friday. I have a hostel booked for a few nights and then I'll work on making my way back to Egypt.

It's funny, because I don't even have my bus ticket yet. I went to try and purchase it today and as I looked through the window at the man sitting at a computer and an old-school printer, I knew it wasn't going to be an easy conversation. Luckily there was an older gentleman there that spoke a little English and he translated for me.
Turns out I can't even buy a ticket yet. They told me that I have to come back on Tuesday, to buy a ticket that will allow me to leave on Friday morning, around 6:30 am.

This made me think, can you imagine how air travel would be if this was how you had to do it? Imagine not being able to buy your ticket until 3 or 4 days ahead of time? How insane would that be? What if there wasn't a ticket for you? You had the hotel booked, the plans made, you had already taken time off from work and then......no room for you on the flight. It's amazing.

The funny thing is that the instant I cross the border into Israel, everything becomes modern again. The tickets are done on a computer, no problem how long I want to book in advance. After I walk across the border, I'll take a bus to Eliat, a resort city and then from there I'll board a bus to Jerusalem. In all, the bus rides should take around 10 hours, from what I'm told. I hate long bus rides, so it should be interesting!

My Anniversary.....

Well my friends and family and random readers....I thought that I'd let you know that we have officially reached the one year anniversary of the wonderful little blog known as Where am I?

It all began over a year ago (1 year and 4 days roughly) with a little hope and a dream.....and it's kind of still there, but now I have an idea of what I'm doing!

I just wanted to thank everyone that has read, responded and shared this blog with me over the past year. Please keep the comments and requests coming!

My First Game....

I was able to attend my first football match in Egypt a little over a week ago. It was on a Thursday night and I went with a friend to meet up with another teacher whose husband plays for the Arab Contractors, one of the local teams. They were playing against the African Champions, Al Ahly, another local club. Unfortunately, Al Ahly is the biggest club in Cairo and probably Africa, with a huge following. So what was supposed to be a home game for Arab Contractors, turned out to be a road game in their own stadium.

The Ahly fans packed what little areas of the stadium we could sit in. The military was all over the stadium, fully equipped with their riot gear, just in case things got out of hand, which was truly an interesting sight.
We were able to sit in the section reserved for family members of the home team and the seats were great. We had an amazing view of the pitch. The only drawback was that the four of us were probably the only people in our section cheering for the home team.
Sadly Ahly won the game 5-1. While that seems like a beating, they didn't earn most of their goals. There was a poor PK call, a handball before a goal and a bit of luck all in Al Ahly's favor (and when you're the champs, you get those types of calls).
We had to sprint out of the stadium before the game was over so that we could avoid any potential problems with Ahly fans or the military, who aren't the best folks to run into late at night.

My Request....

Okay...so I've shared with you how cold our apartment is. It's currently 56 degrees in here and we have no way to heat this place. Does anyone have any ideas for us to keep this place warm? Or maybe to just get it warm?

We've thought about buying some space heaters and Alex has one in his room....but it only heats the area 4 inches away from the heater, so it does no good. Does anyone have any ideas at all???

A fun picture from my time back in Iowa. 

My Freezing Ostrich....

Okay, so I put up one serious post and now it's time to put up a fun one to go with it.

Tonight I cooked ostrich. It was actually pretty good. We had two ostrich steaks and I made some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it. Ultimately, it was pretty good and something that I will totally make again. I wonder if I can get ostrich in Iowa? Is this possible? Can anyone look into it for me?

On a side note, our apartment is freezing. The last time we checked, it's only 58 degrees in here....ALL THE TIME.

This (again) is due to the lack of insulation and the use of only cement blocks when creating this apartment. Oh, and the lack of any heating system other than the sun and the indirect sunlight that we get (the surrounding buildings block it all...it's nice).

My Intervention....

...okay, so before anyone gets worried, no, I'm not addicted to anything. I don't drink, smoke or do any of the other wonderful things that could possibly require some folks to intervene.

My intervention was entirely different. See, ever since a couple of years ago, I've struggled to get into any sort of relationship with someone. All thanks to that last relationship. It took away any sort of confidence I had. Since then, I haven't really been in a relationship (except for maybe one), due to a lack of confidence and a fear of rejection that have stood in the way....

Enter Dustin and Brad, two of my buddies that sat down with me and had a chat the night before I left (I think Sara would have chipped in, but she was pretending to sleep in the room). Leave it to two of your best friends to be bold and honest with you. They showed how much they cared and we chatted about a lot of things. Ultimately they gave me some courage and the confidence to move on get over the past. Now I feel like I'm ready to try again, with all I have.....

My Safe Return....

No need to worry, I've arrived in Egypt. The current time here is 3:25 am, so I'm going to go and try to get some sleep.

Thanks to everyone that made time to see me over the break. It meant a lot!

My Schiphol.....

Well, I have officially arrived in Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport to be exact. I was going to take a train into the city, but it's pretty cloudy and wet outside, so it looks as though I'll be hanging around here for the next 7 hours. Sweet!

To be honest, I was a little disappointed to be heading back to Egypt. Don't get me wrong, I want to get back, see my students and finish the year on a high note. Not to mention that I have a little traveling that I would like to do.
It's just that for the first time in a long time, I actually had fun in Des Moines. Previously, I wasn't a big fan of the city. For some reason I just never fully enjoyed myself. But this time it was different. It could have been the wedding (congrats again to Dustin & Sara Miller), hanging out with friends and even making some new ones. I really didn't want to leave because I made some new friends that I would really like to get to know. But I suppose that will have to happen over email.

Well, I don't have much time on this cheap computer. I'll try to post again when I arrive in Cairo. The only thing is that I get in at 2 am, Cairo time and it's going to take me a while to get home. Until next time...

My first days back....

Well, I've been back in Iowa for roughly two days now. I went to Iowa City for Saturday and part of today before returning to DM to hang out with my Mom and Dad for a little Christmas Eve dinner.

To be honest, I had high hopes of returning to Iowa City. I was really excited and I think I built it up so high in my mind that it was truly a little disappointing. I don't want to offend anyone that I visited, because I did have a great time talking with my friends, it's just that I've been thinking about how fantastic Iowa City is for a few months now and then....well....it didn't live up to the hype.
It's kind of like when people keep telling you how great a movie is...and they keep hyping it and hyping it and hyping it. Finally you decide to see it and then, while you think it's good, you didn't think it was awesome. Does this make sense?

To be honest, this has put a question mark in my future plans. Again, I don't want to offend anyone, but now I question whether or not I should return. I mean, I do know people there and it is fun, but it would also seem to be a step back in time and not a step forward toward moving on with my life. While it is a comfortable place for me, I remember often being bored and looking for something to do....and my friends were usually busy and then I would rent movies and watch them by myself. Stimulating.

So now I look toward the rest of my break. I have a wedding coming up on Saturday and I'm meeting up with friends throughout the week, while spending time with my buddies. Good times are in store!

The front of the Egyptian Museum. 

My bags are packed....

In less than 31 hours I'll be sitting at the airport here in Cairo, waiting to board a plane that will take me to Amsterdam, Minneapolis and ultimately Des Moines. While I'm very excited to be heading home (even though it's only for a couple of days), I thought that this would be a great time for a reflection.

Over the past 4 months, I've been threatened with a lightbulb (also one of the funniest things to happen), nearly hit by many, many cars, yelled at by parents, laughed at by parents, told that I'm no fun and told that I'm a fun teacher. While this range of emotions have fallen upon me, I can't help but still wonder...Why am I here?

