Bangkok

From March 29- April 3, 2017 Schutz provided me with the opportunity to fly to Bangkok, Thailand for a professional educators conference. I have to keep pinching myself to make sure this is all real.  I mean, really - I went to BANGKOK for PD!  Seriously!

Trey, one of our high school teachers presenting at the conference along with Sarah, one of our middle school teachers

Perhaps those in the corporate world don't understand my reaction.  Perhaps to many, flying around the world to conferences or on business trips is par for the course.  That is just not so for most educators.  Let me try to explain.

After 2 1/2 decades immersed in the public education world, I felt pretty darn thankful when I got to drive myself 60 miles north to attend a regional special education conference and was offered the opportunity to spend the night in a hotel, paid for by the school district!  After around 15 years of teaching and attending these local conferences, imagine my excitement when I was selected as a Science Teacher Leader and got to drive myself to Detroit (7 hours south) to spend a couple of nights in a hotel to attend a Science Conference with people from all over the state! I thought I had really made it when I became a History Teacher Leader and was selected to FLY all the way to St. Lewis, Missouri for a conference about Lewis and Clark and then a year later selected to fly to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia to spend a week there learning about our nation's history.  Things were looking up and it seemed there was a new level of professionalism in the education world.  Then things in the education sector crashed and it seemed the only opportunities for PD were again local.

I thought I felt rich with hundreds of Egyptian pounds in my possession, until I exchanged for Thai Bahts and had thousands in my pocket at all times!

Never, ever, in my wildest imagination did I believe that one day I would say that my first solo international flight would be to go to an educator conference in far-off, exoctic, THAILAND!

For my first big solo trip, there were a few things I was a little nervous about.  First, would it be easy to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel, would there be a language barrier, would I pay far too much.....  Second, would I be brave enough to venture outside of the hotel on my own since I would have an evening on my own before the pre conference started on day 2....Third, I wanted to buy a SIM card at the airport, but I had never done so before and did not know which stores might sell them or even which SIM card to buy

Qatar Air has awesome mood lighting that slowly changes colors

This was the strangest airplane breakfast I have ever had

Day One. While standing in line to go through immigration, I started a conversation with a woman standing behind me. Once I realized she was an American, I asked her if she might possibly be in Bangkok for the NESA educator's conference. I figured it was probably a long-shot as Bangkok is huge and very international.  However, it turned out that she was indeed here for the conference AND she teaches at our sister school in Cairo - Cairo American College. I asked her if she knew anything about SIM cards and she convinced me that having a SIM card would not be very useful.  Since she had been doing this international thing several years more than I have, I listened to her.  We decided to share a ride to the hotel.  She had been there before, so she knew exactly where to find the drivers and how to negotiate.  She was waiting on a colleague who was supposed to arrive on another flight about 10 minutes before ours, but her friend never arrived so she made the decision that we should just leave the airport and go to the hotel. She was still a bit buzzed from the drinks she had had on the plane, so once at the hotel, she decided to go right to her room and try to contact her friend.  Unfortunately, she disappeared before I thought to made a plan for how we could reach each other.
Having arrived at the hotel without feeling that I had been ripped off by the driver, it was now time to face my last fear - venturing outside of the hotel by myself.  I have to say that I did not go far, but I did walk around the neighborhood and stopped at a couple of places selling street food on a cart.
The first place I bought a healthy-looking seafood and vegetable dish - but it was SOOOO spicy that I could not eat it all.

 Next I crossed the street and tried some chicken on a stick and some fried spring-roll looking things - both were delicious!  I also discovered a small but very modern looking mall right next to the hotel.  The first floor was quite typical with a couple of coffee shops and small restaurants, some clothing, jewelry, and household decoration stores.  The top two floors appeared to house an auction house of very expensive looking Thai antiques.  Having used up my supply of courage for the day, I retired to my room - too shy to wander the hotel or sit at the bar and introduce myself to other presumed international educators.

The small mall next to the hotel where we stayed. Later, I learned it is actually connected to the hotel by a walkway!

DAY 2 - The pre-conference presenter was excellent. She was a neuropsychologist from the USA.  Since my new job requires that I not only teach students with presumed learning differences while setting up a new program, but I also need to know a lot more about assessing and diagnosing students than I needed to know in the States, this was the perfect presentation for me to attend.  Sometime in the afternoon, two of my colleagues from Schutz arrived, Trey and Sarah.  I was no longer alone.  That evening we walked along the river behind our hotel, took a free riverboat ride from our hotel to a stop at a market area and back.

