Pictures n Stuff

A few people have been asking to see pictures from my travels in Jordan and Israel. Well, since I'm such a nice guy, here's a link to the pictures. All of these pictures were taken by my sister, Felicia, because my camera broke shortly before we took our trip. Maybe some day I'll even get around to captioning these pictures. If not, you'll just have to invite me over for dinner so I can explain all of the pictures to you.

So what's it like to be back in Canada? It's definately kind of weird. I feel almost as though my year in Egypt was just a dream I had. I woke up and found myself in my bed in Canada, without even having to click my heels together. If it was just a dream, it was quite an amazing dream. It blew that 'Wizard of Oz' junk out of the water, in my opinion. But if this was all a dream, something fishy is going on because little things are different here and there. As I drive around the city I see new buildings that have popped up all over the place. I talk to friends and they all have stories about things they've done this past year. Where was I for all of this? Where did all these new people come from that are hanging out with my friends? Maybe all this Egypt stuff wasn't just a dream.

Maybe I was in a coma.



Then where'd all these pictures come from??

I'm Baaaack!

Hi. I'm back in Canada now! Made it here without any problems (even got upgraded during my long flight). My luggage is a different story. Who knows where it is. Apparently the tracking website doesn't. Boooo!

Time to Say Goodbye

This is my last day living in Egypt. Tomorrow morning I fly back to Canada. This year was great, the people I met were wonderful, my travels were enjoyable, and now it's all over. I'm glad I had the guts to do all this. So long, Egypt! It's been fun. Perhaps we'll meet again another day!

Big News!

Hello everyone. I know I said I wouldn't be blogging while I am travelling, but I have to say this:

Today I finally got the shard of glass out of my foot!! 14 months of walking around with it in my heel, and now it is healed! Must've been all this walking around in the Holy lands.

Jerusalem

Yep, we're in Israel now.

Jordan

Hello! I'm at an internet cafe in Petra right now. So far we've been to Mount Sinai, Nuweiba, and breifly Aqaba. I am journaling through my travels rather than blogging them. If you would like slightly more detailed accounts of what's going on, check out my sister's blog. Bye now!

Farewell

Today is my last day in the office at Maadi Community Church. Tomorrow I hand in my keys, my phone, and my bike. Most of the students in our youth group have already left the country for the summer. My sister, Felicia, and my friend, Matt, are both here right now. On Sunday we will begin a journey through the lands of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. We're hoping to kick off our journey by climing Mount Sinai and watching the sunrise. I will probably not be blogging during this journey. I will, however, be carrying a fish-leather journal that I hope to fill with writing over the next month. If you ever want to read it, I guess you'll have to come to Calgary! I will include pictures taken by my sister's new Canon EOS Digital Rebel. It's time to say goodbye, to you my faithful readers, and to all the friends I have made here in Egypt. I think goodbyes are overrated, though. I'd rather just leave, be gone for a while, and maybe return another day and pick up where we left off. So, with that said and done, catch you later. Maybe.

Uncle Ryan: For Real

I know that when you see a blog titled "Uncle Ryan" have come to expect to hear a witty baby-bashing commentary from me. Although I would love to continue in that manner, I think that my hormone-filled sister would probably shoot me if I said anything bad about her baby. Although it is against my principles to post pictures of babies on my blog, you can visit Felicia's blog to see pictures of the baby. Interestingly enough, this story made its way to the local English newspaper here in Egypt. Here is a snippet of the story:

A Fear of Yesteryear

Have you ever seen a movie called, “The Shawshank Redemption”? It’s a classic from 1994 about a man who is sent to jail after being convicted for the murder of his wife. I admit the subject of this film is a little bit darker than, say, “The Wizard of Oz”, but it’s still a good movie nonetheless. I haven’t seen the movie for a couple of years now, but a few days ago I was remembering a particular scene from it. The scene came to my mind because I think that my feelings currently parallel those of the character in the scene. In this scene one of the characters, named Brooks Hatlen, receives early parole from his prison sentence. Brooks had spent the majority of his adult life in prison and so the thought of being released from it scared him. He had grown so used to the prison culture. It became his way of life. He didn’t know how to function in the world outside the walls of the prison.

So how do Brooks’ feelings correspond to mine? Well, as I near the end of my time here in Egypt I have begun thinking back to how different Canada is from Egypt. I’ve grown so used to the friendly, laid-back culture of Egypt that I’m sort of scared to return to the mile-a-minute stressed out culture of Canada. As I was trying to fall asleep last week, I envisioned myself returning to Canada. The first thing I did after getting picked up from the airport was to purchase a Slurpee from 7-11. Since I had just gotten back to Canada, I didn’t have any Canadian cash on me... so I pulled out my debit card and proceeded to pay for my Slurpee with it.

Just then, the man in line behind me burst out, “You’re going to pay for that with a credit card!? We’re going to be waiting in line all day just so you can buy a Slurpee with your freaking credit card!?”

Looking back, had I not been so startled I probably would have pointed out that it was a debit card, not a credit card. In reality, though, (the reality of my daydream, that is) I was so stunned by the rudeness of this man that I stood there speechless. How is it that only twenty-four hours prior I was in a culture with friendly, laid-back people, and now I was in a culture where people only make eye contact if they’re glaring at you as they hurriedly rush by?

I took a big gulp of my Slurpee, looked at the man and said, “It’s good to be home.” I was promptly greeted with a throbbing ‘brain-freeze’ from the Slurpee.

Of course, the daydream wasn’t without hope. I went on to imagine that an acquaintance of mine entered the store as I was about to leave and loudly welcomed me back to Canada. The grumpy man listened to our conversation as he paid for his food. I told briefly of my time in Egypt and what the culture there was like. As the grumpy man walked towards the door he stopped by us and apologized for being so impatient with me. He said he didn’t realize my circumstances and had no right to react the way he did. I thanked him for apologizing and we both left the store.

So what’s the moral of the story? Grab change from the car before going to buy a Slurpee. I’m sure this daydream was exaggerated (although I have had similar incidences while purchasing a Slurpee), but the truth is I am sort of reluctant to going back to a civilization that is so ordered and organized. I guess it’ll just take some getting used to, just like Egypt did. Does McDonald’s do home delivery in Canada yet?

The Month of the Party

I'm thinking of renaming my blog The Lazy Blogger because I'm always too lazy to blog these days. It's too hot to sit around typing on a computer. It's been hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 F)for the past week. I'm having troubles sleeping because of the heat. Anyways, enough complaining. Here's what I've been up to the last few days: partying! Don't get too envious, though, it's not as glamorous as it sounds. On June 2nd, the seniors at the American high school here in Maadi graduated (The graduation ceremony took place in front of the Pyramids of Giza). Following graduation, pretty much every senior has to throw a graduation party. Since we are dedicated youth workers, we had to grace each senior with our presence at each respective party. From 2 pm to 10 pm on Friday we were hanging out at different parties. I know I may hide it well, but I'm actually not a huge fan of parties. Being social is fairly exhausting for me because I am naturally an introvert. So, after wearing myself out on Friday, Saturday came and I partied even more! First with some high schoolers (it was our small group's end of the year party), and then at the Tucker's going away party. This weekend I have another party or two to look forward to. I had no idea Christians partied so hard. I thought all we did was have potlucks and fellowship events. Maybe that's just a Baptist thing.

Now, if you haven't completed The Monson Quiz (Actually I forget what I called it), then do so now!

I'm Still in Egypt

After living in Cairo for ten months, I find myself getting used to all of the things around me that once seemed so odd. The once insane traffic is normal. The women walking around in berkas (fully veiled clothes), the men walking around in galabayas. It's all so normal to me now. I leave my house and pass a man selling fresh vegetables that are on a cart pulled by his horse. Around the corner I swerve around a donkey and his cart as I make my way towards the walkover. Nothing out of the ordinary here. But every once in a while things happen that cause me to realize that I'm still in a foreign country. Yesterday I noticed a couple of those instances.

