Flower Box Part 2!!!

I **really** love it!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy with it! Rob could **not** have thought of a more personal gift for me!!! Whaleed returned today - thankfully it never got over 100. With all of these plants! He and I did a walk thru of some gardens right here in our neighborhood and talked height, color, etc.....I think he **far** surpassed what I expected! :-) Yrene is so pleased, she's hiring him later this week!!

Yes...we are on the 4th floor..it's technically FIVE flights up..and yep...Whaleed just dangled on the edge workin today! eek! **totally** freaked me out! He also made sure to saturate the garden for me - HOORAY I only have to do upkeep ;)

YES, I survived the first round of intense heat! ;)

Not dog food (yet)!

I need to do my Arabic homework! I fell asleep on the sofa last night and didn't do it..and today I had my garden planted, did homeschool, spent 2 hrs at a private club with Yrene and 4 of our 6 kids GREAT time! more on that tomorrow ;)

ROB, THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! XOXOXOXOXOX!! I am **so** super happy with the garden!!!! It also has brought MANY large birds for shelter and water...REALLY a great "oasis."

Mother's Day in Egypt...

brings me LOTS of love, gallons of sweat, PILES of smiles, broken water dispenser and wonderful gifts!!!!!

Jasmine made me a flower at school! Since it's an expat school and the teacher, Miss Nahed is an Egyptian by birth, married to an American lived in OH to raise her children then returned to Egypt....she knew to celebrate today! WOO HOO!!


Then there's Joshua.....bless his heart! He chopped up deli meats, cheese (gebna) and we had oodles of fun at a special lunch! He told me that today i don't have to eat all my food and I could even choose to just have chips if I wanted! OOH I LIKE THAT!

see the love bouquet he made me at Keniisa? (church)

Today is the hottest day here yet for us...it's quite humid (we are close enough to the Nile to get humidty off and on). While there's freezing temps in Michigan..I found out today that the back of my knees will ooze sweat down my calves while I walk (slowly) to get Jasmine to/from school today and myself too!

It is 107 and rising!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The waterdispenser has gotten stuck in the "on" mode. We stood in the kitchen on an aseembly line w/ cups so as not to waste this VALUABLE COMMODITY! I might sell my diamond ring for drinking water today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CANNOT let it just go to waste! Joshua found me a flat head screw driver and I pried it to "off" whew!

So at 107...I'm thinking..YES WE NEED TO BE IN THE POOL...

HOWEVER.........

LORD HAVE MERCY ON US FOR THE WALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~sigh~

Well, this might be the last you hear from me...I may be found alongside the road and eaten by wild dogs before making it back to the apartment.....

No matter how many Egyptians try to tell me - I **cannot** bring myself to drink the warm water here! bleck! But...today....I was drinking room warm temp by the GALLON I think! Sparty, you'd have died ;) but....when you're thirsty!!!!!!! ;)

So in Michigan, my nose hairs freeze, my eyelashes freeze, the snot sicles freeze hangin off my kids' faces...

here.....

today....my glasses BURNED the skin on my face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the metal gets SOOOOO hot, when I move just right, it BURNS me! I have lines to prove it! NO sweaty, burned pics, SORRY!

Back to apply sunscreen for the 4th time! Thx for handling my heated rambles ;)

I just have one more thing to say - is it hotter against the desert sand or the car exhausts going by? At this point, I just think IT'S TOO HOT!

praying EXTRA for our US troops over here today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and a few local notes before I sign off due to dehydration....

1. Egyptians do not use honey or sweet as a description for their loved ones

2. The military here has changed into white cotton uniforms and the low ranking in black ones are now out of wool and FINALLY into cotton! WHEW! I caught a group of them behind a big truck today dumping water on themselves ;)

Flower Box Stage 1

It is 105 degrees here. Whaleed speaks quite a bit of English and it's easier to understand him than most "laborers" here - I'm not being gross, just trying to make a distinction! I adore the men who work here! They adore my children and keep our building VERY nice!! ;)

Whaleed is 30 yrs old and today in 105 degrees...he lugged, 2 at a time, GRAIN SACKS full of rich soil up FOUR flights of stairs!! (laborers do NOT use the lift - elevators). Took him 13 trips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had 2 liters of our filtered water - he was stoked about that! and 16 oz of warm juice when I saw him get a little "unsteady" - gee, don't imagine he was OVERHEATING?!