View from my hotel room

Very busy river flowing right through the heart of Bangkok

After that, the days all blur together.  We had workshops during the day, took an actual riverboat tour and explored temples along the way, got massages, and shopped at night.  Sarah knew that one of the iconic scenes from "HangOver 2" was filmed within walking distance from our hotel, so off we went.  The first time we attempted to reach this rooftop location, we were turned away because the dress code at this restaurant said that men could not wear shorts!  (There did not seem to be any dress code for women - a refreshing change!) We returned the next day and noticed that a man just outside the hotel location of the HangOver 2 scene was "renting" trousers to men so that they could get into this exclusive rooftop bar/restaurant.  However, Trey now properly attired, we were able to take the elevator to the top of this very tall building.  Upon stepping out of the elevator and into Sirocco's,Sirocco Sky Lounge we were ushered to a menu where we were asked what kind of wine or champagne we would like to order.  How much could it be right? We were in Thailand where the local currency, the Thai Baht, is 34 to 1 against the USD and most things were as cheap as they are in Egypt.  Oh, boy!  The cheapest GLASS of wine was over $25 USD!!!  Sarah, with her quick thinking, asked if we could see the cocktail menu.  They immediately ushered us over to a different part of the restaurant and gave us a different menu!  We each had the Hangover martini (I don't think that was what it was called, but it was a special concoction they made for the cast of the Hangover and they reportedly loved it!)  It, too, was much too expensive - but the views made it worth it.  This place looked over the whole city it seemed, and was just a pretty darn cool place to be.

Enjoying our Hangover-tinis

Thailand was warm and wonderful.  The massages were different than I have ever experienced.  We were lead upstairs and put into one long room divided only by curtains.  We were given a pajama type clothes to wear and were told to lay on a mat on the floor.  A young girl who looked to be around 16 came in and sat on my back and pulled on my arms and legs and stretched me in various ways.  The massage was firm, but not overly deep.  The city itself was clean but the river flowing through Bangkok was not.  The driving was similar to Egypt, but people did not seem to drive as fast nor cut as close to other vehicles.  There was absolutely NO horn honking during the entire time we were there! (At least none that we heard) The tuk-tuks were being driven by adults rather than children.  There were many modern buildings.  We also saw poverty - one man, dressed as a Buddhist sat on the hard cement in a very uncomfortable looking position with a can in front of him, obviously hoping for money.  He was still in that same position over 2 hours later when we walked by again. The boats on the river were colorful and varied.  The boats reminded me of various types of fish -

Pretty sky around this building across from our hotel

Memorials like this to their beloved King were all over the city.  He passed away in October, 2016 after ruling Thailand for 70 years!

Details on the base of just one of the pillars

Unfortunately, the main temple was being renovated while we were there and was covered with scaffolding

A group getting their picture taken inside this Buddhist temple.  The next pictures are close ups on the walls of this place.

No matter which temple we visit, whether Egyptian or Buddhist, we find depictions of war

.

People leave offerings at this statue

Close up on some of the details of the temple

Check out how steep the steps are going up

Foreigners to the left...........or to the right...........as you please!

Visit to the palace

Too busy to actually go into the palace, so we opted to leave

Not enough time for another full body massage, I opted for a foot and leg massage

Typical Thai mall, where shops spill out into the hallways

In the mall we stumbled upon a talent hunt for some kind of advertisement.  They seemed to need kids between the ages of 4 and 15 perhaps - and all of them wore this same denim apron.  This, perhaps 10 year old, had extremely high heels.  We kept wondering if she would fall as she did her run-way walk.

If I had a house, I may have tried to figure out how to get this shipped back.  Gorgeous, inlaid furniture!  The whole store had furniture like this!

This mall had the coolest food court.  You get a card as you enter.  You can choose any type of food or drink from any vendor.  They even had really good Mexican food. When you leave the food court, you go through cash registers where you pay.  Ingenious! (and delicious)

Outside the mall - just because....

 I really loved Thailand and hope to return there some day!

All over Bangkok there were memorials to the world's longest ruling Monarch, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej who died in October, 2016

SCUBA DIVERS Beware! No Good, Very Bad Day x2

Consider this a Public Service Announcement to Divers worldwide! 

I realize how privileged we are to have the experiences we have had - and I tend not to complain about the small things that do not go as expected - "it's all part of the adventure" is part of my usual mantra.  However, when things go so bad for no good reason other than to try to scam us out of our money, I feel like it is my duty to inform others.  I absolutely love Egypt and all it has to offer.  The potential for greatness is still so close to the surface for those who want to put in the elbow grease. I want this country to get back on its feet in a really positive way and it starts with honest business practices.

I wrote this in early May of 2017, but chose not to publish it because we were promised by Dr. Ashraf Sabri, the owner of Alexandria Dive House Dive Shop in Alexandria, Egypt that he would make up for everything that went wrong on our first visit to his business on May 6, 2017.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming that he would be smart enough to turn a very bad dive day into a very special, memorable day for us as he had promised.  Because today, on June 3, he actually managed to make a bad experience worse, this post is being published and shared with as many dive groups as I can, and I hope that you will help me spread the word!  (My first blog post did hit over 1,000 views in the first 7 days - hoping this reaches even more people )

Warning: Do NOT dive with Alexandria Dive Shop! (Check out Trip Advisor, too - we wish we had. MANY FRAUD ALERTS for this business!) https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g295398-d4236620-Reviews-Alexandria_Dive-Alexandria_Alexandria_Governorate.html#REVIEWS

Why did we have such a bad experience you might ask?...I guess we got suckered in by the charm of this business owner (LESSON LEARNED!) Here is our story:

