Almost the last Update

July 12, 2005

Dad heard last night from Earhart and he got the fellowship. This afternoon he plans to call X to see if he will let us stay. He's excited and the rest of us are on pins and needles. I want him to get his work done but Chris would really like to get back...

...

After eight days of running in Israel we aren't quite ready to bound into London - and I definitely won't try to drive there! We rented two cars in Israel and drove to the Galilee and back to Eilat. The worst part was trying to get out of Jerusalem as they have changed all the roads and Dad kept making u-turns and I hit a curb on the third u-turn and scratched a hubcap, but they didn't comment on it when we returned the cars to my great relief.

July 11, 2005

Dad finds out tonight at midnight about the Earhart fellowship and is debating a trip to Turkey this Wednesday to next Tuesday to do library research. I guess Elisabeth and I fly out Wed the 20th of July no matter what. It's so hard to know how to plan!

July 10, 2005

Just a quick note to let you know that we're home in Maadi, very dirty and glad to be here.

We got a taxi from Taba to Maadi - unfortunately it didn't have a/c and it was over a hundred F today so we had windows open and, six hours later are completely windblown, dusty and grateful to know we don't live here forever!

July 5, 2005

We've been in Jerusalem for five days or so and wish you could be here too. Elisabeth remembers a lot and all the kids enjoyed playing in Hedva Ben Israel's backyard again. Israel seems so peaceful after living in Cairo. It was so quiet when we crossed the border- no taxis honking, no yelling, just quiet - and cars stop for pedestrians.

We're off to Masada tomorrow and then the Galilee. We'll rent two cars so I have to drive with the fast traffic here.

It's a sad place with all the tensions though. Tourism is down and people are suffering.

June 28, 2005

We are off to Taba by bus in the morning. We plan to stay the night at a hostel in Eilat and go to Jerusalem the next day. We'll stay in Jerusalem for about 4 days, then up to the Galilee and back through Jordan. We should be back in Cairo by July 10. Then Dad hopes to go to Turkey for a week to get some manuscripts that he can't get without going in person and we fly to London July 20, assuming Dad has to return to Pella. It's a busy time!

Hedva Ben Israel [lady whose home we rented when we lived in Jerusalem in '93-'94]has invited us for supper on Friday night at her house. Dad also plans to meet up with Dan Gill and Dan will show him Warren's Shaft and the Hezekiah's Tunnel which Dad has written about but never got to see last time we were there.

June 16, 2005

We went to Saqqara, Memphis and Dashur yesterday. They have closed the two best tombs that we were able to get in last time we were here - the big serapeum where they had huge sarcophagi for mummified bulls and a beautiful tomb with colourful hieroglyphics and pictures.

There were lots of tombs around the main pyramids. We had to watch as some tombs were deep holes in the ground, really deep – we couldn’t see the bottom- designed to foil tomb-robbers. There weren’t always fences around them either.

In one tomb Terry met an Egyptologist, who commented that Robert knew what he was talking about in his description of a hieroglyphic. ;o) Nathan has decided that he will be a doctor when he is a teenager and then an "arkologist" when he is a dad.

Unas’s pyramid was collapsed but from a hill of sand next to it we could count 11 pyramids, from Giza to Dashur and Abu Sir. It must have been quite amazing when they were still whole, covered with limestone and gold-topped!

We got a police escort to Memphis and Dashur because Mustafa, our taxi driver, said we were Americans. (Three policemen in a car with siren and loudspeakers to make all traffic get out of our way. It was very embarrassing and made us think that it drew more attention and ire than just letting us carry on on our own. But Mustafa liked having all the traffic cleared for his driving and flew along merrily laughing. He said that cars to Faiyum get two police escorts each!) Americans are the only ones who get police escorts at Dashur, but all nationalities get police escorts to Faiyum. I guess they don't want to lose any tourists and suffer in the tourist industry!

There wasn’t much at Memphis, for all its being the capital of ancient Egypt for a thousand years, except a huge colossus of Ramses lying down in a museum that was impressive.

Dashur has the Bent Pyramid and the Red and Black Pyramids, but it is a military installation and has just recently been opened to the public. At Dashur we could go in the Red Pyramid. There were 125 steps up to the entrance, 140 steps down into the interior, our backs bent over all the way. (Our taxi driver and 3 policemen followed us in there too.) Nathan called it the Smelly Pyramid as it smelled like men had been urinating for 4500 years in there. It stunk of ammonia! It is the first true pyramid and it was great, but by the time we had walked back up 140 steps and down 125 steps our legs were like rubber! Today we are still all moving slowly with muscles complaining in our thighs and buttocks.

