I feel wonderful tonite!

Yes, I'm quoting Clapton! (but that's how I feel...and also happened to hear a cover of the Clapton song in an Egyptian movie tonight)

Big day with the last of my exams and my final time in my classrooms. *sniff* I also ran around Tanta on errands, saying goodbyes, trying to get some photos printed, etc.

The only downer was an email waiting for me when I got back. *sigh*

Months ago, I applied for a volunteer program called "The Climate Project" which is a program to get Al Gore's word out about the environment. They wanted people to be trained as presenters of his message and then do talks. I thought my skills/interests were perfect for it. Unfortunately, the folks at the program seem to feel otherwise. *frown*

They emailed today to say that I will _not_ be invited to the training sessions, but that I can host some small group discussions about a DVD of "An Inconvenient Truth, and Al Gore’s award-winning documentary". So...don't be surprised if I invite you to a showing in January!

I'm disappointed, but at least I know the situation now. I had been really looking forward to the possibility of going to these training sessions and then traveling around a bit to make presentations. Now, I just need to swich gears and put my energy in a different direction.

First exam = finished

Got back from a great weekend around Fayoum.

Fun with friends last night, then tonight gave an exam and said goodbye to a group of students. *frown*

I'll try to write this week b/c Internet access will be a bit unpredictable after I move on Thursday.

American Football!

So, would you believe I got to watch the first half of the Lions game LIVE on TV on Thursday?

*laugh*

Yes, really!!!

I'm thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I'm off to Cairo in a few minutes, but wanted to give you a bit to think about while I'm gone. In getting ready for Thanksgiving and my return to the US, I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am.

I have friends/family scattered all around the world who love/care about me and I feel the same way about them. Some of you, I haven't seen in years (or years and years) but that doesn't matter. I'll see many of you soon and work to get to know each other better again.

For the past 4 years, I've been in a wonderful country surrounded by fantastic people who have tried to help me with almost anything I have needed. There were difficult times, but I always knew that I had people to turn to.

I love this place and I'm going to miss it.

Enjoy your time with loved ones!

Oh...I can't forget this: Tanta in the news! (from the Christian Science Monitor)

Back in Tanta...

Good weekend with friends in Cairo for my Going-Away party and MCC meeting. Wow, am I going to miss people here!

I also attended a 2-day conference on teaching and a lecture by William Dalrymple. The lecture was very intersting and MCC was nice enough to buy his book, From the Holy Mountain: A Journey among the Christians of the Middle East, which I'm now reading. It's about travels all around ancient monasteries and Christian spots. Dalrymple is an amazing writer!

A Better Blog?

If you're reading this, then you got your invitation to read the Blog and made it over whatever hurdles Blogger put up. It's now "private" and inaccessible unless I invite people.

As you may have noticed, one recent post from this week has been heavily edited (including the deletion of 3 pictures). In addition, I removed nearly a dozen other pictures that I had uploaded with Picassa and to Flickr.

Some of the discussions I mentioned in a previous post are happening. Continue to pray for understanding and forgiveness.

I've hurt people

It seems that I have hurt some people in Tanta with the things I have written in this Blog and some of the pictures have put up.

I hope that they will forgive me and I hope that they will talk with me about the problems they see. I won't say more than that at this time, but I will tell you more personally. If you're in Tanta and understand what I am writing about, please call me to discuss this or talk with me face-to-face.

So...this is the last post for awhile, at least until I can talk with people. Instead of writing anything new, I will be going through what I have put up in the past, to see where the problems could be.

I know it is painful for those people, but this is also very painful for me. It feels like with this one mistake, I've erased all of the work I've done in Tanta. This is a very difficult situation for me right now because I don't know who I've hurt or how, really. I need their help to help me learn and understand.

I hope we (people in Tanta and myself) can all learn from this.

Clowns Without Borders

I want to bring an organization to your attention. Awhile back, I met 2 people in Cairo who were visiting to share their clowning abilities.

Well...they're coming back soon as part of Clowns Without Borders -- "no child without a smile". Give if you can.

Great weekend with Tons of Friends! (heavily edited)

(several pictures removed, out of respect for people shown in them)

What a fun time! Early Friday morning (7.15am), my friends Amber and Ben arrived from Cairo. From the train station, we had the good fortune of meeting up with a priest who was going to the same village we were, so he offered us a ride. There were 4 of us, so we squeezed into his big station wagon, along with 3 other men. I recognized the priest, but my Egyptian friend was the one who made the connection -- it was her family's home in the village that we were heading for...

The short ride was OK for me, but Amber, Ben, and my friend had to deal with the gas fumes coming into the back of the car. Thankfully, we were able to clear the air by opening a couple of windows...

Once in the village, we met my friend's parents and started our day. We had lots of tea, a lovely lunch, and 2 nice walks around the fields. On the walks, we saw lots of my friend's extended family -- a cousin, uncles, 2nd/3rd uncles and cousins, etc.

Earlier in the week, I told my friend that I had one big wish for the trip:
Yeah!!!! My wish came true! (picture of me riding a donkey removed)

Then, once we were back in Tanta, we went out for a nice dinner and back to my place to play games (just Amber and Ben, b/c they were staying the night with me).

Saturday morning, we had a pleasant breakfast together at my apartment and then I showed them around Tanta a bit before their train back to Cairo.

After that, I had just a few hours to get ready for my going-away party. *smile* I knew nothing about who was invited, or any of the plans. My director and everyone kept the secrets very well and I was very surprised by things!

For starters, my director invited 2 of my really good friends who now live in Alexandria and Tanta to the party. Micho and Mina were guys who I spent tons of time with before they moved so it was wonderful to have them with me at the celebration! My friends Mikel and Fady joined us in the car for the drive over.

At the party, I spoke, plus my director, 2 of the other teachers, my boss James, my friend George, and the Bishop. During some of the talks, I laughed...while during others, I cried. Some people were very serious about things, but there was also a "roast" and video montage from my time in Egypt. This solved the mystery of why there were so many recent visitors to my Blog from Egypt -- people were reading it and finding pictures to use in this presentation! *laugh* I will get a copy of it and show people when I get back to the U.S. *smile*

Now, the "roast" part was done by one of my former students and the younger brother of one of my good friends. He likes acting and was also the class clown when I had him as a student! Well...he took my mannerisms and way of dressing and just nailed it! In this pic, you can see the style of sandals I often wear and wrinkled khaki pants with the cuffs rolled up! I never realized people noticed these things or found them so funny! I wish I had video of this, but I'll have to settle for the memories and a few digital pics!

Friends on Friday

I have 2 American friends from Cairo (Amber and Ben) coming to visit on Friday, so I'm trying to get my apartment around. It's clean, so mostly I'm just trying to pick things up and get things looking nice.

Thankfully, the the weather has gotten a bit warmer today. We're planning to go out to a farm in a village outside Tanta for the day. Amber and Ben are coming on a 6am train, so I'm betting they'll be tired at the end of the day -- that means an early dinner and early bedtime.

They'll stay with me Friday night and then go back to Cairo Saturday morning. Then just a few hours after that, James and Linda are coming to Tanta for my going-away party.

Hmmmm....I guess I should prepare some things to say. *sigh*

I hate goodbyes.

New (to me) travel site

Well, maybe other people have known about this site for awhile, but I just stumbled across Wcities Destination Guide which has a nice section on Cairo. It's a nice mix of edited reader-submitted content and writing that comes straight from the company. Look elsewhere for blunt opinions, but I like the style of this one.

They cover major cities in countries around the world. Worth checking out for background information before a trip or to figure what to do and where to stay once you get to your destination.

Traffic Control!

Riding in around with a friend in his car today and saw something truly amazing!

-- an Egyptian police officer actually controlling traffic! *laugh* (and boy, was he)

This was at an intersection near the train station where traffic comes from about 5 different angles and there are also cement barriers in place to move you in the right way. But people still try to do anything they want.

So...a guy with his donkey cart starts coming through the intersection and wants to veer to the left. Apparently, the police officer didn't agree b/c he reached out, grabbed the reigns, and pulled the donkey to the right! Wow!

Now, that's service!

As previously mentioned, I am a proud number of a pre-owned Mercedes-Benz.

Apparently, ownership has it's privileges b/c they offer free road-side assistance for the life of every vehicle...no matter how many owners or how many miles!

-a few gallons of fuel if you run out
-jump-start if needed
-changing your flat tire to a spare

Pleasant Political Surprise!

As I write this (7.20am EDT), CNN is saying that Dems have taken the House, but the Senate is still undecided.

Also, here's a run-down of various ballot measures and their (predicted) outcomes.

Something I've learned

It dawned on me today that one of the things I've learned in Egypt is to appreciate people in "the service industry".

Every day, I interact with guys where I teach who work hard cleaning, making tea, etc. for very little money.

I also see guys sweating it out at restaurants all day, serving food, cleaning up, and all that. These guys are always smiling and people usually seem very thankful for what they do. I think people tend to be "regulars" at places far more here than in the US, so it pays to build a relationship. Or maybe it's just that everywhere I go is small, so servers are bound to remember people if they come in on a regular basis.

