Today we went to the Alexandria library, the Bibliotheca, a fascinating architectural wonder. We took a tour and learned that the windows are positioned such that there is never direct sunlight anywhere in the library. Another fascinating aspect is that the pillars contain curtains that deploy in case of fire. The holes in the walls are sound deadening acoustics. They also have a historical connection, representing the holes in the original library where the papyrus rolls were stored. The exterior wall has a representation of every language known. The "Death Star" is a planetarium. The third building of the complex is a fine arts theater.
Kristal had warned me and yet I was caught unprepared. To use a public restroom you need to be ready to tip the bathroom attendant and she will provide you with toilet paper. The going rate is 50 piasters. For men is they do not require toilet paper 25 piasters will do. I guess it is universal to primp before the bathroom mirror and I would have liked more time to observe the covered women adjust their scarves.
Today was my first experience riding in a taxi. Seth hailed a taxi by flexing his finger in a palm down position. He had had the front desk person write down the name of were we wanted to go on a piece of paper. The taxi stopped in the middle of the street and we quickly piled in. Our driver did wait until we had closed the door before he took off. We saw during dinner last night that that isn't always the case. Our taxi had a tire that was going flat and another of the taxi drivers signaled that to him. There seems to be a supportive community among the drivers.
During our drive from Cairo to Alexandria we noticed many pigeon coops. There is one also close to Seth and Kristal's balcony. The goal of the sport is to have other peoples pigeons come to roost with your pigeons. The coops are dome shaped to keep them cooler because part of the coop is always in the shade and it creates air movement in the coop.
Our first two days were at Schutz American School. We noticed a couple things about the food, such as the fruit and vegetables are only available in season and they are not genetically engineered. The cantaloupe is green inside and out and is much smaller. But it tastes just like cantaloupe. The cauliflower has much more stem and sparse flower top. We are staying in the apartment next to Seth and Kristal and joining them and their fellow teachers in the dining hall. Everyone has been most accommodating.
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Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
April 3rd- Sheila's Version
April 3, 2009
I awoke at 4AM to the mournful sound of the "call to prayer". Laying there I was left to wonder if what I was hearing was a human voice or some wind instrument. Kristal later informed me that it was a human voice and that she has heard them sneeze, cough and even drop the microphone. There are four mosques within earshot of their apartment. Each beginning the call to prayer at the first light of day. There are mosques spaced on the desert road and along the Nile such that they will always be able to hear "the call". Today, Friday is their Holy Day with extra broadcasts. Streets may be closed due to people on mats praying if there is overflow from the mosque. There are normally 7 "calls to prayer" each day. We went down to the street with idea that we would get a picture of the mats in the street but stepping out we were met with a funeral tent right across the street. When someone dies they try to have the funeral by dusk of that day. A tent is erected in the street outside the persons home with someone singing or chanting over a loud speaker most of the day. Since it was Friday their Holy Day that person was extra blessed. Their goal is to die during Ramadan their most Holy time.
Walk like an Egyptian
Toady we took a couple of walks around the city and became pedestrians ourselves. Six million people live in Alexandria next to the Nile. Actually almost all of Egypt lives next to the Nile, they have to, it's their only source of water. This creates a lot of congestion and creates quite an experience being a pedestrian. The streets are very narrow and yet they park on both sides of the street with cars and pedestrians moving about. There really aren't street signs so if what was a one way street suddenly becomes a two way street a negotiation of who has to back up takes place. But this is done without the heated tempers that we would expect. Added to the situation is the occasional trashcan sitting in the street to be dogged with possibly a cat or two eating out of it. I even saw a cafe who had put table and chairs in the street for additional seating. Today Kristal and I had a role reversal because I had to take Kristal's had to cross the street. It was also very disturbing that I got cat calls and she normally doesn't. My blond hair is quite the oddity and gets a lot of stares and comments.
After lunch be went to an Armenian festival. One of the teachers Kristal and Seth work with is Armenian and invited them to go. We took the school van with the school's driver. We were sitting in the court yard with the Armenians when a woman came up to Jim and started talking in English. She said that she has relatives that live in Texas. Jim said we have a son who lives in Texas to which she replied Hou son? Jim thought she asked "who's son" so he repeated "my son". She repeated "Hou son", this went on until Jim realized that she was asking if our son lived in Houston. Tourist! The fashion of the Armenian woman is what you could expect in any church basement in the states. It was interesting to see what is behind the walls. Who knew that poinsettias could grow to such heights. There are many walled complexes in Alexandria.
I was surprised by how humid Alexandria is. It gets the breeze right off the Mediterranean and is about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than Cairo. Alexandria gets even more crowded in the summer with people from Cairo trying to escape the heat. Alexandria is also very dusty. Many cars parked are covered to keep the dust off. If they aren't covered many have their windshield wipers raised so that the dust doesn't accumulate on the wiper blades. Egyptians like very ornate furniture and fixtures. Which to me if I had to dust them I won't chose anything that couldn't be easily dusted but the reality is that if you can afford the ornate item you can also afford the maid to dust it. There don't seem to be many bugs. Seth and Kristal have a long sheer curtain that hangs at the door blowing in the wind, very romantic. The sheer is to keep out the bats.
A city of six million creates a lot of strange noises. You quickly accept the "call to prayer" seven times a day. One of the first noises we were bewildered by was the onion man. The men with carts travel the streets with mega phones announcing what they have to sell off of their carts. Sound really travels, I think because all the surfaces are hard. The noises reverberate off of the buildings and you can't actually see where the noise is coming from because there are tall buildings and walls all around. We can also hear the train on what sounds like very rusty tracks. Occasionally you'll hear a rooster crowing from a balcony. Then there is the constant honking. I understand why Seth and Kristal said that the noise was one of the first things they had to get used to.
On our walk we walked by rows of small shops. It reminds me of the self storage facilities with the roll up doors. We saw vegetables, tires, granite, woodworking, ironing, chicken coops, hanging beef, candy and water pipes.
We walked over to the 5 star Four Seasons hotel for dinner. It was quite opulent right on the Mediterranean. After dinner we walked around the mall that's on the hotel's lower level. Walking at night is different because instead of honking they flash their headlights. There is so much ambient light that they don't run with their headlights on. We noticed that the one pedestrian that the taxi drivers actually brake for are the alley cats. I have concluded that their lack of traffic rules is a form of population control. But seriously, I worry about what happens to a person who is injured because Egypt is definitely not handicap accessible.
