Transportation Tidbits

I think I've mentioned before that taxis are plentiful, here in Cairo, but I don't think I have told you about what happens when they apply their brakes. You see, because there are so many taxis everywhere, taxi drivers do whatever they can to make their taxi more appealing to customers. One such method, which sounds like it is the most common method, is to hook up some really low quality music to the brakes so that every time the taxi slows down, it plays music outside of the car. I guess this is probably to let people know that a taxi is nearby, in much the same way as ice cream truck drivers in North America play music when they drive around the neighborhood trying to woo children. The funny part to this story is that the music that is usually played is some sad rendition of 'It's a Small World'. The music quality is so tinny and high that I didn't even realize what song this was until last week.

Speaking of taxis, while I was riding in one today, the driver showed me a bunch of small notes that totaled 50 pounds. He motioned that he wanted a 50 pound note in exchange for this smaller change. Happy to break my 50 pounds into smaller notes, I obliged and pulled out a crisp new 50 pound note from my wallet and handed it to him. As he handed me his money, he took mine and exchanged the 50 pound note with a 50 piaster note (which is the Egyptian equivalent of cents). He then proceeded to accuse me of giving him only 50 piasters instead of 50 pounds. This was an obvious scam that he had pulled on a number of unlucky tourists in the past, but it wasn't going to work on me. I took his 50 piasters, looked at him with raised eyebrows, laughed and threw it into his pile of change while shaking my head. He shrugged his shoulders like, "Oh well, maybe next time I'll trick them," and kept on driving. I promptly got out and paid for the trip (he also tried to rip me off with the fee as well!). It seems that some people aren't as accommodating as the rest!

Speaking of unaccommodating transportation people, a minibus driver hit me today while I was biking home!! He smashed right into the side of my bike and knocked me off of it. The impact bent the fender around my wheel so that my tire wouldn’t even rotate anymore. The driver gave me a slightly apologetic wave and took off. In order to get home I had to bend the fender back with my hands. Now the wheel wobbles as I ride around, as if it were left in the sun for too long and started warping from the heat. No worries, though. I left the scene of the accident free from any injuries.

The Story of Sunday Night

I stood at one end of a basketball court and looked towards a group of at least 30 people. All of them were busy conversing with one another, and yet, there was complete silence! It was like watching a group of people through binoculars because I could see each of them moving their arms and communicating with each other, but no words fell upon my ears. It felt as though I was deaf. Ironically, though, I was the only person in this group who had the gift of hearing. I stood there in the middle of the Deaf Unit, which my host family works at, and watched in wonder as this group of deaf people happily socialized for the evening. One of the neatest things about this experience was watching one man, who was deaf, communicate with his deaf and blind wife. He would 'talk' to her by doing sign language into her hands and by touching her face. They seemed so content with each other. So intimate.

