Amiee's Spanish Adventure

Let me start by saying that it takes a special balance to combine a temple pilgrimage with a shopping/tourism adventure. Justine Klena (friend and neighbor from Pullman, who is now a friend and neighbor in Maadi and the only person who I could convince to take this trip with me) and I managed to pull it off rather nicely I think:)
Let me also say that I spoke Arabic instead of Spanish for the first day in Spain. And I spoke Spanish instead of Arabic for the first day back in Egypt!

The trip started at 9 pm on July 21st. We flew all night and arrived to a deserted Madrid airport. The taxi ride into downtown was expensive, but quick since the roads were deserted as well (VERY unlike Cairo--where you can have a complete traffic jam at midnight!). We were a little nervous when the driver pulled into an alleyway covered in graffiti and told us we had arrived. We both were afraid to get out of the cab! Actually, the hotel turned out to be in a fine part of town and close to all the things we wanted to visit in downtown Madrid, but I guess at 5:30 am the place is kinda dead. We learned quickly that graffiti is kind of like an art form, and is everywhere. Other than that, the temple was absolutely wonderful, the streets were so clean, the water drinkable, the air fresh from the constant gentle breeze as Madrid is on a plateau and the sights amazing. I really like Madrid.
The temple is on a fenced block with the MTC building. I got up early one morning and left Justine sleeping while I road in a taxi to the temple. I couldn't remember how to give directions in Spanish, but my prayer was answered when I saw the angel Moroni through the trees and was able to help the driver find the temple. I saw a bunch of missionaries going into the temple. They greeted me in Spanish and I replied that I didn't speak Spanish well and one quipped, "that's ok, neither do we....yet" in English. I ended up being in a session with them, so it was in English. The celestial room had an amazing ceiling that fit the Spanish style. I also did other work, and it was mostly all in Spanish. It was a very wonderful experience and worth the entire trip all by itself!
I took the city bus back to the hotel, saved me about 20 euro (about 40 dollars) and got to see more of the city on my way.
After walking for hours and seeing all we could in Madrid, Justine and I took an all night train ride to Barcelona, on the northwestern coast. Barcelona was very different in "vibe" from Madrid. I wasn't sure what I thought of it at first (a little more run down and dirty) but after Justine pointed out that it was just a "hippy" town, while Madrid had been very cosmopolitan, I started to understand it and relax. Barcelona was crazy with young people (teen to twenty-ish). There was lots of street music, dread locks everywhere, lots people watching to do, and a great beach---clean and beautiful. The food was more focused on seafood, but similar to Madrid in most ways. The streets smelled of sewer more and we realized that there were air vents all over the ground and that was why. While in Barcelona we saw a loud protest from the Catalayan Indians, fighting for more representation in the government and society in general. We saw a street fair with people dressed up as giants from old times and we saw some wild fashions----80's meets hippy meets Goth. One of the most amazing things was this enormous cathedral designed by Gaudi. It was absolutely incredible and breath-taking.

To summarize Spain: We saw amazing architecture (Roman era and Gaudi in Barcelona) and art (Rembrandt, Picasso, Renoir, Goya, Bosche, etc), ate a lot of great food and did lots of window shopping. We also experienced really cool market places, with colors and smells and sounds that set you in happy awe. The main staples for food in Spain seem to be potatoes and pork, specifically Iberian jamon (ham). We ate crusty bread with ham, pastries (oh how I love Europe!), churros-n-xocolate, delicious olives, seafood paella, wonderful croquettes (the potato/Gorgonzola combo was my favorite) and pastries...oh yeah, I already mentioned those:) We swam in the Mediterranean Sea, laid on the beach all day (and yes, I did get a sunburn), read books, slept in.....and really missed Brent and the kids:) It was wonderful. Thanks to Brent and Rere for making it possible, and thanks for going with me Justine. Oh, and thanks for my high school Spanish teachers because I really used the Spanish and I was surprised at how much I remembered and how fun it was to speak the Spanish language.

Getting on the plane to go back to Cairo was so funny because it wasn't until then that I realized that while in Spain no one was staring at us as we walked down the street, you could wear short-sleeves and shorts and not feel immodest, you could get onto a city bus safely, you could navigate using a map and signs (and not just landmarks, ie...the 2nd mosque with the half moon steeple), and you could assume that things would be done in a certain, taken-for-granted order (like sitting down in a plane, according to seat number) and not even think about it. These are the things that I miss about the USofA. On the other hand, I realized that I think of Egypt as "home" now. I realized that my mind has been opened and I have seen many different ways of thinking and tried to understand them. I also realized that I was glad to be heading back to Cairo and I love the people, especially 6 close to my heart folks:) (and Rere of course). For all the things I miss about the US, there are many things that I love about Egypt and the culture.
Now all I have to do is re-train my brain to say shokran again, instead of gracias.

Love to you all,
Amiee

Rebekah Turns 12!

