Look back in the distance, right in the middle of the picture. There is our Pyramid view!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Wednesday, November 23
Well, I think everyone has heard the news, everyone I could contact anyway. If not, we're expecting - June 23. It's been a really interesting month or so, adjusting to the pregnancy. Things are going really well, though.
We told the kids at school a couple of days ago, and they are so excited. Today, they threw a big surprise party for my birthday. It was really very sweet. They got me pretty good. I never would have expected such a big event. They really know how to throw a party. A video, my favorite cake from a special shop, a huge card, and a gift certificate for a day at a hotel fitness center/spa and hour long massages for Joe and I! That was just the 12th-graders. The 11th graders surprised me with a picture frame, huge teddy bear, and an over-sized baby bottle filled with bottles, a rattle, hair brush, etc. It really hit home that this is for real. Really though, it has been a very rewarding experience with this group of students.
Joe and I don't have huge plans for Thanksgiving. We'd love to be at home. We're content that we are getting to have Thanksgiving dinner with the other teachers tomorrow. A couple at school is paying for a turkey, stuffing, all the fixings. Joe and I are bringing mashed potatoes, stuffing (like Mom makes..mmm...), and pumpkin pie. I can't wait. My younger students who I taught last year are going with me to the movies and lunch for my birthday. It should be a full day. We'll go for our massages Friday and recover from all the fun Saturday.
I have to include a couple of pictures. The first is of a notebook one of the senior boys had. They all carry around Winnie the Pooh, Disney, Barbie notebooks. It's so funny. I noticed his right away, though. Instead of Winnie the Pooh, it was "Poop." I laughed forever about that. The other pictures are of the view from our new balcony. Joe really wants you to notice that one of the Pyramids is visible from our balcony. We never would have imagined that.
We hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving. Eat lots of yummy food and enjoy the people around you. We miss everyone.
We told the kids at school a couple of days ago, and they are so excited. Today, they threw a big surprise party for my birthday. It was really very sweet. They got me pretty good. I never would have expected such a big event. They really know how to throw a party. A video, my favorite cake from a special shop, a huge card, and a gift certificate for a day at a hotel fitness center/spa and hour long massages for Joe and I! That was just the 12th-graders. The 11th graders surprised me with a picture frame, huge teddy bear, and an over-sized baby bottle filled with bottles, a rattle, hair brush, etc. It really hit home that this is for real. Really though, it has been a very rewarding experience with this group of students.
Joe and I don't have huge plans for Thanksgiving. We'd love to be at home. We're content that we are getting to have Thanksgiving dinner with the other teachers tomorrow. A couple at school is paying for a turkey, stuffing, all the fixings. Joe and I are bringing mashed potatoes, stuffing (like Mom makes..mmm...), and pumpkin pie. I can't wait. My younger students who I taught last year are going with me to the movies and lunch for my birthday. It should be a full day. We'll go for our massages Friday and recover from all the fun Saturday.
I have to include a couple of pictures. The first is of a notebook one of the senior boys had. They all carry around Winnie the Pooh, Disney, Barbie notebooks. It's so funny. I noticed his right away, though. Instead of Winnie the Pooh, it was "Poop." I laughed forever about that. The other pictures are of the view from our new balcony. Joe really wants you to notice that one of the Pyramids is visible from our balcony. We never would have imagined that.
We hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving. Eat lots of yummy food and enjoy the people around you. We miss everyone.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Saturday, November 11
We have had quite the week. The highlight of our year was our friend Mariam's wedding. She worked at our school last year, and she got married this week to a Saudi Arabian. She's actually, I think, half British, half Saudi herself. Let's just say it was over the top, and I have to describe it all here.
It all began with her invitations which were calligraphied on papyrus and hand delivered because they came in a tube. She even had a website created solely for her wedding. Every night this week there has been a different party. My friend, Betsy, and I went to the henna party on Wednesday night. Henna is like a temporary tatoo which Indian and Arabic women often have painted on them before their wedding. It was really a fun and interesting event. It was held in her Saudi Arabian aunt's apartment which was really big and nice. It was decked out Egyptian style with lots of gold, but also a lot of red velvet, one of the nicer apartments I've seen. They actually had a band in the apartment. It was kind of a Nubian band with Arabic drums, saxophone, and a cool singer. They hired dancers to entertain and dance with Mariam.