These two deaf people accompanied my host parents and I to a Coptic Egyptian wedding (Coptic is the stream of Christianity that is common amongst Egyptians. It is similar to the Eastern Orthodox stream of Christianity). This wedding was like no other wedding I have ever experienced. There was absolutely no love or intimacy in this wedding ceremony. It reminded me more of the environment that surrounds a cattle auction. Actually, I've never been to a cattle auction that I can remember, but this is what I would imagine it being like. The priest(or whatever he was)/auctioneer stood on the platform and quickly spoke Coptic liturgy into the microphone. The microphone was pumped at full volume and he was talking really fast. I actually couldn't see him through the entire ceremony because people crowded the front of the church, just like a group of children trying to see a magic trick. This also meant that I couldn't see the bride or the groom. No worries, though. People came and left the sanctuary (or whatever they call it) as they felt, and they also yelled small talk to each other during the ceremony. It just so happened that the Egyptian man standing beside me was from Tenessee and spoke perfect English. Not only that, but his name was Jack. Go figure. I found this information out during the ceremony as we shouted out small talk to each other. After the ceremony ended, everyone pushed and shoved their way to the back of the sanctuary where the bride and groom eventually emerged from the front crowd. Now, in Coptic weddings, one side of the church is for women, and the other side is for men. That means that when everyone waits for the bride and groom to exit, the men are standing facing the women. This is when the women check out all the suiters and try to catch their eye. Since I am white, I am very attractive to Egyptian women. I don't know if this is because I have the power to get them a Canadian visa, or what, but there were a number of girls who were trying to woo me at this point. It was hilarious! Seemed exactly like a scene from Beauty and the Beast when Gaston was walking around all rough and tough and the ladies were all blushing and batting their eyelashes at him. No word of a lie, that's what these girls were like! Eventually the preistly auctioneer dude exited and shook my hand (and ONLY my hand, might I add). He had a HUGE gray and black beard and a firm handshake. Out in the foyer was the recieving line. By that I mean all the single girls were lined up and waiting for me to exit. heh heh. Just kidding... sort of. There was a bit of a traditional recieving line, though, at least with the bride and groom. I shook their hands and ran for the door before the single girls could pounce on me. Although I had my camera, I didn't take pictures of anything. The church was really ugly and boring. It was covered with tacky marble tiles and really wasn't much to look at. I kind of wanted to take a picture of the bride and groom, but I didn't think of it until I got home. But yeah, that was my experience of a Coptic wedding.

From the church we went over to the deaf people's house (remember? The deaf guy with the blind and deaf wife? Yeah, them). I have only one really humorous thing to say about their house before I bring this blog entry to a close. When we entered their house we heard a chirping sound. It was a constant CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP the whole time we were there. Apparently their doorbell is broken and they've never bothered to fix it cause they can't hear it! Well I found it funny anyways. Oh, and this deaf man knows a couple of Egyptian girls living in Canada that are about my age. He said he has a picture of them and if I can find the house in the picture, I could marry one of them. Simple as that. Ahhhh the Egyptian way of life.

Apple Pie = Coffee

Ever since I arrived in Egypt, people have constantly been pressuring me to drink coffee. Everyone here seems to rely on the stuff to get them through their days, and they seem to think that I should also rely on it as well. I hate the thought of having to rely on something (especially something as disgusting as coffee) to get me through the day. In related news, my host family can cook up a mean apple pie. How is this related, you ask? Well, after tasting the first apple pie, and deeming it ‘better than good,’ I told them that I would drink a cup of coffee next time we had apple pie. Now, this was of course said in jest because I didn’t really expect another apple pie to surface as early as it did. But, to my horror, upon returning from the weekend retreat there sat an apple pie welcoming me home. I figured that after such a tiring weekend, this would be the perfect opportunity to gulp down a cup of burnt cowpie, commonly known as coffee. So, after struggling to stay awake until 8pm, the cups of coffee came out. They made me Dutch coffee, which is apparently better than the average cup of sludge. While gulping it down, I decided it wasn’t too too horribly terrible. At the very least it would give me the energy to stay up until a decent hour. After finishing my cup of coffee at 8:30pm, I read one more page my book and called it a night. Apparently even the power of caffeine couldn’t keep me awake after successfully living through our first weekend retreat.

The theme of the weekend was “Too Legit to Quit.” So, naturally, I had to get up in front of everyone and lip sync to MC Hammer while dancing around like a white boy. FACT: MC Hammer is black. It’s unbelievable how long 2 minutes and 40 seconds will last when you’re dancing frantically beside a fire in the desert of Egypt. Prior to that, I hosted an episode of Japan Idol during the dinner meal. Interestingly enough, I also won at Japan idol (yes, I competed in it as well). Other characters I played during the weekend were: a French guy who recited poetry about toast (French toast), a conceited Texan, and a guy who could burp really loud. Seeing that this is an international church setting, we really had to go out of our way to successfully offend everyone in the youth group. Unfortunately the Crocodile hunter never even made an appearance.

