Cairo...Day 1: Maadi

Premise...I can't truly relax too much...this week I have an assembly to do (which reminds me to charge my camera), a few meetings with parents, reports cards, grad school work, and whatever else that randomly comes up! 24 days till I'm home again. That whole node to 25 days of christmas, never was a big deal until now!

Anywho...Cairo! I would always come home and tell Will that I had the best co-teacher while teaching at Manatee Academy last year! Her and I got along so well; our minds thought of the same ideas and we genuinely cared about each other. Building relationships with your co-workers can be difficult, and I've experienced difficult! When we parted in June, I believed that her and I would remain friends beyond the school year and luck should have it that she too went to teach aboard. She moved to .....CAIRO!! We were lucky enough to stay with her and her husband and they treated Kandance and I like their girls! They arranged our entire trip and ensured we had the best time ever! We agreed that this would not be our last trip to visit them. We'll be back, Inshallah!

So, what happened on day one...Friday...


When Kandance booked our flight, it was scheduled for Thursday afternoon at 5:55pm, however, when she checked it the night before it said that it was delayed 3 hours. But then, the day of the trip, our flight was back on schedule. This was only the beginning of the many fits of confusion! We arrived at 1:00 am, bright eyed and bushy tailed, greeted by a snaggled-tooth, big poppa with a wide smile saying "Welcome Home!" When I spoke to Annette last I stated to her that our flight had been delayed by 3 hours, which would have put us in Cairo at 4:30 am. So of course, should wasn't at the airport when we arrived and we had to find a way to call her! Well, that led us to finding someone who spoke English and who would allow us to use their phone. Found him! But, the number we had was, as he said "invalid number."  We later learned that Cairo is switching over there phone service and that there is a special conversion for phone numbers. Whatever!

The next morning, Mr John made us homemade french toast paired with Annette's teas and then we set out to walk the streets of Maadi, a small town in Cairo. We stopped at a coffee shop, purused the street markets, took a trip to the liquor store (yes, very important :) and later that evening enjoyed a felucca ride on the Nile. When we returned after sun down, Kandance and I decided that we hadn't had enough and decided to return to 9th street, think main street, to do a bit more shopping. We purchased most of our souvenirs from a nice and honest gentlemen named Tariq. Annette later told me that he actually made thier invitations to their wedding many years ago. Enjoy the pictures...day two will include my trip to the Pyramids!!

Annette's Street!

There were a million and one bugs! I actually took tons of photos of blue bugs for Will.
But this one stood out!

Maadi

Hot Chocolate...my favorite!

Okay so, I tasted this at a friend's house back in June. However, what we purchased is
actually half pictured...Wild Africa...very good!

The Street Market, Kimo (keymo)

COT is not a gang sign, it actually stands for the Coptic Egyptians, or the Christian Egyptians.
We hadn't met our tour guide, Romney, at this point but he did give us a full history lesson on the Coptics.

Although they called this their left over meal, it was new to Kandance and I! Dee-lish!



First glimpse of the Nile.



This is a frontal view of the felucca. I'm not sure what buildings are pictured, but it's on the Nile! That's all that matters..
**Keep in mind how tall the sail is, you'll need this as a reference later...** (grad school talk...)

Stray babies everywhere. Ferral cats and stray dogs galore. However, I like that they find family amongst each other.

Typical street butcher...the streets smell like blood...yep...mmmhmm

And this is the picture of the day!
He thought he was going for a smooth sunset ride on the Nile. But, seeing as how the Nile
goes from South to North, of course this would work in the opposite manner. We had a huge
gust of wind that knocked us into the rocks. As he was trying to turn the felucca around, the
sail got caught up in itself and he had to climb the ladder to untangle it. Tip well deserved, matey!