This was all his choice he wanted to get it cut.For the first time in so long Jonah got his hair to become short.

History Has Been Made

Saturday November 8th, 2008
Jonah has made history by now becoming the tallest kid for the Watkins family Bekah was not happy with what has happened. She has been gloating for the past month saying "I'm still taller then you". Now it is Jonahs turn to gloat. Bekahs comeback is now i will still be older then you.

Jonahs Hair Cut

TADA

This was all his choice he wanted to get it cut.For the first time in so long Jonah got his hair to become short. The first time my Dad, Jonah, Nick, Bekah, Mom have ever heard a dad tell there son he shouldn't get a hair cut. Todd did say you shouldn't get a hair cut to Jonah.

Homecoming 2008!

Bekah went to homecoming on Friday 17th and had a blast! That morning she went to the mall with her friend and picked out a dress. Then she went over to another friends house and got ready there. She was very happy everything went so well.

Eid al-Fitr holiday

Jonah and Nick sliding down the slide

The ocean you can see the coral

Jonah and nick with some of their friends

One of the many beautiful views

All the kids sliding

Bekah and Dad in the pool

Bekah and Nick in front of the sea

Dad playing water polo he was the champion goalie of the team

Right before the eid holiday started Jonah fractured his thumb! He was playing basketball at recess and reached for the ball and ended up breaking his thumb. Mom took him to the hospital and he got X-rays and a cast. He has to keep it on for 3 weeks and then get a splint and keep that on for another 3 weeks. Because of this we weren’t sure if we were going to do anything for the eid holiday but we finally got everything worked out the day before we left!!!

We went to Hurghada with a lady my mom works with, Hana’a, and her family. Hurghada is located on the Red Sea and a 5 hour-trip from Cairo. The place we stayed is a 4-star hotel, but the room happened to be very small! They provided breakfast and dinner and we really never had to leave the hotel. Inside the hotel there were 3 pools and a private beach. The pool had slides and a lot of activities that kept us busy throughout the day. There was also a huge waterslide but unfortunately the tide was too low and it didn’t open while we were there. It was also very windy on the first 2 days we were there.
Jonah was quite a sight to see. Mom wanted him to be able to swim and snorkel but he was not allowed to get his cast wet. Mom’s solution… Garbage bag wrapped with duct tape!!! It was hilarious to see! He looked like he had a club on his hand but he was happy he was able to do all the stuff everyone else did.
On the second day Bekah and Mom, along with Hana’a’s family, went snorkeling. Bekah liked it a lot because she had never been before but because of the wind the water was not clear and we didn’t see a lot of fish. Luckily, on the 3rd day the wind had died down and the whole family went snorkeling. Nick had some trouble with the saltiness of the water and didn’t use the tube to breath so he just swam and looked at the fish but everyone else was fine. We all saw millions of fish! We even saw one that was a foot and a half long! Bekah was really excited because she saw a ray! The fish were all so colorful and cool looking. The kids all though it was very weird to have the fish that close to them and Bekah was afraid she would hurt them haha.

The night before we left Mom decided to take games, Harry Potter Clue and Pit, out to the pool to share with Hana’a and her family. Dad and the kids all thought she was crazy and they would all think she was nuts but to our dismay the games were a huge hit! Everyone loved Pit! It would have been quite a sight to see 12 people gathered around yelling numbers for over an hour. One guy came over and started mocking us!

Bowling parties and Iftars

Some of the traditional food

one of the guards wifes made these they are stuffed potatoes!! there so much work!

Traditional rice

The annual festival of Ramadon, which is a month of fasting for the Muslims, was during September. During this month Muslims don’t eat from sunrise to sunset. The meal at sundown is called Iftar and is usually a huge celebration. People often celebrate it every night with family and friends. Our family decided to through an Iftar for our Guards. Our housekeeper and her sister spent the day making delicious, traditional Ramadon food. The guards really appreciated it and we all had a good experience.

Nick's wonderful cake

Nick bowling :P

Make a wish!!