I'm one of those people that believe that everything happens for a reason, so as I sit in front of my laptop, I can't help but ponder this question. It has truly been on my mind a lot over the last couple of days, weeks and months.

Is there a lesson that I'm supposed to learn?

Is there someone that I'm suppose to help?

Is someone supposed to push me?

To be totally honest, I'm not sure. I know that this experience has taught me a lot already....

...for starters, I miss Iowa. Only a year ago, I would have refused to believe that this statement would come out of my mouth, it's true. I miss hanging out with my friends, my family and my munchkins at BASP. I miss being able to go out into the woods and take a walk around. I miss being able to call one of my friends at anytime (even though they may ignore it and call me a few days later).

This experience has also taken me completely out of my comfort zone. Never before have I been stared at so much. It's hilarious to step onto the Metro (Subway) and to have everyone turn and look at you....and keep looking at you!
I remember when I went to the zoo and everyone stared. It was awesome. I even had kids yelling out..."Hello! Hello!" It was great. Just imagine seeing a Hispanic person in Iowa City and all of a sudden all the kids yell out, "Hola! Hola!" I've never seen anything like it.

The saddest part of this reflection is that as soon as I get used to being home again, I'll have to come back. I think this is going to be the hardest part of all.

My trip to the museum.....

Lately I've tried to do a lot of tourist type things before I head back to the States for a few days. While no, I still haven't touched the Pyramids, I did take a visit to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, aka The Egyptian Museum.

To be honest, the museum is pretty big and filled with a ton of stuff, so much that it's overwhelming. There isn't any real description of the items or any info about the item. For example, we saw a fan and the little card next to it said, "This is a Palm Fan".

Really?

Other than helping out the visitor by describing most of the artifacts, the museum also doesn't allow cameras inside, something about the flash harming the artifacts. So I don't have any pictures for you from inside. Sorry.

There is also a Mummy Room that you can go into, but it costs extra and with the Christmas shopping I'm trying to fit in, I didn't have enough Pounds to pull it off. No worries, maybe next time.

ahh Will Smith, you're charm has helped many take that scary first step. 

My Hitch Theory....

Seeing as how I have a lot of time on my hands, I've started to really put some thought into a few of the many theories that I have come up with over the years. For example, one of the latest (discussed while watching a commercial for a Dubai hospital) was whether or not the Arabic world has the same stereotype for nurses that Americans do (in TV ads they have to be attractive, always).

Then after seeing a young man in a wheel chair, we wondered....do they trash talk in wheel chair basketball leagues? And if they do, is it offensive to tell someone that they have no j? (as in no jump shot--I mean, this is a logical question since it is trash talk but the opponent can't physically jump...do they do this??)

Well, during an email with my friend Jennifer (who occasionally leaves a comment) I was explaining my Hitch Theory. Now for those of you that aren't familiar with Hitch, it is a movie from 2005 staring Will Smith in which he helps guys date the women that they have always wanted to. He assists them in taking that first step and helping the women see that even though this dude isn't the most attractive guy, he still has a ton to offer and is perfect for her. Enter, the Hitch Theory.

The Hitch Theory says that if you get two people in the same room that are even remotely interested in each other (in a dating way), they will at least kiss by the end of the movie. It's a guarantee. I honestly don't think that God created anyone on the planet that can withstand sitting in a room with someone they find attractive and not do this. It's impossible. The charm of Will Smith and the message of the movie are just too much of a combination for anyone to say no to.

So the next time you want to go out with someone that you're interested in, but you just don't quite know how to break the ice...just invite them over, put Hitch in the DVD player, and the rest will all fall into place.

My Christmas Shopping....

We all know that Christmas shopping is difficult. Battling lines, trying to find everything on your list, attempting to find a parking spot within the same time zone as the mall, etc....

Now while I don't have the problems of finding a parking place, I have a few added problems that I get to throw onto this list: Attempting to break the language barrier, attempting to not get cheated on the price (if you remember, the fact that I'm not from here automatically adds to my price) and attempting to find something my friends and family will actually like. I know, piece of cake right?

Well, I have almost succeeded in finishing my list, with a little help of course. I have a friend that is helping me out by picking up some things at the Khan for me and I managed to get a few items at the mall yesterday. Now all I really have left is a trip to the AUC bookstore, a stop at Diwan and possibly one more trip to the mall, and all is finished.

Oh, and I have one week to finish. Good times.

My ballerina movements......

As many of you have heard or read from me, I miss rain. Precipitation of any kind is generally a rarity here in Egypt. That said, we have been blessed the past two nights with what can only be described as actual rain. Not sprinkles. Not mist. RAIN. The real deal.

Now oddly enough, this presents a HUGE problem. Here in Egypt, we don't have a drainage system like in the States, so where does all that rain go? Exactly right where it fell, or it drains down to the nearest low-lying place, where it just congregates, until it becomes the size of a mini-pond. It was in this terrain that I walked from the metro stop in Dokki, to meet my cell group last night. It was only a 20 minute walk, but it was insane.

Imagine if you will, myself, walking along in a grey sweater, being dripped on from every possible direction. Water falling from my bald head, flowing down the front of my face. I'm hopping around like a ballerina, going from one foot to the other on these long leaps, attempting to avoid most of the water and then balance myself on the curb that is a few feet away. Add to this, dodging cars, buses, motorcycles and scooters and you have an interesting little scene.

It's kind of funny to watch people drive in the rain. We don't get it that often, so it literally stops traffic. Any vehicle slows down to a turtle pace to cross the puddles, mostly because all of our tires are bald and we don't drive on rain that much. It's kind of like when there is an ice storm that one time every year in the South and everyone gets in an accident because they never deal with it. Awesome.

My Baklava.....

Greetings to all the wonderful readers out there, where ever you may be. As December has come upon us, I decided to try my hand at a little cooking. I've been trying to cook a little more since I've been over here and the good news is that I'm not starving to death (Pizza Hut is only a phone call away). I've been able to make quesadillas (with tortillas from scratch), cavatelli (aka baked pasta), biscuits from scratch, chips, and the occasional fried potatoes.
Well this week I tried to make baklava, a wonderful little dessert. All it takes is a lot of butter, 14 sheets of fillo (a paper thin pastry), some walnuts, sugar and cinnamon and a little bit of syrup. After almost burning the walnuts in the oven and nearly screwing up the first layers of fillo, I filled the center with a walnut, sugar & cinnamon mix. Then added the next layers of fillo. At this point, everything wasn't looking too bad.
Sadly then came the syrup, which I had made from scratch as well (sugar, water and some lemon juice-fresh of course). However, I let the syrup sit too long and it solidified. Then I re-heated it too much and it was a little burnt, but we continued to roll with the punches.
When the baklava came out of the oven, I'll admit, I thought I was a hero. It looked awesome. Then I poured the partially burnt syrup on it and took a bite. It wasn't as good as it looked. While it was still edible, the burnt walnut mixed with a burnt syrup taste, isn't exactly what my tastebuds were looking for. However, after putting the leftovers in the fridge for a night, I found it tasted better!!

Hopefully soon, I'll try it again.

The spread at our Thanksgiving meal. 

My double Turkey Days....

This year was one of the first times I spent Thanksgiving away from home. At first I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to eat turkey and taters, however, I was pleasantly surprised with what I got.

On Wednesday I was headed to meet a Bible study group that I had just be invited to. It was going to be my first meeting with the group, so I was a little excited. When I arrived, I was asked, "Do you know what we're doing tonight?"

"umm....no, not really," was my reply.

"You mean, Michael didn't tell you?"

"Nope. I've been left in the dark."

