Sunday, May 27

Pat took part in the big Elementary Day Memory Challenge and Play. Here is a picture of her "dressed' for her role. This activity took place on Thursday and included all of the students in Grades PreK-3 through 6.

The people we have met here have proven to be most interesting and charming. Regardless of their station or position in life they are very warm and gracious hosts. Behind our campus apartment is a small grocery shop. It isn’t any larger than 10’ by 20’ and contains all sorts of items (fresh and packaged). It is truly a family run business with 3 generations in the shop at various times. We’ve met them all and they have been so helpful and friendly to us. This is where we purchase our bottled water and since we started buying here nearly two months ago, they keep a steady supply for us. Friday evening, I stopped over to buy 10 bottles and the wife of the man who normally is there was working along with her son (probably 12 years old). After she bagged up my purchased she handed it to her son to carry back for us – it wasn’t very heavy but she wanted him to do it. When we got back to the gate, I tried to give him a little money for carrying it but he wouldn’t take it – he just kept smiling and shaking his head “no”. We see this type of service and friendliness no matter where we venture in Alex.

We had the Jr-Sr Prom on Friday evening as well. Prom here is much different that the extravaganza it has become in the states. Girls do not tan for 6 months prior to prom – most are already tanned because of the climate (we have yet to see a tanning shop). It was very low-key – just the Juniors and Seniors along with a couple of staff members at the Sheraton. Prom went from 8 to 11 PM – supper and dance. There were no limos, no tux’s or formals, no after prom, etc.

Friday evening, Denny and I went to the Sporting Club along with my good friend Lobna and her daughter to visit a jeweler there. The jeweler is one of the best in the city and we had asked Lobna to help arrange for us to have some pieces made. It was fascinating to watch her “negotiate” the cost of the items. Very few places have set prices (unless they are a food establishment or a store in a mall). They would go back and forth trying to reach a price that both could be happy with. Finally when it came time to pay, my amount was 470 and as I counted out my currency (all 50 LE notes) when I got to 450, she said that was enough and he took that price. We had priced similar items when we were in Sharm last weekend and they were higher and not of the same quality as these were. We are very appreciative of her willingness to help us out in our purchases.

Saturday afternoon the elementary staff was invited by a parent out to Montaza on the shores of the Mediterranean. They have a cabana on the sea. The family hosted a lunch (really more like a feast) for staff and friends. The food was very good and the desserts were to die for. We also had fresh orange and strawberry juice. It is so interesting to watch the people in a social setting. Families come at various times and they always come around an greet everyone personally. The men shake hands and the women with kiss cheeks. During the social time, the men will congregate in one area, the women in another area, the children in yet another area with their nannies close by. The families will often have drivers who bring them so they will group with the other drivers and servants. Hosting an event such as this is a major undertaking for a family and they want to be sure that everything is done the proper way.

Sunday, May 20

We just returned home from a 3 day weekend in Sharm el Shiek with 6 other staff persons. We flew out of Cairo on Thursday evening and arrived in Sharm around Midnight. We stayed at the Hilton Shark’s Bay Resort right on the Red Sea. The accommodations were very good. It was an all – inclusive package (all meals, drinks and snacks). The rates were very reasonable ($100 per day for Pat and I with a sea side view – including our flight) for this resort. Sharm has seen tremendous growth in the past 30 years. It has grown from a little fishing village to one of the main resort areas in the Middle East. It is know as the “City of Peace” because it has been home to numerous peace conferences. Nearly every major hotel / resort corporations has at least one if not more complex in the area. The area is well known for the scuba and deep sea diving. One of our group is a diver and did go twice while we were there. Our resort featured fine food and great pools. Many of the guests to this area come from Europe, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as costs with flights are very reasonable. Three guests from Russia we talked to were staying 12 days for $800 (including flights). As a result it is more “liberal” around the pool area with many female guests going topless.

On Friday evening, Pat and Cindy went into the city of Sharm to explore the sites. It was a very unique experience. The streets, cafes and night clubs were alive with music, dancing and activity. Davenports are strategically placed so visitors can site and visit as well as watch the activity.

On Saturday, Denny and I headed to St. Catherine’s Monestary located at the foot of Mount Moses, nearly two hours away from Sharm. St. Catherine's Monastery, was constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565. It is built around what is thought to be Moses' Burning Bush, which has a chapel built atop it. It is contains priceless works of art, including Arab mosaics, Greek and Russian icons, Western oil paintings, paintings on wax, fine sacerdotal ornaments, marbles, enamels, and chalices. It is one of the largest and most important collection of illuminated manuscripts in the world (The Vatican has the largest). The collection consists of some 4,500 volumes in Greek, Coptic, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Slavic, Syriac, Georgian and other languages. This area was not open to us on Saturday.

It has been called the oldest working Christian monastery and the smallest diocese in the world. The Chapel of the Burning Bush was originally ordered built by Empress Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, but the monastery itself was actually built by Emperor Justinian to protect the monks in the region and to honor the site of the Burning Bush. St. Catherine's is also a formidable fortification, with granite walls measuring 8 to 35 meters tall, surrounded by gardens and cypresses. Prior to probably the twentieth century, the only entrance to St. Catherine's was a small door 30 feet high, where provisions and people were lifted with a system of pulleys, and where food was often lowered to nomads. It has withstood numerous attacks over its 14 hundred year existence, thus protecting a rich store of art.

