Our Christmas Vacation in Germany - Part One

My mom, Sheila, has become very good at journaling about her trips with us since she then goes home and creates wonderful scrapbooks with our treasured memories. This trip was no exception. She was very dedicated to write down her adventures every night before she fell asleep, then once they returned home she has typed them all up, did research to add historical significance to some sights and this time even included traditional German recipes for all the food we ate. I can’t wait to see how this scrapbook turns out! Since she has done such a wonderful job, I’m “borrowing” just a sampling of her journaling to create my blog.

Dec. 23^rd, 2009

(Ok, I’ve already mentioned the worst part of the trip. Luckily only the first two hours, which included delayed flights, destroyed luggage, stolen jewelry, incorrect rental car and my father running over my husband’s foot…so we’ll just gloss over those details, get on the road and to the enjoyable rest of the trip.) We proceeded on our two hour drive to Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber (literally, "red castle on the Tauber"). At the Marketplaz we found the Christmas market where we had Gluhwien, (glow wine) a hot wine, which nobody especially cared for. I like the smell of it and enjoy holding a steaming hot cup on a cold winter’s night, but not so much the taste. Jim and Seth had brats (mmmm bratwurst), while Kristal and I had wiener hose or meter long brats. Those were fun to eat! We all had the Schneeballen (snowball), which is a Rotherburg specialty.

Our bed and breakfast was inside the city wall and was built in 1521.  It was very cozy, although we all had to share a room together.  I’m sure, just the thing Seth wanted to do with the man that just ran him over. Being jet lagged, I unfortunately awoke at 3AM and decided to shower not realizing it was so early.  I broke the shower head in the process so we all had to shower with just the hose.  After my shower I figured out that it was the middle of the night so I laid down again until Seth's alarm went off, he had forgotten to adjust for the time zone change so instead of 5:30 it was only 4:30.   But no one realized this until everyone else had gotten up and showered.  Then we realized that it was only 5:30 AM (not 6:30) and breakfast wasn’t until 7AM.  So we all went back to sleep for another hour and a half.  Once it was 7AM the hotel cat came around meowing.  If we would have known that the hotel had its own alarm clock system we would have all just slept till the cat.

Dec. 24^th, 2009 Christmas Eve

We continued along the Romantic Road toward Nurnberg today.  The Romantische Strasse or Romantic Road is 220 miles in length.  The name isn't meant for lovebirds but rather means, wonderful, fabulous and imaginative having started as a road on which the Romans traveled.  The route winds through medieval towns, villages, castles and churches.  The concept began after World War II to attract tourist to the region.  This area did not contain industrial plants or areas of military interest so they were spared destruction during the war.  Prior to World War II the area's economic base had been destroyed by the Thirty Year War, thereby preventing modernization of the area.  These factors preserved the towns in their historic state.  The Romantic Road begins in Wurzburg and winds its way down to Fussen. 

Once in Nurnberg we headed straight to the Christkindlesmarket (Christ-child-market) in the old city center, Hauptmarket, we didn’t have much time since it closed at 2:00.  Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkte) date back to at least the 14th century.  Well into the 20th century they were the only time to buy seasonal items, such as baking molds and decorations.  The most famous Christmas market is the Nurnberg Christkindlesmarkt.  It is at least 375 years old making it one of the oldest, and with over 200 vendors it is also one of the largest.

 

We arrived just in time to see the Mannleinlaufen strike 12 noon.  The Mannleinlaufen is a clock dating from 1509 and every day at noon the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire glide out of the clock to bow to Emperor Charles IV before sliding back under cover.  The clock is on Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) built in 1350 by Roman Emperor Charles IV.  The site was originally the Jewish quarter until Charles IV had it burned, killing 500 Jews, making way for the central market.

Within those 2 hours we had time to stimulate their economy by buying 3 sets of the Holy Family wood carvings.  It is a set with many additional pieces which we hope to add to each year.  Germany, especially southern Germany, is known for its wood carving and wooden nativity sets.  Seth and Kristal also got a wooden Advent calendar which plays a music box when the doors are opened.  The Advent calendar (Der Adventskalender) is a German invention designed to involve children in the time leading up to Christmas.  The first hand-crafted Advent calendars were produced in the mid 19th century.  The first printed calendar appeared in Munich in 1903. 

