"New to me" Coffee Shop

Well, I went to another “new to me” coffee shop on the way to class today. I have seen this one while walking to my courses these past 3 years and I finally stopped in to have some juice. Nice place. Very Islamic. Many verses from the Koran at the entrance and they even turned off the television during the call to prayer!

After class tonight, I experienced another first! -- seeing college-aged females at coffee shops in Tanta! Not just in 1, but in 3 different ones near the Faculty of Commerce. I was shocked! It was only 8pm, which is quite early so I thought that this was just a strange occurrence b/c of the location. But then, I was with some friends later at a coffee shop in a different part of town and there was a young woman there, too! Now this was even more extreme. She had a head-covering on (but face uncovered), was sitting with a young guy, and she was smoking a cigarette!! Wow!

Off to Cairo for the weekend, I think...more on Sunday!

A Week of Firsts

It's been a week of firsts for me in Egypt.

Last Thursday for the first time, I played 3^rd wheel with an Egyptian friend and his “blind date” in Alexandria. As a result of me trying to give them as much time as possible to talk and get to know each other, my buddy and I missed our train back to Tanta. (also a first)

While in Alex, I went to a coffee shop that I had never gone to before and this helped inspire me. I'm now making it my mission to go to as many coffee shops in Tanta as I can before I finish my time in Egypt. Already this week, I've added 3 to my list!

Possibly related to all this, I started feeling sick on Tuesday afternoon. I was fine to teach, but my whole body was just aching after that. I ate dinner at my friend Michael's house and got home late. I've learned how to listen to my body a bit better in Egypt that I did in the U.S., so I knew that I needed to rest, so I slept from about 2am – 11.30am on Wednesday.

I woke up a new man! Well...not quite. I woke up feeling better, but also knew that eating any sort of solid food was out of the question. *stomach grumbles* I had made plans to meet with a student at a coffee shop at noon and that was good b/c it required me to get out of the house and test how I was feeling (as opposed to lying around on my couch).

At the coffee shop, I had a hot milk drink which helped settle my stomach. I also had a good talk with my student and one of his co-workers. After that, I did a bit of grocery shopping and came home for a nap. I thought about eating lunch, but still didn't think my stomach was up to it. I did have 2 bananas. I have to keep working the 2kg that I bought earlier this week! That's about 4.4 pounds and when dealing with the numbers it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's tough to eat that much before they get soft! *laugh* I still wasn't feeling great, so I took an hour nap.

Had a good class tonight and then met up with friends at my local church. We went to my favorite coffee shop which is conveniently located across the street from a cheap place for sandwiches (chicken, sausage, etc) I can never resist eating at this place, and thankfully my stomach was ready for food.

In other food news, while walking home tonight, I stopped to buy eggs. This was my first time buying eggs in about 6 weeks...and I was shocked by the price! In Egypt, the price for eggs is based on buying 30 (a dozen has no meaning here). When I bought eggs before, the price was about $1.50 for 30 eggs. (about $.60/dozen) Today, the price was $2.50 for 30 eggs!!! Blame bird flu and the drastic measures the Egyptian government took to contain it. A friend who works selling medicine to vets says that it will take about 3 months before the supply of eggs gets back to pre-bird flu levels. Until then, it's “a crisis” (in his words) for people living on a fixed income.

Well, time to finish watching Walk the Line. I'm feeling much better now, but my sleep schedule is a bit off b/c of all the sleeping today. Hopefully I'll be able to get to bed around 3am.

Stay tuned! I'll try to write again soon!

Wow...can you all believe that this is my 4th post this month! And it's just the 15th!!! So, I'm taking the time to write, but what do I have to say?

Well, I can start by pointing you to an author that I've been reading? Can you believe that I've started reading _The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People_ by Stephen Covey? After years of thinking my friend Rob was a bit fanatical in his attachment to FranklinCovey, I think I now see that value of it. At least of the principles I've read in the book. Not sure if I'll go the planner route in the future, or not!