I awoke at 4AM to the mournful sound of the "call to prayer". Laying there I was left to wonder if what I was hearing was a human voice or some wind instrument. Kristal later informed me that it was a human voice and that she has heard them sneeze, cough and even drop the microphone. There are four mosques within earshot of their apartment. Each beginning the call to prayer at the first light of day. There are mosques spaced on the desert road and along the Nile such that they will always be able to hear "the call". Today, Friday is their Holy Day with extra broadcasts. Streets may be closed due to people on mats praying if there is overflow from the mosque. There are normally 7 "calls to prayer" each day. We went down to the street with idea that we would get a picture of the mats in the street but stepping out we were met with a funeral tent right across the street. When someone dies they try to have the funeral by dusk of that day. A tent is erected in the street outside the persons home with someone singing or chanting over a loud speaker most of the day. Since it was Friday their Holy Day that person was extra blessed. Their goal is to die during Ramadan their most Holy time.
Walk like an Egyptian
Toady we took a couple of walks around the city and became pedestrians ourselves. Six million people live in Alexandria next to the Nile. Actually almost all of Egypt lives next to the Nile, they have to, it's their only source of water. This creates a lot of congestion and creates quite an experience being a pedestrian. The streets are very narrow and yet they park on both sides of the street with cars and pedestrians moving about. There really aren't street signs so if what was a one way street suddenly becomes a two way street a negotiation of who has to back up takes place. But this is done without the heated tempers that we would expect. Added to the situation is the occasional trashcan sitting in the street to be dogged with possibly a cat or two eating out of it. I even saw a cafe who had put table and chairs in the street for additional seating. Today Kristal and I had a role reversal because I had to take Kristal's had to cross the street. It was also very disturbing that I got cat calls and she normally doesn't. My blond hair is quite the oddity and gets a lot of stares and comments.
After lunch be went to an Armenian festival. One of the teachers Kristal and Seth work with is Armenian and invited them to go. We took the school van with the school's driver. We were sitting in the court yard with the Armenians when a woman came up to Jim and started talking in English. She said that she has relatives that live in Texas. Jim said we have a son who lives in Texas to which she replied Hou son? Jim thought she asked "who's son" so he repeated "my son". She repeated "Hou son", this went on until Jim realized that she was asking if our son lived in Houston. Tourist! The fashion of the Armenian woman is what you could expect in any church basement in the states. It was interesting to see what is behind the walls. Who knew that poinsettias could grow to such heights. There are many walled complexes in Alexandria.
I was surprised by how humid Alexandria is. It gets the breeze right off the Mediterranean and is about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than Cairo. Alexandria gets even more crowded in the summer with people from Cairo trying to escape the heat. Alexandria is also very dusty. Many cars parked are covered to keep the dust off. If they aren't covered many have their windshield wipers raised so that the dust doesn't accumulate on the wiper blades. Egyptians like very ornate furniture and fixtures. Which to me if I had to dust them I won't chose anything that couldn't be easily dusted but the reality is that if you can afford the ornate item you can also afford the maid to dust it. There don't seem to be many bugs. Seth and Kristal have a long sheer curtain that hangs at the door blowing in the wind, very romantic. The sheer is to keep out the bats.
A city of six million creates a lot of strange noises. You quickly accept the "call to prayer" seven times a day. One of the first noises we were bewildered by was the onion man. The men with carts travel the streets with mega phones announcing what they have to sell off of their carts. Sound really travels, I think because all the surfaces are hard. The noises reverberate off of the buildings and you can't actually see where the noise is coming from because there are tall buildings and walls all around. We can also hear the train on what sounds like very rusty tracks. Occasionally you'll hear a rooster crowing from a balcony. Then there is the constant honking. I understand why Seth and Kristal said that the noise was one of the first things they had to get used to.
On our walk we walked by rows of small shops. It reminds me of the self storage facilities with the roll up doors. We saw vegetables, tires, granite, woodworking, ironing, chicken coops, hanging beef, candy and water pipes.
We walked over to the 5 star Four Seasons hotel for dinner. It was quite opulent right on the Mediterranean. After dinner we walked around the mall that's on the hotel's lower level. Walking at night is different because instead of honking they flash their headlights. There is so much ambient light that they don't run with their headlights on. We noticed that the one pedestrian that the taxi drivers actually brake for are the alley cats. I have concluded that their lack of traffic rules is a form of population control. But seriously, I worry about what happens to a person who is injured because Egypt is definitely not handicap accessible.
April 3rd, Spring Break Day 2
Yep, just like we expected Mom and Dad were awoken at 4:00 A.M. with the dawn call to prayer, not to mention all the other noises around here. We did warn them, in fact, I think that’s one of our first descriptive words we use when anyone asks us about living in Egypt…NOISY.
We got a kick out of how many times Mom and Dad would be shocked about something they saw or did and Seth and I would just say, “We’ve been telling you that for months!” and their reply was always, “I know you’ve been telling us but you just don’t understand it until you see/experience it for yourself.” Guess that just goes to prove what Seth and I keep saying….YOU ALL NEED TO COME OUT AND VISIT US.
Anyways, there is a Call To Prayer five times a day and it’s all based around the position of the sun. Every Mosque has a minaret, which until recently, a man would walk up to the top and sing out the Call To Prayer at the appropriate times. However, now a days, every Mosque has (a low quality) speaker system on the top of each minaret and a guy on a microphone (not a recording) sings out the Call To Prayer. It can be quite peaceful if there was only one Mosque with a man who can actually sing well. However, where we live, we are literally in the middle of a two block radius of five Mosques which all blare their speakers at the same time, over one another, and not always is the guy a very good singer. So it just becomes a whole lot of noise. After being here for months, you start to tune it out and it doesn’t always bother you as much…but it took awhile to get used to it. Sometimes it still wakes us up, but usually we can roll over and go back to sleep.
Seth and I would laugh, because we didn’t realize how use to we got to some of these noises until Mom and Dad would get startled, and ask, “What’s that!” and Seth and I would look at each other and look around straining our ears for something odd and Mom and Dad would then proclaim, “Oh my gosh, they don’t even here it, they are used to that noise.” Then Seth and I would realize what they were talking about and say, “Oh, that! That’s just the onion guy.” Which is a guy that goes around with his donkey cart filled with onions and garlic and has a megaphone hooked up to a car battery and yells some indistinguishable phrase that even the locals can’t understand, about coming to buy his onions. Or, “Oh that’s just the train.” Referring to the god awful screeching, which I imagine to be the same sound an ancient Pterodactyl would cry as he hunted, train that runs behind our school.
We hadn’t planned much to do today since we knew they would be jet lagged and tired. We gave them a tour of our school’s campus. They got to see Seth’s and mine classrooms and office and realize just what we mean when Seth and I sometimes say that there are days that we don’t ever get more than 100 yards apart from each other the entire day. They also saw the apartment that we will be moving into next year; a bit of an upgrade with a second bedroom and a bigger/nicer kitchen.
