Todd Cummings Family

A Taxi Ride in Cairo

2011-01-20T18:59:00.002+03:00

I have written several times about riding a taxi in Cairo, but can not share enough about what a unique experience it is. Last night I had the opportunity to travel from my office here in Heliopolis through downtown Cairo over to Maadi. I went to spend the evening with the House family where we would have supper and a Family Home Evening. While that was the highlight, truly it was newsworthy to report on the trip itself.
There are several different type of taxis available to take in Cairo. There are newer taxis colored yellow that run off of a meter. These taxis tend to be owned by a company and a a little higher priced. Then there are white taxis with a sign on top indicating they are ready for business. These taxis are usually independently owned, but they are also metered, but not as high of a price as the yellows. Finally, there is the bottom end taxi that most of the folks use on a regular basis. These are a checkered black and white taxi and are usually about 20 years old. The cars have been built and rebuilt over the years, yet are still on the street running. Typically they are driven by old men hunched over the steering wheel with a cigarette hanging on their lower lip and the interior of the car shrouded in smoke and reverberating with the Quran being read from the radio. Yet, despite their differences, they share a common heritage of how they drive. Despite the age, color or car type, the taxi drivers in Cairo share a common personality trait: fearless.
My drive last night started under typical conditions. Dusk was approaching and so the light was decreasing. Traffic began to pick up because I left the office at the close of normal business operations. In discussing with the driver the best route, we decided to take the more picturesque route of Salah Salem. This street works it’s way from Heliopolis to Maadi fairly directly, and passes by some of the more notable sites found in Cairo.
It was a beautiful drive in terms of sites. I enjoyed the sites of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider directly across from the grandstands where Anwar Sadat was assassinated by members of the Islamic Brotherhood some thirty years ago. The Baron Palace was also a beautiful site, despite being closed down several years ago because of young teenagers participating in pagan rituals. Further down the road was the beautiful profile of the Citadel with the Mosque of Mohammed Ali lit up with the purples and whites of reflective lighting. An overlook of the City of the Dead is also one of the highlights of the drive. The avenue itself is also lined with large trees standing as modern pharonic sentinels over the bustling traffic, and provide a sense of peace and decorum amidst the automotive chaos on the streets below them.
All of these things are taken into account as I’m belted in securely and holding onto the crash handle above the door. My driver is smoking his cigarette from his left hand, while fiddling with the radio from his right hand. Meanwhile his eyes are darting back and forth between mirrors, cigarette, radio and me like a hawk soaring above its prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. The taxi itself must be the prey, because it the right lane or track is always open. He uses his feet to dance a jig between the brake and gas, at times accelerating or braking based on what he sees in front of him. He squeezes between cars like a warm knife through butter, finding holes that weren’t there a moment before. He usesthe resources at hand to indicate his passage: horns, lights, yells, hand gestures, it’s all there. To further complicate or perhaps enhance the pleasure of the ride, I find that we are driving without the lights on. Typically this is considered to save the battery (or perhaps gas). So we only turn them on when finding a utilitious reason – such as signaling to clear the way.
To try and express the utter fear and anxiety associated with driving dark at high rates of speed in heavy traffic is utterly impossible. Perhaps it should be categorized as an extreme sport since the adrenaline rises precipitously whenever one takes a taxi in Cairo. However, at the end of the day, despite all the misgivings, I found myself leaving the House family apartment wondering what my next taxi ride would have in store.

A Morning Walk in Cairo

2011-01-19T12:15:00.001+03:00

There’s something about mornings after a rain. The same holds true in any city that I’ve been in through my life. Certainly, it holds true in Cairo. I had the chance to walk to the office today, and a walk through Cairo on normal days is anything but routine, but on a day after a rain, it’s something special.
Normal Cairo air is dusty, dirty and has a heavy, grainy feel to it. One can almost feel the pollutants, the population, the dirt in the air. The smells are not as pronounced, but instead feel stifled, waiting to break free, but bound by the weight of the heat and dirt. However, on a day after rain, the sights, sounds and even the smells are all found in abundance, as if they have been waiting for this moment to shine forth in exaggerated fashion. Such was the case this morning.
The sun was a bright and shiny thing, without the oppressiveness of working through several layers, but was able to stand forth in its glory. Being January, the heat itself was not the monstrosity that it bursts forth in a few months, but is a relaxing warmth, that one feels in the soul more than the skin. Being in the light has obvious effects on people, and the normal smile and ‘Salamu aleykum’ had a special lift to it today, a little more emphasis as people truly felt the peace they were conveying to me as I walked past them. Much of the time, I didn’t even have to initiate the greeting, it was as if people were waiting for me, knowing that I was coming, and had that smile and light in their eyes waiting just for me as I walked past them. It put a little spring in my step, and made my day that much better.
The colors were warmer and brighter than I remember them being. The dust, dirt and clutter was a little more sparse. I wandered through the streets greeting the flower shop attendant and chatting just a bit about the beautiful smell of his flowers. He offered me one and had Catherine been around I would have taken it, but as I was by myself, the flower would not achieve full enjoyment. I thanked him and forced myself out of the deep smells of the purples, the reds, the blues, as those are how I recognize good flowers. I stopped by the fruit stand (one of several on my stroll) and chatted with the old Hajj about the beautiful day. As we exchanged pleasantries about where I was from and how I loved Cairo, he kept expressing the traditional, “You are welcome mister. You are welcome,” in English. One of his young workers, a dirty and disheveled young man also wandered over and tried practicing his limited English. However, it’s always comforting to realize that as bad as my Arabic is, someone’s English is a little worse. After a beautiful interchange, I excused myself to continue my path to work, and the Hajj rushed to offer me an orange, or an apple. Graciously, I thanked him and tried to give him some money which I had to do two or three times before he finally took it (a mere pound for a beautiful orange).
The other scenes greeting my eyes were those typical of a morning walk in most cities I’ve walked in before. Construction going on in almost every other building, with the construction workers filling sand into wheelbarrows or into bags and packing them on their shoulders. Then walking into the buildings to carry it up flights of stairs. Taxi drivers with their rags wiping down their cab so that it’s nice and clean for the next customer. Business men walking in their suits with their computer bag over their shoulder, oblivious to the car ready to run them over. Drivers in the road jockeying for position and greeting other drivers with a toot or a honk – and each car has a different horn customized for that driver – and emphasized with a fist or a wave. Car radios blaring out the sounds of a muezzin giving a Quranic recitation or the latest from Amr Mostafa or Sherif Hamdy or perhaps Heba Mokhtar.
Finally, I arrive at the office and greet the standard police officer who stands outside and helps park cars. Such a nice man, and so I give him my orange and the water bottle I took from the hotel room. Just seeing his smile and gratitude only makes the day that much brighter.
Ah, I love a walk in Egypt in the morning after a rain.

FOUND: Some pics from Germany

2010-10-06T03:27:00.002+03:00

Todd had these pictures from his trip with Critter to Germany.

The first two are of a castle in Marburg.

Coptic Christian Wedding

2010-09-30T17:30:00.000+03:00

Todd and I were invited to attend a few weddings of his co-workers. They were all a lot of fun. We attended some weddings of Muslims who weren't as conservative. Those were usually held in big ball rooms in hotels. There was usually lots of amazing food, loud music, lots of dancing, and professional photography with video recorders on huge cranes to span the entire crowd. The weddings usually didn't start till 10 or 11 at night and they'd go all night. At least that's what we heard. We were usually home in bed long before the parties ended.

We were able to attend a wedding of a more conservative couple too. It happened to be outdoor at a beautiful country club type place. The only thing different with that wedding was that it didn't have the dancing. It also started in the late afternoon which caused us to miss out on the great food.

That story is we were promised by the bride that it would start promptly at like 3:00. (I can't remember the time it was supposed to start.) The culture in Egypt is that time really has no meaning. You start a party when it's ready to start. Times printed on an invitation really mean nothing. But this bride, who worked with Todd, was adamant that this wouldn't be "typical." It would start right on time.

We found the location quicker than we expected so we had about 45 minutes or more to wander the grounds before the wedding. As the wedding time approached, we made our way to a table and wondered why there were so many chairs and tables but so few people. We began to worry for the bride because this wedding was scheduled on the same day as a World Cup game that Egypt was playing in. The wedding date was scheduled long before the World Cup game. We thought maybe everyone decided to skip the wedding to watch the game even though the wedding technically should be over before the game started.

We sat down, made small talk with some of the bride's family who was there and a few guests that started trickling in . Sure enough, it was like 2 hours after the scheduled time before the wedding finally started. We'd left Petey at a friends house. We saw the couple make their grand entrance and we gave them our best wishes. Then just as they were starting to serve the food, Petey called and said her friends needed to leave so we needed to come pick her up. Todd is still bitter that he never got to try out the great food at that wedding. We heard later from the bride that most people left right after the food so they could get to a TV to watch the game.

Another kind of wedding we attended was a Coptic Christian wedding. The following pictures are from that wedding.

This is the Coptic church where the wedding was held. Inside it had two levels--a main level and a balcony. Both levels were full. It was interesting that through the whole ceremony, people were getting up and walking to the front to get a better angle for pictures, people were talking, they were standing up and sitting down. Generally most people were quiet and were paying attention to what was happening but it didn't seem to be rude to talk or walk around during the ceremony. This picture was taken just after the wedding.

A picture of the couple posing for the crowd.

There were different parts of the wedding ceremony. Several people spoke but in a language I didn't understand so I'm not sure what was being said. But this guy with the microphone was a constant through the entire ceremony. He was constantly "singing" in the foreign language with no accompaniment. It was a cross between a recitation of something and singing a song that seemed to have no end.

Germany

2010-09-26T17:30:00.000+03:00

Todd had to go to Germany on business in January. He still owed Critter a birthday date from the previous November. Petey got to go to Cairo from Jordan on her 13th birthday date (at that time we didn't know we'd be moving to Cairo). So now we've set a very bad precedent.

I'm not sure why I don't have a photo of Todd and Critter together in Germany. This is a picture of Critter with two kids of Dr. Hussein who owns Skopos, the company Todd works for. Todd and Critter had a great time, took a tour of a castle, enjoyed good food and time together.

Skopos Holiday Dinner

2010-06-09T18:39:00.003+03:00

We invited Todd's coworkers for a dinner between Christmas and New Years. They've been so kind and generous to us and several have had us in their home so we decided to return the hospitality. Todd wanted a traditional holiday-type meal so we went with a turkey dinner. We've been told that it's rude if you refuse food when you go into people's homes but evidently the respect is not mutual because they hardly ate any of it and we had tons of leftovers. Apparently American food just isn't as appetizing.

I cooked 3 turkeys which was no small feat considering we have an oven that barely fit even one. This oven is similar to the one I had in Kuwait. This is one reason I'm anxious to get back to America where large ovens are the norm instead of the exception.

Here's our table of food.

We rented tables and chairs so people could sit down and enjoy the meal.

But strangely most opted to eat like this:

And the kids just wanted to play. T found a new best friend and they pretended to eat having a tea party.

Most of them that night hardly ate anything but they were all very polite. One family is Coptic Christian and they happened to be fasting from meat and dairy the night of the party so I think they had a plateful of corn. Mmmm. There were a few who couldn't come that night so Todd invited them to come a few days later to eat the leftovers. They ate a bit more but to this day I still have turkey in my freezer.

Fagnoon

2010-06-08T09:22:00.000+03:00

Cairo has a fun place for kids called the Fagnoon Art Center. One day while the "regular school kids" were on their Christmas break we spent the day at this center. Several kids from our compound went. My kids never really gelled with the kids in our compound for various reasons. But it was fun to go be social with them for the day and it was nice of them to invite us to come along. They never really understood homeschool and I'm pretty sure they thought we were weird. Here are a few pics of the fun.

Cricket with a wood project

T on a pony ride

It's not a fun place for kids unless there are pony rides. Here's Nic taking one.

Batman and Critter showing off their metal art.

Nic & Red painting

New Years Eve

2010-06-07T09:42:00.000+03:00

For those of you on fb reading these I'm not sure you've seen the disclaimer I have at the top of my blog. Basically I'm getting these onto my blog for history purposes so they'll seem outdated but I didn't get them on when they actually happened because of internet problems. So sorry if I'm a little behind the times.

We celebrated at New Years Eve 2010 with the House family at our house. Here's our midnight pic. The Houses have been great friends while we've been here in Cairo. Not really sure where Nic gets her rapper-girl poses.

"How many pounds do you have?" (and other health and fitness stories)

2010-06-04T09:35:00.000+03:00

After a month or so of watching the kids play tennis, I decided it would be fun to get back into tennis so I signed up for lessons. I played tennis in high school. I was just a member of the team. But basically anyone who showed up for practice made the team so I certainly wasn't a standout. And then I played some intramural mixed doubles in college which was a lot of fun. I have hardly played since then--close to 20 years.

The tennis coaches are Egyptian. They all speak English but in varying degrees. My lessons were twice a week with Coach Khalid. The best phrase from him was "In the deep! In the deep!" He learned the word "deep" from me. He asked me once what the word was for hitting the ball to the back of the court so I told him it was "deep." But instead of telling me to "hit it deep" he would tell me to "hit it in the deep." Close enough.

But that's not my favorite Arabic/English conversation with him. A couple of weeks ago before the lesson he said to me "How many pounds do you have?"

Now, that could mean a lot of things. In a matter of a couple of seconds, several things went through my mind. The currency here is Egyptian Pounds so I wondered if he was asking me for money, or maybe he was asking how much money Todd makes, or how much money I had in my bag. I really wasn't sure because he's never asked for money before but it's very common here for people to ask for tips so then I thought maybe I was supposed to have been giving him tips this whole time. I didn't know.

So I gave him a confused look and he said it again. "How many pounds do you have." But this time he was pointing up and down at me while he said it. Then the next set of thoughts raced through my mind in mere seconds. "Is he asking me how much I weigh? Is he REALLY asking me how much I WEIGH? Do people do that? That can't be what he's saying. There must be a mistake."

So I decided to confirm what he was asking and I said "In kilos or pounds?" (They use the metric system here.) He said "In kilos. About 60 or 65?" So now I knew for sure he was indeed asking how much I weighed. Yikes! I don't tell anyone how much I weigh. Todd doesn't even know.

So in my uncomfortableness and sheer shock at what I was being asked, I just laughed and thanked him for being so kind as to say 60 or 65 because that was definitely under what I really weighed and then I told him what I really weighed. Yes, I told him. I couldn't believe it came out but I couldn't think fast enough to come up with another answer other than just tell him the flat out truth.

So if any of you want to know how much I weigh you'll have to come to Egypt and track down my tennis coach because I'll never tell unless you catch me off-guard in some twisted English/Arabic dialect.

Another story--I was having my lessons twice a week both times with Khalid. However, schedules had to change and so for the last few weeks, one of my lessons each week I have a different coach--Omar.

Petey tells me Omar is everyone's favorite tennis coach. He's funny, he doesn't get mad at them, etc. So she told me I was very lucky to have Omar as my coach. I saw it a bit differently. It's not that I didn't like him. It's just that I had a hard time taking it seriously with him. Sometimes we'd play a game and he would seriously get into it like he was in some world-class tournament. If he hit a shot I couldn't return he'd do the whole fist pump in the air and yell "YES!" and things of that nature. In my mind, I'm thinking "Dude! You're a twenty-something tennis coach. I'm a 40+ year old mother of 7 who hasn't played in 20 years and even then I wasn't very good. It's not that hard to put a shot past me."

But in a way I think it was good for me because then my competitive side would come out and I would play harder so that he wouldn't have the satisfaction of beating a woman nearly twice his age.

Last story--After a couple of months of tennis I started developing a pain in the heel of my foot. This was in addition to pain in my knees. I started taking Glucosamine Chondroitin and that took care of the knee problems. With the help of my collegiate track and field athlete friend in the branch, we diagnosed the pain in my foot as plantar fasciitis. It kept getting worse almost to the point that when I got out of bed every morning I could hardly walk. I researched treatments online and people who had it swore that by wearing this boot at night while you slept, your pain will go away. It keeps your foot flexed while you sleep. So I ordered one. Here's what it looks like.

Now I have to say I've rarely made it through the entire night with it on. About 3 or 4 in the morning I take it off so I can get some comfortable sleep. But even just wearing it for the first few hours of sleep my pain is almost completely gone after wearing it for about a month. Yeah! Now bring it on, Omar.

We're ok with average

2010-06-03T09:02:00.008+03:00

We joined a health club to help the kids get a little exercise while they're homeschooling. It's my understanding that in America there are homeschool co-op type groups that get together on occasion for group activities like pe-type stuff. The homeschool group here is so few in number and so spread out that we didn't get together on a regular basis.

The club offered several activities and the kids got to choose what they wanted to do. Petey played tennis almost the entire school year. Critter started with tennis and ended playing baseball with a league in Maadi. Batman did tennis and baseball. Cricket did tennis, gymnastics, then softball. Red did tennis, gymnastics, and baseball. Nic did gymnastics.

Nic

Batman playing catcher

Critter up to bat

Red ready to bat

Can I just say how much we loved the baseball league here? I love my kids and of course I think they're fabulous in all things. But in reality, so far they haven't shown any inclinations of being athletic prodigies. My older kids played in baseball, basketball, and soccer leagues in UT. Some of the kids had more fun than others and different years were more fun than others. What I've realized is that for my kids they have more fun when it isn't as competitive. They love to win and always want to know the score even when they're in a league that doesn't keep score. But even though I always thought I signed up for the "non-competitive" leagues in UT, there was always the overwhelming drive by either coaches or parents to win and do whatever it takes to win. My kids just didn't have as much fun in that environment.

Because of those experiences with the baseball league in UT, the kids were very wary about signing up for baseball here in Cairo. Batman only did it because his best friend from the branch was going to sign up. Critter only did it because Batman was going to and he wanted to stop tennis for a while but I told him he had to choose something. Cricket signed up because her friend from the branch was also going to play. Red hadn't had a bad experience yet because he was too young to play in UT so he was happy to sign up especially since his older brothers were going to play. We still couldn't convince Petey to sign up because of her experience in UT. However, the league here was so great that she regrets not signing up because it looked like lots of fun.

There are far fewer athletic prodigies here in Cairo. There were a handful of great players but my kids fit right in with the majority of the team and the coaches and parents did such a great job at making fun the first priority and winning the second. They encouraged the kids and I really felt like they were teaching them how to play and the rules of the game before they were all worked up that somebody was striking out every time they batted. Parents of opposing teams were friends and cheered for each others kids. The kids were taught good sportsmanship and it was just plain fun. This will be one of the many regrets I have about not staying in Cairo for longer is that I'm afraid it will be difficult to find another league like this.

Branch Christmas Party

2010-05-31T09:09:00.000+03:00

Our branch had a Christmas Party/Talent Show. It was lots fun with some amazing talent in such a small branch.

Petey and Cricket played duet in the show.

Here's a picture of Critter with a special guest of the evening.

We've discussed with the kids before that sometimes the real Santa can't make it to all the Christmas parties so he sometimes will send a helper in his place. However, not even my youngest kids were fooled into thinking this was even a helper. They all recognized him as Kevin, a Young Single Adult in the Branch.

When he first came into the room, of course there was much squealing from the littlest kids. They started to crowd around him and he probably didn't have much experience being Santa's helper because he started handing them a candy cane, wishing them a Merry Christmas, and sending them on their way. Parents were scrambling for their cameras but most of the children had already been sent on their way before the caps were off the lenses. So Amiee House, the Primary President, stepped in and organized the chaos. She lined all the kids back up--even those who'd already received their treat--and reminded Kevin of the whole "sitting on Santa's lap, telling him what you want for Christmas, and letting the parents take photos" protocol.

The evening was a lot of fun with skits, juggling, musical talents, lip syncing, and general Christmas spirit of friends together celebrating perhaps the most celebrated holiday in a foreign land where the holiday isn't celebrated at all.

Piano lessons

2010-05-28T14:06:00.000+03:00

Randa was the kids' piano teacher this year in Cairo. The kids really progressed. This picture was taken at one of the recitals held in December. I took a picture of the kids with their teacher in April but for some reason it's not on the camera so this will have to do. Randa is Jordanian but is married to an American. She is also a professional artist. Very talented. We will miss Randa.

Visit from Richard

2010-05-27T13:59:00.000+03:00

In December Todd's business partner came for a visit. It was a business trip so there wasn't a lot of time for site-seeing. It was great having him here though.

T's birthday date

2010-05-26T13:50:00.000+03:00

We may be procrastinators but eventually we make good on promises. We have a tradition of taking the kids on a birthday date and sometimes the date comes well after their birthdays. But it does come. T got to enjoy a giant cookie on his birthday date. The cookie was as big as his head. He wasn't quite sure what to think.

Thanksgiving, Boy Scouts, and the Sinai

2010-05-24T13:45:00.000+03:00

One of the most memorable Thanksgivings I think we'll have is the trip we took with the Boy Scouts into the Sinai desert over the Thanksgiving weekend 2009. It was incredible and incredibly cold. When they invited families of scouts to come along we thought it'd be a great opportunity to get in some camping while in Egypt. And what better place than Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine's?

When we arrived to our first campsite in the early afternoon, I wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into. The sun was still up but we were in the shadow of the mountain. It wasn't even dark and already I was cold. I began to worry about how we'd manage the complaining from the kids because I knew we hadn't packed enough warm clothes. I was sure the nights would be unbearable. Amazingly though, I was the biggest complainer the whole weekend.

We went on some amazing hikes. We were exhausted and dirty by the time we arrived back in Cairo but it was so worth it.

Here we are in front of the rock Moses touched and water came out. This was the first day as we were hiking into camp so we're all still happy and clean. Standing next to Clara on the far right is Nacia. Nacia has been a huge part of our stay here in Cairo. Read her blog here. She's in our branch and is so helpful and smart. She came for an internship. She has not had the typical tourist American experience. She's delved into true Egyptian life. When she heard about this trip, she asked if she could tag along. She was invaluable to us. She entertained our kids, showed the scouts some tricks, and was incredibly patient with our family. Throughout this year in Egypt she's been our tour guide, babysitter, and dear friend.