The first one occurred while I was getting my bike fixed (yes, AGAIN). As I walked up to the bike shop, I noticed a car alarm going off. Nothing too odd there. But as I sat at the shop for the next hour, waiting for my bike to get fixed, the car alarm continued blaring... For the entire hour! Nobody did anything about it. Nobody seemed to mention it. They just kept going on about their day. I rode by there later on in the day and the alarm was still going. I imagined what the situation would be like if this happened in a more Western nation:
After 5 minutes people would be cursing to themselves about it, and grumbling about it to the people around them. After 10 minutes a crowd would gather around the vehicle and people would try to figure out how to disconnect the alarm. After 15 minutes, someone would come along with a sledge hammer and beat the tar out of the car until it stopped. Or at the very least they would shatter a window, pop the hood, and disconnect the alarm. A tow truck might even turn up and impound it as well.

Not in Egypt, though. People just went about their business as the streets echoed with this car alarm. The best part about this whole ordeal was the car that was equipped with the alarm. It was a beat up white car probably from the early 80's. The alarm probably cost more than the car.

Now, onto the second incident that reminded me I'm still in Egypt. As I rode home for dinner I made my way to the walkover that leads over the Metro tracks. I made it half way up the walkover and then got caught up in a huge traffic jam of people, motorbikes, and donkeys. In fact, it was a donkey that caused this whole mess. The donkey was so overloaded with watermelons that when it came down the ramp it collapsed under the weight of the load and refused to move. There I was, on a walkover packed with Egyptians and delivery bikes, and before me lay an injured donkey blocking the way. It's situations like these that remind me I'm still in Egypt and not just another copy of a Western country. I think I'll miss all these crazy adventures when I return to Canada.

Youth Staff Retreat

For our end of the year youth staff retreat, Heidi, John, Erin (John's wife), the baby, and I, all headed out to the Western edge of the Sinai. We stayed in a villa that suwas a two minute walk from Eastern bank of the Gulf of Suez. Our itinerary for the few days we were staying at 'La Hacienda' was simple: do nothing but laze around the beach.

Allow me to point out the ups and downs of our days in the Sinai...

Pros:
- No responsibility
- Warm water for swimming in
- Water wasn't deep enough for me to drown in
- We pretty much had the entire beach to ourselves
- Air conditioned bedroom
- Breathable air

Cons:
- Loud baby
- Sunburnt feet
- Pesky, persistant, hyperactive flies
- Egyptian charcoal doesn't light well on a grill with no airholes

Winding Down

Last night was the last regular high school event of the year. Last Friday was our last middle school event of the year. Tomorrow will be our last Friday school classes of the year. Things are quickly coming to an end here in Egypt. School ends for students at the American school after the first week in June. Shortly after that, many families pick up and leave Egypt for the summer. Although I still have one month left as a youth intern here, the last month will probably be spent hanging out with students and doing little projects here and there. Nothing like the craziness of the past couple months, that’s for sure!

This weekend we (the youth staff) are heading out to the Red Sea to spend a few days away from the hustle and bustle of Cairo. It should be a good time of relaxation and just plain hanging out. Alright, I’ve done my duty and blogged again. Now I’m outta here! Have yourself a nice day.

Adventures in Siwa - Part II

Previously in Siwa: George and Ali both have open wounds and are in need of stitches. No hospital is in sight.

Once both Jeeps were back in commission, Ali drove with one hand (not an easy feat while romping through sand dunes) until the sun began to set. At that point we stopped on a plateau, watched the sun set, and shared a bottle of Coca Cola. If it weren’t for the two bleeding men it would’ve made for a nice Coke commercial. After the sun disappeared behind the horizon we were dropped off at a desert campsite where we would spend the night. The men left in their Jeeps so they could visit a hospital and get all stitched up. Later that night Ali returned with four stitches in his wrist. George also received four stitches beside his eye, but he didn’t join us in the desert that night.

I should back up a bit and tell you about our experiences of sandboarding now. It’s actually not as cool as it sounds. Driving through the dunes is actually the sport of the whole event. Sandboarding is just an excuse for all the driving. The problem with the sport of sandboarding is that sand has a lot more friction than, say, snow or ice. So, when you strap the sandboard onto your feet and push off down a steep sand dune, you enjoy about five seconds of movement before coming to a complete stop. If you try carving during this time, you really only get three seconds of movement. After this not-so-exhilarating ride down the hill, you get to enjoy a good five minute trudge back up the sand dune… in 40 degree heat… wearing snowboard boots… in sand. After successfully hiking to the top of the dune and experiencing a hypoglycemia attack, I decided snowboarding was a much more enjoyable sport. Although sandboarding is a really cool experience, and few people can say they’ve done it, I think I will stick to snowboarding. At least until the technology for sandboarding is improved. Frictionless boards coupled with tow-ropes will make sandboarding a much more popular sport.

Now, before I finish off my adventures in Siwa, I would like to tell you a few things I learned about the town of Siwa while I was there. First of all, Siwa actually has its own language. All of the locals speak not only Arabic, but Siwan as well. Also, the women dress a bit differently than women in the rest of Egypt. They have a veil over their entire face (without holes for eyes) and then a hood or scarf or something that goes over top of that. They look quite a bit like the Dark Riders (or whatever you call them) from The Lord of the Rings. Very freaky. The town of Siwa is also heavily involved in witchcraft, or has a rich history of involvement with it. During our stay in Siwa we also noticed a few albino Egyptians walking around the town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of them in Cairo, but there were more than one of them in the town of Siwa. While we were in Siwa we also got to go to a Bedouin music and dance performance. All in all, Siwa was a very interesting place to spend a weekend. Click here to check out some of the pictures I took on our trip to and from Siwa.

My Siwa Adventure (April 29th - May 1st)

My journey to Siwa on April 29^th began far too early. I was up and out of the house before the rest of my host family was awake… and my host family fall under that annoying category of “morning people.” Yes, they’re wonderful hosts and all, I just don’t understand how they can be so chipper and smiley before 11 am! Of course they were awake by the time returned to the house to retrieve my forgotten passport. After that minor setback Heidi, Kristi, and I were off to Siwa with our Egyptian driver, George. George was a quirky guy. What do I mean by this? Well, for instance, when we reached the edge of Cairo and began speeding away from the city at a speed of 150 km/h, George pulled out a box of wooden matches. He pulled a match from the box, and proceeded to stick the match (sulfur-end first) into his ear. He fished around in his ear for a bit, then pulled out the match to inspect the crop he harvested. At this point he flicked the earwax off with his fingers and re-inserted the match into his ear. He continued to clean both of his ears in this manner. I watched all of this out of the corner of my eye for a good ten minutes! Yep, that was George our driver. His English wasn’t amazing so we didn’t waste much time in conversation, but by spending time with him throughout our weekend in Siwa I feel I got to know him pretty well.

Siwa is an oasis town in Western Egypt located near the Libya/Egypt border. Much of the bottled water in Egypt comes from bottling plants in this area. We toured around the town of Siwa in a Jeep one day and a donkey cart the next day. I have to say the donkey on Shrek looks a lot better kept than the donkey that pulled us around town. Even if our donkey looked like the donkey on Shrek, it wouldn’t change the fact that we had to stare at its butt all afternoon. Not the best view, in my opinion. Oh well, city-boy George got a kick out of driving our donkey cart for a bit. After checking out a few of the natural springs around the town, we piled into a jeep (joined by two other girls whom we didn’t know) and headed out to the ‘Great Sand Sea’ to do some sandboarding! We happened to find actual snowboards with boots and bindings at one of the shops in Siwa before we headed out to the desert. Most shops only have these ridiculous looking wooden boards with little straps that you slip your shoes into. We were hardcore.