After lunch, I took Mom and Dad to an Armenian Easter Bazaar. Our high school secretary, and my friend Karen is Armenian and she invited us to come to the Armenian Club for the Bazaar. Jane, the librarian whom I work with all day long, came along with us. The Armenian Club is just a multipurpose building with a very nice enclosed garden for social events. Alexandria has a large Expat community. Expat stands for Ex-patriot and means anyone who does not live and work in their country of birth. Seth and I are Expats here. There are large populations of Armenian’s, Greeks, and Italians here and they have their own communities within Alexandria with their own schools, clubs, and restaurants. The large communities formed between World War I World War II when they came here to escape their own countries which were not safe at the time and many have stayed and have fourth generations here now. Usually expats of other nationalities can also go to their clubs and restaurants but not many let Egyptians in. We go to the Greek and Protégées club a lot. Anyways, there wasn’t much to the Easter Bazaar, no handmade crafts like we were hoping but we did by some food. We spent an hour relaxing in their beautiful garden and meeting Karen’s family and friends. They had a HUGE poinsettia plant, I didn’t even know they could grow bigger than the normal little potted Christmas plants.
That evening Mom stayed home with me and I showed off what I’ve been learning about digital scrapbooking (thank you Sarah), while Seth and Dad took Sokkwi to the vet for his second round of shots. We have to get all of his vaccinations in before we bring him home with us this summer. Our cat will actually have a kitty passport to prove his health records. Our vet is actually the brother of someone we work with, we like and trust him, although his clinic in not exactly anything like you would find in the states. It’s just a single room off of their house and not the cleanliness or up-to-date you would find back home. This was the first time that Dad took a taxi in Egypt rather than a driver, although he didn’t get the usual thrill-ride as expected. They actually managed to find a cab driver who spoke fluent English and drove really safely as he politely talked with Dad about his beloved home Alex. Not, to worry, Mom and Dad got to experience many more typical cab rides the rest of their trip.
When they got back we all went to San Stefano, the huge new mall and Four Seasons Hotel that is within walking distance of the school, to eat at Fresca, a nice relaxing upscale café that we like, which looks out over the Cornish and the Mediterranean Sea. This means another walk through real life Egypt and crossing Horraha Street, a major four lane (six cars across) road. It’s hard walking through town with Mom, even though I tell her to keep up and never to hesitate when I go, I would still look back every once in awhile and realize that she was 50 yards behind me, too scared to walk in between two cars. The other hard part was that I’ve always told everyone that I think Egypt is very safe and friendly and that I never get harassed on the street by men, which is true. However, my mom with her bright blond hair which is quite unique here got all sorts of attention on the streets. Nothing too bad just a few, “Hey California Blondie.”, “I like your hair.”, “Hey pretty lady.” , “Hey blond hair woman.”. I had more of a hard time with it than Mom did. It’s a sad day when you realize your roles with your parents have reversed. You have to hold your mother’s hand to cross the street, and your Mom is that one that get the cat calls from the men.
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Thursday, April 2, 2009
April 2nd, Spring Break Day 1
Mom and Dad got to try out our meals provided by our chefs last night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly our normal type dinner since a lot of the resident staff had already left on their spring break vacations and the School Board was having a meeting and joined us for dinner. So dinner was extra nice since the Board was there and our normal eating companions weren’t. They were quite impresses. Of course, it’s the one time I’ve had broccoli since I’ve been here and Mom wasn’t believing me when I had told her of certain foods we don’t get over here.
After dinner Mom and Dad unpacked their suitcases which were full of goodies for us. In addition to some slightly belated birthday gifts for me, and some Easter treats from our families there was a whole list of things we had asked my parents to bring. A lot was for Sokkwi (the cat) and other things we can’t get over here like vanilla extract and Girl Scout cookies from my niece. Yummy!
Although they were super excited to be here and had so excited energy from all the new things they had seen and already experienced and playing with our psycho cat, they were still quite exhausted from their long trip so we let them crash early. Besides we knew they would wake up around 4:00 A.M. They are staying in the empty apartment next to ours on the fourth floor. (ha ha, making them walk up like we have to).
April 2nd- Sheila's Version
After an eleven hour flight from New York the pilot received a round of applause for a successful landing. Descending into Cairo Jim and I thought the flat farm fields didn't look much different than Kansas. As we got closer it was clear we weren't in Kansas anymore, Totto.
After landing we bought our visas and had our passports checked. We knew we had to have cash for our visas thanks to Seth and Kristal and were prepared for that. I got my first stamp in my passport. Seth and Kristal had arranged for a driver to pick us up. He spoke English and was very helpful explaining the new sights.
The street leaving the airport is lined with plants and flowers and murals. That quickly changes to crumbling buildings topped with satellite dishes and rusty air conditioners. Cairo is a very condensed city with the great majority of buildings being multi-story. The flat roof tops of buildings are covered with rubble. The buildings may be constructed with the anticipation of adding on another floor, leaving the building with pillars and rebar sticking out the top. Brick, stucco or stone make up the majority of the buildings. Very little color is used. Laundry hanging from the balconies is predominately what gives the landscape color. Although you don't notice any underwear hanging out with the laundry. The buildings are very close together making the streets very narrow. The sidewalks seem to be of two extremes. They are either granite tile or rubble.
We had been warned about the traffic and the fact that Egypt has the highest percent of traffic accidents in the world but until you experience it for yourself, you just can't understand. And yet what seems like total chaos seems to work for them. As I see it the basis problem is that drivers don't stay in their own lanes. They travel so close together that you can literally reach your hand into the car next to you. On what we would consider a 3 lane street, they will travel with 5 lanes. Added to the cars are the pedestrians which are like rabbits darting across the street or like the game "Frogger". The pedestrians only cross one lane at a time, just standing in the street waiting until an opportunity to cross the next lane. Added to the cars and pedestrians are the merchants standing in the street selling what look like pretzels or newspapers. Added to the cars, pedestrians and merchants are the donkey carts. An upscale cart would be drawn by a horse. There is constant honking to warn of your presence. There is surprisingly little road rage and the honking is really just to inform the other drivers of your existence. Many cars carry the battle scars of too close encounters and yet a surprising number of cars still have their rear view mirrors. As we drove from Cairo to Alexandria our driver said they had just installed cameras on the desert road to catch speeders - but he knew where the cameras were so he won't get a ticket. There were two check points where the police were pulling over cars that had been caught speeding. Another fascinating fact is the lack of traffic lights. The cross streets don't have intersections as we know them. They make U turns and right turns. If you need to make a left turn you go past and make a U turn, come back and make a right turn. We did watch a controlled intersection in Alexandria with a traffic light. One officer stood in the street and determined when to change the light and then signaled to the other officer in the control booth to change the light, who blew his whistle. When the traffic decided that the cross traffic had had their turn, they started again, with or without the green light. Not that the light actually had a colored lenses to indicate the color anyway.
