Western Entertainment -- gotta love it!

Here's your quick report of the Pink Floyd cover band from Thursday and more...

Fantastic! The band was composed of all Egyptians and the crowd was about 90% Egyptian. People were singing along and even making requests! So much fun!

The meetings went well in Cairo and now it's Saturday night. I'm with friends and we're watching Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary on DVD. *laugh*

Now, the last thing on the note of entertainment.

In a future post, I'm going to be trying to put together a list of major concerts I atended in the U.S. So...if you ever went to a concert with me, please email me at my gmail account and tell me what you remember!

Another pic from out in the village. This was a bridge over a small canal.

Looks like I'm going to a concert by a Pink Floyd cover band on Thursday night.

*laugh*

Yet another thing I never imagined I'd do in Egypt!

More details after the actual event...

Another first for me in Tanta!

Last night, I took my buddy Michael out for dinner, after my English classes. We sat down in the empty restaurant and while waiting for our meal, 3 more people came in.

The group of 3 was composed of 1 Egyptian and 2 university-aged students from either Malaysia or Indonesia.

So...that means that 3-out-of-5 customers in this restaurant at that time were foreigners! *laugh* I certainly never expected that to happen in Tanta!

Another pic for you all to enjoy. And I'll even explain the previous one with the bicycle. This was out near a village about 45 minutes outside of Tanta. One of the teachers in Tanta and her family have a house there and she invited me to come visit. So, I invited some other MCC'ers and we had a nice day.

Now, this pic is some critters we ran across while walking out in the fields. Cute, eh?

Not sure if anyone saw this on the news yet, but I received this email from the U.S. Embassy:

On February 17, 2006, the Government of Egypt confirmed that H5N1 Avian Influenza was found in poultry from the Cairo, Giza, and Minya Governorates.

The Embassy is not aware of any evidence of any human cases of the H5N1 Avian Influenza in Egypt.

--”Governorates” equate roughly to states, and I live in a different one from those 3 listed. Nonetheless, I'm going to cut down on my fondling of chickens and frolicking in poultry markets.

I have friends in Tanta who are vets and/or work for vet supply companies as sales representatives. Even before this recent development, they said that the market was in a downward spiral due to news in other parts of the world. I can only presume that these cases in Egypt will cause further damage to the industry.

Apparently, since this notice was sent out, there are now confirmed cases in 9 governorates, including the one where I live. As of the 20^th, no live chickens, geese, ducks, or swans are to be allowed in markets. If they are found, they will be confiscated and owners fined.

Speaking of health news, did anyone else happen to notice that this week a law was passed in the U.K. banning smoking in all enclosed public places (pubs, restaurants, and concert venues being the major change)?

England is becoming like California.

Scary!