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!