Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Although this has nothing to do with me being in Egypt, I would like to take this time to point out that today is my dad's birthday. This year he is turning: OLD. So, have a Merry Birthday and a Happy New Year, dad!

My Desert Safari

A Breif Summary:
During my brief hiatus from Cairo, I went on a number of interesting adventures. For those of you who are too busy to read my beautifully detailed stories below, allow me to give you a quick summary of what happened. We drove out to an oasis in the Sahara desert, stayed there for a night, took jeeps out to the middle of the White Desert where we camped for a night with our two Bedouin guides, returned to the oasis the following day, and returned to Cairo on the fourth day. The trip included such things as: a slight concussion due to a ping pong accident, a song about Nescafe sung by the Bedouin men, getting a 4x4 vehicle stuck in the desert, and Communist showers (not to be confused with communal showers). If any of these topics peak your interest, then read through The Detailed Adventures of Monson in the Sahara. Please note: These adventures may not be posted in their entirety for a few days because the concussion I am suffering causes me to get severe headaches from using the computer for elongated periods of time. Yes, it was ME that suffered the Great Ping Pong Injury of 2005. Laugh it up and pray I will swiftly recover from it (I am wearing sunglasses while writing this post because my head is so sensitive right now).


The Detailed Adventures of Monson in the Sahara - Day 1
I woke up at 8am and hopped into the shower. This would be the latest I would get to sleep in for the next three days. This was also the last decent shower I would enjoy for the rest of the week. After packing the car plum full of luggage we (my host family, and another Dutch family) set off towards the Western portion of the Sahara desert. Our destination for the day was a hotel/hostel type establishment known as the Ahmed Safari Camp. It is located in the Bahariya desert oasis which is about 350km Southwest of Cairo.

Many stops were made along the way to ensure that the adults had enough coffee in them. During one of these stops I took the time to take inventory of the burping talent we had present. I had each of the three innocent little Dutch girls burping for me, along with the odd burp from my host father as well. All in all we had an impressive array of burpers present on this trip. On a side note, Holly the cat is sitting on my lap right now, and she is dropping some nasty farts. Sick little kitty. Have I mentioned how much her personality parallels that of my sister Holly? Heh heh.

After what felt like a full day of driving (and asking a lot of locals where the Ahmed Safari Camp was), we finally pulled into the ‘camp’. Once we were settled in our rooms we headed off on a short hike towards a desert hill that Rob and I spied in the distance. Us younger people (eg, not the parents) arrived at the top of the rock hill in time to see the firey orange sun dissolve into the distant desert landscape. The scenery reminded me of the Lion King when Simba gets held up by Rafiki for all the animals of the jungle to see. I thought of doing the same thing with Justina, the youngest Dutch girl, but I don’t think she shared the same enthusiasm for the idea as me.

Later on that evening we ate some dinner, played some ping pong, and did some star gazing (we were trying to find the moon because Ramadan isn’t officially over until the new moon appears). One interesting thing I noticed was how much smaller the so called ‘Big Dipper’ is when viewed from here. It looked more like a baby spoon to me. Either way, it was nice to finally be in a place where I could look up and see the stars again.

Day 2 coming soon...
Click here for pictures!

The Spirit of Religion (Written on Nov 1st)

This past weekend my bike got locked inside of the church compound. I had the next day off, so I just left the bike inside of the compound for the day and figured I’d grab it after work the following day. Well, as I retrieved my bike after work I noticed that both tires were completely flat. Upon further inspection I found out that the little tube-like devices that hold the air inside of the tire were actually stolen. This meant that simply pumping the tires up was out of question. At first I was pretty annoyed with this inconvenience (and actually, I guess I still am) because I had to walk my bike all the way home. This walk took about twenty minutes and also happened to fall around the time of the year’s last Iftar meal. To remind you, the Iftar is the evening meal that breaks the daily Ramadan fast. As I walked past a group of soldiers sitting outside a building, eating their iftar meal, they cheerily invited me to join them. I smiled and declined the invitation. Now, thinking back, it would’ve been a pretty cool experience if I’d joined them for the meal. Oh well. I’ve heard many stories of people getting sick after eating these street meals, which is why I declined. I continued on my way home, walking my bike alongside me. Soon I came upon some men who I often wave at as I zoom past them on my bike. They were also eating their iftar meal and invited me to join them. Again, I declined and continued on my way. As I came up to one of the busier midans (traffic circles), a man handed me a small bag of dates to curb my hunger until I got home to my meal. I couldn’t help but notice how kind and pleasant everyone was acting towards me as I slowly made my tedious trek home. Despite my slightly unpleasant bike situation, I was having a fairly enjoyable time appreciating all the kindness surrounding me. Eventually I made my way over the walk-over that crosses the metro tracks. These walk-overs consist of ramps that lead up to a bridge above the metro tracks, much like pedestrian bridges in Canada. As I was walking down the ramp on the other side of the tracks, a young man was struggling to push his fully loaded beverage cart up the ramp. Before I knew it, a woman (who was a complete stranger to both of us) walked up and started helping him push the cart up the ramp. After waving and saying hello to a few more people, I finally arrived at home. By this time I was glad that God provided such an opportunity for me. It gave me a chance to slow down and to appreciate those around me. I saw that, despite our religious differences, many people here in Egypt are still full of kindness and goodness. Perhaps it’s just the holiday spirit that has everyone feeling cheerful and benevolent, much like Christmas day in North America, but whatever it is, I appreciate it. I think today I will leave you with a a phrase that is uttered quite often these days, “Kul is-sana w’entu tayyibeen”. It means something to the effect of, “All year may you be well.”

