CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S
These were wonderful holidays and I had many opportunities to celebrate. We had the church Christmas party in the home of the same family who hosted it last year. Once again, we had delicious goodies and sung Christmas carols. And once again, everyone wanted to sing every song in the book relating to snow. Too funny!
My class of youth and I led the service on December 23, and we sang all our favorite Christmas carols. On December 24, I went to a Christmas Eve dinner at a friend's house where we had a gift exchange. Then I went to the midnight service at St. Mark's, the French Catholic church. It was a beautiful service, with a gigantic choir (supported by a full orchestra) singing carols from the balcony. The whole service (including the carols) was in French, but the magic of Christmas needs no translation. I was there with my friends from Sweden, Uganda, Germany, and the Philippines, and not a one of us spoke French. But all of us left feeling very much in the Christmas spirit!
On Christmas Day, I went to lunch at another friend's house--the same place where I had Thanksgiving dinner! Then I went to a get-together at a German couple's house in the evening. That was truly an international event, with many different cultures represented. I played Christmas carols on the keyboard, while my Filipino friend played with me on the guitar.
On New Year's Eve, the same German couple (they are from my church) organized a get-together for all the singles in the church. We went out to eat and then back to their house for games and the count-down. Again, this was an international event, and I got to hear about New Year's traditions in many different countries. When the clock struck midnight, we went out in their yard and lit some sparklers. We heard lots of firecrackers and other noises going on in the streets around us, and the German couple asked us if we had heard about the Alexandrian New Year's tradition. When we said no, they informed us that Alexandrians throw down glass bottles from their balconies and windows into the street. They don't know why, but that's what they do. (Fortunately, I have long since broken myself of the habit of asking "why" when it comes to Egypt.) As a result, many taxis don't run after midnight for fear of their tires getting torn up. The street sweepers work all through the night to push the glass to the side before the next morning's traffic starts up. Thankfully, the German man gave us all rides home, so we didn't have to worry about not finding a taxi.
When I got home, I started to wonder why I didn't hear about the glass bottle thing last New Year's Eve. And then I remembered: last New Year's Eve I was in a Cairo hotel room waiting on my ride to the airport, where I caught a plane to Turkey in the wee hours of New Year's Day. Hard to believe that was a whole year ago!
The tree at St. Mark's Inside the sanctuary at St. Mark's My little tree with its 6 ornaments =)
Click on the two pictures on the left to hear some of the music from St. Mark's!
THE BIG EID
Every year, there is a big Islamic festival (eid in Arabic) to commemorate Abraham's sacrifice of his son. This festival mainly consists of slaughtering sheep and goats and then eating them. Last year, I missed all the killings because I traveled to Cairo. Well, wouldn't you know that I again traveled to Cairo on the day of the slaughter? Last year, I didn't see any blood, but this year, I saw some puddles of blood in the Cairo streets. Also, some friends of mine took pictures of the slaughtering if any of you are interested. Click on the Cairo sunrise if you want to see the pics. WARNING: These are graphic. If you don't like seeing animals killed, or seeing blood in general, don't click on the link!
THE FAMILY TRIP
Well, the joyous day finally came when my family arrived! They got here in the early morning hours of January 16. I was so excited to see them after so long! We had many adventures while they were here, and eventually I will recount them all. But for now, I'll just do Part One.
Now, follow me here. I have two parents, two younger sisters, and a younger brother. They ALL came out to see me on January 16. However, my sisters were only able to stay one week, since they both had to get back to work. My parents were able to stay a whole month, since my mom doesn't work and my dad has his own company. And my brother is still here! He's going to stay for three months--he just took the semester off from college!
So, since the first week was the only week when they were ALL here, we tried to cram as much into that week as we could. We went to Cairo, Alexandria, and Bahariyya. In Cairo we went to the Pyramids & Sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, and the Khan-el-Khalili. It was interesting trying to help 5 different people shop and bargain in the Khan. I got offered another job before the night was over! We were also able to visit with an Egyptian family in Cairo, and they served us an Egyptian feast. Seriously, they just kept bringing out more and more food! Then when we were stuffed full, they brought out dessert. And not just one dessert, but three! And then they gave us a box of cookies to take back to the hotel with us. Whew! Also in Cairo, my brother and I spent a lot of time in the Mogamma, getting our visas taken care of.