It really makes me worry about a proposed trip to St. Anthony's monastery in the Sinai. There are supposed to be 1158 steps up to his cave!!

Dad is seriously planning a trip to Turkey to get two manuscripts at Ankara. We are running short of time already! We haven't gotten to Alexandria yet and hope to spend at least ten days in Israel and Jordan.

June 9, 2005

We had a family over this evening who are leaving at 2 am for the USA. Nathan and Victoria are upset as they have children their ages, their only friends here. They have been wonderful to us, befriending us even though they knew we'd be here a short time. Chris, Elisabeth and Robert see almost all their friends leaving in the next few days too, so they are making the rounds of farewell parties.

June 5, 2005

Nathan prayed this morning for "Little Leah" that she would play with him when he got back to Pella, and then he paused and said, "I love girls." We all looked up in surprise and he said, "Well, I have to marry a girl you know."

June 4, 2005

Dad learned yesterday that he will hear July 11 at 4 pm whether he gets the Earhart Fellowship or not. He's hopeful! It would send us into a scramble to change flights before we are supposed to leave July 20. I guess it's just a reminder that we live with uncertainties all the time!

June 2, 2005

...Dad had to hand in a "report" yesterday to get his last paycheque here and when he handed it in he was told that in fact he needed two reports, one for the ARCE publication and a longer one for the Egyptian education department who approved his visa....so he had to scramble and get another 15 pages done in a hurry.

May 29, 2005

...As far as Israel goes, the government has decided not to force the settlers out until August, so July may be okay to visit. We'd like to go back to Petra in Jordan too. We'll take a few weeks to poke around. The De Youngs say we can leave our packed luggage in their empty apartment here while we are gone. Then we'll stay in a hotel when we get back to Cairo before flying to England July 20-26.

I am ready to go home; Dad is hoping his Earhart fellowship comes through. We are worried about how to afford 6 days in England!

They all had a wonderful time riding horses on Saturday. I don't know when I've heard Chris so animated! Nathan got his own horse and was very proud to have ridden - though sorry he had no cowboy hat to wear. Dad had a spirited horse and had a great time galloping over the sand and wants to go again.

Every week when we go to the orphanage it is improved. It's great to see! Last week someone had donated a ceiling fan and screens on the windows to keep flies out. They have built on an outside addition upstairs with a donated playhouse, swings and push toys for the toddlers.

May 28, 2005

Victoria and a friend, as well as Nathan, Laura, Robert and Chris are off with Dad to the pyramids to go horseback riding as a birthday party for Victoria this morning. Then we'll go to the orphanage this afternoon to play with babies. Elisabeth says they loved the toys you brought! She only brought some of them last time, so we'll bring the rest today.

May 19, 2005

It's getting hard to get computer time now that Terry is writing up his project. He was really worried last week as his new (one week old) hard drive on the new laptop was blacking out saying that it was overheating - and that had been the problem on the previous hard drive. He contacted Dell and after six hours of chat and getting cut off intermittently they said they'd send him a new motherboard, fan and heat sinc, but he'd have to put them in himself. In the meantime we bought a little fan to blow on the computer and it really helped keep it cool. On Tuesday he picked up the mail with three large boxes from Dell and we all helped perform the operation. It involved taking the computer completely apart and putting it back together again ....and it worked! The new fan is much quieter, so I guess that was the problem after all. Maybe Chris was inspired to become a computer tech?

Terry is really enjoying his writing and still hoping for another fellowship so he has time to finish the original proposed topic. (He was given funding for 6 months, but had applied for 12 months.)

Here the boat guy is again (too bad I can't remember his name) letting Nathan steer his boat (a different one than before--this one has a motor) as he ferried us across the Nile.

Who could forget...paying the police to tow the boat because there was no wind

Donkey Riding.

All of the Klevens in Aswan

Update

May 14, 2005

We finally had to run the air conditioner a bit today. It is 35 most days and when the air is still it gets hot. Chris and Elisabeth spent a day at the Red Sea, snorkelling and playing in the sea and having a great time with friends in the youth group. They have met many neat people from all over the world, from Sudanese refugees to Norwegians, Dutch, French, Belgian, British and they enjoy them.