So...first he brought up 20 some clay pots and broke them apart...then the dirt. Mumkin Badeen Bookra. Maybe the day after tomorrow, he'll return with plants. 2 red, 2 yellow, 2 green with white. No flowers. He'll plant my flower in the center and the rosemary at one edge easy for me to clip! HOW I'll get enough water to saturate the soil the first time is BEHIND ME!!! I'm thinking my mop bucket! Drats, the hose won't reach up to my outdoor window garden! HA HA HA!

what a mess to clean too - but nowhere near as dirty as when I arrived here, so at least I knew it'd clean "relatively easily" - everything was covered w/ sheets, etc...lots of laundry now!

it is 3:40 pm, we are heading to the pool! Rob is trying to find some grains for Joshua in Paris after sightseeing yesterday. My mom is making her first big trip out of the house today to visit THEIR momma's!

Thankfully, we have leftovers from last night, so no need to turn on the oven! whew!

Praise God, we have electricity today! So the air purifiers are running on full gear w/ all their sensors of "dust, pollution, bad smell" going off! ha!! AND THE WALL A/C UNITS ARE RUNNING FULL BLAST NOW THAT THE HOUSE IS SHUT UP AGAIN! WOO HOOO!!

THANK YOU ROB! I AM SO EXCITED TO HAVE A FLOWER BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxoxoxox!!

Comfortable in Cairo...

The lady who spoke at church tonight gave quite a hilarious rundown of when you come to accept the following things, you know you're really not an expat anymore! I am not sure they're quite as funny from an American perspective, but maybe some of you will enjoy this anyway!! :-)

Horn beeping lulls you to sleep

using floss (that you brought from your home country of course) and paperclips as plumbing tools is not only normal but suggested (Rob used duct tape recently to help secure a lighting fixture!)

that there is no p/b hard sound - so you know the lamp in the meat department is lamb and you know the no barking rule applies to drivers, not dogs.

crossing streets isn't scary, it's an adventurous game of frogger

you simply don't repair dents in your vehicle and you can drive all day not realizing a side mirror is missing or pushed in

When it's 100 degrees in Aug, you shut the a/c off because it's too cold

a 3 bump parallel park job is a SUPERB park job - bumping the cars more than 3 times means you need a bit more practice

in reality....she talked about something I've been learning here...about how comfortable I was in the US....about how I felt I wasn't really a materalistic person, but only "in comparison" - I forgot to compare to God's vision of that....letting EVERYTHING we own go is really not as easy as it sounds! And then nothing is really very comfortable here and it's been a blessing...so that we remember where our future lies...who our LEADER is! not a president, not a movement, not a medical breakthru...but rather THE RISEN KING!

Normal......What is Normal anyway?

My dad would say something from Data on Star Trek like "Normal is whatever you are not"

I would say that normal is the "acceptable" of something and "abnormal" being something unacceptable..but definitely normal strongly says to me...it's the way something "should" be and anything else is potentially detestable.

Normal is like a measuring tool. Our experiences tell us what smell is normal, what way to cook your potatoes is normal, etc.......right? sorta?

In Egypt - normal is the word used for "regular"

Normal Coffee
Normal Coke
Normal Pepsi (wait, is anything about pepsi normal? that's for another post!)
Normal Beef Minced

Sooooooooooo...............if you have decaf, what's not normal? the person? the way you process it? It's all so....giggley to me! The people must think I'm a super looney American when I chuckle over options like "do you want the coke normal or not?"

SERIOUSLY?

no, I'd prefer you to just really throw me for a loop and do something REALLY abnormal with it!!! K?!