Today I thought of this b/c one of my local cafes recently added an oven and now serves up my favorite Egyptian food, fatir!

That pic is from "Boots in the Oven" which also includes a ton of other great shots from Egypt,. (DSL or faster only -- very heavy on the pics).

License Plate in Egypt

Walking home from class today, I saw this license plate in the back window of a car:

BIG 4X4

No big deal, right?

Well, except that it was a MICHIGAN license plate and it appeared to be real, not just some cheap imitation!

Burning trash

They're burning trash in my neighborhood today. *achoo*

So...my alergies are going crazy -- red eyes, sneezing, etc. It took me awhile to realize what was happening. I guess I should shut my windows, but I want them open to get some warm air in here, since the weather is decent today.

Want to work for the United Nations?

Anyone interested in working for the UN or related organizations? It appears they're hiring in some very specific fields (none of mine, unfortunately) and offer very attractive packages.

Hunting on Election Day?

Why, oh why???

"Cheney to go hunting on Election Day". (from CBS News)

TV and Internet

Lately, I've been spending a fair bit of time on the Internet (as you may have noticed from the number of posts here in the Blog).

Well...as I hammer away on my laptop, the TV is usually on. Sometimes it's on Arabic music videos and other times on a channel with English-language movies. The connection I have is a split cable connection from my landlord. So, I'm somewhat at his mercy as to what channels I get.

Last night, he changed the channel and I ended up with The Family Stone. Quite enjoyable -- good, dry humor. Diane Keaton was the biggest surprise. She's funny! Sarah Jessica Parker was cast as a stuck-up professional, a part she seems suited for...but she was just all wrong. I'd say she was the weakest link, followed closely by Craig T. Nelson.

This afternoon after lunch, I flipped on the TV and it was a Pay-Per-View wrestling event from the WWE. The program was CyberSunday and I presumed that it was from awhile ago, but apparently it was on live here last night and now they're showing replays.

I only watched 1 match and it was a Tag Team Championship Match with Rowdy Roddy Piper and Ric Flair teamed up against some young hotshots. Any guesses on who won?

I didn't actually care who won -- I was just really, really amused to see these 2 flabby old guys running around out in the ring! Plus, the announcers kept joking about how Piper looked as if he had been out partying all Saturday night and that if Piper/Flair won, it would be a huge celebration all that night.

I'll give you a hint on the winners:

Woooooo!!!!

More pics of my Car

Since I seem to have nothing else to write about today, I'll write about myself! *laugh* Or at least, my car...

One of the bulletin boards I'll be using to ask other Mercedes-owners for help is nice enough to give free photo gallery space.

So, take a peek at my Mercedes 300TD Wagon Galleries

Anonymouse?

No...I didn't type that wrong. I wrote "Anonymouse". Apparently, this is a free service which you can use to mask information about where you are connecting from, what web browser you are using, etc. while looking at websites.

I wish I knew who to thank for helping me find this, but it was someone using Anonymouse and I found the link in my site statistics! *grin*

Fuzzy Slippers

Sadly, it's become fuzzy slippers weather. Don't get me wrong...I like my fuzzy puppy dog slippers, but when I break them out, it means it's gotten chilly! Actually, I'm a wimp b/c it's 58 degrees and the high today was 68.

According to the Weather.com forecast, it's going to warm up to the mid/high-70s later in the week. That'll feel a bit better!

Freedom of Information Act

Ah, what a great idea that was. B/c of this legislation, we are able to read that "1999 war games foresaw problems in Iraq". (from Yahoo News)

So my question is, why even run these simulations if you're not going to take their findings into consideration?

Environmental Studies/Sciences

This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...

I was just reading through the latest edition of the Albion College Alumni Magazine, Io Triumphie. I've had it sitting around for awhile, but just found it this weekend while cleaning up my apartment in preparation for visitors.

The interesting thing I found in the magazine was a profile of Albion's Environmental Studies/Sciences program. I knew a bit about this when I was at Albion as a student and then as staff and even lived next door to the program's director, Tim Lincoln, for awhile...but it was never "my cup of tea". As you know from reading this Blog, I've become much more interested in the environment over the past few months.

It seems the program has grown and matured over the years, as well it should. They even have the E House, a "sustainable living/learning center". Great stuff!

Mysterious Statistics!

I love the statistics for my Blog. It's evidence that I have far too much time on my hands that I am able to look through them regularly to see how people got to my Blog, what they read, and what link they followed to leave the Blog.

Today's mystery is this:

Someone clicked into my Blog from David's Blog. No surprise there b/c he has more visitors and sends more people my way than I do his! *smile*

But the strange thing is, the person was connecting from Hillsdale, the town which I often say is my "hometown" b/c I grew up in the country and people are more likely to know Hillsdale or Hillsdale College than they are to know Camden.

If you are this person, please leave a comment so I can contact you. Help solve the mystery!!!

JPG Magazine

I just stumbled across JPG Magazine. Nice eye candy and before each issue, they allow people to submit photos on several themes and then choose those that get the most votes.

Those chosen receive $100 and sometimes an extra gift.

Sadly, photos must be at least 2200 pixels tall or wide and my camera won't take pictures that big! *sigh* Another reason to get a new camera when I go back to the US.

More photos

I just got back from a fun couple of days in Cairo. No new pics from that, but I did finally get around to uploading some old pics.

They're in my Picasa albums. Unfortunately, they load a bit slowly so be patient!

Squirrels!

Did you know that squirrels are omnivores?

I learned that little tidbit this morning while reading Margaret Visser's The Way We Are. Great book! It basically gives the background for everday things like objects, foods, and customs.

Before the weekend

Time to get a bit of sleep before an early bus to Cairo. Once there, I'll go to church, on a walking tour through the old Coptic part of town, then a sailboat ride on the Nile.

And that's all before it gets dark!! I still have to figure out plans for the evening and Saturday morning!

Guilty Pleasures...

Okay, I admit it! I just watched the movie Ali G Indahouse on TV and really laughed at parts of it! *laugh*

Yeah, I guess advertising and news about the Borat movie suckered me in!

Sahlab Recipe

Under the heading of "good timing", David asked for a recipe for Sahlab. Well, that's funny because the past 2 days in one of my classes, we have been talking about food, cooking, ingredients, and recipes. I love it when things go together like that! *grin*

I found a good Sahlab recipe online, but I'll just say that I strongly recommend adding in maybe 10-20 raisins per glass (depending on how big they are and how much you like raisins) and that chunks of peanuts can be used instead of pistachios. Also, note the last comment about sprikling a bit of coconut on top.

Quiz Time!

No, not for you -- for my students!!!

I'm off to give my first quiz for the current term. Wish them luck!

Last night's sound and light show

"It was a dark and stormy night."

*snicker*

This brought back memories of a book/contest my friend David once talked about...
Ah, I love random neurons firing in the brain!

News from Tanta

I got word this week that the married couple who were scheduled to come here and teach after I leave will _not_ be coming. Too bad...that'll make it tough for the students, my director and the other teachers here.

Please pray for this situation.

Also, pray for this married couple as they look into what they will do next...

A new spin...

Tonight, I had discovered a new spin on an old favorite.

The weather is starting to turn chilly at night, so that means coffee places are shifting over to their winter drinks. One of my favorites (aside from hot chocolate) is something called Sahlib. It's a thick, slightly sweet milk drink with raisins and sometimes peanuts.

Well, today they added cinammon! Yum! I'm sold!

New Pictures!

Yes, a long-awaited pictures update! It was the last day of the month and I still had quota left for uploading on Flickr, so I put up a bunch. Still waiting for pics from last week's trip...so you'll have to make due with pictures from September and early October. Check out the first page and then the first few on page 2.

Thunder!

No...I'm not having an AC/DC moment. *grin*

We just had a short rain shower, complete with some rumbling thunder and I believe one flash of lightning! A great belated Halloween present from the Guy upstairs! *smile*

(and very funny, considering I talked about thunder and lightening today in class, but said that it doesn't happen very often in Egypt!)

While typing this, it's turned into a full-on downpour...complete with 8 more pops of lightning (and counting) in about 5 minutes. Dogs are barking and people are waking up to pull their laundry in. I've just gone to battery power, on the off chance that there's a power surge.

I am officially one happy camper! I'm tempted to go out and play in the rain, but a) the streets are dirty and gross and b) with the pollution, the rain gets dirty as it falls *eww*

Now That's Scary!!!

Today, someone in Egypt visited my Blog and spent 1 hour and 50 minutes reading through 57 different pages. What the heck? Even my Mom doesn't spend that much time reading my Blog!!! *grin*

From the stats, it also appears that the same person (?) also visited yesterday and poked around for nearly an hour.

Um...maybe I should be careful with what I write here b/c I think I'm being watched by "the man". *laugh*

Or if you were this mysterious visitor, please leave a comment! At the very least, I presume you weren't bored with what you read!

Climate Change from an Economist's point-of-view

Today, from the BBC:

"A report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%. But taking action now would cost just 1% global gross domestic product."

