Egypt in February

Karnack Temple

Sheritan, Soma Bay Resort. One of three pools.



We arrived safely at our destination. The Sheraton Soma Bay Resort, up the coast from the nearest town, Safaga. Upon arrival and unpacking, I realized that I did not bring one swimsuit for Arabella. Those of you who know, the girl owns like 20 suits. Thankfully, the nice men at the front desk called the bus driver in Hurghada and he had enough money on him to pick a suit up for Bella. Yes, men took care of this for us and did a great job. They bought her a simple red, one piece suit with white piping. It was a "french" cut, but I didn't care! It was a suit for the week. What can I say about the resort. If you have never stayed in a five star resort, you should at least once in your life. Special treats left in the room, house keeping twice a day, and anything you needed, they produced! What a life for a week!

Egypt in February. I worried about the temperatures, but they were wonderful. About 70 F. every day, and then on Wednesday the winds started blowing. Felt like 50 F. getting out of the water! The bay water was about 72 F., which is cold to most, but I thought very doable. Dan and Caleb had to wear wetsuits, but the rest of the "pleasantly plump" did not have to "glove" ourselves in a rubber suit. Egypt itself, was very safe. They do have guards at check points, but they are their for a reason. To keep the bad or trouble makers out. The gaurds that were throughout the small towns, are not needed anymore, but it is a way for the police to collect money from the travel agents. So, the travel agents give them money, they provide unneeded protection traveling through their town, and everyone is happy. We met lots of great people and almost everyone spoke some English. At the resort, it was all men! I forgot that being a muslim country, the women are still limited on work, so the resort was run by men. Even the kids club was run by men. What was interesting, they all seemed to love their work. Whether it was working with the kids, doing water aerobicks, or making our room up for the night, they were pleasant and very caring. I will touch a little on the excursions we had.

We took a trip to Luxor. Here we were able to visit the Valley of the Kings, Karnack Temple, the tomb of the "woman" pharoah, boated on the Nile River, ate lunch, and visited the Papyrus Museum, and an Alabaster factory. Belle was thrilled to visit King Tuts tomb, where his body and sarcofagus is back in the tomb since it was originally dug out in the 1950's. We (vacationers at this time) are among the first to view them in their "home". She carried around her gold picture of him for the rest of the week. We left at 6:30 a.m., and returned at 10:30 p.m.. It was a four hour drive with a break in between, where we could pet camels, ride them, purchase souveniers, and most importantly pay the use the restroom! The desert was beautiful on the ride to Luxor. We started in the mountains and slowly drove out into more desert country. The desert was pockmarked with areas of green grass, small fields and buildings. (Like Oasis's) The closer we got to Luxor the more green we saw. Along the Nile river and the canals off it, there are many buildings, fields, and animals. It was a great way to see the "real" Egypt as they say.

We took a trip to Mahmaya Island. It is a "desserted" island that the travel companies have built a small hut area for lunch and added huts all along the beach with mats to lay on. They boat you out there from Hurghada marina, and you spend the day. It is surrounded by reefs and they had plenty for snorkeling. Belle was the only one who did not really "swim" because again, the water was too cold for her skinny body. About mid-day they boated us out to a much larger reef and it was absolutely beautiful. Egypt is known for its diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea, and they lived up to their description. We had lunch at the hut, more rice, beans, chicken, fruit, noodles and sauce, and then arrived back at the resort around 6:30 p.m..

Wednesday found Dan and Ben flying to Cairo for the day. The rest of us hung out at the beach and snorkeled and swam. Belle loved the pool as it was heated! Dan and Ben went into the pyramids, bent over like old men for over 200 feet.

We did find a pier on the east side of the resort that went out over a reef. This reef runs down the whole side of Soma Bay Resort. Maybe 2 miles at least. The pier had stairs on the shallow side of the reef and a ladder on the deep side. (about 20 feet with quick drop off). Yes, at first the deep side is scary as you look into the depths of the beautiful deep blue water and realize that you really can't see anything coming at you, until it is already too close! Then, you just have to trust God and watch the reef! We saw trigger fish, pupper fish, sea turtles, lion fish, grouper, parrot fish...... I could go on and on. We at that moment decided this was second best trip to our Hawaii trip! The kids had never been to Hawaii, so they had never snorkeled on a reef. Of course, now we know that once a year we will have a snorkel vacation, even when we get back to the states! Loads of Fun!