Rebekah is now 12---seems like just yesterday she was a little thing, crawling around the floor chasing me wherever I went. For her birthday she had a family party and started the day with strawberry crepes. We played around the house and watched a movie with BBQ potato chips. She was super excited about her presents, especially since she is going to enter the YW program at church now. Grandma House made her a special YW Values necklace, which she loves. She also got some great clothes (including a silk dress I bought her in Spain). Her favorite gift is a toss up between the brand new quad scriptures, with tabs, and the complete set of Mormonads. Her room is now plastered with good things:)

We sure love Rebekah and her sweet, kind, righteous heart. We are all glad to have her:)

Also of note: Emma is without her 2 front teeth----pretty funny to hear her talk and see her smile!

Elisabeth's Baptism

We had been making cookies for days.....when finally July 11th came! We loaded up the van with food, sunscreen and towels and headed for Ain Sohkna, on the Red Sea. Our caravan included about 25 people (I know--we were surprised that many people came as well!) and we arrived at the "baptism spot" in about 2 hours. Elisabeth changed into her white dress, with frills and all, and we headed down to the rocky shore. The water was warm and beautiful, which kept us from dwelling on the amount of trash on the beach. We had a short program that had Josh leading the music, Rebekah and Emma saying prayers and Mom giving a talk. Brent and Elisabeth waded out, through the rocky coral and spiny sea urchins (yes, water shoes were a requirement!) with the 2 elders who agreed to be witnesses. The waves made them a little tippy at first, but once they got their balance and made sure the billowy white dress was tucked tightly around Elisabeth's legs, the baptism proceeded and went smoothly. Elisabeth was smiling when she came out of the water:) She was confirmed right there on the beach, soaking wet and still smiling. It was great and after the baptism, we all ate lunch together, complete with a little sand. Then....we swam, played, and had a blast in the salty Red Sea. What a good day! Thanks Elisabeth.

Kid updates

Sarah is swimming like a fish. She wasn't and then after convincing me that she could go to the deep end (with me hovering like the paranoid mother that I am) she just started swimming like crazy. She is mostly dog paddling, but after only one lesson can do some crawl now. WOW! It is fun....and still a bit scary for the mom:)

Emma is the resident dare-devil. She finds endless treasures on the ground and picks them all up----then puts her fingers in her mouth! YUCK:) I have started her on permanent anti-biotics.....refer to previous paraniod mother statement:) She is an excellent reader and loves to read her own book of mormon now.

Elisabeth will turn 8 on Monday, 6th and we will baptize her in the Red Sea on July 11th! We were excited to find someone to come with us to be the witness. Actually, since the numbers at church are so few, and even more so in the summer time, the branch has decided to make an activity out of it, so we will carpool over (about 2 hours) and have a fun beach party after the baptism:)

Josh is learninbg tennis and loving it. He gets me up early most mornings so that we can go practice together:) Josh taught us all how fog is created and was in charge of a science experiement a few days ago. Today Josh bore a sweet testimony in church and I realized that they are growing up so fast! Josh is also almost done with his first cross-stitch and reading books so quick we can barely keep him stocked.

Rebekah is reading Harry Potter and this week has been quoted saying phrases like, " loads of things", "its all sorted", and "that's rich". Josh gets her every time she says it, so it is pretty funny. She is going to be 12 at the end of this month and I am still reeling about the concept of that. She loves growing up and learning to babysit, but I still find her playing dress-ups with the little girls sometimes too.

Brent is working hard at work....and at home:) Right now he and the kids are competing to build the tallest Jenga tower. Brent is winning with 43 1/2 inches tall (taller than Sarah!):) He doesn't have to travel again until August, and then he will be gone quite a bit: Jordan, Kazakhstan, and then to the good US of A for a conference in September.

He told me he would take care of the home front so I can take a temple trip. I am planning on going to Madrid, Spain in a couple of weeks. A friend is coming with me---we have known her and her family since Pullman---and we are making a vacation of it and touring around the country a bit. I am excited to go to the temple and to see that part of the world.

Well, life is good and we have enough strawberry freezer jam to share....that is, if the power will stop going out all the time!

Love you all:)

A summer week---hot, but fun

Brent got home from Kazakhstan today. It is between Russia and Mongolia. He said it was beautiful, very large country and the people looked mostly asian (very similar to Mongolian people) and they ate a lot of meat. He even got to eat horse:) He brought these dolls home for me and the girls and a hand-made horse whip home for Josh. He said the mountains were snow-capped, the air nice and clean and the new capital city was less than 10 years old so the buildings were an amazing colleciton of modern structures....weird after being surrounded by ancient, crumbling things here. He stayed at a 6 star hotel and got to go running outside----now that makes me a bit jealous!

While Brent was gone, I got invited to go downtown Cairo and tour a mosque. It is famous because it is very old and it has a square-base on the minaret instead of round. The big dome in the center is the fountain where they would wash themselves before praying. It is dried up now, but the architecture is amazing. The wooden staircase/stand is where the singer says the prayers from the holy text (koran---I don't know how to spell this....sorry!). This is located in the eastern most position in the mosque, to be as close to Mecca as possible. It was very interesting inside and beautiful, though in disrepair unfortunately. You take your shoes off to enter and I covered myself with a shawl out of respect. After the mosque we went into this little, dirty looking shop which turned out to be the most amazing place. I don't even shop much, but it was so fun in that store! I found an Egyptian nativity set, which I wasn't sure I was going to be able to find. It was great:)

Here is another example of a public water "foutain"(see last weeks blog for first one) for me to add to my collection of crazy things. Gotta love Egypt!

