http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Egypt , Lower Egypt , Cairo en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:08:13 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:08:13 BST Yesterday was a pretty laid back day as we worked on the blog for a few hours. We had two things in mind that we wanted to do at night before leaving Cairo. One is the Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids. The other was to see a bellydancing show. Both of these occur at night and Giza Pyramids are a half hour cab ride away so after a little fanagling we were able to do both. We talked to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-304683.html Thanks to everybody who has been writing with comments and emails. We've read them all and love them. Please keep them coming. After a long flight from Fez Morocco we've made it to Cairo Egypt and have been safe and sound for the last two days. Upon going through customs we were approached by a travel agent from the airport who asked us if we needed help finding a hotel. Our mostly A http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-304048.html We met with our tour group last night. There are two others doing our tour a couple from Singapore. There are three others women doing 'Essential Egypt' which is the same as our tour without the last few days on the Sinai Peninsula. Our tour guideEgypologist's name is Victor he gave us a brief rundown of our tour and all of the additional costsoptional activities and he gave the expected http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-303817.html July 5th13th WOW Egypt What a crazy place and really hot too. If I hadn't spent the last several years of my life in very hot climates I would not have been ready for the unbelievable heat. But Here is my trip story. So I start of in greece and I hop the subway to go to the air port. Ahead of schedule good thing too and about 3 stops of the train the train lurches like some one popped the clut http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-300397.html Yay We're in Egypt staying in ONE hotel for 5 straight nights Woohoo After such a frantic pace in Moroccoit's awesome to stay in Cairo for a few days in a row. Plus that is a lot cheaper too.Cairo is a big city about 20 million people with TONS of taxis which don't have any meters. There are also tons of men constantly saying Taxi Where you from Taxi Need a guide Taxi AhOur Hotel http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-299607.html 'Leh' means 'no' in Arabic in the spirit of lizards I think I might need to change the name of mine.Stacey http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-298553.html So. I'm rested I'm cool I'm eating a hamburger and I'm listening to Party for Two by Shania Twain.However not just your regular Wednesday afternoon I'm in freaking Cairo Egypt. Yesterday I arrived delirious but awake. I've arrived to a couple conclusions so farEgyptian toothpaste is freaky.Papa John's pizza tastes about the same so this is what they eat in Egypt Alex.and stories abo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297965.html So the first thing you need to understand is that this trip was unexpected. My original schedule had me flying to Riyadh Saudi Arabia for a 4 day engagement. The gig was schedule to end on Tuesday and I was due to fly from Saudi to my next engagement on Wednesday a 7am flight that would put me in Budapest at 4pm with a short layover in Cairo Egypt. Well when I got to Riyadh I found out that http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297881.html From Rush Today we went to the market place in Old Cairo. I did not feel so well. The toilets were in the ground at the Mosque whenever I went to the bathroom because I was sick. Then we had tea after that. And so I started feeling better then we went shopping. We bought Jett a little camel and a Egyptian shirt. For Mom we bought her an Egyptian shirt. While we were there uncle Matt bought me 4 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297614.html Seventh Stop Cairo Egypt. After a funfilled day and a half in Amsterdam we made the trek into the most distinct part of our trip Egypt. From the moment we set foot off the plane it felt like we entered a different world. The airport was filled with comotion. Tons of Arab men walked around in long robes and turbans with the women completely covered from head to toe in black several with only http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297532.html Today was the last day of classes in the summer English course. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. You have read about some of my struggles at times but what you don't hear about is every marvelous experience that I have had. And there have been many more than I can count.I'm so very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this program and I'm hopeful more so than I was a few wee http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297490.html Part 1 of 2Leon Jodie and I arrived at Cairo airport at around 11pm tonight yeaahhhh. Despite 19 hours of flying with a 5 hour stop over at Changi Singapore airport I didn't even get a wink of sleep. I guess I was still buzzing because the trip was actually happening while my head was still stuck in replay mode from the previous nights' farewellantics.After exiting the plane we followed http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297429.html We didn't have much time when we got back from the trip so we quickly uploaded a few scenic photos.The stream can be accessed here We hope to be able to upload more pictures and blog a bit more often about our experiences. This past trip was really hectic and Internet access was hard to come by so daybyday blog entries are pretty impossible. I started blogging in Notepad but gave up after the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297279.html From Rush Today we went to the pyramids. They were collosul. Dad Uncle Matt and I went INTO the Great Pyramid and saw one of the kings burial chambers. It was small Dad he had to bend down to where he was as tall as Jett Before that we ate right in front of the new Pyramid and The Sphinx. While we were there I made a little video documentary that you will laugh when you see the end. When we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-297150.html The summer English course at St. Leo's is winding down. Tomorrow is the final day of classes. We'll have a party tomorrow evening and on Thursday we'll go to the Red Sea Ain Sukna for a day at the beach. On Friday morning we'll catch a 7 am train to go to Assyut in Upper Egypt. We'll be traveling with our friend Kadry who is one of the students in the summer program. We will be visiting his vil http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-296882.html From Matt We finally got caught up on our sleep so we are