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 3rd 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.