One of the funniest parts of the weekend was when four of us North Americans (two guys and two girls) set up a water balloon assembly line in the men’s public bathroom. As we began making water balloons, some of the country club staff members came in and decided to help us. None of them spoke English, and none of us spoke Arabic, but we exchanged names and shared a lot of laughter and fun despite the language barrier. Here were four North Americans with three or four Egyptian men, filling water balloons in the middle of a men’s bathroom. It was quite the sight for sore eyes. The worst part was, after filling two garbage cans full of water balloons, we played a game that used all of them up… and an hour or two later, we were back there filling up even MORE water balloons for our big game of the weekend: The Quest for Fire. In this game (which we played in the pitch dark), we had two bonfires going on opposite ends of the desert, and the two teams had to put out each other’s fires with waterballoons. It was a lot of work for us leaders (since it was my idea, I got to oversee the whole thing), but I think the students enjoyed it. Any game that has fire involved has to be a hit! After the game ended, and my stress subsided, some of the high school guys ran up to me and threw me into the pool. Although I was fully clothed, I actually enjoyed it for the 30 seconds that I floated around in there. Nice and refreshing, though it did feel weird wearing socks in a pool. Other than that, the weekend was quite a frenzy of business mixed with fun. Maybe I'll have some pictures for you later if I get some good ones from people. I was too busy to take any myself.

Time for Retreat!

Hey! Just a quick note to let you all know that we are headed out on our fall retreat in a couple hours. It's been a ton of work preparing for, but I think it will be a great weekend. If you happen to read this in the next day or two, please pray that things will go smoothly, that God will move the students (and carry us staff), and that we'd remain safe and have fun. I'm very tired right now and the weekend hasn't even begun. Ok, gotta run. Check back next week for pics, if I find some time to upload them before the youth service.

The Sakkara (NOT the Sahara)

Today was the highlight of my time here in Egypt, thus far. The Fall Retreat for our youth group is about to take place this coming weekend. Naturally, that means there is a busy week ahead of us. Today we drove out to the area that our retreat is going to take place at. As we drove, houses became more and more run down, donkeys became more common, the water in canals appeared more polluted, and garbage became a part of the landscape. Along the way, we picked up John's Egyptian friend, Ramadan, to help us negotiate with the country club we were headed to.

Ramadan was a friendly man who spoke excellent English. He took us to the Sakkara Country Club (where we will be holding our retreat this weekend) and showed us around the area. He also interpreted our requests to the country club manager so that everything would be ready for us when we showed up with 70 students later in the week. This was a really nice looking facility, complete with a pool, horse stables, playing fields, sand dunes, etc. It should be a lot of fun there! But that was not the interesting part of today’s trip. The interesting part came when we drove back to Ramadan’s village and visited his house.

As we drove through the village, it was apparent that these people live a much simpler life than those in the industrialized world. The only thing I could think of to draw a parallel to it would be the way settlers lived in the Wild West. Animals were more common than cars (donkeys would be tied up outside of shops, just like a bike). People would sit in the shade on each side of the road and perform simple tasks such as shaving wood into small pieces, weaving baskets, and chopping metal bars (this was really funny to watch. One kid would hold the metal bar in the chopping mechanism, the other kid would hang himself from the end of a handle that was up in the air and bounce until his weight forced the chopping mechanism through the metal bar).

Eventually we drove into what seemed like a palm tree forest and parked the car. These palm trees actually had bunches of dates growing from the tops of them. We walked through a number of little pathways that passed in front of various local people’s houses. While doing so, the children from these houses would run out and say “Hallo” to us. A few of them saw that I was holding a camera, and motioned that they wanted me to take a picture of them. John, Ramadan, and Heidi just kept on walking, so I had to try and snap a few pictures as we walked.

Eventually we arrived at Ramadan's house where geese (Maybe they weren’t geese, I suck at naming animals… they were big and white with long curved necks and orange bills) and roosters were mulling about in front of their doorway. Inside, we stepped into their living room/bedroom where we spent the duration of our visit. After eating flatbread and drinking some tea, Ramadan asked us if we liked dates (the food). None of us had ever eaten them fresh, so we didn’t really know. Ramadan was convinced that we had to experience fresh dates, so he sent his son out to climb a palm tree and gather dates for us. The first batch he brought back were yellow and brown dates. They were really sweet tasting. After that, he decided we needed MORE dates (we already had a big bag of them to take home with us) so he went out and gathered a different kind of dates. These ones were a reddish color and were much harder. They had a texture sort of like the white portion of a coconut. These ones were sort of sweet, but also quite bitter. They left our mouths with a really weird gritty feeling. Ramadan gave us a bag of them to take home as well.