This past fall we were introduced to a very interesting man named Dr. Ashraf Sabri.  Besides being a medical doctor, an author and having lived in France for many years, he also owns a dive shop called Alexandria Dive House Dive Shop (which he told us is the only "authorized" dive shop to be allowed to dive on Cleopatra's Palace).  Gary, as an experienced and certified dive rescue/recovery diver in the USA, offered to work for him for free (in exchange for free air) as long as we live in Alexandria. We were hopeful that we had made a connection to someone who would be able to set us up with water sports.  Many of the international teachers at the school where I work were keen on diving Cleopatra's Palace. Many others have been wanting to rent a nice boat to have a party on the Mediterranean. The school also has a pool and we thought it would be a nice connection to have some dive instructors come on campus to certify others or to give try-it dives to students.  

It seemed sure to be a win-win for everyone - Dr. Sabri's dive shop would have a steady base of customers as American teachers move in and out every few years, bringing with them many friends and families who come as tourists each year. Also, the parents at our school are well-connected and well-traveled.  It seems very likely that if the school connected with a good dive shop, they would surely send their friends and relatives there as well.

It was not to be.

Gary and I had talked about diving on Cleopatra's Palace since last fall.  We were told March is the best month for water clarity - but March came and went, then April did the same and we decided we just could not wait any longer.  Around the last couple days of April, Gary put out the notice to our friends here that he was planning a dive for May 6. 

 Dr. Ashraf had told Gary that he needed electronic copies of passports sent to him 4-5 days in advance in order to get the necessary permits to dive on this archaeological site. Five people wanted to go, so Gary sent them copies of the 5 passports, hired the driver and then we waited until May 6. (Many others are certified, but said they would wait to hear good reports from us before trying it out)

On the day of the dive, everyone was on time to depart at 10 am and drive the 40 minutes to the dive site.  When we arrived, an older woman with good English greeted us (We believe her name was Josephine, or something similar) and asked why we had 5 people as they were only expecting 2!  Gary showed her the emails he sent along with the electronic copies of the passports.  She then informed us that taking any underwater pictures would cost us an extra 25 Euros.  In addition, they needed the physical copies of our passport as well.  The kicker? No one had mentioned bringing them, so none of us had them. We were told that needing physical passports was a brand new "routine" that started on May 5.  However, having the physical passports was non-negotiable.  We were told the Coast Guard would not let us leave the harbor without the passports.

Back in the van we went. Due to construction, the return trip to school to get our passports took 1 hour - then another 40 minutes back to the dive site.

Once back, they told us that the government was restricting water travel until 2 pm because a dignitary from Israel was in town and they needed to keep things secure.  (We are now quite sure that was false and they were just trying to delay as 3 of the 5 reviews on Trip Advisor said they were also scammed out of a second dive!) We now had a little over an hour more to wait. The owner, Dr. Ashraf Sabri,  was now at his shop and he seemed very apologetic and offered us juice or tea on the house.  He also sat down with us and explained what we would be seeing and told us some of the history of the area.  Since another man was with us from Switzerland, the owner and the woman also spoke a bit in French to make sure everyone understood. We were told the visibility isn't the best so we would need to swim with a partner. On our first dive we would see a World War 2 plane, some broken columns, some headless sphinx, some sunken islands, and lots of pink.  He said we would be down 45 minutes to an hour because it was a very shallow dive.  On our second dive we would see the footings of the Lighthouse of Alexandria - one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. He told us that the Citadel was 1/4 of the size of the base.  He said the base has many rooms in it and once housed soldiers.  He said this was outside the harbor and would have better visibility.  This dive would also be close to 45 minutes long.

As it got closer to the time to go, they wanted us to attach our BC's to our tanks.  My air tank was empty.  The woman argued with me that it was likely that I had a faulty gauge because she checked the tank herself.  When we insisted, she then came and removed the tank from the BC and turned on the air - to learn that the tank was indeed EMPTY!  She then tried another tank - that one had a faulty O-ring so would not work either.  Finally, the third tank was fine.  One of the regulators did not have a bite piece on one side, the fins looked like they had bought them at Walmart - cheap plastic kind you would buy for kids,  and the BC's looked as if they were from the 1960's, faded with many had missing straps and other pieces.  We were only diving about 20 feet deep, so we were not overly concerned about our safety, especially because the air did seem like good air.

We risked injury by climbing over their very rickety dock, climbed aboard an old boat and were off.  However, the two people who spoke English and French stayed on shore!  We were on our own with Arabic-speaking only dive guides! Also, we learned that two Egyptian university film students were coming with us - for a total of 8 divers plus 2 diver guides.

We first had to stop at the Coast Guard station to hand over our passports. Without putting our passports into any sort of plastic bag just in case they dropped into the harbor - they jumped from the boat to the shore with 6 passports in hand and handed them over.  After about 15 minutes, permission was granted and we got to the dive site.

Gary and Cassandra were first down the line.  We were told to wait at the bottom and not go too far away or we would not be able to see each other.  No truer words were ever spoken!