As we arrived at the gate at Schutz school our driver spoke to the 2 armed guards in Arabic and in that conversation we understood the word "Kristal" and the guards responded back in Arabic with the word "Kristal" in the sentence and they opened the gate. As parents it was an interesting feeling to have that conversation with armed guards and your daughters name as the only word you understood and the word that would open the gates. It is mandatory for all boys of a certain age to serve in the military. Therefore they have to create jobs for all these boys. So although the gate at the school probably doesn't need to be guarded but that's another place to place the military. Boys whose father is dead or is the only son do not have to serve.
After landing we bought our visas and had our passports checked. We knew we had to have cash for our visas thanks to Seth and Kristal and were prepared for that. I got my first stamp in my passport. Seth and Kristal had arranged for a driver to pick us up. He spoke English and was very helpful explaining the new sights.
The street leaving the airport is lined with plants and flowers and murals. That quickly changes to crumbling buildings topped with satellite dishes and rusty air conditioners. Cairo is a very condensed city with the great majority of buildings being multi-story. The flat roof tops of buildings are covered with rubble. The buildings may be constructed with the anticipation of adding on another floor, leaving the building with pillars and rebar sticking out the top. Brick, stucco or stone make up the majority of the buildings. Very little color is used. Laundry hanging from the balconies is predominately what gives the landscape color. Although you don't notice any underwear hanging out with the laundry. The buildings are very close together making the streets very narrow. The sidewalks seem to be of two extremes. They are either granite tile or rubble.
We had been warned about the traffic and the fact that Egypt has the highest percent of traffic accidents in the world but until you experience it for yourself, you just can't understand. And yet what seems like total chaos seems to work for them. As I see it the basis problem is that drivers don't stay in their own lanes. They travel so close together that you can literally reach your hand into the car next to you. On what we would consider a 3 lane street, they will travel with 5 lanes. Added to the cars are the pedestrians which are like rabbits darting across the street or like the game "Frogger". The pedestrians only cross one lane at a time, just standing in the street waiting until an opportunity to cross the next lane. Added to the cars and pedestrians are the merchants standing in the street selling what look like pretzels or newspapers. Added to the cars, pedestrians and merchants are the donkey carts. An upscale cart would be drawn by a horse. There is constant honking to warn of your presence. There is surprisingly little road rage and the honking is really just to inform the other drivers of your existence. Many cars carry the battle scars of too close encounters and yet a surprising number of cars still have their rear view mirrors. As we drove from Cairo to Alexandria our driver said they had just installed cameras on the desert road to catch speeders - but he knew where the cameras were so he won't get a ticket. There were two check points where the police were pulling over cars that had been caught speeding. Another fascinating fact is the lack of traffic lights. The cross streets don't have intersections as we know them. They make U turns and right turns. If you need to make a left turn you go past and make a U turn, come back and make a right turn. We did watch a controlled intersection in Alexandria with a traffic light. One officer stood in the street and determined when to change the light and then signaled to the other officer in the control booth to change the light, who blew his whistle. When the traffic decided that the cross traffic had had their turn, they started again, with or without the green light. Not that the light actually had a colored lenses to indicate the color anyway.
As we arrived at the gate at Schutz school our driver spoke to the 2 armed guards in Arabic and in that conversation we understood the word "Kristal" and the guards responded back in Arabic with the word "Kristal" in the sentence and they opened the gate. As parents it was an interesting feeling to have that conversation with armed guards and your daughters name as the only word you understood and the word that would open the gates. It is mandatory for all boys of a certain age to serve in the military. Therefore they have to create jobs for all these boys. So although the gate at the school probably doesn't need to be guarded but that's another place to place the military. Boys whose father is dead or is the only son do not have to serve.
Spring Break
It's finally Spring Break! We've been looking forward to this for a long time. We need a break! We are so excited because Kristal's parents are coming for 16 days!
They arrived around 4:30 p.m. today. They were exhausted from the travel: Kansas City to New York to Cairo and then a car trip to Alexandria which took 26 hours. The look on Sheila's face when she finally saw Kristal was priceless. A mix between utter fear from the driving in Egypt and surprised to still be alive, exhaustion, and gratefulness to finally see her baby girl. She immediately burst into tears; I'm not sure if they were happy, scared, or tired tears.
We immediately fully immersed them in Egyptian life since we needed to walk to a store to get a part for Kristal's computer before we left. Although they were totally out of their comfort zone they were good sports about the trip and enjoyed the difference in cultures of walking through very poor neighborhoods with torn up streets strewn in trash and being narrowly missed by the passing cars by a mere inch. Typical walk here. We had a total role reversal when Kristal had to hold her mom's hand to cross the street. Granted, crossing streets here mean crossing a very busy four lane road with actually 6 cars across since they don't use the lanes and you have to cross only by one car lane at a time, kind of like the old Atari game Frogger.
Once we safely got them back to campus, they got to experiance a typical dinner in our dining hall by our chefs and meet some of the the other staff whom we work with that haven't already left for their spring break trips.
After they unpacked, they brought a full suitcase of stuff that we requested from home including many belated birthday gifts for Kristal; we let them go to bed a little early. Besides, we knew they would be up at 4:00 am due to the morning call of prayer.
We'll try to keep you up-to-date on our spring break travels as much as possible. We are going on a Nile cruise and also spend a few days in Cairo so I'm not sure how much internet access we'll have. Mom is keeping a journal and I plan on letting them write to give you their personal experiences and opinions.
They arrived around 4:30 p.m. today. They were exhausted from the travel: Kansas City to New York to Cairo and then a car trip to Alexandria which took 26 hours. The look on Sheila's face when she finally saw Kristal was priceless. A mix between utter fear from the driving in Egypt and surprised to still be alive, exhaustion, and gratefulness to finally see her baby girl. She immediately burst into tears; I'm not sure if they were happy, scared, or tired tears.
We immediately fully immersed them in Egyptian life since we needed to walk to a store to get a part for Kristal's computer before we left. Although they were totally out of their comfort zone they were good sports about the trip and enjoyed the difference in cultures of walking through very poor neighborhoods with torn up streets strewn in trash and being narrowly missed by the passing cars by a mere inch. Typical walk here. We had a total role reversal when Kristal had to hold her mom's hand to cross the street. Granted, crossing streets here mean crossing a very busy four lane road with actually 6 cars across since they don't use the lanes and you have to cross only by one car lane at a time, kind of like the old Atari game Frogger.