The book is from our MCC library in Cairo and my boss recommended that I read it. He just finished it and I generally like his reading choices. I'm quite shocked by how Christian the book is. I was quite ignorant of Covey's background, so I never knew that his ideas would connect with my beliefs. It's been a good discovery!

When I finish up my "Mission Statement", I'll post it here. Or maybe I'll even write out ideas as I'm working on it...

On a Tanta note, I ate "Jew's Mallow" with rice and chicken this evening with a friend and his grandmother. Anyone out there know what that is?

Well, it looks like Egypt is in the news again! (though I'm not sure if this story is making it to many of you yet)

There have been some major protests against the government lately and it looks like things are really heating up! It could be a very interesting time these next few months that I'm here!

Follow the story on: SandMonkey.org

Well, I just promised one of the kids that I would get off the computer in 10 minutes. So, let's see how much I can type out about our day in that amount of time!

Today's main event was going to the Susanna Mubarek Children's Museum. The museum could have been much better, but it was interesting and told some good things about Egypt. There was also a simulation of a submarine diving deep down in the Red Sea that was pretty good. Nothing was interactive, unfortunately.

But as we were leaving, they said that for an extra ticket (another $1 US on top of the first $1 US for each child) we could have an art lesson on how to make some small item out of clay. Everyone (including me) was excited about that! We had a very nice teacher and it was really fun! I made some sort of vase, I suppose. While making it, I didn't think it was very good but at the end, our teacher said that I'm good with my hands and he suggested that I take some lessons. *smile* Maybe he was just being nice, but I have always liked art. Someday, perhaps I'll be in the right place at the right time to take lessons.

From there, we took a short walk to McDonald's. The kids had been eagerly anticipating this and it was a fun experience to be there with them. The main thing of interest (aside from the food) was one of the couples eating together. She was wearing a higab (with face uncovered) and he had on sunglasses and shorts. They sat across from each other and after eating, their faces were only about 6 inches apart!!! About as close as you can get without touching/kissing, I guess!

Now the day is winding down and I'm starting to think of plans for the evening. I need to make a couple of phone calls. We leave early Wednesday morning for meetings/retreat near Alexandria. I'll be helping with the kids again for the first 1 1/2 days and then taking part in the meetings and activities after that.

I won't be on email again until the 9th or 10th, but feel free to email while I'm away. I'm opening the floor to suggestions on what I should do "next" in my life. Interesting jobs you think I'd like? Service opportunities? Graduate programs?

Would you believe I have a few quiet minutes to write, without any distractions. *laugh* This is quite impressive b/c I'm currently watching over 5 children, ages 8-12!!!

They're all MCC kids and their parents are in training sessions today and tomorrow, so I volunteered to hang out with the kids. So, that should mean that I'm online quite a bit during the day today.

It's possible during that time that I'll be able to write a bit about what I've been doing the last few weeks.

As a parting shot, the kids just chose to listen to "I Shot the Sheriff". *smile* I love MCC kids!!!

Back from another weekend in Cairo. Thursday, I went in the afternoon and met some friends at the famous, old El Fishawy's Cafe. Very cool place in the Islamic area of town. Friday, we had a meeting for everyone in my MCC group. After that, I went to the Opera House for an amazing performance by the Virsky National Dance Company of Ukraine. Wow! I've never seen such great dancing!

Now, I'm back and this evening I spent a bit of time online snooping around for things.

It looks like the city where I was living most recently in the U.S. while working at Walsh College is now doing a major downtown development project. Check out Clawson, Michigan!!

Playing with Google Mars. What is Google going to offer next?

A link from David. Looks like an interesting article about an Imam in New York.

Well, I thought I was going to have a nice, quiet weekend in Tanta. *laugh*

Instead, I had a nice and really fun weekend running around the countryside and Cairo!

On Thursday, I went with my friend Fady to the hospital he works at in a village of 5,000 just outside Tanta. We met people there and I even went on rounds with him! *grin* After that, we went to a wedding of one of the nurses. She is Muslim, as is everyone in the village.