Nick turned 10 on September 25, 2008!! There are no more Watkins’ kids who have a one-digit age! Nick had his party at a bowling alley in Maadi. Mom made him a wonderful bowling cake. Well of course, because this is Egypt, not everything went according to plan :P. One of our friends was nice enough to take us to the bowling alley, we are still waiting for our car to get here, but he misunderstood and took us almost 20 miles in the wrong direction!! Nick ended up arriving 30 min late for his own birthday party!! Next the place that mom was going to get the food from wasn’t open like they said they would be. She asked and they said they would open in 5 min, well 45 min later it still wasn’t open and people were getting hungry. Dad went to the Chilis next door and got chips and salsa and drinks to hold the kids over till we could get the pizza but they took 30 min to get the sodas to us!! We then had to order pizza but of course that took an hour and the pizza got there right when the parents came to pick up the kids.

In Sha Allah

Sphinx

The pyramids

Our beautiful Ramadan Lamp- The next morning we went to a market to find Ramadan lamps. Ramadan lamps are lamps used during Ramadan to signal that everyone can eat after the sun has set. We got confused on the instructions from the groups and got lost but we did find our way eventually. It was a very interesting experience for everyone. There were donkeys everywhere and once Bekah got trapped between a donkey cart and a car. It was a good Egypt experience. We ended up getting 2 beautiful lamps for us and a smaller one for guests that had us over to dinner that night. By the end of the trip everyone was worn out and ready to go home.

Bekah and her friend Nika at the Pyramid

All of us right before the sound and light show

Jonah doing the Egyptian

During the show-On Friday the 22 we all went to the Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the Pharaohs and the history of the Pyramids. The Pyramids are the only ancient wonder of the world still standing and they have been standing for 4600 years. The show was very dramatic. Bekah thought it was a little too dramatic and also that they included a little too much of the history. It started to get a little boring in the end but besides that it was good.

In Sha Allah is a famous line here in Egypt. It mean if Gods wills it and thats really how things work here. We thought we would get our air shipment 2 weeks after we got here but SURPRISE I guess that God did not want that to happen because we ended up getting it 2 days ago, on the 28th. Things here in Egypt happen a lot slower than in the States and this is a lesson we have all had to learn throughout this adventure. Many Egyptians use this line including our new maid. She is really nice but does not speak a lot of English. She is a very good cook and has already made our family many Egyptian dishes including a dish we all love called Babagonug, which is like Humous but made from eggplant.


We had quite a big shock on Sunday the 24 at 2:30 in the morning. Dad was outside talking with a friend, Mom was inside reading her book, and the three kids were asleep. Mom heard a pop and thought it was dad coming in but then about 15 minutes later she saw smoke coming from the kitchen. She ran and woke up the kids and got them out of the house. The kids were totally discombobulated because they had just been woken up and Bekah and Nick didn't even get shoes on. Mom rushed them down the stairs and yelled for dad. Dad and his friend, whose job is to handle problems, came running up. Other apartments also had smoke in them and then at about 3 in the morning our whole complex was outside waiting for the embassy. They ended up coming at 4 30 in the morning and everyone went back up to bed but our apartment still smelled so we stayed with the neighbors for the night.

Coming back from church on Friday the 29 something happened that proved to dad that we are becoming Egyptian. We were walking back from church talking when a car comes up behind us. (For those who don't know this is a normal event in Egypt and most people walk on the road because the sidewalks are so bad.) The car honked and Bekah, without looking back, took a few steps to the side to let the car pass. Dad told everyone one that that was what everyone does in Egypt and was happy that we were getting the hang of life here.

It was Back to School night for Mom this week. She worked hard in her classroom and with her students to get everything ready. Everything went really well. She had her students’ right biographies about Olympic Athletes and the parents were able to open the files and read the students biographies.

After school on Thursday, the school had an annual "Beat the Heat" golf tournament for teachers. Mom decided to participate in that and had a great time. She only golfs about once a year now, so she was ecstatic when she got a birdie on one hole. The golf course was 100 yards from the Great Pyramids. It was so surreal for her when she was teeing off, looking at the pyramids and the beautiful prayer call started. It if difficult to describe what an amazing feeling it was.