The whole evening was just entertainment. Mariam kept coming in and out in different outfits. First, she came out covered and when they took off the veil, she had gold jewelry - the kind that covers your head and a piece that attached to her nose. Really cool. She danced for a long time while the group of women circled around and clapped and danced. She left for a while. Then she came back dressed in a bedouin outfit. She danced more, came back in a different outfit, left, came back in a different outfit. You get the picture. It was entertaining really, and the dancers kept the party going. Then, the henna woman came out to do designs on all the women who wanted it. Betsy got a great design on her hand, so I thought, okay, I'll try that. Unfortunately, the woman immediately drew hearts and a bow on my hand! Now, I have what looks like a five-year-old's drawing in permenant marker on my hand. My bad luck! The party was still going when we left around midnight.
The best, though, was the actual wedding last night. I don't know how much it cost, but like I said, it was over the top. I've never seen anything like it, and I don't think I ever will again. Joe thinks easily that the wedding was $100,000 or more, probably more. We can't even fathom it. The ring she has easily was $100,000. It was the biggest I've ever seen. A monsterous diamond and a diamond band to go next to it. Think, Paris Hiltonesque.
Where do I begin with the wedding? We arrived at 8:30 because the invitation said it started at 8:30. Have we not been in Egypt long enough to know better? We walked up the candlelit red carpet, to the garden area. We were the second people there. We sat in the shadow of the Pyramids in Arabic chairs, at Arabic tables with candles glowing around us. There was music and the waiters kept bringing around dates, cavier, smoked nuts, etc.
There was actually an agenda for the night. Needless to say, things got a little behind. Mariam and Khaled were supposed to arrive at 10:30. They were fashionably late sometime after 11:30 or 12:00. At this point, dinner seemed very far away. The crazy thing was that the program went until 2:45 when the D.J. started playing! They were making drinks from the open bar at least with four or five shots of whiskey or hard liquor in one glass.
When Mariam and Khaled arrived it was pretty cool. They are actually already married from the religious ceremony earlier in the week, so this was all a party. The bride and groom enter and are lead in a procession with an Arabic type band into the ballroom. We followed them in, where Mariam and Khaled sat at the front and all their decked-out relatives and friends (imagine black tie) came up to kiss and congratulate them. The first entertainer, a singer, came out and the men danced in the front with their Arabic canes. The women danced and then the bride and groom went off somewhere.
This all took place in a beautiful hotel called the Mena House. It's right next to the Pyramids. Famous people from history always stayed there, such as Winston Churchill, etc. It is really cool with Arabic decorated rooms, so, so fancy. It has to be at least four-hundred dollars a night.
During the ceremony there was a professional camera crew with at least three cameras. They had a camera on a crane. On a crane! After the entertainer, we were led to the next ballroom where we had a buffet, including sushi! It was dynamite. During the dinner there was a folkloric show with dancers, a lady dancing with a candelabra on her head, a fake horse (which happened to kiss Joe while he was at the bar), whirling dervishes, men dancing, etc.
Believe it or not, we were then led back to the first ballroom where the bellydancer was entertaining. They had a chocolate fountain (delish!) and the party was going on and on. By this time it was about 2:30 and we were beginning to lose steam. The cake show, that's right, I said show, hadn't even started yet.
We were amazed. I can't believe we were so lucky as to be invited. Let's just say, the Saudis have a little bit o' money. We were very different from the other guests with their plastic surgery and expensive ball gowns. It was such good people watching. We met a guy there who was just bumming around the world for a while before getting a masters. So, interesting.
I don't know if you find this all as interesting, but we have never been so entertained by a wedding. We will never see anything like it again. I am sure. This is one of those times when I appreciate being overseas and having such an opportunity to experience something so different. The pictures we took won't do it justice.