On the corner of the Hauptmarket market square is the Schoner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain).  Carved around the year 1400, the elegant 60 foot high Gothic fountain is adorned with 40 figures arranged in tiers.  The gold ring is set into the railing surrounding the fountain, reportedly placed there by an apprentice carver.  Touching it is said to bring good luck. Kristal remembered from her trip in high school that you had to turn it three times, so that's what we did.

 

Just as the market was closing we were able to get sausages and lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies), then we took a walking tour of Nurnberg starting at the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle), once the residence of the Holy Roman emperors.  The oldest part of the complex was built in 1050.  Also on our walking tour was the house of the great painter Albrecht Durer who lived there from 1509 to 1528.

Dec. 25^th, 2009 Christmas

Since it was Christmas day we weren’t planning that much would be opened today and so planned to spend the day leisurely driving the Romantic Road and stopping and several of the quaint little towns along the way.  First we stopped at Dinkelsbuhl a beautifully preserved medieval town which is less tourist-oriented than Rothenburg.  The Munster St. Georg (Minister St. George) is a focal point of the town.   

Then we set off for Nordlingen, which has it entire city wall still intact and you can walk along the top of it around the entire town.  We set off along the top and walked half way around, and then wandered through the streets 

 

Nordlingen lies in the center of a huge, basin like depression, the Ries, that until the beginning of this century was believed to be the remains of an extinct volcano.  In 1960 it was proven by two Americans that the 24-km-wide (15 mile wide) crater was caused by a meteorite at least 1/2 mile in diameter.  The compressed rock, or Suevit, formed by the explosive impact of the meteorite was used to construct many of the town's buildings, including St. Georg's tower.  You could see the crater rim best from the tower.  At the center of town is St. Georg church or "The Daniel" as the locals refer to it.  We climbed the 365 steps which were concrete spiral steps the first half but then turned to wooden switch back steps the last half.  It was quite scary to climb up.   

 

 

Dec. 26^th, 2009

As we approach Dauchu we see our first glimpse of the Alps.  Dachau is infamous worldwide as the site of the first Nazi concentration camp.  The camp is the site where more than 30,000 of the 200,000-plus prisoners lost their lives.  The atmosphere at Dauchau was reverent and somber.  One is left to wonder how man's inhumanity to his fellow man could be allowed to reach that extent.

I wondered what life was like for my Great Grandparents and how they came to the United States and what my Grandparents thought of the reports of what was happening in Germany during the war.  What did they think of their sons fighting against their homeland?  What records I have indicate my Great Grandparents were from Westphalia, Germany, which I have found a region called North Rhine-Westphalia in what is now Lower Saxony.  I remember that my mother said they spoke "low German" and that she did not speak English until she started to school.

We then walked around the town of Dauchu and visited Schloss Dachau, the hilltop castle, with views of the Alps and Munich, dominates the town.  Only one wing of the palace remains having been built for the Wittelsbach ruler Max Emanuel in 1715.

Dec. 27^th, 2009

We took the train into Munich.  Our first stop was to watch the glockenspiel which plays daily at 11, noon and 9PM.  As the chimes peal out over the square, the clock's doors flip open and brightly colored dancers and jousting knights act out two events from Munich's past: a tournament held in Marienplatz in 1568 and the Schafflertanz (Dance of the Cooper's), which commemorated the end of the plague of 1517.

We took the tram to the Flugwerft Schleissheim (flight museum).  Jim was somewhat disappointed in the aircraft museum, in that they didn't have more German versus American aircraft.

And of course no trip to Munich is complete without dinner at the Hofbrauhaus with it's oompah band - the father of all beer halls.  In 1589 Duke Wilhelm V founded a brewery at the royal residence and it continued until 1808.  Maximilian I built his brewery in 1607 and Ludwig I decreed that it should be open to the public in 1828, thus laying the foundation of today's Hofbrauhaus.  Measuring 11,000 square meters the Hofbrauhaus that we know today was opened on Sept. 22 1897.  It can seat 3,000 people and with hundreds of waiters and waitress it can accommodate as many as 30,000 people a day.  Over it's 400 year history it has had regulars such as Mozart and visitors from all over the world.  In January 1823, Munich's opera house caught fire and since the fire brigade's water had frozen the Hofbrauhaus sent large barrels of beer to put out the fire.   During the Thirty Year War the Hofbrauhaus gave 362 buckets of beer to the conquering Swedish army and was therefore not destroyed.  It was not so lucky during the wartime bombing of World War II when 60% of the building was destroyed.

