Watery adventures

We are still here in the mountains, having a great time. I am not keeping with with anything online. We still don’t have an internet connection at our house. Right now I’m sitting outside the (closed) public library, using their wireless internet. Again.

Mr. Four is back at the house, and he’s probably tapping his foot waiting for me to get back since he’s stuck at the house without the car.

My mom was here last week, and we had a great time exploring some rivers and creeks. She left yesterday morning, and some of Mr. Four’s family arrived last night. Mr. Four’s brother is also an outdoorsy guy, so he brought a couple of canoes.

Mr. Four and I took the boys on their first (very mild) whitewater adventure last week: a canoe trip down a beautiful Class I-II river. They loved it until it rained. Then Bug freaked because he thought it would thunder and he’s scared of thunder. Giggle was fine until the rain turned chilly. We took off the river a little early, though Mr. Four and I were pretty much in hysterics at the absurdity of it all. “It’s not funny!” Giggle kept insisting.

We had even more fun yesterday when we went tubing on a creek in a national park near our house. Giggle had his own tube, tethered to Mr. Four’s, and Bug sat on my lap in our own big tube. I used my whitewater skills, honed from years of Class III, to get us unstuck from various rocks. The boys loved it. Bug narrated the whole trip–”Here come the waves!”–and Giggle proclaimed at the end of each run, “That was awesome!”

Mr. Four and I both agreed. It was about as much fun as I’ve ever had.

I have some work stuff to do over the next week, to get ready for some conference presentations, but I know Mr. Four, his family, and the boys will have a great time checking out more of the local waterways.

On another note: the boys just got their Christmas and birthday money from their grandfather, and we are thinking about buying them each a Leapster, especially for the flight home. Any suggestions, recommendations, etc. are welcome. Thanks!

Back in the USA

Phew. What a week it’s been. I am not going to write any more about the flights over as they are best left repressed deep within my brain.

Mr. Four arrived late last Friday night. Between our arrival and his, the boys and I did a lot. It was pretty crazy. We went shopping (Old Navy, Target, and Kohl’s, along with a dollar store and a funky local toy store), swam at the lake, swam at the pool, played baseball in the yard, hung out with my dad, celebrated my birthday, went to a great science museum, bought toys, attempted to eat out in restaurants, went to a movie, stocked up on College Town paraphenalia, chased fireflies, played with friends, visited with other friends, and ate pretzels and ice cream (though not at the same time).

Since Mr. Four’s arrival, we’ve done more of the same, but with a break here and there for me.

A couple of friends here have asked us how it feels to be back. The answer is that it feels totally normal to be back. Totally normal to be able to call my mom and dad and sister without advance planning or a check of the clock. Totally normal to walk on nice wide sidewalks. Totally normal to be able to buy soy products at the grocery store. Totally normal to have play dates with our old neighbors. Et cetera.

Of course what’s not normal is trying to cram a month’s worth of activities into a week’s time. Right now we’re in College Town, a charming area with lots of old friends and kid-friendly activities. In a few days, we head to the mountains, to a small cabin Mr. Four built there years ago. We have a lot of friends up there, including friends with kids, but we’ll be much more isolated. Mr. Four is envisioning canoeing on the lake with the boys. I hope we find enough to do. Giggle and Bug are both pretty interested in bugs these days, so maybe we can go bug hunting. Other ideas are also welcome!

What’s been most striking about our trip home is how much my kids had become city kids. Especially for the first few days, things that seemed utterly ordinary to me were quite remarkable to them. When we pulled into the driveway of the house where we’re staying, Giggle said the front yard, with a few trees, was like a forest. Every patch of trees became worthy of comment.

The next night they ran inside, terrified, screaming at me about some strange flashing lights which turned out to be fireflies (they got over this fear quickly).

They’ve loved seeing mailboxes and checking ours multiple times a day. Fire hydrants also earn a call out.

It’s been a bit rainy here, and Bug is particularly stressed by thunder. This was true last year when we lived in the US, but the absence of thunder from our lives has only increased his fear. I’ve never seen him so terrified. Any plane in the sky has him asking if it’s thunder. Suggestions for dealing with this particular fear are also welcome.