It all began with her invitations which were calligraphied on papyrus and hand delivered because they came in a tube. She even had a website created solely for her wedding. Every night this week there has been a different party. My friend, Betsy, and I went to the henna party on Wednesday night. Henna is like a temporary tatoo which Indian and Arabic women often have painted on them before their wedding. It was really a fun and interesting event. It was held in her Saudi Arabian aunt's apartment which was really big and nice. It was decked out Egyptian style with lots of gold, but also a lot of red velvet, one of the nicer apartments I've seen. They actually had a band in the apartment. It was kind of a Nubian band with Arabic drums, saxophone, and a cool singer. They hired dancers to entertain and dance with Mariam.
The whole evening was just entertainment. Mariam kept coming in and out in different outfits. First, she came out covered and when they took off the veil, she had gold jewelry - the kind that covers your head and a piece that attached to her nose. Really cool. She danced for a long time while the group of women circled around and clapped and danced. She left for a while. Then she came back dressed in a bedouin outfit. She danced more, came back in a different outfit, left, came back in a different outfit. You get the picture. It was entertaining really, and the dancers kept the party going. Then, the henna woman came out to do designs on all the women who wanted it. Betsy got a great design on her hand, so I thought, okay, I'll try that. Unfortunately, the woman immediately drew hearts and a bow on my hand! Now, I have what looks like a five-year-old's drawing in permenant marker on my hand. My bad luck! The party was still going when we left around midnight.
The best, though, was the actual wedding last night. I don't know how much it cost, but like I said, it was over the top. I've never seen anything like it, and I don't think I ever will again. Joe thinks easily that the wedding was $100,000 or more, probably more. We can't even fathom it. The ring she has easily was $100,000. It was the biggest I've ever seen. A monsterous diamond and a diamond band to go next to it. Think, Paris Hiltonesque.
Where do I begin with the wedding? We arrived at 8:30 because the invitation said it started at 8:30. Have we not been in Egypt long enough to know better? We walked up the candlelit red carpet, to the garden area. We were the second people there. We sat in the shadow of the Pyramids in Arabic chairs, at Arabic tables with candles glowing around us. There was music and the waiters kept bringing around dates, cavier, smoked nuts, etc.
There was actually an agenda for the night. Needless to say, things got a little behind. Mariam and Khaled were supposed to arrive at 10:30. They were fashionably late sometime after 11:30 or 12:00. At this point, dinner seemed very far away. The crazy thing was that the program went until 2:45 when the D.J. started playing! They were making drinks from the open bar at least with four or five shots of whiskey or hard liquor in one glass.
When Mariam and Khaled arrived it was pretty cool. They are actually already married from the religious ceremony earlier in the week, so this was all a party. The bride and groom enter and are lead in a procession with an Arabic type band into the ballroom. We followed them in, where Mariam and Khaled sat at the front and all their decked-out relatives and friends (imagine black tie) came up to kiss and congratulate them. The first entertainer, a singer, came out and the men danced in the front with their Arabic canes. The women danced and then the bride and groom went off somewhere.
This all took place in a beautiful hotel called the Mena House. It's right next to the Pyramids. Famous people from history always stayed there, such as Winston Churchill, etc. It is really cool with Arabic decorated rooms, so, so fancy. It has to be at least four-hundred dollars a night.
During the ceremony there was a professional camera crew with at least three cameras. They had a camera on a crane. On a crane! After the entertainer, we were led to the next ballroom where we had a buffet, including sushi! It was dynamite. During the dinner there was a folkloric show with dancers, a lady dancing with a candelabra on her head, a fake horse (which happened to kiss Joe while he was at the bar), whirling dervishes, men dancing, etc.
Believe it or not, we were then led back to the first ballroom where the bellydancer was entertaining. They had a chocolate fountain (delish!) and the party was going on and on. By this time it was about 2:30 and we were beginning to lose steam. The cake show, that's right, I said show, hadn't even started yet.
We were amazed. I can't believe we were so lucky as to be invited. Let's just say, the Saudis have a little bit o' money. We were very different from the other guests with their plastic surgery and expensive ball gowns. It was such good people watching. We met a guy there who was just bumming around the world for a while before getting a masters. So, interesting.
I don't know if you find this all as interesting, but we have never been so entertained by a wedding. We will never see anything like it again. I am sure. This is one of those times when I appreciate being overseas and having such an opportunity to experience something so different. The pictures we took won't do it justice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
