On Christmas Day we spend most of the day with the family we went to mass with last evening, Emad, Eman and their two children, Jonathan and Cookie. The children are 7 and 8 years old. Jonathan goes to the French school while Cookie goes to the German school. Each child knows three languages (English, Arabic and either German or French). It seems that most of the world values knowing and speaking multiple languages more than the United States. With the international emphasis in business today, we need to realize that not everyone will speak English and model our education system accordingly.
We had a wonderful time with Emad, Eman and the kids. We visited the Citadel – a fortress that was built on the original location of the Alexandria Lighthouse (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). It has been restored to it’s original state. Walls were nearly 3 yards in thickness. The Egyptians used this as a military outpost protecting Alex on the Mediterranean from attacks by the Turks (http://www.ask-aladdin.com/qaitbay.html). Following our visit to the Citadel we took a boat ride on the Mediterranean in the bay area by the Citadel. The sea was fairly rough so the ride was a little bumpy. On the shore where we boarded the boat was a ship builder’s shop. Here there were building yacht type boats primarily by hand. The quality of workmanship looks to be outstanding. Following the boat ride, we went to Green Plaza for an authentic Egyptian meal. We had a great time with Emad and his family. They are a fun family and offered many insights into family life in Egypt. We look forward to spending more time with them.
Today, Aaron, Pat and I went back out to Green Plaza for a little shopping and a meal. We wanted Aaron to experience a typical taxi ride. Our driver and his car was very unique. He thought we were tourists and wanted to charge us about twice what a typical fare would be, but settled for what we usually pay. His car was pretty run down. The back door on one side didn’t open and his seat back was broken and he was almost in Pat’s lap in the back seat. Aaron was rather calm throughout the ride perhaps from fear – we are not really sure. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic, honking his horn and driving in the typical Alexandrian way (no lights). He did stop once to wipe off his windshield but we couldn’t tell if that was for his benefit or ours!
We are headed for Cairo tomorrow for a couple of days, then Aaron heads home and we are off to Jordan.