Like...it's NORMAL to have Margarita ON your pizza. Not with it...ON it....that's cheese. I haven't figured out WHERE this came from..it's NOT an Arabic word! But the guy at the restaurant was SHOCKED that I'd have a "not normal pizza if no margarita"
WHAT?!

I mean..they don't even SERVE alcohol here..so WHY is it "normal" to have it ON your pizza???

Ooooooooooh it's cheese - now THAT is normal! HA HA HA!

Normal..is it normal in baseball to tackle the base runner? Well today....while teaching Joshua to tag a base runner...I didn't give quite enough detail...he basically punched me in the stomach with his "mit" expected it to take me down I guess..when it didn't, he tackled me. I have his dental imprint to prove it! (yes, I tried to make a muscle just to SEEM normal for such a funny photo!)


Since Islam is against adoption - not because Allah says so but because Mohammed says so - it's difficult here (not normal) for us with "face face not same." ~sigh~ So the lifeguards must have figured it out! I brought my good friends to the pool....and they all understand now! You see, my sister is Korean...our friends are Korean Americans....nope.....not my sister...you'll never grasp it ;) it's just NOT NORMAL - I'm totally ok with that! LOVE my abnormal family ;) will NOT trade it for even one single blondie ;)

It is not normal for a woman to be touched here. So when Whaleed wanted me to walk out 4 stories up onto the garden box, he said "is normal, why not come?" UMMM..CUZ IT'S LIKE CRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAZY! But then when he talks me into w/ his "dare ya to" eyes......and I need help.....it's NORMAL to let me fumble 4 stories up DON'T TOUCH ME! THAAAAAAAAAAAT WOULD NOT BE NORMAL! eye roll and chuckle

Why is the following conversation now normal to my daily routine....
door bell
Alo!

man - alo, madam, meester henna? (Mr here?)
me - alo, no, lee (why?)
man - me gas, need in
me - WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?
man very calm - me gas, need in
me - Ana meh bef Hempsh, Asef! (I don't understand, sorry)
man reaching into a satchel and shows me a paper - PRAISE GOD I NOW READ NUMBERS!!

me - Oooh, Meshi, Emshi. Shookrahn. (OH, OK, come in, thank you)

he was there to read the gas meter! THAT HAD ME LAUGHING MY BUTT OFF FOR A GOOD HR!! They always want to know if Mr is here, they do NOT want to be in here w/ me ;) I'm glad for the lack of comfort being NORMAL - but sometimes it's baffling and stumps our communication ;) If he'd just COME IN AND SHOW ME! ha ha! Because the doormen won't let them past..so I know if he's up here..it's legit..ya know? ~sigh~ Plus, these men aren't anywhere near as big as some man I once took on ;)

Is it normal for this plant to come back each year? I can't even think of the English word..how do I even ask in Arabic? When Rob says "she means, will it come back?" Whaleed says "Madam very nice, she is front of me" ~sigh~ is it normal that most English is SOOOOOO non specific? HA HA HA HA HA!


Why is it NORMAL for Egyptian men to swim in scary speedo bikini thingies w/ their guts and butts hangin out but the women barely have their face, hands and feet exposed while swimming?

Normal is the expected response right? So like we live in America...and what's normal is looking at this oxygen result and saying - ok we're holding ..steady...Joshua's safe today....only barely.....we came to accept this "normal" low state of oxygen.....and add that came with it!



Then coming to Egypt and finding THIS as a normal breathing report!! This NEVER happened in the US - definitely ABnormal ;) and I **am so glad**


Why is it NORMAL that men touching children in the US would send chills down our spines and nasty looks, with hasty pulls? But here....it's now NORMAL for us to accept kisses on top of their heads, whistles, blowing kisses, etc.....first white guy to do that here is in for a treat from momma bear! NOW THAT SOUNDS NORMAL, wouldn't you agree?
HA HA HA HA HA!