After snapping a few quick pictures, we headed back to John’s car where the highlight of my day began. Behind the car was a huge sand dune. John mentioned that the step pyramids were behind that dune and that if we were quick, we could run up to the top of them while he got the car backed out. I took off across the street and started racing up the side of this sand dune. This was no small sand dune. After I got about half way up and my lungs were about to burst, I felt as though I wasn’t moving at all. With every step I took, my feet would sink into the sand, slide downward, and make it feel as though I was simply working on a stair-master machine or something. I pressed on for another few minutes and eventually made it to the top. It was worth the heart attack that I had on the way up. The scene up there was breathtaking (or maybe I was still catching my breath from sprinting up a sand dune, I don’t know). Directly in front of me was the great Step Pyramid. Surrounding it were numerous other pyramids. To my right was a view of the massive village. As I turned around and looked down to where I had just come from, I saw an enormous forest of date palms and scattered homesteads. Behind all them were the silhouettes of more pyramids. The whole time I stood up there, the wind was rushing at me in one big, continuous, refreshing explosion. I climbed up another sand dune that peaked at the top. From there I stood in the rushing wind and turned around and took in this amazing view of Egypt (I also took a few low quality video clips on my digital camera). Hundreds of meters below, people were waving and shouting through the wind. I waved back and couldn’t help but notice that it felt as though I was flying high above the countryside. Everyone was so far below me, and the wind was swimming all around me. I could’ve stayed there all day. But then I realized that the person shouting and waving at me wasn’t looking quite so friendly as he got closer. Turns out he was the groundskeeper and was probably coming to collect some baksheesh (monetary tip) from me. I ran down the hill, jumped into the car, and we drove away. What a day that was.

Uncle Ryan

From time to time there are certain things that I have been required to do that were not included in the description of my internship. Today another one of these instances arose. As you may recall in a previous post, the youth pastors wife was in labour on Saturday. Naturally that means that by now, there is a baby who has joined the scene. Let me tell you something about myself: I don't like babies! Babies are loud. Babies are annoying. Babies are nothing but work. All they do is poop, puke, and cry. So there you have it, babies suck.

So what is it here that wasn't a part of my ministry description? Well! Let me tell you! This morning we had our youth meeting at the youth pastor's house because his wife had a C-section and can't yet handle the baby on her own. So I get to his house, and as much as I was hoping the baby was out on the balcony or something (people get outdoor dogs, why not outdoor babies too?) there it was, sitting in Heidi's arms. Now, I go and sit down as faaar away as possible from this ticking time-bomb, but wouldn't you know it, everyone else thinks that I deserve to hold this little ball of slobber and skin. No matter how much I tell these people I don't want to hold the thing, they keep coming towards me with it. Next thing I know, I have this nasty little poop-machine sitting in my arms. As if that isn't bad enough, they start calling me UNCLE Ryan! Dissssgusting! I sat there awkwardly holding it, trying to figure out which way to dive if it blows up with barf or who knows what, and everyone else sat around saying how good I look with it and how many girlfriends I would get if I just carried it around with me. So there I sat, not knowing what to do with it. You don't pet it, it's got no fur! You don't play with it, it's too dumb to fetch. So I just sat, counting the seconds until my internship was over and I could go home. Well, at long last, the youth pastor came along and took the little mess away from me. I feel like I'm a stronger person, having lived through that experience. But I also feel like I never need to experience it again. It's kind of like falling off the roof of a house and living to talk about it. You feel good that you lived through it, but you don't feel the need to do it again. Now that I've successfully lived through this experience, allow me to impart some wisdom to those of you who do not know as much as me (I am somewhat of a connoisseur in the area of babies now):