So, long story short, WE loved Egypt! It was a beautiful country, the desert lived up to what we see on T.V., the resort was fabulous, and the beach and snorkeling was exceptional. A great time was had by all!

Home for Christmas 07

Home for the Holidays! Never did that quote mean so much as it did for this year! We arrived in Chicago and made it home before the big "storm" hit. Blizzard like conditions and had to stay home on a Saturday night, but other than that, we were home in the USA. We ate at lots of favorite places, enjoyed food we had not had for a while and visited with friends not seen for 9 months. Christmas Eve and Morning found us with the usual rush, opening gifts, dinner and games played with family. We did not get to see as many or spend as much time with family and friends due to the holiday season. Believe it or not, everyone already had plans with others! Yes, we went home at a busy season, but we are still glad we had that "recharge" time with our family. I believe we had 3 huge snows while home, experienced a nearby tornado (take cover) and Peoria broke a record for high temperatures that day. We were able to have a day of spring home with our winter! Crazy weather.

After 31/2 weeks, the kids were ready to go back "home" and we headed back to England to warmer, more moist temperatures.

The Month of November

AMERICANS INTERNATIONAL SERVICE EMPLOYEE PICTURE

THANKSGIVING, NOV. 25, 2007

The month of November brought about no changes. The weather is still the same, a little rain here and there, temperatures in the mid 50's to low 60's, and my annual flowers and roses are still blooming.

We did not celebrate Thanksgiving Day here as Dan did not have it off work and the kids were in school that day. All though, Bella's headmaster told me I could keep her home for the day if I needed, since it is a holiday for us in America. I graciously declined, as she will be missing a week of school at Christmas and if she is not sick, she gets quite bored. We did get together with the ISE's as a big group and celebrated the holiday on Sunday. Yes, We had turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cakes, pies, potatoes and gravy and so on. That is the day that it felt like Thanksgiving Day. The above picture is a shot of everyone there that day. Now keep in mind, that this is only half of the families that are over here. We had 20 families that day, 90 adults and children, and there are 38 families over here. We rented the Woodnewton Village Hall and had a great time.

We are now finishing up school and counting the days until we leave for home. ( Six to be exact) Belle's school puts on a Christmas Program and she is an Elf in it. She will have to go through 3 separate performances, the last one being the night before we leave the next morning at 5:30 a.m.. We are going to pack this weekend, so hopefully we will have a stress free week.

Things we are going to do when we get back to America??? Dan has a list of 17 restaurants that he wants to eat at. He has been dieting the past 3 months so that he can come home to America and possibly gain 15 pounds and still be at his regular weight, if not below, that he was before the trip. Caleb is going to In Play with his friends and pretty much planning on living with Weston at his house and ours. We will see family and visit with friends close by and from far away. Go to Christmas parties, Ben's Christmas production that he wrote and is directing and is performing in, go to Dawn's churches big Christmas production, go to Kalahari water park with friends and family, and of course, visit, visit, visit and visit some more.

So...... this is probably my last post for 2007. May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I can only pray that God will bring many new and exciting memories into your life this next year as he has done for us this past year! Blessings! Pam