At this point I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure if we were going to be singing hymns, sharing life stories or if I had to do some sort of initiation ritual, which had me a little nervous.

"We're having Thanksgiving dinner tonight!"

I was so happy that I almost jumped with joy. Not one, but TWO Thanksgiving dinners were headed my way. How can one man be so blessed?

Dinner number 2 was also great and it reminded me of the old Schurman Family reunions that we did on Thanksgiving. Everyone brought a dish (Alex made roasted a duck....a duck!!) and everyone was able to eat till their hearts were content. Around 20 people ended up coming and we had two turkeys and a duck for the main meats. It was fantastic. Good food, good people and the night ended with me in a food coma. Awesome.

My students' thrill

As I sent my students out for break today, I noticed that the sky was full of clouds, which doesn't happen too often. They looked a little darker than normal, but I figured, "Hey, it's Egypt. It never rains here," so I sent them on their merry way.

During the break I was standing near the window and I noticed a familiar smell, a scent I had almost forgotten. I took another wiff of it and then it hit me....moisture. Now I was never one of those folks that believed that you could smell rain, it just sounded silly to me, but today, I became a believer.

I walked outside 10 minutes later to pick up my kids for 5th period and suddenly all the students started yelling, screaming and jumping up and down.

"Mr. Bill! Mr. Bill! IT'S RAINING! IT'S RAINING!!"

You would have thought it was raining chocolate or $100 bills. It wasn't even a sprinkle to be honest, but they absolutely loved it.

To be honest, it's the little things that allow you to make it through the day.

My First Conference Day.....

So it has come and gone, my first conference day as a teacher. Praise God that it is finally over, but to be honest, it was not as bad as I was expecting.

I had to go in yesterday (Saturday) to have my first conference day. I was a little nervous, having to sit in my room for at least two hours and having parents come in every five minutes to chat with me about their child. It went by in a flash!

I didn't get my first parents until 10:10 and I didn't have a break until they finally kicked the last parents out of my room at 12:40. At one point parents had been waiting for an hour, just to be able to chat for five minutes. It was insane!

To be honest, I have roughly 60 students that I teach between 2nd and 3rd grade. Now, if you only have 2 hours of available conference space and every parent shows up, it's not possible to see everyone. So we rushed through as many as possible. The best part was that out of all my parents, I only had one that was a little upset. That's it! Praise the Lord that it's over!! The next one isn't until Jan, so that's even better.

My Movie Observation.....

I have recently seen two movies over here, neither of which I would consider a family flick. I saw World Trade Center a week ago and last night I went to The Departed. I'm sure many of you can imagine the fun filled scenes in WTC, but some of you may not be familiar with The Departed.

The Departed has a pretty good cast, although some of them struggle to keep their Bostonian accent throughout the movie. It deals with a couple of cops, one undercover and the other a detective, but both working for a mob leader (Jack Nicholson).

The movie was pretty good to be honest. I liked some of the characters. It had some interesting twists and ultimately I didn't see the ending coming. It really surprised me. However, the film had enough profanity that would possibly make a sailor blush and their was some graphic death scenes and killings. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with this as an adult. You can watch whatever you want, however I begin to question a parent when they bring a 2 year old child into the theater to watch a movie like this (or WTC).

REALLY?? You want your child to see this? I know that you might want a night out, but you're going to bring them to this movie? In the first few minutes alone two people are shot, execution style and you're letting your child see this? I can't imagine how your child is going to sleep at night. Honestly, lots of kids have enough trouble sleeping anyways, with nightmares, so this is only going to add to your problems.

I saw young children at both of these movies and I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately, this is not just an Egyptian thing, because it reminds me of when I saw some youngsters at King Kong in the States. I was shocked at that one too, especially when I saw the gorilla rip the dinosaurs jaws apart, then slam it into it's head.

My FEV....

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything until my dad sent me an email telling me that my blog had gone stagnant. I got to thinking about it and realized that it had been a while since I posted ANYTHING at all. Sorry about that.

So, to make up for my laziness, I'll try to give you a couple of blogs in the next couple of days. Hopefully that will appease both of my readers.

I haven't even told you about my first Egyptian vacation!! During Eid, we went to a little resort village called Nuweiba, it's on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula. I had a good time, basically sitting on a beach and looking at the Red Sea for 3 days. The view was amazing, especially with the mountains and Saudi Arabia looking back at you from the other side of the Sea.

We had found this nice little Chinese place near the resort, so we ate their on the second day. The food was pretty good (much better than the fried fish I had the night before, which literally was a whole fish that had been thrown in a deep fryer--awesome). I remember that night I was talking to Alex about the next day and I said that I thought we had found a good horse here (i.e. the restaurant) and that we should "ride this horse till it bucks us". So we went back the next day for another round of tasty Chinese food.

The third day the food tasted good. I was pretty happy with my choice, some sort of chicken because the restaurant was out of shrimp. Little did I know, that in around 14 hours, the horse would buck me.

I awoke very early the next morning, not exactly feeling 100%. I beat the sun up and during my frequent trips to the bathroom, I managed to watch the sun rise over the mountains, which would have been a lot cooler if I was feeling better. My body did not like the chicken and decided to purge it from the system any way possible. This made for a very long morning, which culminated with me vomiting in the bathroom. Awesome.

I was still feeling ill the rest of the day. This made the 6 hour bus ride home absolutely miserable. The funny part about the bus ride was that they tried to show the movie Saw, a horror flick, on a bus full of families....good decision. If you've never seen it and are curious, just watch the first 20 minutes and you'll have a good idea why they shut that off.

Luckily I made it back without any more incidents, only wishing that God would either let me fall asleep or kill me on the spot. Neither of which happened.

My Joy....

Okay, brief post, it's raining, right now. It's around 6:30 am, there's a rainbow in the sky outside our porch and it's sprinkling. It's the first rain I've seen since August. Amazing.

I know that some of you have been begging me for another picture of myself....so here you go and with the Pyramids in the background! (see Dustin, I told you I'd see them eventually) 

My distraction......

Okay, so this week we are on a break fro Eid and I've had a lot of time on my hands. We leave for Nuweiba in the morning, so in the meantime, I've been utilizing a wonderful little website to help pass the time. If you are a huge fan of the original Nintendo (or Sega, Gameboy and some others), I highly recommend that you visit this site:

http://www.everyvideogame.com/

This is the website for Everyvideogame.com It literally has hundreds of original games that you can play online for free. I've been addicted to Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Super Tecmo Bowl lately. So if you get bored at work, need help procrastinating or are just looking to finally defeat that game that gave you fits as a child (Damn you Ghosts' n Goblins!!) check it out, you may just get addicted....again.

My Day as a Tourist.....

For those of you that check often, you'll remember that often I'm treated as a tourist. Partially due to the color of my skin and partially due to my inability to speak Arabic. Well on Saturday Alex, Kain and myself rented a taxi for a couple of hours and were taken on a little tour of parts of Cairo. It was my first real "Tourist Day" here.

We started off by heading to a 600 years old and it even had the original key to the door! We got to go in and walk around for a little while before the noon prayer. It was pretty impressive inside. The archways were huge and impressive. We even went into a tomb, which was pretty sweet.

We also walked up to the top of the building and got to look around on the roof. The view from the tower was pretty neat. I'll be honest though, I'm not a fan of heights, so I didn't stay up there too long. There was a great view of Islamic Cairo though.

After that we taxied over to Coptic Cairo (all the different religious parts of the city in one day!!) to see a couple of churches. The driver dropped us off in an Islamic neighborhood and told us how to get there while he fixed the car (??). After a five minute walk, we got to see the Hanging Church and the Church of St. George. Both were pretty cool, but I loved the Hanging Church. It had some amazing Mosaics, and a beautiful courtyard. I'll have to go back there sometime.