Our trek through the Great Sand Sea was a lively one. In order to keep from getting stuck in the sand the drivers would have to go at a fairly high speed. When you speed up sand dunes, though, you never know which ones are flat at the top, or which ones have a massive drop-off at the top. We encountered both. That’s how George ended up getting stitches. Poor George was sitting in the back of a Jeep that didn’t have any seats and he was launched forward when we careened off of one of those dunes. He sucked it up until after we finished our sandboarding, though. Interestingly enough, Ali, the driver of our Jeep also ended up getting stitches for an entirely unrelated incident. The jeep that George was riding in the back of got a flat tire. While Ali was changing the tire, he somehow cut his wrist open! I have no idea how this happened. We were too busy trying to spell words in the sand with our shadows. It’s not as easy as it sounds! This post is getting quite long, though, so I guess I should finish our adventure off some other time (that and I have to go to the bathroom).

FAQ's

Well, I guess it's time I update you folks on my life. We are already into the second half of May. I didn't even realize May had started! Well let's see, what have I done in the past couple of weeks here now? First off, we were in charge of the weekend services at church the first weekend in May. This means that we had to plan and lead four church services in two days. My duties included delivering the MCC New Broadcast (announcements), taking part in one of the dramas, and looking like an idiot while we attempted to sing a Ukrainian song we learned on our trip to Ukraine (yes, the song even included actions). That was the first weekend in May.

The next weekend we had our end of the year Hoo Haw. This is the last major event of the school year that our youth ministry puts on. It consisted of a nice dessert, speeches by a few people (including myself), recognizing the seniors, and showing our 30 minute Hoo Haw video/slideshow that looks back on all the events we did this past year. I had the pleasure of spending hours putting together that video on a Mac. Not my favorite week of the year. Also, interestingly enough, I had my birthday the day before the Hoo Haw. I have somehow made it through 23 years of living, and I'm still kicking. That's pretty lucky considering the traffic I bike through each day.

I believe I have only five and a half weeks of ministry left here at Maadi Community Church. I would like to take this time to answer some Frequently Asked Questions now:

(Q) When are you coming/going home?
(A) July 28th is my departure date back to Canada. For the four weeks prior to that I plan on travelling around Jordan, Israel, and possibly Syria with my friend Matt Yeomans, and my sister Felicia (the non-preggo sister).

(Q) Have you found a wife yet?
(A) No. I'm afraid I would probably fail my internship if I did.

(Q) Have you found any potential wives yet?
(A) No.

(Q) What's the weather like in Egypt right now?
(A) It's in the upper twenties to lower thirties (celsius).

(Q) What are you doing when you return to Canada?
(A) In September I will finish up my last four months of Bible college.

(Q) Do you eat camel for dinner?
(A) No. I eat food for dinner.

(Q) Do you speak fluent Arabic now?
(A) No. I think my Arabic teacher is considering switching professions because of me. Apparently I'm quite hopeless.

(Q) How come you never blog any more?
(A) Not enough people have been e-mailing me. Just kidding. I've been too busy. I should have more time for blogging now.

Ok, that's all for now. If you have any other questions, post a comment and I'll answer it.

Ukraine Trip - Part 4 of 4

That afternoon, after lunch at the other pastor’s house, we led two more VBS programs. Again, it was amazing how the children could enjoy the simple things like balloon animals, face paint, singing songs, and playing the simplest of games, when children in the West are becoming more and more difficult to please. There may not be anything wrong in itself with being wealthy, but these kids who came from poor families were so thankful for the little we had to give them. All the Christians we met in Brusilov seemed to possess a child-like faith that their poverty could not take away. It actually seemed as though their faith was strengthened by the fact that they had so little. It is thought-provoking to see such an amazing community of believers who have so little in the way of material possessions. When Jesus said not to store up treasures on earth “where moth and rust destroy,” (Matthew 6:19) is this what He had in mind? Are we blinded by possessions to the point where we do not realise what poverty could do for us? I don’t at this point have an answer to the question, but I do know that the Church in Brusilov is not limited in any way by its material shortcomings.

That evening as we finished up with the VBS program we were informed that as soon as we finished cleaning up, a church service would start where John Tucker would preach again. It only lasted two hours, after which we went back to our host families for dinner and bedtime. The next morning, no longer to our surprise, we had another prayer meeting at eight o’clock, which meant we had to say goodbye to our hosts. With hands and feet and a few words of broken Ukrainian (or was it Russian?) we tried to say thank you (dya’akuyu) to our hosts by giving them a gift from Egypt. They smiled and nodded and were probably laughing their heads off at those crazy foreigners as soon as we were out of the house. I hope we didn’t unknowingly offend them in some way, but in our ignorance we probably did. For the prayer meeting, which we learned they have every morning, we met at a thus far unfinished church which we prayed for. Again, we had our second breakfast before leading our last VBS. Lunch followed after, and then it was almost time to leave for Kiev again. We played volleyball with some guys for a while, where some of us (notably me) got to embarrass ourselves with our total lack of skill. After Tolik and the Tollivers arrived with the bus, we prayed with some of the Christians before leaving Brusilov and then we headed back to Kiev.

The rest of the day consisted of travelling on the bus and eating food at a nice restaurant that had a king-size rabbit (who could probably have eaten my cat). In the evening those of us not on the worship team for the next day got to relax for a bit.

Sunday began with breakfast and quiet time. We attended the KIBC church service in the morning, followed by lunch with the youth and singles of the church. We spent most of the afternoon there at the Tollivers’ apartment, just getting to know each other. In the evening, some of us went to the Spanish church where we met many of the same people we had met on Tuesday. Fortunately for us, one of them, Mariah, spoke excellent English and translated Igor’s sermon for us. After this, we were invited to the house of some of the youth members for a great dinner. The next day, as mentioned earlier, we did our last prayer-walk through downtown Kiev, ending with some souvenir shopping on Andrew’s Descent. The apostle Andrew is said to have been the first to preach the Gospel in this area. In fact tradition says that he prophesied from a nearby hill that a great city would one day be found there.

We ended our last day in Kiev with an enjoyable boat trip on the Dnipro river. It was good to be able to relax for a bit and simply consider the city we had been ministering to, although sometimes we were the ones who felt ministered to by a remarkable and diverse group of believers. While everyone seemed thrilled and grateful that we had come to Ukraine, I felt as though I had learned so much more from them than they had learned from us who knew so little of their culture and their ways. Whatever the case, as I saw the city, I realised how much I had loved it, for no apparent reason at all, and hoped to return some day. Sla-va-bo-goo.

Ukraine Trip - Part 3 of 4

Ryan and I stayed together at a house a ways away from the actual village of Brusilov. We were definitely taken out of our comfort zone at this place. Without going into details, our bathroom consisted of an outhouse just big enough to fit a bucket underneath a bench of sorts with a toilet seat covered by shag carpet (it gets cold in the winter). However, at night we could use the bucket by the entrance, as our host Arthur demonstrated for us, with actions because there was no one in the house who spoke a word of English. We had a comfortable room, however, which was well heated (beside Ryan’s bed was a panel behind which there was apparently a log fire. He says it was so hot it burned his hand. I decided not to confirm that.) In the morning we had to be ready to leave by seven thirty for a prayer meeting at Pastor Sergey’s church. We were graciously served breakfast consisting of several fried eggs (sunny side up), bread, and not surprisingly, pickles. As ignorant foreigners, we of course weren’t aware that you were meant to dip the bread in the egg, instead of eating the egg on the bread.

We were saved from any more embarrassment when the van arrived to pick us up for the prayer meeting. This service only lasted two hours, and again John Tucker was asked to share a word with the church. But however long these services may have seemed to us who were used to carefully planned one hour and twenty minute services, it was a memorable time. We didn’t understand most of what was said or sung, but we did feel the presence of God in everything. To all of us it felt like the early church, when it was on fire and growing. There is a great sense of community among the believers, which was extended to us. They were so grateful to us for leaving our own life behind to come and meet with Christians we had never met. At the same time we felt we should be the ones thanking them for their hospitality and all there was to learn from them.