The famous "Rialto Bridge", Pigeons in San Marco Square, lovely canals and lovely people are just a few descriptions for Venice! We absolutely had a ball. The Venetian people were very loving towards our family and with restaurants and shopping galore, who couldn't have a great time. Our trip actually started in Rome with Ben and Dan lost. Yes, LOST. Our plane was late and with a screw up with the time, our second driver had to leave the airport. This left 4 of us in a car and two of us with a taxi. Ben and Dan graciously offered to take the taxi and we gave them the address to the apartment. Now, would it have helped if Dan new where the apartment was located, what part of town, and had looked at a map before they left? Yes, but that didn't happen. The taxi driver told Ben and Dan that "something" was going on in the city centre (true) and he could not take them there (apartment was located on the south side of the city centre, just north of the airport) and that he would drop them off at the Vatican. (Please note that the apartment was south of city centre) The Vatican is located North West of the apartment, across the River from us. Dan and Ben then found a Metro (not easy in Rome) and crossed back over the city centre to the Colosseum and the were able to connect up by phone with us and Enzo, our driver, who had stayed with us at the apartment the entire 2 hours, jumped in his car with me, and we went and found the boys. Not a great start, but it could have been worse. Needless to say we walked our feet off during those 4 days. The Vatican was impressive, the Sistine Chapel was a let down, only because to get to the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican has you walk through all of their museum rooms (PIO-Clementine museum, The Gallery of Maps, Room of Animals, Gallery of Statues, Gallery of Busts, Cabinet of the Masks, The Round Room, Room of the Muses, The Raphael Rooms, just to name a few) It took 2 hours just to walk through all these museums to get to the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was still beautiful, but something was taken away from it because we had already been saturated with all the other art. I am glad we went, but I think they should start the tour with the Sistine Chapel first. The two hour walk was after we had stood in line for an hour just to get tickets! It is the only time we have waited that long for a ticket and probably the only time it will ever occur. The pope was in town on Wednesday, but we did not venture across town with the thousands of other people to take his picture. Our apartment was located right next to the Roman Forum and down the street from the Colosseum. We were able to walk most everywhere. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Piazza di San Giovanni and getting to see and climb the SCALA SANTA (Holy Staircase). The is supposed to be the same staircase of marble steps which Jesus ascended in the house of Pontius Pilate; it was brought to Rome by the Empress Helena. There are twenty-eight marble steps, recovered with wood for protection, while small glass sheets cover some spots that are considered to be a trail of Christ's blood. The staircase ends in front of one of the most venerable monuments of history and art of the Medieval Ages, the SANCTA SANCTORUM (Chapel of St. Lawrence). This was a really memorable experience because Christians around the world come here to climb the staircase on their KNEES while praying. It takes about 1/2 hour; I know this because Dawn, I and Caleb climbed it on our knees. The staircase is literally covered with people on their knees, no pictures allowed. About halfway up the staircase my prayers started changing to "Please, God, help me get the rest of the way up". I have a greater appreciated for beggers that we have seen on thier knees, bent over with just cup extended, waiting for money. My knees had bruises on them for 4 days afterwards. You know, I rarely get down and actually set my weight on my knees for a minute, much less for 1/2 hour. It is something I will never forget. Rome is a very large city, with lots to see and do. We did tours, museums, the Colesseum, the Pantheon, the Vatican, the Roman Forum just to name a few. There are over 400 churches in Rome to see also. I didn't realize when we went that they just started digging up old Rome 200 years ago. I mean, even today, they might start to put up a pavillion and when they dig for the lights, OOPS, they find stuff 8 feet under and then everything stops, and the archeologists come in and they start digging up homes, staircases, baths, whatever. All of Rome, at some time or another has been built on top of ancient buildings, temples and homes! The Roman Forum was filled in with dirt and used as a pasture 1,000 of years later, and then when current Rome wanted to use the ground for something, the ancient Rome was found underneath and they have dug it all out. Maybe in my simple mind, I make it out to be bigger than it is, but WOW. So much history, everywhere, underground. I thought that all the ancient stuff we hear about has always been there preserved, not buried. Anyway, I was impressed as you can see. Sorry to go on and on.

Now on to Venice. We absolutely loved Venice. With all the canals and the beautiful sea blue water, the boats, the people and the cleanliness of the city. It was very easy to get around with the Vaporetto Buses to different areas, and if you had 15 minutes, just walk! The Rialto Market was so impressive, the Murano glass jewlrey was exquisite, ATM's and pharmacies were around every corner. Our first morning there, the tide was in (sirens went off at 5:30 a.m. to warn the Venetian people to get out the walkways) and it flooded portions of the city. The walkways (2 feet high) made it easy to get around the water and still shop! Prada, Gucci, Versace........all available in Venice. The mask shops were in abundance. It was all in good fun for the tourists and it didn't slow anyone down. Our room at the hotel would sleep four, and was very big and newly remodeled. Expensive; I think it was 150 euros a night ($200) and this was for a cheap hotel with no hot water the two mornings we were there. I looked at some hotels and the average was 300 euros a night! ($450 approx.) We loved Venice so much that hot water didn't matter and we loved Venice so much that we are already planning our return trip in March! We really liked the small, quaint city on the water. No cars or automobiles of any kind, just men running through the streets pulling small wagons, yelling, "pardon, exus........" whatever they yell in Italian. You know to get out of the way!

