Experiencing Technical Internet Difficulties: Please Stand By

Nuts! Internet has changed here and it is nearly impossible to get connected. We have to have an international phone number in order to connect, and we only have one of those amongst the whole group... Brad's. So, we have very limited time on the internet because everyone needs to get on for a few minutes to connect with their families. Only one person can be logged into Brad's internet service account at a time. Below is blog I wrote last night though couldn't post due to internet issues. Enjoy! I'll try to get today and tomorrow posted sometime tomorrow.

Barry and I are sitting in our Lucy and Desi matching twin beds with nightstand between us, both working on our laptops and enjoying a few peanut M&M’s, courtesy of Barry. I missed the shopping stop at Carefore, the Egyptian Walmart, because we hadn’t made it back from Upper Egypt where we were roughing it while saving lives and stomping out hardship and suffering.

We awoke at the crack of 9:30 a.m. this morning and met our Egyptian friends for breakfast at 10:00 a.m. By the way, I don’t recall if I introduced you to them, but here is a picture, minus Sameh, who was off trying to work things out with the police, who still insisted that one of us was an Israeli. We stopped arguing with them on that point.

Pictured are Amal, Maged, Diana, and Ehab. They all work for our partner church in Cairo in the Missions division. E-hab is Missions Director, Brad’s main point of contact for the compassion work we are ramping up for in Upper Egypt. He has been a lot of fun to hang out with. He has learned how to give Brad a really hard time! We have that in common. He has also quickly learned to give me a hard time as well. At breakfast there was a pastry that looked a lot like a danish and I asked him, as we ask of many things, “what is this”? He replied dryly, “a danish.” Gave us all a good laugh.

Unfortunately the police couldn’t get it together and ultimately would not allow us to visit the second village were scheduled to tour today. We changed our itinerary slightly and they didn’t like that, so they told us to go home. On our way out of town, in a much nicer van owned by our partner church, we stopped by a place called the Conference Center, which is a large events facility with playfields and a hotel facility (envision an old Motel 6) where a Lake Pointe team will come back late September to host a festival for up to a couple thousand kids, many possibly from these remote villages. This will be part of the compassion mission back to the village we visited that Brad is gearing up for. Think that trip is being planned to last 8-9 days, including travel and a bit of sightseeing (pyramids, history museum, etc.).

We left Minya about Noon and drove back to Cairo in our van. It was a fairly rough ride. Highway isn’t great, lots of slowing down for donkeys and jerky passing maneuvers, and speed bumps. You probably didn’t know this, but in addition to the Pyramids, Egypt is also well known for its speed bumps. There are thousands of them all over, even on the highways. Seems they install a new speed bump every place there is a wreck because they think something there made it a dangerous spot. Also, some of the locals take it upon themselves to install speed bumps to slow down the traffic where they live, undoubtedly because their children of all ages are playing in the streets. Hon, that give you any good ideas for Shores Blvd.?

Made a quick roadside stop about halfway to use the restroom. Walked into the café, which was open air as are most things here, headed to the back, escorted by Diana, found a 9 year old boy greeting me at the WC (water closet, or toilet for you international novices). Went in and this is what I found. Nothing better than standing over a hole and taking care of business! I felt really sorry for the soles of my shoes. Here, I have a photo. Enjoy!

So we were getting close to Cairo and Sameh asks if we’d like to stop and eat lunch with them before we part ways… that the rest of the group had already eaten. “What are our options?” we asked. “Fuddruckers or Chili’s.” There is a God after all! We chose Fuddruckers because it was more convenient. And it was good. Bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Sprite on ice. Uh-huh.

We arrived at Carefore just in time to catch up with our group and enjoy an ice cream cone before the bus departed for camp. Bus ride was uneventful. We exchanged a few stories about our two days and their two days. One good one. Seems there is a sign in the restroom at the Hard Rock Café in Cairo that warns “No smoking or nuclear weapons allowed”. If I get a hold of that photo I’ll post it for your pleasure. Oh, we did come to a complete stop for about 30 minutes. There was a wreck. Here’s a photo of the traffic in front of the bus.

We arrived at camp, the rookies were impressed with the facilities on the way in, we unloaded the bus, checked into our rooms, went down to the dining hall for a quick dinner, then met with Kaska, Maged’s wife and camp administrator. She debriefed us on expectations, rules, and so forth… how we Christians can and cannot interact with the Muslim campers, who arrive around 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. Essentially, we can’t openly talk with campers about Christ. We can, however, answer any questions they may have. They all know the counselors and coaches at camp are Christian. Our role is model the values of Christianity through our actions and words. In other words, love on the kids, set a good example, and push them to excel in all activities, especially through the sport each of us is coaching.

“Good night, and good luck.” – Edward R. Murrow

Oh! One more quick story. Sorry Brennan, but I have to tell. Had some down time. I was sitting at breakfast between Diana and Brennan. Cute girl. She’s 23, a bit too old for Brennan, but figured we could learn something. I asked her, “So, Diana, if I was a young man in Egypt and I wanted to say something nice to a young lady that would catch her attention, what would I say?” Brennan hit me in the back of the head. Brad clarified, “are you asking for a good pick up line?” Guess that’s what I was asking. After laughing and blushing for a good three minutes, Diana replied with “Ya Moza”. That’s phonetic. “You are very beautiful” is the translation. Brennan couldn’t regain his composure. Very fun watching Brennan blushing. Here is a picture of him with Diana at Fuddruckers. Love ya, Brennan!