I was assuming visibility similar to Lake Michigan - where you can see clearly about 6-8 feet, and some detail to about 12 feet.  I was wrong.

As Sarah and I descended the line, I realized we would not be able to make out any details more than 2-3 feet in front of our face. We held hands not wanting to drift apart and not be able to find each other. Once at the bottom, we realized we were at a small rounded reef.  We looked around and could not see Gary and Cassandra anywhere in sight. When the instructor arrived, he had all of us link arms in order to stay together.  I did not realize it at the time, but Gary and Cassandra and two others were not linked with the rest of the group.  That "reef" we saw was actually a part of the airplane and Gary and Cassandra had decided to explore it while they waited.

The university students were linked with instructors and seemed oblivious to the fact that we were also trying to see things.  They pushed their way through the group in order to get their film - kicking us in the head, sometimes getting tangled in our gear.  We learned later that this was their first-ever dive - and they were trying to film at the same time.  No wonder they were kicking our faces, kicking the bottom and stirring up even more silt, and getting their equipment tangled with ours!

After just 15 minutes the dive master told us to surface and swim to the boat.

Back on the boat, we then headed further out into the harbor and we all thought we were headed out to dive on the footings of the Alexandria Lighthouse - one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.  However, we stopped at another location and our dive master jumped out and talked to a military guy who was there.  After another 15 minutes, our boat turned around and appeared to be headed back.  Remember, no one on board can talk to us to explain what is going on.  We were back where they had dropped off our passports, so we assumed that since it was now 4pm already and getting late, they would just get our passports back and head in.  Instead, we waited another hour - for what, we did not know but we assumed they needed permission for us to go on our second dive.  Having spent 6 hours already - with only 15 minutes in the water, none of us wanted to dive anymore.  The sun was so low that we would not have been able to see anything under the water - so we all stood up and started taking off our wet suits.  They knew enough English to realize that we had had it and wanted to go back. We finally arrived back to our home around 7 pm.

Dr. Ashraf Sabri apologized when we returned to shore and blamed it on government inefficiency.  He gave us 1/3 of our money  back and promised us a free dive with him as our guide on his nice yacht (which is currently in dry dock for repairs).  True, government inefficiency was a portion of the problems we encountered, but it did not account for the 
1) lack of communication about how many divers they were expecting, 
2)the poor communication about bringing our passports with us, 
3) arguing with us about the empty tank, 
4)not telling us anything about an extra fee to take a camera until after we arrived, 
5) the poor decision to not put any English speakers on-board for us, 
6) Unbelievably unsafe dive equipment
7) and to only allow us 15 minutes underwater where we never saw any sphinx and could not even make out the shape of the plane or the mask that was supposedly in the cockpit. 

We hope the owner will be true to his word and make it up to us.


JUNE 3 UPDATE:  Something told me this was going to be another really bad day.  After many WhatsApp messages with Dr. Ashraf this past week, and Gary even riding his bike to the dive shop to make sure everything was set - we met our driver at 10 am and headed back to the dive shop.  They were expecting us, but that seemed to be the only thing that went right. Dr. Ashraf Sabri was not even there to meet us.  He had also failed to tell us that his yacht was not yet out of dry-dock.  He was sending us with the same non-English speaking diving guides as he had the first time.  AND, the kicker was that they wanted us to PAY full price ("full AMERICAN price" as there is no list of what a dive actually costs!) for a second dive. Oh, and they insisted we had to pay BEFORE we went on the dive.  We said we would just do the one promised FREE dive, but were told we HAD to do both dives because their boats only do two dives, not one!   The woman in charge again argued with us, the customers,  and then got Dr. Ashraf Sabri on the phone who also argued with us and tried to make excuses why WE should pay more and it should not have to come out of HIS pocket.  At that point, 3 of us then decided we would rather NOT dive at all if that were the case. We were not willing to PAY to go on a very old run-down boat with people who can not even talk to us, and  risk another FULL day ruined.  We called an Uber and returned home to sit by the pool and write reviews for Trip Adviser and other travel sites to warn others not to be suckered in by the very charming, snake-oil prince Dr. Ashraf "Snake" Sabri.  The two who decided to stay returned home around 4 pm.  We were told they were left to just sit at a table for THREE MORE HOURS after we left.  The woman argued with them about the amount they would pay - trying to charge them MORE than we were charged the first time. For some reason,  this time the paperwork they had to fill out was different and the hard-copies of the passports (that were so important that we had to spend 2 extra hours to go home and get last time) were not needed!!  The same old boat pulled up to the frame of a dock with a few loose pieces of wood to walk on and they got on board  There was an Egyptian couple from Cairo who also went on the dive who were able to speak English and were helpful in translating.  They were also given very obvious preference on the dive.  The dive itself was on the footings of the Ancient Lighthouse and only lasted 21 minutes and the second dive was at a location that had a lot of old pottery, both dives outside the harbor.  The visibility was better at this location, but the footings were just huge blocks of marble.  For those who are divers, you will get the significance of this.  They did the SHALLOW dive first and the DEEP dive last!  The poor business practices of this dive shop and its owner was too much to ignore.  Fortunately we have had almost a year to learn to appreciate Egypt overall - but anyone who travels to Egypt and has experiences like this is sure to never recommend visiting here to anyone else. 

