January 13, 2019: alabaster anxiety

On our last day in Cairo, we made our way to a fair trade shop I'd visited before with some friends.  My friend Danielle had asked if I minded picking her up an alabaster candle jar because she gave hers away as a gift.  I told her not at all, but when I went to the shop, they didn't have the ones she was looking for so this is the picture I sent to her asking if there was anything else she wanted.  I had too much anxiety to pick one out for her without her seal of approval.  I can move to a new country all by myself, but don't ask me to be decisive on someone else's behalf.  Too much pressure.

I said goodbye to my family today and headed back to Alexandria.  They fly home to Michigan tomorrow evening.   Having them in Egypt was a truly wonderful experience.  Living in Egypt is hard, especially when you're coming from three incredible years in Alaska.  I love the people here and have appreciated all the new experiences and the things I am learning about the culture here.   This trip really renewed my appreciation for Egypt.  I found myself excited to share with my family everything I have learned about food and language and navigation and how to ride a microbus and how not to get hit by cars. I was proud of this country. 

On our way in to Alexandria, my mom was asking me dozens of questions about various buildings in the city.  Most of the time my response was, "I don't know, mom," because most of her questions were about truly random buildings that I doubt anyone at my school would have information about.  At one point she said, "Mandy, you need to get out more."  Which was hysterical to me at the time.  I have been fairly intentional about exploring, but she's right.  I can always get out more.  And playing tour guide for this brief couple of weeks has motivated me to do and see even more than I have thus far.  I'll continue my Saturday morning adventuring.  But maybe there will be an afternoon a week where I wander the neighborhood and check out some of the places to get tea. Maybe I grab a friend and find a new off the beaten path route to the corniche.  Whatever it looks like, I'll make Susan proud ;)

January 12, 2019: tranquility

Today's Cairo adventure included our own personal tour guides and new great friends Hend and Omar picking us up and taking us all around the city.  We saw the citadel, a really great neighborhood that's all enclosed so no cars can drive through (though my mom still managed to get grazed by a motorcycle), tasted sugar cane juice, and ate at a DELICIOUS (I mean, really really delicious) grilled Egyptian food restaurant.  While we were out and about looking through the shops, we stumbled upon this beautiful shop filled with lanterns and lights.  It was truly stunning.

January 11, 2019: If I have to...

I've learned that when you come to Egypt, there are three different pictures you are expected to take:
1. Kiss the Sphynx
2. Grab the top of the Pyramids
3. Be on a camel with the Pyramids in the background.  Preferably with your hands in the air.

I'm not kidding you, the people who offer to take your pictures insist that you pose for all three of these shots.  I have ABSOLUTELY nothing against any of these poses, but for some reason, early on, for no reason whatsoever, I made it my own personal goal to make it through my time in Egypt and not do any of them.  I choose very stupid and random things to be stubborn about. 

But come on, a camel in front of the pyramids is pretty sweet.  So here I am, breaking a personal goal.  Two out of three isn't too bad.  I mean...my hands aren't in the air. (They're tightly clutching the saddle.  This was not the most stable or complacent camel, and I wasn't taking any chances).  So maybe the photo doesn't count.

January 10, 2019: one small proud moment

I took the train for the first time from Alexandria to Cairo.  My family has been in Cairo while I came back to school in Alex, so I decided to go hang out with them this weekend before they left for good.  Our school driver took me to the station and offered to go inside with me and help me find my train and my seat.  I told him I was sure I could make it, so I ventured through the station by myself.  I got lost a few times, and had quite a few strangers point me in the right direction.  BUT... once I got on the right platform, I navigated to the correct train, just by reading the Arabic numbers.  I took a picture of the screen, and the numbers at the top are the train numbers.  Mine was train 928.  Of course, once I sat down I noticed that if you wait long enough, the screens change to English, but by that time I had already found my seat and was feeling quite accomplished, thank you very much.

We won't talk about how once I got off the train, I got terribly lost in Cairo and spent 30 minutes wandering around the streets at 11pm searching for my hotel.  Can't be awesome all the time.

January 9, 2019: LOVE MY BLANKET!

I bought this blanket from my friend, Jolene's, etsy shop.  I got to bring it home with me after Christmas vacation.  I took this picture to send to her, thanking her for her creative brain and crocheting skills.  And then as I looked through my pictures to update my blog, I realized I never actually remembered to text her, nor did I take any other pictures today.