Following the prayer meeting, we had our second breakfast of the day. After this, Pastor Sergey showed us some of the places where God is at work in and around Brusilov. As I mentioned before, there are serious drugs and alcohol problems in Ukraine. Our first stop was a rehabilitation centre for men. It was led by a man who had been addicted to alcohol for seventeen years before coming to Christ. It currently houses eight men from the area, and is hoping to double that number as soon as bunk beds arrive. We prayed for a man there who was at that very moment struggling with his addiction. We then visited a house where they were building a similar centre for women, and prayed for it. Before they bought the run-down place, it had been used as a shelter by addicts. At the moment, they are in need of new doors and windows. It is incredible how these Christians respond to events. As soon as a need arises or if God prompts them to do something, they start praying about it. They do not wait until they have enough money or resources to continue the ministry, they simply start building and totally rely on God to provide for them as they go along. Everything they do relies on expectant prayer and utter reliance and faith. They believe that “he who began a good work in [them] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) We also visited and prayed for a place in a different village where they were building a new church. There was rubbish and beer bottles scattered across the floor, yet one day it will be a church. Lastly, we visited a lonely blind man who used to be a teacher. Before he was blind, this man discovered a World War II vehicle nearby his house. When he inspected it, a landmine exploded and blinded him. Pastor Sergey told us that this man loves to hear people sing, so we sang for him and then prayed for him. It was incredible how much we could do for these people simply by praying for them and the projects they were working at. Our team’s views on prayer seemed so limited, when there it really was a way of life.

Rob van Leeuwen

Ukraine Trip - Part 2 of 4

Prayer-walking was not the only thing we did in our first six days. At 7 am the morning after we arrived we went to a neighbouring village to lead a children’s program. After a few short hours of sleep, Tolik, our 21 year old driver and pastor of a church, drove us out to the garage where this took place. It went quite well, and ended in all the guys playing football with kids on our backs. The rest of that day we spent doing some orientation and preparation for our ministry. On Sunday we attended Kiev International Bible Church of which Bob is the senior pastor. Here, John Marlowe and Rosemarie led the worship with Svyeta, our translator. In the afternoon, we went over to Debbie Ash’s place for a big Easter meal. It was great to be able to relax for a while before our busy schedule in the coming week. That same evening we made our first visit to Independence Square. On Monday morning we visited the Chernobyl museum which gave us a good idea of the immensity of the disaster. Even 20 years later people are still dying from the results of this nuclear accident. On Tuesday, while Jean and Heidi visited an orphanage for children with Down’s Syndrome, the rest of us either worked on painting KIBC’s new church space or prayer-walked around the church’s neighborhood. In the evening we met with the Spanish group where those of us who spoke Spanish (that doesn’t include me I’m afraid) were able to communicate, the rest of us needed a translator. It was good fellowshipping with these people and teaching each other songs in our different languages. On Wednesday evening the guys met with Bob’s “Timothy Fellowship,” a Bible study on the doctrine of Salvation with some new believers. Meanwhile, the girls met with some single girls and cooked us apple crisp before we came up and ate it all.

On Thursday morning Becky, Katy and Joannie Jorash joined us as we set out for a village called Brusilov. After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, this village grew from a population of two thousand to twenty thousand with the refugees. This is evident from the poverty and the countless hastily built simple houses. After arriving there, one of the pastors told us about the church over a very good Ukrainian lunch (Ukrainian meals nearly always include mashed potatoes and pickles). We were then informed we would be leaving soon to lead a VBS at three o’clock in a nearby village. Meanwhile, John Tucker was told he would be delivering one of the three sermons at the service at six o’clock. At VBS, John Tucker and Kara made balloon animals for the kids while Rosemarie and Katy did some face painting, both of which the kids loved. In the meantime, the rest of us attempted to set up the back drop for the puppet show. It didn’t end up quite the way it was supposed to be, but it stood. As we started, we played a game of Duck Duck Goose with the kids (in Ukrainian). John Marlowe taught the kids how to sing “This is the Day” after which they and Svyeta taught us how to sing it and another song in Ukrainian. Ryan, John Rogers and John Marlowe did an excellent puppet show and we did a craft. At the end we quickly had to clean up and rush to our church service.

This Pentecostal church was set up by four people following the fall of Communism and the independence of Ukraine. With an original aim of reaching seventy surrounding villages, they are currently ministering in some way or another to forty of them. Pastor Sergey, one of our hosts, told us a story about an old man who realised he was dying. He asked a young man to take him to the villages on a horse-drawn cart so he could pray for each of hem. Eventually the young man got tired of doing this and the old man agreed to go back, though he had not yet prayed for all of the villages. Today there are churches in every village he prayed for.
Although a Pentecostal Church, it followed the Orthodox calendar, meaning we remembered Maundy Thursday again that night. They followed a flexible schedule, if someone had something to say they would just come up and say it. In between songs and messages, the whole congregation would suddenly burst out in prayer, usually ending with the Lord’s Prayer and everyone saying “Sla-va-bo-goo” meaning “praise God.” John Marlowe was asked to come up several times to lead some English songs which Svyeta translated for the congregation. The Jorash girls also did some special music. Sometime halfway through the four hour service John Tucker delivered his hastily prepared sermon. After that, at about ten o’clock, we were served dinner in the basement of the church before being brought to our different hosts families.

Rob van Leeuwen

Ukraine Trip - Part 1 of 4

Today, and for the next few days, my little bro Rob van Leeuwen will be featured on my blog. He will be telling you about our experiences in Ukraine. There's lots to say, so check back often. I should also point out that I've put a few of my pictures from the trip online. Check em out! Now here's Rob:

Ukraine has a long history of foreign rule and oppression. Because of this many people know the country as “the Ukraine,” a region within Polish, Austro-Hungarian, Turkish and tsarist Russian empires. Since 1991 when independence from the Soviet Union was achieved, it has officially been known as “Ukraine” (not preceded with “the”) but six hundred years of hardship have certainly left their legacy.

Though generally a social people, away from the tourist stalls Kievites seemed entirely disinterested and almost hostile to outsiders. What a contrast to Cairo, where you are everyone’s best friend the minute you meet them. Kiev (Kyiv in Ukrainian) is a city of “every man for himself,” what Bob Tolliver, our host, called the survival mentality. This means, for example, old ladies launching their groceries in front of yours on the conveyor belt when it is your turn. Or maybe being shoved out of the way and glared at when you smile at people. In many ways, the city seemed dead to us, from the dreary weather to the lifeless buildings (a remnant of Communism), and the hostility we encountered. The older generations have learned to accept the realities and hardships of life, which has given them a determined and resilient spirit.

Not so with the younger generation, which is often dissatisfied with the realities of life. They try to fill the emptiness with all sorts of things. On our first Sunday night we walked down Kreshchatyk Street and Independence Square, also known as “Maidan Nezalezhnosti.” On weekends, this street is blocked from traffic and filled with musician, artists, performers and vendors. I was offered an owl for 10 hryvna ($2 US) and we watched fire shows and countless street performances. In additions to this, there were numerous stalls selling alcohol. Public drinking seems to be either legal or simply not enforced. As we stopped at Independence Square one evening I watched several men fighting. All around us there were people drinking, partying and flirting. At that very moment a clock began to toll and it hit me how lost all these young people were. It felt like Judgment Day and I realised none of these people would be saved if Jesus returned at that moment. The consequences of this liberal attitude are clear: AIDS, alcohol, and drug addiction are major problems.