 

In Germany, they don’t serve tap water in restaurants and most bottled water is mineral water and more expensive than soda.  The soda is also more expensive then the beer.  So I finally had to concede and acknowledge the fact that Kristal did indeed HAVE to drink lots of beer while she was studying here in college…it was simply the most economical thing to do.

Dec. 28^th, 2009

We once again took the train to Munich today and then a tram to Schloss Nymphenburg. Nymphenburg Palace on the outskirts of Munich was the summer residence of Bavaria's electors and kings.  In 1664 when construction began it was surrounded by open countryside.  Over the years the palace and gardens have been expanded and remodeled extensively with each successive ruler by an army of architects, artist, painters, sculptors, landscapers.  Radiating out from the focal main pavilion is the "ideal town" with the residence of the royal family, stables and a dairy, kitchens and butcher's facilities, rooms for artists and craftsmen, palace chapel and monastery, a mill and a porcelain factory.  To this day members of the royal family live here and the porcelain factory is in operation as it continues to be one of the most extensive palace complexes with its lavish display of wealth and power.

Bavaria's "fairy-tale king, Ludwig II was born here and spent much of his youth here.  King Ludwig I's Gallery of Beauties is a series of portraits done between 1827 and 1850 reflecting Ludwig I's ideal of beauty rather than social rank of the sitters.  The daughter of a cobbler is included in the collection.  It occurred to me that all of the beauties had very straight noses.  The Koch nose would not have been attractive to Ludwig I.

 

We then headed back to the main part of Munich to the Fussgangerzone or pedestrian zone which is a mile long central shopping area and got some roasted hot chestnuts.  We had 10 to share between the 4 of us and had a surplus.  Soft and chewy is not appropriate in our minds for a nut.  Although they were not a favorite for any of us, we can at least say we tried them.

Dec. 29^th, 2009

We left Augsburg and drove in a wintry mix to Ettal to see the Kloster Ettal.  It was founded by Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian for a group of knights and a community of Benedictine monks.  This is the largest Benedictine monastery in Germany: approximately 55 monks live here.  The church's chief treasure is its enormous dome (83 feet wide) depicting heaven.  Ettal liqueurs, made from a centuries-old recipe, are still distilled at the monastery.  The monks make seven different liqueurs, some with more than 70 mountain herbs.  Originally the liqueurs were made as medicines, and the have legendary health-giving properties.  Their ad is "Two monks know how it's made, 2 million Germans know how it tastes."

From Ettal we went to Schloss Linderhof.  Built between 1870 and 1879 on the spectacular grounds of his father's hunting lodge, Schloss Linderhof was the only one of Ludwig II's royal residences to have been completed during the monarch's short life.  It was the smallest of the king's castles, but his favorite retreat as a reclusive monarch. The palace's main inspiration came from the Sun King of France, Louis XIV, who is portrayed in numerous pieces of art.  This castle has several impressive features including the dining room which features a table that rises from and descends to the kitchen below so that Ludwig could eat his meals in private and a huge artificial grotto in which scenes from Wagner opera were performed, with full lighting effects to create the illusion of a royal dream world.  After seeing a few of his castles and learning a little be about Bavaria’s “Fairy Tale King” we all go very interested in learning more about King Ludwig II and also about Richard Wagner who influenced him so much.

 

 

Seth and Kristal had a snowball fight.

Dec. 30^th, 2009

Today we were four more of the one million people to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.  With the background of the Thannheim mountains, Poellat Gorge and the two lakes; the Alp Lake and Swan Lake make Neushwanstein a very picturesque and romantic setting. We arrived early morning and bought our ticket and still had over an hour wait, which we spent walking up to the castle and taking pictures along the way.  The walk took about 40 minutes. 