Very neat! She wears the higab to cover her head and hair (but leaves her face open) everyday, but for her wedding day, she took it off and also wore a very nice wedding dress with transluscent sleeves. Pretty racy!

It was a long night and then an early Friday morning b/c I got a call to come to Cairo and help a Monk with his English. He's trying to travel to England to serve a church there. I have some experience in helping people prepare for the test he needs to score well on, so I went to help. Quite an experience! We sat together for about 4 hours and I mostly let him practice speaking -- so I got to ask him questions about his life, things at the monestery, etc.

Saturday was a big day, too! My friend Matt and I decided to head for some monuments in the morning and had a great time. We thought the highlight of the day was going to be the Ibn Tulun Mosque and that was cool, but then we discovered the Amir Taz Palace. It's an amazing story of how it was rescued.

Matt is a great photographer and took tons of pics, but I haven't seen them yet. For now, take a peek at these pictures that I found on the Net. If you're really interested, you can look at these pre-restoration pics.

This is my new favorite place in Cairo! (possibly in all of Egypt) Why? Well, it seems that it's not on the tourist trail yet, so we were the only people there! Sure, I want other people to enjoy it -- just not when I'm there! *smirk* It's just such a beautiful place and very calm.

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!

I was lucky enough to watch part of 2 different hockey games today! *laugh* That's something I never expected to do in Egypt! Thank goodness for the Olympics!

The first was Germany vs. Italy. I saw another thing for the first time – Germany had cheerleaders! Strange...

It also sounds like New York has a new hockey team, at least according to the announcer on the station I was watching (from Dubai). The announcer twice mentioned the New York Icelanders. Seems silly, cut I see how that could come from “Islanders”.

Just a few minutes ago, Slovakia vs. USA finished. I think I was watching it live, so I won't spoil things for anyone by telling the final score. The biggest shock for me while watching that match was to see Chris Chelios on the ice! 44 years old and still going strong, I guess!

Between the 2 hockey games, I drove around Tanta for the first time and then taught 2 classes. A friend of mine had minor surgery on his foot last week, so that makes it tough for him to drive. So...I took him to his doctor's office today to have the dressing changed. I was impressed at how clean the office was. Much better than a hospital I saw last year that was a bit scary!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Now, I'll procede with a completely non-Valentine's themed message. *grin*

--I recently paid my utility bill with you. I thought I'd share the specifics, for any who are interested:

Gas: 40
Water: 53.50
Electric: 80

Now, that's not very helpful for comparison to where you live, until I convert to dollars.

Gas: $8.00
Water: $10.60
Electric: $16.00

Cheaper than what you're paying? *grin*

Oh wait, I forgot one important bit of information -- that's my total bill for the past 6 months.

*smirk*

By popular request (first by mother and now by David), I'm going to start updating things here a bit more often.

I just got back to Cairo this afternoon for my classes!

Go Egypt!!! Friday night, they won the Africa Cup Soccer Championship! And I was there cheering them on! We arrived 4 hours early and were very surprised to see the stadium already quite full!!! Thankfully, we still managed to get some decent seats to enjoy the pre-game cheering and then the match itself.

This was my 2^nd time to see Egypt play in this tournament. We did our ticket-buying far in advance and then Egypt was nice enough to keep winning so that we could see them play again! *grin*

Friday afternoon, the crowd was really lively. Go figure – 99% were cheering for the home side! People had nearly perfected their costumes and face-painting! They also got a chance to practice their French, at least in banner-writing!

One change from earlier matches was that there was a marching band for this match! I certainly didn't expect that!!!! Nor did I expect part of the band to be dressed in pseudo-pharonic garb! *laugh*

Pres. Mubarek and 1^st Lady Suzanna were in attendance and we watched the military helicopter fly overhead to bring them to the parking lot. It didn't surprise me that he was there, but in class today I had a long conversation with students about the match. They said that it is new for the 2 of them to show this much emotion over a sporting event. My students liked that they both (especially the Prez.) were just acting like normal people. I guess Suzanna was waving a flag and jumping up-and-down at times!!!