-- I guess the "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" idea is still true.

Read the full article: Climate change fight 'can't wait'

Best Halloween Card...ever!

I just got this link from a student. Usually, they send junk but this one is really a treasure!

Make your own Jack-o'-Lantern!

(and yes, that's spelled correctly! Much to my surprise, you have an apostrophe and a hyphen there)

While searching for the correct spelling, I also checked Wikipedia to see if there was information about the source of the name. Of course, there's an explanation, even if it is without references.

A Halloween Card for you...

Great holiday! I love it!

Yesterday, I talked with 1 of my groups about Halloween and showed them some spooky things I have. Today, I'll share things (including pictures of my nieces in costumes) with another group! On Wednesday, I'll pass my goodies on to one of the other teachers b/c she asked if she could use them to talk about Halloween! *grin*

There's a lesson in one of our books that talks about celebrations/holidays and the example in the conversation is Halloween! What fun!

Now...for your viewing pleasure, a Halloween Card! Enjoy!

Happy Halloween (part 1)

It's now Halloween!!! This is one of my favorite holidays, so I'll be posting lots of stuff today.

For starters, you can watch a great video of someone telling the story of The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service. Have you ever heard of it? I was introduced to this tale at our recent MCC fall retreat and it's a good one!

It's interesting that the tone of this tale can be changed drastically from one teller to the next. When I heard it the first time, it was done in a sort of silly, goofy way. But with this guy's voice and sound effects, it's a bit spooky!

Find me on Technorati

I was looking through the statistics for this Blog today and noticed some odd new locations for visitors -- Israel and "unknown country". So, I guessed that some website was linking to me.

Well, it seems that right now if you search on Technorati.com for "Ban the bulb" and "FotoTagger", you find a link to some of my Blog entries. That's how these new people were finding me! Funny! I hope they liked what they saw!

Teach for America!

I just found an interesting program that I think I'll apply for. It's called Teach for America and essentially, they find qualified college grads to teach in rural or urban settings where it's difficult to find teachers.

No certificiation required! You take courses and tests while teaching to earn your certification. The program is for 2 years, during which time you get your regular salary from the school, plus possibly additional funding through Teach for America that goes toward future Graduate School costs.

From the timelines I see, it looks like I want to submit my application on November 6th. So...between now and then, I need to contact people who will be references and also people who will write letters of recommendation.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Free-diving?

Something new to me in Dahab this trip was seeing people practicing their free-diving. Wacky stuff! They caught my attention b/c one day when we were out snorkeling, I saw people wearing a mermaid-type tail, instead of normal flippers. Apparently, that's part of their gear!

As it turns out, there's a professional free-diver named Lotta Ericson who lives in Dahab, runs a few businesses and practices when she can.

Dang! This is one of the most amazing things I've ever encountered. The amount of time these people can hold their breath and how far down they can go is astonishing!!!!

Interesting people!

I still don't have pictures, but I'm finally getting around to writing a bit more about things last week.

Of course, I did fun stuff...but as usual, my trip came down to people. And I met some great ones!

I went with 2 Mennonite friends from Canada who are living in Egypt and I met them there. It was really fun to have people to travel with. Our plan was to have a double for my friend Ryan and I, then a single for April. However, when we got off the bus, we met a young woman who was staying at our hotel (Penguin Hotel and Dive Center), so she and April ended up sharing the room.

Christine was great fun! She hung out with us quite a bit and quite often became the center of attention at the Penguin restaurant in the evenings. Why? Well...she is a belly-dancer! *laugh* After studying for awhile in Canada, she decided that the next step was to check things out in Turkey and Egypt. This is the end of her time, so she wanted to hit the beach! Lucky us!

On top of that, we also met some teachers from 2 different international schools in Cairo. Fun folks! We were thrown together in a micro-bus to go on a big hiking trip and they definitely kept us laughing! *grin*

Now here's where it gets weird! 2 of them teach at the American International School in Cairo, the same place my bosses' older daughter goes! On top of that, 1 of the guys was from Charlotte, Michigan!

Strange Daze!

I feel like I've been in a daze, ever since getting back from my trip. My sleeping schedule is all messed up -- even worse than it was before I left! *sigh* Hopefully this week, I can get it back to some degree of normalcy again!

Classes are going well. I might try to have an extra class with some of my groups on Thursday, to make up for the classes we missed last week.

Today, I had a day of prayer and fasting. A friend in Cairo suggested it last night and it seemed like a good idea, given all that I've been thinking of lately. I can't say that I got an "answer", but I got . . . something today. I'm just not sure yet what it was. Time will tell.

Still hoping to write out some stories from last week, but I don't have any pictures yet to go with them...

Just trying to get caught up

Looking at homework today from my students and trying to get ready to teach tonight. Hopefully, I'll be able to get there early to put up some Halloween decorations!! *grin*

My first attempt at picture-tagging!

Fun with adding tags to pictures! This one is from a trip on the Cairo Metro with friends last month. See the Tagged Photo or...

Learn more about FotoTagger.

Climbing Mt. Sinai

Still waiting for pictures that show my actual experience in Sinai last week, me, and my friends...but I found some interesting Tagged pics of Mt. Sinai and the climb.

St. Catherine Monastery and the Climb up Mt. Sinai

Last Week's Trip!

Just got back this morning and proceeded to sleep most of the day away to catch up on sleep. Took a night bus to Dahab on the Red Sea Sunday night -- didn't get much sleep
Climbed Mount Sinai (again) on Monday night -- didn't get much sleep
Went to a Belly-dance show on Tuesday night -- not much sleep
Recovered a bit Wed/Thursday, then a night bus to Cairo Friday night -- *yawn*

At least 1 or 2 readers out there know a bit of what a trip like this feels like!!! *grin*

I had a really amazing time. Perhaps my best trip yet to Dahab/Sinai. I had fun friends to hang out with, met some interesting people (more on that later), did awesome things, and had a lot of yummy food (including several Chocolate Double-Thick Milkshakes, curry, potato wedges and "American Breakfasts")!!!!

My friends took a ton of pictures and I'll get them on email soon, but for the time being, here are a few that I found to show you part of a hiking trip I went on to the Colored Canyon. Make sure you click for the full-size picture so that you can read descriptions of each pic.

The end of the game!

Well...there have been some good guesses, but now it's time to show you all my car:

1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD diesel Station Wagon

*smile*

If all goes well, my mother and step-father will pick it up this weekend and then drive it around a bit before I get back.

Yeah!!!

$4 Generic Prescriptions at WalMart

WalMart still has its bad reputation when it comes to wages and how they treat their employees, but at least they're making things a bit easier on the little guy.

They recently started $4 generic prescriptions on 25% of the medications they offer. Michigan isn't included, but Indiana is. I can imagine people making "a run for the border" and I'm not talking about Taco Bell!

A few days at the Red Sea (next week)

In case I forget to post this later...

Sunday night, I'll be leaving for the Red Sea with a couple of friends. I'll be there through Thursday. This will be my last chance to go to Dahab, a very relaxing place.

Over the next few days, I'll try to post links, pics, and pictures to keep you occupied while I'm gone! Also, you can _always_ take the time that you would've spent reading the Blog and send me an email! *smile*

It's navy blue

Well, 1 person was brave enough to take their 50/50 chance. Unfortunately, Mary was wrong...but at least now you all know my car is navy blue.

Thus far, you've managed to figure out that it's:

Mercedes
Navy Blue
--older than 1990s
--diesel

Here's another choice to help you:

Sedan, coupe, or wagon?

Google goes Solar

This is the kind of news I like reading! Google just announced that they're outfitting their California HQ with solar panels!

Another car post

*laugh* It looks like people are getting a bit...playful with their guesses! Good!

Well, Mike's one smart cookie! He's right by saying that my car is a Mercedes, but a bit off on its age.

So...we're still trying to guess:

Year
Model
Color (you have a 50/50 chance on this, based on a previous guess)

The end is in sight! At the conclusion of the game, I'll provide a link to a page that has information/pictures about my car.

It rained!!!

Wow! It just rained...for maybe 2 whole minutes!!!!

Hey, this is the first rain I've seen or heard in about 6 months, so I'll take what I can get! *grin*

Good thing I was still awake to experience it...but now I'm off to bed!

My talented friends

This weekend, I learned a great new song that was written by my friend Barrette. Fortunately, he has a Flash Animation of "Upside Down Kingdom" from when he was at a camp a year or so ago!

Also, here's a picture of Barrette and his wife Sandy teaching us the song this weekend:

A few new pictures

Here are a few pictures from MCC Fall Retreat this past weekend. I'll type out a story or 2 later!

MCC Fall Retreat

2 pictures, taken several seconds apart...

Great Guesses!

*smile*

I like this game! (of having people try to guess what my car is) Apparently, some of you do, too!