We camped at the base of St. Catherine's the first couple of nights. Some of the group's gear, like water, was brought in by camels. The scouts were required to carry their own gear but they allowed the families to use the camels to carry some of there stuff. I was amazed at how much weight those camels could carry.

Here we are hiking up St. Catherine's. This was the terrain. Now imagine a family of 9 with not much camping experience and no toilets. Todd's going to correct me on this I know, so let me clarify. I have 3 girls with little camping experience. They've never really learned how to "squat." And notice there are no big trees or bushes to hide behind. Only big rocks. It was challenging but a true camping experience.

More of our St. Catherine's hike.

The whole family made it to the saddle of St. Catherine's. Critter and Batman continued with the scouts up to the very top where they got to sign their name in a book that's placed there for those that summit. Nacia made it to the top too and signed her name and graciously dedicated her climb to our family--or something like that. Maybe someday I'll make it to the top and see what she really wrote.

The first night one of the families who were much more prepared than I could even think about, provided a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn, cranberries, and little pie tartlet thingies for dessert. It was a great first night--other than the temperature. For most other meals we provided for ourselves. However, a couple of nights they provided us MRE's. Here we are trying to figure out how to work the MRE. It didn't turn out so great the first time. One half was hot, the other cold. By the last night we figured out a better system. In fact, to this day, if you ask Red what one of his favorite foods is, he'll tell you Beef Teriyaki. That's because on the last night of this trip he had a Beef Teriyaki MRE and it did look pretty delicious. I'm sure part of the reason he loved it so much was by that last night he was getting pretty hungry for some hot food.

T was a little nervous to be so close to the camel.

This was our campsite at the base of St. Catherine's. Notice the little stone shack. We had set up a 3-man tent on the flat area outside the shack with the thought the littlest kids may want to sleep in it. However, the first night everyone but Critter and Batman slept in it so we could keep each other warm. The second night we were told the shack was actually a bit warmer because it kept any wind from coming through. So the second night we all moved into that shack and we did sleep a bit more comfortably.

The next day we moved camp to Elijah's Basin--near the top of Mt. Sinai. Here's a picture of our tent with Sinai in the background. Elijah's Basin was even colder. It went down to freezing temperatures during the night. We battled the cold by putting all of us in the tent on this last night. Yes, all 9 of us in the 3 man tent. We didn't sleep comfortably but we were reasonably warm.

The original plan was to hike Sinai early in the morning of our last day. We arrived to Elijah's Basin earlier than planned so many decided to hike it the afternoon/evening we arrived. By that time though our family was pretty exhausted so we didn't go up. We decided to go with the original plan and wait til that next morning to see how we felt.

Early the next morning, Nacia came to the outside of our tent and woke us up to see if anybody wanted to hike up with her to watch the sunrise. We sleepily looked around and there were no takers so told her to go ahead without us. But now we were awake. I looked at Todd and told him I'd maybe like to go since I'd never done it (Todd went to the top of Sinai when he was here as a BYU student.) Then Petey and Critter decided they wanted to go too. Todd agreed to stay back with the younger kids.

We scrambled to find our shoes and coats so we could catch up to Nacia. Cricket decided she too wanted to go. So up we went. We were moving fast and Nacia was nowhere to be seen. The air was cold, our lungs were hurting, the sun was rising. We knew we wouldn't make it up to the top before the sunrise but still the views of the sunrise were spectacular. It's popular to do this hike for the sunrise so Sinai was pretty crowded with tourists--many of them praising the Lord and giving thanks to the Lord Almighty for providing them with this great mountain in Africa followed by shouts of "Amen."

Part way up, Cricket asked where we were going. I explained we were on our way to the top of Sinai. What else would we be doing? She thought we were getting out of the tent to go find the bathroom. (Elijah's Basin had some outhouses.) She didn't want to go to the top of Sinai. By this time though she was far enough up that she decided to continue.

Petey had to stop to catch her breath while Critter, Cricket and I trudged on to try to catch up to Nacia. We did stop just before the top when we realized we were missing the beautiful view of the sunrise in our quest to catch Nacia. So we stopped to catch our breath and enjoy the scenery. Petey caught up to us and we continued on up to the top after the sunrise. We hadn't been up there long when Batman showed up. He'd decided to come on up. The top isn't that big and there's really only one way up and down and we didn't see Nacia.

We took this picture at the top of Sinai. Don't they look happy?

So to conclude the long story, on our way down back to camp we met up with Nacia who was on her way up to find us. Turns out, when she woke us up to ask if we wanted to hike with her to see the sunrise, she only meant on one of the big rocks near our camp--she didn't mean Sinai. So she'd gone to a completely different place. When she came back to camp she was told that we had followed her up Sinai and felt bad so she came to find us. That's ok though. I'm so glad we did it and we can say we climbed to the top of Sinai.

Here's T, Todd, and Red saying goodbye to the camels before we leave back to Cairo. Notice the Bedouin men in the background.

Nic showing us her sweatshirt after 4 days of camping.

The monastery at the bottom of Sinai was closed when we came down so we didn't get to see that. I guess that will be a reason to return to Egypt someday. Here's our final family picture with Sinai in the background. An amazing, unforgettable adventure over.

Ode to Catherine...

2010-05-21T16:20:00.006+03:00

It was recently Catherine's 29^th birthday, again. She has now celebrated three of those birthdays (I guess that’s 10%) of her birthdays outside of the United States. I am grateful to her for being not just willing, but embracing of our time outside of the United States. I know that I don’t fully appreciate the sacrifice that Catherine has made not just for me, but for our entire family to be here, and I want to highlight a few things in celebration of her birthday, that to me, epitomize just how incredible this woman is.

As many know, we made a decision in May of 2007 to move to the Middle East. At the time we decided, Catherine was 6 months pregnant with child number seven. We made the decision that she would fly over to the Middle East (not knowing which country we would be in) with the seven kids by herself. While her dad thankfully and wisely traveled with her (Thanks Dad!), she nonetheless was prepared to leave the country on her first international trip, to a Middle East country, with 7-kids, with 18 pieces of luggage, by herself. If that is not the sign of an amazing woman, I’m not sure how one is defined. However, in conjunction with that move, she also managed the whole sale of the house, selling and packing of household items, and all of the things associated with selling and moving – BY HERSELF. She met and executed all of these things with a one-month-old baby and six other kids.

When she arrived in Kuwait, she immediately jumped into the middle of things, and was even driving in Kuwait City within 2-3 days of her arriving. Street signs are in Arabic, traffic laws are mere suggestions, and she doesn’t have a cell phone, but off she goes! She had to survive for 2 and half months without any of our possessions from the states because of delays in the international shipping. This meant she had to make it through Thanksgiving and Christmas, away from home for the first time, with none of her regular supplies and furnishings. She provided for our family in both instances with smashing success! Thanksgiving was actually one of our best ever, and Christmas had all the traditions. She made it through all of this with me being gone over 50% of my time. I even left just a few days after she arrived in the country. I’m not sure to this day how she managed that and why she just didn’t fly home. While in Kuwait she managed all the kids and their school issues, plus Church callings, plus all of the home issues including finding the best shopping places, keeping the kids in clothes, and keeping our family happy. She successfully managed all of this, most of it on her own.

We finally received our shipment from the States and found out we would be moving a few months later to Bahrain. So, less than 8 months after arriving in Kuwait, we find we are moving and have to start the whole process over again. She flies to Bahrain to register kids in school (alone I might add), we went over and looked at houses and basically got our hearts and minds set on Bahrain…. only to discover a few weeks before the move that we were instead going to Jordan. What a mind shift! Not only the actual mind shift, but the fact that we had to change schools, homes and the whole logistical arrangements that are accompanied with moving. But once again, my wife comes through like a superstar. Because our house wasn’t ready in Jordan, we waited as long as possible, until the end of June 2008, before moving the family. So, she comes with the family and lives in a 2-bedroom apartment for 2-weeks before flying back to the States. But wait, two days after arriving in Jordan guess who had to travel. Mmmmm, that would be me. So, she is alone in Jordan with 7-kids, not speaking the language, not knowing where to go, and I am out of the country. Then, the water runs out in the apartment. Can you believe this? In fact, Catherine wrote a whole blog about this and what does she do? She makes a joke out of it! Not a rant or a rave, not a yelling and tizzy fit, but she is cracking jokes and having fun. Fortunately, she was going home, however, who was going later? Err, that would be me again. So, she goes ahead and flies back to the States with 7-kids, by herself (that would be two completely international flights now without me). Sure enough, she goes willingly and not complaining the whole way. Finally, I follow her home a couple of weeks later to spend about a month there and we return together…to an unfinished house.

We moved into the house in August and enjoyed the rest of our time in the Middle East there, or not as the case may be. Every time I left, Catherine had another challenge. Maybe it was the water that ran out, the kerosene rant out, problems with the car, power going out, and the list went on and on. Yet once again, this amazing woman suffers through it all. Through a little bit of school on the list and dealing with two kids at home and it gets a little better. The capper of our time in Jordan is that every other week, I went to Egypt. So, for roughly the next nine months I spent every other week in a completely different country leaving my wife to fend for herself and seven children. What kind of husband does that? Not a very good one, that is for sure, and yet Catherine went through it all and came out smelling like a rose. To add to this, every time she went to the school, some of the programs and content was in Arabic, so she had to deal with that challenge. Fortunately, she had some kids that were starting to speak Arabic and they were able to help, because someone else wasn’t around. We did manage a few trips, but most of the time, I was busy working and so she was managing on her own. Once again, our major holidays were spent with Catherine heading things up, and we made fabulous memories and had a great time with her doing practically everything.

While Jordan was truly enjoyable and we had a great time, we knew that even with her infinite patience and adaptability, it was simply not sustainable to have me travel every week, and so ultimately the decision was made that once more, in less than a year, we had to move. So, we once again began preparations, and because I was traveling still, she was left to most of the work, just like in Kuwait, and just like in the States. Of course, she is getting to be a pro at it, but still, I don’t know how she was willing and able to keep such positive spirits in the face of such circumstances.

Our move to Egypt was done with a little more organization and we had the chance to come a couple of times, but perhaps because things were happening a little too easily, Catherine decided to shake things up a little bit by homeschooling the kids. As if all this turmoil and change wasn’t enough, she wants to take on a little more. So, she goes through the whole process and research of finding the right materials, ordering them, shipping them and then organizing them. I was relieved in the summer of 2009, that after our move to Egypt, Catherine finally reached a limit. She was going to fly back to the States with me and return with me. I think that was the first sign that she is human in almost two years.

We came back to Egypt and moved right into a new home. However, we had the same issues with water, electricity, shoddy home materials, bad plumbing, and the numerous other issues that she has to deal with on a daily basis while I am at work. Go figure. However, not only did she have to deal with those, she had seven kids at home getting schooled. Yet she has managed to successfully deal with that. Then, we find while some travel goes down, I have to go to Iraq for a bit. Does she rant and rave? Nope, she kicks me out the door, telling me that if I get shot or something she’ll kill me. This is the kind of stuff that most guys dream about! A wife who can truly do and be anything. So, we make it through our first year of Egypt and get ready for the second when guess what, we decide to return to the States. And when do we decide to do it? As usual, about a month before we were planning on our annual leave, we decide to move the whole family home.

Once again, she’s in charge of the whole process and is actually going to be by herself in the states for a bit finding a house, working on getting things set up, as well as managing 7-kids during the whole process. Throw on the fact that she is also going to be dealing with me doing traveling between the Middle East and the US through the end of the year. And she has the gall to tell me that she can handle it and it won’t be a big deal. I think I am the weaker part of us.

All in all, the things that Catherine has gone through over the last three birthdays have been challenges and issues that most normal people would have fallen apart on. She has not only been accepting, but has been the instigator of the positive attitude in our home during these times. She has been the center of our family, and truly the center of my strength. I try to tell her that I love her and how amazing she truly is, but I’m not sure that words adequately express it. I’m not even sure there is anything I can ever do over the course of the rest of our lives together than can compensate her for what she has accomplished and done for our family and me during our Middle East sojourn. Through all of this, she still finds a way to keep herself fit and as hot as any of these so-called model type ladies out there.

While she will probably be very embarrassed by this post, I just want it out there how grateful I am for this amazing lady, and how much I love her. It’s not much of a birthday gift, but I’m not sure I can get her anything that would be. All I can say is I love you Catherine! And of course, I’ll give her the credit card and point her to the mall when we get home. Maybe that will help.

Primary Activity

2010-05-17T15:28:00.002+03:00

My calling this year has been a counselor in the Primary Presidency (we work with the kids under age 12.) One of my favorite activities was painting a wall that had some graffiti on it. For all the crummy walls around Cairo, I am really surprised that more walls don't have graffiti. This graffiti though was right by our church and was particularly crude so it was decided we would replace it with something more beautiful. Jill Smith, another counselor, is an amazing professional artist. She made the plans, organized the efforts, and the end result was fantastic. The kids get to see their hard work every time they come to the church.

Here they are getting their instructions from Jill. The blank wall had been prepped earlier in the day with white paint and the outline of the project.

The younger kids started in on the bottom half of the mural. They only needed to come close to staying inside the lines (or outside the lines as Jill explained to them about "negative space" in art.)

As expected, the younger kids became more interested in rinsing out their brushes (playing in the bucket of water.)

Then the older kids started in on the top of the mural.

Here's the incredibly beautiful finished artwork.

A Mormon Mommy Blog Moment or We Love Maya!

2010-05-14T19:15:00.002+03:00

Over the last several months I've considered getting T potty trained. He'll be 3 in August. He'd show signs of being ready but I am a procrastinator. The windows of opportunity would close and he'd want nothing to do with it. I'd wait for the next window to open. I'd procrastinate again. I wondered how I could do it when I didn't seem to have a day--let alone a few hours--to devote to this task. I'd talk to him about it, encourage him, set him on the toilet, give him treats, give him applause. It was a few minutes here or there but we never even went as far as taking him out of a diaper.

Then came Maya.

Maya is a Sunbeam in our branch and frankly, I think T has a little crush. Long after our families have moved apart I have committed to staying in touch with her family so in about 20 years we can get them back together.

Maya and her family came over to our house last Saturday for pizza. A couple of times T witnessed Maya asking her mom to help her in the bathroom. That's all it took.

The next day I asked T if he wanted to go potty on the toilet like Maya. He was thrilled to do it. He had one accident that very first morning. And there was an "episode" outside. I won't even call it an accident since he came right to me and proudly announced that he'd just pooped on the grass. I think it's the effects of living in Cairo. He doesn't see a problem with people relieving themselves out in the open.

Anyhow, he's been accident-free (during the day) since. We have a toddler toilet seat that sits on top of the regular seat that he refuses to use. Yeah! (since I'd have to lift him up there if he wanted to use it.) So he just goes and takes care of things all by himself. We're working on him realizing he needs some help wiping in certain cases. It's truly been the easiest potty-training experience I've had with any of my kids. I'm waiting for a regression period but crossing my fingers that I'll just have to mention Maya and the problem will be resolved.

We're still working on nighttime. We've been putting him in a diaper but the last 4 nights he's woken up with a dry diaper. We're also working on underwear. He refuses to wear it. Usually he doesn't even want pants. But at least we're able to convince him to put on some shorts or pants. The underwear will come.

Thank you Maya! We love you!

I can't sleep!

2010-05-11T22:18:00.003+03:00

A couple of weeks ago when the weather started turning even warmer, we were charmed by the noises of frogs in the common grassy area between houses. Every night at dusk the frogs would start their songs to one another. Now, . . . it is just annoying. All night long we hear it. And it's loud! The video hardly does it justice. The video was taken as I was standing on the balcony just outside our bedroom.

Flat Stanley/Dustin

2010-05-07T20:00:00.006+03:00

Our nephew, Dustin sent us a Flat Stanley to take around Cairo. Here's what we sent back--a few things we've done over the last while.

This is the first time I've used docstoc. I'm more than a little technologically challenged. Dad, if you have a hard time reading the small print, find where it says "docstoc" and follow it across til you see a box with arrows pointing out to all four corners. Click on that and it will go into full screen mode, making it easier to read/see. Hope that helps.

Flat Dustin -

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 7--The End

2010-04-10T13:26:00.001+03:00

NOT ALL WONDERFUL

Not everything about homeschooling is great. Can I just say . . . 7 kids . . . all day . . . every day . . .

One of the things I've let slide is making breakfasts and lunches. I still do ok with dinner (with lots of help from the kids sometimes). For breakfast and lunches though, they're pretty much on their own. It's turned into a problem though in that they all want and eat something different. The housekeeper cleans up breakfast but when I go to make dinner, I usually have to clean up the lunch mess before I can start. I've tried several different methods of having the kids clean up after themselves. After 7 months of these methods I haven't found one that works for us yet. I haven't given up.

School time is consumed with helping Nic and Red through their lessons whilst T is crawling all over my back, on my lap, on the desks, etc. The oldest 4 kids have been pretty much on their own in getting through their lessons. They've been great about that for the most part. One thing that has slipped past me though is when they have to write paragraphs or essays or long answers. I'm supposed to read through those and make sure they've answered correctly. However, the kids don't always tell me when they need me to correct something. They say they "answer it in their minds." But with my English teacher background, I do realize there is value in converting thoughts and organizing them into comprehensible writing. (Something I wish I would've learned.) I have come to accept that I can't teach everything to all of them and I just keep encouraging them to do their best and I try to be a little more hands on with the older 4 when I can.

Then there's the attitude of a kindergartner and 1st grader. If they don't want to do a lesson, they'll let me know. And sometimes in not such a nice way as I'd hope they'd behave toward a real school teacher.

We have go-getters who wake up, get to work, get done, then want to play. I love that and wish they all were like that. The problem comes when the slacker-leaning children see the less-slacker-leaning children playing. They get distracted before their school work is done and it's hard to keep them focused when they know they have a brother or sister who is having fun without them. All year I've tried to use that as motivation to help them get up the next day, get to work, get done, and then go play. It hasn't worked yet. Once in a while I see glimmers of hope. Meanwhile I have a couple of kids who are on track to finish early and others who may be working through the summer.

So overall, I'd give homeschool the grade of B+. I think A is unattainable. There will always be something bad about homeschooling (like keeping track of all their papers--what to throw away--what to keep in case a future school wants to see what they've learned, etc.) It's not an A- because I still think there are benefits a regular school has that I can't give them at home. I'm good with the B+. It works for our situation at this time in this place.

I hope I've answered most of your questions. If not let me know. Thanks for reading!

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 6

2010-04-07T22:41:00.001+03:00

RESULTS

We are so glad we did it. We didn’t know it when we decided but CAC has had multiple school closures especially the first few months of school due to swine flu scare. Egyptians really got some bad information and you couldn’t convince them otherwise. School was closed for nearly a month near the beginning of the school year and parents were getting assignments online. They were having to homeschool their kids. After school was back in session, there were random classroom closures. If someone in a class got the flu they would cancel school for that group to make sure nobody would be spreading it. We were happy that our schedule wasn’t being disrupted.

We have been happy to have a flexible schedule. The culture here is one of late nights. We haven’t figured out how parents keep their children out so late at night but expect them to do well at school the next day. (Personal aside—they don’t. Education doesn’t seem to be as valued here. They want their kids to have the American education but aren’t willing to put in the sacrifice. Rant over.) So when Todd’s work had an event that kept us out later than normal we didn’t have to worry about how we were going to get everybody up and out the next day. We have kept a morning routine that starts at 7:30 a.m. so we’re trying not to get too lazy.

It’s been great when we’ve had visitors we can go site seeing with them without fear of falling behind on school. We can work ahead or catch up on our own time.

All this being said, I am not on the “once you homeschool you never go back” train. While it has its many benefits, traditional school also has many benefits. Since Petey is entering 9th grade next year (and we won’t have to buy as many supplies now) we’ve given her the choice of going to CAC or homeschooling. She has chosen CAC but for a brief time considered staying with homeschooling because of those benefits. While we were in the midst of deciding to stay in Egypt or go back to the States we asked the kids what they’d want if we moved back. None of them could really say for sure if they wanted to go back to regular school or continue with homeschooling. It depended on a lot of things. So that told me that they’re not unhappy with homeschool. Yay!

I sort of feel like a homeschool traitor because I’m not yet convinced homeschool is the only way to educate. I also feel not typical because of our situation here. It would be a completely different situation if I were in the States having to pay for our own curriculum and supplies. We chose a very traditional curriculum (k12.com.) It seems many homeschoolers want to get away from the traditional education which is why they homeschool. After our experiences at ASK and ISC, I wanted to get back to a traditional education.

Homeschool skeptics are worried about the social aspect. We have them involved in church activities, group tennis lessons, group gymnastics, and scouts and things like that so they meet other kids their age. Their “best” friends would be from the church but they’ve made friends in the other places as well. It’s been good for our family. I think they’re interacting more with each other than they would have otherwise. The interaction isn’t always compliments and sweetness but they are very aware of what is happening in each others’ lives. The older ones watch out for the younger ones and help with getting them food, helping with their lessons, playing with them, etc.

So there’s my homeschooling in Egypt novelette. Happy homeschooling!

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 5

2010-04-04T22:40:00.000+03:00

CAIRO

Then we found out we were moving to Cairo. There is an ISC-Cairo but after some asking around we were convinced it’d be more of the same of what we experienced in Amman. We then looked into sending them to Cairo American College (CAC). CAC is where the majority of expat kids go. The embassy kids all go to CAC. Once we added it all up for now 6 school age kids, we came to the grand total of about $92,000 to send our kids to CAC. Todd’s work gives us an allowance for our kids’ education but it wasn’t $92,000.

We also considered location. Todd’s work was in an area of Cairo called Heliopolis. CAC is in Maadi. Someone was going to have a killer commute if we chose one of those places. Our church is in Maadi, so is scouts, piano lessons, doctors . . . So we knew we’d be making some trips to Maadi. We settled on living in Katameya, in between Maadi and Heliopolis. (However, we’re now looking at moving to Maadi because now after living here the “horror” stories of the commute from Maadi to Heliopolis just aren’t true. We find ourselves making the 30+ minute drive [depending on day/time of day] to Maadi several times a week. Since we have a driver Todd can work during the commute, thereby not losing any work time.)

