Happy Birthday to all the March babies out there! There are too many of you to mention so I will just do a "Cheers!" to you all! Hope the day was special and filled with loved ones, presents, and good food.
April holds a great number of births as well, and many more on the way. Johneen is due with a boy, Stephanie with twins, one of each, and Nancy (Tyler), who knows what they are having, they are going for the surprise! I am sure there are plenty of others due soon. Wish you all the best and cannot wait to see the pictures of the cute little swaddled bundle(s).
Mike and I are headed to Jordan on Friday with a few friends. We are very excited to go on vacation, you might think that is all we do, but there is regular life and work between these exciting postings.
We look forward to our first few nights in Petra. Think Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. We then head down to Aqaba, City of Mystery and Enchantment (ok, maybe only in the movie Alladin), Ending in Amman to complete a few day trips to Jerash, the Dead Sea to float in the saltiest water in the word. Then home for a few days to relax on the beaches of Egypt.
Rough life I know, will update you when we get back April 9.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Happy St Patrick’s Day!!
Today is a very special day, not only for all the Irish out there but also for all our friends who like to read about our travels, adventures, mis-adventures, daily grind and just the general goings-ons with us way over here in Cairo, Egypt. Today is the day we’ve decided to catch you up on the last few months and get up to date on our blog. Kind of like finding a Pot of Gold!!
Our latest adventure was the St Patrick’s Day party. I think Cairo is the least green place we have ever seen and I’m not sure they’ve even heard of St Patrick. (Hard to imagine hmm?) Today being Saturday, which is more like your Sunday, since everyone goes back to work tomorrow, we had a St Patrick’s Day party at our flat on Thursday, giving everyone the weekend to recover. How kind of us huh? After a bit of a disappointing Halloween with no ghoulish get-together, we decided we’d have to take on the St. Patrick’s party ourselves.
Anyone who knows Nancy, knows this was no fly-by-night, last minute event. As I said, the idea was sparked in early November with the serious planning beginning shortly after the New Year and intensifying continuously right up to the minute guests were due to arrive. We made several forays into the markets to find something, anything, that was the right color green with which we could fashion some decorations and found nothing. We returned from Germany over the first part of Christmas break with Shamrock napkins and we brought a few things back with us from the US when we returned from our all-too-brief visit in February. Nancy was able to find some green paper and we fashioned some shamrocks and made some banners to help get everyone in a festive mood. Oh and of course we hung our Irish flag. Our final decorations we put up just hours before the party were green balloons with shamrocks on them. Laura, who was a huge help before the party, blew up all those balloons and had the brilliant idea of hanging some from the ceiling. It really added a lot to the party atmosphere.
Green beer was asking too much in an almost alcohol free country so we had to settle for beer in green cans and bottles. We mixed up a green punch which everyone seemed to enjoy so much that we mixed it up four times that night. Food was another thing that needed to be sorted out. Nancy had the idea of serving corned beef quesadillas. Try finding corned beef in Cairo!! But Nancy being Nancy was not to be denied and was able to find someone who offered to make some for her. Thanks Mark!! They were delicious!! I made some sugar cookies iced with homemade green icing all from scratch (thanks Mom!) and some green chocolate chip cookies (thanks Nestle!). Green Vegetable platter with avocado dip, Sambousak, prawn crackers, cashews and almonds were also on offer. We couldn’t find any crescent roll pastry so Nancy improvised and made her infamous chicken ring anyway. Even without the crescent roll it was a huge hit! Nancy had the fantastic idea of using the small shamrock shaped cookie cutter to cut the cheese into cute little shamrocks! Adorable, someone asked me if they could eat them or if they were just decorative! Guests also brought a ton of other foods, snacks, drinks, and desserts which were all very helpful and rounded out the food and helped make the party a huge success. Special thanks must go to Nancy’s fellow teacher, Nan, who has Maadi House privileges and was able to supply us a whole case of Guinness as well as a few other hard to get spirits!! You made a few people very happy! And a friend who was able to secure us several packages of BACON for which I am eternally grateful.