I'm impressed by how good the guesses are b/c most are very, very close. Below is a list of guesses from oldest to newest, with my comments to help you with future guesses:

1. David -- Saab
I say -- warm, but I could never do it b/c "saab" sounds like the Arabic word for "difficult" *laugh*

2. Lisa -- Volkswagen, grey or navy.
I say -- Almost! My 2nd choice while vehicle-hunting was a VW of some type. However, one of your color guesses is right!!!

3. Mara -- Volvo and you wouldn't drive a Hummer.
I say -- You're warm! Plus, you're right that I wouldn't drive a Hummer. It might be in the realm of possibility if it ran on Waste Vegetable Oil, but I'd feel guilty supporting that company since their vehicles waste so much fuel.

4. Mike -- early 1990's Volvo 760T
I say -- Wow! That's the winner for most specific guess! *grin* Unfortunately, it's wrong (see my previous note about Mara's guess). I would say my car is somewhat similar in style, but you're a few years off on when it was manufactured.

5. Erik -- Saturn three-door coupe
I say -- Sorry, I haven't been converted into the Cult of Saturn just yet...

6. Sarah -- Jeep, Toledo-built
I say -- Swing and a Miss! Oh, she wasn't even close on that one, folks! *laugh* Well, that's not completely true. I guess my car is related to a Jeep, through marriage. (That's a HINT, if you missed it)

More about my car!

Things are getting finalized. The check for the deposit will be mailed on Friday. *smile* I can't believe I'm doing this from Egypt (with assistance from my wonderful mother in Michigan, of course!)

See below for the contest that I started to see if you can guess what kind of car it is. David put in an incorrect guess by saying that it's a Saab, but "He's warm."

Big news -- I'm buying a car!

That's my exciting news for the day! And no, it's _not_ in Egypt! That would go against "the rules" and would also be completely unnecessary!

Nope...this car is in Michigan. Currently, it's somewhere in "northern Michigan" but I'm not sure exactly where. It doesn't matter really, b/c it'll be making its way south in a couple of weeks and shortly thereafter, my mom will do some paperwork to make it "mine".

I guess I shouldn't "count my chickens before they're hatched", but it's pretty well a done deal. The current owner and I seem to have come to an agreement and once he sends his address, then I'll be able to get him a deposit.

What kind of car is it? Well...I think I'll keep that a secret right now and be a bit playful. Maybe you'll just have to see me in person once I'm back in the US to find out!

Actually, let's try another little game to see if people will write comments!

What kinds of cars can you picture me driving? What kinds of cars would _not_ be right for me? To help you, my 2 previous vehicles were:

1993 Chevy Lumina, Electric Blue (former Albion Admissions car) that I owned from 1997-2002
1987 Chrysler LeBaron, Tan that I drove in high school, while at Albion, and until it blew up in the fast lane of I-94 on the way to a job interview in Kalamazoo

The question was too difficult?

Well, I received a grand total of 1 guess for my question about "Egyptian names" that I posted 2 days ago. Thanks to Mara for making an attempt! Her guess was wrong, but she'll get a little something just for being the only person to try!

And the answer is:

These 2 are brother and sister (despite the different spelling of their second name). You see, in Egypt (and many Arab countries), your second name is your father's first name and your third name is your grandfather's name. In my experience, people don't go beyond that.

In Arabic, the name would be spelled the same for my 2 students, but at some point in the past they chose how to write it in English and did it differently!

So, there you have it!

Movie I didn't watch (thankfully)

The Pearl by John Steinbeck is one of the few stories I remember reading in High School.

Apparently, they made a movie version in 2001. *sigh* It came on TV as I was getting ready to write something in my Blog. Check out the review. *laugh* I'm not wasting my time on this movie -- it's time for bed!

A normal day?

My mother (Hi, mom!) recently commented that I don't write enough about what I do in Egypt. So, here's my attempt to fill you in on that.

Here's what my day looked like today:

My quite morning started with breakfast (4 scrambled eggs) and after that, I spent time reading, preparing for classes, and going over homework. After that, I went to my classroom around 4pm to make copies, then taught from 5-9pm

After class, I came back home for a few minutes before going out in search of dinner. I say "search" b/c it feels like that sometimes. My nearest restaurant for cheap sandwiches is apparently closed for remodeling, so I had to pick up some groceries and eat at home.
Dinner consisted of a piece of flatbread with peanut butter and grape jam, plus a small bag of popcorn that I had gotten from a guy selling it on the street.

After dinner, I emailed/chatted a bit, then went out to my favorite local cafe' at about 1am. I chatted with the guys there and relaxed until 2am. I ordered a drink called Sobeya, which is essentially cold milk with shaved bits of coconut and chunks of peanuts in it. Oh and sugar -- lots and lots of sugar. *laugh* I also had a Strawberry sheesha...my first time to try that flavor.

Now, time for bed!

YouTube + Google = ????

Funny!

This past week, I started posting videos (the ones here in the Blog) on YouTube.
David recently posted his wedding video on Google Video.

Now they're one and the same, since today Google paid $1.65B for YouTube!

Egyptian names

In my new Level 5 class, I have a group of 9 students. Here are the names of 2 of the students:

Micheal Monir
Azza Mounir

Pop quiz: Are they related? If so, how? Please post answers in the comments. I'll wait 2 days and then give the answer in a different entry.

A small prize will be given for the correct answer, provided I see you in person sometime in the next 6 months and you remind me to give it to you! *laugh*

Shocking! It worked!

My landlord in my new apartment asked me awhile back if I would help him find where his son lives in America. *laugh*

The story confuses me, but basically he knew that he was in New Jersey but only had his phone number. "Why didn't he just call to ask?", you inquire? I'm not sure. It's expensive to call, but also my landlord is a bit odd.

So, he asked me if I could search on the Internet and find the city. I told him I'd try, but I was doubtful that I'd find anything.

Much to my surprise, White Pages served up the information I wanted in seconds. (Answer: Spotswood, NJ) I don't have many home phone numbers memorized to check, but I also plugged in 3 others and it brought up the correct names. One address was old, but that's still pretty good.

I am a little disturbed, however, by the "find neighbors" button on the site. For my childhood home at the lake, clicking this brought up 3 pages with a total of 23 people. That's 23 people, with their name, phone, and address.

The site seems to be trying to prevent misuse by requring a last name in the initial search, but it would be so easy to get around that. I'm no stalker, but all you'd need to do is find one mailbox in a neighborhood with the name on it...and then you can get everything about everyone!

Does this bother anyone else?

Of course, you can always make your number unlisted, but I wonder how long it would take for that change to make it through all the databases around.

Tastes like Cola?

Last night after class, I went off in search of dinner. Fortunately, I discovered last week that one of my local places is still offering sandwiches with meat during Ramadan. B/c of the huge amount of people eat at home in Ramadan, most places drop those items from their menu for the month, or close completely.

But this place still had them and they also had good rice pudding for dessert. *yum* While waiting for my meal, I ordered something to drink. I've taken to asking what flavors they have b/c in Egypt it's fairly common for items to change from one day/week to the next.

I said "drink" but it's actually "smoke" to explain it properly. In Arabic, you "drink" sheesha (also know as Hubbly-Bubbly or Nargeela elsewhere)!

Anyway, the typical flavors are:

Apple
Cherry
Orange

and sometimes this place offers:

Banana
Mint
Peach

But they added "cola" to the list, so I had to try it! The flavor was fairly subtle and it was mild. Some of the others can be harsh, so this was OK. It's probably not a choice I'll make again, but it was alright.

Waste Vegetable Oil information and video clip

For anyone who wants to know more about my current fascination/obsession with getting a car with a diesel engine to run on WVO, check out this video clip. It's an environmentalist in the UK talking about his vehicles and showing them, too.

Currently, I'm hoping to get a 1980-ish Mercedes 200/300 series to convert. Anybody know where I can get a good one for a cheap price?

One bag of stuff

A week or so ago, my boss James came to Tanta. He drove, so I took the opportunity to send some things back to Cairo with him. I had him take back my big suitcase, half-filled with things I won't need for the next few months, souvenirs, etc.

I'm hoping that with this already in Cairo and with me making a few weekend trips to Cairo in November, I'll be able to get everything there without needing to have a car load driven in from Tanta. I think I'll be able to do it!

So, on Friday when I was in Cairo, I added more things to the bag that I've been storing at the apartment I stay in. The bag is full! *laugh* No surprise there! Now the next time I'm in Cairo, I need to weigh the bag to see how much it weighs. I'm a little worried about that, but I should be able to shift some books to my big backpack to balance things out if necessary. I just want to get a general idea of where I'm at with weight. Currently, 23kg (about 50 pounds) is the max allowed per bag.

Hopefully, next weekend I'll hear more about my flight reservation.

I need to carry a pen with me...

I was relaxing at a cafe' after class today and thought of all this great stuff to write. Unfortunately, I couldn't write it down so now I've forgotten it. Maybe it'll come back to me. Let's hope!

Another Icon Video -- Slay that Dragon!

St. George, in all his glory!

Teaching amuses me!

Today, I taught a class all about "American slang". I think I totally confused my students, but we had fun with it. I walked into class talking like I would with a native speaker and they had a bit of trouble at first!!!