Elisabeth took toys that Stephanie brought to the orphanage today and she said the babies loved them. She'd show one a toy that made a sound and they'd try hard to figure out how it was done. It was hot and the babies are on an upper floor so they were too hot to eat. Elisabeth said they just stretched out on the floor and tried to get cool from the linoleum. I wonder if we could donate a fan, but I fear that their homes don't have fans and so they wouldn't want them to get used to it and them go home and find home less pleasant than the orphanage. (The orphanage won't accept a washing machine as they don't want to live in a way superior to the people around them in the village.) Maybe they could spray the babies with spritzer bottles to cool them down? at least they were in shorts and t-shirts. Egyptians believe in being sure that their little ones are not cold, and the poor little things are wrapped in many blankets when taken outside, even when it is warm. At the leper colony a few days ago when it was almost as hot there was a new baby in a swinging cradle in the kitchen (extra hot room) under a mosquito net, wrapped in two heavy blankets!

May 11, 2005

The weather in Cairo is in the mid-30s most days, but there is often a breeze, it is not humid and the in the shade it is comfortable. Everyone tells us that it is an unusually cool spring! We don't run the air conditioner yet anyway.

Today I went to a leper colony near Cairo. A short little nun from Lebanon and her short little nun friends from Italy showed us around. The nun from Lebanon spoke only Arabic and French, so my rusty French got a work-out. Fortunately a lady from Acadian Nova Scotia is on the committee and went with us, and translated when we needed help!

A van from the leper colony met us at the metro stop and took us out, a 25 minutes drive. As we drove through numerous villages on dirt roads on our way there, the little nun commented on the number of leper families in each village that they care for. Seventeen in one, five in another, ...she cares for 270 orphans who aren't real orphans, but have leprous parents so need care from the nuns. Most of the lepers, if not all, were Muslim, but they loved their nun!

The colony itself had, she said, over 500 families, ninety in the hospital for active cases, if I understood correctly. We saw the men's area and the women's area but didn't get to the nursery and family area. She said when she first came, 25 years ago, she wrapped her legs in a big plastic bag and got down on her hands and knees to dig through the dirt to see if there was cement under the filth. She has cleaned the place up and loved the people up and is making a lot of difference in their lives. We saw people getting their sores washed and bandaged, many with deformities and missing limbs and fingers. I hadn't realised that leprosy affects their eyes. Sometimes their eyes just looked very odd. The people we saw were not contagious, but many choose to stay there as they aren't accepted in the broader community due to their deformities and they tend to have injuries requiring help due to their loss of sensation. One lady had only 1/4 inch stubs for fingers on both hands and no toes. She smiled broadly and got her knitting to show us! She is ten years older than me and has been there since she was 4 years old. She has a room of her own with cement walls and floor. There were flies everywhere - in the operating room and recovery room and kitchen as well as the dressing rooms and bedrooms. How hard to keep things clean!

The nun was full of ideas. She needs a new washing machine as they do so much daily laundry. (In the past the charity I went with has refused to pay for a new washing machine as they tend to "disappear" but they think they have a better director now.) She mentioned that the Spanish women buy them laundry soap, the Evangelicals buy them sheets, some Belgians provided money for lockers and mosquito nets for one women's ward. (There was a girl there, peeking from under the sheets who looked Victoria's age, a beautiful little girl!)

She also mentioned that money given with a designation always goes to the purpose specified, but that without specification goes to buy the nuns clothes. She pocketed a few bills handed to her for that purpose by one lady on the trip with us!

She showed us the stack of blankets and said that she hoped to have a blanket for everyone some year as it gets cold in the winter.

She suggested that if we had any old wedding dresses they'd be glad for them as they loan them to girls in the nearby villages and she had nine to circulate, but 3 are worn out from washing. (To our amazement the veiled women of Egypt marry in white western wedding dresses with plunging necklines and no veil!)

She has incredible patience in waiting for money to help those in need, and a great love for those people and they love her back.

We met a young German lady who has married a leper, converted to Islam I presume as she had the head covering on, lives at the colony and spends her days planting flowers and beautiful gardens in the compound.

We also met a girl, Mariam, an Egyptian who is a novice and wants to work with the lepers like Soeur Helene. She was always laughing and will be a great asset there!

Camel Riding in Luxor.
It was hard to get Nathan to sit still for this picture--he kept wanting to pet the camels and this was one of the few times that the other camel was close enough for him to touch.