Ramadan Begins, 3 weeks left of school

Today is the first day of Ramadan.  Cassandra arrived home from Ireland and Rome late Thursday night with her best friend from Gladstone, Jessica, and her fiance, Derek.  Earlier that evening before they arrived, Gary and I were given the opportunity to serve the amazing staff (and their families) who makes our life here so easy.  The kitchen made the food, but we got to serve it and clean-up afterwards - then dance and interact with everyone. We learned that many of our security guards, maids, cooks, hall nannies, and other behind the scenes people are amazing dancers.  I tried to learn to dance like an Egyptian - but found out that my hips are not used to moving like that!  By Friday, I could barely walk.  (I took a great video of the dancing, but due to the more than frustrating internet service in our apartment, I will not be able to post it until we arrive back in the states.) On Friday morning, we went to church, then hung around at the school's pool.  There were more people there than we have ever seen -yet, only a small percentage were part of the school's staff.  We left fairly early and walked to the San Stefano, the large mall attached to the Four Season's Hotel.  We watched "King Arthur: Legends of the Sword" and ate the amazing caramel popcorn. (Something I will definitely miss this summer when we are back in the UP)  Cool thing to note about the movies here - they have intermission!  I recommend that every movie theater in the world adopt this practice as it comes at the perfect time to go to the bathroom and get more popcorn and water!  Afterwards, we took an evening walk along the Mediterranean, but the water was very quiet, so we headed home.   Today, we again spent the day at the school's pool - the whole day until after dark!  Today, unlike yesterday, everyone at the pool was staff, except for Gary and Jessica and Derek - so it was a lot quieter and more relaxing.

Speaking of quiet - now that it is Ramadan, the streets were a lot quieter during the day.  During Ramadan, Muslims fast during the day and break their fast after dark, so many deal with the hunger by just trying to sleep all day - then they party and eat all night with their families.  We have been told that it is rude to eat or drink in public during Ramadan, (just out of courtesy as there is no "law" forbidding one from doing so).  We were not sure if we would be able to order food to be delivered during the day, and we were warned that the cafeteria food would taste much worse because the cooks can not taste the food that they are cooking for us.  However, all 3 things turned out to be false.  When we reached the gate, a teacher walked out into the street carrying a water and a coffee.  When we got to the pool, we were asked if we wanted to order pizza because another family was about to order pizza.  At supper time, Jessica, Cassandra, and Derek ate in the cafeteria and said the food was really good and they had learned that one of our cooks is Christian!!

So, in 3 weeks we will head home for the summer.  It is hard to believe that the school year is nearly over.  I have truly loved my first year here, but I am finding it hard to keep focused on the here and now.  I have met some truly amazing spirits who are moving on to new assignments next year.  They have made me a better, more social person.  I will miss them and, Inshallah, (Arabic for "God willing") we will now have friends in India and the DR that we can visit some day, and another two friends to visit in Florida. 

It goes without saying that we are all anxious to see family and friends back in the states.  Besides that, some people are beginning to talk about the pork, bacon, and other good food they will be able to eat this summer, or the shopping they will be able to do.  Me, I can't stop thinking about swimming and boating in Lake Michigan.  Yes, of course I am also excited about our son's wedding - though it hardly seems real yet, but the freedom to just take our boat and go - and the ease of swimming in the relatively clean water is so exciting!  I am already dreaming about the pounding of the boat as it skips over the waves as we head to Door County for a fish boil, or to Rock Island or St. Martin Island for a hike.  Or, perhaps finally trying to learn how to sail the Hobie Cat on my own.  

One of the biggest downfalls to being here is the amount of plastic Egyptians use, and then mindlessly discard in the streets, on the beaches, and in the water.  It is truly disgusting!!  Anywhere near Alexandria, even the supposedly "clean" beaches have garbage.  I have yet to go swimming where I did not find plastic bags floating around.  

The biggest disappointment has been the impossibility of a foreigner owning a boat, even a small boat here.  The government seems very concerned about people using boats for illegal activities or to leave the country, so boating for pleasure does not happen here - at least as far as we can tell.  

Our biggest frustration has been an issue unique to our apartment.  For whatever reason, our wifi is terrible.  The teacher who lives above us has some issues with slow internet, but nothing compared to ours.  We once moved a party to his apartment because our internet would not work - and his worked just fine.  Gary thinks that it has something to do with our phone lines because our phone in our apartment has never worked right either.  The teacher who had our apartment last year said he had the same issues.  Because of this, it takes forever to upload photos to this blog.  As you may have noticed, I eventually gave up and stopped writing as many blogs because it simply took too long to upload pictures. Recently, I have started blogging a bit without pictures and this is far less frustrating. I wish I had thought to do this much earlier because I really had hoped to document more of our time here and writing is very relaxing for me.  Therefore, I am looking forward to having high speed internet that works when I return to the UP so that I can download pictures from our Spring Break in Europe, from the conference I attended in Bangkok, and, of course, more pictures from our life here in Egypt.  I have titles and some details written for about 8 more posts I plan to complete when in the USA.  Next year we will be on the school's wifi, hopefully in a brand new apartment with excellent internet service.  When everything is new, like it was for us this year - you look at things with wonder and curiosity.  I worry that next year it will be harder to write about this adventure with the same amount of newness and excitement as I felt this year.