Needless to say that although we spent a fair amount of time trying to make this party a fun evening for everyone it would not have been possible without the help of everyone who attended. In fact, we were so overwhelmed by the sense of community that helped make it a success. Everyone was so helpful and went out of their way to ask if there was anything they could do or if we needed anything else. Dave, next door donated the use of his dining table and chairs, some wine and beer glasses, ice, and avocado dip, Kim & Rebecca upstairs made an appetizer and donated a super-cooler that still had ice in it two days later! Need to get one of those! Julian upstairs who donated her cooler, ice and a bottle of Jameson’s whiskey! Kathy upstairs stopped by bringing the punch bowl with some pre-mixed punch and some rum! MJ upstairs who donated some dip and silverware. Laura for the use of her stereo and iPod which allowed us to enjoy the music and dance well into the wee hours of the morning! Verna for the use of her disco ball which gave the place ambiance and atmosphere and put everyone in the dancing mood! A HUGE thank you to everyone who attended and helped us pull this off.
How many people fit in our small kitchen?
Limbo using Christmas garland.
New friends Tim and Wendy.
Andy is all excited, Carmen his "young lady friend" is finally here to stay!
The Keevy's
Richie and Laura
Mark maker of the corned beef.
Maybe 40 people fit...
Sarah being dipped by Jamie
The last few standing...
Today is a very special day, not only for all the Irish out there but also for all our friends who like to read about our travels, adventures, mis-adventures, daily grind and just the general goings-ons with us way over here in Cairo, Egypt. Today is the day we’ve decided to catch you up on the last few months and get up to date on our blog. Kind of like finding a Pot of Gold!!
Our latest adventure was the St Patrick’s Day party. I think Cairo is the least green place we have ever seen and I’m not sure they’ve even heard of St Patrick. (Hard to imagine hmm?) Today being Saturday, which is more like your Sunday, since everyone goes back to work tomorrow, we had a St Patrick’s Day party at our flat on Thursday, giving everyone the weekend to recover. How kind of us huh? After a bit of a disappointing Halloween with no ghoulish get-together, we decided we’d have to take on the St. Patrick’s party ourselves.
Anyone who knows Nancy, knows this was no fly-by-night, last minute event. As I said, the idea was sparked in early November with the serious planning beginning shortly after the New Year and intensifying continuously right up to the minute guests were due to arrive. We made several forays into the markets to find something, anything, that was the right color green with which we could fashion some decorations and found nothing. We returned from Germany over the first part of Christmas break with Shamrock napkins and we brought a few things back with us from the US when we returned from our all-too-brief visit in February. Nancy was able to find some green paper and we fashioned some shamrocks and made some banners to help get everyone in a festive mood. Oh and of course we hung our Irish flag. Our final decorations we put up just hours before the party were green balloons with shamrocks on them. Laura, who was a huge help before the party, blew up all those balloons and had the brilliant idea of hanging some from the ceiling. It really added a lot to the party atmosphere.
Green beer was asking too much in an almost alcohol free country so we had to settle for beer in green cans and bottles. We mixed up a green punch which everyone seemed to enjoy so much that we mixed it up four times that night. Food was another thing that needed to be sorted out. Nancy had the idea of serving corned beef quesadillas. Try finding corned beef in Cairo!! But Nancy being Nancy was not to be denied and was able to find someone who offered to make some for her. Thanks Mark!! They were delicious!! I made some sugar cookies iced with homemade green icing all from scratch (thanks Mom!) and some green chocolate chip cookies (thanks Nestle!). Green Vegetable platter with avocado dip, Sambousak, prawn crackers, cashews and almonds were also on offer. We couldn’t find any crescent roll pastry so Nancy improvised and made her infamous chicken ring anyway. Even without the crescent roll it was a huge hit! Nancy had the fantastic idea of using the small shamrock shaped cookie cutter to cut the cheese into cute little shamrocks! Adorable, someone asked me if they could eat them or if they were just decorative! Guests also brought a ton of other foods, snacks, drinks, and desserts which were all very helpful and rounded out the food and helped make the party a huge success. Special thanks must go to Nancy’s fellow teacher, Nan, who has Maadi House privileges and was able to supply us a whole case of Guinness as well as a few other hard to get spirits!! You made a few people very happy! And a friend who was able to secure us several packages of BACON for which I am eternally grateful.