The next stop on our whirlwind tour was an oil shop near the Pyramids. Just seeing the Pyramids was an amazing sight. They're huge!!! It's hard to imagine that people, PEOPLE, had to drag/pull/tug and any thing else you can think of to get them into place. I'll definitely get there again and next time I'll be able to get some closer pictures.

After visiting the oil shop, we headed back to Heliopolis. The end of the trip turned into our driver trying to convince us that Islam was the way to go. While this was very frustrating, I expected it, especially since it is the end of Ramadan and all. No need to worry though, I still love Jesus.

A mosaic from the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo. 

My Hook up.....

I know that some of you will read the title to this post and be thinking bad thoughts.....but get your collective heads out of the gutter, this is not that kind of hook up.

Last week I took it upon myself to get the satellite set up. We had the TV, now we just needed something on it. So I called Showtime cable on Thursday night, in an attempt to get it set up as soon as possible. I had a man answer the phone and after a few minutes of making sure the prices were right, I told him that I would go for it. Then he asked when I wanted it installed and this is what followed:

ME: When can I get it set up?
CG (Cable Guy): Whenever you want.

ME: Really? How about tomorrow?
CG: Um....tomorrow? But tomorrow's Friday.

ME: Yeah, I realize that.
CG: But that's the weekend.....ummm

ME: So, you don't do Fridays?
CG: That's the weekend...

ME: Okay, so I assume that means Saturday is out of the question too huh?
CG: Saturday is also the weekend.

ME: Thanks for that. Okay, no Friday or Saturday.
CG: Yes, but we can come whenever you like.

ME: Oh, okay. How late do your guys work?
CG: Ummm.....what do you mean?

ME: I mean how late can they come out? It's only 7 pm. Can they do it tonight?
CG: Ummm...but it's dark outside and it's Ramadan.

ME: Okay, so now we have the restrictions. No weekends and they have to be done before dark?CG: Well, actually, they have to be done by 3 pm, because it's Ramadan.

ME: WHAT??? But it doesn't get dark until 5!!??

After this we finally agreed on Sunday at 1 pm. They showed up to my apartment around noon and stayed until I was got home around 2 pm. Then, instead of charging it to my credit card, I had to pay cash to get it set up (which was LE 700). It was incredible.

However, now we have satellite. I can't tell you how much my attitude improved when I was able to watch a college football game and a NFL game on Sunday (even though it was Houston vs. Dallas). We even get Seinfeld and The Simpsons. Best Part--I watched Fraggle Rock for the first time in a decade on Monday. It was fantastic!!!

My Second week....

It has been a while since I last posted, so I put up two new experiences for you to check out and even a couple of pictures.

The second week of school has come and gone and it's going a little smoother. The students are beginning to understand my expectations of them and how to behave in the classroom, especially when I'm there. The only real issue is that we continue to have to bounce from room to room to see our classes. This wouldn't be that big of an issue, but when the teacher that is supposed to replace you shows up late (sometimes up to 20 minutes late) it puts you in a bit of a bad mood. Especially since time is limited anyways due to the Ramadan schedule.

I'm also trying to add a new link on here for those of you that want to check it out (probably only Jenna, but the rest of you can too). It is from a group of teachers here that are in a writing club and they have just started a blog to display some of their works. Check it out, leave a comment and enjoy the show.

Mosque with the moon in the background. 

Alex and I at the cafe. 

My first Indy Experience....

On Wednesday night I got to have my first Indiana Jones type experience. Alex and I went with Gheda and Hollis to the Khan al-Khalili market in Islamic Cairo. It being Ramadan and going at night, we were sure to see some cool things.

The market was crowded and filled with little shops/stalls in tight alleys. It felt as though we were in a maze at first, twisting and turning this way and that, all the while looking at t-shirts, bronzed statues, stone pharoahs and sphinxes. We eventually ended up at a cafe located in side the market.

The cafe was packed and smokey. Everyone was out and smoking a little sheesha (water pipe) with their coffee, water and whatever else they decided to have. It was a great little joint. At one point Alex made the comment that it was like going to a baseball game, because as you sat there, peddlers came around with bracelets, peanuts, flowers and hena tattoos, trying to sell them to you. We even had a bread guy come along. We sat there for an hour, drinking Coke and watching the people pass by. It was a lot of fun.

We then left and wandered around the market for a little while longer. After which we went back and caught a cab back to Heliopolis. It was interesting seeing all the shops and listening to their owners trying to sell you things. You would always here, "oh, please come look here." or "Would you like a bracelet?" One man even said, "Hey Indiana". That was the best. I chuckled for a while at that one.
At one point a man tried talking to me and he followed me for a while asking where I was from. I constantly just said "No" to him until finally he asked me if I would like any hash. The final no was a little more forceful and he decided to head back to his stall.

One funny point came when we first entered the market. Some random little kid saw Alex and came up to him and started holding his hands. It was awesome! He just stood there and followed us, holding his hands. Then the kid switched and started holding Hollis' hand. After giving him a pound, he went away. Good times.

My Twilight Zone Experience.....

Last weekend Alex and I decided to try and visit the American University in Cairo (AUC) bookstore, which is located downtown, right near the Nile. The trip started off well. We got a ride from Nader, one of our coworkers husbands. A nice man who is taking classes there. This bookstore is suppose to have one of the best collections of English books in the city. So we were pretty excited about the adventure, not to mention getting new books.
He dropped us off and gave us a direction to head in. We thought all was going well and tried to get into the AUC. We were told by a man that we had to go outside and around the corner. No worries we thought, that sounds easy enough. We followed his directions and ended up a block to far to the east. We decided to start heading back to the major square that was nearby and we would start over....then it happened.
"Hello my friend! Where are you from?" shouted a voice to our left. An older gentleman was sitting in a chair along the road. After briefly chatting with him, he invited to his store (everyone has one) and then he offered us drinks. Having read a little in the Lonely Planet guide, we had an idea where this was going....
The man chatted with us briefly. A little talk about family and where we were from. His family apparently has a farm outside of town where they grow crops. These crops are then turned into oils...which oddly enough he just happened to sell in his store. My roommate is a fan of the oils, so he ended up buying a few from the gentleman. We didn't feel bad because he was nice and it looked as if he could have used the money. So we were alright with this. We then told him where we were headed and he got us back on the right path. Turns out we were to go back where we came....off we went.

We had only walked half a block and we were talking about the recent turn of events when all of a sudden....

"Hello! Where are you from? What are you looking for?" Another person along the street has kindly stopped to help us out. This one was a little different though...."Oh, yes the bookstore. It's straight ahead and then turn right. Wait, I can show you another one too, come..." He proceeded to talk us another block in the wrong direction. He constantly said, "No baksheesh (tip). I no want. This is for friendship. Friendship important."
The next coincidence came when his store just happened to be on the way to the other bookshop. We went in and chatted. He showed us a picture of the boxer Mohammed Ali, who had once visited the store. Then, seconds later, he was asking us if we liked oils and he began to get them out. Then he asked if we liked papyrus and his son brought out a huge stack of these things. He could tell I was not please because he kept asking me, "What's wrong? Why you no smile? This is about friendship not money...but if you like, We give you good price....you a lucky man!"
It was very difficult to bite my tongue and not lash out at this man. Once he heard the English, he saw us as $$ and went for the kill. Alex did end up buying some oil, but we managed to escape shortly after.