But lets get back to cost. We analyzed that as well. It was roughly $15000/per child for CAC. Keep in mind you as tax payers are paying that for those that are gov’t workers. But we can get into a political discussion later. For less than what it would cost for CAC, we were able to get things like:

• A full curriculum for each child which included all textbooks, workbooks, online guidance, lesson plans, teacher guides, science experiments, art supplies, literature books, for all subjects (Math, Language Arts, Literature, History, Art, Science, Phonics, Music, etc.)
• Macbooks for each child
• Microsoft Office for said computers
• Custom built bookshelves and desks for each child
• Health club membership
• Piano lessons
• Arabic tutor
• Tennis, gymnastics, baseball, and swimming lessons
• Two languages from Rosetta Stone
• Multiple “Field trips” to the pyramids, museums, Nile River, Azhar Park, etc.
• Extra supplies like notebooks, printer cartridges and paper, pencils, etc.

I list this just to give you an idea of what we were able to buy for less than what it would cost to send them to CAC. After this, it was a no-brainer for us. So we took the plunge and committed to homeschool.

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 4

2010-04-01T22:35:00.001+03:00

AMMAN—BAD MIDDLE AND END

Frequently my kids would come home frustrated because they didn't speak the language. They were frustrated because if a teacher couldn't speak fluent enough English to explain something in the lesson, the teacher just explained it in Arabic. OR, if a supervisor was unhappy with a classes behavior all the yelling and berating (and there was that) was done in Arabic. My kids weren't ever sure if they were in trouble or not or even what they should avoid to stay out of trouble. The kids at the school spoke to each other in Arabic so my kids were kind of the outcasts because they couldn't communicate.

I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing . . . "They're in a foreign country and their upset the people speak the local language?" No. We weren't upset. It's just that we felt like we'd done our research, asked the questions, got the right answers so our kids would be the most comfortable with their school AND still be getting an education. We actually only very briefly considered taking them out and putting them somewhere else but decided to keep them at ISC because what better way to learn a language than to be immersed in it? (Nevermind the fact we'd already spent tons of money on uniforms--right even down to the black shoes they were supposed to wear.) And I do think that was one benefit they got from ISC was a better sense of the Arabic language.

However, the education was only slightly better than ASK. If a teacher was sick or absent they didn't get substitutes. If a supervisor or another teacher was available then they would come in and sit with a class. Remember, the Sabis lessons are very strictly followed in a certain order so not just anybody could come in and teach. So my kids frequently had free periods where they would just sit and talk. Sometimes they were told to study for another class.

Another issue we had with ISC was something we originally thought we liked--and that is the activities. Each term the students could sign up for an activity to be held once a week during their lunch break or at the end of the day--depending on the activity, their grade, etc. It was a great idea. My kids played basketball, learned to cook some things, swimming, tennis, golf, drama, did crafty things. . . The problem was that their activity was only once a week. So 4 days of the week they had a lunch break that was 1 1/2 hours long. On their activity day their lunch break was 1/2 hour. It was perfect for activity day but on the other 4 days, 1 1/2 hours was a long time. Especially for my younger kids. They were doing construction the entire school year long that required the playground to be shut down/off limits. So the entire year the kids didn't have anywhere to play but still had that 1 1/2 hour break 4 times a week. My kids all left for school at 7:30 am. Cricket and Red returned at 3:30 and the older ones at 4:30. Those are some long days when they're not even doing extra-curricular activities.

Then there was student behavior. Many of you have heard me talk about “wasta.” That is roughly translated as having influence. The parents of the students at ISC had wasta. If their kids misbehaved there was no recourse for the administration. They couldn’t expel nor even suspend the students. Their method of suspension was sending the students to sit in the supervisor's office for the rest of the day but the same kids were right back in class causing problems the very next day. The problem behaviors ranged from throwing things out the window, theft, setting things on fire inside the classrooms, yelling back at the teachers/supervisors, etc. To be fair, I do think the overall atmosphere of the school was one of discipline but it only takes a few students to ruin it for the rest. And like I said, if the problem children have wasta then there’s nothing that can be done.

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 3

2010-03-29T22:34:00.000+03:00

AMMAN—BAD START

We moved to Amman and spent about 1 week there before our trip back to the States. On one day I took the kids to a water park. It just happened to be on the same day that the ISC Amman summer program brought their participants to the same water park. What struck me is that the conversation between the students as well as between students and teachers was that it was all in Arabic. I definitely noticed it but decided not to be too concerned because I recognized this was their summer break and they weren't technically in school.

Once we started though that fall, we soon realized the make-up of the school was 90+ % Jordanian and we were definitely in the minority. Most of the kids spoke Arabic fluently and only my 3 oldest kids had had any experience in Arabic--not even a full year since we came in the fall. Even though it's advertised as an "English speaking" school, it's not.

I learned that lesson quickly when I went to a parent orientation on the first days of school. The school director was a British woman and while she talked she had another woman translating in Arabic for her. I wasn't put off by that because I realized there must be parents there that didn't speak English and good for them for wanting to have their kids attend a school where they learn another language than what's spoken at home (I was thinking of the Spanish immersion schools they have in UT.) A couple of others spoke--principals of the high school and middle school and the activities director. They translated for themselves. Very good. They knew both languages.

But then the principal for the Elementary kids got up. Her entire presentation was done in Arabic. I came to find out later that she actually does speak English. But I guess she didn't see a need to translate into English because I'm guessing she assumed all the parents were Arabic speakers since basically all the kids were. I was definitely put off by this attitude when again, they advertised themselves as an "English-speaking" school. The director herself came up to me afterwords and apologized to me. I'm sure she recognized my look of "I have no idea what this lady is saying."

Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 2

2010-03-26T22:32:00.000+03:00

KUWAIT TO BAHRAIN

If you'll remember, nearly the entire time we were in Kuwait we thought we would be moving to Bahrain so we were making plans to move there. We'd heard about a chain school that was recommended by many people. It's called the International School of Choueifat (ISC). There are several locations throughout the Middle East. They use the Sabis school system and there are even schools in the States that use the Sabis system. It is a very structured curriculum with lots of testing to make sure the students are learning what they should be learning. The theory is you could go to any Sabis school on any day and you would find the same lessons being taught in each class, in each grade. We can debate all day about the pros and cons of this type of education. Believe me, I'm not 100% on either side. But after our experience in Kuwait and after the recommendation of many people of the reputation of these schools, we decided to try it out.

We registered for the ISC in Bahrain and even flew the kids there to be tested for placement. It was a gorgeous campus. It was completely the opposite of the ASK campus. There was a beautiful soccer field surrounded by a track, a beautiful pool for the older grades and a smaller pool for the kindergartners. There were modern playgrounds and computers. The walls were a little "sterile" meaning there wasn't a lot of decoration. But at that point it seemed like it was an affirmation that they were there to educate the kids, not entertain them.

At the last minute, we found out we'd be moving to Jordan instead. We were happy to find out there was an ISC in Jordan. With the sudden change of plans moving to Jordan instead of Bahrain, finding a place to live, getting ready for our summer trip back to the States and returning just before the school year started, we decided it'd be just as easy to transfer application to ISC Amman from ISC Bahrain. I mean, how different can the two schools be?

ASK (are you confused yet by the abbreviations?) had a rule that was fairly strictly adhered to and that was on campus you were not to speak Arabic. Even though all students 4th grade and above were required to take Arabic language classes, the day-to-day education and conversations had to be in English. ISC is a school that advertises itself that the teaching is all done in English and students will be well equipped to pursue higher education in the States, or anywhere in the world. Never having actually attended ISC Bahrain, I'm only making an assumption but it seemed as though that were true. Bahrain has more of an international make-up. ISC Amman though was not that way.

Homeschooling in Egypt

2010-03-23T22:27:00.001+03:00

I've been meaning to write this post for nearly 7 months now (or more since we decided to homeschool close to a year ago.) I haven't written it because it will probably be a long one. Ya know how some people have this burning desire to write a novel or even just get an article published? Me . . . not so much. I was an English major so I could read the books. I never really enjoyed writing about them. I still don't enjoy writing. So the thought of writing long blog posts to explain myself is something I sort of avoid. But recently a friend asked me how the homeschool was going (thanks, Shannon!) and I was reminded that several people have asked and I've responded to them to watch for a blog post about it. Sometimes it's kept me up in the night as I've gone over in my mind what I want to be sure to say about homeschool. I’m breaking it up into several parts for a couple of reasons. One, it’s way too long for one post. Two, if I break it up I have something to add to my blog every few days so it looks like I am so organized that I can update my blog every few days. So here's what I want to say (the long version) about homeschooling in Egypt.

For us, the reason why we decided to homeschool was a reaction to our education experiences in Kuwait and Jordan.

KUWAIT

In Kuwait they attended the American School of Kuwait (ASK). Petey had just started Middle School. It honestly felt like there was a party every other week in her homeroom (math). I'm all about parties but really and seriously, they were having a class party all the time to celebrate something--anything to actually get out of learning anything about math.

And then there was her reading class. By the end of the year, even the students were complaining about it by saying to the teacher "do we have to watch another movie?" Her reading teacher was also the vice-principal of the middle school. He claimed he had so much going on in his role of vice-principal that he didn't have time to make lesson plans for reading class. Therefore, his answer to that was showing movies. Hello? How much effort does it take to plan for the kids to read? Even if you don't want to discuss the book, at least have them reading! Also, the movies they show here are not regulated like they are in the public schools in UT. It's pretty much anything goes. Bless her heart, Petey spoke up and said she wasn't allowed to watch Rated R movies. So the answer to that was that she (and anyone else who didn't want/couldn't watch) could go sit outside the class and talk.

The teachers for my elementary kids were fantastic. They really seemed interested in educating the kids. Keep in mind we moved in October so the school year had already started in Kuwait. When we first applied to the school the kids had to be tested to determine their placement. Soon after the kids started school it was time for parent teacher conferences. Critter's teacher told us Critter was doing well--so well in fact that she was surprised they didn't just put him in the next grade as it seemed he was already at that level. She encouraged us to pursue that since we were still just getting settled into the school and it'd be better to change it now if possible.

When we approached the administration (principal/vice-principal) about it we could tell something was wrong. Turns out, Kuwait has this law that you cannot skip any grades at any time and still receive a diploma. We explained we didn't plan on staying through graduation and even if we did, he would go to college in the States and I'm sure they'd let him in even if he had to get a GED or something. Still, they would not let us do it, under any circumstances. That was our first sign that the government/Ministry of Education was in complete control of the school. Parents, administrators, etc. really had no say in the education of the kids. Since the schools here in the Middle East are so transient-based we don't have the special programs we take for granted in the States. We found out later the teacher was reprimanded for suggesting to us that he skip a grade--a huge no-no in this government-run (but expensive and private) school.

Now lets get to the condition of the school in Kuwait. In one word--terrible. Outdated computers, drafty and broken windows, peeling paint, old desks . . . People were paying lots of money to attend the school but the only benefit we could see is when the driver for the owner of the school showed up at the school to pick up the owner in his decked out (Todd says it's inappropriate for me, a 39+ year old LDS woman, to say "pimped out") bright pink Hummer. Contrast that to the school here in Cairo that most Embassy kids attend (Macbooks, ipod touches for students to use, etc.) More on that in a later post.

A bit of plagiarism

2010-02-20T23:14:00.002+03:00

For an update on our blog today I'm going to refer you to friends' blogs. They're much better writers.

I was involved in a minor traffic accident. You can read about it here.

And if you want to read about how well behaved my children are in primary (as well as the antics of other adorable primary children), you can read about it here.

And on another happy note--tomorrow at 12 noon it will begin. I'm talking about sign-ups at the administration building of our compound for LAND LINES!!!!! I'm not excited or anything. We've only been waiting nearly 8 months for a decent internet connection. I'm just hoping it won't take another 8 months to actually get it working in our home. Maybe I will be more motivated to blog because it won't take forever to call up my blog, sign in, upload a picture or two, etc. I love living in a 3rd world country! Let the downloading begin! (And the Rachel watching begin! That's for you, JoDell!)

Cairo Branch Relief Society Meeting

2010-02-12T18:22:00.002+03:00

Do you think Emma Smith envisioned this for Relief Society?

We're still here

2010-01-23T00:20:00.002+03:00

Yes, I still have a Christmas background on the blog. Not sure when that will change. When I feel so inclined I suppose. Who knows when that will be?

Todd's parents are here for a visit. We've been having a great time being tourists in our our own city. We've recruited the help of a couple of people in our branch (Nacia Franco and Jaehee Williamson) to be our tour guides. They are amazingly knowledgeable about all things Egypt. My homeschooled kids are getting a fantastic education thanks to these two!

The kids and I have been doing the touring while Todd spent the last week in Iraq. No, that isn't a typo. No, I didn't approve. But I didn't disapprove either. So he went. And he made it home safely. And he loved going there. And he'll probably have to go back once a month for the next 3 or 4 months.

We had district conference today at church. I really love these meetings. It really makes me feel like there's more to us being here in the Middle East than just the job. It's a great time to be here.

We still don't know how long we'll be here. We're starting to make our summer plans and still wondering if we'll be buying one-way or round trip tickets. We love it here--most days anyway. After today's church meetings, we love it here. Earlier this month I couldn't find fresh milk for about 3 weeks. Wasn't so happy to be here then.

Picture problems

2009-12-11T21:06:00.002+03:00

No time for blogging. All my extra computer time (besides reading others' blogs) has been spent trying to figure out a problem with all my pictures from the last 6 months and why I can see them but can't access them to edit, load to blogger, etc. Every day I think I'm on the verge of figuring it all out but then other responsibilities call. Then the next day I review what I've already tried, try something new, and still it doesn't work. Will hopefully get it figured out shortly.

Random things

2009-11-18T22:14:00.001+03:00

Todd--dealing with work and home issues. At work they're implementing some cost-cutting measures and as the GM he helps in making the final decisions as to what measures will be taken. The biggest source of contention is employees will now be flying economy class instead of business class. You'd think they were being asked to sacrifice a limb. At home the driver told the housekeeper he couldn't drive her anymore which greatly upset her (she was in tears.) Todd had to be the go-between since he's our Arabic speaker. Todd smoothed things and told the driver we approve of him transporting the housekeeper but the housekeeper is still mad at the driver.

Catherine--homeschooling takes up most of my days. I started taking tennis lessons. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed tennis. I was never fast but now after 20 years I wish I could get back even some of the speed I had back then.

Petey--She's been working on a Young Women's project of cooking our meals. We've had some amazing dinners that she's made all by herself. I'm thinking the YW should make that project a permanent goal for the entire time she's in YW. She loves her computer, enjoys piano lessons, and tolerates me making her take tennis lessons.

Critter--In the States in early 2007 he got a new type of braces that is supposed to shorten the overall time of orthodontic treatment. We paid lots of money for those. Paid another orthodontist in Kuwait lots of money. Paid another orthodontist in Jordan lots of money. Now the Egyptian orthodontist tells us whatever they've been doing the last couple of years is wrong and he basically needs to start all over. Will get another set put on in a couple of weeks even though he's had braces now for 2 1/2 years. Will be paying lots more money. He's trying to work to move ahead in his homeschool and perhaps get through more than just one grade this year at least in some subjects. He's progressing in piano. We've come to learn he's a closet tennis pro. Who knew he had such a talent?

Batman--Paid lots of money to have his braces put on in Jordan. Have now been told it was wrong. Will pay more money to have them redone here in Egypt. He is my entertainer of the littler kids. He takes them outside to play ninjas and wrestle with them on the trampoline. He tolerates piano lessons. He's the only one who smiles both before and after tennis lessons.

Cricket--Has been told it's a 50/50 chance that she'll need braces in 6 months. She just finished the Harry Potter series and we're all happy about that. She's pretty much talked non-stop about it since she started a few weeks ago. She questions why her piano teacher gives her songs she doesn't know. She enjoys the fitness part of the tennis lessons more than the tennis part.

Red--Played tennis for a month but decided gymnastics with Nic looked like more fun so he's been doing that for about 2 weeks now. And he is having fun. I recently decided to combine his and Nic's music, art, history, and science to streamline things a bit. The jury is still out on whether or not it will work out to have them do things together since they get a bit distracted by each other.

Nic--Loves everything about gymnastics except when she has to get on the high bar and hang with her hands underhand (think underhanded pull-ups.) She'll try and accomplish much harder tricks but for whatever reason that scares her. She's a reader now and her favorite part of school is when she gets to practice her reading.

T--is basically ignored most days. I feel terrible about this. I'm trying to figure out how to include him more in our homeschooling. Right now he pretty much just sits and plays with the math manipulatives (he calls them his legos) and seems perfectly happy. When we can we also include him while we're reading out loud for something. He also participates in the coloring and painting whenever we do those things. He's talking more and more and is becoming his dad's shadow.

Another teenager

2009-11-16T21:53:00.000+03:00

We now are the proud parents of another teenager.

Relief Society Meeting

2009-11-14T20:29:00.001+03:00

*Catherine, Amiee House, Jaehee Williamson

We had a fun Relief Society Meeting last week. We met on Saturday for breakfast at Lucille's in Maadi. It is like an American Diner. Great food. Then we took a tour of Road 9. Some came for the breakfast, some for the tour, and some for both. Total we had about 16 or 17 people.

Road 9 is known for it's shopping. They had everything from hardware, table linens, groceries, hair salons, touristy trinkets, music stores, furniture makers, alabaster shops, silver, jewelry, restaurants and bakeries all within I'd say a 1/2 mile if that. We stopped at one of the local bakeries and I bought each of the kids one of these pretzel-shaped bread things. They didn't taste like pretzels but they were good--especially when they were fresh and hot. They were about 20 cents each.

Maadi is about 30 minutes from where we live in Katameya but we spend a lot of time in Maadi. The church is there along with other shopping places. Maadi is where many expats live and some of the local grocery stores carry some American products that I can't find other places. We pay a pretty penny for many of those items but sometimes it's worth it. Just the other day I found green tobasco (one of Todd's favorites) and I bought some Oreos for Critter for his birthday. These are definitely a birthday treat because they are about $8 a bag.

I don't do my major grocery shopping in the small markets in Maadi. Remember, I'm shopping for 9 people. I can easily fill up two carts on our weekly shopping trip. It's amazing though how many items they can squeeze into the narrow aisles in the local Maadi markets. However, I do like their service. They're always very friendly and are very happy to carry your groceries to your car for you (or deliver if you're a Maadi local)--even if they only do it for the tip.

Primary program

2009-11-12T11:19:00.000+03:00

On the 30th of October our branch had their primary program presentation. The kids did great. Batman worked hard memorizing his part but got up there and forgot to say the scripture he was supposed to put in there. Cricket had her part memorized but said she got nervous so she ended up reading a bit of hers. Nic had hers sort of memorized. There were 3 older girls helping out with the program (girls who turned 12 this year so they're in that in-between stage of primary and Young Women). They helped Nic say her part and so even though Nic knew her part she let the older girls guide her through every word. Red just got right up there and did his part no problem.

Being in a small primary all the kids get to have a speaking part and the speaking parts are what I consider quite long. We gotta fill up the time somehow. And as it turns out we ended about 15 minutes early. That was my fault as I was in charge of organizing the program and assigning parts and such. The counselor in the branch presidency filled in the rest of the time and did a great job.

The last hour of church we had a party of sorts. The kids got to eat popcorn and cookies while they watched the movie "The Restoration." We then sang some songs. Then we took them outside where they ate freezy pops. Primary really is a fun place to be.

Halloween--Part 2

2009-11-10T23:40:00.000+03:00

From what we'd heard from friends and branch members, Halloween in Maadi (where the church is and where most expats live) is somewhat out of control. There are big crowds of teenagers and eggs are involved--hundreds of them. And the eggs are given out by the policemen. So we were thinking our Halloween would be another family party.

We were pleasantly surprised when someone in our compound started making plans for Halloween festivities within the compound. She had to do a bit of convincing though. Several emails were sent out describing the origins of Halloween and how it has evolved today into something fun for kids and adults as well--not some sort of devil-worshiping holiday or anything but just fun.

I thought it was humorous that as they were planning the trick-or-treating part of the events that she had to send out an email describing exactly how to trick or treat since most of the people in our compound have never done it. It was interesting to see this holiday through the eyes of some who have never experienced it before.

The Thursday night before Halloween we had a pumpkin-carving party at the Health Club. Many, if not all, had never carved pumpkins before. At first there was some concern as to why we would let children take sharp knives and use them to cut into these hard gourds. But it was explained that it is all done under the supervision of parents and there are tools that kids can use to make them safe. And even if the children don't do the cutting, they can help to plan the design and help pull out the seeds and gunk from the insides. The pumpkins here aren't like the pumpkins in the States either. They're much harder and oddly-shaped. We had fun though taking part in this tradition even if it wasn't tradition for most of the people there.

Then on Saturday night was the trick-or-treating. Like I said, an email went out explaining the details of trick-or-treating. The email also said tricks of any kind would not be tolerated in the compound. Attached to the email was a list of homes that had agreed to be on the trick-or-treating route because not everyone in the compound was taking part in the festivities. We were to stick to the list of "approved houses." We had put our names on the list. Petey handed out candy while Todd took the rest of our kids out around the neighborhood.

In between trick-or-treaters, Mohammad, our boab, asked Petey why all these kids were running around the neighborhood and coming up to our door and wanted to know if she wanted him to chase them away if they were bothering us. Petey explained in her best Arabic that it was Halloween. He just stared blankly at her. Then she tried to explain it's an American holiday where people go around to each other's houses and get candy. Another blank stare. I'm sure he was wondering why a majority Egyptian compound was celebrating this American holiday. But Petey assured him that it was all in fun and we didn't mind all the people knocking on our door and it would be over by 7. (The email had specific times for trick-or-treating.)

I remember when I was growing up I really liked Halloween. We didn't live in a neighborhood with houses close by so I remember my dad loading us up in the car and driving to several people's houses to do our trick-or-treating. I've been a bit sad that my younger kids don't remember trick-or-treating and my older kids missed out on the last couple of years of it and my middle kids are missing out on the best years for trick-or-treating. So I was happy that this year we got back some of that tradition. It really can be a fun holiday.