St. Catherine’s is now a Greek Orthodox Church. Most of its monks are also of Greek origin, though their ranks include an international flavor. Adjacent to the monastery is Mt. Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. One of Denny’s goals this year has been to climb Mt. Sinai and he accomplished this very difficult feat. I climbed with him for the first hour and decided I had enough but he continued on to the summit. He was glad he did it but said he would never do it again; it was a brutal climb in the heat of day. Many who do climb go late in the evening and then camp out on top and wait to see the sunrise. One thing we noticed as we climbed was the quietness of the area. It is so hard to imagine in an area so desolate and harsh that people could survive here – but they do. There is a rather large contingent of Bedouin tribesmen who live in the area.

We took off Sunday morning around 9:30 to head back to Alex. We had to hire a driver to get to Cairo to catch our plane to Sharm and to return to Alex The driver took a different road than usual on our trip home. It's called the Agricultural Road. We felt like we had been transported back into the 40's and 50's. We are sure some of you remember the Thrasher Machine that Leo had down by the barn. Well those were the machines they were using to thrash their "wheat or oats". We weren't sure what it was and our driver couldn't speak enough English to explain, but he was so proud to show us all the fields. We don't know how the men, women and children work in those fields in such hot weather with all the clothes they wear. And in the next 2 months it will get even hotter. Whatever it was in the fields, they were tying it in bundles and leaving them in the fields to be picked up by hand.

All along the road we saw houses (and I use that word loosely) with maybe 2 - 3 feet of straw or hay on the roofs. They use this as insulation to keep the heat out. We saw many vehicles driving either to Cairo or Alex to take their food items to town to sell. We can see why they call that road the Agricultural Road. We think Leo and any farmers of his generation would have enjoyed the trip.

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Sunday, May 13

Happy Mother’s Day! It will be a busy night for our network tonight as staff will be “skyping” back to the states for Mother’s Day. The florists in Alex made many stops to our school today as well. Mother’s Day was actually celebrated nearly 6 weeks ago in Egypt.

Yesterday we visited some of the oldest monasteries in this part of the world. These are Coptic Christian ones that date back to the 3^rd century. We went to 4 different ones. While it seems that those entering this type of life are declining in the states, it is actually increasing a little here. Most of the ones we went to had between 80 and 120 monks. The men who join must have a college education and have fulfilled their military obligation before they can be considered. It is unusual to see these communities in the heart of the Arab Republic of Egypt where 95% of the people are Muslim. We do have a small contingent of Christians who work at the school and they helped organize our trip. Nearly 35 staff members attended.

This evening we were taken out to supper at a most unique fish restaurant, the Sea Gull. The décor was most unusual – with antiques, live animals and birds, statues and paintings. Like most fish restaurants the catch is live and diners pick out their catch beforehand. Two couples treated Pat and I as they stayed in our home in February when they attended the UNI overseas job fair. We had a very nice time – thinking about it afterwards, we are a little sad because both couples will be leaving Schutz after this school year. We have about a month left and I’m sure it will difficult to say good by to all of the staff who are not returning next year.

Sunday, May 06

We took a long walk after school Wednesday through an area called Bakose. This area features a very active open market section where one could buy nearly anything. One butcher shop we walked by had cow hoofs hanging outside the shop as well as other parts of cows that one would not easily identify as edible. We spoke with one of our long time staff afterwards and he said a real delicacy is spine marrow from a cow. He also said that “cow’s head” was a real treat. Both of us thought back to our days growing up on farms with our cows and got a little squeamish about that one!

Alexandria is in the midst of a major public works project – replacing city sidewalks – especially in heavily traffic areas. This project is carried out much differently than in the states. Most of the work is done by hand. Sidewalks here are usually in blocks (a foot square) and laid like one would lay a tile floor. So when they are replaced, the old pieces are broken up and laid on the side of the street. The city takes a while to pick those up, allowing any resident to come by and take what they want first. Piles of sand are placed along the curbs and then the work begins by hand. Workers actually mix a base to put down before laying the new blocks in piece by piece. Obviously it takes a while to complete the project but time is really never an issue here.

Thursday evening, eleven of us went on another “Grill Club” outing to a restaurant in Green Plaza to eat. One of their specialties is pigeon. The local staff says it is a real tasty – so Denny tried it. Both Pat and I weren’t as adventuresome so we had grilled chicken. Denny had a little skin but not much meat at all. There wasn’t much there so Pat gave him a little chicken. This will probably be the last Grill Club outing of the year – we have really enjoyed them as it gives us time to socialize with the local staff in a non-work setting. The local staff here is very warm and open to sharing their culture with us. Next weekend several local staff have organized a trip to some of the oldest monasteries in Egypt. We are very anxious to go.

Saturday we accompanied Denny downtown on his trip to the dentist. We took the tram from school. On the way back, we took several pictures of the neighborhood. We always ask people if we can take their picture and most of the time, they really enjoy it and love to see it afterwards In today’s entry are three photos, one of Pat with our pharmacist, one of me with in the shop where we usually buy our water (right behind our apartment) and one of the famous “Chicken Man” open grill on Schutz Street.