Eventually we stopped in a Costa Coffee shop near the AUC. I asked of the workers there where the bookshop was and he finally pointed us in the right direction. We found it 5 minutes later. The bookshop was everything we thought it would be with a great collection of Political, fiction and classic works, as well as anything you could ever want on Egyptian History.

It was a crazy, crazy day. 2 oil shops, hours in a 4 block area and eventually, we found our target.

My Deja Vu.....

So I've officially been a teacher for around four days now (really? that's it???) and I'm already starting to see some tendencies from my students. For example, the kid that didn't do his homework the first couple of days and had to stay in from break....yeah, that's going to happen a lot. The over-achiever that keeps doing everything you ask, perfectly....he'll keep doing it (thank God someone does). It's truly amazing to see the patterns already start to form in my classes. It's like I could almost fill in the gradebook for the rest of the year right now. Shoot, let's just forget the next 10 months, I'll give them a grade now!

While that's not exactly ethically acceptable and yes, one or two students may be able to turn it around, it's really true. I'm starting to see the patterns. Which brings me to what I'm trying to create....

....patterns. Routines. I'm trying to get these basic things in my students' heads now so that they aren't a constant battle for the entire year. For example, my students have a tendency to just blurt out. That has to change. They also have a tendency to call me "Meester, Meester". I have to remind them that I do have a name and if they want me to answer, they should use it. Otherwise I'll refer to them as, "Kid in the corner with glasses" or worse (if it was acceptable-use your imagination).

Truth be told, week one is in the books, since all we have to do on Thursday is spelling tests and reflections in journals. That's not bad. Plus, it's pay day and I have the last three periods empty. GOOD TIMES!!!!

My First Few Days......

Well, it's finally come and gone. We've actually started school! I didn't really think this day would come. To be honest, I thought that maybe, just maybe we would be able to delay school for the entire year. What a great year that would be!! Just planning, planning, planning....break....and then more planning. Good times.

The first day was chaos, to be honest. We were going on two different schedules at one point, the kids were excited and it was a mess. I won't even get into it, but when you only have around 30 minutes to teach, it's a little tricky to fit it all in.

Days two and three have gone much better. The students are starting to get settled in (and the teachers too). They are starting to really get a feel for my rules and expectations, which is good because the sooner this happens, the sooner we really start working. I've told them many times that my goal is to prepare them for next year, not only in the content they are learning, but in behavioral expectations too. I've heard too many stories of older students that don't listen, do pay attention and constantly do the wrong things. We'll see if I can get one or two grades to change that. But who knows, maybe they'll forget it all over the summer!

If you look really closely, you can see our new school....at least the exterior of it. 

My breaking point....

The last week has been crazy over here. We start school on Sunday and we're starting to get everything ready to go...posters, calenders, copies, supplies....the only drawback is that we have yet to actually see our classrooms. I've been creating posters for the last few days and I was expecting to hang them up today, so that I could go on the camping trip that I've had planned for a couple of weeks. Well, today has come and gone and still, we have not been in the school. So now, instead of camping, I get to be picked up by a bus Saturday morning (normally a day off) and go to the school to get my room set up.

While normally I wouldn't write a post like this, I'm a little upset right now. I feel as though I'm being punished because someone else is running behind. I know that I should be professional and take it in stride (which I am) but it's starting to wear on me. The posters are ready. Copies, ready. Now we just have to get into the building....not ready.

On the bright side, this allows me to further prepare for the first week of school and maybe even week 2. I'm ready for Week 1, but now I can create a couple more things for the classroom (Pen Pal signs and some other stuff). I just wish I was camping....

The suburb of Maadi, from the felucca. 

A felucca on the Nile. 

My Birthday abroad.....

So last Sunday was my first birthday that I have spent outside of the United States. It was a memorable one.

After a hard day of not doing much at school, I walked to Korba (45 min) to meet up with Kelly and Erica, two of the other teachers over here. We then took a cab to meet Reham, who had set up a felucca ride on the Nile for my bday. Awesome.

After taking a cab ride to Maadi and the banks of the Nile, we got on a felucca and were about to set off, when Kain (another teacher) called. He, Hollis and Gheda (yes, two other teachers) were there and they came to join in the festivities. So the seven of us set off on a ride that lasted a little over an hour.

It was so relaxing on the river!!! There was a gentle breeze that felt great and it was dark, so we could actually see some stars (a first in my time here). We ate a little bit of chocolate cake on the boat, drank some coke and shared some stories. To be honest, it is going down as one of my favorite birthdays thus far.

God Bless

My Address (kind of).....

Some of you have requested an address from me. The drawback is that if you attempt to send something to my home address, there is a very good chance that I won't get it. Mail has a tendency to disappear on its way to Egypt or once it gets here. Also, mail is very slow and any packages will be opened by Customs. So nothing illegal please (Dustin-Brad, this means you).

So due to this, I'm going to have my school address as my mailing address. I hope this works out and things make it.

Hopefully this will work!

Bill Flinn
Nefertari American International School-3rd Grade
Km. 22 Ismailia Road
Cairo, Egypt

My Answers II

Okay, so I got the RIP to Steve off my chest and now I can answer some of the questions that have come in (wow, I almost feel like a famous author or something).

For those of you that don't know, I'm here in Cairo teaching 3rd graders at Nefertari American International School. I teach English and Social Studies and I'll have around 30 students in my two classes. As awesome as this sounds, the drawback is that our start date has been pushed back (again), this time to the 24th of September. While this may be good, the drawback is that we now have to stay until the 28th of June AND our starting date is also the start of our Ramadan schedule. That means we will only have school from 8:30 to 1:30 AND the kids won't be able to focus because most of them will be fasting....for a month. Good Times.

As for my water situation, I've been drinking mostly bottled water. This is to avoid being on the receiving end of the Pharaoh's curse (which two of the new teachers already picked up). The only time I don't drink from a bottle is when we do ice cubes, but we boil that water for around 20 minutes before we put it in the trays.

I also had a question about what I eat over here. Mostly, it's a lot of fast food and pizza (am I in college again?). We have Otlob, which is a website that allows you to order from a ton of restaurants and they will call and place the order for you. It's amazing. Even Chili's in on the list.
Tonight however, I broke from the mold a little. I made flour tortillas tonight (yes, from scratch) and I plan on cooking up some mean quesadillas tomorrow for lunch. Tortillas are hard to come by over here. You can rarely find them in Royal House or Metro (to local grocery stores). It's an experiment, so we'll see how it works out.

That's all for now. Thanks soooo much for all the comments, questions, prayers and love that I've received over the last few weeks. It means a lot.

God Bless.

One of the pictures of Steve from his zoo in Beerwah.  

A picture of the flowers outside Australia Zoo, in Beerwah.  

My Sad Day.....

I got home from school on Monday morning and I read the sad news...the Croc Hunter, Steve Irwin....dead. I was shocked really, I thought that of all the things that man did, how could he die from an animal attack? He's wrestled crocs, been chased by Komodo dragons and he's been bitten by numerous animals. Needless to say, I was a little upset.

For those of you that don't know, I loved the Croc Hunter. He had one of my favorite shows to ever be on TV. I remember the first episode I ever watched, he was holding a goana (a lizard) and he was bit in the hand. The goana had a hold of his hand and after a minute or two you could see blood dripping down from the mouth of the lizard. Needless to say, I thought this was awesome and I was hooked.
I've watched nearly all the episodes of his show, I had some of the tapes, I saw his feature length Docu-movie and secretly the only reason I wanted to go to Brisbane to student teach was so I could go to his zoo (which was the first thing I did).