That being said, the benefits and personal growth that has come from living here have far outweighed the minor downfalls, disappointments, and frustrations we have experienced.  We look forward to spending our summer at home, but we are also looking forward to the new friends and new experiences another school year will bring.  

By the way, it is now after 11pm and the city has woken up, enjoyed a good meal,  and the streets are getting louder.  The school has changed their schedule to accomodate the holiday, so from now until the end of the year, we will begin 45 minutes later in the morning and finish 30 minutes earlier in the afternoon.

Ramadam Kareem! (Have a blessed Ramadan)

Reflections on Prayer

Five times a day, every day, loudspeakers through-out Alexandria, Egypt remind people that it is time to pray.  It is true that the loudspeakers are much too loud- loud enough to alert even those who are hard of hearing. They blast from every mosque on every block - sounding much like a bad echo.  Some imams can carry a tune while, sadly, too many others can not.  Indeed, it can be very irritating when you are woken up as early as 4 in the morning to an Imam reminding you that God is great, there is only one God, Mohammed is God's slave, urging you to go pray, telling you it is good to pray, and that prayer is better than sleep. (which at 4am, it certainly feels like sleep is much better than prayer!) Since Americans are very individualistic, most would be offended by someone waking them up to tell them not only that they must pray, but also the exact time they need to pray.

However, as a Christian, one has to respect this cultural focus on prayer.

I know, there are some out there who think that when a Muslim prays, it is somehow completely different than when a Christian prays. We've all seen the pictures of people lining the streets kneeling on rugs and bending forward in apparent  unison with others as the imam chants in Arabic. To those of us not raised in such a culture, this is a very strange-looking ritual. Luckily, the cool thing about living in this culture is the opportunity to just ask people questions. A student told me that during Ramadan (which begins May 27) that he and his father will pray for 4 hours a day.  During a 4 hour prayer, it is my understanding that much of the prayer is lead by the Imam and repeated by the people. (Kind of similar to when Christians pray and the congregation repeats "Jesus, hear our prayers" over and over) I asked him "What could you possibly pray about for that long?" He told me that the first part of every prayer is to praise God, second is to thank God for his blessings, third to pray for the needs of the world and governments, fourth to pray for the needs of family and friends, and fifth to pray for one's personal needs.  Funny, but that is almost identical to how I was taught to pray while growing up in a Protestant Church!

 When you talk to people who are perceived as "different" than yourself, it is amazing what you learn that you have in common.

What else is the same about praying in both cultures?  Christians are generally taught to pray before getting out of bed in the morning, before eating (most of us eat 3 meals per day), and before bed.  Hmm, how many times a day does that mean Christians are supposed to pray?  FIVE?  Do you wonder about the significance of 5 to both Christians and Muslims?

Other things that I have found interesting about the Call to Prayer:  

1) It is not necessary to go to the neighborhood mosque in order to pray each day- you can pray where-ever you are. 

2) You must wash before you pray. (Have you ever heard the phrase "Cleanliness is next to Godliness")

3) Life does not stop during the Call-to-Prayer, everything continues on as normal.  Not everyone stops to pray right then - but most will try to remember to pray later in the day

4) Exception to #3.  Friday morning.  On Friday morning, life does seem to nearly stop.  Most roads are blocked with people in the streets in front of their neighborhood mosques on their prayer rugs.  Most businesses are closed.  The usual 5 minute Call to Prayer now becomes an entire 1-2 hour sermon over the loud speakers - just as loud.  Not everyone attends the service at the mosque, even on Fridays.  Just like everywhere, people are of varying degrees of "religious" and believers in the rituals of religion.
5) Even though you wash before you pray, for some reason, it is not necessary to wash AFTER prayer, even though you just stuck your head in the dirt and sand over and over while praying.  Because of this, you will see men walking around with a round dirt spot on their forehead.  I have been told by Egyptians that sometimes men will even hit their forehead with a hammer in order to form a permanent bump on their forehead by those who are trying to "prove" how religious they are to their friends and relatives, and perhaps to their law enforcement officials who may be more lenient on someone who is perceived as God-fearing. (How different is this than Christians who are one way in public, but completely the opposite when they are in private)
6) The loudspeakers are not as loud in other areas of Egypt.  For some reason, Alexandria's Imams seem to think that their voice needs to be loud enough to be heard all the way to the moon.  I have been told that it is not very loud in other Middle Eastern countries as well.
7) If you fly Egypt Air, before they even do the safety briefing, they play a recorded prayer for the safety of travelers.  I don't know what it says yet since it is in Arabic, but that is what I have been told.
8) Many Egypt Air flights also have a Qur'an (the Muslim Holy Book, much of it very similar to the Old Testament) bolted on their wall as you board their plane.
9) Prayer rooms are everywhere!  The focus on prayer in this culture is astounding.  At the mall buying a new pair of Nikes and have an urge to pray?  Lucky for you, there is a prayer room just down the hall.  In the airport waiting for your connecting flight and have time to kill?  Great! Head on down to the prayer room.