And they had a lot to cheer about!

The crowd was really loud at the beginning of the game, but then simmered down b/c the 1^st half was a real defensive battle! Quality play, but not much to really fire up the crowd.

Half-time was good to re-energize folks and roll through the 2^nd half. Score: 0-0. Yup...another match going to extra time.

15 minutes – no goals
another 15 – no goals

And then? Shoot-out!!!

Amazingly, Egypt's goalkeeper stopped 2 of the first 3 attempts against him! (very difficult to do) When he stopped the first one, it just sent a blast of energy through the crowd. With the 2^nd stop, it kicked up the energy level another notch. When all was said and done, Egypt scored on 4 of its kicks to Ivory Coast's 2.

The crowd? It went wild, to say the least! People were flinging their inflated noise-makers into the air, tossing their hats, etc. No high-5s, but lots of hugs and smiles!

We stuck around for a bit of the medal/trophy ceremony and then decided to slip out to beat the rush on the way out.

But we weren't allowed to leave. We went up and out of the stadium to the walkway and headed for the gates, only to find that the gates were closed. Yes, we were a bit confused.

However, our confusion was soon interrupted by the HUGE fireworks display. They were setting them off just outside the gates we wanted to use, so were were thankful that they weren't allowing people out! Nice display! Probably 15 minutes of constant explosions!

After that, we went out these gates and then for a 5 minute walk to the main gate and to the street. All inside the stadium, the cheering/celebrating continued and everyone was so happy! It was great to see! On the street, it reached another level!

Taxis with people hanging out the windows...pickups with people packed in the bed and sitting on top...cars with teenager sitting in the trunk with legs dangling out...flags...people on shoulders...families/couples/groups.

Now this isn't just people from inside the stadium. People were coming from all direction on foot and in cars to join in on the fun!

We thought about trying for a taxi, but ended up walking about 25 minutes and then catching a tram to where we were sleeping. What a trip! Everyone in my group was decked out in red/black/white, so as we walked past groups of soldiers, people in stores, or out in front of their apartment buildings, they would cheer for us/Egypt and we would wave and yell!

Then...fire. Now this was nothing compared to what I heard about at Michigan State University when they used to celebrate/riot, but these folks were doing their best.

It seems those “keep away from open flame” on spray cans like bug spray are there for a reason. If lit on fire, the streams make a torch about 3 feet in length!!! That's just a guess on the length b/c I wasn't getting close enough to really tell!!! *grin* But I saw several people doing it!!

We also saw people pouring gasoline on the street and then lighting it on fire!

Crazy!

I guess there's a reason the U.S. Embassy issued a warning on Thursday for U.S. Citizens to be careful around celebrations for the match!

Finally, we got to a tram stop and continued our party-watching from a tram. Good to get a different vantage point and be a little bit removed from things...but we could still see the partying out the windows.

Fun, fun, fun!!

While typing this, I've been half-watching an interview program on TV with the coach, captain, several players, and some singers who did songs for the tournament. They're also showing a few clips from the matches, but mostly it's crowd shots and short talks with people before/during/after the match yesterday. Cool to see!

As a closing note, I'll share a bit from a talk in class today. I had my students talk about the championship match for them to talk and also get some new vocabulary. One of the points they really were impressed by was how many young women and families were at the matches. I had also been surprised by this, so I encouraged them to talk a lot about this.

Apparently, matches in the Egypt club leagues are almost exclusively attended by men. Women don't see it as safe b/c thing are not well organized and fights often fight out between teams or spectators.

So...this was the first time for people to see such diverse crowds. My students seemed quite pleased and hope that this is the beginning of a change in the way things are done. I hope so too!

For a different perspective (from a friend who watched on TV and I sent updates to about the crowd, etc) see:

http://www.smsevcik.blogspot.com/