FBC Missions

Don’t have much to report. Had a relatively quiet Sunday with a team meeting, delicious lunch of stuffed peppers, and a late night trip to the mall. The mall stays open later here due to the heat and subsequent schedule shift. I know what you’re all thinking, but the mall really is a cultural experience.

People smoke, the mannequins are fully clothed from head to toe, and there are whole shops devoted to head scarves. I am tempted to buy one because there are so many beautiful ones, embroidered or dolled up with sequins but the selection is so massive there is no way I could ever choose.

I also finally purchased a SIM card, so I am now mobile once again. It felt different not to have a cell phone latched to my side at all times, but I must say I am happy to be reachable again. Also Skype shows great promise, so for all of you stuck in the Stone Age, go out and download it. It’s free and cheap.

Tomorrow we are going to the Sudanese hadana again, this time to focus on the letter C. And it’s supposed to be 105 degrees! So wish me luck.

Safe travel to the Russia team this week.

I think I am finally over whatever was ailing my stomach the past couple of days. Thank goodness for that. I was starting to feel like a weakling, not really able to fully participate in anything.

Today the girls and I woke early to catch the metro down to Helwan where they had a review session with their Arabic teacher. Helwan is a very different area of Cairo from Maadi. Maadi seems quiet, even suburban in comparison. Helwan is a poorer area, complete with crowds, shoeshiners lining the sidewalk, and the sounds of ongoing construction. It was very hot and quite the journey to the home of Marta, Rocio and Mary Carmen’s Arabic teacher, who also happens to speak Spanish. This made me resolve to speak more English with the girls as it is clear that they speak way too much Spanish with each other, their friends, and even their teacher as they learn another language.

Anyway I spent the morning reading and catching up in my journal while the girls went over their Level One material. They have a test coming up to see if they are ready to move on to Level Two. The class lasted about two hours and soon we were on our way back to Maadi. Today was my turn to cook lunch so we stopped at a grocery store and purchased some pasta, olives, and cheese, among other things. Once home I set about cooking grilled cheese sandwiches and pasta salad. It wasn’t half bad, but I sure am glad I only have to cook twice a week. After, I was tired so I laid down and took a lengthy nap. I’m not sure how hot it was today but it was hot enough that I took a shower around 8 this evening, which was cool and refreshing.

I have spent the rest of the evening preparing some material for my classes and helping Rocio with the program for the Sudanese hadana. We also listened to the Argentina-Mexico game on online radio and I’m pretty sure Mexico lost 2-1. Sorry Mary Carmen. Anyway, that’s about all I have to report.

I haven’t been up to posting the last couple of days. I don’t know what it is about international travel, you think you’re invincible or something. I managed to travel to Senegal, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, to name a few, and not get sick once. But here in Egypt I caught something that didn’t agree with me. Whether it was the water or a touch of food poisoning, my body has been fighting off something unfamiliar for the past couple of days. I am starting to feel better but it takes little to fatigue me and I have been catching up on rest and hydration.

Needless to say I haven’t done a whole lot. Spent most of the day in bed after my late Wednesday night. Spent Thursday evening playing games with the kids and resting. This morning I went to Maadi Community Church for the 9:30 service. Although I was concentrating on not being sick, I enjoyed the music and the international meeting of cultures. It is a very welcoming atmosphere, I think, largely because they are used to people coming and going a great deal.

After church we stopped to get some water. We didn’t have any water this morning, as I discovered when I tried to take a shower. As we got home, I thought I was going to be sick. I have a fairly good early warning system, but luckily it was a false alarm as the water still hadn’t been turned back on when we got home. I promptly went to bed and then spent the majority of the afternoon sleeping.

Upon awakening I got ready to meet with my future students. Today we had a preliminary meeting to discuss materials and times to meet. I will have four students, but only three were able to come today. It is a little strange since they are roughly my age, but I am excited about the opportunity. They are very eager to improve their English and the possibilities are endless. We are going to meet Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays in the early evening. So that will be another way to minister as well as occupy my time as I imagine my Type-A ways will take over as I overprepare for class.

Anyway, just thought I’d let you know I’m still alive. Barely (only joking). Tomorrow is my day to cook and we are cleaning the house. Yay.

I have now been here a couple of days and already I have experienced so much. I haven’t managed to do the typical tourist things yet but I have had amazing interactions with people so far.

Today was much hotter than it has been for me. In fact it is almost 1:30 in the morning and it feels hotter than it did earlier in the day. But I am surviving, drinking a lot of water, wearing natural fabrics, etc.