After 17 years of construction, Ludwig II only spent a total of 108 days at Neuschwanstein Castle and work stopped when he was taken away and died.  The castle is a symbol of the mysterious life and death of the King Ludwig II and one of the most recognized symbols of Germany and top attractions.  This castle was conceived by a set designer instead of an architect, thanks to King Lidwig II's deep love of the theater.  The castle soars from its mountainside like a stage creation - it should hardly come as a surprise that Walt Disney took it as the model for his castle in the movie Sleeping Beauty and later for the Disneyland castle itself. 

 

Above the Poellet Gorge with it's 149 foot high falls is the Marienbrucke  (Queen Mary's Bridge).  At a height of 304 feet, the bridge is older than the castle.  It was named after Ludwig's mother, Queen Mary, when it was rebuilt in 1866. 

It had rained for several hours during the night and there was still heavy fog and mist.  The walkway to the bridge was closed and there was still ice on the path but quit a few people including ourselves climbed around the barricades and braved the icy sidewalk.  This will probably be one of Seth’s most memorable experiences during this trip that his mother-in-law was the one persuading the rest of the group to break the rules and go around the barricades. But it was totally worth it for the pictures. 

On our way to the bridge we had a good view of the Hohenschwangau castle.  We did later go walk around the Hohenschwangau castle.  Built by the knights of Schwangau in the 12th century, the castle was remodeled by King Ludwig II's father, the Bavarian crown prince (and later king) Maximilian, between 1832 and 1836 after it had been heavily damaged during the Napoleonic wars.  Unlike Neuschwanstein, the yellowish Schloss Hohenschwangau has the feeling of a noble home, where comforts would be valued as much as outward splendor. 

Movies in Egypt

We don’t get every single movie that comes out in the States but we do get most of the major box office hits. However, when we get them is a crap shoot. It could be months later after the release date in the States or only a few weeks and sometimes on the very rare occasion within the same week for some major releases. For instance, we got Avatar the same week it was released in the States and without the long lines and impossible to get tickets. (Yes, we’ve already seen Avatar, and in 3-D! In Egypt!)

All movies play at the same time of 1:00pm, 4:00pm, 7:00pm, 10:00pm and 1:00am. When you buy your tickets you pick your reserved seats. We love this. The ticket price varies by the vicinity of your seat. However, the ticket prices are still incredibly cheap, only 25 LE or the equivalent of $4.60 USD. We don't have to take out a loan to by movie theater popcorn and soda either. One feature that we don’t care for is the intermission in every single show. They always seem to stop the movie right in the middle of the most critical scene. There is some censoring but what they censor doesn’t ever seem to be consistent. 

Christmas Cards

Seth and I had the most wonderful surprise when we returned back to school; we had nine Christmas cards waiting in our mailbox! That about tripled the amount of mail we’ve gotten the entire time we’ve been in Egypt. Seth and I love getting mail here and it truly makes our day. We do our “we’ve got mail” happy dance in front of our mailbox every time. The best part about getting mail here is that it is never junk mail or bills but only loving letters from friends and family.

So a big thank you to everyone who sent us a lovely Christmas card and also all the precious pictures included.

(Psst….did you know that it cost less than $1.00 and only about 10 days to send a letter to us. The next time we get a happy surprise in our mailbox I might just video tape our “we’ve got mail” happy dance and sent it to the person who made us so happy)

Michele Serros or The Visiting Author Curse

We were fortunate to have another visiting author come to Schutz. Her name is Michele Serros, a Mexican-American author from California. She is actually a personal friend of the Bob and Ana Medina, our art and drama teachers, and came with her husband Dean to visit Bob and Ana in Egypt and travel to Morocco with them for Christmas break. While she was here she was gracious enough to do a presentation for our students the last day before break. However, just like when Tom Palmer was here, the school was shut down due to H1N1 and there were no students around for our visiting author to present to. We’ve decided the best way to combat this H1N1 virus is to stop inviting authors to our school.