Needless to say that although we spent a fair amount of time trying to make this party a fun evening for everyone it would not have been possible without the help of everyone who attended. In fact, we were so overwhelmed by the sense of community that helped make it a success. Everyone was so helpful and went out of their way to ask if there was anything they could do or if we needed anything else. Dave, next door donated the use of his dining table and chairs, some wine and beer glasses, ice, and avocado dip, Kim & Rebecca upstairs made an appetizer and donated a super-cooler that still had ice in it two days later! Need to get one of those! Julian upstairs who donated her cooler, ice and a bottle of Jameson’s whiskey! Kathy upstairs stopped by bringing the punch bowl with some pre-mixed punch and some rum! MJ upstairs who donated some dip and silverware. Laura for the use of her stereo and iPod which allowed us to enjoy the music and dance well into the wee hours of the morning! Verna for the use of her disco ball which gave the place ambiance and atmosphere and put everyone in the dancing mood! A HUGE thank you to everyone who attended and helped us pull this off.
How many people fit in our small kitchen?
Limbo using Christmas garland.
New friends Tim and Wendy.
Andy is all excited, Carmen his "young lady friend" is finally here to stay!
The Keevy's
Richie and Laura
Mark maker of the corned beef.
Maybe 40 people fit...
Sarah being dipped by Jamie
The last few standing...
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Again we made plans to start the day early but after a long night of games early came at 9AM. We had breakfast, packed our gear and stored it in one of the rooms with a late checkout.
We were excited as we were headed to the Greco Roman Museum. Nearly 40.000 items are arranged throughout the museum, dating from about 300 BC to 300 BC. Unfortunately we saw nothing because it was under construction. So we rambled through the back streets and made our way to the planetarium for a show. The show was at 11:30 so we walked through a nice park with some beautiful flowers, walked through some nasty alleys, and made our way to the library area.
Andy and Carmen said there was a quaint little place across the street so we went over to have a soda. There was a beautiful view and it was serene.
We went to the planetarium to find that the show was in Arabic so we headed into the Exploratorium instead. The others decided to meander. We loved the security in the places we visited. There was no one standing guard and you could simply walk around the turnstiles.
Asha is Mary's daughter who is 5. We had a great time explaining the different scientific thingys. Good thing there were signs to explain it to us first.
A quick lunch back at the Chinese restaurant before we head home.
Good bye to Alexandria. Not in our top 10 places to go see. Will we go back.....Probably not to the same location but will give the beaches a shot in late Spring.
We were excited as we were headed to the Greco Roman Museum. Nearly 40.000 items are arranged throughout the museum, dating from about 300 BC to 300 BC. Unfortunately we saw nothing because it was under construction. So we rambled through the back streets and made our way to the planetarium for a show. The show was at 11:30 so we walked through a nice park with some beautiful flowers, walked through some nasty alleys, and made our way to the library area.
Andy and Carmen said there was a quaint little place across the street so we went over to have a soda. There was a beautiful view and it was serene.
We went to the planetarium to find that the show was in Arabic so we headed into the Exploratorium instead. The others decided to meander. We loved the security in the places we visited. There was no one standing guard and you could simply walk around the turnstiles.
Asha is Mary's daughter who is 5. We had a great time explaining the different scientific thingys. Good thing there were signs to explain it to us first.
A quick lunch back at the Chinese restaurant before we head home.