1. All babies are cute. No matter how much they resemble your butt, for some reason you still say they're cute.
2. Babies are not footballs. Although you hold them in a manner that is similar to cradling a football, babies are not as resiliant as a football. Babies do not do well when you throw them towards the ground and do a funky little dance (I do not speak from experience, here, I'm just so knowledgable about babies that I know this information)
3. Babies are ticking time-bombs. If you are planning on holding a baby, prepare yourself by covering your body with a garbage bag or a raincoat. It's only a matter of time before something spews from some orifice of the baby.
4. Don't expect much. Babies are boring. They don't DO anything. As I alluded to earlier, a football is a much wiser investment.
5. Stay away from babies. Babies are good for nothing but making you feel awkward. As if we don't have enough awkward situations in our lives already. I know I do.

In summation, babies are bad, and nobody should ever have one. There you have it, folks! These 5 simple steps should save you a lot of money, and probably get you out of a few lawsuits as well. I hope you enjoy these rules as much as I enjoy holding a puppy in my arms (*sidenote* puppies are good).

Ok, moving on... let me tell you a little more about the Egyptian culture that I'm living in.

Sometimes a youth event will require a trash can full of ice to keep the beverages cold. In Canada, you might stop by a store and buy a couple bags of ice and dump them into the trash can. Not here in Egypt. Well, you can, but it's way more expensive to do it that way. You can also fill a bunch of ice cube trays and dump them into the bucket, but that's a lot of work, and a lot of ice cube trays (not to mention it requires the use of a freezer). So what is a guy to do if he wants a bucket full of ice? Well, here's what I usually do.
I grab a big plastic garbage can from the church, and hop into a taxi. After a short ride, we arrive at a fairly busy road that is packed with all sorts of shops. Among the shops is a little shaded metal shack. It looks as though it's made out of corrogated metal roofing material... or whatever it's called. You know, the wavy metal sheets? Whatever, it doesn't matter! So there's a shack standing there, but there's never a guy standing there. So you just start yelling "ICE!! ICE!!!" and look to see if anyone comes running. Usually people will shout back the location of the ICE MAN. Then you go look for the ICE MAN, and upon finding him, head back to the metal ice shack. At that point, you tell him that you want the... oh wait, this is me doing everything, not you. At that point, I tell him that I want the bucket filled with crushed ice. He then opens up a flap of the metal shack where there are stacks of massive ice blocks just chillin out. He pulls out those massive ice blocks one by one and then grabs a sledge hammer and bashes them to bits. It's fairly refreshing if you're standing within 10 meters of him... kinda feels like it's snowing or something. Actually, the sledge hammer broke when he was crushing ice for us one time, so now he's moved on to an ice pick. Now he just stabs the ice into little pieces. This is fairly entertaining to watch, and even seems like it would be somewhat therapeutic if I were to try it. Anyways, after the bucket is filled with bashed and stabbed ice, I hand the man 10 pounds and then hop into another taxi. Taxis often charge you more when you have a trash can full of ice. One guy seemed quite distraught over the ring of water it left on his ratty old seat, even though we could pretty much watch the ring evaporate before our very eyes in the sweltering heat. But yeah, that's how Uncle Ryan gets his ice. Interesting side note: This bucket of ice makes for a great game at youth group when things are winding down and people are looking for more action. You simply stick your entire arm into the bucket of ice water at the same time as another person, and see who can endure the pain the longest. Now, usually this game works quite well... but last week the water was at such a temperature that it didn't hurt enough to take out our arms, but was so cold that it actually froze the muscles in our arms. It was quite an interesting sensation, and after 20 minutes, we decided to call it a tie game. It tooks a good half hour before we could feel our arms again. My contender was a girl from Germany, so I picked up a bit of German while we played our game. Now, it appears as though this blog entry is starting to ramble on, so I should really bring it to a close and get to work. Ma Salaam!

Hey, an update!