Summer is going well. The kids and I are trying to get out every morning to exercise, we are having math, science, Egyptian history/arabic, and cooking classes (as much as I am capable anyway) and we are trying to do a fieldtrip each week (or a service project). It is going ok and I am feeling pretty good about things right now. We learned about states of matter this week in science, and the kids liked knowing that atoms build molecules and that molecules can be close together or far apart and that you can know that is what happening when you see water boil, freeze or melt. Pretty cool stuff, eh!

Khan El Khalili---words to live by

Khan El Khalili is a giant labyrinth marketplace in downtown Cairo. To get the true experience of Cairo, one must go there and look/listen/feel/taste/smell....then you can say, "Cairo: we were there!"

Here are some of the words to live by that you will hear in the Khan:

“I don’t know what you are looking for, but I have what you need.”

“How can I take your money?”
(aka: come into my shop and let me show you all the ways I can take your money!)

“Excuse me miss, you dropped…. (When you turn around to look)….. my heart.”

“Spend your money here, please.”

“What are you? American? Oh, yes….I have the best in Egypt and very cheap here. Best price, best price!”

I took a trip down to “the Khan”, as it is called by the locals. It was the very essence of Cairo and I loved it. A maze of streets navigated by the landmark mosques which stand at each end….both of which have been guarding the site since the 10th century! Old, amazing history and architecture combined with heady smells, all announced by the many shop keepers offering you their wares.
I saw the intricate art of inlaying mother of pearl into wood. I felt the heat of the butane torch as the silversmith crafted a ring. I heard the morning calm turn to the afternoon bustle, as the Khan came alive only after the noon call to prayer. I smelled the incense, spices, garbage, wet streets and aysh baladi baking. I tasted fuul and tamaya with pickled vegetables and roasted eggplant, washed down with homemade lemon juice (fresh lemonade). I also got sick from the ice in the lemonade….so it was a truly Cairo-ian experience after all!
Pictures are:
Public water fountain (no one can ever say that Egyptians don’t share!)
Egyptian cotton---in the raw
The Khan (examples of Egyptian cotton refined)
Amazing quilters---all male
Spices and anything else you want or need
Famous mosque towers from the 10th century and other ancient buildings
Original city gate for Cairo----built in year 942!!
The Fire tree (Emma says the flowers are called "lava flowers")

President Obama and western Africa

Yesterday (Thursday, June 4th) President Obama was in Cairo. After giving his speech to the world, he came to the Giza Pyramids and all US Embassy people were invited to come to the "meet and greet". Because security was crazy and they told us that we would be standing (no sitting) in the blazing hot sun for about 3-4 hours, we decided against bringing all the kids (turned out to be very very smart choice!!) In the end, Brent told me to take Josh (the only kid interested in going....sorry Mr. President) and he stayed back with the girls. Josh and I did stand in the sun for about 4 hours. I was right by Josh almost the whole time, but then they asked parents to stand back a bit so more kids could shake Obama's hand. After a short speech given by the President, Josh did shake Obama's hand. Also, we brought a hardback copy of an Egyptian children's book to present to him (of course I wrote on the inside cover our family name and reason for being in Cairo...thought about including email address and blog, but shame got to me!) Josh said to him, "this is for you and your children from our family", and gave him the book and President Obama said to Josh, "that was very thoughtful. Thank you." Then he took Josh's hand and shook it....all while I looked on from behind a bit. It was cool. It was worth the burning sun:)

Brent got back on Wednesday morning, after flying all night, from his trip to Ghana. While there, he also flew to Burkina Fasa. He took the camera, but only took a few shots. He got to go to the temple in Accra and said it was just like the temple in Spokane, WA. He said he saw: giant termite mounds, flat grassland vegetation (very humid and so seemed really hot--it was in the 90's), very busy dirty city, lots of people riding motorbikes, lots of ladies carrying stuff on their heads and a hospital that had mosquito nets....that is good! He was there for Malaria purposes. He brought me a tribal, wooden, carved door that was made in Mali. They are made by the groom for the bride to put on their new home together. They are mostly all antiques now and very beautiful. He also brought us a family of 7 elephants carved out of wood and of course....a magnet!

Well, kids are out of school and I am making plans to keep us busy and not too hot. We will have "Mom's summer school" and also try to do some service around the community here. Yesterday, while Josh and I were gone, Brent and the girls picked up trash for awhile. There is so much trash on the ground that we could do that every week and never run out of a job! Some Egyptian people saw them doing that and told them thanks.

Here are some pictures:

President Obama
termite mound in Ghana
the city of Accra, Ghana
the "door" Brent brought me