These things were reinforced as we prayer-walked a route along the Dnipro river. On Monday, we saw, among others, the “Kissing Bridge,” the Kiev Dynamo home football stadium, and the former royal palace. On Wednesday, we prayer-walked by the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (World War II) where the Mother Russia statue is found. We also visited the Lavra, and walked through the tunnels underneath the cathedral where people worshipped relics of saints. Bob told us that when a previous team had visited these caves, all their candles had blown out as soon as they entered while those of the people in front of them and behind them remained lit. By the time they got back to where they were staying, every team member was sick. Though none of this happened to us, it does show what huge spiritual darkness there is in the city. There are even some remnants of pagan places of worship going several thousand years back to the Stone Age. In fact, during our final prayer-walk on our last Monday, we saw ancient idols by the side of one street. On that same prayer-walk we also saw the “Golden Gate,” one of the last remnants of the old city walls. On it is a church built by Prince Yaroslav the Wise in the 11^th century AD. But just as the walls that kept invaders out have been torn down, so have the spiritual walls that upheld moral standards. They have given way for all kinds of sexual immorality, problems with alcohol and drugs, spiritual darkness, and most of all, a spirit of despair. On these three prayer-walks we saw so many ways in which these people attempt to fill the emptiness inside them and find satisfaction.

Rob van Leeuwen

Sandboarding

Although I don't have time to write a blog right now, I thought I'd leave you with this picture to let you know that I'm still alive. After a week or so I shouldn't be nearly as busy so hopefully my posting will get back to regular. Also, next week I am going to have a guest blogger tell about our trip to Ukraine because I still haven't had time to write about it. So come back soon!

 

The Time Has Come!

Hello again. No, I am not here to blog about my time in the Ukraine. I still haven't had time for that. I'm just quickly letting you know where I will be for the next three days.... tomorrow morning I am heading to the Siwa Oasis where I will be going SANDBOARDING!!!! That's right, folks, snowboarding on sand. It should be great. Or interesting, at least... I'll let you know how it goes. But yeah, you probably won't hear anything from me until Monday or Tuesday. So have a great weekend and I'll try not to kill myself.

And We're Baaaack!

Hello everyone! I'm back from Ukraine. We spent a tiring twelve days there and had an amazing time. I'll tell you about some of the things we experienced in a few days. All of my pictures from the trip are still on a team member's laptop, so I'll share some of those with you when I get them. Anyways, just wanted to let you know I'm back in Egypt and I'm still alive. Have a nice day!

Ukraine Ho!

Well folks, the time has come for me to leave the land of Egypt... at least momentarily. Tomorrow I, and a team of ten other high school students and leaders, are making our way to Kiev, Ukraine. We will be there until April 25th. During that time, I will be writing for the Adventures in Ukraine blog rather than my Adventures in Egypt blog. So, for the next two weeks, check out http://www.theukraineteam.blogspot.com to find out what I'm up to! Talk to you later!

The Mercer List

For lack of better things to blog about, today I will tell you a little about about The Mercer List. The Mercer List is a list that rates the Quality of Living of major cities around the world. The 2006 version of it has just been released. Last August I moved from my hometown of Calgary, which is number 25 on the list, to Cairo which has fallen to the 131^st position “due to the political turmoil and terrorist attacks in the city and surrounding area.” I suppose quality of living might be a wee bit lower here in Cairo, but quality of life seems to be much higher! There’s so much to see and do and everything is much cheaper. If it weren’t for all the pollution, this would be a great city to live in! The list of top 50 cities can be downloaded here. Well. That's all for now.

Uncle Ryan Update

I was checking out my pregnant sister's blog recently and I was shocked to see pictures of her looking pregnant! All these months I was thinking it was some elaborate joke. I mean, sending me a sonogram? I thought that was very clever. Perhaps that's just an oddly shaped pillow under her shirt or something? I don't know. See for yourself and let me know what you think:


People are often telling me that I should write a book. I often shrug off the suggestion and say to myself, "What could I possibly write about?" Well, it seems I have finally been inspired to write a book. Here is the cover of it for you:

Unfortunately I'm too busy to work on the rest of the book, so I think I'll just release the book with the current cover and then I'll fill the rest of it with a bunch of empty pages. I think I remember seeing a book like that before. It was entitled "Everything men know about women" or something to that effect.

One last bit of news before I sign off. About a month ago I was looking in the mirror while brushing my teeth, and I noticed a flash of white in my goatee. At first I thought it was just the lighting, but upon closer inspection I found that it was no illusion. I had a gray hair. I couldn't believe it! I'm only.... twenty two years old (I had to get Heidi to help me with the math to figure out my age)! I shouldn't have gray hairs already!! I plucked the gray hair from my goatee and then tried to figure out what could have caused such an atrocity. I recalled a time when my family went to West Edmonton Mall (biggest mall in North America, I think... it used to be, at least) with my uncle and his family. My uncle went on the rollercoaster there and was apparently so freaked out from it that he woke up the following day with some gray hairs. I thought long and hard, and I couldn't think of any recent heartpounding experiences that affected me like that. As I was thinking about what the cause of this gray hair could be, I was also trying to find something that could serve as a black background so I could take a picture of the hair to show you. Interestingly enough, the black background was the answer to what caused the gray hair in the first place (I'm convinced it is, at least). Without further ado, I present to you the cause of grayness:

Look how long and nasty that thing is! It probaby grew twice as fast as the rest of my facial hair! Gross! Anyways, enough about babies for now. I'm quickly losing my appetite and it's lunch time!

What's new?

In less than a week I will be heading off on my very first short-term global outreach project. Some people call these trips by a much shorter name, but apparently the word used in that shorter name is sensitive to use in this country. Whaaatever. On April 14th, 2006 our team is travelling to Kiev, Ukraine where we will participate in various ministries until the 25th of April. There has been a lot of prep work that has gone into this trip, but I think it's going to be a wonderful time for everyone. We have a great team assembled and ready to go. You can read more about each person on the team by visiting www.therightangleway.org.

On a completely unrelated subject, judging from the comments on my giraffe post, next year's AUC Student Council president has been announced to the public. So, I would like to take this time to formally announce to you who won the election. Actually, I will allow Sharon Langer (this year's student council president) to make the announcement:

"So after a long haul here at good old AUC/NUC, the ballots are finally in and a decision has been made. The people have spoken and Ryan Monson, you will be my successor as the new president of ministry students here at our wonderful school. Congratulations Monson! The vote was tight but you came out victorious."

So there you have it, folks. It seems the ol giraffe gimmick was the final push I needed to get those last few votes. I would like to thank everyone who showed their support by sending in their "Vote for Monson" pictures. Looks like God isn't going to let me stay inside of my comfort zone any time soon. I'm excited to see what craziness is in store for me this Fall.

Finally, one last item to address. People are still asking me when I'm returning to Canada. I thought I already told everyone this, but hey, I'll tell you again. My flight back to Canada is booked for July 28th so I will be home in time for my mom's birthday. I kind of missed out on her birthday last year because of my going away campout, so this year I'm making sure I'm home for it. I am finishing up my internship at Maadi Community Church at the end of June, and in July I intend to travel around Israel, Jordan, and possible one or two other Middle Eastern countries. Then it is back to Canada for me!

Now, I hope that's enough of an update for you because I'm gonna go eat some lunch.

Vote for Monson!

Me and My Horsey

This is the horse I rode.

This is me and my horse. I forget its name.

 

Cowboy Monson

I have a confession to make. Although I come from “Cow-Town” Calgary, and have lived near the world famous “Spruce Meadows” (a massive equestrian facility) for a good portion of my life, I have never actually ridden a horse before. Well, not until today, that is. Today I set off an adventure that was so cool that I even woke up at 6:45 am to go on it. Despite the fact that early mornings are against my principles, I battled the bitter cold, primitive hours of the day and journeyed to the Giza Pyramids. Once there, I was given a horse of my very own to ride through the Sahara Desert. Our plan for the morning was to ride our horses from the Giza Pyramids, through the sand dunes, over to the Sakkara Pyramids, and then back again. The journey took us about three hours to complete and was quite an exhilarating/painful adventure.

