Tuesday, October 30

We hosted the EMAC Volleyball Tournament for both Girls and Boys last weekend (Thursday through Saturday). 5 other teams visited (Doha, Amman, BISC-Cairo and Beruit). The players stayed with families of our students while the coaches stayed on campus. We hosted a coach from BISC. Our boys team finished 3^rd while our girls team finished 5^th. The boys have a lot of talent but when they get behind in a match, they have a tendency to lose their focus and start bickering with each other. The Schutz crowd was very vocal and supportive of both teams. It is interesting because the cheers they use are ones we used in the States in the dark ages when we were both in school!

Our boys’ team played off campus the first two days of the tournament. Four of us went over on Friday to watch the games. On our way back, while driving on the Corniche, we had a little accident. A man tried crossing the street and paused when he saw us, then as we got closer, he started up again and we just nipped him. He fell to the street and fortunately no other cars were coming and he was ok. It is surprising that more are not hit as the traffic just zooms by and many of the pedestrians cross anywhere on the street.

On Monday, Pat subbed as the 1^st grade teacher. The regular teacher was ill and Pat was asked to fill in. She was a little nervous the night before but did an excellent job. Who knows, maybe she has found her next career! This is the end of the quarter and everyone is busy getting assignments graded and their grades finalized. We have a work day on Thursday and hopefully everyone will get done before the weekend.

Monday, October 22

We have tried to make a concerted effort to get off campus each day. There always seems like there is more to do but it is important to take break and get out into the “real world” of Alexandria. We took a nice long walk Saturday morning before breakfast. The crowd that is out early in the morning is very different than what we see later in the day. It is much more “working” class. Saturday is a school day for many of the schools in our area and we see many students walking or being dropped off at the neighborhood schools. You could easily walk by a school and not recognize it as many look just like apartment buildings. Many of the schools require students to wear uniforms and the children look so nice. There is something to be said about uniformity of dress in an educational setting. Along the Corniche we saw several fishermen who had set up their “stands.” For many this is not a business, rather it is a way for them to catch their dinner. As we walked back we noticed some “car washers.” These are men who are hired to wash off someone’s car in the morning before the person uses it. Cars are usually parked on the streets and with all the dust, their owners’ want them cleaned up before they drive them so they will hire someone to wipe it down before they use it. Saturday evening we drove out to Green Plaza with a couple of other teachers and went to “The Brave One” starring Jodie Foster. Tickets for the 4:00 show are only 15 LE each (around $2.75).

October 16

We left for Hurghada after school on Thursday. When we arrived at the Cairo airport the departure hall for our flight had changed. The person at the information desk told us to go hall 4 (we were in hall 1). He said it was a 2 to 3 minute walk from hall 1 or we could take a taxi (which we thought was kind of unusual). It turns out that hall 4 was a good 10 to 15 minute ride by shuttle bus. Because of the Eid, many people were flying to either Hurghada or Sharm and they set up a special departure hall for that. The hall was crowded and typically chaotic. There were no signs or announcements telling when the buses were loading up to take passengers to the planes – people milling all around and then the doors open and everyone rushing through.

The flight lasted a little less than an hour. When we arrived, there were many taxi drivers lined up to take people to there hotels. Our hotel is located in Makadi Bay (about 30 km from the airport). I told a couple of drivers where we wanted to go and they both said they would take us there for 150 LE because they told us the hotel was 65 km away. We walked away and one came back and we settled on 100 LE (still a little high but it was late and we wanted to get to the hotel). As we got in, he told us we had to pay 30 LE for the airport parking. We told him it was his responsibility as he had agreed on 100. We argued back and forth on the trip to the hotel and then he told us, he wanted and additional 20 LE for his trouble. We reminded him again that he agreed to 100 and also that his 65 km wasn’t correct. Finally as we got out, we paid the 100 LE and he drove away. The ride by the way was an experience as he was all over the road.

The resort is part of a large complex with several resorts and shops sharing the same beach on the Red Sea. There are numerous pools and all sorts of recreational activities for children and adults (billiards, theatre, table tennis, fitness areas, volleyball, golf, tennis, shopping areas, soccer, etc). Our resort really caters to families and there were numerous activities for kids (playgrounds, arts, and of course water activities.) Since it is all-inclusive, the meals, drinks and snacks are included in the cost of staying there. The grounds are very well kept and it seems like you are in a garden as you walk the grounds. No matter where you were at, it was just a short walk to another pool or refreshment area. Meals were good and the staff was very friendly. The beach was a 5 to 10 minute walk from our area of the resort. The water was clear and fish were within plain view no matter where you were at.