We’ll be mostly unplugged, I think, in the mountains. We have a TV there (our cabin is set up to be a vacation rental when we’re not in it), but no internet access except the public library. I’m looking forward to some long bike rides, now possible as Mr. Four was able to dig my road bike out of storage this morning, and lots of reading. Another big treat for me has been buying the Sunday New York Times, even though it took me all of last week to read it, and I still haven’t cracked this week’s.

I’ll post again before we head to the mountains. What are your questions about our time back in the States?

Dahab in photos

I uploaded a bunch of photos from Dahab to my Flickr photostream. Take a look if you like. I’ll be blogging many of them eventually.

Here’s one of my favorites.

Back in Cairo

We’re back from a fantastic vacation. I left off blogging right before our trip to St. Catherine’s Monastery, which was great. The church itself is awe-inspiring, really old and dramatic and lovely. And on a hot day, the mountains were a nice cool break from the beach. Though of course we dove into the pool about two minutes after getting back to our hotel.

I’ll blog more about our trip once I get the photos loaded (which will probably take forever, as always; it’s not the downloading but the organizing and uploading which kills me). But the rest of the week also included lots of snorkeling with some colorful fish along with some pool side adventures. The kids ended up playing with some new friends from the UK, Germany, and France (including the kids of someone prominent enough to have a Wikipedia entry, which of course I didn’t know but only suspected until I got home and googled him).

Today is Easter here in Egypt, for Coptic Christians. It’s also Easter for Ethiopian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Christians. So Happy Easter to you easterners.

Tomorrow, Monday, is Shem El Nessim, the Egyptian spring celebration. I’ll learn more about it and then pass along my wisdom to you. But it does mean I have tomorrow off, so I’ll go to the kennel and retrieve the pup, who, as the boys have been saying, has been on vacation with other dogs (okay, that’s what I told them). I hope he hasn’t been too traumatized by it all.

On Tuesday, Mr. Four starts his new job!

And since Thursday is the Egyptian Labor Day, I only have two days of work this week. Not bad for the first week back after a vacation.

We did get some sad news tonight: our old cat, the Jekyll/Hyde kitty, who has been living with my mom since last summer, died yesterday. By all accounts, she had become mostly a Hyde kitty and had left her biting, grouchy ways behind, and my mom, previously an avowed cat-disliker, really fell for her. My poor mom–over the past few years, she’s taken in three pets from my sister and me and overseen the death of two (who were old; my mom is not a pet serial killer).

A year ago Mr. Four and I had had five pets, three dogs and two cats. Both cats and one dog died from July to yesterday. They were all old and sick, but still.

The other two dogs are with other folks now (including one with my mom) and seemingly in good health for now.

We’ve also managed to lose a cat (and I don’t mean through death) here in Egypt. Maybe we’re bad news for animals.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I’ll even tell the boys about the Jekyll/Hyde kitty. Of course they both know her and remember her well. But Bug in particular has been extra attentive to death issues lately. When we went to St. Catherine’s, Giggle and Bug expressed an interest in playing with Moses (probably because I described him as an original super hero). We said they couldn’t play with Moses (or “Noses,” according to Bug), because he wasn’t there, he died a long time ago. So all day we heard “Noses died.” This is the same as happened after Iggy the cat died here in Egypt. And the same with after the Hound died last summer. Any advice on this one, folks?

Meantime, I have apparently resumed my night owl ways now that I’m back in Cairo. More soon, I promise. Now I need to go to bed and sleep off this vacation.

Sights of Dahab

Mr. Four saw some amazing fish on his two dives yesterday.

Meanwhile, the boys and I went to a beach where the only available umbrella was several rows back where I couldn’t even see the water. So we abandoned the beach and ventured out on a glass-bottomed boat. Seemed silly at first, but it was fantastic. The boys hunched over the edge of window for almost the entire trip, shouting “Fish! Fish!” at every fish they saw. Plus the captain, when we stopped for some folks to snorkel at a reef, even put on an underwater acrobatics show for us. His intended audience–pretty much my kids–ate it up.

Unfortunately, we did not see Nemo, who apparently is over-represented on many locally available t-shirts (a Disney exec would have a fit).

At the beach, we also saw some other interesting sights, notably an older Russian lady sporting a crocheted orange bikini.

Today we spent much of the day at the same beach, with a British family of three adults (including the nanny) and four nice kids. Bug and Giggle really enjoyed their new playmates. And Mr. Four and I enjoyed chatting with the parents.