Now that I have successfully completed this excursion without braking any bones, I consider myself an expert horseman. Let me tell you a few of the basics about riding horses in Egypt. First of all, horses don’t have a gas petal. Your whip or the heels of your feet act as the gas petal. Second, horses have three main speeds. Walking, trotting, and galloping, among other things. Walking is easy, galloping is fun, and trotting is just plain annoying. With walking, all you have to do is sit there and look ruggedly handsome. When you trot, though, you have to do a funny little stand up, sit down routine over and over by applying pressure in the stirrups and slightly lifting your butt from the saddle. It gets really painful when you’re out of rhythm of the trotting of the horse. This leaves you with a Ridiculously Excruciating Discomfort (RED for short) in your posterior. I call it the RED butt syndrome. Worse than that, though, is all the rubbing that goes on between your inner thighs and the saddle. I’m pretty sure I’ve worn most of the hair off of the inside of my legs now. But whenever I threw my horse into a gallop (fast running, for those of you who don’t know cowboy jargon) all of the pain seemed to subside momentarily. As I shot through the sand dunes with the wind blowing against my face, bouncing in rhythm with my horse, I felt that all the pain leading up to this moment was worthwhile. Even waking up at 6:45 am. But every time I stopped galloping, my horse would want to trot for a while before slowing to a walk. This meant a severe return to the RED Butt Syndrome.

I could write more about the joys of steering horses, proper procedures for sitting on a horse while it urinates, and how to make it switch speeds, but my muscles are quickly becoming stiff and sore, so I’m going to go take a nice hot shower instead of continuing this commentary.

Election Day!

Today is election day. Now it is up to the people of Alliance University College to choose who they want to be next year's student body president. Now we play the waiting game.

Final Push!

Elections are tomorrow!! Here are a few last minute picture submissions from my supporters:

This is a picture of Matt Yeomans, submitted by his girlfriend Anh Nguyen - Calgary, Canada.

This appears to be some boy scout or something. I gather that his name is Erick Parsons. I'm not sure where he's from, but my mom submitted the picture and she's from Priddis, Canada.

Here we have a picture of the girls from room '404'. I've never actually met any of them, but they seem pretty cool. I think this picture may have been taken in Banff, maybe? But they're currently living in Calgary, Canada.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Thank you, and good night!

Elections Near!

The elections for AUC Student Council are in less than a week now! Hurry up with those picture submissions!!

Today I have a picture from Megan Reimer (Calgary, Canada) to share with you.

News with Ryan

Since I don't have any campaign pictures for you today, I would like to share an interesting bit of news I came across on the internet today. Click here to read the news story entitled Police arrest oiled man armed with nunchucks.

In other news, the multi-vitamin challenge comes to an end tonight. For those of you just joining us, I began taking multi-vitamins and vitamin C tablets thirty days ago in an effort to improve my health. If it didn't work, Cam Stutters, the parasite man, was going to pay for all my expenses. Well, I am pleased to inform you that my health is improving and I haven't had a cold for about a week now. Now we'll just wait and see if this lasts.

Now for our weather update: the weather is warming up again. We've been in the 30's all week (high 80's to 90's in Fahrenheit). The forcast was saying that Friday would be "Hot with a great deal of sunshine." Now it's just saying "Mostly sunny and not as warm." I really do enjoy these Egyptian weather forcasts!

Four cases of bird flu in humans have been confirmed. Everyone still eats chicken though. We're not chicken. I rear ended a taxi with my bike today because my brakes died. The cab driver looked back at me and I gave him a thumbs up. I think he was pretty amused. I think I should've saved all this information for my newsletter that has to go out in a week. Oh well, I'll just make up some more news for then. This is Ryan Monson, signing off.

The Monson Campaign Continues

Today I present to you the men of Penthouse 2, of whom I have

had the pleasure of being either floormates or roommates with.
(Check out those sweet velcro shoes)

Campaign Update

Today I was sent a picture of an anonymous white man who is decked out in some Middle Eastern wear. I'm not sure who he is, or where he's from, but he supports my campaign, and thus, he must be a good man.

(Picture submitted by Shirley Bierkos - Calgary, Canada)

If you haven't submitted your picture to me yet, hurry up!! Remember, the elections are on March 31st!

Campaign Update

Recently my dad and my sister went on a trip to El Salvador to build houses or something like that. The following pictures were taken during this trip:

A presidential campaign isn't complete without support from a biker.

I'm not sure who this dude is, but I guess he's a rockstar of some sort. Fair enough. Thank you for your support, rockstar. Rock on.

This is my dad, Blaine, and my oldest sister, Felicia. My dad rarely looks at the camera when someone takes his picture.

Apparently I have a corporate sponsor backing my campaign now. Sweet!
I wonder if they'll give me a free iPod if I plug their company.
BUY YOUR ELECTRONICS FROM VISION ELECTRONICS!
Now we play the waiting game...

The Campaign Continues...

Today's pictures are of Lieneke (and some other kid), who live in Holland

Pictures submitted by Ineke van Leeuwen

Vote for Monson!

Today's picture submission comes from Cindy Harrington who is in Conakry, Guinea

The Monson Campaign

Today's picture submission comes from Erin Tucker in Cairo, Egypt

IMPACT 2006

Imagine with me for a moment. You are walking through a forest that is nice and peaceful. The wind is blowing through the pine trees creating a deep whistling sound that fills the whole valley. You hear the odd bird chirping in the trees, but aside from that, there is complete and utter silence. But as you walk along, the forest suddenly turns into a jungle and a pack of forty monkeys comes bursting into view, screaming, jumping around, and wrestling with each other. This, my friend, is Impact 2006. Forty hyper-active, screaming monkeys bouncing off the walls and giving each other wedgies. It’s weekends like these that cause me to question my calling as a youth pastor. But then again, one can’t change their choice of career just because of a nightmarish two days out of each year. I’m sure every job has its fair share of those.

Impact wasn’t without its nuggets of gold, though. I would like to tell you about the service project we did during our Impact weekend. Remember those forty screaming monkeys? Imagine giving each one a bucket of paint and a paintbrush. This is in essence what we did for our service project. On Friday afternoon we separated the students into three groups and set off to paint three different Sudanese schools. There is a large population of Sudanese refugees living in Cairo because of the current situation in Sudan. Many of these Sudanese refugees have children who cannot attend Egyptian schools because they are illegal immigrants. Through a partnership with our church the Sudanese are starting up some schools around Cairo in an effort to educate their children. We set out to paint three of these schools that are preparing to open.

After driving for about forty-five minutes, our bus arrived at a slightly unappealing building that had a few rooms set aside to be a Sudanese school. I had a team of ten students, along with a high school student leader. Together we were going to make our own EXTREME MAKEOVER: SCHOOL EDITION. But I forgot my camera. Oh well, the students played along anyways. I played the part of Ty Pennington. You know, the guy who goes around shouting at everyone, telling them to get to work and such. It was just like watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, only I had a pack of monkeys instead of a group of effeminate men and plasticized women… and, I didn’t think to bring along a megaphone.

When we first arrived the walls were just bare cement. We set off by priming the walls and then slathering them with a creamy yellowish color of paint. I can show you my sweater if you want a better look at the color of paint we used (darn monkeys). At lunchtime we were invited upstairs to a Sudanese man’s apartment. He is the director of the school we were painting. Also painting alongside us were two of the Sudanese teachers from that school. They were so grateful for us being there. By the end of the day we had painted nearly all of the rooms in the developed half of the school. It was neat walking from room to room seeing everything transform from a dull cement to a brightly lit up room. My team of monkeys pressed on for the better part of the afternoon to finish painting that school. Before we left, the teachers thanked us for taking the time to come and paint their school. They told us that the colors we put on their walls not only brightened up their school, but also gave them a sense of protection. I guess in the Sudanese culture a painted wall provides more security than a cement wall. Something like that, anyways. As our bus rolled away from the school a few of the Sudanese children made their way into the school and excitedly looked around with big smiles. They ran to the window and waved goodbye to us. It pretty much made all the hard work of that day worthwhile. I was proud of my monkeys. They did an excellent job! (This is the part of the show where you cry.)