After seeing the pictures of the flowers, cards, and visitors to his zoo, all mourning the loss of a great conservationist. This may sound cheesy, but the shot of a little boy, holding a teddy bear, looking at the flowers nearly made me cry. I'm sad to know that he's gone.

Some of you may think this is cheesy, but I really liked Steve Irwin. I loved his show and his message of conservation and protecting wildlife. I'll always remember Steve. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

God Bless

My working weekend....

I've had a ton of people ask me, "Hey, since you don't work until the 17th, are you going to do any traveling before then?"

While this is a fantastic question and if I wasn't a teacher it would be ideal, believe it or not, I am actually working right now. If only my job consisted of showing up on the first day and just going from there! No, unfortunately they expect us to "plan" things and keep the children occupied for the ENTIRE day. How ridiculous is that? Can't I just hand half of them wiffle ball bats and tell them to go nuts?

This being said, I took advantage of the weekend to do a little bit of planning. As it looks right now, I have the spelling lists planned out until December. I also have my plans for Social Studies done until almost the same time. I still have a ton of time left in the day, so I should get a few more things done, but alas, it may go down hill from here. I'm starting to feel an unproductive streak coming on.

Finally, a view looking at the other end of the street. No, not all of Cairo has this many trees.  

Here is my sweet bedroom.  

Here is our living room in the apartment. 

My Answers....

Okay, okay, so I've been getting some questions on the blog and I figured maybe, just maybe I would answer one or two of them.

First off, the pollution here is not just smog, but there is honestly trash on the streets. Don't get me wrong, they do have people that come around and collect trash from our building (as well as other buildings) but there is still trash on the streets.
Also, the water is a little gross. Drink it and you'll get sick (just ask two of the new teachers here). They say that you will get used to it after a few weeks, but I couldn't deal with the Pharaoh's Curse for that long.
As for a Feminist movement, that's where things get interesting. To be sure, there are plenty of strong women in the country. However, women are seen as objects here, more so than in the States (in my opinion at least). I've been on the Metro and watched as men stared at the women I'm traveling with. I'm not talking about 5 seconds or anything even near that short, but for a long, long period of time. I've also heard stories of men saying outrageous things to women and even touching them in inappropriate places.
However, this being said, if anyone was to mess with a woman here, and she yelled or did something about it, the men within the vicinity would assist her and he would get what was coming to him. Interesting contradiction huh?

As for more photos.....soon.

God Bless

My Contact info...

Some of you have been asking for contact info: To be honest, mail isn't great here in Egypt. I've been told the mailing things to the school is reliable, so once I get that address, I'll post it. As for phone numbers:

Home: (20) 02-635-8886 We have a rotary phone with no machine, so no messages. Sorry. If this doesn't work, take out one of the zeros.

Cell: (20) 10-712-0303 Again, no voicemail here either. So if you catch me, yeah!!

Hope to hear a voice soon.
God Bless

This is the view from our balcony looking at the Military Academy. You can see the satellite dishes on top of the buildings in the background. 

My first few days.....

Well, it's official, I've been here for two weeks now. Don't worry, I'm actually having a good time over here, although there have been a few slip-ups and lots of laughs.

This week has been interesting, to say the least. I have decided to join a softball team this semester. The team plays/practices in Maadi, a suburb about 35 minutes away (in a cab at least). We practiced yesterday and truth-be-told, I suck. For those of you that don't know, I've never played baseball or softball, especially organized baseball/softball. In fact, I really don't like baseball, but this is giving me a way to get out of the apartment and a way to meet people.

Today, we took a trip to Maadi to eat lunch. About eight of us went from the school and we had a blast. We ate at a place called Luciles (or something like that). It is an American restaurant there. Maadi is a suburb with a lot of foreigners and ex-pats. It's a very nice place, but it's a complete contradiction to the Egypt that I live in.

School is going well. Currently I'm the only 3rd grade teacher, which would worry me a lot more if we started on Sunday. They have to hire someone to teach Math/Science. This also meant that I was volunteered to be on the Discipline Committee. Good times.

Arabic is coming along slowly. My roommate Alex and I are working on a word of the day. Today is was behb or door. Other words have been beda (eggs) and gamoosa (water buffalo). We don't pick the most useful words, but they're fun to know.

I'll post a picture or two tonight. I hope all is well where ever you are.
God Bless

My Mistake, pt. II

Okay, okay, so I blew it again. My information department (thanks Dustin) looked it up and the average Egyptian makes around $3,900 per year, not the $1,200 I had read in my travel book (blasted Lonely Planet liars).

My Thanks.....

First off, a big thanks to everyone who has left a comment over the past few weeks. It makes me think people are actually reading this thing, instead of me just typing this for my parents. So Thank you so much for saying hello or leaving a note.

I suppose I haven't really introduced you to Cairo yet. The city is huge, dirty and very busy. There are some where between 16.5 and 20 million people in and around this city. So far, everything looks the same, although I'm beginning to be able to tell where I am sometimes. Life here is rough and many people are poor, some extremely poor. I believe I read that the average Egyptian makes $1,200 a year. I've seen rich ex-pats living in Maahdi, a suburb S of the city, which looks completely different to what I see daily. I've also seen people, even children, sleeping on a piece of cardboard in the street. It's a little different.

I'm living in a 2 bedroom apartment with a guy named Alex in Heliopolis, a suburb NE of the city center. It's located near the airport. It's a nice suburb, but don't get the idea of suburbia like in the States. There are tons of apartment buildings, shops, stores, fruit stands and cats. Lots of cats. Everywhere. We also live next to the Military Academy, which is interesting.

I take a taxi everywhere I go. I often meet up with some people in Korba, an area of town that is 10 minutes away by cab. The ride is cheap, around 5 LE (which means Egyptian Pounds), this is equivalent to less than a $1. Good deal. Because of the cheaper standard of living, things here are very cheap, once you figure in the exchange rate. I can buy a huge bottle of water often for 2 LE or maybe a little more.

As for my job (yes, I do work too), I don't actually have any students until the 17th of September. We are moving into a new building, which is still being built, so the start of school has been delayed. Good times!!

I hope all is well. More will come soon and I'll try to get some photos up as well.

My Delay

I do apologize for the recent delay in communication from my end. I am still waiting for the DSL to get hooked up in my flat. I am currently hanging out at Erica and Kelly's flat, abusing their internet and TV.

Things here are going well. I have food now and a towel, both which are positives. I'm currently waiting on my flatmate, Alex, to arrive before I start going crazy getting things for the apartment. He gets here tomorrow and we start gearing up for school on Sunday. It should be fun.

Well, I'm going to run. I'm sorry for how short the last two posts have been. I promise to tell you about Egypt when I get my DSL connected.

Until then,

Bill

My Arrival

Good News!! I have arrived in Cairo. It was a long couple of flights with a lot of anxiety, but I am alive and well in Cairo. I will post more once I have DSL hooked up in my flat. Until then, I just wanted you to know that I am safe.

God Bless,
Bill

My Departure....

Well, the time has come for me to head to Africa. I've been hanging out in DM for the last two weeks and I think I'm about to lose my mind. I'm ready to get to Cairo, get adjusted and begin preparing to teach.

I've finally said just about all my good-byes as well. Tonight we had a BBQ at a park in Des Moines, to welcome Dustin back from Kenya and to see me off to Egypt. It was a ton of fun as we sat around, ate some good food (thanks to Grill Master Mike) and then, to top it all off, we played a fantastic game of 4 vs 4 Kickball. It was the Brothers Farley taking on the Old Guys. If you haven't played Kickball as an adult, I suggest that you do it because it's a ton of fun. Ultimately the Old Guys were too much, defeat the younger (and more in-shape) Farleys 28-9 (if not worse, we lost count to be honest).