Good bye to Alexandria. Not in our top 10 places to go see. Will we go back.....Probably not to the same location but will give the beaches a shot in late Spring.
Friday, March 02, 2007
The night of March 2nd we headed to Alexandria for the weekend. I was very excited about going to this city. Will I go again....
Here is Carmen and Andy on the 2 1/2 hour train ride from Cairo. We splurged and purchased the first class tickets and I am glad we did. I cannot imagine what the 2nd class would look like. There were bathrooms in between the trains that were the old fashion kind that spilled directly onto the tracks. There was no water for flushing or washing your hands. We are used to that by now and bring our own toilet paper and wet naps.
We arrived safely at the Paradise Inn Windsor Hotel. A four star hotel, unfortunately our travel agent did not communicate well with them and not one thing was correct about our rooms. We were all suppose to get ocean front view but we received side view which meant you stuck your head out the window and cranked it to the left or right depending on what side of the building you were on. We also add a triple room that was suppose to have 3 single beds and it had a creaky cot and a king. They gladly moved 2 people to another room but neglected to tell them they would be fully charged for the 2nd room. So back into the 1st room, move some beds, and we are off to supper.
We went to a Chinese Restaurant and sat outside on the roof. Everyone was frozen but me, I was very happy. It was their decision to stay outside due to the smoke inside. We had a great supper and headed to the hotel around midnight. Plans were made to get up early and site see while others planned to sleep.
March 3, Cathy, Liz, Mike and I got up early for breakfast and headed down to the buffet. It opened at 7, we arrived at 7:30 and waited for them to open it. I guess they wait for the first people to show before they set up.
After our simple breakfast we walked along the ocean front towards Fort Qaitbey.
This is the memorial to the unknown soldier, of some unknown war, for some unknown reason.
The beaches are not what we are used to. A ship crashes and becomes part of the barrier, saves on cement blocks. The garbage on the beaches is incredible. It could be a nice place but no one seems to want to clean it up or keep it clean.
This is a mosque with beautiful palm trees. Looks like an oasis.
Fort Qaitbey is in the same location as the once legendary lighthouse of Pharos. The lighthouse was counted as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was said to have 300 rooms and was built in the 3rd century. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1303.
Some of the fort stones are from the former lighthouse, you can see the red granite pillars in the northwest section.
I just like Mike inside caves, dungeons, etc...
We headed over to the catacombs for a quick jaunt into some tombs. We were not allowed to bring our cameras so these are photos I found on the web.
In the middle of Alexandra is an unassuming stone building, almost covered in grass -- beneath which is the huge underground necropolis of the Catacomb of Shouqafa. The houses above are two hundred years old, built over the honeycombed stone beneath -- the catacombs were discovered when a donkey stepped through a thin part of the roof.
These catacombs were originally a private crypt, but were later extended with more roman burials. People are buried here in sarcophagi, in shelves, and in urns of ashes after cremation.
The entrance to the catacombs is through a huge circular stairway that goes down for three stories. The body of the dead person would be lowered down through the center of the shaft, while mourners and priests would circle down to the tomb shafts.
There is a huge "banqueting hall" (a triclinium) in the catacombs, which has a vaulted roof. It was customary to visit the catacombs on feast days and in mourning, and people would bring picnics to eat in the catacombs. The room here once had a large banqueting table. Since it was considered bad luck to bring plates and cups back out of the tombs, they were thrown here -- the room was full of shards of pottery when it was discovered.
The odd mixture of decorations in the tombs is both Egyptian and Roman -- Egyptian symbology and scenes, roman-style clothing and faces. It's kind of weird. There is a really odd relief of Anubis wearing roman clothes.
Next stop was Pompey's Pillar. This stop lasted about a minute. This is one of the oddest monuments in Alexandria, it looks completely out of place -- just a single granite column, standing on a hill, for no apparent reason. Not even worth a photo.