The Monson Campaign - Picture Submissions

Here are the first pictures submitted for The Monson Campaign:

Submitted by Ryan Monson - Cairo, Egypt

Submitted by Holly the Cat - Cairo, Egypt

Here's a picture of Holly getting bored of campaigning.

The Monson Campaign

Ladies and Gentlemen, the time has come for me to begin my 2006 Presidency Campaign! President of what, you ask? President of the AUC (my school) Student Council. In an effort to show the students of AUC why they should elect me, I have taken a few random pictures around Egypt to show a few of the people who are backing up my decision to run for president. Now I will take a few moments to address some questions you may have about this campaign.

What does this have to do with why students should vote for me? Nothing. Is this just a publicity stunt? Pretty much. Are you still single? Yes!

Now, before I show you the pictures, I would like to invite YOU to grab your camera and show your support for me. Have someone take a picture of you holding a "Vote for Monson" sign and then email it to me, along with the location of the picture. I will post every picture I recieve on my blog (as long as it is appropriate) until the end of my presidency campaign. If you take the time to send me a picture of yourself, I will take the time to send you a postcard! One more thing. It would be nice if your pictures displayed a bit of the culture that are living among (see below pictures if you don't understand what I mean by this). Alright! Now without further ado, here is the first set of pictures:

Time for the Junior High Retreat!

Today we begin IMPACT 2006, our middle school retreat. This means that the next couple of days are going to be even more hectic than the past few days. Please pray for us as we spend the weekend impacting the 43 students that signed up for this weekend. Thanks! If I live through this, I'll talk to you next week!

Egyptian Dating

Each week I spend two grueling hours getting the Arabic language pounded into my head. It’s usually somewhat painful for me because I get so busy doing my all my youth ministry stuff during the week that I rarely find time to practice my Arabic skills. So, about an hour before my Arabic lesson I do all the homework that was assigned to me and relearn the things that were stuffed into my head the previous week. It’s certainly not the prime conditions for learning Arabic. Anyways, during my last Arabic class we somehow got on the topic of dating. Apparently there is no such thing in the Egyptian culture. You are either engaged, or you are acquaintances. After drilling our Arabic teacher with questions about this topic, we came to the conclusion that Egyptian engagements are the closest thing to the Western concept of dating.

When an Egyptian gets engaged, the man gives the woman a ring, and their family has a big engagement party where all their friends are invited. I suppose this is not unlike a Western engagement in this regard. The big difference is that Egyptian engagements are the time where the man and woman decide if they really like each other and want to follow through with marriage. If they decide that they don’t really like each other that much, the woman gives her ring back, and the two part ways. So, I guess Egyptians pretty much just combine the custom of dating and engagement together. Interesting, I know. Unfortunately we didn’t get onto the subject of paying the bride’s father with camels and sheep. Perhaps next week we’ll talk about that. I sort of doubt they do that anymore. Anyways, there’s your Egyptian culture lesson for today.

The Testimony of Religions

Have you ever noticed that the world has gone crazy with religion? If you look at the history of our world, not just in the past 2000 years, but all the way back to the earliest written records of history thousands of years ago, you will see one thing in common. People always long to worship something. If you follow history throughout the years you will also notice that the people of this world can never agree on one single entity to worship. Different people groups in different eras all want to worship different gods. This is what history suggests, at least. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and all the major religions of our day have separate gods, each beckoning us to worship them. All of these aforementioned religions have prospered (and continue to prosper) quite prominently in different regions of the world. Certain countries are known for being associated with certain religions. Cities, tribes, and people groups within these countries often have their own flavors of these religions, or perhaps a new religion altogether. As time changes, many of these religions change as well. Only one thing seems to remain constant among world religions. They always seem to clash with each other in some form or fashion. Each religion seems to have its own crusades throughout the world. Sure, I’m probably over-generalizing every one of these statements I’m making, but the point of this blog is not to give you a historical overview of the trends of world religions. Instead, I want to put the craziness of religion aside for a moment. If a simple little cartoon can get religious people all over the world angry and violent towards each other, then clearly religion is just a little skewed.

So forget religion for a few minutes. I would like to talk about what is beneath all of it. Life and death. Take a look at the world around you. This planet is teeming with life! This life had to begin somewhere, by some force of nature. For me, I find it impossible to think that all the intricacies and intense design in this world just happened by chance. When I look at any living organism I see such complexities in them that I cannot, in good conscience, credit to mere chance or accident. All the different colors, shapes, sizes, and behaviors of living things support my confidence that there must be something or someone that created this world we live in. As I have lived in Egypt for the past seven months, I have seen such beauty in the world around me that I am even more convinced that there is some supreme being behind everything that exists in our universe.

I have hiked up a number of mountains throughout my life. Whenever I reach the summits of the mountains I climb, I take a look out at the valleys below, and I see a panoramic canvas of the most magnificent artwork ever. A few months ago I tried snorkeling in the Red Sea. Although I failed miserably in my attempt to swim, I was still able to take in a small portion of life below the waters. I saw fish of spectacular colors that sparkled and shimmered in the water. I saw coral reef that was packed with miniscule complexities. Even just seeing the bright colors of the water and watching the waves dance among the rocks was enough to fill me with awe and wonder for whoever created all of this. This past year I also went on a camping trip in the Sahara Desert. As I was lying near a flickering fire, shortly following a breathtaking sunset, I looked up and saw yet another sign of divine creation. The evening sky was blazing with light from galaxies of stars above me. I followed the Milky Way as it flowed through the boundless sky above me. It glowed softly and silently. To me, it was the signature at the bottom right-hand corner of this awesome painting of the universe.

Yes, surely there is a creator who has made all of this beauty around us. Surely there is a being who created you and me. There must be someone to whom we are a prized collection; a valued creation; a brilliant masterpiece. This supreme being who inexplicably created everything that is and gave us life, also gave us the ability to accept or deny the existence of an ultimate creator. This creator gave us the freedom of choice and of reason, and everything we need to make an intelligent decision. We don’t need books to tell us what to believe. We don’t need fancy rhetoric. We don’t even need scholars or religious leaders to help us with our decision. All we need to do is to take a look at the universe that has been revealed to each of us, and decide whether or not to accept if there is one who created all of this. You can call this being whatever you please. I call him Elohim. God our creator. From Him I find meaning and life.

Why Egypt is Cool – Part 2:

It is surrounded by history
Egypt has the great pyramids, numerous ancient tombs and temples, Mt. Sinai (allegedly), the Nile River, the Red Sea, and some ridiculously old churches and monastaries, not to mention tons of ancient relics and manuscripts. Many stories in the Bible took place here, and Egypt played a major role in the history of Christianity.

You are a novelty here
If you are a foreigner living in Egypt, you get noticed by the locals. Possibly just because they think you’re rich and that you’ll send some of your money their way, but it’s also possible that they are curious about you and are interested in your customs and ways of doing things. Maybe you are an opportunity for them to practice their newly learned English phrases. Or Maybe you’re just neat to look at because they’ve never seen anyone that looks like you. Either way, living in Egypt you get noticed.

McDonald’s is better here
I just had a Double BigMac. That’s right, four patties. Do they even have those in North America? And another thing: the burgers here look like the burgers in the pictures and on the commercials! In Canada I see commercials with these tall burgers packed with lettuce and meat and other juicy stuff, but when I go and order that burger, I get what looks like a road-kill. So disappointing. Not here, though. I have to smoosh these burgers down so I can get them in my mouth! Mmmm mmm.