Once we safely got them back to campus, they got to experiance a typical dinner in our dining hall by our chefs and meet some of the the other staff whom we work with that haven't already left for their spring break trips.
After they unpacked, they brought a full suitcase of stuff that we requested from home including many belated birthday gifts for Kristal; we let them go to bed a little early. Besides, we knew they would be up at 4:00 am due to the morning call of prayer.
We'll try to keep you up-to-date on our spring break travels as much as possible. We are going on a Nile cruise and also spend a few days in Cairo so I'm not sure how much internet access we'll have. Mom is keeping a journal and I plan on letting them write to give you their personal experiences and opinions.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Birthday Letter
Getting a letter here in Egypt is quite the treat and we get really excited. We've only gotten three so far, two Christmas cards, and an invitation to my high school best friend's wedding. But the day before my birthday I got a birthday card from Seth's Oma Heidi. I was so excited to get a card but I was really quite upset that my birthday card went on vacation without me. Apparently not everything gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
Kristal's Brithday
We celebrated Kristal's 29th birthday yesterday. Seth got me a fancy birthday cake to share with all the staff on campus for Thursday's dinner. Then yesterday we went shopping and got a few new shirts for the warmer weather and then we tried out a new restaurant for dinner with many of our friends. Our head of school sent me the biggest bouquet of flowers I've ever seen and they smell so great. I told everyone that this birthday is just practice, next year we'll celebrate my 29th birthday for a second time.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Our 1st Anniversary
Today was our first wedding anniversary. We can't believe it has already been a year. My how time goes by. It went by so quickly but then again, when we think of all the amazing big things we've done this year we can't believe that either.
We celebrated the day enjoy the full spa treatment at the Four Seasons Hotel and a nice dinner out. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.
Our real gift to each other is a trip to Italy at the end of the school year. We were going to do our anniversary trip over spring break but Kristal's parents are coming for 15 days and we are going to take a cruise on the Nile as well as many other activities in Cairo and Alexandria. We are both very excited for them to be here for spring break and our Italy vacation later on.
We celebrated the day enjoy the full spa treatment at the Four Seasons Hotel and a nice dinner out. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.
Our real gift to each other is a trip to Italy at the end of the school year. We were going to do our anniversary trip over spring break but Kristal's parents are coming for 15 days and we are going to take a cruise on the Nile as well as many other activities in Cairo and Alexandria. We are both very excited for them to be here for spring break and our Italy vacation later on.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
St. Patrick's Day Party
We had a big staff St. Patrick’s Day Party today after school hosted by the Walsh’s; Frank our upper school principal and Jane our librarian. They are both part Irish and have held a large St. Patrick’s Day party for most of their married years together; even the 15 they have spend in other countries. Frank made corn beef and cabbage. He makes his corn beef from scratch every year which includes soaking it in brine for 21 days. It was quite delicious. And of course we partook in green beer. A good time was had by all!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Ladies Weekend
With Seth gone to Oman this past weekend I was really looking forward to some time alone. Although this experience has been great for the two of us; living in a foreign country, working together, and living where we work has been quite a difference experience than our lives back home. There are some days that I feel like I haven’t been more than 100 yards away from my husband all day long. For the most part it’s nice, but it can get a little tiresome other times. So a weekend alone was sounding great to me.
However, my nice quite weekend to myself didn’t quite work out that way. I ended up being too social. We had Noah’s 5th birthday part on campus Friday afternoon. It was fun, but I helped Jean and Tamer a lot with the set up and kid control. Noah made out like a bandit and got so many presents. Not to mention the coolest guy in Pre-K for getting to have a party at the school play ground on a weekend!
That evening, six of us girls went out to the Greek Club and met up with our new high school secretary, Karen and a few other girls. We had a really fun “girls night” out and enjoyed a really good fish meal. The Greek Club is literally that…a club for Greeks. There is a fairly large population of Greeks in Egypt and they all know each other. We had to pay to get in since we aren’t Greek. Karen is Syrian but engaged to a Greek so she goes there just about every night. It’s kind of like a country club (without the golf); there is a restaurant/bar, lounge, recreation room, etc.
The next day, we did our normal every other week run to Carrefour (Middle Eastern Wal-Mart) and did our normal shopping and had lunch at Costa Coffee. A nice little sandwich and coffee shop that we really like, there are a few around town, we’ll call it (Middle Eastern Panera)
Then that afternoon, four of us girls went to a ladies house for her Jewelry Open-House. Maia, one of our Pre-Kindergarten teachers, whom we absolutely love, has a best friend who makes local Egyptian silver jewelry and Maie invited us to her open-house sale. I always love going to the locals apartments and seeing what they look like. From the outside, ever building here looks really old, run-down, and cheap. But you can never tell how nice it might be until you go inside and then the apartments could be amazing. The Egyptian style is lost of huge crown moldings along the ceiling and walls with lots of gold paint. They also love large furniture pieces, especially dining room sets. They enjoy entertaining and will often have many different seating areas even within one room. So even if an apartment is large, it often feels small or doesn’t have much moving room once they crowd all their large furniture and several different seating areas in. When we arrived at the ladies house, it was quite crowed with women and very little room to move or walk in-between the people and the furniture. But she had tons of jewelry out on display all over the apartment and it was all so amazing you didn’t mind not being able to more quickly because it took awhile to admire all the pieces. I found two silver rings I really liked. One almost matches perfectly with my favorite bracelet that I was wearing that day, therefore, by Women’s Law: You have to buy anything that would go perfectly with what you’re currently wearing. I also got a silver necklace with an Arabic saying that roughly translates into, “May God watch over you.” We ended up spending four hours there. We were surprised when we first arrived to see our friend Maie, who is a covered lady, with her scarf off. I had yet to be able to attend a women’s only function where the women could be unveiled. After we decided on what we wanted to purchase we sat down and had a nice long conversation with Maie and a few of her friends. At one point of time, I notice that someone got a phone call and one word was spoken to the room and all of a sudden ever women were putting their scarves back on. Maie explained that a husband had called and was coming up so they all had to cover again.
So I had a fun but very busy ladies weekend and not much time to myself. I was happy to see Seth when he returned on Sunday and had missed him. He brought me a little wooden jewelry box from Oman with a silver and onyx necklace on it. I really made out well with new jewelry this weekend!
However, my nice quite weekend to myself didn’t quite work out that way. I ended up being too social. We had Noah’s 5th birthday part on campus Friday afternoon. It was fun, but I helped Jean and Tamer a lot with the set up and kid control. Noah made out like a bandit and got so many presents. Not to mention the coolest guy in Pre-K for getting to have a party at the school play ground on a weekend!