 

Michele was a lot of fun to meet. She is so kind, fun, very out-going and a little eccentric! Check out her website to see what I mean http://www.muchamichele.com/ Michele was named News Weeks “One of the Top Young Women to Watch in the New Century” She has written for many national newspapers, magazines and was also a writer for “The George Lopez Show”. She currently has four books out:

Chicana Falsa- a collection of short stories and poems
How to be a Chicana Role Model
Honey Blonde Chica- the first in her Honey Blonde series
Scandalosa!- second in the series

New Year Resolution

I have finally kept a New Year’s Resolution for an entire year. If you look back at last year’s post, my New Year’s resolution was to make more frequent post on our blog. Looking back I average about seven posts a month or almost two a week. So I’m proclaiming that I was successful with my resolution. Yippee!

Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law Sarah, who got me addicted to digital scrapbooking, I have a new resolution this year. A famous scrapbooker Becky Higgins, did a project last year called Project 365. The object of the scrapbook was to take a picture every day and journal about it, that way more of your everyday life gets documents and not just vacations and holidays. Sarah did P365 last year and it was amazing! I love how it captured everyday moments that were meaningful to their family, plus to have so many pictures capture our niece Gracyn growing day-by-day. After see what a wonderful family treasure Sarah made with this project I decided to do a digital version of P365. I’m doing great so far, haven’t missed a day of pictures yet, but must admit I’m already falling behind with the journaling. I’ll try to post completed pages on our blog to share with you.

Happy New Years from Germany

Merry Christmas from Germany

Christmas Eve in Germany

Our trip started off pretty rough, starting with delayed flights, damaged luggage, not having the car we reserved, and stolen jewelry (my brand new Shaffalie jewelry I just wrote about last week!). Just when my mother proclaimed, “Well, it can’t get any worse.” my dad runs over my husband with the car! Thank God he’s ok and nothing is broken, just rolled over his toe.

We drove to Rothenburg, enjoying the beautiful scenery of snow covered fields and forests. We quickly rushed to the Rothenburg’s Christmas Market in the old city square. We warmed our hands and our tummies with hot spiced mulled wine (Gluhwien ) and enjoyed meter long bratwurst. I even found a yarn shop!

Our bed and breakfast was a really cute and quaint old German Guesthouse inside the old city wall built in 1521. It had a lot of character and was very cozy. There was even a house cat to wake us up in the morning.

Today we drove to Nuremberg and got to the old city center (Hauptmarkt) just in time to see the Frauenkirche strike noon with all its’ bells and moveable pieces spring to life. Then we spent several hours wondering around the famous Chriskindlesmarkt and also spun the gold ring at the Schoner Brunnen for good luck. After another meter long bratwurst and some Lebkuchen (gingerbread) we guided ourselves on a walking tour of old Nuremberg.

We’re warming up in the hotel now and just skyped our family back home to wish them a Merry Christmas. We’ll head down soon to enjoy our Christmas Eve meal at the hotel restaurant.

Christmas Travels

Tonight we are heading to Germany for Christmas. We will be meeting Kristal's parents there. We are really looking forward to seeing some snow for Christmas and enjoying the Christmas Markets, decorations and holiday cheer!

We miss all of our family and friends back home and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

We love you all so much!

Chance of a Lifetime Experience

I (Kristal) had a chance of a Lifetime opportunity today. I got to join the sixth grade class on their field trip to Taposiris Magna.

It's about an hour west of Alexandria in a town called Abu Sir and has an ancient temple and a one tenth size replica of the Great Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria. The "chance of a lifetime experience" was the fact that this sight is NOT open to the public because monumental archeology studies are currently underway here in hope of finding the lost tombs of lovers Marc Anthony and Cleopatra. So why you ask did we get to go to a closed site excavation? Well, because the head archeologist Kathleen Martinez from the Dominican Republic has her daughter in Schutz while she is here working on the research.

It was so exciting to be at a place that few people have been allowed to go. There has hardly even been any articles or even photos published yet. Discovery Channel is making a documentary so keep on the look out maybe next year. It would be so exciting if they do discover the lost tombs; for me to say that I was their while they were doing the excavation, and saw it years before any tourist were allowed on site.