This morning we got up early to go to the Sudanese preschool. It’s about a 45 minute drive away from the house. The preschool is as expected, full of cute kids and hampered by poverty and limited resources. We split up into two classes with Sergio and Mary Carmen with the older kids and Rocio and I with the little ones. They continued to learn the letter B today with butterfly sheets to color, clay to play with, and generally a good time was had by all. Structure leaves a little to be desired with 2-3 year olds but it was a neat opportunity to see a program just being developed and a relationship in its beginning stages with these people. We left around 11:30 and returned home. After a short meeting about how to prepare for next week we broke up and somehow I ended up with KP. I am not really used to cooking for anyone other than myself so that was an experiment. The rest of the afternoon flew by and soon Mary Carmen, Rocio, and myself were off to meet one of their friends to celebrate their birthday.

It was my first time on the metro, so that was exciting. We rode in the all women car downtown and met up with Mary at the evangelical church right off the main city square. We then drove to El Zemalek, an island in the middle of the Nile, and one of the three more affluent neighborhoods in Cairo. I don’t know what I had expected, I even almost didn’t come being rather tired when it was time to leave. But I am glad I did. We had dinner at a membership-only country club, complete with croquet courts and swimming pools. I had typical Egyptian food and sipped cool lemonade all evening. So now you know how I’m suffering for the Lord. Anyway, we had dinner with Mary and her two biological sons, one of their friends, and one of her “adopted” sons, who is also Bolivian and has been based here in Egypt for the last six years. It was very nice to relax and soak up a little of the Egyptian leisure life. It reminded me a bit of the Spanish lifestyle. Sergio also joined us. After we were finished it was already after nine in the evening and they invited us over to their house to watch the World Cup match between Holland and Argentina. Of course, we accepted and sped towards Heliopolis, another nice neighborhood in Cairo. En route, Mary pointed out a lot of Cairo’s sights and charms as the city bustled with crowds out enjoying summer vacation. The Nile glistened and the city lights twinkled and I felt as though the city had officially welcomed me at last.

When we arrived it turned out to be a surprise birthday party for Mary with quite a few of her friends from her church. She has a very nice apartment, well planned for entertaining, complete with a sprawling granite countertop and comfortable sofas for chatting and watching soccer. It was a good time of fellowship and stuffing our faces with filo dough filled with cheese, grape leaves, and cake. It was amazing to be only a couple days into this journey and to already have experienced the warmth of an Egyptian Christian home.

But now I better get to bed if I have any hope of being coherent and able to soak up new experiences tomorrow!

Well, I am settling in and I must admit, I feel more at peace than I expected to feel at this stage. Today was a pretty relaxing day and I am starting to realize that will probably set the tone for the trip.

Being here longer than a few weeks gives me a chance to soak up more of the culture and settle into a kind of lifestyle rather than a whirlwind schedule packed with events to attend and projects to get accomplished. That said, there is a great deal that I want to get done here. I am signed up for a conversational Arabic class which will meet for three days a week for two hours each day. I am considering taking a writing class too, as long as they don’t conflict. I will also be teaching advanced English to four Egyptian men. I am not sure how often or exactly what the material covered will be but apparently they are eager to learn so that presents an exciting opportunity. Tomorrow we will go to the Sudanese hadana and teach the children more of the English alphabet. I am not sure how much I will be able to participate in that when classes begin but I am excited to see the children as much as I can.

Today, Mary Carmen and Rocio let me sleep in. When I awoke we had a simple breakfast and then they worked on their Arabic homework while I showered and did some reading. I have decided to read Ephesians for awhile. Mary came down and we talked for a little bit then we took a walk through Maadi. The neighborhood is quite lively. We went to a stationary shop to make some copies for the hadana tomorrow. Then we had ice cream, mango and strawberry that made me think of gelato. It was delicious. I haven’t quite decided if it was really hot today or just hot, but in any case the ice cream was most appreciated. We made our way back slowly, in no real hurry, window shopping and chatting. One of the unexpected rewards of this trip I think is the ability to get to know my roommates.

Mary Carmen and Rocio are working on both English and Arabic but of course Spanish is their first language. I have been looking for a way to keep my Spanish in practice so it is a good exchange. Communication is easy and we laugh a lot. Also I hope to help them refine their English, it is nice because they can ask me in Spanish what the word is in English. Since we will be spending the next few weeks together hopefully we can make some real progress.

Arriving back home I went upstairs to have a conversation with Gene and Brenda. It is a comfort to have such welcoming hosts who are so glad to have a visitor. They are encouraging me to soak up as much local culture as I can and I hope to serve them well by learning and helping as much as possible. Their kids are a joy too, and we have been playing games until their bedtime. So so far, things have been going great and I have been enjoying adjusting to a new routine and lifestyle.