I love that it's normal for guys to walk around the pool area with FRESH FRIED DONUT HOLES and pass them out......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...it's simply abnormal that this isn't routine in the US!

What is normal?

Normal......is walking 10 min to the grocery store thru swerving traffic.....then walking back 1 hr later.....empty handed..and having 2 young men deliver everything so you don't lift a finger! Normal is them fighting over your delivery, since they now know you tip REALLY GOOD!! $1/per guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Normal....what is normal anyway?

Is it normal that while learning a new language, I become mentally frazzled to think clearly in EITHER language and switch back and forth? Two friends have said yes..this is normal....but..the response I get from some people tells me THEY don't find it "normal"! ha! I need to learn to say "please speak slowly" in Arabic...is THAT normal response to excited Egyptians who think I am fluent?

Normal...is whatever makes me comfortable!! My normal may not be your normal! Normal...is simply an ABNORMAL word ;)

A Glimpse at "everyday life"

Truly, who can complain when it's always summer, and an olympic size pool is readily available? Who can complain when school only lasts 4-5 hours instead of taking up an entire day? Who can complain when the sitter washes dishes while the mom goes to school? Everyday life is truly nowhere near what my fears tried to tell me before we left and the first few weeks here!

Rob brought his underwater camera from the US and he had a little fun w/ it yesterday. Jasmine, who screamed like I was killing her for every bath until at 3 we realized showers were less traumatic.....who would become anxious and rage-filled in lake or pool water of any depth....has really become a water baby at age 4! She jumps into 4 meters of water and no I didn't "miss" catching her....I'm just ready and waiting w/ my arms...because she insists on jumping right in w/o any life vest. But this momma INSISTS she only do it when we say so ;) Jasmine also likes to jump in ON me because "we go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay deep together". She got a hold of daddy's mask and even the life guards were cracking up!

Joshua is REALLY doing a great job diving!!! I tried to take a video but you couldn't really get what was happening! HA! So, here's a glimpse at everyday life. It's football, playground, pool...sometimes all in one day. We may spend a lot of time indoors due to the type of living conditions here, but we make up for it the rest of the day ;)

Joshua scares the lifeguards as much as Jasmine, because I won't be ready yet, but I'll give him permission to get in..he jumps in and swims off.....some of the lifeguards remember us day to day and don't freak out...sometimes (like this week) they jump up and almost jump in and I re-assure them he's fine! ;) He's swimming HALF the olympic pool in laps, I've seen him do FOUR back and forths nonstop....crawl, butterfly, crawl, butterfly, rotating on laps.....

Many pics to start the Month of May

A three hour tour...

of the Easern Desert. We've got so much more to see, we'll go again! Here's a glimpse of today! Being out there, we discussed how difficult for our military to do what they're doing...so many aspects, but I won't turn this into a political discussion, no worries! Just a plether of fun photos! Remember, you can click on any photo then use your browser back button to go back...and enjoy larger details! nothing downloads!


Jasmine's pretty proud of herself...she found the first fossil! The top of this giant mount we could see Maadi! do you see it? and we found THOUSANDS of nautilus shells!! Enjoy the views!




Melanie..this next one's for you!! As you had me relive the great running days on Lake Michigan's expanse of sand dunes...us girls had to have a repeat in the Eastern Desert - this is QUITE solid and unstable sand tho ;)




hope that doesn't fall on us........SURE IS BEAUTIFUL!!


a picnic lunch as us girls reached the boys. I saw the photo opportunity above the picnic photo and the boys went first to give it some "perspective" so you can begin to see how LARGE it is!





Thanks Mr. Lewis for the ride to the game! Yes, jasmine is in the front seat on Rob's lap ;)




GOOOOOOO WHITE SOX! had a GREAT game today!! I was score keeper and first base coach. Rob was third base coach sometimes and back-up catcher other times.

Joshua said to me this day "you are SUCH a pretty girl!!" so he took my pic. We're in a handball court playing catch...technically it IS a hand ball right? ;)




which one of these critters has the most curious eyes?