After the trick-or-treating we had a family party planned by the older kids. They'd had these plans in the works before we knew the compound was going to have their festivities. We bobbed for apples and ate homemade donuts (delicious but they took forever and made such a mess!) from a string.

Here's T bobbing for apples. My family used to do this as well and I don't know I wasn't more grossed out by it growing up. Now in my older years I'm grossed out by it but my kids had fun doing it and that's all that matters. However, after T's turn all the kids wanted the water changed before they took their turns.

Halloween--Part 1

2009-11-08T22:53:00.000+03:00

This year's Halloween was the most traditional we've had since moving to the ME. In Kuwait our celebration consisted of the Young Women throwing a Halloween party for the primary. It was a fantastic party but not what we would normally do for Halloween. Then in Jordan our older kids planned a party. We invited some friends from the branch over and had our little party at our house.

A week before Halloween we were invited to a Halloween party by a branch member--Charline Eastin. She has two primary aged children. We heard it's sort of an annual tradition and this party is great. And it was great. It was like a huge carnival without having to spend any money! There were several giant huge blow-up apparatus things for the kids to play on. There was all the cotton candy and popcorn you could eat for free. And it was a potluck where we grilled burgers and such and ate a ton of food.

Somehow though we missed the memo that the majority of people don't dress up for this event. It didn't take long for the kids to shed their costumes but unfortunately I was wearing this hideous witches' hat and my hair would have been even more hideous if I would've taken it off so I was stuck wearing the hideous hat for the entire party. I blame Todd. I wasn't going to wear a costume but Todd insisted that we'd be the only ones without one. His Aragorn costume was one he could just throw on when we got to the party. But once there we saw that no other adult had on a costume so he conveniently decided it'd look stupid to wear a costume. So there I was.

Here's a picture of the kids waiting in line for the bungee cord run game.

After the party we took advantage of being near the Nile and decided to go for a felucca ride. We'd heard about how peaceful and cheap they are. However, ours wasn't cheap or peaceful. Doing something with just the family though was fun nonetheless. Turns out, we didn't take a felucca ride but instead got on some motor-boat type thing. The motor was loud and after an hour and a half on the boat it wasn't very peaceful. We have since learned the difference between the motor-boats and the feluccas and we're looking forward to a felucca ride sometime. We started in the late afternoon and by the time we were back the sun had set and it was dark. So to be out on the Nile on a boat we couldn't have picked a more perfect time.
Here we are at the beginning of the ride:

*Sidenote: I did bring a hat and change of clothes along in anticipation of the boat ride so I was no longer wearing the witch costume. I could've changed at the party but decided that changing at the party would only highlight my lack of self-confidence.

District Conference

2009-11-06T22:39:00.003+03:00

I'm going to try to catch up this week on some posts that may be a bit outdated but I want to make sure I've put them up here so we can remember them. And hopefully they'll be of some interest to some of you.

Two weeks ago for church we had a District Conference. Elder Holland came. It was based out of Jordan and was broadcast to us here in Egypt. Well . . . sort of. It was one of those meetings where you really had to listen with the Spirit to get much from the meeting. The problem was the internet was out in Jordan but thankfully through 3rd world technology they were able to connect via some old phone. So we were only getting the audio on our end and no video. And much of the audio was garbled and very hard to understand. It was unfortunate because I've heard from some in Jordan that it was a great meeting.

OK. I'm not being quite fair. I'm sure it was great and from what I was able to hear and understand it was a great meeting. President Holland has a way of making us feel useful and like pioneers out here in this part of the world. Even though we're not on an official church mission here, we can't help but feel like we're moving the work along just by being here. It's an exciting time to be living here in the Middle East. While he was here he also dedicated Lebanon which was a newsworthy event.

I think the reason I may have gotten even less than most out of the meeting is due to our familial situation. I thought it was difficult enough to get 7 children to sit quietly for a two hour meeting when we've had Stake Conference or even watching General Conference. Try getting 7 kids to be quiet when all they're hearing is some garble over a speaker for two hours. Truthfully though, they did pretty good. I wanted them to be quiet if for nothing else so that others in attendance could hear as much as possible. We did have to take turns taking T out into the hallway and upstairs but overall they were as reverent as I could have expected them to be.

Birthday celebrations

2009-10-25T21:33:00.002+03:00

My niece asked in the comments how they celebrate birthdays here. Since not everybody reads the comments and because it may be of interest to others, I'll put my answer as a post instead.

It seems that birthday celebrations run the gamut here just like in the States. We've seen basic celebrations very similar to what we have for our family to giant celebrations where the parents rent some big venue, the drivers and nannies escort the party guests to the location carrying outrageously huge gifts for the birthday boy/girl, and everyone is dressed up in their finest clothes.

A couple of difference from how our family celebrates is that many times the birthday parties here are family affairs. You don't just invite the friends of the birthday child, you invite their families as well as the friends and families of the adults and other brothers and sisters. A lot of food is served and the kids play while the adults chat.

There is not a huge deal made out of opening the gifts. When my kids have received wrapped birthday gifts, the giver usually tells us what's inside rather than waiting for it to be opened. When we have given a wrapped gift the receiver opens it immediately upon receiving it and doesn't wait to open all the presents at once.

A birthday cake with candles seems to be pretty standard but the birthday song is sung in several different languages, one right after the other. After singing it in English the other verses are sung in languages like Arabic, Tagolog, French, and Spanish depending on the make up of the party goers.

Petey's birthday

2009-10-23T21:19:00.003+03:00

Petey celebrated her 14th birthday last week.

This picture is mostly to embarrass her as I'm sure when she sees it she'll exclaim, "Mom! Why did you put that picture on the blog!"

She wanted a fancy homemade cake with colorful decorations and fancy writing. Since I don't have that talent she decided to make her own. Unfortunately I think she's inherited my creative capabilities. Sidenote: it tasted delicious and every crumb of it was gone by the next day.

The day ended well with a family party and an Itunes gift certificate.

Who knew buying garbage bags was so satisfying?

2009-10-14T13:17:00.000+03:00

When we moved from America we moved most of our garbage cans with us. One of those garbage cans we've rarely used though because it is evidently an odd size for the Middle East. I have not been able to find any liners that fit it. Until now.

I was looking for garbage bags for another can when I saw these.

Since I don't read Arabic, I just had to go with the picture hoping the bags inside looked like the picture on the outside. In the bottom left corner is the size (written in English) and it was comparable to the size I have been looking for for 2 years. The biggest bonus was they have the pull ties on the top rather than the usual twist ties (or nothing at all.)

They aren't the sturdiest garbage bags but I'll make them work. I still don't know what "Garbage Bags Taped Linking Self" means BUT I have liners that fit my garbage can.

A few homeschool pictures

2009-10-12T13:48:00.000+03:00

Here are a few things we've been doing lately. I realize they are all pictures of them doing science projects. I guess the other subjects aren't necessarily picture-worthy as it usually means the kids are just sitting there reading or doing a worksheet. I guess I could've taken some art or music pics. Maybe next time.

Here's Nic helping Red with one of his science labs. Red was learning to measure liquids in a graduated cylinder. The liquid they're using is colored water. Since their science kits came with the safety goggles they both insisted on using them for this dangerous science lab.

Cricket is scooping dirt into a container along with vegetable peels, paper, etc. to determine the rate of decomposition of different items. A few of their projects use "soil." Unfortunately this curriculum wasn't necessarily written for students in Egypt because it isn't just like we can go into our yard and get soil. Sand is no problem. Soil is a problem.

The older kid like to help the younger ones with some of their lessons. Here is Critter helping Nic learn about her sense of touch by feeling objects hidden under a blanket and trying to identify them.

This was taken the first day of homeschool. Batman had a science project and all the kids wanted to see it and participate. The novelty is wearing off a bit and they don't all gather around for each other's lessons as much anymore.

So what exactly does 24/7 mean?

2009-10-10T10:06:00.003+03:00

At the entrance to our compound is a mini-market called the 24/7. You know where this is going, don't you.

The 24/7 market has been quite handy since the nearest grocery store is a 15 minute drive. The kids like to walk or ride their bikes down to buy treats and I can get things I need like water, milk, and fabric softener. It saved my bacon once when I was able to buy some much needed popcorn.

The other morning I realized we were low on bread and milk and Cricket volunteered to ride her bike down to get what I needed. It was about 8:30 am. She returned with no bread and no milk because the 24/7 was closed.

So whose idea was it to name that market 24/7? What exactly does 24/7 mean to an Egyptian? I guess I'll have to ask one.

Alexandria--Part 3--The end

2009-10-02T23:28:00.002+03:00

The last day in Alexandria will be what we will remember the most. When we moved to the Middle East we were warned about certain behaviors toward Americans by the people there . We've somehow managed to escape most of those behaviors--until that last day in Alex.

We were planning on heading back to Cairo that day but wanted to see a couple of sites first. It was the first day of Eid. Going out to a tourist location during Eid was our first mistake.

We went to a place called the Qait Bey Fortress. This 15th century fortress stands on the site where the Great Lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) once stood.

There were crowds of people when we arrived. We unloaded from the van and Todd made his way to the ticket window. Middle Easterners have no concept of lines. It is in all aspects of their culture whether waiting to get your fruits and veggies weighed in the produce section, waiting to check out at the store, waiting in traffic, or waiting to get tickets at the fortress. Nobody actually stands in a line and waits their turn. If you see an opening, you push your way into that opening until you become the one at the front. There's a term I learned playing basketball called "boxing out." Egyptians would be great at rebounding basketballs because they've perfected boxing out. We've tried to keep our dignity and not push our way to the front but we, too, have improved on the technique of boxing out. We don't push ahead of someone else but we're pretty adept at keeping the latecomers behind us.

Todd finally got the attention of the ticket seller and Todd told him the number of adults and children. Then the guy wanted to see all of the children. Yes. He wanted Todd to leave the mass of people, get the children, then somehow get 9 people back through the mass so the seller could see how big the children are to determine the cost of the tickets. Todd asked if he could just tell him the ages because that would be so much simpler. Simple isn't a concept they have here. After a couple minutes of haggling, they agreed on a price and Todd walked away with the tickets without having to subject the rest of us to the ticket-selling nightmare.

The next step was to find the entrance which was just behind the ticket window but we didn't find that out soon enough. As we wandered around looking for the entrance I was carrying T on my hip. He had one foot in front of me and one foot behind me. As we walked he started kicking the foot that was behind me. Or so I thought. I also thought it was odd because he'd never done that before. As we walked more I started to think someone behind me was grabbing T's foot and then letting it go so his foot would hit me. It takes me a while but I finally realized it wasn't T's foot at all. Someone was grabbing me (lightly--hence the thought of it being T's foot) but grabbing me nonetheless. When I realized what was happening I immediately turned around and much to my surprise it was two boys about 12 years old. I started yelling at them to "stop" and "it ends now" and "don't do it again." Even though they probably didn't understand the actual words I'm pretty sure they understood what I meant but they just giggled. I mean really. Here I am a 40 year old walking with my 7 kids and husband and they have the audacity to do that! Todd nor the kids knew what had been happening. They only knew that from out of nowhere I turned around and started yelling at two little stranger children.

We found the entrance and again had to box out to get in. When we arrived at the ticket taker he said we hadn't bought enough tickets for all of us and wanted Todd to go back and buy more tickets. Todd firmly asserted that the ticket seller told him that would be enough. Here's where Todd's charm comes in. Todd knows when to pull it out when needed. He spoke to the ticket taker in Arabic. Todd saves that for just the right moment. The guy was charmed that the American with the big family spoke Arabic so not only did he let us in, he let us go around him so we could avoid the back up the other people had to get through as they had to go through a security check.

As soon as we were through the entrance we were being inundated with people--mostly young men--wanting to take our picture. The first group we met were kind and asked permission. They were probably in their early twenties. They took their pictures, thanked us, and were done with it. As they walked off they started singing together and clapping their hands. They were having a fun day. You'd never see twenty-something males in the States walking around and singing for fun--unless their in some sort of choir or something. But this was different.

Anyway, on we walked and the requests for pictures didn't stop. The problem was though that with the younger teenage crowd, they'd take the pictures then follow us around. They wanted more pictures. They wanted to tell us where to go next. The crowd following us grew and they were becoming more obnoxious. We were trying to just enjoy the view of the sea and take pictures of each other but they would jump in the way of the camera. This is the only picture we got that day. Look at how happy we all are (especially Petey) after being harassed by teenage boys.

Soon after this picture was taken we were again walking along and the boys started pushing each other for fun. Remember, it was a crowded place that day. The pushing wasn't a problem until they started pushing each other into us. We were being tripped up and such. So then Todd lost all his charm. He turned around and used his Arabic but not in the charming way. The display emboldened Petey and she started yelling in Arabic to leave us alone. Instead of leaving us alone though, they just apologized for the behavior of the others. Nobody took responsibility for their own obnoxious behavior and they just kept following us but this time without the pushing.

Within about 2 minutes of the yelling episode we were approached by a security/police officer asking about the problem. Todd told him what was happening and that we just wanted to be left alone to enjoy the fortress. So what did the security guy do? He pulled out his baton, blew on his whistle, and cleared the way for us to get through the crowds to anywhere we wanted to go. That isn't exactly what we had in mind either as that drew even more attention to us. But the rest of the tour we had our own personal security guard who cleared the way and kept the gawkers at bay. Now we were the annoying ones because everyone else had to make their own way through the crowds but if they didn't move out of our way they risked being swatted with the big baton.

We wandered for a bit longer with our security detail but decided to leave before we saw all of the fortress. We'd seen enough.

We headed back to Cairo and decided to stop at McDonalds on the way. McDonalds can always make us feel better. Until this day. Even the McDonalds was crowded on this first day of Eid. We found a couple of tables though and were enjoying our food. Cricket went to the restroom and when she came back out her hair was kind of slicked down with water. Her hair looked fine before she went into the restroom so I wondered why she thought she needed to slick her hair down with water. So I said "Cricket, what's up with your hair?" She then told us that while she was in the restroom she was washing her hands when another girl about her age started smearing the liquid soap into Cricket's hair. For no reason. A complete stranger. How odd. And a bad day for that little girl to do that to my little girl.

We looked around the crowds of people and Cricket pointed out the culprit. I went over and asked if her mother or father was there. She didn't speak English. Rats! It's probably a good thing I don't speak Arabic because she was about to get a good tongue-lashing. Todd was over on the other side of the restaurant so he was no help at the moment. After several attempts at trying to get her to understand what I wanted, we saw a McDonalds worker standing nearby and the little girl got his attention. He translated what I was asking and of course her parents weren't there. She was there with only a friend. I pointed to Cricket and told her she shouldn't put soap in people's hair. Again, I'm sure she didn't understand the words but I hope she understood what I meant. The McDonalds man apologized and I felt bad for him because he's not the one who put soap in Cricket's hair. A very strange episode.

We made it back to Cairo without any further incident. Fun times. Fun times.

Alexandria--Part 2--Fun

2009-09-25T22:14:00.003+03:00

After moving to a hotel we felt much healthier even though the space was far more cramped.

Another bonus of moving to the hotel is that we were able to use the private hotel beach whereas if we'd stayed in the apartment we would've had to use one of the public beaches. The public beaches in the ME are known for being more trashy and crowded.

We had fun playing in the water of the Mediterranean Sea.

Building sand castles

Eating french fries and drinking orange soda out of glass goblets.

We did swim in the hotel pool but the water was colder than the sea so we didn't spend much time in the pool.

And since we didn't have access to a kitchen anymore we ate out a bit more than planned. This is a picture of "the best fish I've ever eaten" according to Todd. It probably was fresh from the sea that morning.

Alexandria--Part 1--The Apartment

2009-09-25T17:45:00.006+03:00

We took a trip to the North Coast last weekend. It was just the weekend before Eid. Eid comes at the end of Ramadan (the month-long fast). They compare Eid to our Christmas. It's a major holiday. The day we left Alexandria was the first day of Eid. Eid lasts 3 days. It was a trip I don't think we will soon forget.

Samir, who was our driver until he made the owner of the company mad and now we get a different driver every few days, is from Alex (perhaps more on that story on another post). He arranged for us to get an apartment on the beach. We left after church on Friday and arrived to Alex Friday evening. Todd went up to the apartment first with Samir and approved the place. The kids and I then came up (it was on a 13th floor). We payed the money and started to get settled in.

At first glance, the apartment was great. At first smell, the apartment was horrible. We decided to make the best of it. The apartment had some great features.

I loved the ceilings!

I loved the wardrobes for the bedrooms.

I loved that we had space to spread out.

I loved that there was room for the boys to spread out their Risk game and play. Critter is not happy because he's losing.

The view of the Mediterranean was actually out a side window but still, it was a view.

But then as we were getting more settled, things weren't quite as beautiful.

The bathrooms were fancy . . .

but up close and personal they were like this.

We thought we could save a few bucks using the apartment because we wouldn't have to eat out all the time but I was expected to cook with these:

No thanks. I'm not hungry anymore.

We weren't sure of the size of the apartment so we'd brought 3 sleeping bags with us in case we needed them. The kids ended up laying them on top of the bed because none of them wanted to actually get in the sheets. I didn't want to either. However, we didn't have enough sleeping bags and I didn't trust sleeping on the floor either. We brought some beach towels with us also. So I spread out some beach towels on the bed and slept on those.

One thing I can't show in the picture are the smells. Each room of the apartment had its own unique smell. If you didn't like the smell you only had to walk a few feet and you were greeted with a whole new scent.

The next morning Todd woke up with quite a headache. He was convinced it was from the smells. So . . . we packed up our bags and Todd ponied up and we stayed the next 2 nights at the Sheraton.

No pictures

2009-09-12T00:37:00.002+03:00

I was going to post some recent pics but I can't find the camera cord. Our house is still in disarray because we have no shelves, cupboards, closets, etc. The master bedroom is the only one with a closet. We brought with us a couple of smallish wardrobes we bought in Kuwait. Now that they've been moved twice and they were cheapy to begin with they are falling apart. The doors don't shut correctly and the drawers come off the rails when they're pulled out. The wardrobes are filled and everything else is just spilling out onto the floors.

Add to that we have to do homeschool on the top floor because that's the only place with a consistent internet connection. It's still blazing hot here (low to mid 90's) so the top floor is like an oven. Petey and Cricket's bedroom is also on the top floor. I couldn't stand the heat anymore and since their bedroom has an A/C I decided to move the couches into their bedroom so we could have homeschool in their bedroom. We all sit on the couches and bed and do our work. Needless to say, the girls' bedroom is a mess even though I try to get all the kids to clean up all their stuff every day. But every day it's slightly more messy and out of control.

We're having some desks, some bookshelves, and a wardrobe made. The original plan was that they'd be done "on the 27th day of Ramadan" which means they should be done this week. I'm looking forward to getting them but if we do get them this week, we won't know what to do with them. We keep hearing we'll get DSL soon. So do we put 6 desks and 4 bookcases downstairs in the basement and put together the wardrobe up on the 3rd level in the girls' room with the hopes we get DSL soon? Or will we continue to have to do homeschool on the top level and we'll be spending time in a couple of months moving desks, shelves, wardrobes, and all the junk on and in them up and down a lot of stairs because the DSL thing never happened?

So why don't I just put the girls downstairs and make the room upstairs the school room to begin with, you ask? I have thought of that and that still may happen but for now I'm just crossing my fingers that we get some information on the DSL this week. IF we get DSL this week it'd just be easier for lots of reasons to keep girls upstairs and set up shop downstairs.

Meanwhile, we have eleventy billion cords for who knows what around this house but no clue what they should attach to but not one of them belongs to the camera.

Comment response

2009-09-05T20:07:00.000+03:00

I wrote the following in response to a couple of comments from a previous post but thought other who don't read the comments might find it of interest:

After 3 days we really like this curriculum. We're doing it strictly homeschool though (not affiliated with any schools) so the parent-intensity is as much or little as I want it. I don't have to submit attendance reports, time spent, or other things like that. But it also means we pay for it. Instead of the private school allowance we get from Todd's company, we just used that for our homeschool curriculum.

Some homeschool to get away from the structure of traditional school. I homeschooled to get a bit of that structure back after having my kids attend the schools here in the ME for the last 2 years. It's looking like the k12 curriculum will fit our needs.

And it was totally like Christmas.

Too modest

2009-09-04T19:22:00.002+03:00

In our compound is the SMASH health club. We joined it for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted a place to swim, exercise, etc. Second, it would be a place the kids could fulfill the physical education part of their homeschool curriculum. It was ideal because it is within walking distance of our villa.

As we were walking to the pool for the first time I told the kids I wasn't really sure what the "rules" were just yet. I wasn't sure if they were used to westerners and their form of swimsuits. I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for me to swim or if it was haram for the adult women to swim. When we toured the facilities I did see some adult women in western swimwear (read: bikinis) sitting poolside at the upper pool. So I knew I could go there but I wasn't sure what the accepted wear would be at the lower pool which is the kids/family pool. The lower pool is where we were headed because it had a shallow area for the littlest kids. I told the kids that until I observed what other people were doing, they would have to help Nic and T and I would sit on the chairs and watch them.

We arrived and a nice helper got us pads for the chairs and put up a big umbrella to shade us. I've since learned that they want baksheesh (a tip) for doing this and I didn't bring any money that first time. Ooops. I always now make sure I bring some small change. I took my seat with my t-shirt and shorts still over my suit and the kids took off their shorts and t-shirts and jumped into the pool. We were literally the only ones at the pool so there was no other adult woman I could watch to see what was acceptable.

After a few minutes, the lifeguard came over to me and spoke to me in Arabic. Normally I would ask Todd what he said but Todd wasn't with us. My next backup is Petey but she was at home making dinner and was coming a bit later. So I called over the other kids and he repeated to them what he'd said to me. The only thing the kids understood was that he was saying something about my shirt. After trying for a bit to understand each other, he finally went over and got another lifeguard who spoke English. The second lifeguard told me they have a rule that if I wanted to sit on the lounge chairs by the pool I had to be dressed in swimwear. If I wanted to wear my clothing I had to sit in the "family section" (which is about 10 feet away from the lounge chairs.)

