This will be my last entry on my blog for my trip to Egypt. I left Cairo this morning at 7:30 (12:30 US time). Sherif's driver took me to the airport and he speaks no English . We left Sherif's house at 4:30 a.m. and we did not know which terminal to go to at the airport. We went to Terminal 1 and then to Terminal 2 and back to Terminal 1. Our flight left on time to Paris, France. We arrived in Paris about 11:10 (their time). We departed Paris at 1:30 and flew for over 10 hours arriving in Atlanta at 5:30 (our time). The flight from Atlanta to Columbia (due to leave at 8:30) finallly left at 10:05 and I arrived home about 11:15. But the trip ended with its usual chaos (often like it begins) with NO LUGGAGE. It seems no one on board our flight had their luggage loaded on the plane. It should arrive sometime tomorrow! I appreciate everyone who read the blog and kept up with my trip and I hope you learned some things and got to experience even a bit of the experiences I had. Thanks to Sherif and Helen for hosting me in their home!

DrB

I am at my friend Sherif's home this evening getting ready to come home in the morning. The picture of the palm tree is interesting. It is really not a palm tree but a cell phone tower that has been designed to look like a palm tree. It fits in with environment and really looks great. The other picture is of me with Sherif's children Adam and Kenda in their living room.

My flight leaves at 7:30 a.m. Cairo time (12:30 a.m. your time) and I will flying to Paris, France, then to Atlanta and back home on Thursday evening. I appreciate you reading my blog and I look forward to getting back home. I will be returning to school on Friday morning!

DrB

Last Night in Alexandria. View of Montazah Palace at night from my window.

Today was our last day at Pioneers American School. In the pictures you can see the front of the school and students in the kindergarten class. The school took us out to LePrince Restaurant after school which is also on the grounds of Montazah Palace. I did my usual thing of picking out my fish and then having it prepared the way I like (sengetti). My friend Sherif has come up to Alexandria tonight to conduct a workshop here tomorrow. I will help him with that and then return to Cairo tomorrow afternoon and stay with him and his family tomorrow night. I will be returning to Columbia on Friday. My flight leaves at 7:30 on Thursday morning and I fly to Paris, France, and then to Atlanta and finally home, arriving late Thursday night.

These two beautiful and delicious desserts were prepared by the school chef (Priscilla?!?!). We interviewed a group of elementary students and had lunch with them. It was so much fun and they were encouraging us to keep them as long as we could so they would not have to go back to class (children are the same the world over!).

Map of the hotel area and Montazah Palace. The water is the Mediterranean Sea. Salamlek is the men's guest house where we had dinner the other night. The gardens are beautiful and quite extensive. I walked around them last night and clocked about 3 miles around the perimeter.

We had a great first day at Pioneers American School. We spent the day in visiting high school classes, interviewing various staff members, and interviewing some students from the high school. In the pictures you will see the principal teaching a biology class and the high school students meeting with us. As you will recall, the school week for students in Egypt begins on Sunday and ends on Thursday. We spent a great deal of time working after school on the beginning of the report. I was able to walk about 3 miles late in the evening around the Palace grounds. It is beautiful at night. More later...
DrB