So what's been going on here lately? Lots of stuff! Yesterday I had to do a kickoff skit in front of the church (I think we have about 1500 people each week now, so that's pretty cool). Yesterday we also had to teach middle school Friday School (which is the equivalent of Sunday School), and in the evening, help out at middle school Breakaway. Breakaway is what we call our weekly youth church events.

Today, the youth pastor's wife is in labour, so any time they'll have a brand spankin new baby boy. That probably means a heavier workload for Heidi and I now. Also going on today is a big country fair. I'm not sure what all it entails, but included in it are 14 game booths that we have to help run. That should be fun, I hope.

Now, on to the slightly humorous cultural observations for this week:
At nighttime, Egyptian drivers are sometimes reluctant to use their headlights, this is apparently because they think it will use up their battery.

When a parking lot gets full, things get very creative. Typically you will have a row of cars parked side-by-side, just like anywhere else in the world... but in addition to that, people will park behind those cars (perpendicular to them), blocking in two or three cars that are parked side by side. BUT, the car that blocking the other cars in, is parked in neutral. That way, if the people who are blocked in return to their cars before the other person, they can simply push the vehicle out of their way! Below is a diagram of this situation to help you understand more clearly.
Click to englarge!

And that's all I have time for today! See you later.

Kick-Off Weekend!

Hello again! It is Kick-off Weekend here at Maadi Community Church, so that means busy busy busy. Just wanted to let all of you know that I am doing well these days. Our various ministries have almost all begun and they have been quite successful and encouraging thus far. I have slowly been getting to know a few of the students and that's been lots of fun. There are so many interesting people here. When I find some time this weekend, I will tell you about more of my cross-cultural experiences (with both Egyptians and Dutch people). Until then, have enjoyable days, and send me lots of pictures from home! Bye now!

Humorous Quirks *Updated*

Here's a funny observation about Egypt: Egyptian entrepreneurs are famous for copying Western products, and simply changing the name of the product just slightly so that it doesn't fall under copyright laws. For instance, a family here once bought a Blak and Deker toaster (rather than a Black and Decker), and it promptly broke their first time using it. Looking through our cupboards today, I came across some cookies... here is a picture of them:

They were actually pretty good, considering many copied products usually come out less than perfect.

Another humorous observation about Egypt, (which I can't remember if I've already told you about) is that Egyptians can't differentiate between the sound of B's and P's. To them, Bizza is the same as Pizza! This fact is often proven by the misspelling of various words containing B's or P's.

Here is another thing I found interesting. It's not a rip-off, it's just neat. I'm probably gonna use it to help me learn Arabic. It is none other than an Arabic dubbing of VeggieTales!!


In more serious news, the presidential elections are taking place in our city this week! After today, we are supposed to steer clear of downtown, just in case anything happens during them the elections. This is the first time there have ever been any permitted contenders for elections. In the past, it has been a ballot with only one name on it. Since people's jobs may be at stake depending on who they vote for or campaign for, it is pretty much a sure thing that the currect president will be re-elected. Anyways, enough politics for today. It's time for supper! Oh yeah, and I promised I'd show you another excerpt from that Egyptian magazine of mine. Today's excerpt is "How to get out of a relationship".

Click the picture to enlarge it!

Today for lunch I opened up a bag of Ketchup chips. Inside I found plain chips with a package of Heinz Ketchup.

Gas is probably cheaper than dirt here. The price of gas is 1 pound per litre, which brings the price to about 20 cents/L Canadian!