So we headed to lunch. There were 12 of us on this trip so we split up to make our way back to the hotel. Some taxied, some walked, we decided to trolley. So 4 of us hopped on for 50 piasters which is like .04 cents. We were happy with this new form of travel until Mike said watch your pockets. No he did not actually get picked but the guy tried. Mike squared off with him and they looked at each other for a minute and the local said "American?" You know that look Mike has like "Dude! Don't even go there." Well Mike said YES back to the local and then the guy skedaddled to the front of the trolley.
We went a long for a while and realized we were going the wrong way and hopped off and grabbed a cab. Everyone was at the hotel and we decided to eat lunch there.
MISTAKE
Not even sure I want to mention this. 3 hours later we headed to the library. It is amazing how a nice long walk can change your attitude.
This is in front of the planetarium with some of the crew: Wendy , Laura , Mike , Liz , Sarah , Cathy , and Teresa.
Bibliotheca Alexandria was officially inaugurated in October, 2002. The UNESCO organization in 1988 organized an architectural competition that reviewed 1,400 entires. The winner was nohetta, a Norwegian office. Funding started in 1990 and collected 65millon dollars mostly from the Arab states. Construction began in 1995.
The library has shelf space for 8 million books, the old library had shelf space for 700, 000 schools. The Ancient library received most of his "donations" from visitors. All books, scrolls, documents were confiscated, duplicated, and the original stayed in he library while the "owner" got the copy.
There are 11 cascading floors. The design is a mix of old and new and tries to keep the Egyptian theme. The design attempts to allow as much natural light in as possible and does a great job. Each of the many windows resembles the human eye a little, eyelashes and all.
Some of the collection
Night view. It is really beautiful with the lights. The blue thing is the planetarium, we went in the next day. The flat slope is the library looking like a pyramid. The water on the left is the Mediterranean Sea.
We decided not to venture out into the city for supper after the horrible lunch experience. So some of us picked up chips and snacks, some pizza, some desserts, and of course nectar of the gods. We had a great game of Charades with everyone but Laura participating. We played I Never and a vow was made that whatever happens in room 411 stays in room 411. So I cannot discuss the interesting things we learned about each other.
Here is Carmen and Andy on the 2 1/2 hour train ride from Cairo. We splurged and purchased the first class tickets and I am glad we did. I cannot imagine what the 2nd class would look like. There were bathrooms in between the trains that were the old fashion kind that spilled directly onto the tracks. There was no water for flushing or washing your hands. We are used to that by now and bring our own toilet paper and wet naps.
We arrived safely at the Paradise Inn Windsor Hotel. A four star hotel, unfortunately our travel agent did not communicate well with them and not one thing was correct about our rooms. We were all suppose to get ocean front view but we received side view which meant you stuck your head out the window and cranked it to the left or right depending on what side of the building you were on. We also add a triple room that was suppose to have 3 single beds and it had a creaky cot and a king. They gladly moved 2 people to another room but neglected to tell them they would be fully charged for the 2nd room. So back into the 1st room, move some beds, and we are off to supper.
We went to a Chinese Restaurant and sat outside on the roof. Everyone was frozen but me, I was very happy. It was their decision to stay outside due to the smoke inside. We had a great supper and headed to the hotel around midnight. Plans were made to get up early and site see while others planned to sleep.
March 3, Cathy, Liz, Mike and I got up early for breakfast and headed down to the buffet. It opened at 7, we arrived at 7:30 and waited for them to open it. I guess they wait for the first people to show before they set up.
After our simple breakfast we walked along the ocean front towards Fort Qaitbey.
This is the memorial to the unknown soldier, of some unknown war, for some unknown reason.
The beaches are not what we are used to. A ship crashes and becomes part of the barrier, saves on cement blocks. The garbage on the beaches is incredible. It could be a nice place but no one seems to want to clean it up or keep it clean.
This is a mosque with beautiful palm trees. Looks like an oasis.