I used a textbook that's all about slang. Among other expressions in a short conversation, they included "pissed off". Now that was something to explain! *smirk*

Off to Cairo for a Canadian Thanksgiving celebration on Friday! Back Saturday for classes.

My life is now complete.

I finally got around to watching Napoleon Dynamite.

Best...movie...EVER!



(If you're looking for seriousness, look elsewhere. There's nothing but sarcasm to be found here today.)

Do you ever Google yourself?

When you're bored, do you ever just type your name into Google to see what pops up? Sometimes you find the strangest things! *laugh*

I did this today and discovered that there's another "Jason Allgire" out there. Thankfully, I'm more famous on the Net than he is, so most of the pages that come up are about me! *grin*

Anyway, the other Jason Allgire appears to be a fighter in the Ultimate Combat Experience (of all things). Talk about being the "bad" version of me!!!! Just click on that link and scroll down a bit. When I looked, he was number 6 from the top.

Video from my Upper Egypt trip

So I just gave David a hard time for not uploading videos...and then realized that _I _haven't shown you any!

Here's a fun one of a moving icon of the Virgin Mary:

An early bedtime?

I decided to go to bed early tonight.

Yup -- it's 3am, time for bed!

I like to nap.

Why do I like to nap? Let me count the ways...

The obvious reason is b/c it gives me a little pick-me up in the afternoon for teaching. But the better reason is that it allows me to remember my dreams. You see, I almost never remember my dreams if I get a "normal night's sleep". But if I take a nap, then I'm much more likely to remember my dreams. REM sleep and all that.

And I _like_ remembering my dreams!!!

Empty

Tried to think of something good to write, but couldn't do it. I wrote a few emails today, including a long-overdue update to my extended family, so there's nothing left!

Hopefully, after my classes tonight I'll feel inspired. Check back!

Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up

Well, it looks like I'll be in Cairo this weekend. I have scheduled 2 extra classes on Thursday night, so it'll be a quick go on Friday, come back Saturday morning trip. But it'll be worth it to hang out with people, eat some good food, and celebrate Thanksgiving Canadian style!

But that's still a few days away, so I'll keep posting!

Fair Trade and Free CFL

Ok, one more about light bulbs. I just came across another great idea! It's a website that offers Fair Trade, Organic, and Green items and they're offering a free Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb ($3 value) with each order of $50 or more! What a great idea! Support a good cause, save some money, and help the environment!

It's time to begin your Christmas shopping anyway, right?

Pledge to replace old lightbulbs

Back to a previous topic of using Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs to save money/energy, here's a page with more information and a form to fill out where you make a pledge to replace X number of old bulbs this year.

C'mon! Just do it!

Ready to "De-lawn"?

Life is funny sometimes. This past week while dreaming/thinking about the future, a thought occurred to me: "We waste a ton of energy on our lawns -- why not replace them with gardens?"

Has this thought ever crossed your mind?

Well, it seems that I'm not alone in thinking this way. Here's a page which reprints a July article in the New York times on this topic.

Blast from the past!

Would you believe Wally Pleasant is still out there, singing goofy songs? He has a free MP3 to download from each of his albums! Check 'em out!

(this will make sense to some of the Albion folks out there, but probably to no one else)

Weird! Listening to Wally in Egypt! *laugh*

This strange English language,

Last night, someone said "good evening" to me in English.

He meant "good night".

But they _should_ be the same, shouldn't they? The words "evening" and "night" are almost the same, so why not use them interchangably?

What a great language!

Here's my take on the subject in American English (British, Canadian, and Australian might be different):

"Good evening." is only used as greeting, but "Have a good evening." is a way of saying "goodbye".

"Good night." or "Have a good night." are both ways of saying "goodbye".

But, from the Hardy Boys books in my childhood, I also learned that "Good night!" is an old way of saying "Oh, my goodness!"

Further thoughts on this? Please comment!

Obese man in his underwear

So there's a guy who lives across the street from my apartment. His living room window is straight across from the window in the room where I sometimes sit to use my laptop.

He's big and likes to wear "wife-beater" undershirts while sitting in his chair. Thankfully, I can't see him from the waist down. Sometimes he smokes a pipe. I don't think that's very common in Egypt.

I especially find this strange/funny because when I visit James and Linda, when walking down their stairs, there's an apartment you see into beside them where a guy sits in his underwear!

Ah, the joys of living close to other people!

I'm a Star Trek geek!

Alright, as some of you may know, I love Star Trek! It began as a fascination with the old series, meeting James Doohan once as a child, then getting into the movies as they came out. After that, I watched some of the new series, but it just wasn't the same.

Anyway, I just read today that CBS/Paramount are releasing updated versions of the old episodes, with updated special effects, sound, and music. Wow!

Prescription Drug Assistance

As I ponder my near future of insurance that will have a high deductible and no coverage for medications, I find sites like these quite interesting:

Together Rx Access
and
Partnership for Prescription Assistance

Essentially, these are broad programs for low-income households to help them get discounts on prescription medications. There's a short application and if you meet the requirements, then you get a free card which you show at pharmacies.

Affordable health care is still a serious problem in the US and this isn't the solution, but it's a step in the right direction.

Tennessee?

Just chatted on MSN Messenger with my friend David. He was in an airport somewhere in Tennessee, waiting for his flight back home to Michigan. Ah, the wonders of wireless technology! As I type this, he's hopefully boarding his plane and get back to Michigan quickly and safely.

I can't believe I scooped him on this. He didn't even write anything in his own Blog while in the airport! I'll allow it this time, since I know how tired he is.

Speaking of which, it's about time for _me_ to head for bed!

Bees!

I was reminded today that I don't like bees. Okay, maybe a few of them are OK but at my local bakery/sweet shop, there was a swarm around some of the trays. Bees were...well, making a "bee line" (can't believe I actually used that expression almost in context) to the really sweet items and using the aisle to get there.

My choice was to be in the aisle where the bees were flying, or standing outside in the sun. Not good choices. It was 1.30pm and we seem to be having a mini-heat wave, so the breeze feels like when you open up your oven! Anyway, I chose the sun b/c that was only temporary discomfort. Making the bees angry could resulted in a pain that lingered.

I was able to keep my nervousness in check b/c I was aware of it. I just tried to be aware of where the bees were, what they were doing, and how I was reacting.

I'm not sure if this is a "normal reaction" (not that a situation comes up in everyday life very often), of if I'm overly-sensitive.

You see, as a young child I used to walk barefoot through our yard to get the mail. One summer I got stung by bees several times in a short period of time. I guess the doctor then declared me "allergic". I'm not sure if I've gotten stung since then, so I don't know what kind of reaction I would have. Hmmm...maybe I should have an allergy test done at the doctor when I get back from the US to check for this and other things.

New pics!

Well, it's getting to the end of the month, so I thought I should upload as many pics as possible onto Flickr. There's quite a variety of pictures from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy and comment here, please! This one was our small group for Ultimate Frisbee in Cairo on Tuesday.

Feast or Famine!

So yesterday was a really busy day. I only ate breakfast, snacked during the day, and then had dinner. Unfortunately breakfast was before 8am and dinner was after 9pm! But dinner was at my favorite take-away restaurant in Tanta!

But today, I went with people on an all-day trip to a retreat center in a village outside Tanta. Actually, it's 2 days and people stayed the night, but there weren't enough beds for everyone so I came back. Just as well -- I need to rest up and prepare for classes that start Saturay!

Anyway, it was a big day of socializing, meetings, and eating -- lots and lots of eating! Yummy stuff, too!

From the Comments...

If you're like me (are you?), you often skip over the comments link in Blogs. Thinking this is true, I've decided to post 2 recent comments here and reply to them:

From Mary, regarding my announcement of the Chat Contest winners:
" Does that mean those of us who lost don't get visits? :-( "

No, but it means you should try to win future contests. *grin*

I'm not actually sure what it means. Of course, I want to visit lots of people! It seems I will have the time. That's a good start. Beyond that, I'm giving preference to people who live in the warmest climates to visit in January and February. I'd also love to be able to have a bed/couch to crash on and possibly some home-cooked food. But I'd better not ask for too much!


And from Erik, in response to my post about shoes:
" I think of you every time I see "that guy" on campus who wears shorts and sandals no matter the weather. :) "

This made my day! *laugh* Some of you understand this comment, others don't. It boils down to the fact that while at Albion, I was known to walk around during the winter in shorts and sandals. Generally, this was just a few yards from the door of our residence hall to the door of the dining hall. Sometimes it was across campus. *grin* Hey, I still have all my toes -- so no harm done!!!

I wore shoes yesterday

That may not seem like a strange thing to you, but it is to me! I think that's 2 times I've worn shoes since April or May.

No...I don't run around barefoot! *yuck* I just like wearing sandals when the weather is warm!

'Twas the Night Before Ramadan

While walking around tonight, I got a spark of inspiration to write a parody of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" inspired by the preparations for Ramadan. However, I don't think I can come up with enough material right now for the whole thing, so all you're getting is my reflections.

