1 week down.......many to go:)

Here is a list of things we have seen/done/experienced in our first week in Egypt. We haven't been to pyramids and tomorrow we are walking to the shores of the Nile. This list is just the day-to-day living things.

Our hotel room is on 7th floor with excellent view of Maadi and Cairo in the distance.

There is a washer, but no dryer....just a drying rack where I hang all the clothes to dry. Kids tell me their underwear is "scratchy".

Kids have to wear PE uniforms. They like them and each grade has the same color shirt.

The doors and windows have no sealing around them, so each morning you awake to a fine coat of dust on everything inside your house.

There are men you pay monthly who wash your car, sweep the walks and water the plants in the buildings you live in. They are called boabs.

Air pollution is bad here.....it leaves a bad taste in your mouth in the morning, but blows off by early afternoon.

It is windy here a lot, especially during this time of year I am told. Sand storms blow in off the Sahara and fill the air with sand.

It rained for only 45 seconds the other day and all the kids at the school ran out of their classrooms onto the field to dance in the rain:) That was fun to watch!

The McDonalds Arabia has WAY healthier and tastier food then American McDonalds. I heard tonight that the McDonalds in the Alps have pastries and gourmet drinks:)

Everything you need/want can be delivered to your door, 24hours a day here. Fast food, pharmacy stuff (without prescriptions necessary), cases of water....pretty much whatever.

We have seen men pushing cart fulls of bananas down the road in carts, selling them. We have seen a fresh fish stand, equipped with a small boy swishing a leather "wand" to keep the flies off. We have seen a HUGE cart of garbage being pulled by an old man on a bike. There are no garbage trucks, just these guys who sort through the trash, recycle for you (for money from the government) and then haul the trash away somewhere.

Josh is learning Arabic in school and they start either Arabic, French or Spanish in the third grade and continue through high school. Rebekah will take Arabic next quarter as well.

Elisabeth is doing a MLKjr. play in her class.

Emma tied her own shoes for the first time this week....she was so proud of herself:)

Sarah and I are spending A LOT of time together and I am trying to enjoy that. We have walked many different places together and are learning a lot together. The local people are very open and kind to her. They really love children.

Patience and humor seem very important values to possess here.

Kids and I all burst out laughing when walking home from school because a city bus (smaller than ones we are used to) was absolutely BURSTING with people. It was about ready to tip over when they went around the corner. We all just randomly started laughing at the sight of it.

There are TONS of stray cats and dogs....mostly cats....everywhere.

The small shops, not the bigger stores, jack the price up for us "rich" Americans, but give the Egyptian in line behind you a much lower price:)

Most things are pretty cheap, but NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, is free. Even the toilet paper in a public place costs. Even asking for directions in the street prompts someone asking you for "basheesh" which is a tip.

I wish I knew Arabic better. Brent and I are still learning by cd, but we will probably take some classes or hire a tutor to come in the evenings a couple nights a week.

Cars here honk as a form of communication, instead of using blinkers for example.

The call for prayer for the Islamic people echos from loud speakers 5 times a day. The schedule varies, but some days it starts at 4:30 am!!

The steering wheels are on the same side as in America in the cars, but they drive on all sides of the street, even against oncoming traffic.

Animals we have seen so far: birds, stray dogs and cats, pet dogs and cats, pigeons, goats, a donkey pulling a cart, and a wild ferret-looking thing. No rodents---probably because of all the stray cats!

A lot of the bathrooms have toilet and what the kids call a "bum cleaner". I haven't tried using it yet. I can't figure it out!

Builders mix their own concrete, so their are piles of sand and buckets of water and they make a pile, add some "glue" and mix in water and then mix it. Walls are all concrete and floors are either wood or marble.

Some roofs are covered in garden terraces, other are used for tossing junk, and other are used for construction sites.

We aren't drinking the tap water, though most people say it is safe. We are brushing our teeth and drinking with bottled water (luckily very cheap) and using tap water for bathing, washing dishes and laundry. Kids have gotten very used to that already. And no one has gotten sick yet (knock on wood).

You could eat a large, traditional Egyptian breakfast (pita bread with hummus like spread and tomatoe) for about 1 egyptian pound, which is about .22 cents US.

In the local market, a package of Oreos cost $10 US! Glad we have commissary for grocery shopping, though some things are cheaper on local market if you don't mind Egyptian brand name.

I bought a cell phone and turned it on and it was all in Arabic. I had to have hotel desk help me switch it to English because I couldn't read instructions on how to do that myself.

We are having fun, learning a lot and just trying to be open and patient. Things are going good here, but we miss you all very much! The transition to living here has been smoother because the people, from many differnt countries, have been very welcoming to us. I am not used to being so dependent on people (we have no car, no stuff besides our suitcases) and people have been offering to take me to the store or feed us or let kids come over and play with some toys for awhile (I should have packed some toys in the checked luggage on the plane....lesson to all you out there who do this sometime in your life!).
People from the school, the church and the Navy lab have been wonderful, so we feel blessed and watched over by a kind Father in Heaven.

Love to you all and miss you all so much. Keep in touch!

Road 9 and 1st day of school

Today, Sunday, was first day of school for kids. We walked about 8 minutes to the school (across only 1 major road, where I become what Josh calls, "stressed" to keep all 6 of us from getting hit by crazy drivers) and then enter security gate. Kids loved their first day. PE is outside and they are doing track and field stuff now, so hurdles and high jump for all. Rebekah seemed to get her rotating schedule down well. Emma, Elisabeth and Josh all received letters from their whole class welcoming them....they ALL knew we were coming and are impressed by our "very large" family, as one secretary discreetly put it to me:) I think the kids will like it and will make friends quickly. Elisabeth is only one who is still planning on heading back to DC/Maryland any day now, though she is doing better with each passing day.