Not sure if Jolene reads this or not, but THANK YOU JOLENE!!!!!   I absolutely love my blanket!  Jolene has all sorts of adorable things in her etsy shop, but last I knew she was closing it down and opening an online bakery with her mom.  On top of starting her own event coordinating business.  You're amazing, Jolene!

January 8, 2019: nope

I don't eat a lot of leafy greens, but I'm fairly certain these aren't baby leaves of spinach...  Clearly I don't have any other guess at what they might actually be, but my money is on something non-spinach related.

January 7, 2019: citadel strangers

I took my family to the citadel this afternoon.  While we were wandering, I saw this group of men hanging out.  Friendship and laughter and carefree attitudes.  I loved it.

January 6, 2019: Lost at the airport

We flew back to Cairo today and had a school driver pick us up from the airport.  (Shout out to how amazing our drivers are and how much they spoil us here at school).  I had a hard time figuring out how to explain where we were to the driver on the phone, so I took this picture (which ended up being the only picture I took today) and texted it to him.  Turns out asking the random Egyptian man on the corner to explain where we were in Arabic to our driver was much more effective.  Kindness of Egyptian strangers for the win again!! 

January 5, 2019: Valley of the Kings

I honestly don't know how to put into words how awe inspiring these tombs were.  When you enter into these tombs, there is an explosion of color, unlike anything we had seen at the temples. They are massive, amazingly detailed and ornate. 

I remember zero facts about which tombs belonged to which king.   I remember we walked into Tut's tomb, and I really just remember that because Uncle Herb was SOOO excited that his mummy was inside and visible.  I'm slightly ashamed that I retained zero information that I learned today, but it didn't lessen the impact of my experience.  I was happy to wander speechlessly through the halls and tunnels and just take it in. 

January 4, 2019: Nile Pirates

Please excuse the poor quality of this picture.  It's hard to take an even panoramic picture on a moving cruise ship.

We were warned about the Nile Pirates.  These merchants target cruise ships when the ships are stopped, waiting to go through the locks.  They throw bags of merchandise up to the upper deck of the ship.  You negotiate your price, and throw your money down inside one of the bags.  This was hilarious to witness and be a part of.  I kid you not, I saw unsuspecting passengers who were sunbathing on the upper deck get hit in the face or have their drinks knocked out of their hands by the bags of merchandise flying through the air.  I was mostly impressed by the strength and balance these merchants had.  Some of them even tied there small boats to the side of the cruise ship and threw merchandise up to the deck WHILE the ship was sailing.  And these guys just stood on the thin rafters in their boat while speeding alongside us, tossing and catching bags of goodies with incredible precision. 

Again, blown away by the abilities of other humans.

January 3, 2019: Abu Simbel

I'm just going to be honest:  if you want to learn about the historical significance of the temples in Egypt, my blog will not be the place to do it.  My brain refuses to hold on to factual information for more than 18 minutes.  Which means I  have a better memory than bees, chimps, and most dogs, but can't compare with the majority of other humans out there.  So if you're disappointed with the information I provide you, google it.  (It's probably what I did in order to give you the few facts I include in the post). 

In order to see Abu Simbel, we had to leave Aswan at 4am and drive 3 hours (one way) to the temple.  I wasn't quite sure the experience would be worth the effort.  Thankfully, in my opinion, it definitely was.  It turned out to be my favorite temple of the entire trip.  Abu Simbel is gorgeous.  Huge, towering figures carved into rock.  There are actually two temples, and they were built by King Ramses (one of them.  I can't keep them all straight).  One temple was for him, and the other one was for his most beloved queen (Nefertari).  Inside the temple, there is a shrine consisting of 4 statues of gods (one being Ramses in a god-form.  The temple was constructed so that on Feb. 22 and Oct. 22, (the day of Ramses birth and the day of his coronation) the sun would shine all the way through the temple and illuminate these statues (except one of the statues which represents the god of the underworld.  This one remains dark).   This blew. my. mind.  I can't believe that people's brains could figure out how to do this, THOUSANDS of years ago without the technology of today.  Besides not being able to remember anything, my brain isn't even capable of assembling a gingerbread house, let alone a massive structure like this. 

Today I was in awe of people.  And thankful that we are all created with different strengths and gifts.   In a world of Mandys, we'd all be homeless. 