So what it came down to is that I was dressed too modestly for the swimming pool. So I stripped down to my swimsuit and was able to sit in the chairs in all my varicose vein glory. It's one of the many rules of Egypt I'm learning to accept but don't think I will ever understand. At least I won't have to worry about those t-shirt tan lines.

School is starting

2009-08-31T22:38:00.004+03:00

Here's pics of the kids with their school stuff that arrived from the States, courtesy of k12.com. In my research I read some reviews of this curriculum that when they received their k12 stuff some things were missing--items from the science kits, a book from the literature box, etc. I was concerned that ordering an entire curriculum for 6 kids would mean we would most definitely be missing some items. I was not wrong. Fortunately, it isn't a lot. However, some missing items are important. For example, we're missing Critter's entire science experiment box and Petey's entire Literature box. Then there are a few odds and ends. However, they were helpful in getting things in order and the rest of the stuff should be on its way.

I was surprised that the the items arrived as quickly as they did. It was here when we got back from our trip back home. I was even more surprised that it actually made it here at all considering the address on the boxes. I was very clear in the address as the street is Ibn Khalid and I knew I couldn't just say that over the phone and expect them to get it right. I spelled it all out to make sure it would be correct. I didn't think though that I'd need to spell "Cairo." When the boxes arrived I noticed they'd spelled it "Kyro." Should the fact that I ordered an entire years worth of curriculum for 6 of my children from a company specializing in homeschool curriculum that can't correctly spell "Cairo" concern me?

God Bless America

2009-08-25T16:51:00.009+03:00

We had a fabulous time in America. Thanks to all the family and friends who hosted our family at various times. We were sad that we didn't get to see everyone we wanted but I'm pretty sure even if we lived in America we still wouldn't get to see everyone as much as we would like. The following is a list of places we visited and things we did while there in no particular order. I didn't put EVERYTHING on the list. I only included things that we can't/don't have in the Middle East. Check out the amazing things the USA has to offer:

Walmart (ok--this is in order. I think we spent more time at Walmart than anywhere else.)
Deseret Industries
Crown Burger
Charlie Owen's funeral
Boys camp at Timbercreek
Visits with fantastic friends
Lagoon
Churros
Soft serve ice cream
impact Solutions 5 year birthday party
Tio's Mexican Restaurant
Gloria "Singin' Ladies" Reunion lunch
Village Baker Pizza, sandwiches, and cinnamon rolls
BYU campus & bookstore
BYU-I campus & bookstore
Stan's shakes
Activity Day
Buca de Beppo
Lunchables
Family olympics
Dairy Queen (Girl Scout Thin Mint Shakes)
Gogurts
Pulled pork sandwiches
Scout camp
Big Juds
Albertson's fried chicken
Reid's Dairy Brown Cow
Idaho Falls temple
Brighton Beehive camp
Sleepovers
College roommates (and our families) reunion
Costco chocolate cake
Leatherby's ice cream and caramel sauce
Driving from Boise to Idaho Falls to Salt Lake to Boise to Kooskooskie, Washington to Boise to Idaho Falls to Boise (total=34 hours)
Pizza with real pepperoni, real canadian bacon, and real sausage
Sausage Egg McMuffin with cheese
Costco polish dog
Costco berry smoothie
Office Max
Game Crazy
Wingers
Fresh, pre-made, chocolate milk
Family reunion
Camping
Wendy's frosties
Family portraits
Smitty's breakfast
All-a-dollar
Rose Park 10th ward Family Night
Cummings family open house

Other highlights of the trip were:
*Having 3 pieces of luggage lost. And those were lost on the last leg of our flight from Seattle to Boise. They'd made it all the way from Cairo to Paris to Seattle but then disappeared. They were all found eventually.
*Closing on a house we bought in Salt Lake
*Spending 48 hours on planes and in airports to make this trip
*Visits with friends and family late into the night
*Ooops on the dessert at Buca de Beppo. Do I need to see my bishop?
*The flurry of activity on our credit card when we made it back into the States caused the CC company to shut it down as a safety precaution. Then we couldn't remember the pin # to our debit card because we hadn't used it in a year. We needed a way to pay for things but eventually got it all worked out. (PS--Did I forget to pay anyone back money that we owe? Please let me know!)
*Late night nachos, hugger-mugger, kick the can, and other games
*Petey got her first hair permanent
*Commitments from several people that they're coming to visit us--Grandma & Grandpa Cummings, Eric & HyDee and family, Stacey & Richard Vass, Arie Wiglama, John & Emily Bell (and hopefully the rest of their family). We welcome everyone and would love to see this list grow longer!
*Weight gain of 7 pounds (and that's just me.) Is it any surprise after reading the list above?

Here are some picture highlights:

Petey and Cricket riding horses

T's 2nd birthday

Critter and Batman post-waterfight

Cousins with Grandma & Grandpa Cummings

Nic helping Grandpa Johnson do some irrigating

Red doing the egg toss

Late-night "hugger-mugger"

Catherine with brothers and sisters

We couldn't get a good picture because Nic & Red wouldn't stop "cheesin'" it for the camera. Cricket was mad about the color of the shirts we had to wear. Her facial expression is priceless. And then there's me, yelling at everyone to buck up, settle down, look happy, and hold still!

Family reunion swimming contests

Some teenage cousins thinking they were "all that" building a pyramid

So their parents showed them who is really "all that"

Jordan wrap-up

2009-08-20T17:31:00.004+03:00

Just wanted to make sure I've recorded our last days in Jordan. It was hard to leave what have become good friends but there are good people in Cairo as well. Some of our friends left before we did. I'm sad I didn't get final pictures of them but fortunately I've got pictures of them at various times during our stay in Jordan.

Firas took us to a favorite Lebanese restaurant for his birthday dinner.

The next night he came to our house where we gave him a cake for his birthday. Firas had been to our house a few times for cake when we celebrated our birthdays. He had never really had American cake before he met us. He grew to love it along with other American foods like homemade chocolate chip cookies and egg nog. At the first he thought our sweets were too sweet but by the end of the year he could really put down the cookies, keeping right up with the rest of us.

We said goodbye to our housekeeper, Diana. She is a Filipina and still has children back in the Phillipines. Her youngest is 9--Cricket's age. The kids stay with Diana's mother and sister. Diana is hoping to take a trip back to see them soon. She hasn't seen them for a couple of years. Once again we've crossed paths with someone that really teaches us a lesson in gratitude. How fortunate we are that our family can be together.

We had the Schwallie family over for dinner. The Schwallies are originally from Sri Lanka but have lived in Jordan for years. They were one of our favorite families in Jordan. Stephanie was so welcoming to Clara in Young Women's. They are one of the kindest, most generous, most gracious families I have ever met. Something to aspire to.

We also said goodbye to Ala, the gardener. He, his wife, and child are living in the house now until it is rented out again. Firas tells us they are having the time of their lives living in such a nice home. I'm sure where they were living before didn't have near the comforts that this home has. I'm secretly--well, ok, openly--hoping the house doesn't rent out for a LONG time so Ala and his family can enjoy it.

And our very last night was spent at a place called "Books at Cafe." Firas wanted to take us there. We walked in and it was like a place you'd find near a University. There were a bunch of college-age, single-looking people hanging out drinking their lattes. Not really the scene for a Mormon family of 9. But we enjoyed it. The food was great. The cafe is the second floor. The ground floor is a bookstore. After dinner the kids each got to choose out a book to buy. The picture is of Dad and Petey trying to help Firas get his new ipod working. They needed Petey in there since she has a little more experience than the rest of us in that area.

Already it seems like Jordan was a dream. It went by so fast. Hopefully one day we'll get to go back. Well, Todd has already been back and will be going back again next week. But I mean I hope as a family we get to go back.

Good news and Egyptian theatre

2009-08-19T21:25:00.002+03:00

First, the good news. The owner of our compound claims we should have access to DSL internet in 15 days or less. This is great news since right now we have to go up to the roof level to get a signal. Sometimes if we sit really close to the window in the boys' bedroom we can get a faint signal. We are thrilled and are crossing our fingers that this isn't another promise said just to make us happy. We were trying to come up with different options for our homeschool configuration because we will need internet access. If we get DSL it would make our lives a whole lot easier. I confirmed with Todd that there was not even a whisper of "no problem" in the conversation so that is a good sign.

Second, we took the family to see the Harry Potter movie tonight. About an hour and 15 minutes into it the movie stopped, the lights came on, and everyone stood up and moved toward the doors. Turns out the movies here have an intermission. It lasted about 5 minutes and then the movie resumed. Great if you have to take a kid to the bathroom (which we did) but I could see a movie losing a little momentum. I do remember an intermission at a movie once in the States. It was some looooooooong movie I think about the Civil War. Todd could tell you. He was the one who took me. It was like our 3rd or 4th date or something and I fell asleep. Fortunately he still chose to marry me despite my ability to sleep anywhere at any time--even on a date with him.

Recognizing the Spirit

2009-08-18T04:07:00.004+03:00

Warning: forgive me for the use of the term "excited" in this post. I know I overuse it. I even looked up synonyms to try to vary it but nothing evoked the meaning I was trying to express. In short, the Spirit speaks to me by making me "excited."

I've heard many lessons/talks throughout my life about recognizing the Spirit when it speaks. I've learned that the Spirit can reveal in many forms. Looking back now, I realize that the Spirit confirms things to me by getting me excited, anxious, looking forward to what may come.

Without going back too many years, I'll tell you I was led to attend the colleges I attended. I chose my major based on the excitement I thought it would hold. For whatever reason I could never get excited about going on a mission--so I didn't. I knew it was the right thing to marry Todd based on those feelings of anticipation of married life being way better than single life. Before I got pregnant with every child I would get excited at the thought of not only having another baby, but excited at the thought of just being pregnant. I knew when it was time to have another baby when the anticipation outweighed the dread of sleepless nights. In UT we lived in three different places all within 3 1/2 blocks of each other but each time I was anxious to pack it all up again. It's the same thing with homeschool this year. The thought of homeschool filled me with dread a couple of years ago but I am truly excited to give it a try this year.

There were a handful of times when we were living in Salt Lake that opportunities came for us to leave UT. I just could never get excited about those opportunities. Those opportunities never panned out for various reasons. I promise I wasn't sabatoging the plans. I know now it was because those opportunities weren't the right direction for us. Before we married, Todd told me when the opportunity came, we would go live/work in the Middle East. As some opportunities presented themselves, I secretly dreaded the thought of moving to some of the places that could potentially lead to his dream of working in the ME. I felt a bit like I had lied to him when we married. I mean, before we married I thought it sounded like a great idea but when these opportunities came up after marriage, I just couldn't get excited at the thought we would have to move far away from friends and family.

That is, until we moved to Kuwait. The time was right. The Spirit confirmed to me it was the right thing to do. I was excited for this opportunity. While in Kuwait we thought we'd be moving to Bahrain the next summer. We made plans--looking for places to live, enrolling the kids in a school there . . . But I just never could get excited about moving to Bahrain. Turns out at the last minute we were asked to move to Jordan. Walah! Excitement. As much as we loved the people we knew in Kuwait, I knew the move to Jordan was the next right step. Same with Egypt. As much as I complained about the pollution, garbage, etc. and as much as we loved Jordan, I was excited at the thought of living in Cairo, Egypt.

Which now I'm to the point of this post. That is, while we were in the States we were asked several times if this would be our last year here. When we left Utah we said we'd give it 3 years and that will end next year. As much as I LOVED being in the States enjoying the food, convenience, dear friends, beloved family, orderly traffic (not necessarily in that order), I was anxious to get back to Egypt. We'd spent 3 weeks here before heading back to the States and I wanted to come back to really get settled in, find where things are, meet new people. As much as I miss the States I was excited about coming back to Egypt.

So in answer to the question as to whether we'll move back to the States next year, let me just say my thought right now is I would be sad. I'm not excited about moving back to the States. But that is today. We've said come February/March of next year we'll have to start making some plans. So hopefully by then I'll be able to recognize what the Spirit is telling me. Will I be excited to move back to the States? Where in the States will that be? Or will I want to stay in Egypt or perhaps another country? Fortunately Todd is much closer to the Spirit than I am and when he makes the suggestion of where he thinks we should go/stay then I know I will feel the same excitement I'm learning to recognize.

Communication of children

2009-08-11T18:51:00.001+03:00

We're here in Idaho Falls at Todd's parent's townhome . They share a backyard with the neighbors. The neighbors have a trampoline.

This morning, the three neighbor boys were out jumping on the trampoline. Red went out to the yard, looked over, and yelled the phrase he has gotten used to saying when seeing other children for the first time:

"Hey! Do you speak English?"

We'll be back

2009-07-21T22:02:00.002+03:00

Just a quick post. I wanted to do a Jordan wrap-up post but my computer crashed with my most recent pics. In the move I couldn't find the camera cord to download the pics onto the computer I'm using now. (My computer had a place for the SD card but this computer doesn't.) Then when we arrived to our home in Cairo we didn't have internet and when we did get it, it was S.L.O.W. when it worked at all. Plus we have to of course unpack and take some time to cool ourselves off at the pool in this outrageous heat! I've found the cord and we have internet but only on the very top floor of the house. And now we leave in an hour for our 22 hour journey back to the States. 24 if you count the time at the Cairo airport waiting for our first leg. Don't know how much time I'll have to blog while we're visiting friends and family but will try to catch up when we return mid-August. Hopefully I'll have a fully functioning computer as well by then. I already have a couple of Cairo stories--swimming pool rules, branch members, Egyptian drivers/traffic, construction workers sleeping under the stars . . . Even after 2 years we're still having new experiences here.

We made it--hope our stuff does too

2009-06-30T23:32:00.003+03:00

We are now in Cairo. We're staying in a hotel for a couple of days until our things get here. We're hoping it'll get here tomorrow sometime.

So an update on our moving nightmare. The last day the movers were there they came from noon and finally finished up at 3 am. Then the driver that was hired took off to Aqaba where he caught the ferry to Egypt. Last we heard our stuff is going through the customs process in Neweiba.

Here's our problem--after it was all said and done we think we figured out the whole thing. The owner of this moving company subcontracts everything and gets the cheapest labor he can find. There was some confusion of how long our stuff would take to get from Jordan to Egypt and then that time frame kept changing and then there was a rush to get it to Aqaba or we would miss our opportunity and have to wait another couple of days before we had another chance and then we suddenly needed all this bank proof . . . Looking back, we think it was all part of the plan to get us to agree to let this driver put it in his name.

What we've found out is it is cheaper for this guy to get it through customs than it would be if it were in our name. We think they purposely used second-hand boxes because then the driver can say he's just moving his own stuff to Egypt. There was a set price agreed on for the move. So if they can get the stuff through customs cheaper, then guess who gets the extra money. Yes, the moving company gets it. The owner is a swindler. So what does that make us? Are we accomplices? Can we claim ignorance? Really, we should have known what was happening.

We've decided that once our stuff is safely in our house Todd will write all sorts of letters and make all sorts of phone calls warning people about this moving company. This company came recommended from the company Todd has been subcontracting with here in Jordan--it's a huge company with lots of people moving in and out. Todd has already explained to them the problems we've had and they've agreed that they won't be recommending this moving company again.

On a better note--we got to go see the house again today and got the keys for it. It needs some cleaning but otherwise everything seems to be in working order. When we saw it the first time it needed a few repairs, light fixtures put in, just some minor things. It all seems to be taken care of. We took the kids out to see it and they are all happy with it. Perhaps tomorrow we'll have time to take them to a health club that is nearby and I think they'll like that. We're going to join it as part of their homeschool requirements for physical education.

That's what we'll be doing tomorrow is working on cleaning the place and then crossing our fingers that our stuff will come and we can begin the move-in process.

Kick us while we're down

2009-06-25T14:21:00.005+03:00

Not a great couple of weeks for us. What could go wrong has gone wrong.

First, my computer crashed--again! I have some last minute library inventory type things I wanted to work on. Looks like I'll have to somehow get that back to our branch after we've moved. Shouldn't be TOO difficult as Todd has to travel back here to Jordan the week after we move to Egypt. What is that about?!?! We're moving to Egypt mainly so he won't have to travel as much. Grrrrr.

I've been working for 8 months on a revised branch hymnbook. I ordered binders from Staples last February and they still have not arrived. Looks like that project will be left for someone else as well. The papers are all ready to go. They just need to be put in sleeve protectors and the binders. Tedious work but easy.

Last week the city didn't push the water up to our neighborhood so we had to buy water not once, not twice, but three times last week. Then we had to buy it again yesterday. We hope that'll last us til we fly out on Monday. We bought it once but then it was out about 2 days later. We think the gardner may have left something on while he was watering the trees. So we bought again but the water truck didn't have a full load so we only got a partial filling. That only lasted a couple of days and we still didn't have water from the city so we had to buy that third time. And still no water from the city so we bought again yesterday.

Then don't get me started on our landlord issues. Oh, alright, I've already started. Just skip this post unless you're wanting to hear some serious whining.

It basically comes down to this: we feel like we've exceeded the parameters and expectations in the contract but the landlord disagrees so is being quite stingy. He even called the gardner when he knew we were packing up and asked the gardner to make sure we weren't taking anything that didn't belong to us. So, in all essence, he accused us of stealing! How annoying. I'll spare you all the details but really it's just added to an already stressful time.

Then there's the move. Remember when I wrote that the moving guy ended his bid with "no problem." The red flags went up all around but we chose to ignore. You'd think we'd learn.

When he came that day he estimated we'd need 50 boxes and told me it would take 2 weeks to get to Egypt. Since our move-in day for Egypt is July 1st I set a date with him about 1 1/2 weeks before that. A few days later he called Todd and said it would only take 5 days so we reset the date for this last Tuesday starting at 10:00 am. Monday night he shows up with the actual movers to assess the situation. The movers estimated 150 boxes. Firas (our landlord's nephew but more generous to the nth degree) was here and he actually did a lot of the talking with the movers. When the movers left, Firas told us they'd be here 5 pm. Tuesday and planned to be done by midnight. Todd and I were surprised. Firas said they acted like we knew that they would be coming late. We didn't know but it was no big deal. We just assumed they didn't like working in the heat of the day. That's fine.

5:00 Tuesday comes and goes. Todd makes some phone calls. Finally at 6:30 the movers show up. Right away this looked somewhat odd because in our last two moves they come with new boxes specific for the room and item being moved. Not these movers. They had all shapes and sizes but the boxes were printed with everything from food items to ironing boards to electric fans and everything in between. They had no system of labeling or accounting for the number of boxes. They were just packing things in as they would fit. Not a speck of bubble wrap was to be found. They did have some cotton stuff that they put around the piano before they put cardboard on top of that. I have separate plastic drawers for each of my children for their scrapbook stuff that someday I will organize. But at least I have them in separated drawers. Well, til these movers came and condensed it all into as few drawers as possible.

Midnight was approaching and there was absolutely no way they were even close to finishing. But no worries because at 11:30 pm they ran out of tape and had to quit for the night anyway. As Todd and I looked around at what they had packed, we became even more concerned. If things didn't fit into a box, they just taped the box lids shut as best they could with stuff still hanging out. Before they left, they told us they'd be back again the next night at 5. Todd told them they really should be there by 5 if they want to finish up at a reasonable time because there was still a lot to do.

Stuff had to be in Aqaba by today (Thursday) morning. Otherwise, they would miss their chance to turn in the papers and stuff, and then not be able to go until Sunday-ish.

The next night they didn't show til about 6:30 again. As time went on and lack of sleep started catching up to us, we were getting more and more frustrated and concerned with the quality of the move. Todd made more phone calls. No satisfaction. Firas tried to help. We stepped in and demanded they have some system of labeling or numbering or something. Ya know, how will we know when we get to Egypt if the box of Savoury French Fry looking box with Arabic writing goes in the bedroom or family room?

Midnight came and went and they were still working. We were cranky. Kids were cranky. Todd asked why they couldn't come during the day to do all this and the response we got was very telling. They have day jobs. What?!?! This is only their on-the-side-in-the-evening-hired-guy-off-the-street-job. No wonder the packing was only as good as I could do myself. We were this close to calling them all off and calling another company to come repack and take care of this. The only way we've let them continue is there shouldn't be a middle man with this move. Meaning these guys will load it onto a big truck that will be driven to Aqaba. The entire truck will be loaded onto a ferry then the truck will drive to Cairo where it will be unloaded at our house. So in theory we should be able to observe the carefulness with which they are handling things except for the actual drive.

There's still so much more to the story--thanks for hanging in there.

They finally left at about 1:00 am. They still weren't done. We went to bed. Firas evidently went to check on the trailer where the boxes were being loaded earlier to make sure it was locked up, etc. I was finally getting T back to sleep and just drifting off myself when the house phone rang. Todd was upstairs asleep so I ran to answer it. It was Firas. Some problem with the police so wake up Todd because he's coming over. I did as told. Seems someone thought our house was being robbed seeing people-looking-like-they're-off-the-street late at night hauling things from our house and loading them into a big truck. The police came as Firas was checking on the trailer and thought he might be involved in the thievery. Poor Firas. Just trying to help out. We got things squared away with the police and finally went to bed--well went to sleep as we have no beds for a few nights.

From our past experience, we weren't really allowed to pack anything ourselves because then the moving company couldn't guarantee it's safe delivery. However, this has become obviously, painfully, different. This morning I went and bought a huge thing of bubble wrap and some tape and we've taken to wrapping up the more breakable things ourselves. Firas called the company this morning and told them that if they didn't have movers to our house by noon, we were going with a different company. So they're here now and working trying to avoid eye contact--especially with Todd.

Meanwhile, let's go back to paragraph 8--the one about how long it'll take to get from Jordan to Egypt. After the first night of packing, the next day Todd talked to the moving company owner who gave us the good news. It will only take two days to get from Jordan to Cairo. But wait. That is actually bad news. We can't get into the Cairo house til July 1. The moving company owner wanted to know if we could bring the family to Cairo sooner. Even if we could, we still aren't scheduled to get into the house til the 1st. Then he informed him he needed all sorts of certification of employment and notarizations from banks and such. I won't go into those details but suffice it to say--this was really something that we should've been told weeks ago and not in the midst of packing. It's just another sign that this company is flying by the seat of its pants and is not really an international moving company. The latest "plan" is to take our stuff though the border under the name of the truck driver. With this "plan" though they wanted Todd to fly to Aqaba to sign some papers and show his American passport and stuff. Not happening. You're the moving company--you should know how to actually move our stuff from one place to the next.