Tomorrow we’re going to the monastery at St. Catherine’s, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments (perhaps you’ve heard of them). I’m not much into Biblical tourism, but even cynical me is excited for this trip. Plus our travel mates are a French family with two boys about the same age as Bug and Giggle. These trips are always best when families are with other families.

So Dahab is still fantastic, and I’m so glad we decided to stay in town rather than at some sterile resort. Tonight again we enjoyed dinner while lounging around on pillows at a restaurant perched at the edge of the beach. It’s lovely here.

Dahab

We’re in Dahab! As I write this, at 8:30pm, Mr. Four and the boys are konked out in our hotel room. During so-called naptime today, I was the only one who actually slept, so here I am, enjoying the the free internet while my family slumbers.

We arrived at 10am (after leaving our house at 5am… and eventually realizing that driving wouldn’t have taken much longer than flying). The hotel is perfect. Intended for divers, it also has a small pool (with water the children insist is near freezing), a kiddie wading pool with caves and waterfalls (!), and a playground. The hotel sports Nubian-inspired architecture: our two large beds are tucked under domed white ceilings. And, as Mr. Four observed, here we have the most bed space of any hotel we’ve patronized in Egypt; usually Giggle is on the spare cot and Bug is smushed in between Mr. Four and me.

Our room lacks a TV, which isn’t really a lack actually, and we’re enjoying ocean breezes as there’s no a/c. This place is way more than we expected, which was a compromise between backpacker’s rugged and resort $$. And did I mention we’re right on the sea, staring across the Gulf of Aqaba at Saudi Arabia?

So today we rested and swam and explored and decided that our first impression is that Dahab is the nicest tourist area we’ve visited in Egypt, since usually we’re stuck on some resort with one or two overpriced restaurants. Here we have an entire village of overpriced restaurants, along with stores overflowing with Bedouin crafts made in China. Actually, Dahab exudes charm. A pedestrian walkway (the corniche) lines the sea, and comfortable restaurants with over stuffed pillows and low tables evoke the Bedouin-meets-hippie atmosphere.

Dahab is certainly the most laid-back place we’ve been in Egypt. The dress code is European resort (well, except for the topless part), a refreshing change of pace from downtown Cairo, where exposed ankles can seem scandalous. Now I understand why some expats return here time and time again.

Tomorrow Mr. Four is diving, getting re-certified and then doing a check-out dive. The reefs here at the Sinai Peninsula were a major selling point for Mr. Four in the move-to-Egypt decision (before the job offer, I thought of Egypt as Pyramids and desert and other old stuff, but not a diver’s paradise), so it’s great he’s finally getting underwater.

And while I considered taking the boys on an adventure to the water parks of Sharm, which is a few hours south of us, instead tomorrow we’re going to stick around Dahab for a relaxed day of swimming and wading and reading and playing.

Some news, and off to Dahab

Mr. Four has a new job. He starts in a couple of weeks. This will mean big changes for all of us. He’ll be working part-time, but will have less time with the kids, unfortunately. We’re lucky to have a great housekeeper who will be doing more for us, especially nannying. I hope it won’t be too disruptive for the boys.

It also means we’ll have some extra money. We’ve been getting by fine on my salary, but another salary will be a huge help.

Mr. Four is really excited for this. He’s been quite happy to be home with the boys, but now he’s looking forward to an interesting job with interesting people.

And to celebrate his new job… we’re off to Dahab this weekend. Okay, we’ve been planning this trip for ages, but now it’s especially nice to have the time together as a family before Mr. Four begins his new job (just a few days after we get back to Cairo).

Dahab, on the Red Sea on the Sinai Peninsula, has the reputation of being a backpackers’ hang-out, though I think the true backpacker days are long gone. In any case, it’s supposed to have great character and great diving. Mr. Four is newly certified and these will be his first real dives. Plus I think we might be able to do some kiddie snorkeling for the boys. Maybe they’ll see Nemo.

I’m also hoping we can take a trip to St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mt. Sinai (yes, as in Moses) and take what’s here called a desert safari, which means hanging out with camels and Bedouin.

Mr. Four and I have traveled a bit over the past few years, but this is the longest real vacation we’ve taken since we went to the Everglades about four or five years ago (which was actually part work for Mr. Four so I guess that wasn’t even a real vacation either). And the first long vacation we’ve taken as a family.