Unfortunately, Kathleen was very sick today and was not able to be here today to give us the tour herself, but another great archeologist showed us around. He took us inside the temple and showed us many sites that they have excavated and took us down into many tunnels that they had found. He also took us inside the pylons, showed us some artifacts that they had found and were storing there, then we were able to climb up and stand on top of the temple walls. Unfortunately, we were limited on what we were allowed to take pictures of since this is still a closed site and not open to the public, they don't want certain finds to be broadcast before they publish them. However, I was still allowed to take many pictures of many wonderful things...just not any of the "really good stuff". But I'll have those memories for myself for the rest of my life.

Then we went over to the cemetery which was just discovered this year! We watched as workers and archeologist worked together to excavate some tombs that they had just discovered within the past month. We went down into almost all of the tombs that have been fully excavated. At one tomb, we had to one by one be lowered into a hole and then crouch down, when you crouch down you are literally face to face with two mummies just inches away from you! In many of the other tombs there are full skeletons laying open. It was amazing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures of these, but if you watch the videos below, you can see some of what I saw.

We walked over to the little lighthouse and were able to climb up onto it and got a great view of the sea and the temple grounds.


I feel really bad, because Seth almost was able to go on this trip too, but with school closing for H1N1 he unfortunately had to be a good teacher and devote his time to his students. I was truly blessed to be granted this opportunity today and I will remember it for the rest of my life.

Below are several youtube videos about the project site, some are by Zahi Hawass, the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt (you'll recognize him from so many National Geographic documentaries) and also Kathleen Martinez herself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ4ugRiL8WM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTaHkrhzN9g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y3MVEMJa6E

Here are a few articles:
http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/abu-sir-taposiris-magna/

http://heritage-key.com/blogs/sean-williams/digging-cleopatras-tomb-taposiris-magna

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8000978.stm

Interview

I got interviewed by some of the third graders for their country reports. They interviewed me on the U.S.A.

Jewelry and Christmas Party

Several of my girlfriends and I went to a Jewelry show today. The designer, Shafalie, is a friend of one of our staff members and we went to one of her Open Houses last year. She custom made both our mom’s necklaces for Mother’s Day last year. They have their name, their husbands name and both of their children’s names written in Arabic with the word for protection in the middle.

She also custom made a necklace for me, so I could wear Seth’s name (in Arabic)
close to my heart. (picture coming)

This year I bought a few more pieces for myself. (Pictures coming)

That night we went to the Christmas Party at the American Cultural Center. The Cultural Center is a old Mansion and it was decorated beautifully with a Christmas tree and poinsettias everywhere. There were tons of good cookies and Christmas treats and they had real nice activities for kids like making Gingerbread houses and Christmas movies. There was even a small Christmas bazaar with crafts from local businesses. The highlight of the night was a special visit from Santa!

Christmas Decorating and Bazaar

It’s a tradition here at Schutz for the residents to get together and decorate the dinning room and put up a Christmas tree together. We enjoyed some yummy hot coco, decorated some sugar cookies and sang along with some Holiday music. I giggle every time I get “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow” stuck in my head. “Let it sand storm, Let it sand storm, Let it sand storm,” just doesn’t flow as well.
On Friday several of us went down to Cairo for a large Christmas Bazaar put on by the Cairo American College. There were over fifty vendors there, most selling handmade crafts a few selling Christmas crafts. Some of the crafts were made by the nuns of the Coptic Church, some were NGO’s who teach the Bedouin women a craft to earn a living, and some were crafts made out of the recycled materials from the Zabbalin village in Coptic Cairo. (see previous post for explanation). The cards they made out of recycled paper was probably the most purchased item at the bazaar, I was very impressed with their quality, and to make them even better, each was embroidered with an Egyptian or Christmas scene. I really enjoyed my shopping trip and when crazy buying local crafts. I got some exquisite glass blown figurines, a clay figuring of two women greeting each other from a nun of the Coptic Church, and embroidered purse, and my pride and joy of the trip is a huge wall hanging completely hand embroidered with Egyptian scenes. They also had some great food, including bagels which are a huge treat for us here. We all bought some to take home to our husbands since none of us bought anything for them.