As a Christian, I do feel really grateful that Jesus did not give us so many rituals to follow when we pray as it seems much easier to just bow your head and silently whisper your prayer which can be done anywhere at any time and does not require washing, removing one's shoes, facing a certain direction, praying by gender, covering one's head, or getting down on hands and knees.  However, perhaps it is the visual of seeing prayer rooms everywhere and the loudspeaker reminder to pray that does help keep the focus of people on the Divine?

Here is a link so you can hear the sounds of the Call to Prayer as taken from our school's basketball courts.
https://www.facebook.com/laura.lamarche.5/videos/10209634260318353/?l=2578102955405495492

Next up - Ramadan.  I keep hearing the stories about this month-long holiday, but it sounds like there will be a lot to tell after experiencing it.  I hope to blog about it, but just before it begins Cassandra will return from Europe bringing along her best friend since kindergarten, Jessica and her husband-to-be, Derek and we will be tour-guides extraordinaire once again! (Which means little time to blog)  

So much Egypt I did not know, part 1

The "eye of Horus" brand on this camel's cheek is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, power and good health.

I started a blog post last summer that I called K-W-L, but decided against publishing it.  If you are an educator, you have probably guessed my plan for that blog.

For those who need more of an explanation, K-W-L is a technique to get people to think about what they Know or think they Know about a subject.(K) Then, you discuss what they Want to know. (W) After the lesson, you then talk about what they have Learned. (L)

In my original post, my list of what I KNEW or thought I KNEW was limited to thoughts on moving and the information I thought I knew about the school I would soon join in Egypt.

If, instead, I had thought about what I knew about Egypt more specifically, I think I was like many people - what I knew of Egypt mostly had to do with 3 big pyramids, the River Nile, and some Indiana Jones movies.  Yep, pretty pathetic.


In fact, I knew so little about Egypt, it is embarrassing. Soon after we arrived, a couple of colleagues told me they were attending a concert in a temple in Luxor.  I had no idea where Luxor was, nor did I know what he meant by "temple".  I had seen temples in Japan, but knew they didn't have temples like that here in Egypt.  At the time, I really thought there was some old Jewish or Christian Temple along the Nile that was being opened up for a rock concert!

I also thought that the pyramids were way out in the desert and contained the beautiful hieroglyphics that I saw in movies.

When I look back at my ignorance about Egypt, I have to laugh.

On my recent 4-day weekend, it suddenly hit me that I really have learned a lot about a lot of things this year - more than I would have ever imagined.  I am being stretched professionally in so many ways that sometimes I find it hard to keep up and sometimes I feel inadequate.  I now have a better idea of currency exchange and what it means when a country "floats" their money in terms of inflation. I am beginning to understand more about the region, some of the history, and some of the similarities and differences between regions.  I have also met so many interesting and adventurous people who have shown me that there are many ways to live your life, at any age.

However, the purpose of this post is to reflect on what I have learned so far about ancient Egypt and to share some of our photos.  We (Gary and me, along with Cassandra and Blake) have just returned from a 4-day weekend to Luxor and Cairo.  Over Christmas, Christopher and Lauren were here, too, along with Cassandra - so we decided to spend the holiday break mostly in Aswan and Luxor exploring temples and tombs and ancient villages.

At Abu Simbal with our guide Hend

First, I would tell anyone who wants to come to Egypt - USE A GUIDE!  This is where we give a shout-out to our two wonderful guides - Hend Magdy and Ahmed.  If you want to learn about what you are seeing by someone who is very knowledgeable - hire a guide.  Perhaps just as importantly, if you wish to  avoid the hassle and hustle - and you WILL get hustled by very slick vendors nearly everywhere - hire a guide.  If you want to get better prices on hotels, flights, tours, drivers - hire a guide.  You will be amazed at how little it costs to hire a guide, and how much better your experience will be.  If you need contact information for a good guide, please ask!

