Thursday, July 9, 2009

Summer Trip in California

We arrived in California and had cold weather. The temperatures are regularly about 95 degrees and it never got above 75 degrees the entire time we were in California. Emily lives in Palmdale, CA, which is about an hour north of Los Angeles. We had a fun time playing with the kids. Jonah worked hard helping Mike build a shed. Mike got a sunburn, but I won't put that picture in here.

Bekah and Kort

Lindsey swinging

Kort riding his bike

We went to the LA Dodgers vs San Diego Padres game while we were there. The Dodgers won 6-3. It was a good game.

Go Dodgers!

Melody is a happy baby!

We went to the beach and had a nice time. The weather was kind of cold and the water was freezing, but that didn't stop the boys.






We went and spent a few days in Disneyland and California Adventure Park and had a great time!

Speedster Nick!


Pirates of the Caribbean

Obama in Egypt and the End of the School Year at CAC

Obama in Egypt!

Cairo American College Graduation at the Pyramids.

Bekah and Nick wait for Obama

Us and our neighbors waiting for Obama.
Barrack Obama came to Egypt and had a very successful and well-received speech. He also had a special meeting for embassy family members at the Pyramids. Bekah was about three feet away and Todd and I were about 15 feet away. He was very personable and down to earth. What a cool experience.
One of my students is an amazing artist and I wanted to share this cute picture my class gave me on the last day of school.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Church trip to Jordan



Goodbye night

Inside the church

The Jordan River


The Baptismal site



Isn't Jerash beautiful>

The Girls in our group!


This is all the first day and this day we met new people and went to Jerash.


Saturday, May 16, 2009

Michele Goes to Athens, Greece

Last week, May 7-10, I had the chance to attend a teacher’s conference in Athens, Greece. What an amazing experience. There were six teachers from my school, Cairo American College, who attended the conference. We had a great time shopping, sightseeing, eating and attending the conference. It was fun having European and American brands to choose from for shopping. I bought Greek olives and olive oil, chocolate croissants, baklava, and feta to bring home for our family to enjoy. Everyone got some new clothes. I got some great new shoes and a cute purse.
During our sightseeing, we went to an Islamic museum, which was very nice. I enjoyed seeing the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier, Parthenon and the Acropolis. One highlight for me, was on Sunday morning I was walking and heard beautiful singing. There was a 12th century Byzantine church right across from our hotel. I went inside and they were having a service. It was entirely chanting. It sounded like Gregorian chanting, except that is done by the Catholic church, so I’m not sure what it is called with the Greek Orthodox church. I had to pinch myself, it felt like a dream.



This is a view from the roof of our hotel.

We ate at the Plaka every night. That is the area of town that is right below the Parthenon and is filled with restaurants and cafés with people walking around. It is a great ambiance. I enjoyed the calamari (octopus), tzatziki (yogurt sauce) with fresh pita, souvlaki and gyro, feta, and grilled cheese, baked eggplant and stuffed grape leaves.



Our teacher’s conference took place at the American Community School of Athens. It was a nice school. The conference was on differentiation. I got some great ideas that I started implementing with my students this week.

What a great experience.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Update and Desert Camping

Basketball season came to an end. Nick’s team, The Mavericks came in first for the regular season and won their tournament. They were undefeated for the year. Nick was the leading scorer and rebounder for his team. Jonah’s team, The Heat, took second place, after losing in overtime by two points. Jonah led his team in scoring, assists and steals. Baseball is starting this week. Jonah and Nick are playing on two different Yankees teams to Todd’s excitement.





Here are some events that have been happening with Bekah. She has been teaching swimming every Sat. morning to little kids. Bekah and her Young Women’s class made about 20 blankets and delivered them to a children’s cardiac hospital here in Cairo. The high school here has a week of school called “Week Without Walls”. During this week, Bekah spent her days helping refugee children in a Sudanese school. She was very proud of her bench that she made from scratch. She built the bench and then painted several benches and took the benches to the school. She raised money and gathered supplies to donate to the school. They also organized an activity day for the students to come and play. Bekah helped the kindergarten kids make beaded bracelets. Since Todd also works with the refugees, it was great for her to be exposed to a little bit of what Todd works with. This Sudanese school is the top refugee school in Cairo, but Bekah was surprised how dirty and ill-equipped it was. There were only two desks for the entire kindergarten.



Bahariya Oasis, White Desert, Black Desert


Last weekend our family went with the Eastin Family to the Bahariya Oasis, the White Desert and the Black Desert. It was about a 4-5 hour drive from Cairo. A German man named Peter ran our hotel. It was built around a natural hot mineral springs. At first the kids all just thought it was dirty, but after getting in they loved it. The water came out at about 110 degree, so we had to let it cool down a few hours, but you can see that it was still very warm from Jonah’s red skin.





The next morning we took off 4-wheeling through the deserts. First, we stopped at some huge, amazing sand dunes. The sand was very fine. It was really difficult to run in the sand, but the kids had a ball running up and then running/falling down. The black that you see in the pictures is from volcano magma from millions of years ago that has broken down into sand. That is why this is called the Black Desert.




We did some more climbing and then stopped at a place called Crystal Mountain. It contains crystal formations that look amazing. It is not authentic crystal, but is made from quartz. We continued 4-wheeling with our guides as they led us deeper into the White Desert.




Millions of years ago this area of Egypt was covered by water. What is left now is a white limestone that formed mounds. Those mounds have been eroded by the wind and sand to shapes and formations that are intriguing to see. Many are named things like “The Mushroom”, “The Chicken Under the Tree”, and “The Camel”. Others are left for your own imagination. We drove around these formations for about an hour. Close to sunset our guides found us a location by a rock formation and set-up camp for us. We had time to explore. The kids loved climbing on the huge formations. Our guides cooked us a delicious dinner over the fire.





The stars there were absolutely stunning. The sky was streaked with what looked like wispy clouds, but were actually stars. It was incredible! A desert fox that came to our camp to get food joined us. It had large ears and was about the size of a cat. It is amazing that animals can live in these extreme conditions.
We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, packed up our campsite, explored and then headed back to our hotel, which was about 2 hours and then back into Cairo. As we were leaving the desert we passed a few camel trekkers, hiking and riding through the desert. The camels in the desert here are different from the camels we see in Cairo. These camels are from Sudan and are mush shorter and furrier.