We stopped at a nice restaurant before the drive back to Alex and had a lovely dinner. While we were there, some of the men that came along with us decided they wanted to place a Drinkies order. Drinkies is the alcohol store in Egypt. And yes, you call and place an order and they deliver to you in a matter of minutes. In Cairo they carry a brand of beer called Luxor that they don’t carry in Alexandria. We really confused the Drinkies store as well as our waiter of why guest in the restaurant were calling to place an order. But after a few laughs and an explanation that we can’t get Luxor in Alex we had three cases of beer delivered right to our table.

Coptic Cairo

One of our local teacher friends organized a nice day trip for us a few weekends ago. We spent the day in Cairo and visited two important places, the first one the Monastery of St. Simon in the Zabbalin village and the second the area of Coptic Cairo.

In 1969 the Governor of Cairo decided to move all the “trash collectors” to the hills of Mt. Mokattam. They build themselves little houses of tin and other scrap metal and today this village of Zabbalin has a population around 30,000 and is mostly Coptic Christians. Since the Egyptian government does not have a government run waste removal system, for over a hundred years this community has made their living by cleaning the city. Each morning the village men go out on their donkey carts to their district in Cairo and gather the trash.

Picture taken from:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/10/24/cairos_trash_collectors_lose_an_advocate

Picture taken from:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/inoursuitcase/freedom_07-08/1223650500/tpod.html

They have contracts with companies and residents to gather their waste for them. They bring it back to their home and the women and children sort though the pile. They feed the refuse to the pigs that they raise. This is the only population of pigs in the country. You might have heard that when H1N1 (Swine Flu) came to Egypt; the Present ordered that ALL of these pigs be slaughtered. This greatly

hurt this community by not have any pigs to eat or sell, but also hurt all of Cairo, since the refuse waste that was taken to be fed to the pigs, now just sits in the streets and rots! Driving through Zabbalin stirs up lots of emotions. It pains my heart to see bare foot children sitting waste deep in a pile of trash in front of their shack of a house, but at the same time, it’s impressive to see their effectiveness with sorting through so much. They are able to recycle 60% of Cairo’s trash. (Most first world countries recycle about 70%).

Picture taken from:

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/inoursuitcase/freedom_07-08/1223650500/tpod.html

As with most sights in Egypt, there are no signs and clear directions marked, but it didn’t matter to get to the Mokattam Church, driving through Zabbalin, everyone just points the way without us having to stop and ask.  It was amazing, diving through Zabbalin, where you felt like the piles of trash were caving in on you and little sunlight reached the streets, to all of a sudden you take one more turn and under a walkway, and all of a sudden the surroundings open up, a huge mountain appears, and the warmth of the sun is shining down on you and you see a huge Coptic Church in front of you with biblical carvings in the mountain all around.   This is the Monastery of St. Simon which the Cathedral of Virgin Marry and six other churches hidden in an underground network of caves in the Mokattam hills.  In the tenth century when Egypt was ruled by Caliph Al Muizz, he got into a debate with the Coptic Pope Abram where the Caliph challenged the Coptic’s to prove the bible verse stating that if you have faith strong enough you can move a mountain.  The Caliph saw this as an opportunity to move the Mountain that was spoiling his view, and if the Coptic’s were unable to, it he would be finally able to prove that the Christians were wrong and do away with them in his country.  Simon was chosen to be the one to move the mountain so after three days of fasting and prayers the mountain moved.

Next we headed to the area called Coptic Cairo. This is the oldest area of Cairo and was settled around the 6 century B.C.  Later the Romans build a fort around it called Babylon.  Within the fort walls there were twenty Coptic Christian churches, several mosques including the earliest one built in Egypt, and the Ben Ezra synagogue all living in peaceful religious harmony for thousands of years.  We visited the Mar Girgis Church, Keniset Mar Girgis, El-Mu’ Allaqa (the Hanging Church), Ben Ezra synagogue, and Abu Serga.  At the Nunnery of St. George, the sisters take care of the original chain and shackle that St. George was tortured in.  Here we watched man women come pay homage by the custom of taking the chains and wrapping them around your body and neck, saying a prayer, and kissing the chains.  Since the city is so old, the modern street level has risen several meters above the original, which means, to get to the original floors, we always had to walk down stairs to what felt like the basement.

 

 

 

 

Jordan Picture Video