The family at Abu Simbel 

The kids at the Temple of Philae (near Aswan)

Map of Egypt

Map of Egypt

My parents live in Cairo, and when I arrived, we took a 13 hour train down to Aswan. While in the south, we went to see Abu Simbel and Luxor before returning to Cairo. Our final trip was up to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

A map of the Nile

A fun picture map of the Nile (taken from here)

Egypt update

April 16, 2005

Earlier this week a suicide bomber in the Khan al Khalili souq killed himself and three others. Two were French tourists and one was an American young man who was on a mission trip here. His brother was also badly injured and almost died this week, but yesterday we heard that he was put on a military transport plane and airlifted to Germany to a trauma unit there. The church had been contacted and asked to pray for the American boy who was so badly injured that the doctors here gave him an hour to live. He had a high fever and was unstable, but he improved with prayer, and had more surgery, and was moved safely. I am glad that his mother didn't lose two sons that week.

Os Guinness has also been in Cairo and we got to hear him speak several times at the university and at church. He is very easy to listen to and a very inspiring person. He mentioned that his great great grandmother had prayed for the next 10-12 generations of their family, and in that family line not one soul has been lost. That is a challenge to me.

He also said that his great great great grandfather, who started the Guinness brewery in Ireland, was a great benefactor and supported many charities anonymously. The largest cathedral in Ireland needed some repairs, and knowing his nature and faith he was approached and asked if he would cover the repairs. He agreed but said he wanted it to be anonymous. As the repairs were being completed they begged him to allow them a small mention of his contribution, and after a lot of pushing he agreed if it were very, very small. When the church was reopened there was found to be a small plaque under a new stained glass window with something like the following notation :'When I was thirsty, you gave me drink." In gratitude to Arthur Guinness.' I guess it still makes people laugh as tour guides point it out as they go through the cathedral.

Robert, Victoria, Laura and I went to the orphanage this afternoon. There were 7 toddlers penned in a twin bed with side rails and nine babies. The toddlers had a sheet on their bed and one of them hid under the sheet and played peek-a-boo and they all laughed and then she led them in making "ba-ba-ba" sounds by bouncing their hands off their open mouths. (She got in trouble from the staff for being noisy.) One baby cried most of the time and seemed ill. The rest were quite content. They had no toys. Those who could sit, sat and watched us, smiling if smiled at, content if not noticed. Those who could crawl or walk did so. The babies lay and didn’t attempt to flit the flies away from their faces. The only toys they had were their own toes and their thumbs. I would like to get them some toys, but maybe they have no toys at home and they would make them discontent to go home? (They all have at least one parent at home and the nuns try to get them home at least once a week. Several are one of twins – the brother staying at home, the sister in the orphanage.) One little boy, Yusef, had a wonderful time trying to walk wearing the flip-flops ( Arabic -shebsheb) of one of the helpers. The children were dressed in almost uniforms today; usually they have a variety of clothes. The room has been improved lately with a carpet on the floor for them to crawl on and now the older toddlers have a table where they can feed themselves in another room. Laura and Victoria thought it was marvelous to have real, live dolls to give bottles to, and to try to get cereal into little mouths despite waving fists and thumbs that wanted to be sucked. To be given a baby and told to carry it around when you are 7 or 9 is quite a feeling of being grown up!

April 15, 2005

[Nathan's] tummy has outgrown some of his shorts and though clothes are inexpensive here, they aren't very good quality and we've had to throw some away after one wearing. (He just designed his own camel t-shirt and then we found it won't go over his head without a struggle. Sigh.)

April 10, 2005

Dad has a test today and then he is finished with Arabic lessons for the foreseeable future. He wants to concentrate on his translating.

March 29, 2005

We are taking Arabic classes again three mornings a week for two hours in hopes of making more sense of the language here. It was a bit frustrating yesterday as we had a new teacher and she taught the whole two hours using flash cards of words (pronouns) and yet we have only been taught two consonants so far, so we couldn't read them very well. (I could do better as I've worked through most of the alphabet on my own, but Chris was almost in tears with frustration.)

March 23, 2005

We went to Luxor where it was warm (hot in the Valleys of the Kings and Nobles!) and saw lots of things one sees in books. Chris and Rob rented bikes and went to the Valley of the Queens on their own. We went a bit crazy with people wanting baksheesh - it's terrible there compared with here! For example, when we went to the Valley of the Nobles we had to pay the government to get in (prices all were at least doubled in November), then we had to negotiate a price with a guy to show us where the tombs were located, for they're scattered amongst homes on the hill. Then the guards at each tomb wanted baksheesh too. We paid three times to see each tomb! The taxi driver who got us there wanted baksheesh on top of his fee......