Tomorrow, I head for Chicago, where I will spend the night. Then on Monday, I fly off to Egypt, arriving there on Tuesday afternoon.

This will be my last chance to post before I leave, so I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has helped me (and put up with me) along the way and I'll post again once I get to Cairo.

God Bless,
Bill

The Gang ready to find some Snipe. 

My Summer Job.....

Okay, so some of you have been hearing about how much fun my summer job was. Besides working with some great people (Aaron, Melissa, Nancy, Megan, Nick-where ever he is, and yes even you Kathy) I was able to work with some great kids for the past 8 weeks. Sure, I got in trouble a few times, but we had more fun for it!

I worked at the UI Wildlife Camps this summer, in Hawk Camp, probably the greatest camp ever (so much better than those smelly otters and that weak eagle camp). I taught kids archery and I would go on a hike in the mornings where we'd search for mushrooms, insects, bones, wildlife and pretty much anything else to keep the kids occupied for 2 hours.

The last week of camp was great. We grilled out 3 out of 5 days and then on the last day we had some sweet sub sandwiches. Why didn't we start this earlier??

So the big event came of the 2nd to last day of camp. That night Aaron, Melissa and I took some other counselors Snipe Hunting (which, if you've never been, we'll arrange it for when I come back). The night ended with me being sprayed by a skunk which is just as gross as it sounds. In the end though, it was a great night and we all went down in Hawk Camp lore for it.

And if Nick ever reads this....where are you man???? (for those that don't know...Nick went cycling from Kenya to South Africa and we haven't heard from him since mid-July. Most likely due to a lack of Internet access...hopefully....hopefully not lions or hyenas or something like that....yeah.

So that is a brief view of my summer. Probably one of the best summers I can remember and it was a blast. It also allowed me to appreciate the landscape of Iowa before I head for the desert.

My last week....

Okay, okay, so it's been a while since I posted anything. I'm still a bit upset about the whole Italy thing, but oh well. I just realized this weekend how little time I had left not only in Iowa City, but in Iowa as well.

For those of you that don't know me as well, I'm terrible at good-byes. I don't like to see other people cry, because then in turn I will probably start as well. I said adios to some friends last night and I almost got misty eyed. I still have one week left in Iowa City too!

It's a strange feeling, leaving a place that has been your home for the past 8 years. I've truly come to love Iowa City and see it as my home. I've made some friends that mean a lot to me, who I will really miss hanging out with at Friday night concerts, South of 80 gigs, Trivial Pursuit, Whiteys, Pancheros, UI Football/basketball games, Lemme, Disney reunions and Parkview, just to name a few.

This next week is going to be busy, trying to fit everything/one in. I will probably be heading back to Des Moines around the 1st of August, where I'll hang out with some friends and Agnes (my mom) for the last two weeks. Is it really that far away?

God Bless,
Bill

My healing....

Well, by the time anyone actually reads this, the World Cup will be over. As I'm typing it, France and Italy are taking the penalty kicks to decide the champion of the world. It is hard to talk about this game and not mention what Zidane did. The last game of his career and he's jawing with another player. The Italian must have hit a nerve, because Zidane head-butted him right in the chest. Granted, the Italian dropped as though he had just been shot, but such a move is uncalled for and the red card was deserved. It's sad that one of the best players in our generation has his international career end like that, but it's his own fault.

To be honest, France deserved to win the game. They were the more attacking side for most of the game and it's sad that it has to come down to PKs. Someone will be a hero and someone will be a goat.

I'm curious now as to what I'm going to do with my weekends. All I've been doing is watching soccer for the last month. I may actually have to leave my apartment!!!

Sangol has to hit this PK for France to stay alive......got it. Now it comes down to one PK......Grosso, for the World Cup and hero status in Italy.....Got it. Italy wins. Now we have to hear about how good Italy is for four years....that sucks.

Well, it was a good PK shootout. In the PKs, the advantage is always with the shooter. He should know where he's going to put it and he should make it. Sadly, it came down to one French player missing and everyone else made it. Too bad.

God Bless,
Bill

My Queensland!!!!

Breaking news....for all of you that were curious, Queensland defeated New South Wales today to win the State of Origin series!!!

My 4th

Wow, I couldn't believe how long it's been since I've written on this thing, but alas, for all of you (I mean both of you) that missed my rants...I have returned.

Yesterday was the 4th of July, a day all Americans look forward to because not only do we get a day off work, we also get to watch fireworks, grill out and enjoy the company of our friends while celebrating our independence.

I enjoyed most of those yesterday, except for the part about fireworks. I was called a Communist and harassed many times because, to be honest, I'm not really a big fan of fireworks. Yes, they're loud. Yes, they're bright. But that's about it. Truth be told, if I don't get to watch someone light it and if there isn't a high percentage of someone losing a digit (I'm talking a 50-75% chance) then I'm not interested. Not to mention how does this make me Communist?

After enjoying a great BBQ with some friends, I went out to Lake McBride with my friend Rachel and we went on a little hike to the spillway. We took off our shoes and wandered around the streams. It was pretty sweet until we found the leeches on my feet. I had like a dozen and she had zero. What's that all about???

Next we went to the Raptor Center, which is also at the Park. That was fun.

After that, why not finish the night with a little viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean?? I would have to say that Jack Sparrow is one of my all-time favorite movie characters. Savvy.

Great day/night and I didn't even watch fireworks. How good is that?

Bill

One of my favorite pictures from Oz. 

My discovery...

Great news!! I've finally figured out how to edit the links on the side bar of this silly blog. Now instead of linking you to Google News and Edit Me pages, you can link to the blogs of two of my friends and of course a link to US soccer. Another fun link for you is to the school that I will be teaching at in Egypt. Check them out!!!

By the way, now that the US has crashed out of the World Cup, my support has fallen to the Aussies, who face a tough Italy on Tuesday. If they play well, they have a shot!!

Dempsey celebrates his goal agains Ghana. One of the few bright spots for the US Team. 

My Frustration

I have waited for a while for my latest update in an attempt to calm down from the events of this past week. However, that didn't seem to work.

To be honest, I'm ashamed, angered and embarrassed by the US performance in the latest World Cup. All the chips fell in the right place, the stars seemed to align for the US to make it to the second round. Italy was leading the Czechs 1-0, we were tied with Ghana 1-1. It all looked good, but then the questionable PK and the subsequent goal seemed to take the life out of us. As a former player (a really really long time ago), you know the ref will screw up and you can't use that as an excuse. The fact is that most of the Americans never showed up. Period.

Now most of you that know me know that I love US soccer. However the team that went to Germany showed merely a fraction of the talent that they have. Donovan was nonexistent against the Czechs and Ghana. He only had 1 shot. ONE SHOT for the entire tournament. He had been one of our leading goal scorers going into the WC.
Beasley was basically scared. He is normally a very attacking, no fear type of player. I don't know if his dog just died or what, but he acted like he didn't want to be there.

Two of our best players. Non existent. Imagine how good a basketball team would be if your shooting guard and your small forward decided to pass the entire game and not shoot. They just wanted to hang out on the perimeter and take up space. That makes it a little tough to win.

After all the negatives, there were some positives. Clint Dempsey played well. He was looking to show what he had and he attacked well. His goal (the only of the US) and his celebration afterward showed he at least wanted to be there and compete. Hopefully he'll be picked up by a European Club and he'll be a building block for the future.