It does feel like the night before Christmas, in that frantic shopping sort of way. Since Ramadan begins on Sunday (so I've been told), I decided that I should stock up on some food so that I can have breakfast and lunch in my apartment. So, after a celebration to give certificates to our students from the Summer English Classes, I hit the streets.

I was not alone.

Not even close!

The streets around the main market area in town for things like fruits, basic foods, and dried fruits (raisins, dates, and apricots are consumed in mass quantities during Ramadan) were just packed! It would have been alright with just foot traffic, but when you toss in cars trying to go both directions, scooters, bicycles, and the occasional horse-drawn cart, it was pretty crazy!

I managed to get a kilo of raisins to munch on, some bread, and a chocolate-covered sweet for in the morning. Oh, I also bought a kilo of honey from a guy who has a bee/honey farm not far from Tanta. Hey, I'm doing what I can to support the local farmer!

Now, I'll probably stay up for a few hours to relax and listen to what's happening on the streets. It's quiet now, so I'm guessing that maybe people are napping and then will wake up a bit before early morning prayers to have one last big meal before the Holy Month of fasting begins.

So many things change because of Ramadan. I'll try to think about some of them and write a good description later.

We have winners!!!

Regarding my previous post opening the contest to see who would be the first to chat with me, using my new DSL connection -- this is the announcement of the winners!

Much to my surprise, my mother was not the first person to text chat with me. She came in a close 2nd. Thanks for trying, Mom. *smile*

The winner for first to text chat with me was my friend Vanessa in Michigan.

And the winner for first to voice chat and to give me a peek into his life using a webcam was my friend Rob in Michigan.

The text chat was on MSN Messenger and the voice/video was using Skype. Quality is really great! *grin*

So...you still have time to be a winner by getting into a voice conversation with me on MSN Messenger, or any type of chat on Yahoo Instant Messenger.

What did they win?

Well, Bob...they win visits from me! Yes, that's right! Upon my return from Michigan, they'll be lucky enough to have me come spend time with them.

Is this really a prize? *laugh* We'll have to see what they think!!!

Pirate Babe Calendar? (and more Pirate info)

This amuses me. Yesterday, I wrote about Pirates and today I came across a link for the Pirate Babe Calendar. Strange things!!!

On a related note, I forgot to say that I rode the Pirate Ride (or something similar) at Dream Park today. While riding it, I decided to talk like a pirate so I said things like "ARRRRGH!", "Shiver me timbers", "Matey", and "Walk the plank". I blame my lack of originality on the fact that I was high up in the air and flying around!

A big day at the amusement park

Big day -- met people at 7am and we left for Cairo before 8. Not bad, really. First we went to a church and then on to Dream Park. We were there from noon until 9pm! Wow!!!

Quite an experience. I think Dream Park is the biggest amusement park in Egypt, but it can't really compare to major parks that I've been at. The complex is huge, with a hotel, mall, etc and is owned by a big media company so it's trying to be a bit like Disney World or Disney Land, but it's more like "The Most Popular Fair on Earth" mixed with some of the smaller rides from Cedar Point.

The biggest ride is something like the Iron Dragon at Cedar Point and they also have a smaller version of Thunder Canyon as one of their water rides. Heck, there's even something like Disaster Transport! Oddly enough, all the rides seemed to have come from the same German company.

Some of the fair rides that I thought about included the Tilt-a-Whirl (my name for it -- at Dream Park it was Tea Cups) and something like the Matahorn. Sorry for the obscurity of this b/c only my mother and maybe old high school friends will remember these names from the Hillsdale County Fair (which is actually called "the most popular fair on Earth" for some strange reason, since that can't be true).

Going off on a tangent of speculation, it just occurred to me that someone probably took P.T. Barnum's "The Greatest Show on Earth" tagline and tried to change it. The trouble is, "greatest" is a subjective term, so you can get away with using it b/c no one can prove it's not the greatest. Unfortunately, "most popular" can be quantified by presuming that attendance equals popularity. If this is done, then the Hillsdale County Fair has been lying to people for 150 years! *grin*

I'm tired, but it was a fun day and strangely enough, it felt like being home...even though I was with a group of 16 Egyptians all day. The timing was good, b/c the Hillsdale County Fair starts on Sept. 24th.

An extra hour, an extra week

So, here's something for the "I didn't know they could do that" category.

Normally, Egypt does the "fall back" time change the last Thursday in September. That would be one week from today. However, because Ramadan starts this Sunday (we think), the government has decided to have the time change tonight. *laugh*

For me, that's really good b/c Friday morning at 7am, I have to meet up with a bunch of friends from Tanta to hop on a bus for a day of fun at a big amusement park, Dream Park. This will be my first time to go and it sounds like a great place! If nothing else, the price is right! It's 40 Egyptian Pounds (less than $8) for the bus to/from Cairo and the ticket into the park!

I just looked through the website and it looks like a small place, which will let us save our energy for screaming! There are also water rides, so I think I'd better take my bathing suit and a towel plus some dry clothes to keep on the bus. My DSL connection is paying off now, for sure!!!! *smile*

Sudden realization!

You remember the friends that I mentioned in a previous post? The ones who got married last week? I just realized that they got married on Talk Like a Pirate Day! (of course, this was no coincidence and when they told me the date, I should have checked to see if they lined up)

Ah, I love my friends!!!!

The loudest Roar since '84

Wow, the Detroit Tigers are still in 1st place! From various people, I had heard that they were doing well earlier in the season, but I hadn't checked recently!

With just the rest of this month and 1 game in October, things look good. They have 6 games against Kansas City, a team which isn't very good (at least judging from their record). Of these, the last 3 are in Detroit to wrap up the regular season.

I won't bother trying to find clips now, but once the playoffs start...I'll be using my DSL connection to watch whatever I can. Comment/email if you know good places for me to look.

Michigan to get federal grant for teaching languages!

Well, this is "old news" from April, but I find this idea/article to be interesting:
"Embracing Arabic: State to get language grant" (from the Detroit free Press)

My first reaction was "Great, more Americans studying languages!" But I have to balance that with my skeptical side, thinking that part of the government's aim is to start training kids in Arabic and Chinese so that they are better qualified as adults to be used for intelligence-gathering. You know, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. Train them early!

Thoughts?

More observations about myself and Egypt

It's really nice having a juice shop in my neighborhood. That was the one major drawback of where I used to live. Today, I had a "cocktail" (that's even what they call it in Arabic). Essentially, chunks of banana, apple, pear, melon, and fresh date in a tall glass, mixed with juice, and topped with whipped creme.

Yummy! I've been a bit scared to get these at other places in the past b/c they sit around awhile. But these looked fresh.

The only bad thing is that I don't like fresh dates. I've been trying to like them, but I can't do it. The texture is nice, flavor is OK, but that mouth-drying element and the after-taste are...yuck!

Live and learn.

Observations from this evening

In my neighborhood, a new coffee shop just opened, so I tried it. Decent place, but a bit more expensive than others around. I'll probably go back. It's hard to beat the location -- less than 5 minutes away.

While walking home, I noticed that there's another coffee shop that should be open soon. The walls are painted and chairs are ready. I'm presuming they'll open for Ramadan, which starts on the 24th (maybe).

Sitting at the cafe', I saw a video on TV that was a new cover of the Bangles' song, "Walk Like an Egyptian". I tried to find information on the Web about who sings it, but I couldn't find anything!

Pictures of my new apartment!

By popular demand (at least from my mother), here are some pics of my new place!

One of my best friends...

...is getting married today. Best wishes! You know who you are!

A fun Monday

Yesterday, I:

--watched an Indian movie at the Indian Cultural Center
--ate a Syrian-style sandwich on the way back to where I was staying
--was mistaken for being Turkish by another customer while waiting for my sandwich

What a day!

A Contest to Contact Me!!!

I'm happily connected to my new DSL connection! God willing, I'll stay connected too!!! *grin* It took a bit of time for the guys to get the wires capped properly and there seems to be some sort of odd electrical field near the desk where I'm sitting, but all seems to be well!

So, the contest is to see who will be the first to:

1) Text chat with me on MSN Messenger
2) Voice chat with me on MSN Messenger
3) Use their webcam so that I can see them on MSN Messenger
4) Talk with me on Skype
5) Connect in any way using Yahoo Instant Messenger

If you don't know my name on these -- it's the same for all of them. That's my first initial and last name. Just check to see if I'm connected!

Prizes? Who said that a contest has to have prizes??? But I'll see what I can do...

"Underground Heavy Metal Scene Thrives Cautiously in Egypt"

So, I missed this story from CBS news a month ago about Egypt's growing Heavy Metal scene, but I'm bringing it to you now. Amazing what you find sometimes when doing a simple search -- I just wanted to find out the time for a concert tonight!

*grin*

But it's an interesting article and now I really want to check out one of these concerts!!! What a crazy thing that would be!

100 Ways to Save the Environment

Live...from North Carolina, it's... 100 Ways to Save the Environment!

*applause*

(Please ignore the typos on that page -- they're worth fighting through to read the good information that's there!)

Sleeping on my balcony

My balcony is large.