Needless to say, we all came home exhausted and blisters are still healing on our feet. Belle and Caleb have started on the second half of their term in school. Every six weeks they get a week off and at Christmas it is 3 and in the summer they get a 6 week break mid July. The week off every six weeks is really nice. We are getting ready to celebrate "Guy Fawkes" Day with bonfires and fireworks across England. He is a guy who loaded up the cellar with gunpowder under the House of Parliment and before he could blow it up, a friend told on him. So, it is now a "holiday" here and all the villages or towns across England have bonfires and fireworks to celebrate that the House of Parliment was saved! Should be fun. Our weather has been dry and about 60, partly sunny. Really nice fall weather. The sun has started going down about 1:15 in the afternoon, it is dusk at 4:15 and is dark at 5:00 p.m. I guess this will continue and by December 1 it will be dark about 3:15. Can you imagine the sun already starting its downhill decline around noon? I can't wait! Sounds like lots of reading time to me. Belle has been going to bed earlier, and earlier because after it has been dark for two hours, she is ready for bed! About 6:30 she starts telling us she is ready! Funny, huh? No wonder I had trouble getting her to bed this summer when the sun was up until 10:30! Her body must really be affected by the light outside.

I will end now. I haven't blogged in a while and wanted to let you know about life here, besides our vacation. Everything is good! Making new friends all the time. Caterpillar has about 42 families over here. We have started a new ladies bible study during the day, twice a month, and I have joined a book club. Three of my closest friends will be coming back to America in February, March and July. I will be sad to lose them, but they are going back to the Peoria area, and I look forward to continuing a long term friendship with them there and all my friends back home meeting them also. Life keeps moving and growing! Take care everyone, and remember, "Home in Six Weeks!"

Love, Pam

Rome: the big city.

School has Began

Autumn Term is finally here and school has began. The kids are in uniform, as is the custom here. Caleb will learn to live in a suit, with tie, every day for the rest of the school year. Belle's uniform is more adaptable with pants in grey, different skirts in grey and she can add the school royal blue sweatshirt or cardigan (jumper) they are called. And she has the option of a full dress, in grey! Both love their schools here. Belle will begin her year relearning vowel sounds and sight words. She will also have a 10 word spelling list a week! Someone who can't read yet, is only five, will have spelling tests! This will be fun, as she does not take teaching well from me. Oh well, we both will learn. Caleb has 14 subjects in one week. They are scheduled around each other, some twice, back to back. He has Italian, French, Math, Science, English, History, Geography, Art, Music, PE, Computer Lab, Food Tech, ACS class,R.E. class. I know, I don't know what the last two are either! Life goes on.

Belle is sick right now with Tonsillitis and has missed 4 days of school. She is running 101 to 103.5 temperature non-stop. They now have her on antibiotics (5 day only of Amoxicillin) and they are letting me give her Tylenol with Ibuprofin, at the same time, to bring the temperature down. It does come down to about 100 and then goes back up after 3 hours. I am looking forward to her getting back into school!

I walked home with an English couple in the village last night from a school meeting. They have a little boy in Belle's class that is full of energy. They were telling me that I should never call for an ambulence because we are in Northamptonshire, so the ambulance has to come from there, (45 Minutes Away) to pick up and take us to Peterborough which is 13 minutes away! (I am thinking I need a self-refresher course in First Aid) :) This couple had friends in another village and half the village was one shire (county) and the other half was in another one, and while the fire department decided who was responsible to put out their house fire, the house burned all the way to the ground! Yikes! It is fun to visit with them and hear their stories of woe. Everyone has been concerned about Belle and asks after her constantly. I am very appreciative of my friends here. I have had offers of help, babysitting if I need to get away, pick up medicine.... They have all been most kind. I feel like we have traded a Church family for our Village/ISE family. God is Good.

Well, that is my week in a nutshell. Lots of Laundry, Doctor Visits, and driving back and forth for Caleb's bus. To leave on a light note: My dad, who lives in Florida, has acquired a new living companion that I have named "Gypsy". It is a turtle that has dug out the sand under his sidewalk and my dad believes it is a protected gopher turtle, so he cannot touch or move it! Ha! God just knew he needed something else to keep watch over! In England, a gypsy is someone who moves onto your property to live and you cannot evict them without a court order. This is not always a homeless person, but working people who live out of a camper because they cannot afford rent. It can be quite a problem in the larger towns. Hence, the name "Gypsy".

