June 21, 2007

This is an attempt to catch up with everyone whenever you wish to hear whats been happening.
I am sure that initially I will keep this up to date, but as we get more accustomed to what is going on around us, I will probably slow down to bits of interest here and there.

June 18, 2007
The flights went remarkable smoothly, although as I was travelling standby, I didn't get the favoured seats, so Dale swapped his with me during the middle (read long) flight from Toronto to Frankfurt (bless his heart). It was the new Boeing 777 that has sleeper seats, so it was a real treat. In Frankfurt, I had to go outside security as travelling standby, one's bags do not get tagged to the destination, rather to the next carrier. Lufthansa was wonderful though, and didn't charge for the extra weight. Unfortunately, we now had to make a run for it to catch the flight to Cairo. It certainly didn't matter that we arrived sweaty (but made the flight), since it was 31 degrees in Cairo, and sweaty happened again. The company that looks after the pilots from Dale's organization - Tiger Aviation, met us and whisked us through customs. That was nice.
When we arrived at David and Jacqueline's, the maid wasn't there to let us in, so we got ahold of David by phone and he told us how to break in! After dumping all our luggage (and there was a lot) we were taken to the grocery store and to get a new phone. The rest was a blur of making supper, reading Jacqueline's notes about the house, the maid, the cats, etc., and catching up on urgent emails. My allergies kicked in in high gear, so I thoroughly vacuumed the bedroom just in case.

June 19, 2007
Started to unpack a few things, but since David and Jacqueline will be moving their household in a week or two, didn't want to get too carried away. So we went for a walk to try to find 9th Street where, thankfully Mary Jean Crouch had taken Dale on one of his previous visits. Lunch was at a lovely restaurant, I'll remember the whole name later, something 55. I managed to find a pharmacy who knew the word allergy, to find something to help lessen the effects of the cats - since one of our main purposes here is catsitting. Zyrtec is my new medication of choice - just once a day, and my brain is finally starting to unclog (could be a bit of jetlag too). The cats, Oreo and Taxi are really lovely cats. Oreo is the spunky mischevious one, and Taxi is a bit shy and quieter. They are very friendly, and I am sure I am their new best friend since I feed and brush them.

June 20, 2007
We got to go sightseeing today! We called Mary Jean's driver Mustafa, and he took us to see garbage city. What an enterprise. Each family takes whatever garbage it gets and sorts it out by material in a carport like space under their home. They then bag it up and sell it to the individual dealers - glass, plastic, cardboard, etc. It is then loaded into very large bags or bins and hauled out by donkeycarts to sell again. Nothing is wasted, and the end refuse is sent to the dump. I wonder if people at home saw this if they would be more willing to recycle. It is a very large section of the city, as I suppose it sorts the garbage of the 20 million people living in Cairo. It is also very smelly, but not nearly as dirty as you would think. There are also little business operating there, selling everything and anything to the local population.
Up the hill, after passing through garbage city, you get to the caves which are the churches of the Coptic Christians. They are very beautiful and very large. One supposedly can hold 20,000 people, and another 1500. There is also a much smaller one - the oldest which could possibly hold 100 or so. It has a lovely painting which we could see from above, which Dale got to see up close, but women weren't allowed in the room (the alter was there too). The others all have beautiful carvings in the stone. Apparently, the blasting to make the caves deeper was done during Ramadan to disguise the noise. They are still adding more carvings.
Above the churches is a water resevoir made to catch rain water. It feeds the Citadel which is where we went next. Before that, aquaducts were used to send water from the Nile, 3 km away. What a feat. The Citadel now houses about four museums, but since we only had 2 hours we just went to the Military Museum. Fascinating history but by then it was getting a bit too hot for me, so after an hour and a half, I went back outside to find a bench and some shade and waited for Dale (the Military stuff appeals more to him). We will have to go back on a cooler day for the rest. I am hoping some of the other museums we visit might be airconditioned.
Mustafa then picked us up and took us home. Along the way he pointed out the two English Churches. After supper, Dale and I went for a walk to try to find our own way to them. The first one was easy, but since it was Catholic, we decided to try and find the other one. That was easy too, but then Dale decided we should go another way home - big mistake! Apparently the streets are not just east and west and north and south. Some also cut through at an angle, and you end up further away than you could possibly have imagined. We did get a good walk, but even at 9pm it was still hot out. So, we retraced our steps and got home. I don't think I'll be as brave venturing out after that.

June 21, 2007
Dale had to go off to Paris today for a week, so I thought he could help me stock up on a few more groceries before he went, plus insure that I could get there and back without too much confusion. It was a good thing we went, since I got turned around just when I thought I had it! David also managed to pop in for a moment on his way through town. The maid's name is Rupa, and she came with her son today, since he had just had a tonsillectomy a couple of days ago, and wanted to be with her. Also, since these guys are moving, the landlord came and showed the apartment several times today. Things have now quietened down, and I can finish this up. I am planning on attending church services tomorrow, so I will let you know how that goes.
I hope this is a good medium to not fill up your emailboxes, and do keep in touch via our gmail.
Love,
Laurel