I'm laughing so hard.....

we were deep in concentration at school here in the flat, focused and concentrating....

suddenly as if on "cue" by a director of a movie

"cue lawnmower"
"cue over reacting family to run to window simultaneously and stare for 5 seconds before speaking"

HA HA HA HA HA!

another "you know you're an expat in Egypt when" moment, I think, huh?

Here's some other things that are just "normal" here but feel SOOO annoying....Teri reminded me of one, as they've not always lived in America...

You WALK to the bank 30 min or so, stand in line for 45 min - 1.5 hrs, while attempting to proceed with your transaction..here are the few things that could happen

A. 2 people shove their hand in front of yours and start speaking in Arabic to be next since their transaction is simpler (people, people PERSONAL SPACE?)

B. They don't have the right amount of bills to do what you need

Next is this - you need something specific, perhaps it's fitted sheets since no, a 'set of sheets' only includes one flat sheet (not big enough to tuck in if you were stuck in a pinch say the first 2 weeks of arrival) and a blanket. So you need something specific like that, you find a store after 3 days of hunting on foot....and it has a sign IN ENGLISH, you're overjoyed!

A. The store is only open from 11 am - 3 pm on Mon, Tues and Thursday - it happens to be none of those days.

B. You return to the store on Mon at 11:30 am and it's not open. You return at 3 pm and she says THAT day she's open from 3- 5 pm. no explanation, no apology, just...the way it is.

Maybe you'll enjoy this! You hire a taxi who speaks English...you explain the 'new' large shopping market you want to go to. He, thankfully, knows and takes us there. On the way, my knees go into the backs of the seats - I sit in the middle with a hand on each child's legs - but anyway, between the donkey carts, pedestrians and other vehicles....my knees are the seatbelt for us...oh ok back on topic...you get to the new market and these are a few things that will happen....

A. You'll be happy to find fruits/veggies in the same store as meat and bread! You get to check out and the cashier is very annoyed (speaks good English but seems a bad thing in this situation) that you did not get the fruits and veggies priced. So she takes me to where it is to be done...guess what? not only was the person not there when I went thru..but he's still not there...and guess what else? yep..the cashier will still be mad AT YOU!

B. They don't put beef out on this day..but you can purchase the old stuff...and then they're so confused why you wouldn't pay for old stuff that's green and slimey...cuz of course other "locals" are happy to pay cheap for rotten beef..why wouldn't I?

C. Your cheese is cut from a dried up block of cheese....WHY wouldn't you pay full price and eat it?

Finally today my weird story is....you're walking with 2 kids to the sports club, it's a 3 lane road NO sidewalk. I don't mean torn up, I mean NO sidewalk. it's bushes, etc, cars, one lane, parked cars, bushes...can you see it? So since there's cars parked on both sides ,there's only one lane....

you're walking with 2 kids...and there's a line of traffic behind you...and they're all beeping feverishly...WHY? where should I go? Should we swing from the trees? Should we hop on their hood and wait until the next intersection? WHAT GOOD IS THE BEEPING PEOPLE? I'm just as 'stuck' as you drivers are, thank you very much!

So - I'm just laughing! Today, I have good humor about it all again - PRAISE THE LORD FOR THAT RETURNED GIFT!! and our reaction to the lawnmower renewed it and so I thought I'd share ;)

Back to schoolwork......unless Sara S sees something shiney ;) Or Teri yells Squirrel or..... ;)

LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps - first day of school is Sun! :-) I think I now have the vocabulary of a 3 yr old! ;)

A glimpse at corporate worship in Maadi

Oh Happy Day!! (with oodles of pics)

"Oh Happy Day! Happy Day! Jesus Washed My Sins Away!" singin and singin! praisin and praisin! JOIN ME PLEASE!!

Oh to hear the scripture again...telling us the truth of God's story...of the story we can all be part of......just THRILLING!! HUMBLING!!!! Makes me feel bigger and smaller at the same time somehow ;)

Took the kids to the Maadi Sports Club this morning, grabbed pizza's, cheesecakes, McD's and Lewis' (well they grabbed us technically) and headed to the Nile! Enjoyed a 2.5 hr cruise. Soft breeze, only 86 today - VERY nice!!! The falooca captain let the kids work with him, he was pilot/babysitter! lol

Here's a few fun pics!




the church w/ the 3 crosses - is a church built on where records show Joseph leaving Egypt with Mary and boy Jesus.