Fun Times in England

Dan at Castle Rising

Mike and Jackie at Beach


Big Bus Tour, London

Family at Lincoln Cathedral Square (Caleb stayed at friends house)

The two weeks are over and Mike and Jackie are back home. It is really something when you sit down and think, yesterday here, today, there. It is amazing how far you can travel in the world in one day. We did lots of fun things. Everyday we went somewhere. We visited Baston village where Caleb's school is, and then went to the Waterside Garden Center. One day we went into Peterborough and visited the huge Queensgate Mall (yes, I drove to the city centre and found parking!) (look out Chicago, here I come!). It was the first time I have actually driven, parked and entered the Queensgate Mall! We spent one afternoon over in Oundle for banking, shopping and eating. We then headed to London for sightseeing and the show "Fiddler on the Roof". It was fantastic and now we have decided we are going to go to London once a month and do a theater show! The kids really enjoy them and we feel like we really know London pretty well. We took Taxi's around town this time, and if you are just moving around in the center of London, the fare is not to bad. Mostly 5 pounds wherever are destination took us. The tubes proved a little too intense for a man with a cane! (Mike) Caleb and Belle have decided that a cab is the only way to travel! I am sure we will here lots of whining the first time back to London as we head over to the tubes! OH well. On Sunday we went to Lincoln to see the Cathedral and Castle. The cathedral was lovely and the castle closed early for their mid-summer's eve concerts. Jackie and Mike were only able to see the outer wall of the castle. We ate lunch in a nice little place that had awesome chicken and mushroom pies (pot pie). Our food was really good and we will go back there again.

Monday was a bank holiday (Dan is off work). We went up and toured through Burghley House. It was really neat. Everyone will have to go there when they come to visit. It is only 12 minutes from us and some of Pride and Prejudice was filmed there. Very old Manor House. That afternoon we went over to the Nassington Village Fair, where the kids have contests of decorated bikes, things made out of vegetables, games, adult competition with flowers, the biggest vegetables, the prettiest and so on. We did not compete this year, but maybe next year I will compete with some shortbread cookies?? The rest of the week found us back up at Waterside, Dan's office and lunch, over to Corby to visit Matalans (clothing) and Asda (groceries), and lunch over in Ufford at the White Heart Pub. On Saturday we drove over to the coast, stopped at Castle Rising (way cool) and then we went to the beach. When you say "beach" over here, you really mean beach. The tide goes out on the east side of the island and it leaves about a mile of beach before you ever get to the water! There are tide pools everywhere, so the kids can play, but no real water. The english people seem happy with this, as everyone is up against the sand dunes and the water is a mile away! So, we joined everyone else, and the kids built sand castles and just messed around in the tide pools. It was a very enjoyable day and a good one to close Mike and Jackies two week visit.

Now it is time to get ready for School. Belle and Caleb both start back on Wednesday. I am looking forward to having time to catch up on laundry and be able to do computer stuff and gardening. I should have lots of time on my hands to catch up with everything, and still do lunch with the ladies! We have new ISE's arriving all the time and some going home to America. The lunches are a good way to catch up and visit and meet the new ladies.

To sign off with something funny! Yesterday, we went to Yarwell for church and then decided to go for a bike ride. We have not had any rain in almost two weeks now and the temps are in the low to high 70's. Great weather for a bike ride. I have not ridden a bike in 5 years and I thought, no big deal, we will go slow..... anyway, we ride our bikes up to Wansford (not Yarwell) but Wansford. This is where I take Caleb to catch his school bus and it is up and down hills! Anyway, we go there and get on a byway that leads into the woods. Again, we start getting into hills. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up stuck in the woods (Sulehay protected woods, 210 acres) for over an hour! I was really getting mad, my butt hurt, and my arms and neck were killing me from leaning over the bike and holding my upper body on them. Caleb was nearly in tears, and Belle, well Belle was just along for the ride in the carrier, so she didn't have much to say! By the time we made it home we were gone 2 1/2 hours and had ridden 5.8 miles. Wayyyyyy too long for a first time bike ride in 5 years! So, today, I started out with a hot shower and 4 ibuprofin so I could turn my head and lift my left arm. Thankfully couches and chairs all have soft padding so my butt bones hurt, but are not paining me to sit here and type! Caleb, Belle and I, all slept about 10 hours last night! Next time I will be more carefull which bridlepath I choose so the family can talk about the fun we had, not how miserable we became! Of course, Dan had great fun and thought it was fantastic!

Signing off for now, an American Mom in England