On the Nile in Luxor with our guide Ahmed

Lesson #1 - We got hustled on our very first trip into Cairo back in August - before we knew the importance of HIRING A GUIDE!  Before our first trip to Cairo to see the pyramids, we had been told that the pyramids are actually located just on the outskirts of Egypt's largest city, Cairo.  In addition, a driver can drive you right up to the parking lot at the base of the pyramids and you can walk around yourself.  We thought we did the right thing and set up a driver ahead of time who was to meet us at our hotel at 8 in the morning and drive us right to the pyramid parking lot.  We had left information with the hotel concierge about who we were and that we were expecting our driver.  Our first mistake.  The hotel concierge lined up one of the hotel drivers to meet us just a few minutes early and act like he was our driver and he had been waiting and we needed to hurry and get in the car with him.  He then took us on some back roads to a place where there were some camels and horses to ride to the pyramids. He told us that they had changed the rules and no cars were allowed close to the pyramids anymore.  We were in an area where we could not see any parking lot - only the top of the pyramids.  We were then pressured to have tea, smell all kinds of essential oils they were trying to sell, and buy 1-2 hour camel rides to the pyramids for $150 USD rather than the 200 Egyptian pounds such a trip should have cost! (about $15 USD) This, of course, was in addition to the money we had already paid our driver - who conveniently left us there as soon as we got out of the car! The camel guide then also harassed us terribly for more money all along some back way in to the pyramids. Once we got to the pyramids, we realized there were none of the hieroglyphics or secret chambers that we had imagined - and, while huge and truly a wonder - we were a bit underwhelmed.  It was truly a horrible experience that we never care to repeat.  We have now been back to the pyramids two times WITH A GUIDE and it has been a much more positive and educational experience. We now know that the GIZA pyramids may be the most famous, but they are certainly not the oldest or only pyramids in Egypt.  We also know that they were not built by slaves, but rather the engineers and laborers who worked on these huge tombs were honored to do so (and were thus given a higher place in society) Have I made my point about HIRING A GUIDE?? Don't think your experience will be okay without a local guide because you think I have now know told you one of their tricks and you will therefore know how to avoid the hustle - you won't - you can't outsmart over a hundred years of learning the art of the hustle.....

Actual view from the pyramids

Lesson #2 - While everyone who comes to Egypt thinks they must see the 3 big pyramids and go to the Cairo Museum, don't fall for it.  Yes, the pictures you can take with the pyramids are really fun and iconic.  Yes, the museum is worth a visit at some point - but the museum really won't make a lot of sense until you go to Upper Egypt (which happens to mean up-river, so the SOUTHERN part of Egypt) - namely, Luxor and Aswan.  If you can only go to one place, choose Luxor.  However, both places are situated along the Nile and are beautiful, fairly quiet small cities.  There are many things you can see at both places.  If you want to SEE the beautiful, colorful hieroglyphics, you need to see the tombs, located on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor in the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, or Valley of the Nobles.  However, as a burial site, photographs are not allowed. 

Just outside the Valley of the Queens

 If you want to be able to take pictures of the hieroglyphics to share with your friends in your own blog or on social media - you need to visit the temples.  Because temples are exposed to the air and the weather, most are no longer very colorful, but still impressive.  However, we learned on this trip that there are some temples who still have astonishing color - but in order to reach them, we had to drive 3 hours one-way out into the desert from Luxor.

Only example of this type of decorative carving and painting that we saw. Normally all carvings tell a story

Always the pharaoh is making an offering to the god

WHY PYRAMIDS? - The ancient Egyptians believed in ETERNAL LIFE and the RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. They believed this because each day they watched the sun rise in the East (they believed it was being pushed by a huge Scarab, or Dung-Beetle) and set (or "die") in the west, but the next day it would be resurrected again.  They also saw the Earth dry up, then the Nile would flood, and the plants would grow once again.  Because of these things, they believed that life must be like other natural events, so they took great pains to preserve their body after death (mummification).  At first, they would bury their bodies in shallow graves, but the jackals would dig them up and eat them.  They needed to cover the bodies with something so the jackals would not destroy the body, so they watched the sunbeams shine on Earth and noticed that they formed a pyramid shape.  This was then how they decided to cover the bodies with the shape of a pyramid.

Enjoying lunch at the famous Mena House. That afternoon, we leanred Will Smith (Fresh Prince) had enjoyed breakfast at the Mena House that morning and then toured the pyramids.

However, the pyramids were an easy target for tomb raiders, so eventually the Pharaohs decided they should find a secret place to be buried.  On the west bank they found a mountain that appeared to be in the shape of a natural pyramid, so they started getting buried in this valley where it would be much more difficult for tomb raiders to find their treasures that were buried with them so that they would have their things in the after-life.

This is the entrance to a tomb in the Worker's Village

On our sleeper train to Luxor

For several thousand years, in all parts of Egypt, temples were built to the various gods of the ancient Egyptians.  All of the temples are completely filled with hieroglyphics which tell the story of the pharaoh and his (or her) relationship to each of the gods as well as important events in that pharaoh's life that tell the people how powerful their King is. Consider the temples an autobiography or a diary about the pharaoh's life given to the people so they can all read what a great pharaoh they have and how they must worship the gods and the pharaoh as one of the gods. Despite the thousands of years, the gods are all drawn very similar in each of the temples, and the worship stories are nearly identical. (Giving offerings to the gods of food and essential oils) Even the temples are laid out in a very similar style.

If it hasn't been destroyed, temples start with Pilons in the front This is Luxor Temple

Archaeologists and conservationists were everywhere

Temples are like pyramids on their sides - highest ceilings are at the front, and then they taper down towards the back where only the high priest was allowed with the gold statue of the god to which the temple was devoted

Horus

The journey of the moon

The only known depiction of the famous Queen Cleopatra the VII

The size of the temples is incredible. See all the artwork on every wall is awesome