Oguchi Onyewu also played pretty well. He's a huge defender (think of a Ray Lewis type of linebacker, only playing soccer). He gets picked on by refs because of his size, but he played well and will continue to for the national team for a while.

That's it. I'm ashamed of our team and our "stars". Hopefully we can find some players that want to represent our country in the next four years and in 2010 in South Africa, we can take the step we should have taken this year.

My Fever....

I have a fever, World Cup fever. I love the weekends because it allows me to watch 3 games each day. 6 hours of soccer a day and 12 hours for the entire weekend. Does it get any better?

To be honest, many Americans don't know the World Cup is going on, let alone what needs to happen for the US to advance. This was the mindset that I had going into the US-Italy game yesterday. I arrived at Quinton's, a local bar at around 9:45 am to finish watching the Portugal-Iran game. I was the only one there.

Then at around 11 the lunch crowd started to show up, so there were some people there to watch Ghana shock the Czech Republic and give the US some hope. It looked as though the stars were beginning to align for a US miracle.

When it was almost game time, the bar started to fill up. I was a little confused at first. Really? All these people are here to watch the game? huh? I thought we didn't like soccer.--these were my thoughts as the game began.

Had I known what was to come, I would have better prepared myself. The following two hours were an emotional rollercoaster and I saw probably the greatest soccer game that I have ever seen. EVER.

The US started well, they were attacking, they were physical and they showed no fear. They actually made it look like the Don't Tread on Me ad campaign seem serious. Then Italy scored. Suddenly my delight turned into frustration. Then the own goal came minutes later. Joy once again returned and the bar erupted in jubilation. Then the red card to Rossi of Italy!! To see McBride coming off the pitch with blood pouring from his face had to be inspirational to his teammates. Then to see him come back on, minutes later with 3 stitches pushed them more. At this point I was feeling pretty good about a win. 1-1 tie, we have 1 more player and we are dominating the game. How can we not get three points?

Then anger. Pablo's red card, probably a little harsh. Now we're even, but I'm still feeling good going into half-time. Then disbelief as Eddie Pope is given the red card (a poor decision by the ref) for a second offence. I was in shock. 3 red cards in one game??? Now I just hoped we would hold on. But that is when the amazing thing happened. The US crowd was making noise and the boys responded. The US still had chances, even though they were down a man. Then around the 75 minute, Beasley scores. The bar goes insane. No team has ever scored with only 9 men in the World Cup. NO ONE. And sadly that fact held true as the goal was disallowed due to McBride being offsides and in the path of the ball. Which, after seeing the replay, he was. No question. I can't argue with that.

The US held on for a draw and restored our reputation. Had they played like that against the Czechs, I think we would be through at this point, or at least only needing a draw. Now we need an Italy win and a US win. That's the easy way.

I have decided that I am rooting for another team in this tournament. Dustin has England (since he lived there for a while, I understand) and I have decided to root for the Aussies. They are playing Brazil right now and while my head (and fantasy league team) say Brazil will win, my heart is rooting for Australia.

My Weekend of Bliss......

....began early Saturday morning. Since the World Cup began, I had watched zero of the matches, but I more than made up for it this weekend. I watched a poor performance by England as they barely beat Paraguay. Then I met up with my Mom and a friend of hers to watch the Trinidad & Tobago vs. Sweden game. It was awesome!!! Best game of the Cup so far, and it ended in a 0-0 tie!! I couldn't believe T&T held on. Finally the soccer day ended with Argentina beating Ivory Coast 2-1.

Today was more of the same. I woke up early to see Netherlands beat Serbia & Montenegro, which is funny because Montenegro declared independence from Serbia, so now what do we call them? Also does this mean the Montenegrin on the team have to leave? (although there are only two of them).
I then watched the other two games of the day (Mexico beat Iran and Portugal edged Angola).

Where is this leading to you may ask??? Well, the tournament for me and my Aussie friends really begins tomorrow. Australia opens the day playing Japan and then, the big one, The US plays Czech Republic. I'm so excited!!!! Sadly, I can't watch it due to Wildlife Camp, so I have a friend that is going to text message me the score. So if there is a scream of joy in Iowa City around noon tomorrow, that's me. (If it's a scream of anger....good chance that's me too).

My favorite time of year....

....Is just beginning. Yes, once every four years an amazing event happens on Earth. No, it's not a comet, the opening of some silly flower or the Cubs having a winning season. It is the greatest sporting event on Earth. Yes, you've guessed it. The World Cup.

It's hard for me to contain my excitement for the World Cup. For those of you that don't know (meaning many Americans that don't know me well), the World Cup begins tomorrow in Germany with Germany playing Costa Rica. I know this isn't a very exciting opening game, but I'm actually thrilled by it because I think Costa Rica may have a chance. The Americans don't actually play until Monday (when I'll be working, Maybe I should quit for a day?).

The best part is that there will be soccer games on every day for almost a month. EVERY DAY!!! Here in the States the games are on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. Yes, ABC is actually showing a soccer game that doesn't include the US National Team. How exciting is that!! I'm pumped to tune in on Saturday morning and watch England get beaten by Paraguay. That would be a great start to my summer (but if England won, that would be okay too).

The difference between here and Australia is amazing. In Australia I saw signs of the World Cup everywhere that I went. Jerseys in stores, ads in papers, commentary on TV, it was amazing. Here however is a little different. Most Owens couldn't care less about the games and I can't find a USA jersey to save my life, though oddly enough I could get one in Brisbane.....weird.

The other fun thing is that I started working today. I had my first day at the UI Wildlife Camps and I went out with 10 kids and another leader on an insect hike. Yes, we went searching for bugs and other animals. The highlight came when we caught a snake in the grass, although it was only a garder snake, probably the least scary snake of all. Good times.

By the way, the US will advance out of their group and I think if they can play their best, they could win it. Of course, it would require a tremendous amount of luck too!!!

My battle.....

It was an interesting flight to Chicago from Brisbane. First I had to fly from Brisbane to LA. This flight is between 13.5 and 14 hours. I had a rather large gentleman sitting next to me who decided that it would be fun if we were touching for most of the flight. I wasn't weirded out by this too much at first, but then I briefly broke my entertainment system and it played Brokeback Mountain. That's when the touching started to bother me.
It wasn't just the awkward arm to arm contact that was bothering me. Eventually he fell asleep and sure enough, began to snore. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much on the plane, maybe 40 minutes at most. Fortunately, once Brokeback was over, my entertainment system was working again, so I was able to play games and watch most of Syriana before we landed. It was a real battle for most of the flight because we kept fighting for control of the arm rest, which he won because I kept getting up to move around. I think he stole my pillow one of those times too.

When we landed in LA, it was 7 am on Wednesday. The best part about that was when I left Brisbane, it was 11 am on Wednesday. Don't think about that too much because it really starts to hurt the brain.

The flight from LA to Chicago was much better. I purchased some Tylenol PM at LAX and I was asleep before we took off. I slept for most of that flight. Then it was a 5.5 hour drive from Chicago to Altoona before I could go to bed for the night. I finally got to sleep around 11:45 pm.

But the fun continued the next morning. I woke up at 6:30, got ready and drove to Cedar Rapids to see my kids at Prairie View on their last day, which was pretty cool. I also visited my Lemme kids and hung out with Mike and his wife Lianne that night. They asked to see all my pictures, which I think they were regretting two hours later.

That night was awesome because I returned to my old apartment and filled up the air mattress and laid down. I woke up 20 minutes later and found myself sleeping on the floor because the mattress was leaking air. Still, it was a great night's sleep.