Fort Qaitbey is in the same location as the once legendary lighthouse of Pharos. The lighthouse was counted as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was said to have 300 rooms and was built in the 3rd century. It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1303.Some of the fort stones are from the former lighthouse, you can see the red granite pillars in the northwest section.
I just like Mike inside caves, dungeons, etc...
We headed over to the catacombs for a quick jaunt into some tombs. We were not allowed to bring our cameras so these are photos I found on the web.
In the middle of Alexandra is an unassuming stone building, almost covered in grass -- beneath which is the huge underground necropolis of the Catacomb of Shouqafa. The houses above are two hundred years old, built over the honeycombed stone beneath -- the catacombs were discovered when a donkey stepped through a thin part of the roof.
These catacombs were originally a private crypt, but were later extended with more roman burials. People are buried here in sarcophagi, in shelves, and in urns of ashes after cremation.
The entrance to the catacombs is through a huge circular stairway that goes down for three stories. The body of the dead person would be lowered down through the center of the shaft, while mourners and priests would circle down to the tomb shafts.
There is a huge "banqueting hall" (a triclinium) in the catacombs, which has a vaulted roof. It was customary to visit the catacombs on feast days and in mourning, and people would bring picnics to eat in the catacombs. The room here once had a large banqueting table. Since it was considered bad luck to bring plates and cups back out of the tombs, they were thrown here -- the room was full of shards of pottery when it was discovered.
The odd mixture of decorations in the tombs is both Egyptian and Roman -- Egyptian symbology and scenes, roman-style clothing and faces. It's kind of weird. There is a really odd relief of Anubis wearing roman clothes.Next stop was Pompey's Pillar. This stop lasted about a minute. This is one of the oddest monuments in Alexandria, it looks completely out of place -- just a single granite column, standing on a hill, for no apparent reason. Not even worth a photo.
So we headed to lunch. There were 12 of us on this trip so we split up to make our way back to the hotel. Some taxied, some walked, we decided to trolley. So 4 of us hopped on for 50 piasters which is like .04 cents. We were happy with this new form of travel until Mike said watch your pockets. No he did not actually get picked but the guy tried. Mike squared off with him and they looked at each other for a minute and the local said "American?" You know that look Mike has like "Dude! Don't even go there." Well Mike said YES back to the local and then the guy skedaddled to the front of the trolley.
We went a long for a while and realized we were going the wrong way and hopped off and grabbed a cab. Everyone was at the hotel and we decided to eat lunch there.
MISTAKE
Not even sure I want to mention this. 3 hours later we headed to the library. It is amazing how a nice long walk can change your attitude.
This is in front of the planetarium with some of the crew: Wendy , Laura , Mike , Liz , Sarah , Cathy , and Teresa.
Bibliotheca Alexandria was officially inaugurated in October, 2002. The UNESCO organization in 1988 organized an architectural competition that reviewed 1,400 entires. The winner was nohetta, a Norwegian office. Funding started in 1990 and collected 65millon dollars mostly from the Arab states. Construction began in 1995.
The library has shelf space for 8 million books, the old library had shelf space for 700, 000 schools. The Ancient library received most of his "donations" from visitors. All books, scrolls, documents were confiscated, duplicated, and the original stayed in he library while the "owner" got the copy.
There are 11 cascading floors. The design is a mix of old and new and tries to keep the Egyptian theme. The design attempts to allow as much natural light in as possible and does a great job. Each of the many windows resembles the human eye a little, eyelashes and all.
Some of the collection
Night view. It is really beautiful with the lights. The blue thing is the planetarium, we went in the next day. The flat slope is the library looking like a pyramid. The water on the left is the Mediterranean Sea.
We decided not to venture out into the city for supper after the horrible lunch experience. So some of us picked up chips and snacks, some pizza, some desserts, and of course nectar of the gods. We had a great game of Charades with everyone but Laura participating. We played I Never and a vow was made that whatever happens in room 411 stays in room 411. So I cannot discuss the interesting things we learned about each other.
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