Day 2 in Egypt

Today John, Heidi and I (we make up the youth staff at Maadi Community Church), grabbed our bikes and treked around our area of the city, familiarizing ourselves with various stores and landmarks that we will make use of over the next year. Biking here, much like the driving, is completely insane. When driving around the city, there are lines on the road, but they don't mean anything. There are no stop signs at any intersections, and the odd stop lights are nothing more than mere decorations. People do not use their signal lights, they simply honk and move over. So when you ride your bike around, this is the kind of madness that you are riding your bike through. There is no such thing as a "right of way" and you don't ride your bike on the sidewalk, so you pretty much just have to fight your way through the traffic and try not to get hit. As if that isn't enough, the church makes us wear helmets while we ride our bikes, and my bike is too small, so we just look like a couple of circus freaks and everyone stares at us as we ride by. At one point, we crossed to the other side of some train tracks, and it was as if we were in another world. Everything was a lot more slum-like, and if we stopped, people would flock to us and hold onto our bikes to try to get money from us and stuff. It was interesting to see the contrast in cultures with just a set of train tracks separating them.

Tonight we will have church (Thursday night church is the equivalent of Saturday night services in North America) and tomorrow (Friday) we will have our main church services. Heidi and I have to get up and say a few words, so that'll be interesting. I'll let you know how it goes, and maybe I'll get a few pictures as well.