On Saturday, weekend day, we walked to the famous road 9. Turns out the big shopping street is really just a bunch of little shops with all the trinkets you would expect to find in a touristy place, but there is some beautiful alabaster, jewelry, metal pots, wooden creations and of course a McDonalds (WITH a playland) and a Baskin Robins shop, which was actually cheaper than US....things are looking up:) HAHA

Love to all....oh, and if you read about the bomb today (Sunday) in Cairo, don't worry. We are all well and only heard about it after the fact. Not really too near by. I do know that an Ambassador was visiting here these last few days, so thinking it may have something to do with that. Not worried, but will keep you updated as we learn more about it.

We made it...now the culture shock can begin:)

We left DC on Wednesday at 5 pm. Flight went well (we gave all the kids Benadryl) and we arrived in Frankfurt Germany around 7 am. We got off the 1st plane, went through 2 security checks, rode a train and finally got to the gate, only to be told we had to wait to enter the gate. Here is a picture of us "hanging out" on the floor, eating German breakfast pastry, drinking German juice and being glad we don't have to live on euros (only the pastry and drinks cost almost $20 US).


We got back on a plane, after boarding a bus out the gate door and riding it for a LONG way (Frankfurt airport is HUGE) and headed 4 hours down to Cairo. We arrived at 3 pm on Thursday. The airport was dirty, old (one could almost say "crumbling") and reeked of smoke, but an Egyptian gentleman was waiting for us and quickly ushered us to a bank in the airport to get some Egyptians pounds (LE) and then hurried us through customs (we didn't even have to wait in line like all the other people) and out into the sandy air (they just had a sand storm before we landed so the air was still a bit beige in color and we couldn't see the pyramids in the distance) to 2 large vans....one to carry us and one to carry the luggage.


The drive was a bit of a scary ride ---almost better than a roller coaster! It was rush-hour Cairo style and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. NO rules of the road, just fit in where you can and try to beat the other person....oh, and the biggest vehicle rules the road. I closed my eyes multiple times, prayed for safety and laughed to myself that the driver and our sponsor (who drives all the time here) didn't even flinch as we passed within inches of other cars and people. The pedestrians were crazy---just walking in between cars on the freeway. It was like the old game frogger, come to life with no sidewalks anywhere!!!We did see the "city of the dead" on the drive, which is the biggest cemetary in the world. Made out of clay/brick, it was amazing, made even more so by that fact that a lot of people live in houses fashioned amidst the tombs.

We got to the hotel( a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom with kitchen and living room kind of hotel), I went to the commissary grocery store (thanks goodness for American food that we are familiar with) and then we crashed into bed. We all slept for about 12 hours, which was great and then awoke to a beautiful day. Our sponsor, Barry, and his wife Jennifer came over with breakfast and a dinner for us to cook later. They have been so great to us---taking their time to set things up for us (like get us a temporary cell phone) and drive us around, walk us around Maadi so we can find the school on Sunday. The holy day is Friday here (so we have church then) and school is from Sunday-Thursday.
Here is some pictures of the road we will live on when we move into our permanent "flat", which happens to be directly across the street from the hotel we are in now, and right around the corner from the villa they use for the church here. Thursday night we were all a bit culture-shocked, especially about driving and the rampant poverty, but Maadi is a nice place and safer and there are a lot of expats really near by. Now that we have food, know how to walk to some places and know a few people (including having a branch Family Home Evening this Monday with a general authority) we are feeling a lot better. We will keep you updated.

Plane tickets and pictures

We got our plane tickets, so we are officially leaving on the 18th, with a short stop-over in Frankfurt Germany. This is our last weekend in the good 'ol US of A and that is a weird feeling! God Bless America.
Here are some pictures of the moving and Elisabeth and her MRI. About the MRI: Elisabeth is fine, but the doctors wanted to image the ear, brain, and sinus to see what is causing some symptoms. Looks like she does have an inner ear issue, but it isn't big and she will most likely grow out of it and that will eliminate her symptoms. So that is good and her brain and spine looked fine on the MRI, which is good:)

Also, the picture of Josh's AWESOME shark pinewood derby car. He and Brent designed and painted it. He didn't win the derby, but the car won best of show:)

No pictures...but here is the current scoop:)

Brent packed the cord to the camera, so until I find it, no pictures:( Sorry! Here is our status update: we have everything (paper work wise) except for plane tickets!!! I am VERY hopeful that tomorrow (Friday 13th) they will have the tickets ready (again, HOPING). We sent away all our furniture and other goods to store for the duration of our stay in Egypt. We are without anything to sit on, but the floor is clean and warm so all is well:) We will get to keep our sleeping bags until 17th, when last movers come through and pack rest of stuff up for taking to Egypt with us. We will get there first, of course, so we will get to bare-bones it until stuff arrives. Makes you realize how much "stuff" you really don't need to manage life!! Anyway, we are good, tired, excited, nervous and ready to go....instead of wait. But, all will work out in the end and we are just getting done what we can and trusting in Heavenly Father for the rest (or at least trying too:)
Love to you all and I will post pictures soon---aren't you dying to see photos of our house in shambles and Elisabeth sleeping for 20 hours after her MRI last week and Josh's very LAST pinewood derby for cubscouts.....yeah, he is that old now!