Our stay at the resort was very relaxing – because of the size of the area, it never seemed very crowded although there were many people there. This resort really caters to the German crowd. Not once did we run across anyone who was from the US. Very few spoke any English. The grounds were beautiful. Trees, cacti and flowers everywhere along with green grass (something we do not see a lot of in Egypt). Perhaps due to all of the flowers, we saw butterflies for the first time since we have been here. In addition, there were numerous mourning doves on the grounds. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 80’s during the day and cooling down at night. If anyone is looking for a great family place to visit – this is it. However if travelers come to Egypt and only stay here, they do not get a true picture of what Egypt is like. I guess that is why we enjoy living in Alex right in the heart of a typical neighborhood and experience what the culture is really all about.

We arrived back at Schutz Monday afternoon around 5:00. Since there is still one more day of holiday, the kitchen staff was off yesterday so Pat and I ventured out to San Steffano to grab a bite to eat. The crowds were awful – probably because of the Eid. Few festivals in the Muslim world are anticipated with greater delight than Eid el-Fitr. It is this festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The food court in the mall had about three times the number of the capacity of the area with people (primarily kids) pushing and shoving to get to the counters to order their food. We ordered and took our food home as there was no place to sit and the noise level was deafening.

October 9

Last week we concluded our annual Ramadan Food Drive. The Senior Class (which I help sponsor) was in charge of the food drive this year. Everything has gone pretty well with it. We collected 9,400 items of non-perishable food, exceeding last year’s total by over 4,000 items. The Seniors are sponsoring a pool party when we come back from break for the winning class (the 4^th Grade). Competition got pretty heated the last couple days. We have ran into a little hitch, the Food Bank of Egypt (located in Cairo) was going to pick everything up and backed out so we were scrambling a little before we found an organization to collect and distribute it.

Friday evening we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at the home of Debbie (4^th grade teacher from Canada) and her husband, Mahmoud. We had a feast – turkey with all the trimmings, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberries, salads and of course many different types of desserts. Around 20 staff attended. The photo is of some of the staff preparing drinks before the meal. One of our drivers was ill so I had my first taste of driving here this year – we have a new vehicle (a Hyundai) which rides very well. Traffic was heavy as it was around the time people are rushing home for Iftars. I had my first experience driving on the Corniche, the main avenue that runs adjacent to the Mediterranean. As we turned onto Horreya (another very busy street) it was bumper to bumper with cars, bikes, donkey carts, wheelchairs and of course pedestrians. Fortunately we managed to survive and arrive safely. The trip home was nearly as congested as many people were out on the streets. One has to really be on their toes as traffic can come from any direction at any time.

We took a long two hour walk on Saturday throughout the neighborhoods to the Corniche and back to Schutz. It is like a huge farmers market every day in Alexandria. Carts and stands with fish, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as people selling all types of items. It is so lively and there is so much energy that when you get back you really feel refreshed and exhausted. It seems at nearly every block there is a ‘Kodak” moment. One of these days we will take our camera and try to take as many photos as we can but you do have to be careful and always as some do not want their pictures taken.

Pat and Debbie are planning a shopping excursion for curtains for our apartment. Unlike the states, very few (if any) stores sell ready made curtains. They will need to find a “material or fabric” store and purchase the material and then have someone make them.

We received a water dispenser for our apartment today (this was one of the requests made by the residents at the end of last year). We will have hot and cold water now on tap that we can drink and use for tea, coffee, etc. Guess we won’t need to visit the local store that we had used for bottled water as much. We will have to find some other items we can get at the local shops as they have been so friendly and accommodating.

On Thursday we take off right after school to catch a flight in Cairo for Hurghada. Hurghada is a resort city on the Red Sea. We will be staying at the Iberotel Makadi Oasis, an all inclusive resort, owned by the same corporation of the one we stayed at near Marsa Matrouh. We are looking forward to 4 days of R and R.