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.)
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.)
posted by Steph at 12:13 AM
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