Zachary and Davy...you need to pool efforts to find a way to bring Jasmine back to you both....you had a 50/50 chance..now you've got only like 33%...you see, she's smitten now with Jorge (Georgie) who is a tender, brilliant boy who speaks TWO languages fluently and is EVEN BETTER THAN ME in a 3rd! (Arabic) Smitten...you must work to get her back to the US ;)

do you see the desert "wall" beyond the city skyline? I never stop being in awe of that or the pyramids - tho we didn't see those today - saw those on the way to Anas' house last night tho :-)











Not only did we sing praise to Jesus in English...but in a language of S Africa as well!! Rob took some pics, we've been wanting to show you our Church Body - 6 continents of "origination" as first generations and on...gathered here for one purpose
PRAISE THE RISEN SAVIOR!

drat, they're on Rob's chip....and it's not available to me right now.....I promise to show you our church :-)

Syrian and Egyptian Cuisine...

Lots of Laughter

Oodles of good friendship building

Electric Guitars

and oh did I mention the food? ;) not sure which I enjoyed more...the laughs....or the food! ALL WONDERFUL!!

Eman - our chef and hostess, hilarious, beautiful, easy to love
Anas, the husband, you know we think a LOT of him already ;)
Omnaya - daughter age 14, shy, beautiful inside and out, eager to learn, very creative
Merwan - son, age 19, guitarist (Metallica, etc), intelligent, musical, hilarious

Easter Egg Hunt 2010

You will see pics of new and wonderful friends we're making. Some thru church, some thru homeschool group, some of Lewis' kids. Afterwards, 3 of us homeschool families when to CSA, that's where the girls were racing.

The egg hunt was about a 12 min walk away, it was at a villa for General Dynamics. Now that I've seen a villa, it has completely cleared up the difference between a "flat" and a villa. For starters, it's more than 100 sq feet! ha! Well it had multiple levels, etc, it was quite unique really! All had a great time! We're heading to eat some Egyptian food at our Egyptians friends home....I'm a little uncertain if we say "Happy Easter" to them or what!?! It is a Pharaonic Holiday in Egypt right now - you all may enjoy that bit of history ;)

They celebrate "spring" and it's from the beginning of recorded history. Sham el Niseem. Celebration of spring basically :-) This is a 3 day "holy" weekend. How that holiday from Pharaonic pagan holiday became a monotheistic HOLY day is beyond my understanding? I realize Christians celebrate pagan holidays such as Halloween, but...it's not considered "holy" so anyway, interesting!














This photo is from Good Friday service.

Someone told Jasmine her baby in the baby carrier was SO cute and can my adoptive friends imagine her response?

WHAT BABY CARRIER? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

That's my girl!! She only knows the Hangul word! HA! cute cute! She was so confused! ha! Tho our Korean friends were THRILLED to hear her say some of her heritage words!
:-)

Well they're Korean Americans, 2nd generation in America...their 3rd in Egypt ;) Quite the explorers!

Remind me...

When we get to the US and I have to take 15 min to run to the store for something I forgot....

that I used to WALK that far in HEAT and CARRY stuff back :(

Remind me also when we get back to the US if I ever say I'm bored and life became mundane...remind me how busy it is here with consant cleaning, baking, shopping, teaching, repeat.

Remind me when I mention I'm hungry, that I went days w/o filling my tummy because I'm not fully taste-acclimated.

Remind me when I accidentally get a once-melted snickers, that REAL chocolate tastes GRAND no matter WHAT the texture.

And please remind me when I smell something bad....

that there was a day when I no longer smelled smog in Egypt...and forgot the smell of spring, fresh sheets in the evening of a long hot day....that the wretched stentch when I exited the plane.....is now officially "normal"

Thanks for reminding me ;)

The Hippy Hippy Shake

Hello, friends and family!! Today was a short day in school because Rob wanted us to walk a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way (In America, us city folk drove 1/2 block more often than not for a few items....I walk 12 min for huge loads...so when I say a long way, I mean....approximately 35 min in one direction!). We walked a long way to check out a giant market. By Egyptian terms, this was a "supermarket" - I kid you not when I tell you that my mouth and eyes were open so far, I felt like a small child staring at Christmas lights in a snow flurry at night ;) Mesmerized. That was me....