If nothing else, I hope this move will be a success by virtue of the fact that we've introduced them to the concept of bubble wrap. Perhaps the next movees will benefit from our experience.

Updated pics

2009-06-22T17:19:00.000+03:00

You'll notice in the sidebar I've updated the pictures of the kids. I've been meaning to get new pictures for them for nearly 6 months. I've known where I can get them done here but just kept procrastinating it. I didn't want to have to search for a new place in Egypt and I was tired of thinking about it so I finally made sure the boys' hair was a decent length (not too long!), the little ones had a recent bath, and laundry was caught up so they'd have clean clothes to wear for the picture and a back-up outfit in case the first got stained while walking out the door.

The year before we left Kuwait I had decided I was no longer going to get the official school portrait pictures. As my kids got older and I had more kids in school and the photography company kept increasing prices, I had to shell out more money every year for what? We would get all fixed up and cute in the morning in clean clothes, curl the hair, wet down the cowlicks, straighten the collars, only to get a picture back a few weeks later with messy, unkempt hair, ketchup stains on their shirts, and if I was lucky they might be smiling. I had decided I would just take them into Walmart every year where I could make an appointment, keep food away from them til the time of their appointment, and choose my favorite shot from a variety of shots taken. And it would cost a lot less. A. LOT.

Both Kuwait and Jordan have offered school portraits for pretty much the same fees that we had in the States, so I opted out with the intention of getting my own done during the school year. I guess getting them done a couple of weeks after school lets out isn't too bad.

Getting them done the other day was quite an experience. Todd was in Egypt so I was on my own in making sure they looked decent. Petey had been reading a website a couple of weeks ago that showed her how to do a new hairstyle. She's tried it a handful of times and it is cute--kind of a scrunchy-hair look. She'd planned on doing that hairstyle for this picture. I was in my bathroom finishing up Nic's hair--everyone else was all ready to go--and Petey came running in in a panic. Something had gone terribly wrong and it didn't turn out. This particular hairstyle she was trying involves quite a bit of gel and hairspray so she was trying to brush out her very sticky hair with no luck. Now remember, timing is everything with my kids' pictures. If my 13 year old can't be ready at the right time, then by the time she's ready the other kids will all be messed up. Hmmmm.

So I told her we'd have to take her back another day. She wanted to try to salvage something and go with the rest of us so she promised she could be ready in 5 minutes. And she was--maybe more like 10. But it was ok. She rewashed her hair and just did a quick blow-dry. I think hers turned out cute. When we got home we drove up into the driveway and I heard her gasp. I asked what was wrong. Her reply was "I forgot to wear earrings!!!!!" Oh, the horror. She was convinced she would have to go back and get the picture retaken with her earrings. Fortunately you can see it wouldn't have mattered if she was wearing earrings.

Cricket wanted me to curl her hair but she was more concerned with having just the right outfit. She and Nic are very different. Cricket would wear a dress camping if I'd let her. Nic we have to bribe to get her in a dress every week for church. In fact, when I was finished curling Nic's hair she was horrified. She wanted those curls out. I brushed them out as best I could and she was happy. She's my tomboy.

I think the photographer picked just the right pose for Cricket. There were some shots that were more close-up of her but she wanted the full-body pose chosen as the print. While she was getting her pictures done, Petey whispered to me "Mom, she looks seductive." Critter didn't know what that meant. I just thought it was the perfect pose for her personality. Not seductive. But wouldn't it be perfect to have someone there fanning her with a big feather fan and someone else feeding her grapes?

The picture of Red fits his personality as well. He had some other shots with bigger smiles but those looked like fake smiles. This "look" is a "look" he has quite often when he wants to smile but is trying hard not to because he doesn't want anyone to think he's happy or thinks something is funny.

These may not be the typical school portraits but I guess it's all in the experience of getting them done.

P.S. I paid 15 JD (roughly $22) for 28 pictures in 3 sizes plus a CD. I'm ok with that.

Bedouin BBQ

2009-06-21T12:05:00.000+03:00

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a Bedouin BBQ by Ramez. Todd met Ramez when Todd came to Jordan 15 years ago. They had lost touch over the years but when we came to Jordan they re-connected. Unfortunately due to work schedules, a new baby, traveling, etc. they haven't been able to see as much as each other as Todd would have liked. And now that we're leaving Jordan the time they see each other will be even less, if ever. Ramez' wife and two children are currently in Canada but Ramez made us this wonderful dinner cooked Bedouin style. First, he buried the dinner underneath the ground in some hot coals:

It was there for a couple of hours and then they started digging it out:

I was surprised how deep it went down when he pulled the food out of the ground.

The meat you see is lamb, a popular meat here. Ramez is a thinker and even though he didn't know that most of my children are not fans of lamb, he also BBQ'd skewers of steak and chicken.

Delicious! Thanks Ramez! We hope our paths will cross again--especially if we get to eat like this!

Proud Parent Moment

2009-06-11T18:48:00.000+03:00

This is Petey in her school play, The Wizard of Oz. She played the part of the scarecrow. She was told she was the youngest one (7th grade) to ever get a lead role in the school play. She did a fantastic job and we were all very proud of her. She was happy with it except post-play when the Wizard was a little sweet on her and wouldn't leave her alone. He's in the 10th grade. People come from all over the world to this school and dates for admitting students to grades are different everywhere. So he told her "technically I'm supposed to be in 9th grade and technically you're supposed to be in 8th grade so we're really not that far apart in age." Well, I'm the mother and I will only accept that reasoning when they're in their mid-twenties or later. Fortunately, Petey was a little "creeped out" by the whole thing and life has now moved on.

Name that Costume answer

2009-06-10T20:42:00.003+03:00

This is a black ostrich. Can you see the resemblance?

You all had some great guesses--or at least funny ones.

Mmmmm . . . Breakfast!

2009-06-10T18:39:00.000+03:00

Last week Todd was in Egypt, I had to take the kids to school, Red was home sick from school, I had to go to the grocery store, so I left Red and Nic home with Diana, our housekeeper, while I took kids to school then went to the store. I got back about 9:00 am and Diana was just dishing up Nic some chicken nuggets for breakfast. A couple of weeks ago when Todd and I went house-hunting in Egypt, Diana fixed the kids some fabulous chicken and Nic wanted her to make more of it. Diana couldn't find any chicken breasts in our freezer but did find the chicken nuggets and Nic was happy with that. And Diana, being a spoiler of my children, fixed her some for breakfast. So my question is am I a bad parent because I let her eat chicken nuggets for breakfast? Or should I fire my housekeeper for making it for her (no way!)? Or should I just be happy that someone took pity on her and made her something for breakfast rather than just putting out the cold cereal?

Name that Costume

2009-06-06T20:53:00.000+03:00

The KG at Red's school had an end-of-year show for the parents. It was adorable to watch him sing and dance with his class.

The week before they sent out two letters informing the parents that there would only be room for two guests of each KG student. That meant extended family, siblings, etc. would not be able to attend the show. Then they sent home the actual ticket and it said on the ticket that it would only admit 2 adults. However, you can guess what happened the day of the show. People were showing up with siblings, grandparents, nannies, etc. The poor guys at the door taking tickets were trying to explain the policy that had been set but obnoxious elitist parents thought they were above the rules and didn't have to abide by the standards. Well, ok. Truth be told. We had lost our ticket but I thought it wouldn't be a problem because we were abiding by the rules and it was only Todd and I who attended even though the other kids wanted to go. (Petey got to go because she worked as an usher for the show.) Once we got to the door and saw the chaos I just knew they would think we were lying. "Yeah, right, you lost your ticket." Just as we got to the door the principal came up to try to help out with the chaos and she let us in no problem. Whew! We didn't have to be ones to cause a scene and look like obnoxious elitist parents who can't follow the rules.

Here he is in his costume. We paid 20JD for this. (About $30.) I have never been one for buying expensive costumes--even for Halloween. This is where I'm a little old-fashioned, I guess. Some people like the homemade Christmas gifts. I'm all over the commercialization of Christmas but I do like the homemade Halloween costumes.

Anyway, this isn't a Halloween costume . . .technically. When we found out we were going to have to pay for this, we grudgingly paid the money and then waited for the day of the big show to see what the money bought for us. It is a full-body costume and he did enjoy wearing it. It will go into the Halloween box for future use. Unfortunately, while we're in the ME I'm not sure how much use a Halloween costume will get. This last year we had a family party and the kids dressed up for it. I understand embassies usually have Halloween parties but since we're not embassy, no party for us.

I'm getting off course--

Here's my issue with this. We paid money for this costume and you can't even tell what it is. I'm leaving a little challenge here on my blog called "Name that costume." I'll give you a few days to guess and then I'll fess up as to what it is supposed to be. Any guesses, anyone?

Reflections from Cairo

2009-06-06T09:25:00.001+03:00

One of the amazing things about our life in the Middle East thus far has been the unique opportunity to be in the right place at the right time. We were in Kuwait when President Bush came, I was in Kenya was Barak Obama was elected, and I was in Cairo when President Obama gave his seminal speech. All of these things have served to reinforce to me the blessing and obligation that it is to be an American.

I was in Cairo the week leading up to President Obama's arrival, and actually flew out the same day that he arrived from Saudi, gave his speech at Cairo University and left to Germany. I have been to Cairo frequently over the course of the last 8-months (every other week to be exact), and there was a lot of energy and excitement during this last week. Every day in the newspaper it was full of articles about the American President, about American policy and about America in general. There certainly has been an obsession. This obsession has been very positive. Now, feelings and words can't change the world, but it's a start. When hearts are softened, they are more apt to listen and then take action. I reflect often when I think of these types of things that the 'word of God is more powerful than the sword', and a 'soft word turneth away wrath'. Unfortunately, much of the world trusts more in the 'arm of the flesh' than in the 'arm of the Lord'. having said that, what we see is a start. The people of Cairo were waiting in great anticipation for this leader to come and share with them what would surely be a speech for the ages.

One of the cruel ironies of American policy is that we promote democracy across the world, but support the heaviest of hands in our allies. Egypt is no exception. While Hosni Mubarak is an elected President, he's not more 'elected' than my kids get to choose what their eye color is. So, while we truly want and desire free people and democracies across the world, the Arab countries that we have the closest relationships with are some of the ones with the biggest challenges. In the true spirit of an Arab (although really Egyptians aren't Arabs) democracy, weeks before his arrival, many of the dissenters were rounded up. There were several sweeps to take those who might disagree with America off the streets. Further, they used it as an excuse to also bag others who just disagreed with the Egyptian government on anything. It was like a 3 for 1 sale! Get an American dissident and also get 2 others for the same price! I sometimes think governments love it when this happens. What this also means, is that the local citizenry associates this with tacit American support. So, while it we as Americans don't support this type of action, we don't really say much to discourage it.

However, there were other steps that needed to be taken as well. Streets were shut down starting Wednesday night (he came on Thursday), so that he wouldn't have to deal with Cairo traffic. Now, if you ask me, part of the charm and draw of Cairo is the taxi drivers and the traffic. I don't think our President can truly say he's been to Cairo unless he's taken his life into his own hands within the confines of a black and white Cairo taxi. Now that's just me, but that's better than any old Pyramid. So, instead of allowing for a taxi ride, Egypt did the exact opposite, they shut down all roads and streets that he might even look at. Then, they did a Cairo cleaning project the likes of which Home Makeover would have been proud of. Just as families come home to an entirely new home that they don't even recognize, Cairenes woke up Thursday morning to a picture of a new city. Streets were clean, walls were painted, potholes were filled, trash was removed, it was like Zion might be one day. Once again, our President was robbed of truly experiencing Cairo. Cairo is not clean streets, fresh paint and good smells, but traffic, fumes, garbage and a shiny, happy smiling populace. Ahh, Cairo.

A schedule of Obama's trip was published and included arriving at the airport, going to the Cairo University, touring a famous mosque and market, going to the Pyramids, visiting a palace, and other side events. All of this within the time of his arrival at 10AM and leaving at around 6PM I believe. Now, for those that have been to Cairo, you know that frequently if you arrive at 10AM, you don't even leave the airport until noon, and then it would take you until the afternoon to get to the Pyramids, and then you'd have to call it a night. That fact that he was able to do all of this in 8 hours is nothing short of miraculous. This is a feat worthy of Peter walking on the water, or Elijah with the neverending meal and cruse of water. Wow! Nonetheless, it was done.

All week, people were congratulating me and shouting Obama and America. Words that I don't mind hearing at all. I like it that my country is gaining respect again. I like it that we can be perceived as a leader again, I enjoy that my country is not a moral and social doormat and punch line. It's a good feeling. I worked it for all I could I must admit, and enjoyed every minute of being an American.

Even at the airport as I was leaving, the crowds were glued to windows in the terminal, outside, in the buses and in the airplanes. They all wanted a glimpse of the 'American Plane'. It wasn't the American 'President's' Plane, but America's. That was a good feeling. The power of thing as simple as a plane was a symbol for a people that want and yearn for what we enjoy on a daily basis. That again was a great sense of pride for me. What felt even better was that as people were gawking and talking, they had smiles on their faces and animated gestures. I admit that in Egypt this is typical (Egyptians are always happy and smiling that is why I love them), but it was even more engaging for me to see it at this time. Once again, confirming to me the difference that this man is making. I may not agree with all of his policies (I never agree with all of anyone's policies - including some of my own), but I am mature enough to see the impact he is having across the world. We would be silly and vain indeed to not try and capture this.

All in all, it was a great week in Cairo and I wish I could have been in person to see his speeches and hear other comments. Unfortunately, as a poor Idaho/Utah boy, those are not in my near future. About as close as I get is seeing blocked roads and nice TV clips. However, the feeling that comes is one of gratefulness and humility of being blessed to be a citizen of what I feel is the greatest country in the world. God bless the United States of America.

BYU Nursing Students

2009-06-05T18:22:00.005+03:00

BYU sends nursing students here to Jordan every summer. I'm not sure how many years this has been going on. A member of our branch (currently the RS Pres.), Elaine Bond, taught nursing at BYU and teaches nursing at the University here in Jordan so she is the coordinator for these students. They spend 5 weeks here and take classes and work in the hospital and also take some time for touring/siteseeing/shopping. They leave tonight back for the States.

Last night we had them over for dinner. We debated on whether or not to serve Arabic food as it would be one of their last meals here in Jordan. Sister Bond advised us that American food would probably go over better. And I think it did. They seemed so appreciative to have American food. We had sloppy joes, potato salad, watermelon, and banana splits. We couldn't have them leave Jordan without a little Arabic food though so we also had falafels and hummus. Apparently, most of them have been sick at one point or another during their stay and many of them trace it back to some bad Arabic food. I'm hoping nobody gets sick on their flight home tonight because of the food we served them.

The picture was taken the next day after church because I completely forgot to take a picture the night they were here. The girl in the back row, 4th from the left--her name is Kimberly Grant--is from my hometown and her parents know my parents so that was a fun connection. Good luck to all of you!

No problem

2009-06-02T14:53:00.002+03:00

Here in the ME if you ask a question that they're not sure of the answer to, they will say "no problem." For example, if you wonder if the hair dryer you're buying has a plug that will actually fit into an outlet here, they will say "no problem." Then once you get the hairdryer home and take it out of all the wrapping you realize it has three prongs instead of the two you needed. It is "no problem" for them but I'm left scrambling again for an adaptor--rearranging other electrical items that are only used sometimes and taking the adaptor from that so I can use the hairdryer until I get back to the store and buy yet another adaptor.

On a larger scale, a moving company representative came to our house yesterday to give us an estimate of what it will cost to move us to Cairo. In the States when the moving companies came they all had checklists and fancy calculators or at least apps on their PDAs so they could come pretty close on how much space our stuff would take. The guy who showed up yesterday was dressed very professionally and even carried a notebook. However, I started to worry as I was taking him through the house and even though he seemed to be listening intently as I told him what was staying and what was going, (our house is considered a "furnished" house so much of it belongs to the home owner) he wasn't taking any notes or putting numbers into a fancy calculator or anything. We got through the house and he went into deep thought. He then announced a 20' container should take care of it and we would need about 50 boxes. I thought he must be very experienced at this kind of thing and was adding things up in his head as we went along. That is, until he ended his thought process by saying "no problem."

Aaaahhhh. I love moving. No stress at all.

The big 4-0

2009-05-29T17:39:00.002+03:00

I celebrated my 40th birthday last week. I used to think 40 seemed so old. We had to celebrate it on a different day than my actual b-day because there was a lot going on. Just as well because that day didn't go so great.

After the kids got home from school I dropped Petey and Critter off at the Ambassador's residence at the embassy for a mutual activity of an etiquette dinner. The ambassador and family are LDS. The ambassador didn't attend the dinner but it was his wife who taught the kids what fork to use, etc.

Then I took Red to a friend's b-day party. This party was at a place called "Playtime." We walked in and it was a kids' paradise (well, for the Middle East it was pretty good). There were different areas like an art center where the kids could paint a mural on some paper mounted to a wall, a chill area with soft couches and such, a place to buy food, a place to buy junk toys, a place for coin rides, a bouncy play area, etc. There were also two clowns performing when we arrived. Red was scared stiff. He huddled into me and didn't want me to leave. I gave him a little "tough love" and told him if he went over and participated with the other kids I would stay a while and watch. If he didn't participate then I would leave him right now sitting there on the bench all by himself. He chose to go sit with the other kids and I kept my promise to stay and watch a while. However, I only had to stay a few more minutes because once he got involved he started having fun and he didn't mind me leaving. In fact, when I came back to pick him up, he didn't want to leave. I only got him out the door when I pointed out that the other kids were also leaving and getting a party favor gift as they walked out the door. In order to get the gift, he was going to have to leave.

After leaving Red at the party, I raced home to get a map of where the next stop would be (a b-day party for Petey's friend), then went back to the embassy to pick up Petey and Critter. Fortunately, and quite by accident, we found where Petey needed to be. Then it was back to pick up Red. I took Critter and Red home where I stayed for about an hour before heading back out to pick up Batman from a friend's house where he'd gone after school. (Todd was flying in from Egypt that night so he arrived early evening but fortunately took a taxi home.)

It was dark when I picked up Batman and I was in an area that was unfamiliar to me. I knew what road I needed to get to so I started heading toward it and I realized too late that I was headed the wrong way down a one-way road. It didn't help me that there were cars parked the wrong way down the one-way road because I really thought I was going the right way. I've commented on ME driving before and it isn't pleasant. Lots of people go the wrong way down a one way street--they just don't do it 9:00 on a Thursday night (one of the heaviest traffic times in Jordan.) I arrived at the street I was trying to get to but I was having to squeeze between cars parked along side the road on my right, the cars double parked on my left (there's a very popular coffee shop at the intersection) and the traffic coming at me trying trying to squeeze by the parked cars and me. I tried to turn right onto the correct road but I took the turn too sharp and I scraped the bumper of a parked car on my right. I pulled off his bumper and there was a little scrape on our van. The damage was fairly minimal considering the sound it made as I was peeling off that guy's bumper. Oooops.

Everyone was very nice--the other driver, a man who saw the whole thing, etc. I called Todd who called Firas to get Abu Wassam's number. (Abu W is the man we rent the van from--Firas is our landlord's nephew whose fulltime job has become taking care of us since we moved to Jordan.) When Firas heard I was in an accident he called me to find out where I was and he came and talked Arabic to the man I hit since that man spoke little English. Firas arranged with him to meet at the car garage on Saturday to get his car fixed and said there was no need to involve the police. Evidently here if you get the police involved you have to go to the police station to fill out reports, it takes hours, and there is a huge fee that has to be paid by the person who is at fault (that would be me :) We love Firas who takes care of everything for us. And that Saturday Firas spent practically the whole day at the garage with this man that I hit helping get his car fixed. I spent Saturday in my pajamas. More on that in a minute.

After all the information had been exchanged for the accident, Firas was worried about my phychological state and since he lives by us, he offered to follow me home. I still needed to go pick up Petey from her party. I only knew one way to get there (remember I found it quite by accident) so again Firas helped out by letting me follow him and showing me a shorter way to get there from where the accident happened. I made it right on time picking up Petey thanks to Firas.

I finally made it home about 10:30 pm and was trying to relax when I saw the biggest spider I've ever seen crawl across my kitchen wall. Actually, I have seen bigger spiders but they were in magazine pictures or in cages. This was an "in-real-life-wild-spider." Those of you who know me know spiders cause me quite a bit of angst. If Todd isn't home, Batman is usually the creepy-crawly thing killer. But even he wouldn't go near this spider. It was that big and ugly. Fortunately Todd was home and he agreed to take care of it. His usual method of getting the spiders for me is wadding up a piece of tissue and smashing it. This spider was even too big for that. He had to roll up some newspaper for this one. After he hit it, it fell down to a desk underneath. Then he got out the tissue to pick it up. Just before he threw it away he was examining it in the tissue and I heard Todd yell out like a little girl and drop the tissue in the garbage. Evidently the spiders' leg moved and it even creeped out Todd. If I had been in a better mental state I might have taken a picture but I didn't.

So the actual birthday day didn't end so well. Thankfully we'd planned on celebrating my birthday on Saturday. The kids brought me breakfast in bed. I stayed in my pajamas all day while Todd took the kids on errands and to the Children's Museum. I had the house to myself. My dream vacation. That night we took the family and Firas out to eat at Applebees. I did change out of my pajamas for that. Todd bought a delicious chocolate cake from a bakery and we came home and had cake and icecream. A great day.

I've been meaning to do that . . .

2009-05-22T16:12:00.002+03:00

The last couple of weeks I've had a list that feels like a mile long. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to complete any of it. The worst part is that I'm really not sure what I've been doing that has taken up so much time that I can't accomplish anything on "my list." Sure, there's the occasional game of Spider Solitaire. (I promise, Todd, that it really has been only occasional.)

