January 2006 Archives

we're just happier, that's all.

after being frustrated and exhausted for months, and frustrated and exhausted to find that we were frustrated and exhausted (instead of sipping the bubbly of life whilst lounging on the barcalounger of contentment) we are, in Cairo of all places, kicking it old skool.

today, for example, we did not go to see the Citadel and loved it.

with much trepidation, we first went to mail a package home. we expected a multi-hour slog-fest through irrascable postal employee hell in arabic. instead, we found endless friendly egyptians gleefull to help us. they found us a better box than the one we had. they gave us good advice on how to get our stuff home cheaply. they gave me a cheese sandwich.

just, you know, 'cause they had some cheese sandwiches.

it only took half an hour get our stuff winging home (or swimming, we sent it via boat) so we decided to go check out the citadel. it's a massive mosque-fort-palace thing that you simply MUST see. when we got there, though, it was covered with tour buses like itch on a rash. so we just tooled around in the tiny little alleys nearby. looking into the one room storefronts where old bespeckled men smoked sheeshas, or women in headscarves bundled eggs, or young egyptians pounded out iron or burnished wood or just looked up, smiled back at us, and said, "hello! welcome!"

oy-ye, oy-ye, oy-ye.

it's like, fiesta hoopdie time! there are actual, visible, photographic-like pictures from our sojourn in the lands of dust and donkey. the scans do NOT suck! they are okay! you can SEE them with your EYEBALLS!!!!!

i skipped using the flash-program i have on my site as people had problems with it. so they're on Shutterfly. go looky.

these pictures go way way back. the first few are from Tanzania! you remember Tanzania? they also cover Uganda, Ethiopia and the introduction to Egypt.

enjoy!

in the beginning, there was nothing. no people, no desk attendant and no plane. we were in Nairobi, at the airport, intending to fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. but there was nothing. and so god created free room and board at the Nairobi Hilton on Ethiopian Airlines' tab to apologize for the cancellation. and it was good. it was really good. pretty awesome, actually. we hoped they'd cancel our flight again so we could continue to not leave our room with its real bed, real shower, cable tv, actual (not instant) coffee, massive buffet of food just downstairs and quiet. so quiet. and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.