Three Posts to Keep You Company

As Ramadan comes to a close, so do all the businesses in Cairo. This means that tons of happy people head out town and party. I am one of those happy people because I am heading out to the western desert with my host family for my first vacation in Egypt!! On Wednesday morning, bright and early, we shall set off to the desert and spend two nights sleeping under the stars with snakes and scorpions and other deadly animals fighting over who gets to eat us in our sleep. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and throw them online when I get home this weekend. Until then, here’s something for you to think about:

An Arab sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advise. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What does the wise man say?

Everybody's Odd!

I’ve noticed an interesting observation about the religiosity of the dominant faith here in Egypt. Many of the hardcore followers of the faith have large bruise-like marks on their foreheads “from praying” so fervently. Seeing these marks kind of reminds me of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:

Mat 6:5 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.
Mat 6:6 But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
Mat 6:7 "When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.
Mat 6:8 Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.

It’s sad how faith often becomes so worldly and shallow.

After reading some of my blogs about the quirks of Egypt, you may be inclined to think that Egypt is a bit of a weird country. Well, let me tell you, no country is without its oddities. Take Rome, for instance. “The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel, and has made regular dog-walks mandatory in the Italian capital, the town’s council said on Tuesday.” “The northern city of Turin passed a law in April to fine pet owners up to $598 ( 500 euros) if they do not walk their dogs at least three times a day.” These are direct quotes from MSNBC!

Redheads have all the fun

I can’t remember if I’ve already mentioned that the worship services of my church, Maadi Community Church, are actually held inside the compound of another church, St. John’s Anglican Church. If I’ve already mentioned that, consider this review. If not, then now you’ve learned something new. Lovely! Moving on. It has recently come to my attention that St. John’s is in the process of creating some stain glass windows to pimp out their church building. How is it that I know this information, and more importantly, why should any of you care about it?? Well! Last week I was unloading some equipment from a car when the pastor/father/whatever of the Anglican church pulled up in a taxi, accompanied by a woman. They waved to me and then excitedly began chatting with each other while regularly looking at me with big smiles. It was fairly obvious that they were talking about me for some reason or another. This somewhat weirded me out so when I got out of sight of them, I checked my fly. It was up. Then I felt for things hanging out of my nose. Nothing. Eventually I got over it and figured the pastor dude was probably just telling her how ridiculous I look with a bike helmet on. It’s true, I do look ridiculous with it on. Hoards of Egyptians remind me of that fact every time I bike home each day. So I went on with my work and thought nothing more of the occurrence. Later that day, or perhaps the next, I saw the pastor outside of our church, nailing something. The fact that he was nailing something is completely irrelevant, but I figured it would add some nice flow to this story and that this little side commentary would provide enough humor for you to continue reading to the punch line. Okay, back to the story now. When he saw me, the pastor stopped what he was doing and explained what he and the woman in the taxi were talking about earlier. He said that the woman in the taxi is an artist and she wants me to model for her. She thinks that I look perfect for the part of Moses! I laughed at what he said and continued on my way. I figured it was just a joke or something. The next day I saw the Anglican pastor and jokingly said, “So, when do I start?” It was then that he told me many of the details of the job, and I realized that this actually wasn’t a joke. This woman would pay me 50 Egyptian Pounds an hour (not a lot, but pretty decent pay for Egypt, I suppose) to model for her. As if that wasn’t sweet enough, he went on to say that she wasn’t just painting a picture of me, she is creating the new stain glass windows for the church! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Anglicans are cool.