What I have learned this week

We all hear the term time and time again, “When it rains, it pours.” For me, this past week acted as a reminder to that fact. As I mentioned in the previous blog, this week was very busy for me. But in addition to being busy, a number of other things culminated together to leave me feeling ‘at the end of my rope’. During the days that I was running around attempting to set up for our kick-off events, I began to fully realize how far from home I was, and how long I would be away from it. In Egypt I don’t have a large support network of friends that I can run to when I’m feeling stressed or lonely. That fact didn’t hit me until I needed the support of my friends, and couldn’t find that here. In addition to that, this past week has been a week of criticism and negativity from some parties. When that was combined with everything else that was going on, it seemed almost unbearable. I felt like I was in way over my head, being stuck here in Egypt for the next year. At the same time, Heidi (the other intern here) found out that her dad’s cancer had spread to his lungs and that they couldn’t operate on him. This complicated things more-so and brought even more emotions into our already emotion-filled week (Please pray for the health of Heidi’s dad). All of this happened in a matter of two days. I began to pray desperately to God, admitting how out my league I was and how He was the only way I could ever successfully get through the year here. The next day, a large portion of stress was lifted because our kick-off event was completed successfully. That same day I received encouragement from people who were previously somewhat unhappy with me. Not only that, in the past few days, I have connected with a number of students here and have been very encouraged in that regard. Although I still feel very far from home, I am now living with a very kind family who cares about me, and who is sensitive as to how I am doing each day. So, although I feel like earlier this week I tripped and fell face-first into the mud, I feel that God has pulled me out of the mud, wiped me off, and is now walking alongside me, steadying me as I falter.

This weekend at church, the salvation message was delivered to the congregation. I helped out in the sermon by providing a visual representation of what God does to sinners that call on His name. First, I walked onto the stage wearing white coveralls that were covered with black Velcro blemishes. Then the pastor pulled off each blemish (sin) from me and proceeded to nail them to the cross. Following this, he pulled a purple cloth down from the cross, and clothed me with the robe of righteousness. This happened three times over the weekend (once for each service), and I think that it was the perfect end to my week. Although my sense of helplessness is not entirely gone, my sense of hopelessness has begun to deteriorate. I think that my year here will end with Christ carrying me out on His shoulders… not because I deserve it, but because it is the only way that I will successfully get through the year.

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Hello again! You may have noticed that I have not had the time to write a blog entry in the past few days. This is because the busyness factor went through the roof here for the week. First, Heidi and I had to go hunting for a roll of plastic, much like the kind you lay on the floor when you are painting. A task such as this is quite simple in North America, but it took up a good portion of a day to accomplish here in Egypt. First we had to search through random shops, trying to find one that sells plastic sheets. It took quite a while before we found even one shop that carried it. The first shop we found that had it wanted 2.50 Egyptian Pounds per meter. Seeing that we needed 75 meters of this stuff, it would've ended up to be over our budget, so we had to keep looking. Eventually we found ourselves on "the other side of the tracks" (which is much more Egyptian and much less Western) where we came upon a household items store that just happened to have a roll of it sitting inside. After lots of explaining, arguing, and waiting, we walked out of there with a garbage bag filled with plastic. Wonderful!

For the next two days, Heidi and I worked on constructing a cube shaped greenhouse-type structure out of PVC tubing and plastic. This was a very frustrating project for us because: A) We had to build it on the roof of an apartment building with no elevator B) It is boiling hot up there (yeah, I'm sunburnt now) C) It is windy up there, the plastic catches the wind, and pulls the whole structure either up into the air, or smashing down to the ground. D) There were only two of us building it. After two days of toiling in the heat, attempting to build this, I laughed at how simple the pyramids were to build. They're made out of heavy blocks that do not blow in the wind! How simple! How elementary. Anyways, the reason we built this structure was so that we could have two have two people at a time enter the "cage" and have a massive food fight with each other. It was pretty crazy, and maybe a little bit wasteful, but it was the kickoff for our highschool ministry year, so we had to go big! Tomorrow we kick off the middle school ministry, but it won't be as ridiculously big and stressful.

Somewhere in these past couple days, I also packed all my things and moved in with my host family. They were a very nice family from Holland. I haven't had much time to stay at home and spend time with them, but they have been very kind and welcoming towards me. Today I did lots of cleanup from last night's event, did a little Arabic learning, and now I'm about to head to church. I'm helping out the pastor with the sermon. I have to stand on the stage and do some stuff. Not really sure on the specifics yet. Should be interesting. I will try and return later to share some of my deep thoughts with you, and what I've learned in the past couple days.