staying up late tonite to celebrate Hung out the no disturb sign pulled the heavy curtains shut and slept about 10 hours. I still had to force Rush to wake up or he would have slept thru the day We had some Turkish coffee for breakfast and Rush said it tasted like dirt. It's the best coffee I've had and I'm sure I will suck down a fe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-296685.html After another delayed flight we arrived in Cairo at 5 am and had to find a cab to the hotel. That is always the most difficult part of being in a new country because the process is always different you are never sure how much it should cost and there are always a bunch of people inside the airport that want you to take their cab and you need to decide if they are trustworthy. In Cairo the cab http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-296360.html From Rush I tried to get some sleep on the plane and I got about an hours worth of sleep. I didn't sleep on the second plane we were on. I watched a movie and played video games. Our hotel is right next to The Nile and I mean RIGHT next to The Nile. Our room is small but has a great view. I also heard my first calling to prayer. Thats it. ByeFrom Matt We are on an arabic keyboard so if you get http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-296163.html Just a quick note to say that Hans arrived safe and sound this afternoon. Yeah His plane was a little late leaving JFK but he arrived in Cairo around noon and we were back at seminary by 2. The students who saw him came running to say hi. He's cleaning up and going to rest for a bit and then we'll probably go out to our favorite coffee shop for a little air conditioning.Thanks for all your prayer http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-295601.html Signs of hope come in unexpected moments and from surprising places. I experienced both on Thursday night after dinner.My upper level students have spent the summer course preparing reflections to give in morning mass. They have worked very hard continually revising their ideas and practicing their reflections again and again to make their messages clearer and better. I admire their willingness t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-295313.html One of the great pleasures of life in Egypt is an evening spent on a falucca floating on the Nile. We had our annual falucca ride two Saturday's ago June 21st. A falucca is the name for the boat that sails the Nile. This is a pleasure for a couple of reasons. First and foremost in my opinion when you're floating on the Nile you feel the breeze and the cool air that you rarely feel anyplace els http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-294810.html So I can't really do Cairo justice. We only have exactly one day 7am7am in Cairo and part of the morning is spent recovering from the overnight bus from Dahab. I don't take many pictures. Maybe it's a shame maybe it was all for the best but maybe I'll just use this as an excuse to only write about 2 topics the disappointment that are the Pyramids and an extremely creepy BellyDancing experie http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-294321.html I hope you enjoy this second blog of the day. One of things that I love about teaching at St. Leorsquos is watching how the more advanced students begin to own English. They get to a point where they are not just translating what they want to say into English but they are thinking in English and making jokes in English. Youssri is one of these students.Youssri has completed 2 years of seminary http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-293527.html Two blogs today. This is the first.I wrote the other day about the frustration of being a woman in this maledominated culture and environment. But let me share another story so you can see another perspective. On Sunday the students and teachers traveled to spend the day at an orphanage in Cairo that has a pool. This was intended to be a day of fun and relaxation. We would go swimming have lunch http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-293526.html There is a song I found in the last year that's called Painting Pictures of Egypt. It's a song about the Israelites as they lived in the wilderness for 40 years longing for what had been in Egypt while waiting for the promised land to come. There's a line in the song that says I've been painting pictures of Egypt and leaving out what it lacks . . . Many times over the last year I've wondere http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-292783.html Friends and FamilyWe are now a week into the adventure of a lifetime. Hard to believe that one week ago we were in Prarie du Chien Wisconsin attending a wedding and participating in all forms of debauchery note to self do not drink 70 beers and watch the sunrise on the Mississippi river the night before you take a 12 hr flight through Amman Jordan to Cairo Egypt. Our trip started off with http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-292352.html Wednesday I was reminded of one of the many reasons I love being in Egypt and at St. Leorsquos seminary so much. Both before my first class and for an hour at dinner I was engrossed in some of the most interesting questions about scripture about theology about the natures of Christ and about the understanding of our common faith.The questions came primarily from two older students who are spe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-291927.html On my computer at home I have a little card that says ldquoLife is what happens while yoursquore making other plans.rdquo I keep it close to where I work because I always need the reminder that life doesnrsquot follow my plans.These words could also be the motto for life in Egypt where nothing ever seems to go according to plans. Take Monday night for instance.The announcement was made a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-291519.html Today I had my second Arabic lesson with Deacon Hadiya who teaches Arabic at St. Leo's. First I should explain why Arabicspeaking seminarians study Arabic in seminary.The language of the streets that people speak every day in Egypt is Arabic known as Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Because Egypt is the mostpopulous Arabicspeaking country and because Egypt is the center of Arabicspeaking mass medi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-289855.html I wrote this blog last Thursday but just noticed today that I had forgotten to publish it. Enjoy.In the last year if someone would have asked me what daily annoyance stood out the most for me I think I would have said the noise. My memory was of a place that was louder than it needed to be with too many honking horns and too many barking dogs including one dog that barked continually and lived a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-289138.html