January 2, 2019: Aswan

Today we flew to Aswan and checked into our cruise ship.  Then we took a felucca ride around the Nile.  Our guide was a Nubian man named Nasser.  He turned out to be one of my favorite people I met on our trip, and the felucca ride was one of the best experiences we had.  We sailed past Nubian villages and rock formations.  This part of Egypt has beautiful, lush green trees. The sunset was incredible.  Nassar told us a little about Aswan and the boat he worked on.  We got off his boat and rode camels through part of the desert, to a hilly area where we could overlook the city and the Nile.  Nasser picked us up and sailed us back to the cruise ship.  We drank tea and soaked in the beauty of upper Egypt.  At one point we had no wind, so he asked two of us to man the steering board thingamajig while he rowed.  I'm not gifted in felucca sailing.

I loved it all.

January 1, 2019: Happy New Year from Cairo!

My family is in Egypt!  Mom, Uncle Herb, and Luann are spending two weeks here.  We will head to Upper Egypt on a Nile Cruise to see all the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt.  They'll come with me to Alex for a day or so, then they head to Cairo to see the pyramids and the rest of the city.  I could not be more excited.

At midnight we were in the airport, in the middle of an argument between two cab drivers over who would drive us to our hotel.  Or it's possible that midnight was the moment when the airport security guard finally intervened and helped the two men solve their argument.  Or maybe midnight was when we shoved ourselves into the "spacious" sedan taxi cab, with our luggage piled on top of us just so we could be driven 45 seconds (NO exaggeration here) to our hotel room (which was connected to the airport).  At whatever moment midnight actually occurred, my family was being fully immersed into a part of Egypt that I have come to love.  You never quite know what's going to happen.  Most likely something memorable, a bit confusing, and a little chaotic.  Life here is never boring.

Either way, we celebrated properly once we got to the hotel and settled in.  Because of the time change, this was the first NYE where I've stayed up significantly later than midnight.  My just-off-the-airplane smell and comfy travel clothing kept me grounded and reminded me that I still wasn't "cool" just because I was awake and celebrating at 2am.  But at 35, I've been over being cool for a long time now.

December the rest: Advent in Egypt

I'm not going to share one picture for every remaining day in December.  I don't ever do this, but I've decided to lump the rest of December into one post and pick up my picture a day again in January. 

This Christmas season, for obvious reasons, was unlike any other for me.  Being a Christian in a Muslim country is just about how I imagined it would be.  I'm extremely grateful for the little church community that is here, but even more so thankful for the community at home who has not forgotten me.  Marco Polo and facetime have made it possible to continue to fellowship with those far from me. But it's still hard.  I would love to say that during this Christmas season, I was faithfully preparing my heart for the celebration of my King, but it's just not the truth.  I was sad, overwhelmed, distracted.  I set my tree up, played a little Christmas music here and there, made some ornaments with my kiddos, and had some awkward interactions with some Christmas characters (see one of the photos below). but I didn't take time to truly anticipate the celebration of Jesus.  I'm sure most of it had to do with not wanting to feel anything this season.  I know myself, and when I allow the tiniest bit of emotion to catch me off guard, it's unstoppable and uncontrollable.  Tears for days.  At one point, my good friend here stopped by one of our church's Christmas services with her son.  They sat next to me, and I was overjoyed by the surprise.  And then the memories of worshipping alongside my nephews and family was so vivid, that I bawled all through service, and for a day and a half later, anytime I thought about it. So it was a bit easier to just avoid all of that emotional messiness and take a secular approach to Christmas this season.  I really wish I hadn't, because Jesus deserves so much more than what I allowed myself to give Him. 

Have I ever mentioned that I am so grateful for a God who sees the depths of my heart and loves me the same?    Truly incredible.

Being home was better than I could have hoped or imagined.  I cried as soon as I got off the plane and saw Meagan and my mom, and I cried as soon as I walked into Arthur and Henry's room and saw them sleeping.  Cried again when I took Elliot out of his crib the next morning.  Cried on and off that entire first morning as we just sat around as a family, eating things with real maple syrup on them, coloring in coloring books, riding bikes around the driveway, and laughing about everything and nothing.  It would have been perfect if Jesse and Dan had made it down to see us, but thankfully I got to see them for a couple days when I was back in Michigan.  I'm proud to say I got the crying under control and for the rest of vacation, I was a fully functioning adult with an appropriate amount of emotional control.

This happy Christmas tree had me so creeped out...

Our Head of School in the Santa costume the school provides.  I can't stop laughing.  The beard is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. 

Me with each of my monsters.  Plus some weird girl in the background.