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

Saturday continued

Montaza Palace was the "hunting lodge" for King Farouk and his family. Deer was prevalent on the grounds around the palace. The weather has been beautiful here and we walked a short distance home from the restaurant. The night before I walked about 3 miles through the gardens of Montaza and out to Alexandria. I went to a shopping area that was a bit more local than a mall. Everyone was out and having a good time shopping and eating.

View from my WIndow in Alexandria Saturday

The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful from my window. The fishermen are standing on the boat with their nets on board to go out. We had a great dinner with the school folks at Salemlik, which is the old guest house of the Montaza Palace of King Farouk. The guest house was for men only (hence Salem in the name).. THe women's guest house is also on the grounds (Haremlik). It is now a fabulous restaurant and we had wonderful food with the school folks there. We have been teasing our principal here because he is a CHOCOHOLIC, in other words he loves chocolate and his faculty tease him about that all the time. He gave me a bar of one of his favorites and you will see it in a couple of pictures! Today we are in the school for the first time. Stay tuned for more information and pics!

We ate a late lunch at the Fish Market which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. In the first picture you can see the fish we picked out to eat. You actually pick out the seafood that has been freshly caught. Below that picture you see the same fish prepared the way I like it which is called "sengetti". Upper right picture is the view from our table of the Mediterranean Sea and below that is a picture of the huge shrimp we had for dinner! TOmorrow we start our school visit. Stay tuned!
DrB

This is a picture of the market on the streets in Alex. Today was Friday which is a holiday for people in Egypt. There were all kinds of shops along the streets including food shops, fabric, clothes, etc.

When we got to Alex we went to the Catacombs which are underground grave sites. I will share sompe pictures with you later. The school principal took some with his phone I will share. We could not take our cameras down there. Along the streets to the catacombs we passed some people selling fresh bread on the streets . The bread was piled on a cart.

All along the road we passed trucks and roadside stands with oranges. There were lots of orange groves along the road!

These are pigeon coops that you see along the road to Alex. People raise pigeons for their food and sell them. Remember I ate some grilled pigeon while I have been here. The holes are where the pigeons go inside to make a place to live.

Today we were picked up at the hotel at 9:00 by the school principal from Alexandria and we made the 3 hour trip by car across the desert. Along the way we saw some interesting things and so I took some pictures to share with you.

The first picture is of a Muslim Mosque alongside the road. This is where Muslims go to pray.

Congratulations to Dar El Tarbiah American School! They are being recommended to Advanc-Ed for continued accreditation. Tonight we went out with the owner/directors of the school and ate a wonderful late lunch along the Nile River (See pictures). There are boats that travel up and down the Nile River called faluccas. You can see one in the daylight and then one later in the evening with the lights. New funny story of the day: We got back to the hotel and they had checked us out thinking we were leaving today....but we are back in our rooms now. Leaving in the morning for Alexandria. Thanks for reading!
DrB

We spent most of our day today at the school observing classrooms and interviewing teachers. The group picture above is of students in grades 6, 7, 8 from the school that we interviewed today. We had a great time! I also visited a chemistry class where they were learning and experimenting about chemical change. Tonight I went to dinner with some friends I have made in past visits to Cairo and I ate grilled pigeon!! Tomorrow is our last day in the school here in Cairo. On Friday morning I will be traveling to Alexandria, Egypt for the second school visit. Stay tuned!

We had our first day at Dar El Tarbiah and had a great day. On the first picture you find me trying to keep up with my walking over here (this was a kindergarten play area with a "treadmill"). The three first grade students were out at recess when I took their picture.

We visited in some classrooms today and interviewed the parents. Right after school we went to lunch and back to the hotel to begin the early process of writing the report for the school.

Dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant, Cairo on the Nile

I just got back to the room (11:00 p.m.) from a wonderful dinner hosted by Dr. Nawal El Degwi (Mama Nawal) who is the owner of the school we are visiting for the next three days (Dar El Tarbiah). The picture above is of the group at dinner. In the picture above Mama Nawal is the one in the middle in the long black dress. The food was fabulous and I think I ate every representative from the animal kingdom including veal, beef, lamb, cows tongue, shrimp, oysters, pigeon, chicken, and squid. The desserts were fabulous as you can see from one of the dessert tables. It really reminds me of what Ruby Payne says about the perceptions of food among socioeconomic statuses....those in poverty are concerned about quantity, those of average wealth are concerned about quality, and those of affluence are concerned about presentation!

We had a very typical Egyptian lunch with Mezzah (appetizers), Mixed Grill and Shish Tawouk (chicken) and fresh fruits and desserts. On the left is a picture of a delicious cucumber soup with shrimp. The lady above is on our team and is currently a college professor from Atlanta and has lived all over the world (Peru, China, Congo). In the picture at the right are the other two members of our team. The lady on the left is a principal from Alexandria but she is originally from Belgium. The lady on the right is a director of a school here in Cairo.

View from my Hotel window of the Nile River

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Today we did some shopping in Cairo because Sunday is the first day of their week. We went shopping to a favorite place of mine called Bashayer where they have many handcrafted items made in Egypt. The traffic as usual was very busy and no one really follows the lane markers. I am always impressed with the mixture of old and new in this city of contrasts. Notice the donkey cart going down a major street in the city. Tonight we ate dinner at my favorite Egyptian restaurant, Abou El Seid, with some friends I have made from past visits to Cairo. It is almost midnight here on Sunday night when I am writing from the Hotel. My room overlooks the Nile River and is in the heart of Cairo. Stay tuned for more pictures. Be sure to comment so that I will know you are reading my posts. Tonight in our dinner group we had people who have been involved in the Seeds of Peace organization. Most of them were Egyptian, but one gentleman was Jewish from the city of Jerusalem in Israel.
DrB

Pictures from First Day

The Trip Begins

Sherif, Helen, Kenda, Adam and I left Columbia at 1:55 on a small plane to Atlanta. True to form as is the case in most of my travels, crazy things happened. In the airport at the security line, Helen's glasses were broken. Then while we were watching a movie on my laptop at the gate, I spilled coffee all over the keyboard and so it is not working now! Then when we got in the plane in Atlanta to fly to New York, they had to "jump start" one of the engines to get us in the air.

We departed New York about 11:00 p.m. on Friday night and arrived here in Cairo at about 5:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. your time). One of Sherif's suitcases did not arrive yet. We are relaxing tonight at Sherif's house and the kids are glad to be in their homes. Stay tuned for more postings. The picture is of Sherif and his family deplaning in Cairo.