My list includes updating the blog, completing another church library inventory, doing all the pre-work for the new hymn books so when the binders arrive they'll be all ready to assemble, reorganizing all the pictures on my computer (my computer crashed a couple weeks ago and while they were able to retrieve all the pics, I lost all the tags, captions, labels, etc. grrrrr!), making the final determinations for grades to order for homeschool, take the kids in to get new portraits, and cleaning up what the Flylady refers to as "hotspots."

Today I can check off "updating the blog" but that's the only thing. Tomorrow is another day.

An answer to an email

2009-05-07T22:41:00.002+03:00

I was sent an email by an acquaintance asking for a brief overview of life here in the Middle East. Their family is considering a move here so wanted a basic breakdown of what it's like day to day. I decided to post an excerpt from my response here to the blog. Here it is:

So first of all, I'll start with my less than busy life. I have to say that is one of the best reasons for moving here. I don't know what your experience has been but I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed with all the choices we had in UT. I don't know if it's a UT thing, an LDS thing, or because we have a lot of kids, but we were constantly on the go. The kids would get home from school at 3:00 and it was non-stop with Scouts, Activity Days, Todd's church meetings, Enrichment meetings, school performances and practices, Dr. appts., PTA and SCC meetings, piano lessons, soccer, Jr. Jazz, swimming lessons, playdates, homework, and I could go on and on. All of these were good things but it was nice to come here and make a fresh start with no expectations from neighbors and friends that our kids would be involved in all this stuff. You can find many of these things or others to keep yourself busy but we needed a break. It's been so nice to be home on a weekday evening reading or playing UNO and being able to take day trips on Saturdays with the family.

One way to make this possible is the affordability of house help here. Many locals have live-in maids. We've chosen to have a part time maid. I'll still like my kids to learn a little about cleaning so I don't want our maid to do it all. I've told my kids she's my helper, not theirs :)

Day to day life is very similar to what we had in the States except for all the outside commitments. We get up in the morning and the kids head off to school. We take them in the morning and they ride a school bus home. They'd have to ride for over an hour in the morning which is why we take them instead. Right now they attend International School of Choueifat (ISC). Last year in Kuwait it was American School of Kuwait (ASK). We haven't been impressed with either school--if you'd like me to tell you why let me know and I'd be happy to tell you. But because we haven't liked them we've decided to homeschool this coming year. Most companies that hire expats give great deals on moving expenses, good salaries, and they pay at least a portion of the private school tuition. We've decided to take our portion of school tuition and apply it toward a homeschool curriculum. The kids get home from school and they do their chores and homework. We do have them involved in some things--piano lessons, my oldest is in the school play, and my oldest boy is in scouts. I have a 9 year old girl that I think would LOVE Activity Day and I miss that she isn't involved in it. Here in Jordan they don't do it at all. In Kuwait we did it once a month and involved all the senior primary--even the boys--since there is no church sponsored scouts.

As far as "comforts" of home . . . .hmmmm. Define comforts. We have plenty of food but it isn't necessarily the brands or what we're used to. Any processed type food is outrageously expensive (cold cereal is roughly between $6-$8 a box--even Malt O Meal bagged cereal is $5 for the small bags) and anything like that that comes from the states you may find one week but then can't find it again for a couple of months. You can always find cereal you just may not be able to find the kind you like every time. There are plenty of other options though so we're not going hungry. Sometimes I have to go to two different grocery stores to complete my shopping list. I go to one and it doesn't have vanilla or chocolate chips so I go to the second store and I still can't find chocolate chips this week but I did find the vanilla. I've learned we like the lunchmeat, juice selection, and produce at Carefour but I like the fresh meat and garbage bags selection at Cozmo. So in other words, there isn't a Super Walmart or Super Target here where I can find everything at once.

We have a comfortable home that keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Well, we haven't actually been here during the warmest part of the summer since we're in the States then, but we've been ok the rest of the year. We have beds and clothes. Oh clothes--I'm not much of a shopper but from what I can tell you have the high end stuff available. I don't buy that but I know it's there. Then you've got the Walmart/Target quality stuff and it is more expensive here than actually buying it at Target or Walmart. Then you've got the stuff with the same prices as Walmart but the quality is even worse. The logos come off after one wash, the snaps and buttons come off, the seams come apart after only a few wearings . . .. Like I said though, we're not huge shoppers but if you are you may want to stock up on stuff from the States or you can get like an Aramex account and order online. We have modern malls and clothing stores same as the states--Limited Too, Gap, etc.

Life is pretty much the same when Todd is away. For the most part I can get along even though I don't speak Arabic and if it's really a problem I can wait until Todd gets back into town. In Kuwait I never worried that I couldn't speak Arabic. There are more people here in Jordan that don't speak English so it is a bit more difficult sometimes. For example, our favorite place to get pizza is Papa Johns. When Todd is in town he calls to order because they have trouble speaking enough English that they can never understand me to know where to deliver it (we don't have an address--more on that next paragraph). So when Todd is out of town I handle that problem by going to pick it up instead. Problem solved.

Addresses are really non-existent. Just within the past couple of years they've started putting up street signs and numbers on buildings/houses but nobody really uses them yet. And if they do use street names there are several different spellings and abbreviations of the street. And sometimes one street has more than one name--the one the "locals" call it and the one that is marked. In the area where we live we don't have street names or numbers. When we have to write our address we put "near Everest Resort." Everest Resort is a huge vacant building that is near us.

Driving is scary here--though not as scary as in Egypt. You learn though that there is a flow to it and you really have to go with the flow or you will cause an accident even if you're obeying the law. You have to decide if it's better to avoid accidents by fudging on the traffic laws or injuring yourself and possibly someone else by strictly obeying the laws. We've decided that there really are no traffic "laws" here, only traffic "suggestions."

As far as any culture shock, I suppose there may be some when you see people dress differently. In Kuwait we saw much more traditional dress than here in Jordan. However, there is an expat community and if you seek them out you can find like-minded people. I've never felt out of place here but being LDS I don't have many revealing clothes that would make people stare.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Please let me know if you have any other questions. It really is an educational experience and a fun adventure. I don't regret coming here and I wouldn't be surprised if we stayed longer than our original three year commitment.

Petra

2009-05-03T17:23:00.000+03:00

We went to Petra with Todd's parents. It is still a dirty, dusty walk but well worth it. We didn't make the time to hike clear up to the Monastery and only made it just past the treasury and saw more amazing creations carved into the sides of the mountains.

Once again, Nic and even T were swarmed with people wanting to take their picture. Nic gets pretty tired of it. We want her to be polite but she gets tired of people stopping her fun to ask her questions, kiss her cheeks, and take her picture. She will be the one who will not want to be famous when she grows up because she knows what it's like not to be able to just enjoy being where you are and doing what you want. Sometimes Todd and I have to run interference like a body guard or manager or something. Sometimes we bribe her to be polite and smile for the camera. We owe her a lot of McFlurrys and Happy Meals.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Youth Conference

2009-05-01T17:02:00.000+03:00

Petey and Critter participated in their first Youth Conference. The Irbid branch (northern Jordan) and the Cairo branch youth traveled here to Amman where our branch hosted. They had a lot of fun. It went amazingly well even though the organizers had only 4 weeks to get it all together. Petey and Critter especially had fun meeting members of the Cairo branch since that is where we'll be moving. Unfortunately, many of the members they met are moving this summer and won't be there when we arrive. Hopefully new members will move in over the course of the summer.

Todd was asked to be a chaperone so he was heavily involved in the YC as well. Todd's parents had already made their plans to visit us before we even knew there would be a YC so it was unfortunate that Todd, Petey, and Critter couldn't spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa. The other kids and I became the tour guides for Grandma and Grandpa for the few days of YC.

One day we took the Amman tour bus. I don't recommend it. If you've ever been to bigger tourist friendly cities they have these buses. You hop on and hop off at the sites you want to see. You can spend as much time as you want then catch another bus later. Usually there is some guide that tells you where you are and what makes that place noteworthy. Apparently Amman's bus started this way but there wasn't enough demand so it's kind of a "by appointment" bus. We only stopped at two places and we only got to look around for less than 30 minutes. The rest of the time was spent driving around Amman and seeing different shopping districts. I could've done this tour on my own for Todd's parents and saved 50 JD.

One of the events for YC was to visit the Baptismal site (purported) and Mt. Nebo. I brought the other kids and Todd's parents and we followed the bus around to these sites so we got to spend a little time with them that way.

We also in our home hosted 3 members of the Irbid branch and 2 members of the Cairo branch. They were a very polite group of boys. We didn't see much of them as they had to be to the church early every morning and came home late every night. I broke out the recipe book and frying pans, etc. for breakfast every morning they were here but all they really wanted to eat was cold cereal. Why wouldn't teenage boys want Egg Frittata?

Todd and T walking near baptismal site

Nic at Mt. Nebo

The group that stayed in our home

Easter

2009-04-29T16:26:00.000+03:00

We were in Jerusalem for Easter so we were happy to discover that the Easter Bunny still came even though we were gone. The kids were anxious to return from their trip to see if the Easter Bunny left anything for them.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jerusalem and Jericho

2009-04-27T12:35:00.003+03:00

We've been keeping busy the last couple of weeks. Todd's parents came to visit so we became tourists instead of residents for a few days and visited some sites in the area.

We were able to travel to Jerusalem with them. That was a great trip once we finally arrived. Walking so closely to where Christ walked was an amazing experience. It was the kind of trip that made me reflect on my family--specifically my husband and children--and what we can do to become an eternal family. It was the kind of trip when I thought "do I really want to spend eternity with these people?" I concluded that yes, I do--but ONLY if eternity does NOT include road trips, high temperatures, cramped cars, and Middle East border patrol.

We started on our trip at a reasonable time expecting to arrive to our hotel in Bethlehem by mid-afternoon. We only packed some water and some dry cracker stuff for T since we'd be there soon. I'm not sure where we got the information that the border was only about an hour away. We thought an hour to the border then an hour back down to Bethlehem and we knew the border would take some time. Just to get to the border took about 2 1/2 hours.

There are 3 border crossings from Jordan into Palestine. We chose the north border because the south is too far and the middle one doesn't allow rental cars. Todd spent several hours a couple weeks ago going all over Amman to get the proper signatures that allowed us to take the rental car across the border. That wasn't enough though. At the border he had to fill out paperwork, they checked and double checked it, he got grief because it wasn't translated into English (Israelis don't like forms in Arabic), he had to buy more insurance, he had to stand in lines to get all of this done, he had to wait for a computer to be fixed, he had to make sure our passports weren't stamped and that we got a paper instead, unload the luggage to be screened, load the luggage back on the van . . .

Meanwhile he was trying to keep a bright, cheery attitude with the Israeli border guards because at any moment they could deny us entry and our entire trip would be ruined. We were afraid Critter slipped up at one point but fortunately nobody heard or if they did they didn't understand. As they were checking our passports (all 11 of us) and matching each person up to a passport they'd call out a name and we'd point out which child had that name. While going through this process Critter turns to me and said out loud "So these are the people that bombed Gaza?" Todd smiled at the guard then turned to face Critter so the guard wouldn't see and gave Critter the look that could kill. I had to take Critter aside and explain that it would be best just not to discuss the whole conflict while we were on this trip.

3 1/2 hours after arriving at the border, we were finally through and on our way. We knew we would arrive much later than planned so we opted to find a hotel in Jerusalem rather than going further to Bethlehem where we had reservations. We wanted to stay in budget but we wanted to return to Jordan undiseased. If you remember, Todd was here 15 years ago so he was using the BYU Jerusalem Center as a reference point and trying to find a reasonable hotel. When one route didn't work, he'd work his way back to the center and try again. And again. And again. And again. The roads in Jerusalem are crowded, windy (long i), and hilly. We were all carsick by the time we finally decided on the Mt. Scopus hotel. By the time we decided we probably could have just made it to Bethlehem but it did make things easier the next day being closer to the main sites. Since we missed out on half a day of siteseeing we weren't able to see the sites further south anyway.

Another classic Critter faux pas happened as we were trying to find a hotel. It was dark by this time and the weather had cooled down enough that we had the windows of the van all open. We were taking in the atmosphere of Jerusalem. Of course we saw some orthodox Jews roaming the streets but evidently Critter had never seen one in a picture or in real life. He was in the very very back of the 11 passenger van and he had a valid question he wanted answered so he yelled out so we could hear all the way up front "What's up with all the people in the pilgrim costumes?" Just typing that still makes me chuckle.

The slide show pretty much tells the rest of the story. On the way back to Jordan from Jerusalem we stopped at Jericho. The part we went to see (the old city of Jericho) was pretty much just piles of dirt and some rocks but we rode a tram up to a monastery built into the side of a mountain. That was fascinating. Getting back into Jordan was still a process at the border but went much smoother.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pictures of our Jordan house

2009-04-11T12:27:00.001+03:00

View of our house from the front.

I couldn't get this side of the house in the other picture so I took this one to show the balconies off the kitchen and the girls' bedroom.

This is the side of the house and there's a dog house all ready to go. Unfortunately moving around with a dog is a bit of a hassle so despite pleas from the childen, we never got a dog that could use this house. Instead the gardener stores some of his supplies in there so it still serves a purpose.

This is the other side of the house which is a garden with grape vines and plum trees. The season had just ended when we arrived late last summer. We will miss all the fruit goodness again this year. Bummer.

Back Yard. The green stuff you see are weeds. It's the greenest it's been since we moved in. Before it was just rocky dirt. Originally this area was meant for a swimming pool but for whatever reason it was never put in. Just as well, in my opinion, because the kids can go out to play without me worrying about them falling in a pool. I do wish though that they had put in grass but oh well.

Back yard from another angle.

Back yard--or here it's called the "garden."

These stairs are in our back yard and lead up to a street behind our house. As is it's really not all that exciting but I want you to envision the trellis thingy full of bright pink/purple flowers. It was like that late last fall. I should've taken a picture then. It's my favorite place of the whole yard.

This is the downstairs entrance to the house aka the "maids entrance." Since we don't have a garage, this becomes the place for keeping our bikes, strollers, and other various paraphernalia.

This is a room on the very bottom level. On this level is this room, another small room and a small bathroom. This is considered the "maids room" but we don't have a live in maid. The idea here was that we would make it into an office for Todd. We started down that path. From this angle you can just barely see his desk on the left. However, the office idea never came to fruition because we couldn't get an internet signal down here. Instead it became a storage room. Then this winter the walls started developing efflorescence. I didn't know what that was either til we lived here. Apparently it commonly develops in cold seasons on concrete walls where there isn't enough ventilation. It's like a white mold looking stuff but it isn't mold. It makes the paint bubble up and you have to wipe it down, destroying the paint job. It comes off pretty easily but it grows faster than you can keep up.

This room is between the maids entrance and the maids room. The second piano has come in handy although it is in need of a good tuning. That is a bathroom just to the left of the piano. I've never actually used that bathroom as it's nasty. The fixtures are old and there's just grime and dirt in there that you can't just clean. As it turns out we've hardly used it anyway since we never really got that bedroom/office down there in good order. Before we moved in we asked for new fixtures for this bathroom but instead we got things like a refaced fireplace and water softening system.

Here's the view from our front door.

If you walked in the front door and looked to your right, this is what you would see--our dining area. I love the color they painted this room. The sliding door leads off to a balcony and the doorway to the left in the picture goes into the kitchen. When Todd's in town this is where we eat dinner. When he's not in town we eat chicken nuggets as they come out of the oven.

If you walked in our front door and looked to the left, this is what you would see. The yellowish walls look nice as you go from the maroon dining room to this room.

This is the fireplace in the front room. The reason I included this picture is so I could tell you a little story about it. Before they remodeled the house this fireplace was basically just plain white. Firas hired someone to come and fix it up. That top circle thing looks kind of like a clock.

The 4 blocks painted white were actually much longer than the other blocks. The owner of the house came and saw it and demanded that it be changed because those long white blocks looked too much like a cross and he wouldn't have that in his home. So they made the white blocks shorter so it wouldn't look so much like a cross. I don't think the intention of the designer was to make a cross but evidently the owner thought it looked like one.
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This is the whatever room. It started off being known as the "internet room" because it was going to be an office type room. It is located right off the front room. But Todd thought he'd need more privacy so we put the family desktop computer in here. Unfortunately the desktop crashed a few months ago and so it's just taking up space. The closets in this room are great for storage. We've got holiday decorations, games, scrapbook stuff, etc. in these closets. The door leads out to our back yard.

This is the kitchen. I'm taking this picture from the doorway between the dining room and kitchen.

Another angle of the kitchen. The doorway leads out to the laundry room which leads out to the back yard. You may notice on the right is a stove top. There is a full stove/oven on the island thingy in the middle of the kitchen. When we saw this I thought having so many burners would really come in handy but I've never had the need for both stove tops.

Another angle from the kitchen. In that back corner is my little corner of the world with my computer and such. I'd like to apologize and tell you it rarely is that messy and the kids had been using my computer for homework and then T got into things and . . . The reality is though that my desk is always messy and usually worse than what you see there.

In every house there are things you inherit from previous owners that make you wonder "What were they thinking?" For me, these kitchen wall images fall into that category. This is the main image located above the kitchen table. The bathrooms and kitchen are ceiling to floor tile and these kinds of images are part of the tile decoration. They're not painted on but very carefully placed. I see them and wonder "What were they thinking?"

And you can't just easily hang a picture over them--it's tile. Besides you'd have to hang several pictures as their are smaller versions of this motif around the kitchen. You can see them in the pics above.

Also, notice the white lawn chairs around our kitchen table. These have been the chairs for this table since we moved in. I've thought several times about replacing them with "normal" chairs but why? These serve the purpose. (I know all my fabulous decorator friends are cringing right now wondering why I haven't learned anything from them. I think there was a conference talk a while back about making things beautiful. Maybe I should go back and reread that one.)

Here's a better close up of the image above the kitchen table. So Middle Eastern! Take note of the shadowing effect. Makes it 'pop', don't ya think?

This is a view from the balcony off the kitchen and dining room. When the weather was warmer we ate out here a few times. Once we ate pizza here but were swarmed by bees so had to move the pizza party back inside.

I took this in tribute to my friend JoDell who once made a comment about colored bathroom fixtures. Check out the color of this bathroom, JoDell! This bathroom is on the main level with one bedroom (Petey's), the kitchen, dining room, front room, and whatever room. So this is the bathroom that guests get to use whenever they come.

I took this picture as an example of the light fixtures they put in when they remodeled last summer. The kids' bedrooms used to have fans, if I remember correctly, but have been replaced with these types of lights. The hallways outside the bedrooms also have these light fixtures. I really like the look of them but the function gets a big thumbs down. They hardly let off any actual light.

This is our family room on the top level. I'm taking this picture on some stairs that lead up to our roof. On the top level is this family room, 4 bedrooms (including ours), and 2 bathrooms. Nic is doing what she does best--watching videos.

Another viewpoint of the same room. I'm taking this picture from standing in the doorway of my bedroom. I mentioned in an earlier post that when I want to sleep and the kids want to play Wii early Saturday morning it causes a bit of a conflict if they get too noisy.

This next picture is of mine and Todd's bedroom. You will notice that we are master decorators. It's our hobby. It took a lot of practice and forethought to throw that quilt over our bed. In reality it just got cold and we needed some extra covering.

Another angle of our bedroom.

This picture is of the bathroom off mine and Todd's bedroom. I guess you'd call it a "master bathroom" but the only thing that makes this any different than the rest of the bathrooms is that it's bigger. No jet tub or double sink or anything.

I took this picture so first you could admire the color. No, the color isn't some funky problem with my camera. It really is a grayish brownish color.

The second reason I included this picture is so you can spot the problem. Need a hint? Notice the line up of the fixtures. From left to right you have the toilet paper holder, the beday, the toilet, a soap holder, and the shower/bathtub. (Ignore the scale and garbage can as they aren't permanent fixtures. So what's the problem? There are actually a couple of problems.

First, the toilet paper holder isn't by the toilet. ALERT! ALERT! DON'T NEED THESE IMAGES IN YOUR MIND ALERT! STOP READING NOW! In fact, it's so far away that once you're "using the facilities" you can't reach the toilet paper holder. So we don't use this toilet paper holder. Above the toilet is a window with a sill (is sill with one or two l's?) and we keep a couple rolls there because its much easier to reach. The second problem is with the soap holder. Why is that even there? There are plenty of places to put soap inside the tub. Who would put soap there? If you're using it while you're bathing/showering then you'll drip water on the floor and who wants to clean that up? We have some friends (Hi Leavitts!) that use their beday as a sink for the small children. It's a great idea. T crawls all over the bedays so we don't use them either. So if it were me, I would've switched the toilet paper holder and soap holder around and it would've solved all sorts of issues.

This is the balcony off of our bedroom and the family room. Last fall when the weather was warm enough this was my favorite place to nap. Now that the weather is turning warm enough I'm sure my Friday afternoon naps will take place here again.

This is Cricket and Nic's room. When they were remodeling the house last summer before we moved in, they let us pick the colors of the bedrooms. Nic and Cricket picked this color. It really fits them. Their closet also holds lots of stuff so we have luggage and stuff stored in the top cupboards.

This is a sliding glass door in Nic and Crickets room that leads to a narrow balcony. I wish we were going to be here longer for them to enjoy it more in warmer weather.

This was one of the features of the house that I loved. This is in Batman and Critter's bedroom. This bookshelf is attached to the wall and holds lots of things. Love it! I wish all the rooms had one of these.

This house will soon be only a memory. I will really miss this house. It has been my most favorite house that we've been in. True, the location is far from dear family and friends but the actual physical house has been my favorite. I love the set up--even with the drawback of lots of stairs. Even with the problems with water, electricity, etc. it has been my favorite house. That's because whenever there was a problem, all we had to do was call Firas and he was on it like blue bonnet. House problems are much easier to fix when they are someone else's problem.

We're planning a trip to Egypt in a couple of weeks to start looking for places there. We'll keep you posted.

We're proud of you too, Critter!

2009-04-09T11:58:00.001+03:00

Critter has the most AR points in his school so he was awarded a prize for his efforts. Here are some pictures with his "prize." In case you don't know what AR stands for, it means "accelerated reader." The kids read books and then take quizzes on them to make sure they actually read and understood what they read. Then they are awarded points based on how they did on the quiz and the level of difficulty of the book. Let me just say, he didn't get the most points in the school by reading the kind of book he was awarded. Good thing he didn't read the books just to get the prize at the end because I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have read anything if he knew this would be the end reward. When he arrived home from school, like a great big brother, he promptly gave it to Nic.

