A Moment In Time- Global Mosaic

What will you be doing at 10:00 am on May 2nd? Well pick up your camera and share with the world.

LENS, a subset of The New York Times, is doing a project and inviting everyone to participate. They are trying to capture "A Moment In Time" around the world. The submitted pictures will be complied to create a global mosaic. So on Sunday May 2nd, 15:00 U.T.C. pick up your camera and snap a picture of what you are doing and then submit it.

It will be 6:00 am here in Egypt, 11:00 am in New York, 10:00am in Kansas City, and 8:00 in Cali.

Click here to go to LENS website for more information.

Metal Detectors

I sometimes feel like I am in the Land of Metal Detectors here. You have to pass through a metal detector everywhere you go. Not just at the airports and government buildings, but even when we go to the mall, movies, library, or grocery store. Heck, even our own school has one at every entrance.

The thing that gets me is that they seem to be pointless. I never empty my pockets or take of my jewelry and detectors beep just about every time I walk through; but in two years, I have never once been stopped. I have even boarded a plane with an open bottle of water in my hand. I have determined that the guy that watches your bag on the monitor of the x-ray machine has a job equivalent to a Wal-Mart greeter. I’m beginning to think that half the metal detectors do not even work. It makes me think of the old Police Academy movie when Michael Winslow would make the beeping sound every time Lieutenant Harris would walk through.

My favorite example of this was when Seth’s family was here and we were taking them to the Citadel, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Egypt. There was a large gate open, big enough for two cars to fit through, but they wouldn’t let any people walk through. Instead they funneled everyone through this small guard shack and created quite the bottle neck. When we finally got to the guard shack, the metal detector wasn’t even turned on and the three guards were sitting in front of a laptop with video controllers in each of their hands playing Nintendo 64. Not once did they look up from the screen that I was able to stop and point out this hilarious behavior to all our family. I thought taking a picture might be pushing my luck.

Far Away Gifts

There is one great benefit to having your birthday over spring break while all your friends are traveling to far away countries. They return with well traveled birthday gifts. I got wood carved salad tossers from Tanzania, a lacquered box from Vietnam, and tile from Laos. Awesome!

Spring Break

Well, it’s back to the daily grind of school after a wonderful spring break. We’re lucky here and have a little over two weeks of spring break. This year Seth’s parents, aunt and uncle came over to visit us for the entire break. It was a joy having them here and we loved to show them around our new country and what our life is like here. Our itinerary was very similar to last year when my parents came to visit; we showed them around our school, Alexandria, Cairo and took them on a Nile Cruise.

Since I wrote about this similar trip last year, I decided to do my blog a little bit different this year and have asked Seth’s mom and aunt to write the blog themselves. I thought this would be a wonderful way for you to see other people’s experiences, thoughts and opinions about Egyptian travel and culture.

They just got back to the States yesterday and a two week whirlwind tour around Egypt has left them pretty exhausted and overwhelmed. So we’ll have to give them a few days (weeks) to rest up, gather their thoughts and jot them down before we can share them with you. And don’t worry; I have plenty of pictures to go along with their stories. So keep on checking back for their Egyptian chronicle.

Egypt in the News

If you've been watching CNN lately you've probably seen a few stories about Egypt. The first one was about a man that decided to climb the pyramid and was taken off by Egyptian Military helicopter. This was just days after we were there with Seth's parents, aunt and uncle. Click here to read full story and see video.

The second story is about how dangerous it is to cross the streets here. To us, this isn't news, Seth and I have been saying this from day one. Click here to read full story and see video.
This video really made Seth and I laugh, since this reporter did his story in front of the Hilton Hotel in Zamalic. Not exactly a bad traffic area. Also, when he tries to speak Arabic to the cars...not so good.

Cab Ride

On the way to pick up Seth's family from the airport we caught a cab just outside our schools’ gates; it is not uncommon here to share cabs with other people. When we got in there was already an old gentlemen in the front seat. He turned around and in the little English he knew and the little Arabic we know we had a conversation about how we are from the U.S. but live here teaching and about how his daughter lives in Arizona. We dropped him off just blocks away from the school; he told us it would be an honor for him if we would visit his home some day. Then, as he was getting out of the cab, he handed a package wrapped in newspaper that he had been holding to me and told me ,”For you. Gift.” We opened it and found a traditional clay drinking pot inside. It is wonderful experiences like this and great cultural interactions like we shared for only a brief moment with this sweet old man that we love the most about living overseas.