That evening, six of us girls went out to the Greek Club and met up with our new high school secretary, Karen and a few other girls. We had a really fun “girls night” out and enjoyed a really good fish meal. The Greek Club is literally that…a club for Greeks. There is a fairly large population of Greeks in Egypt and they all know each other. We had to pay to get in since we aren’t Greek. Karen is Syrian but engaged to a Greek so she goes there just about every night. It’s kind of like a country club (without the golf); there is a restaurant/bar, lounge, recreation room, etc.
The next day, we did our normal every other week run to Carrefour (Middle Eastern Wal-Mart) and did our normal shopping and had lunch at Costa Coffee. A nice little sandwich and coffee shop that we really like, there are a few around town, we’ll call it (Middle Eastern Panera)
Then that afternoon, four of us girls went to a ladies house for her Jewelry Open-House. Maia, one of our Pre-Kindergarten teachers, whom we absolutely love, has a best friend who makes local Egyptian silver jewelry and Maie invited us to her open-house sale. I always love going to the locals apartments and seeing what they look like. From the outside, ever building here looks really old, run-down, and cheap. But you can never tell how nice it might be until you go inside and then the apartments could be amazing. The Egyptian style is lost of huge crown moldings along the ceiling and walls with lots of gold paint. They also love large furniture pieces, especially dining room sets. They enjoy entertaining and will often have many different seating areas even within one room. So even if an apartment is large, it often feels small or doesn’t have much moving room once they crowd all their large furniture and several different seating areas in. When we arrived at the ladies house, it was quite crowed with women and very little room to move or walk in-between the people and the furniture. But she had tons of jewelry out on display all over the apartment and it was all so amazing you didn’t mind not being able to more quickly because it took awhile to admire all the pieces. I found two silver rings I really liked. One almost matches perfectly with my favorite bracelet that I was wearing that day, therefore, by Women’s Law: You have to buy anything that would go perfectly with what you’re currently wearing. I also got a silver necklace with an Arabic saying that roughly translates into, “May God watch over you.” We ended up spending four hours there. We were surprised when we first arrived to see our friend Maie, who is a covered lady, with her scarf off. I had yet to be able to attend a women’s only function where the women could be unveiled. After we decided on what we wanted to purchase we sat down and had a nice long conversation with Maie and a few of her friends. At one point of time, I notice that someone got a phone call and one word was spoken to the room and all of a sudden ever women were putting their scarves back on. Maie explained that a husband had called and was coming up so they all had to cover again.
So I had a fun but very busy ladies weekend and not much time to myself. I was happy to see Seth when he returned on Sunday and had missed him. He brought me a little wooden jewelry box from Oman with a silver and onyx necklace on it. I really made out well with new jewelry this weekend!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Basketball in Oman
Well, I got my first exposure to the world of International Basketball last weekend. After several years off, I took the Schutz Girls' Basketball team to Muscat, Oman, for a 3 day tournament. This was the first time in 3 years that the girls had fielded a team and many of them hadn't played basketball outside of PE class. However, they worked hard and put forth a good effort in practices.
Days 1 & 2 of the tournament were round robin between the 6 schools that attended. They were: American British Academy from Muscat (the tournament hosts), The American International School of Muscat, American International School of Abu Dhabi, Al Nahda National School from Abu Dhabi, Ammerican Community School of Amman, Jordan, and of course Schutz American School. Day 3 of the tournament was an elimination day to place all teams first through sixth. Unfortunately, neither Schutz team won a game in the round robin portion. The boys team won their final game to finish in 5th place while the girls lost both games again and finished in 6th place. However, they played hard and despite being blown out in all of their games, they never once quit! I was so proud of their effort. In fact, they played their best basketball on the final day - as it should be! On the first night, one of the girls won the 3-point shooting skills contest...yay Shereen! At the end of tournament banquet, his girls were rewarded by their effort with the Sportsmanship Award Trophy! Another proud accomplishment. In fact, they received 6 out of the 12 votes (each coach and each team or captain vote) and actually received 6 out of 10 votes because we didn't vote for ourselves...something these girls were proud of and excited about.
Overall, I had a good time in Oman, though he didn't get to do much sightseeing. I was able to spend time with our friends Ty (we met him when he brought the Oman team to the JV Games tournament the weekend before) and his wife and son one afternoon for an hour or so and visit their house. I was also able to go by the Grand Mosque built by the Sultan of Oman. It's pretty impressive and very cool to view at night. I was completely exhausted coming home - not feeling well when I left, followed by 18-hour days of basketball, and then a day long trip home. I'm finally almost caught up on rest. Who knows what next year will bring as far as a team goes, but these girls can continue to improve and hopefully win a game next year. It's hard when some of these teams play 30+ games in a season and scrimmage against other local teams or travel to multiple tournaments. They play more like a traditional American basketball season, but our school had 4 events/activities practicing at one time and when you only have 110 students to make these teams, the same kids tend to participate in all of the activities. Not to make an excuse, but that's just how it is at a small school. Either way, I enjoyed my time returning to coaching and was quite touched when some of the girls came up and thanked me in person for coaching them this year. These are the type of students we get to teach and it makes things so worth it!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Seth leaves for Oman
Seth left for Musket,Oman early this morning. He is taking 8 girls for his Varsity Basketball team to the ISAC tournament. There are 10 high school boys also traveling with their coach Wessam, the High School Classical Arabic teacher.
This basketball team has been a constant source of minor frustration. Schutz hasn't had a girls basketball team for three years now. Basketball is just not a Middle Eastern sport. Seth really wanted to coach again, in fact, that's one of the reasons why we came over here. So there was a lot of pleading, begging, and compromises from the administration, Seth, and the few girls that really wanted to play to get enough girls to make a team. Their skills are defiantly not at the level that Seth is used to coaching; but for the most part he has had fun practicing with them. They should have a fun weekend and we wish them good luck.
This basketball team has been a constant source of minor frustration. Schutz hasn't had a girls basketball team for three years now. Basketball is just not a Middle Eastern sport. Seth really wanted to coach again, in fact, that's one of the reasons why we came over here. So there was a lot of pleading, begging, and compromises from the administration, Seth, and the few girls that really wanted to play to get enough girls to make a team. Their skills are defiantly not at the level that Seth is used to coaching; but for the most part he has had fun practicing with them. They should have a fun weekend and we wish them good luck.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Junior Varsity Academic Games
We are hosting the EMAC Junior Varsity Academic Games this weekend. We have eight other schools from the EMAC conference from
It just so happened that the coach from
Monday, March 2, 2009
Exciting Weekend
This past weekend we had Thursday off of school and enjoyed a three day weekend. Remember that our normal weekends are Friday and Saturday s here. Seth and I had talked about going to Cairo for the weekend but never got around to planning it. Plus our new little kitty is too young to leave alone that long just yet. We planned on doing a lot of stuff around Alexandria that we haven’t done yet, museums and such, but ended up having a semi-lazy weekend.