The weather is nice
Yes, it cools down in the winter and feels quite cold to me, but the truth is, the coldest it’s been is about 10 degrees Celsius. I can count the amount of times it has rained since I’ve moved here on one hand. It’s practically ALWAYS sunny out! There is virtually no humidity. Summer days are in the high 30’s or the low 40’s.

I sometimes find money in my bags of chips
Twice in a row I opened a bag of chips, and sitting among the chips was a crisp new bill.
Sure, the bills only amounted to about 75 piasters (3/4 of a pound), but it’s the principle that counts! I got money when all I was expecting was chips! Besides, a bag of chips only costs one pound. And since I didn’t even buy the chips in the first place, I was actually MAKING money by eating them.

Egypt is Not Driven by the Clock
Egypt did Daylight Savings Time at a different time than the rest of the world. Sure, this is kind of annoying, but it’s also pretty cool. Imagine if North America tried to pull that off! You’d never hear the end of the complaining. When Egyptians say things start at a certain time, they are usually just making a suggestion. There are two things I have noticed that actually follow the clock: movies and trains. Trains always leave on time, and movies generally start on time (even early on some occasions).

Lots to see and do
There are countless things to see around the country of Egypt, and even in the city of Cairo itself. I still haven’t seen a few of the major sights here such as garbage city and the cave church. Aside from just sightseeing, Cairo is a huge city and pretty much always has something interesting going on in it. There are opera houses and all sorts of performing arts centers. There are tons of interesting restaurants each with their own styles and ambiance. And once again, everything is generally quite affordable.

Why Egypt is Cool – Part 1:

Everyone delivers
I just had McDonald’s delivered to my house for dinner. I can phone up a local grocer, give them a list of items that I want, and they’ll deliver them! No shopping necessary! Not feeling well? No problem, I can call up the local pharmacy and have them deliver some medication for me.

It is socially acceptable to pick your nose/butt in public
Okay, I don’t know exactly how ‘acceptable’ it is to do these things, but I see quite a few people doing them in public each and every day!

No taxes, no set prices
Technically, there isn’t a sales tax for anything in Egypt (at least not that I know of). When you buy groceries, you pay the exact price of the items listed, no extra percentage for taxes. However, many restaurants add their own ‘service tax’ to the bill which generally ranges from 5% to 15% (in those cases, you tip the server a minimal amount). Aside from restaurants and grocery stores and such, most shops or services do not have set prices. This means that you can barter and haggle with the shopkeeper until you find a price that you are both pleased with. This can be quite fun to do, and is also rewarding when you succeed. Sometimes I haggle over things just for the fun of it, even when I’m not interested in buying anything. On the downside, sometimes you can get ripped off if you are unaware of the value of something, or if you are not aggressive enough with your bartering.

No rules in traffic
Sometimes there are lines on the road suggesting the possibility of there being lanes. But nobody cares! A general rule of thumb is: where two lanes are marked out, three lanes are permitted. Sometimes even four (depending on the size of the vehicles and whether or not they have side-mirrors). Sometimes there are roads that are only for one way traffic, but it is not uncommon, nor even bad etiquette (so it seems), to drive the wrong way down these roads if it is convenient for the driver. A single lane road with traffic going both directions does not mean that passing is not permitted. Oncoming traffic on a single lane road also does not entail that passing is not permitted. Cars don’t have to pass a safety test (from the looks of it, at least), civilian cars are allowed to have lights and sirens to their heart’s content, and headlights are only for amateurs. I could talk all day about the hilarity of traffic in Egypt, but let’s move on.

Public drunkenness is not acceptable, but public urination is
A few students at a local high school were arrested last month for public drunkenness, yet daily I see people casually peeing wherever it is convenient for them. For being such a ‘conservative’ culture I would think men would shield themselves a little better while peeing. I won’t go into any more details about that.

Things are cheap
This is true. In Canada it costs around $1.50 to mail a letter to Egypt. It costs me 1.50LE (Egyptian Pounds) to mail a letter to Canada. An Egyptian Pound is worth roughly 1/5 of a Canadian dollar. A taxi ride here costs between two pounds for a couple minutes, or fifty pounds for anywhere in Cairo ($0.40-$10). The most expensive pair of jeans I’ve seen are $20. The average restaurant meal I eat costs roughly $5 or $6. Gas costs about $0.20 a litre.

The Lowdown on Parasites

I am coming to the end of day six of The Multi-vitamin Challenge as I write this blog entry. My cold is beginning to go away, but that usually happens at the end of a two week period period of being sick with or without vitamins. If the trend continues, I’ll feel okay for a week or two, sometimes even three, and then I’ll come down with something else. Only time will tell if these vitamins are actually working. But there’s still one thing these vitamins can’t help me with. The danger of ingesting a parasite. Yes, one of the many things we have to watch out for in Egypt are parasites. Parasites are most commonly contained in water and certain forms of vegetables. Lettuce is the most notorious vegetable for housing parasites. Whenever we go to restaurants here, we only eat the lettuce if it is a respectable restaurant where we’ve heard good reports about the lettuce. Even then, some people simply refuse to eat the lettuce here. I think the most common parasite around Cairo is the amoeba. When someone houses an amoeba in their body they will exhibit flulike symptoms, but rather than having the symptoms disappear after a day or two, they will continue until treatment is sought out. Ideally parasites are expelled from one’s body within the span of a month, but there are exceptions to this rule. Let’s have a look at my friend, Cam Stutters, for example.

You may recall him as the one who challenged me to start taking multi-vitamins. I accepted his advice, not only because he was willing to pay up if they didn’t work, but also because he has done extensive research of food, nutrition, and health over the past year. Why has he done all of this research? Because Cam has a parasite. Cam has had this parasite for well over a year now and has undergone numerous treatments in an attempt to rid his body of his parasite(s). After a year of being on a special ‘rice-only’ diet and visiting specialist after specialist regarding his health, Cam grew weary of unhelpful doctors and began researching things for himself. He has now turned to the world of alternative medicine to seek out a solution to his problem. Cam now has a naturopathic doctor who advises him as to whether or not is plan of action is satisfactory. Earlier this week I interviewed Cam about a few of his alternative medicine treatments and I must say that I have some very interesting things to pass on to you (yes, I even have a few pictures for you as well).

The first treatment I am going to describe to you is called Aqua Chi. Aqua Chi is a process by which you immerse your bare feet in a tub of water which gets ionized by an external machine. This procedure stimulates the elimination channels of the body at a very accelerated rate (by giving the water a negative electron charge which attracts the toxins in your body and pulls them into your feet). Once the toxins are in your feet, they come OUT of your feet and go into the water. A typical Aqua Chi procedure lasts for about thirty-five minutes. Below are pictures of Cam’s feet at different intervals throughout the procedure.

After 5 Minutes

After 35 Minutes

I asked Cam if he felt anything during the procedure. He said that all he felt was a light tingling sensation.

Another interesting procedure that Cam has gone through is called Biofeedback Therapy. This is a rather intense sounding procedure. In Biofeedback Therapy, the patient is hooked up to a computer and is treated ENTIRELY by the computer!! Using the theories of quantum mechanics, the computer stimulates treatments and sends electrons into your body which kill parasites. I know this is a fairly vague description, but I think the workings of this treatment system are a little over our heads anyways. A typical treatment of Biofeedback Therapy takes three hours and costs about $100 an hour. These treatments are very intensive and can only be done once every three weeks. The machine kills the parasites in your body and then your body excretes them naturally. Cam told me that after the treatments you feel very tired and sleep for a long time. After Cam’s first two treatments they estimated that around TWENTY parasites had been eradicated from his body. Cam described himself as being “a parasite zoo” as he is still not free from parasites. A number of months ago Cam decided to name his parasite(s) since they had been with him for so long. Roy is the name that he gave them. Roy’s one year birthday was sometime in January, if I’m not mistaken. And still, Roy endures. I have not heard the results of this week’s Biofeedback Therapy that Cam went through, but we’re all hoping that Roy has finally been put to rest.