It's official--we're pretty sure anyway

2009-04-08T12:07:00.000+03:00

This week the owner of Todd's company made the official invitation to our family to make the move to Egypt. Effective June 1st, Todd will be the general manager of Skopos and will no longer be a consultant "out in the field." I guess it kind of means he's the in-house consultant of the consultant company. The announcement was also made to Skopos employees so its now more official than it has ever been. We're now making our plans to move to a place where a section of town is nicknamed "Garbage City" although that term may apply to just about all of Cairo. Who's first to come visit? Anyone? Anyone?

No requests for autographs, please!

2009-04-07T09:42:00.004+03:00

A few weeks ago when it was becoming likely that we'd be moving from Jordan this summer we made a list of places we want to be sure to visit before we move. We probably won't make it through the entire list but at least it gave us some focus. Last Saturday we looked at our schedules and realized none of us had any commitments. We decided it'd be a great day to do a "Desert Castles tour." Lest you judge me, remember we're 9 hours ahead of UT time here so conference still hadn't happened yet. Otherwise I'm sure we would've been home dressed up in church clothes with our notebooks and pens on hand (and cinnamon rolls) ready to immerse ourselves in the words of our leaders :)

When we announced to the kids we would be doing something as a family that day, they were excited at the prospect but with some reservations. Basically, they begged us to "please don't make us see more ruins." Since most of what there is to do in Jordan is visit ruins, our list is significantly shortened. We haven't eliminated the list but decided on this day we would do something non-ruin related but also cheap. The kids' items on the list are of course the most expensive.

What we decided to do was go spend some time at King Hussein Park. It was a gorgeous day weather-wise. As it turned out we needed to get some paperwork signed and verified because this next weekend we will be taking our rental car to Jerusalem and you can't just do that because you want to. There's quite a process as we (Todd) found out.

We loaded up bikes into and on the car, took along some water, and off we went to the park. Todd dropped us off while he went to take care of the simple paperwork and was going to meet up with us a short time later.

I've taken the three littlest kids to this park before. It is a huge park. When I was there before it was the afternoon and it was empty. Jordanians are not known for early morning activities so the thought was we would go about 10 am and I could walk/jog around the park while the kids played and rode bikes and we would be done before the crowds arrived. We were mistaken.

It seemed every kid and school in Amman was taking advantage of the great weather and the free park. We drove up and saw several cars and school buses in the parking lot. (Some Christian-based schools have Friday and Sunday off instead of Friday and Saturday.) And it was crowded. I was wearing my exercise clothes and no make up. The sloppy American woman. I really didn't expect there to be that many people. I didn't go walking or jogging because there was so many people I was afraid T and possibly Nic would get lost in the huge park and crowds of people so I stayed close by.

This was the first time we've really had our bikes out for the season and we realized they need a little work. Tires were going flat, brakes were malfunctioning, etc. We brought a pump with us to the park but one of the tires on Batman's bike wouldn't stay inflated for more than a minute or two. The older kids rode bikes for a little while but then walked them back down to where I was sitting by the playgrounds.

From the time I sat down to watch the kids play it was like we were celebrities. We were swarmed by people. It was a constant stream of people welcoming us to Jordan, asking where we were from, wanting pictures of us, pics of the kids, pics of themselves with our kids . . . In one sense it was great because there was always a helping hand to help the little ones down the slides and on the swings. It was mostly the school kids swarming us but there were a handful of adults staring as well. I still don't really get it because there are a lot of "westerners" in Jordan. We're not THAT much of an oddity, or so I thought. I've determined it was because of the way I was dressed that truly set us apart :) I think I've mentioned how women here dress. It's always a fashion show. I'm not kidding. The adult women at the park had on heels trudging through the sand to help their kids down the slide.

After struggling to keep the bikes working long enough to enjoy them, the older kids made their way to the playgrounds where I was sitting. Then the adulation was kicked up a notch because all the Jordanian kids wanted to ride our bikes. Calvin's was the only big bike in complete working order so we let them take turns on that one. It was interesting to see that they were all so excited to ride the bike as though biking was an oddity but yet they all knew how to ride and they weren't struggling to stay up on it. So they've learned to ride a bike somewhere but I haven't really seen a lot of people riding bikes here in Jordan. Maybe I just haven't noticed.

Meanwhile I was getting texts from Todd that the simple process was not so simple. He was having to drive different people all over town to get the right papers signed so we can get into Jerusalem with the rental car. That's a different post for a different day.

Critter had made some plans to meet up with a friend and we were at the park longer than expected so his friend came to the park to meet us. Jared hadn't been to this park before. Did I mention it is huge? And next to the huge park is a huge sports-complex park with soccer fields and basketball courts and such. I walked down to the entrance to try to direct Jared and his mom to where we were located and they were lost and I wasn't sure where they were so it took several minutes to find them. I'd left Petey alone with the bikes while the rest of us went to find Jared. Apparently some boys really started harassing her wanting to ride the bikes and she couldn't explain in Arabic well enough that the brakes weren't working and they were giving her a hard time. She was practically in tears by the time I got back to her. I felt bad. Evidently there were some adults there that saw what was going on and shooed the boys away but by that time the damage to Petey's psyche was done. We were all tired by that point.

Four+ hours and 8 sunburned family members later, Todd arrived back at the park. We loaded back up and headed for home. We stopped and got hamburgers, fries, and McFlurries. We didn't want our McFlurries to melt and we were all so hungry so we ate the McFlurries as soon as we got them then ate the rest once we got home.

The video is of a group of kids that wanted to sing us a song. Would you ever get that in America? A group of kids asking to sing a song to total strangers? They also sang another song and two girls danced for us but the two girls didn't want us to video them dancing. So we didn't record that second song.

These are some pictures of the kids with their new best friends/admirers/fans.

Preschool and homeschool

2009-04-03T21:12:00.000+03:00

Every week Nic gets together with Halen Leavitt for a little preschool. This is her with one of her preschool projects. These are the best kind of projects because you can eat them afterward. I have a picture of Halen but I don't have permission to post his picture on our un-private blog but you'll have to trust me when I tell you he's adorable. Last week we held most of preschool in the room where we keep the spring-horse. Halen didn't want to get off the horse so we brought preschool to him and it was perfect. He and Nic were attentive and not running all over the house. All preschools should have ponies for the children.

This is my first foray into preschool. Petey had a preschool for about two weeks one summer but it was taught by a couple of the Young Women from our ward. For this preschool, I teach once a week for two weeks in a row, then Halen's mom teaches for two weeks, and we keep switching back and forth. The best part is having a little playmate for Nic since T is still just a bit too young for them to really enjoy playing together.

So now that I've had like 3 months of preschool, I've decided I'm ready for bigger and better things. It's looking like next year when we're in Egypt I (and a tutor or two) will be homeschooling the kids. I know! Yikes! I AM crazy! This will either be the best thing we've done or the worst. Time will tell.

All I know is that we haven't been happy with the school in Kuwait or here in Jordan and it seems that Egypt offers the same kinds of things. There is still one option known as CAC or also known as the "Embassy School" meaning it's where most of the American ex-pats attend. Most are associated in someway with the government or the embassy so their tuition is paid for. Todd's company does pay some tuition.

In Kuwait it was enough to cover 4 kids' tuition at the "Embassy School." Here in Jordan it would've only covered about half of 5 kids' tuition but we weren't happy with the Kuwait school so we thought we'd try something different anyway. And we're still not happy. This year we'll have 6 school age kids. Tuition at CAC for 6 kids would be just over $90,000. Whew! Whose idea was this to have so many kids?! Like I said, Todd's company pays some tuition but certainly not $90,000. So we've decided to take the tuition money and get a great homeschool curriculum with a tutor or two and voila! Educated children! Or maybe not.

Everyone but Petey thinks homeschool will be great. Our kids were friends with a family in UT that homeschooled their kids (shout out to the Eubanks!) so our kids saw the benefits of homeschool. Petey is at the social age and isn't so sure that homeschool will be the best option. She wants us to cough up the expensive education for her and homeschool the rest of the kids. We're keeping that option open for now but it is closing quickly. We've assured them that we will involved them in community programs whether they want to or not. It'll be a different experience but I've convinced myself I can do anything for a few months so we'll give this a try. It couldn't be any worse than the last couple of years, right?

Visitors of a different sort

2009-04-01T20:55:00.001+03:00

The last couple of weeks we've have been privileged to have guests in our home. Sam and Kate Henderson have been staying with us and Jabra and Stacey Ghneim came to stay as well. It has been so fun having them here.

Sam is my college roommates brother-in-law and Kate is his wife. (Got it?) They are on a worldwide tour after graduating from college. They graduated from USU--my alma mater. Go Aggies! Krissy (my old roommate) knew they were coming to Jordan as part of their itinerary and she connected us. Sam and Kate have been so patient with our kids. Our kids love showing off for visitors and think they can get out of chores and bedtimes. Sam and Kate just smile and play UNO with them and listen to their corny jokes. We will miss them when they have to move on to the next country.

Jabra has been friends with Todd since Todd's college days when he was a student at BYU. I would say "boo Cougars!" but Todd has sufficiently brainwashed our kids into thinking they want to attend the Y someday. So I have to watch what I say. Stacey is Jabra's wife. Jabra is what we call an American who is also a "former Jordanian." Jabra knows more about American history and politics than most Americans. He is passionate about his beliefs and Stacey is the perfect wife because she complements (with an "e") him so well. As with most Jordanians, listening to Jabra tell a simple story is an event. We went out to dinner with them and Emile Khoury (from our branch) and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Thanks Jabra and Stacey for dinner, for the candy, and the great company.

The pictures with Jabra, Stacey, and Emile were taken with camera phones--sorry. You can see that our phones are top of the line! Emile suggested a particular restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed it so much with Jabra, Stacey and Emile, that we took Sam and Kate there the next week. Come visit us in Jordan and we'll take you there too!

Jabra and Stacey Ghneim

Jabra and Emile Khoury

Sam and Kate Henderson

2009-03-30T19:20:00.000+03:00

March 21st was Mother's Day here in Jordan. Gotta love living in a foreign country because then we can celebrate two Mother's Days each year.

Red's kindergarten class put on a little program for the moms. He is in the back row, center--the only one with blond hair.

After the program outdoors, we all went inside to their classrooms where we were presented with gifts from the children. Here's a picture of Red with the gifts.

Now--I'm trying to put this tactfully as Red can read and I don't want him reading this and thinking I don't appreciate the gifts. These Mother's Day gifts are just one of the "issues" we've had with this school. Take a look at the gifts. Pretty good for a kindergartner, huh? Yet still cheesy as kindergarten gifts to parents should be. The issue I have is that Red didn't make them. The teacher's assistant made them. Well, I take that back. Red did get to soak his hand in paint and press down on paper to make his handprint for the flowerpot. And he wrote his name and class in Arabic on the inside of the card. But beyond that, all the cutting, pasting, etc. was done by the assistant. Even his little head band thingy was completely done by the assistant.

Then there's the inside of the card. I'm all about Red writing in Arabic as it shows something he's learning. The top part was written by him. But the bottom part is pasted on and I asked Red to translate but he couldn't even translate it. This has been pretty typical of this school. Even though it's supposed to be an "English speaking" school we've found this not to be the case. So I received a card for Mother's Day from Red's teacher's assistant that I can't read. Priceless.

Here's a picture of Red and I together after the presentation. I know, I know. Bad pic of me--cute of Red with no front teeth. But I'm hoping this will be the last picture you see of me in eyeglasses as later that day I had LASIK surgery. (My Christmas/birthday/anniversary/Mother's Day-Jordan/Mother's Day-America gift) They only did the surgery on one eye--something about my age, having one eye be nearsighted and the other farsighted, my brain adapting, avoiding reading glasses in a few years, etc. All I know is my brain still has not adapted as I can see great out of the eye that had surgery and the other eye is all fuzzy and blurry. It's like I'm walking around with only one contact in or something. Very annoying. I'm told it'll take 4-6 weeks to trick my brain into seeing one clear image whether I'm looking up close or far away. I'm counting the days.

Rainy Day visitors

2009-03-28T18:58:00.004+03:00

These creatures came into our yard on a cold, wet, rainy day a couple of weeks ago. They were looking for food and shelter. You can see by where they were in our yard that there wasn't much for them to eat--just a few blossoms off the trees.

They tracked all that mud all over the driveway and right outside our downstairs door (also known in the Middle East as the Maid's Entrance--although I'm not sure our maid has used it more than a couple of times. We, however, use it all day every day.) They left quite a mess behind. You can see these aren't 4-H quality show animals but this is pretty typical of the animals you see around here.

Karak Castle and the Dubkeh Dance

2009-03-14T22:32:00.004+03:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

GRRRRRR. I've spent about 5 days trying to upload a video for this post. I talk about what's in the video in the post. It would've been really cool to put it up here. But it was only cool 5 days ago. I've spent far too much time trying to get it to work. It lost it's coolness like 4 days ago--but I kept trying. So you'll have to you-tube someone else doing the Dubkeh dance because there will be no video of it here. Here's the post:

Last week the kids had a couple days off from school and Todd had a day off of work for the Prophet Mohammad's birthday holiday. We went with some friends from the branch to explore Karak Castle. It's a Crusader castle completed in 1161. While the castle itself was interesting, I really have nothing to say on it. I suppose you could Google it for detailed info. It's not that a Crusader Castle isn't interesting--it's just seeing my amateur photos of it are not that interesting. Kind of like you have to be there to really appreciate it.

The video might be of interest. Every touristy place we go we get comments like "Welcome to Jordan" from complete strangers. I guess it must be obvious to the locals that we're not from here. Many want to take pictures of the kids or the more popular pictures of themselves with our kids. Karak Castle was no exception to this pattern.

As we were exploring the castle Todd started up a conversation with a group of University students--all girls. I'm sure it took him back to his bachelor days. I think they were surprised that he spoke such good Arabic. They are learning English so they were happy to have a chance to practice their English. We conversed for several minutes and they wanted to show us the Dubkeh Dance. It is an Arab dance popular at weddings and such. However, there were some boys there from the same University that these girls attend. They did not want to do the dance where they would be seen by the boys. They were very concerned about perhaps being video taped by the boys and who knows where it would end up.

We decided to climb up to a higher part of the castle where they could show us the dance out of the view of those boys. The video is of a few of these girls doing this dance for us. They were so friendly. I tried to demonstrate the western swing dance for them but that's hard to do without a partner who knows what they're doing.

After exploring the castle we ate a lunch that we'd packed then drove around for a while. We were looking for another location but we never did find it. The other car was leading. We all pulled over to the side of the road to decide if we wanted to keep looking or head back for Amman.

While we were discussing we were approached by a group of about 8 Arab boys. They were probably about 12 or so. Todd spoke to them in Arabic. They asked for money. We didn't give them any. We decided we were going to head back to Amman and so we were pulling back out onto the road and several of them spit on our car! Of course it was disgusting and we were appalled. We've never experienced anything but friendliness here. Todd has since told the story to some of his co-workers and friends and every time they offer to do something about it. They want to take him to lunch, they want to go buy him sweets, some have even offered to drive back with Todd to this place to find these boys and report them to their parents. To them this behavior was unacceptable. We'll just chalk it up to youth and move on. And no, I didn't take a picture of the spitballs on our car.

On the way back to Amman we stopped at an old abandoned train station. It was fun. Some of the dates on the sides of the car and tracks dated to early 1900's. What was incredible to me is that these abandoned railway cars have just been sitting there for who knows how long and I didn't see one speck of graffiti on them. It was just like time had stopped. Way cool. I've included a picture in the slide show of a group of men/boys nearby to the train station. It seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere but a large group had gathered to play Football (soccer to us Americans.) That's pretty typical here. They don't need fancy fields--just open space.

So that's the summary of what you'll find in the slideshow--Karak Castle and the Train Station

New additions to our family

2009-03-09T17:36:00.001+03:00

These are the latest additions to our family. A friend of Todd's (Ramez) is letting us take care of these fish for him. Ramez' wife and child are in Canada. His wife is due with another baby later this month and they went to Canada to be with her family and so the baby will have Canadian citizenship. Ramez is busy with work and such and knew our kids would love to have these fish, which they do love.

I would post a picture of a 3rd fish that Cricket got for her birthday but it only lived for a total of 2 days after we got it home. We should've known.

We were told where the pet stores were located here in Amman. We walked into the first one and Cricket picked out her fish. It was in a tank with several other fish--one of which was dead. But she saw the fish she wanted. They fished it out of the tank for us (pun intended) and put it in a plastic bag. We went to pay for it and I thought he said "Three." I was getting 3 JD from my purse and he repeated it a couple of times. Petey then told me they were saying "Free. Free." I thought it was so kind and they were so happy to have Americans come in their store to buy a goldfish. Looking back, it was probably because they knew that fish wasn't going to last long.

After getting Cricket's fish we walked further down the street just to see what pet stores here in Jordan have to offer. We walked into a few others and I knew then we had probably made a mistake. The others were much cleaner and the fish looked much healthier.

In case you're wondering, the pet stores we saw sold lots of fish and birds and a couple of rabbits.

Jackpot!

2009-03-07T17:13:00.003+03:00

I found these today (minus the child) at one of the local grocery stores. I took all of the Hershey's mini chips bags that were left on the shelf. I did leave a couple bags of the Reese's peanut butter chips and a couple of the Hershey's mini Kisses for another lucky soul who happens to notice them sitting on the very bottom shelf. I'm thinking I should've bought them all. I'll just consider it my act of service for the day :) These are a hot commodity here in Jordan. I paid 2.990 JD for each bag. That's the equivalent of $4.22 per bag. I bought 10 bags. I paid over $42 for chips but I consider it a victory!

Church callings further info

2009-03-03T22:21:00.000+03:00

Just a follow up to my Church Callings post. I got some questions in the comments as well as on FB by a friend so I'll answer them here.

The Browns asked what the Arabic speaking members do during the meetings. Is there a translator and do they have headsets? I think that was the question.

The answer is yes, usually there is a translator and we have headsets. This has only been the case the last several weeks. Our pulpit has two microphones. When we first arrived here in Jordan two people would be at the pulpit. One who was speaking/conducting/bearing testimony, etc. The other was the translator who translated from Arabic to English or vice versa. I thought this was a great thing as when someone was asked to give a talk, they only really had to prepare half a talk because half the time was taken up by the translator. Unfortunately I wasn't asked to talk til after they got the headsets so I had to give a full talk. Bummer.

Now they have the headsets, which is generally a good thing. I say "generally" because it does have some disadavantages. Since we are a small branch we only have a small room that we meet in for Sacrament Meeting. When the translator is talking into the microphone so the headset people can hear, his voice can be a bit distracting. Until you get used to it, it sounds like someone is being very rude and just talking right out loud during a talk. But you do get used to it.

The other bad thing is the speaker sometimes forgets there is someone who is trying to translate. They may start off speaking slowly but after a few minutes into the talk they are on a roll and start talking normal speed or even nervous fast speed. I know some of the Arabic speaking members have complained because there are big gaps in the translating while the translator is trying to keep up. When the speaker is talking too fast I've noticed too that that's when the translators voice is also louder because I think he doesn't realize how loud he's talking because he's so focused on trying to keep up with the speaker.

In Relief Society we really only have one sister who doesn't speak much English. She just nods her head a lot and if there is something important than someone will translate. They do use the headsets in Priesthood, though. A few weeks ago the Priesthood teacher taught in Arabic and the English speakers had to wear the headsets. Todd thought it was quite an eye-opener for those English speakers. For adult Sunday School we have an English speaking class and an Arabic speaking class.

A funny thing happened this last Friday at church. We had our fast and testimony meeting last Friday because next Friday Elder Neunschwander (no idea of the spelling) will be here to speak to us. When the branch president got up to conduct he realized there was no translator there. He speaks Arabic so he translated for himself. He encouraged us all to bear our testimonies and to hear with the spirit because of the language barrier. A member of the branch got up to bear his testimony. This member speaks both Arabic and English but Arabic is his first language. He got up and started in Arabic then he wanted the branch president to translate into English. So the branch president got up and did that. But then this member (Ramone) started speaking in English. Then he paused and waited for Pres. Hoffman to translate to Arabic. The whole testimony went on like that--and it was a long testimony. It was going back and forth between English and Arabic the whole time. Pres. Hoffman did a great job keeping up with it.

So there's the long answer to a simple question.

Another question from a facebook friend was something like "you mention you may have to move" so what is that story?

It's looking like our 3rd year in the Middle East will be spent in Cairo, Egypt. Yikes! Cairo is a dirty, crowded, men-urinating-in-public, leave-a-tip-everywhere-including-if-you-want-toilet-paper-in-a-filthy-dirty-public-bathroom kind of place. It's not 100% though. At this time last year we were making plans to move to Bahrain and look where we are now--not Bahrain. We won't move anywhere til the summer but it's looking less and less likely that we'll be staying in Jordan longer than this summer. I'm really sad about that too. Of course I will miss the friends we've made here. But I will also miss our house. Despite the problems we've had with it, it has been my favorite house. If only I could pick it up and move locations. Actually, that's not true. I love the location. We have a great view. If only I could convince family and all the friends I've ever known to come live here then we would be set.

Also with the callings. Give away day was Friday and there weren't as many things taken as I would have expected. I think next week I'll put them in a little better order so people can really see what is there. Right now it's just in piles.

And referencing another comment--I had forgotten to mention too that during all of the hymnbook changes and library coordinating, there was a change in the Branch Presidency. I was fortunate that the new branch presidency let me continue with the direction I was heading with both callings. Both sets have been very helpful and supportive. I have to be honest and say Critter was probably the most disappointed in the change. You see, the last Branch President (Pres. Leavitt) was his hero. Critter would point to him and say "See, Mom. You can be a good member of the church AND have long hair." I told Critter that's why he was released--his hair was too long. The new President (Pres. Hoffman) is a major in the military. No long hair anymore.