I’ll tell you about some other people more exciting weekend first and then ours…
Our friends and fellow teachers, Clay and Susanna, did got down to Cairo for a relaxing weekend and to visit a friend that lives there. Susanna is 8 months pregnant and due to have her baby April 2nd. They went to the large popular outdoor market area called the Khan el-Khalili market. They had just bought a small inlayed table and were trying to hail a taxi when a guy rushed a Clay with a knife screaming. He cut Clay on the check and Clays reaction was to push him away with the table and was able to knock him down and pin him down with the table. Susanna and their friend were screaming and so the police and everyone else that was around came running to help them. There was soon a mob of taxi drivers, market owners, shoppers and police on top of the guy and helping Clay and Susanna. The police arrested him and Clay got a couple stitches in his face. They were interviewed by the local TV and soon it was all over the news and newspapers. It was quite the international scandal. We read reports that the guy had just been released from a mental hospital a few months ago after being detained for eight years after trying something similar. He is going to be tried for attempted man slaughter. The humorous part about this story is that in all the reports they say that Clay is in his fifties which really pissed him of since he is only thirty. The other funny part of this story is that our I.T. guy at school told us that our school website got over 800 hits the day after this story hit the news. You’ll also see in the reports (if you didn’t hear already) that earlier this week there was a bomb in the exact same place that killed one and injured several other French tourists. Just think about what a conversation starter that table will be for them, “Oh what a lovely table!”, “Yes, that table saved my life one day!”
Kansas City Star Newspaper Link
Egypt Today Link
Another Story
The other exciting event this weekend, was that several of our students went to AKan concert and the stage fell. Several of our students got hurt with one needing several stitches.
Now I’m sure I have you all very concerned but do try to realize that these are the only incidents that have happened the entire time we’ve been here and it’s a very slim probability that it just happened to happen to people we knew. Before you start to go all crazy and worry about us, watch your local news and think about how many shootings, stabbings, robberies etc. are happening right in your own city and you feel plenty safe there.
Now Seth’s and mine weekend is going to sound very boring in comparison but we are glad we stayed in Alex now. On Thursday we did go out shopping with some friends and had a nice lunch out at T.G.I.Friday’s… mmmmm yummy greasy American food! Then that afternoon Seth and I went to the Alexandria Bibliotheca and took the tour and then just walked around on our own for a bit. You defiantly don’t want to get a cab near a tourist spot if you don't look like a local. The cabbie tried to charge us twice as much as the amount should have been for that distance. We told him we live here and know what the amount should be and got out of his cab. We walked about three blocks away from the Bibliotheca before trying to get a cab again. Here is a link to a page that has better pictures of the library.
That night we went out with a co-worker, Wessam who teaches Arabic, and his wife. They are a young couple and very newly married. Seth has gone out with Wessam several times for guys night to smoke Sheesha and we had briefly met his wife at a couple school functions. They took us to a very nice local cuisine restaurant that was newly opened. This was defiantly not a tourist restaurant and Seth and I felt like we might have been the first non-Egyptians to eat there. There was no English section of the menu so Wessam had to order for us. Hospitality to guest is a huge part of Egyptian culture. They want and will do anything to make sure you are happy, including making sure you have had plenty to eat. Egyptians will constantly offer you way more food then you need or could eat and if you refuse they take it very personally. You should have seen our table and the amount of food Wessam had ordered for us. There wasn’t an inch of bare space on the table and the food was piled so high. Seth and I were already quite full from our large late lunch at T.G.I Fridays so another huge meal was not in our agenda. If we stopped eating for just a second, they would say, “What’s wrong? You’re not eating! You don’t like the food? I’ll order something else you like. Why are you not eating?” and they would put more food on my plate. There was seriously a point of time where I thought to myself, “Ok, Kristal, just keep eating and you can go through-up later.” I was that full and I didn’t want to offend them. And of course they wouldn’t let us pay for our meal either. After dinner we went to an outdoor mall area called Green Plaza and walked around and had an after dinner coffee and the boys enjoyed Sheesha. Which, they of course insisted on paying for also. We had very nice conversations all night and I was asking them about good authentic Egyptian gifts that would be good to bring home to family and friends. We ended up walking around the shops some more and they ended up buying both of us a gift. It is very common in Egyptian culture that if you say you like something, they will get/give it to you. I was warned early on to be careful about complementing my Egyptian friend’s jewelry (etc.) because they would literally take it off and give it to you because you said you liked it and they always want to make people happy. So we had a very lovely evening and enjoyed true Egyptian hospitality.
The other two days of the weekend we had plans to go see areas of Alex that we hadn’t been to yet. However, we had such bad rain storms that we didn’t feel like going out. It was a good time to curl up with the kitten and a good book in bed. Last night there was a big lightning strike which had to be very close, it was the brightest flash and the loudest longest thunder crash I had ever heard. It shook the whole building and even rattled windows and doors open. Our little Sokkwi, who was not before, but now is terribly afraid of thunder storms. The lightning knocked out all of the internet service in Alexandria. It has happened before where the entire city hasn’t gotten internet back up for days. I was starting to worry that our parents would see on CNN about an American teacher getting stabbed and not be able to reach us. But obviously we got the internet back up today.
I’ll tell you about some other people more exciting weekend first and then ours…
Our friends and fellow teachers, Clay and Susanna, did got down to Cairo for a relaxing weekend and to visit a friend that lives there. Susanna is 8 months pregnant and due to have her baby April 2nd. They went to the large popular outdoor market area called the Khan el-Khalili market. They had just bought a small inlayed table and were trying to hail a taxi when a guy rushed a Clay with a knife screaming. He cut Clay on the check and Clays reaction was to push him away with the table and was able to knock him down and pin him down with the table. Susanna and their friend were screaming and so the police and everyone else that was around came running to help them. There was soon a mob of taxi drivers, market owners, shoppers and police on top of the guy and helping Clay and Susanna. The police arrested him and Clay got a couple stitches in his face. They were interviewed by the local TV and soon it was all over the news and newspapers. It was quite the international scandal. We read reports that the guy had just been released from a mental hospital a few months ago after being detained for eight years after trying something similar. He is going to be tried for attempted man slaughter. The humorous part about this story is that in all the reports they say that Clay is in his fifties which really pissed him of since he is only thirty. The other funny part of this story is that our I.T. guy at school told us that our school website got over 800 hits the day after this story hit the news. You’ll also see in the reports (if you didn’t hear already) that earlier this week there was a bomb in the exact same place that killed one and injured several other French tourists. Just think about what a conversation starter that table will be for them, “Oh what a lovely table!”, “Yes, that table saved my life one day!”