How large is it? Well, big enough for a double-sized mattress. How do I know this? Yes, you guessed it -- I slept out there on Thursday night!

And...it...was...great! In fact, I even got cold that night! Yes, shocking!

Fortunately, the balcony is designed such that people on the street below can't see up to where I'm sleeping. So it's only people on surrounding buildings that live on higher floors who could look down on me. For the sake of not scaring folks, I wore pajama pants and a T-shirt.

More about the apartment soon! I love it and will post pics soon, I hope!

Water Usage

Here's a bit of background for a future post or serious of posts that I'll be making. Several things lately have gotten me thinking about water usage, so I went looking for statistics.

Here are statistics on average water usage in the U.S.

I had to laugh when I saw this as part of the page:

--> A friend of mine saw a decorative sign with this advice in a neighbor's bathroom: "If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, send it down."

Yes to High-Speed Internet

Well, it looks like the next time I'm online, it'll be from my apartment with the high-speed Internet from across the street. God willing, it'll happen at 3pm Tuesday afternoon.

I'm in Cairo for a few things this weekend, including an event at the American University to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur. Similar events are happening all over the world today and you can read more about:

Global Day for Darfur

and

Save Darfur.org

Hand-powered flashlights

Bought a couple of hand-powered flashlights at a monastery gift shop during my trip.

I kinda figured I'd be able to find something similar on Ebay, but this flashlight is exactly like 1 of the ones that I got! These are a really good idea, unless you want to sneak up on someone!! *laugh* With my little cheap ones (I paid less than $2 USD), you have to constantly be squeezing and releasing to generate the power, which results in a "whirring" sound. Mine have small watch batteries inside (despite saying "no batteries"), but you're not able to charge them. They work with a separate switch, like any normal flashlight would.

Here's a longer list of similar items on Ebay and I also found these nicer models on another site.

Has anyone seen more sophisticated/expensive versions? Opinions?

My New Apartment and Fast Internet?

Things in my new apartment are great! It's a wonderful place, less than 5 minutes from where I teach my English classes! I have most of my things moved over, so the place is a mess. I'm waiting until I get things put away before I take pictures.

So for now, you have to be satisfied with more photos from my trip!

Conveniently located across the street from my apartment is a nice Internet cafe'. In fact, I'm sitting there as I type this. I talked with them the first day I came about possibly getting a connection run up to my apartment, like other people in surrounding buildings have (it's obvious from the spiderweb of cables running away from the Internet cafe').

The price is decent, so I wanted to check the connection speed. I explained this to the nice guy who runs the place and he agreed.

So...I went to various "Internet Speed Test" websites. Here are the results:

BandwidthPlace -- 343.8 kbps (296 on second try)
CNET Speed Test -- 217.1 kbps (258 on second try)
McAfee Speed Test -- 150 kbps (150 again on second try)
SpeakEasy.net Speed Test -- 616 kbps (422 on second try)
PC Pitstop Speed Test -- 130 kbps (176 on second try)

What accounts for the variation? I think it's that some of the sites allow me to download from a site in/near Egypt, while others are only from America (and come up with slower results)

All in all, I think it's pretty good. From the looks of things, the Internet Cafe' is mostly frequented by kids playing networked computer games. There are only a couple on websites, so that means that I'll mostly be sharing the connection with my neighbors. Once I get the connection in my apartment (I'm pretty sure I'll get it), I'll do a bit of trial/error to see when people are home/downloading and when I get faster speeds.

Cool!

Comparing Book Collections

One of our new/returning MCC volunteers is a writer and keeps up on book-related topics much better than I do.

So, when he says "I found this really interesting site" (in a way that only Keith can say this sentence", I listen! *smile*

The site he pointed me to is LibraryThing -- basically, you create a list of your books (for personal or public use) and then your list is compared to all the other lists from other people who use the site. Based on similarities, the site tries to predict other books you might like. You can go deeper than this, but that's the short version of what you can do.

Give it a try!

My friend the Geek

I have a friend who is a geek. He now owns a Bluetooth Virtual Laser Keyboard. Can you guess who this friend is? (please post in the Comments)

I love a bargain!

As many of you know, I love bargains!

On this recent trip, we went to monasteries all around Upper Egypt, to Luxor Temple in Luxor, and then to beaches near the city of Hurghada on the Red Sea.

When we went to Luxor Temple, my friend decided that it would be funny to them to try to get me in for the Egyptian price.

Here's how the pricing structure breaks down:

Foreigners: 35 Egyptian Pounds
Foreign Students: 20 Egyptian Pounds
Egyptians : 2 Egyptian Pounds

So...they just bought the ticket for me along with the rest of the group and then pushed me into the middle of the mass of people as we went through. *laugh*

The pic is of me holding the ticket and of the price list on the sign!

More pictures?

Well, I had intended to upload a bunch of pics tonight, but Flickr seems to be having some problems. So...I'm heading for bed and hopefully they'll have the problem fixed so that I can upload in the morning before starting the move into my new apartment!

Oh heck, I guess I'll give you another picture here! This one is of my friend Michael's mother (on the right) and her 4 sisters! They were great to be around and did their best to feed us whenever possible!


And here's an odd pic of me. We were at Luxor Temple, so maybe the explanation is that I was temporarily possessed by the spirit of a long-dead Pharaoh?

First picture from my recent trip

As part of my recent trip with a large group of Egyptians from Tanta, a few of us took a side-trip which involved a nice boat ride, snorkeling, and relaxation. There were many foreigners on the boat, so it was very different from the other days on the trip!

The price of the trip was 55 Egyptian pounds (less than $11) which included mask/snorkel/fins and a very nice of salad, rice, meat, and fish. What a value! Something tells me that most of the other people on the boat didn't come for that price b/c they came on packaged tours!

Anyway, while waiting to board our boat in the morning, we looked around at other boats near ours. Look at the name of the boat in this picture. How would _you_ pronounce it?

Love and Marriage

Wait, wait, wait! Before you get too excited about this topic, it's a just a very general thing -- no specific ideas in my mind right now!

Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way...

In our MCC group in Egypt, we have 3 young couples now, all under the age of 30. So this morning, one of the other single guys and I started talking about marriage and came to a question that neither of us could answer.

"What makes a successful marriage?"

The next time I see my married MCC friends, I will ask them this question, but for now I'm asking all of you! Please feel free to reply in the comments if you want to share with others reading this or email me personally.

New apartment

Well, I move into a new apartment tomorrow. I knew this was going to happen before I went on my big trip, but I didn't have time to Blog about it.

However, that's a good thing.

Why?

Well...b/c I'm not moving into that apartment -- I'm actually moving into a different apartment! Long story which I'll try to write out soon!

Learning about Teaching

So this weekend, I'm in Cairo for sessions on English teaching. Today, it was an intense few hours of hearing about the new Internet-based TOEFL test. Read about it -- I think it would even be difficult for native-speakers!!!

Back from my long Journey

Before being away these past few days, I never knew why most Egyptians talk about going on "journeys" instead of using the word "trips".

Now I know!

*laugh*

Long, long trip...but parts were really, really good. Other parts were quite tiring. But it was a good mix.

Pictures and stories this week. Right now I'm at an MCC welcome party for new people and things are crazy with kids running around everywhere!

Great Cairo site to keep you occupied

Since I probably won't be blogging for the next 2 weeks, I wanted to find things to keep you occupied! Well...while searching for a picture of the big governement building in Cairo, I found a beautiful, interesting, and well-designed Cairo site.

It's called "Last Tourist Cairo" and is sponsored by the Dutch Embassy in Cairo and one of the cutting-edge art galleries in Cairo.

I really think you all should take a look at this site. More than anything else I've seen, this site really captures the feel of Cairo. The hand-drawn maps and black-and-white pictures give it that timeless feeling that it has.

Easy dealings with the Egyptian Government

Would you believe that I just got back from a quick and easy trip to extend my Egyptian Visa? Well...it's true!

Granted, they didn't give me the Visa, but that's just a small thing!

*laugh*

(no, that doesn't mean I have to leave when my current Visa expires -- keep reading)

Without making the story any longer than it has to be...with my current Visa expiring in a week and passport expiring at the beginning of November, they didn't know how to process a new 6 month Visa at this point. So they told me there's a 2-week penalty-free grace period for renewing Visas and I'll just wait until I get my new passport and then go back to this same office again for the Visa.

Now that's efficiency! I don't have to go to the big, scary government building in Cairo or anything!!!!

Bible Quiz

Quick! Can you list all the books in the Bible? Just in the Old or New Testament?

If you're like me, the answer is no. In fact, if you're like me and someone says "Is there a book of Nahum in the Bible?", you will probably stare at them blankly. (What can I say? I never went to Sunday School very much -- watching Buck Rogers seemed like a better choice)

Well...as part of my ongoing educational experience in Egypt, I learned today that there is a book of Nahum, plus a whole bunch of other somewhat obscure books after Psalms and Proverbs.

So, think about this for a minute and then take a peek at a list of books of the Bible.