Pupdate 2: Puppy in the Neighborhood

The puppy is still here and doing well. He’s growing fast, straight up, I think, as his legs appear longer and lankier every day. He could eat a horse (but mostly sticks to puppy food and rawhide). Most importantly, we’re seeing more of the puppy in him. Sometimes he runs around in crazy circles, and other times he likes to nibble on the edge of shoes, which, so far, is mostly cute because he can’t really do any damage yet.

He’s not a big tail wagger, and he’s still pretty mellow, so he’s more like puppy-lite.

Having the pup around has changed some of our patterns. Most days, after dinner, the boys and I take the puppy downstairs to the patches of lawn in front of our building. We tried walking him a couple of times, but he’s still too young to walk well on the leash, and the streets here are tough for leash training. So we’re content, for now, with the (so-called) garden.

Hanging out in the front of the building has meant that I’ve met more of my neighbors. And the boys have befriended a family from a few buildings down. The dad is a neighborhood bowab (a doorman/superintendent combo), and when they kids aren’t in school, they just hang out. So they like seeing my kids too.

They range in age from 3 to 12 years, four kids all together, all very friendly and very respectful. The boys particularly love O, who is 7, though originally I took him for 5 as he’s smaller than Giggle. Even without more than a few common words, they play great together.

We had the four kids all up to our apartment one night last week, and it was the easiest bunch of kids ever. Last weekend, we took three of the kids (O had disappeared with a friend into the neighborhood) and the kids’ mom to our neighborhood club with the pool. The mom, who does speak some English, said it was a huge treat because the kids usually don’t get to go anywhere.

The family is from Luxor in southern/Upper Egypt. They own two apartments down there, which are for the boys when they get married. The older daughter is 12, a very nice girl, and the mom said she’ll get married at age 14. Whoa.

So all this because of the pup. Unfortunately, Mr. Four still doesn’t want to keep him. I do (natch). Especially now that he’s getting stronger and healthier and we’re having more fun with him. But, we we’re looking for a new home for him since I’m not the one at home most of the time.

So that’s the latest on the pup.

The beach

We had a great weekend at the beach with our friends Cindy, Mike, and Maya. Courtesy of Mike, we also already have some great photos. He managed to download them and send them along while ours are still in the camera. And, he said I could blog with them. So, here you go.

It was hot in Cairo, but a bit cooler at the beach. The water in the pool, however, was really cold. So the kids spent as much time outside of the water as in it.

They had a great time with the cheapy plastic beach toys bought at the hotel gift shop.

The kids all really like each other, and, for the most part, get along really well, especially considering the age range of Maya (2 years old) to Giggle (5 years old).

Here are Maya and Bug with their buckets at the kiddie pool.

Giggle, as the oldest, was the trailblazer of cool. After he swam in the very cold water, he’d lay out in the sun on his blanket. Here’s Maya, chatting him up.

Giggle really got the hang of sun worshipping; note the lemon juice on his blanket.

And of course Bug and Maya followed suit.

In a few days, I’ll download our photos (which won’t be nearly as good) and share some more. I should clarify that, yes, indeed, I am showing Maya’s face in these photos when I don’t really share my kids’ own pretty faces. Mike and Cindy gave me explicit permission to do so. Which means you get to enjoy an actual human face. And a cute one at that.

Off to the beach

Bug came into the bedroom at 5 am this morning and announced, “We’re going to the beach today!” Then he said, “Can you get up?”

My response: “Talk to Daddy.”

In my defense, I had no idea it was 5 am. I just knew it was too early for me to get up. I have been sick, after all, and getting up once or twice a night to deal with a crying puppy. And, I do feel much better today.

Because he had so much time this morning, Mr. Four made strawberry-banana bread and banana bread for the trip. Yum.

The lesson from today is that it’s great not to rush out the door for a weekend trip. Usually we’d leave after work, having packed the night before. We packed last night and are leaving late morning (in about an hour as I write this), which I hope means the boys will sleep in the car and we’ll arrive at the hotel at check-in time, with a whole afternoon for the pool and sea. And reading. And breathing clean air.

Of course, we’ll also be following basketball. You can take the girl out of the states, but you can’t take the March Madness out of the girl. Or something like that.

Have a great weekend, dear readers.