Kansas City Star Newspaper Link
Egypt Today Link
Another Story
The other exciting event this weekend, was that several of our students went to AKan concert and the stage fell. Several of our students got hurt with one needing several stitches.
Now I’m sure I have you all very concerned but do try to realize that these are the only incidents that have happened the entire time we’ve been here and it’s a very slim probability that it just happened to happen to people we knew. Before you start to go all crazy and worry about us, watch your local news and think about how many shootings, stabbings, robberies etc. are happening right in your own city and you feel plenty safe there.
Now Seth’s and mine weekend is going to sound very boring in comparison but we are glad we stayed in Alex now. On Thursday we did go out shopping with some friends and had a nice lunch out at T.G.I.Friday’s… mmmmm yummy greasy American food! Then that afternoon Seth and I went to the Alexandria Bibliotheca and took the tour and then just walked around on our own for a bit. You defiantly don’t want to get a cab near a tourist spot if you don't look like a local. The cabbie tried to charge us twice as much as the amount should have been for that distance. We told him we live here and know what the amount should be and got out of his cab. We walked about three blocks away from the Bibliotheca before trying to get a cab again. Here is a link to a page that has better pictures of the library.
That night we went out with a co-worker, Wessam who teaches Arabic, and his wife. They are a young couple and very newly married. Seth has gone out with Wessam several times for guys night to smoke Sheesha and we had briefly met his wife at a couple school functions. They took us to a very nice local cuisine restaurant that was newly opened. This was defiantly not a tourist restaurant and Seth and I felt like we might have been the first non-Egyptians to eat there. There was no English section of the menu so Wessam had to order for us. Hospitality to guest is a huge part of Egyptian culture. They want and will do anything to make sure you are happy, including making sure you have had plenty to eat. Egyptians will constantly offer you way more food then you need or could eat and if you refuse they take it very personally. You should have seen our table and the amount of food Wessam had ordered for us. There wasn’t an inch of bare space on the table and the food was piled so high. Seth and I were already quite full from our large late lunch at T.G.I Fridays so another huge meal was not in our agenda. If we stopped eating for just a second, they would say, “What’s wrong? You’re not eating! You don’t like the food? I’ll order something else you like. Why are you not eating?” and they would put more food on my plate. There was seriously a point of time where I thought to myself, “Ok, Kristal, just keep eating and you can go through-up later.” I was that full and I didn’t want to offend them. And of course they wouldn’t let us pay for our meal either. After dinner we went to an outdoor mall area called Green Plaza and walked around and had an after dinner coffee and the boys enjoyed Sheesha. Which, they of course insisted on paying for also. We had very nice conversations all night and I was asking them about good authentic Egyptian gifts that would be good to bring home to family and friends. We ended up walking around the shops some more and they ended up buying both of us a gift. It is very common in Egyptian culture that if you say you like something, they will get/give it to you. I was warned early on to be careful about complementing my Egyptian friend’s jewelry (etc.) because they would literally take it off and give it to you because you said you liked it and they always want to make people happy. So we had a very lovely evening and enjoyed true Egyptian hospitality.
The other two days of the weekend we had plans to go see areas of Alex that we hadn’t been to yet. However, we had such bad rain storms that we didn’t feel like going out. It was a good time to curl up with the kitten and a good book in bed. Last night there was a big lightning strike which had to be very close, it was the brightest flash and the loudest longest thunder crash I had ever heard. It shook the whole building and even rattled windows and doors open. Our little Sokkwi, who was not before, but now is terribly afraid of thunder storms. The lightning knocked out all of the internet service in Alexandria. It has happened before where the entire city hasn’t gotten internet back up for days. I was starting to worry that our parents would see on CNN about an American teacher getting stabbed and not be able to reach us. But obviously we got the internet back up today.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
8 Days of “Happy”…and Then…
Unfortunately, there are some things in this world that you will never understand, no matter how hard you try. We experienced such an event Valentine’s Day 2009. Dakarai became sluggish over the weekend, we thought due to a late night with Seth sleeping on the couch. However, we quickly noticed his condition worsen. Without going into details, we took him to the vet and were told to nurse him with a syringe every 2 hours with electrolytes & water since he couldn’t even swallow for himself. At 8:30, Dakarai left us during a fit of being sick. Seth was holding him up since he had no body strength at all and didn’t even notice at first. We both cried and cried trying to make sense of what had just happened. How could something so happy and kind and friendly be gone so quickly? Why was this little guy gone after only 8 days of being in a loving home while mangy cats on the street live for years? These are but a couple of the things we still struggle with and will never quite understand. The staff here was WONDERFUL. They helped us find a place to bury Dakarai the very next afternoon. Even though most don’t speak a bit of English, many of the workers passed along their sorrow that our kitty had died. Work that day just flat sucked. We didn’t want to be there and were thinking of our lost Dakarai all the time. He truly lived up to the meaning of his name…HAPPY! He brought us joy and good times in our 8 days together. You have never met a more loving cat who had such a wonderful personality and was amazingly domesticated from the start! WE WILL MISS OUR DAKARAI!!!
While we were mourning, we discussed the idea of getting another cat. We agreed that we would eventually, but it was too soon right away and we didn’t want to betray Dakarai’s memory. That afternoon, while Seth had basketball practice (yes, he actually has a team!), a staff member was having trouble getting a small kitten out from his car – it had climbed inside of the wheels and wouldn’t come out. And it was loud!! Seth checked him out after practice on his way to a meeting and wasn’t going to mention anything to Kristal about him. But when he came back to the apartment, what should he find? Kristal was sitting out on the balcony with a pretty little grey and white kitten asleep wrapped up inside a shirt. Her excuse was that she couldn’t resist going down to look at the kitty but then none of the students down there were going to be able to keep him, so she brought him up. How can you say “no” to a defenseless little kitty? We sure couldn’t. Did Dakarai send him our way knowing how upset we were? Can we do justice to his memory with this new little guy? All we can say is we have another little kitty in our lives. We’ve decided to name him Sokkwi (SOH-kwee) which is Egyptian for “little fool.” Sokkwi had a good first check-up at the vet and loves to play and spastically pounce on his knitted mouse toy. However, he is not a quick learner, being taken off the bed a minimum of 20 times per day. We’ll write more about him later. We just wanted to let you all know of our transition.
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