Doing the paperwork

Applied for my new Passport last weekend in Cairo. So, that took me to the U.S. Embassy for the first time. Boring place, but I met a guy working there who used to plant tulips in the summer in Holland, MI.

Tomorrow, I go for my new visa to keep me here the next few months.

After that, I jump on a big ol' bus with a bunch of Egyptians and head south. Yes, to where the weather is even hotter!!! Monasteries, Luxor, Aswan, and Hurghada for about 9 days.

The apartment-hunt continues. No updates.

Helped some kids at the church today with their pronunciation in English. They have a big competition later this week in Cairo and they need to do short speeches and such in English. Kinda fun to see these young kids express themselves in English.

My new apartment

Well, I just found out that the new apartment I've been waiting for months to move into isn't going to work out. *sigh* Long story.

So what this means is that I need to get things rolling over the next couple of days to get people looking for places for me so that there are options when I get back from my trip that leaves on Wednesday.

Kinda discouraging -- I've had so many conversations about this, including last week when I said "Look, just level with me and tell me the truth. I just want to know if I should keep waiting or look for something else." and it's just gotten me nowhere. Well, I guess I've learned from the experience, but it definitely hasn't gotten me a permanent place to live.

In the long run, this might work out for the best. We shall see.

Last Weekend?

Wow...I just love having other people in MCC Egypt with Blogs. They write things and take pictures so I don't have to!

For example, I didn't tell you much about last weekend when I went to Cairo...but Alice, the teenage daughter of my Country Representatives, James and Linda blogs about things. We happened to be at the same event last weekend, so you can read what Alice had to say about it!

Last Weekend?

Wow...I just love having other people in MCC Egypt with Blogs. They write things and take pictures so I don't have to!

For example, I didn't tell you much about last weekend when I went to Cairo...but Alice, the teenage daughter of my Country Representatives, James and Linda blogs about things. We happened to be at the same event last weekend, so you can read what Alice had to say about it!

What a difference a day makes!

Saturday morning -- woke up about 8am and relaxed with a good book in Heliopolis. The apartment I stay in when I'm there is away from a major street and doesn't get a lot of traffic. It's cool and quiet until around 11am.

Sunday morning -- woke up about 8.45am to the sound of a jackhammer going...and it hasn't let up yet after 5 hours. Yes, an actual jackhammer. They're starting construction on a new high-rise apartment right beside the building where I'm staying right now. In fact, I can look out the window of the bedroom where I sleep and see the project.

The past few days

Just back from a fun few days in Cairo. I went on Wednesday afternoon on a trip with people from Tanta and then stayed after that. The trip was to Coptic Cairo with the old churches and also to a part of town called Ma'adi. There's a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and a few decades ago, they found a Bible floating in the Nile nearby that was open to a passage that was interpreted as a blessing on the people of Egypt.

Then on Thursday I took some of our new volunteers to a small stretch of Islamic Cairo. It's an area I really love and a good opportunity to spend time with new people. On Friday I went to church and then took the new arrivals to play Ultimate Frisbee.

Now I'm back in Tanta for a few days of teaching. Wednesday, I leave for a big 9-day trip with people from Tanta to Upper Egypt. More details on that later.

Dan Murphy

I think I crossed path with someone named Dan Murphy. Well...I know his name was Dan and from the information he told me, I think his last name is Murphy. But after about an hour of searching, I wasn't able to find a picture of him anywhere online.

Anyway, he's a journalist based in Cairo and he writes mostly about the Middle East. Over the last couple of years, he's spent a bunch of time in Iraq and worked a lot on trying to find his co-worker, Jill Carroll after she was kidnapped.

Christian Science Monitor articles
and
Alternet.org articles

--plus, a fun one about the increasing number of Western students studying abroad in the Middle East.

This gives me another reason to start playing Ultimate Frisbee -- running across interesting people like this! *laugh* Apparently, Dan Murphy really enjoys playing...

That being said, he was a bit of a jerk, but I can forgive him b/c he's probably stressed out of his mind and needed to blow off some steam by playing.

Dance Dance Revolution

Would you believe I played DDR on Thursday night? (If you don't know what this game is, stop reading this entry b/c I'm not even going to try to explain -- or read this to try to understand)

I was in Cairo to show some new volunteers around town...and 2 of them have a version of the game for their computer and 2 pads that plug into the USB ports.

Craziness with 5 of taking turns playing. I should have pictures to post soon! *laugh*

Off to Cairo

Heading to Cairo today with a group from Tanta to see the old Coptic area of the city. After that, I'll stay around for a few days and help show some of our new arrivals around. So...nothing until Saturday or Sunday.

Housing Update

Currently, I'm doing my own special Tanta version of Couch Surfing.

*grin*

First, my new apartment was supposed to be ready on July 20th.
That deadline was missed.

So then they said August 20th.
Nope, didn't make that one, either.

Now the date for me to move in is set as Sept. 7.

God willing, that will happen.

For about 6 weeks, I stayed in a beautiful apartment owned by my friend Fady's family. I had the place to myself. But Fady and his family traveled to the U.S. last week, so I needed to move out. The timing would have been perfect, if the new apartment had been ready.

But it wasn't, so now I'm staying with my friend George. His wife and son are away from Tanta for the summer, so he's glad to have me around to keep him company. I'll give him a break for a few days b/c I'll be in Cairo from Wed. night - Saturday.

Really, it's not as stressful as it sounds! It's interesting to see how different people live and to see different apartments!

Random TV-watching

So, I've been watching a bit of TV the last couple of days. This is strange for me b/c I usually don't watch TV.

What's even stranger is _what_ I've been watching. This morning, it was ABC's Good Morning America, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune! *laugh*

There's a satellite channel that broadcasts all those! GMA was from yesterday morning and was quite painful to watch. There were some useful bits, but mostly it was just sugar-coated junk. They even showed a grainy YouTube clip of some stupid firefighter in England who let his buddies put him in an industrial-sized clothes dryer.

The game shows were interesting, mostly b/c I haven't seen them in at least 4 years and quite a few things have changed. Jeopardy was the Teen Tournament, so I was actually able to answer some of the questions! *smile*

Wheel was fun and there was even a puzzle with the solution "Cairo Egypt".

Some like it hot!

...but not me! And it's been hot!

Really hot, as in sweating when you're just sitting sort of hot. Not sure if there's any end in sight. I guess I should check the weather to see! Thankfully, there's air conditioning in the classroom that I use most of the time so I get a break from the heat for a few hours each day.

100 degrees yesterday, according to weather.com. Plus, it's unusually humid.

Yes, I know the U.S. had a hot stretch a few weeks ago, but it's harder to escape the heat here, I think.

Keeping You Safe

This just in from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), you _are_ allowed the following items in carry-on-baggage:

-Corkscrews
-Knitting and Crochet Needles
-Metal Scissors with pointed tips, if less than 4 inches in length
-Screwdrivers, if less than 7 inches in length
-Walking canes and umbrellas, once they have been inspected to ensure that prohibited items are not concealed

(here is a full list of allowed/banned items)

Anyone else see a possible problem with this? Okay, I know the current issue of people going mad scientist and mixing chemicals on the planes, but if they're going to stop me from carrying Saline Solution, shouldn't they also ban all sharp pointy things?

On a related note, the TSA recently "discovered explosive residue at a checkpoint" in Huntington, W. Virginia. Here they note that the terminal was reopened later in the day, but fail to inform us that "chemical tests later found that there were no explosives in the bottles" (according to CNN).

The woman stopped with the bottles was 28 and of Pakistani origin. Her mother says she was targeted and humiliated.

Missed Opportunity for WVO!

Blast! I am a master of bad timing. Bidding on a diesel Volvo in Jackson just ended a couple of days ago! And it was a cheap car, too!

If anyone around Michigan knows of a good diesel for me to buy, please let me know! I don't want to miss a chance like this again! *sigh*

WRIF Rocks

Okay, I admit it...I'm a sucker for advertising. I've always liked the WRIF radio station and I'm registered to get their emails. Every so often, I look through what they have to offer on their site.

Today, I found the Interviews section which is full of downloads with the DJ's talking with musicians. Fun stuff!

RenFest has started

I hadn't thought of this in a long time...I guess it was about 4 or 5 years ago that I made the trip to Holly, Michigan for RenFest. It's a fun way to spend a day!

(if you have no idea what I'm talking about, follow the link and look through the website)

For those of you in Michigan who enjoy attending the Renaissance Festival, I have an email that will get you Buy 1 - Get 1 Free tickets. Email me and I'll forward it to you.

Price Comparison -- dry cleaning

As I do from time-to-time, here's a message to tell you how much things cost in Egypt.

I just took in some dry cleaning:

-1 suit
-1 sweater
-1 short-sleeved shirt

Any guesses on how much the bill was?

19 Egyptian Pounds = $3.50

How much would it be in the U.S.?

Gone until Sunday

I'll be in Cairo and without Internet access until Sunday. So...I'm trying to give you as much as possible to look at or read as I can! Just pace yourself!

Here are some new photos that go along with the previous post.