Rob was right, maybe once/mo we should treat ourselves to going there (with a taxi thank you very much) and doing some "outrageous" shopping

Ragu spaghetti sauce $8 USD! Nature Valley granola bars $11 USD! Salsa $7 USD! you get the idea ;) I would say it was 4 times the size of a Walgreens in Michigan. It was two-stories high, upstairs had MANY fun toys! And Coleman coolers for $80 USD! These are not type-o's people!

The best part of upstairs....was the butt jiggling machine....

the hippy hippy shake.

OK some of you are just in your prime to remember these...others of us have surely seen them on tv, right? I have in movies.....a lady stands up to a machine that is shorter but "style" of a treadmill...and a "belt" goes around her "hips" connects at her bum and then shakes like nobody's business...

you know what I mean, right? THEY SELL BRAND NEW ONES HERE! I **seriously** had a difficult time not laughing my own bum off ;)

They also had soft-side intex pools, SOOO tempted to put one in Joshua's room...but then Joshua said COOL, I COULD CANNON BALL OF MY BED..so...I think now it's not a good idea ;)

They have scooters there, I'm sure we'll buy each of the kids one over the summer ;) I think they're about $15 USD here..good price!

In the store, they had THE cutest carts...now I actually thought they were for kids....but...alas....they are NOT! The little flag and handle isn't for mom and dad to steer..it's the "small" cart of the store - we were the only "kids" using it - grown people pushing these little things around! ADORABLE!



Before the shopping, we sent out some mail. Excel friends - a letter is coming again! And then let Joshua get his haircut - EGYPTIAN STYLE! The man knew 4 words in english....."hello" "bye bye" "short?" "done?" "done!" "OK?" "Ok!" ha ha! Thankfully I know enough Arabic to get it all across Mesh (OK). His hair was spiked w/ gel and painted gold! What a hoot! Nice little barber shop here! Maybe next to Joshua, you understand how typically "short" the Egyptians seem to be. The other boy in the photo is not in school because he is learning the trade and working. I have mixed feelings about this in the country....but I also see enough going on here to sorta understand.....

anywho - isn't this a cute little place? Isn't Joshua adorable? :-) Is he too old for me to say that? I'M HIS MOTHER..I CAN SAY THAT!





waving! Hey, I see my reflection too! :-)

On our walk there, they had apparently, decided to tear up some streets...no signs..just BAM you turn a corner, the sidewalk and road is gone.....lots of screeching breaks and honking horns....wonder why? GENIUS SOLUTION TO BAD ROADS - TEAR 'EM UP..MAKE IT WORSE...THEY'LL APPRECIATE THE OTHER ROADS!! I'd better stop rolling my eyes so I can continue posting my blah blah blurb on the blog.


Also on the way there, Alli and Makhmoon (kh is the throat sound). (Muhamed Ahlleeeee not girls name Alley ;) )

So Alli and Makhmoon wanted to introduce me to another brother. His name had 4 sylables with 2 kh sounds, I couldn't grasp it, but it gave them a chuckle! Anywho - he knew enough English to translate some questions Ali had. Mom, here's Makhmoon and Alli together w/ their other brother...these are the two boys whom I'd like to feed and clothe - they have such generous prideful hearts in good ways! Often, we will walk by eating fruit and just decide we're full ;) and give it to them. They have also gotten me out of a few "VERY" uncomfortable situations w/ beggars and idiot men. We take care of each other ;)

I thought some of you would like to wave at them! :-)

Since the kids can't just run outback to play here.....Joshua's interest in all things "kitchen" has returned in full strength. I took a shot of them a few days ago. Jasmine is getting more and more interested also. She stirs all of the bread dough when it's just the flours ;) Then she says it's just too hard and my fresh muslces need to take over! ha ha ha!!! It has nothing to do w/ me being stronger or anything ;)

Well, we're off to the pool. Jasmine got a nice life vest like we always had for Joshua...she's going to start swimming today..she said "when we get there, I'm gonna jump right in!" and I said.....when we get there, we'll talk safety rules! Of course she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair at me. Is she 4 or 14?


I don't know why I got such a bad shot of Joshua, I took too long! Behind me was a big truck trying to get thru a narrow path, so he looked away, but he's NOT nervous or uncomfortable HONEST! The big bruise on the older "kids" head is because he is a more "holy Muslim" in this culture - it is prominent to show how holy you are.....this "proves" he prays 5 times day and has for a long time. Remember, if they can't go to Mecca in their life, they HAVE to make up for this "shortcoming" by working harder other ways.......

I always feel so sad for them to feel such "shortcomings" especially at Easter, when I **know** Christ paid it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!