Freezing in the summer

Hey Everyone!

I got into the Netherlands safe and sound about eight thirty this morning. It's a little funny to me. I've got some friends who are here from the north coast of Scotland, and I'm here from Egypt. My friends from Scotland think that the weather here is unbearably hot. But I think it's freezing! I had to go borrow a sweater from someone this morning when I got here. Kind of funny how much perspective can change your perception of things.

Okay, that's it for now. Just letting you all know that I'm still alive (though cold!!) I'll write more in a bit . . .

Worst hair-do ever!

Okay, I saw something tonight that I want to share with all of you. I saw the WORST hair-do I have ever seen. I've made a decision about my future and hair. I'm praying for a full head of white hair like Bob Barker when I get older. But, if that doesn't happen, I've decided to go bald as gracefully as possible. Just accept it and move on. But I saw a guy tonight with a different philosophy on hair loss. He had the cool little ring of hair. (you know, where everything's gone on top and there's just a little bit of hair left on the sides) Anyway, this guy had grown the ring out REALLY long. Part of it was pulled back in a pony-tail, and the rest was brushed forward to cover the dome. If it had been convincing, it would have been cool. Alas, not so convincing.

I just got back into town two nights ago. I was up in Cairo for a few days this last week. A friend invited me to his brother's wedding. So, I packed a little bag and took the bus up there. It was a nice time. I stayed with an Egyptian friend and slept on his roof. It was cooler on the roof than it was inside with the fan on. I should be used to it by now, but I still find it odd to be sweating outside at midnight. Kind of a strange feeling.

I'm here until the end of the week. On the 19th I'll be heading to the Netherlands for about two weeks of training. After that, I'll be heading back here. It'll be nice to get out of the country for a little while. When you're surrounded by the same thing all the time, it's easy to forget that anything else exists. So, it'll be cool to get out of the country for a bit and get some more perspective on life and culture here. I'm also looking forward to not being in 45 degree (115 for you Fahrenheit people) weather for a couple of weeks. Who knows, I might even have to wear a sweatshirt in the middle of summer! :)

Okay, that's all the news I can think of for the moment. I hope everyone's doing well! Peace . . .

Deep water

Okay, random story from the last few days. I was having my quiet time a couple of days ago, and felt like God was speaking to me from Luke 5. It's the passage where Jesus tells Peter to "put out into deep water." I spent some time asking him if deep water symbolized anything. I'm not sure what it would have symbolized, but it just seemed like the kind of thing that might be symbolic of something else. After asking for a while, I felt like he was saying no. Basically, "deep water just means deep water."

So, I came home confused to say the least. Why would he tell me something that didn't really seem to mean anything? Anyway, I opened my email when I got home and had an email from a friend in Cairo. He and a friend were coming to the town where I live in order to go scuba diving this weekend. He asked if I wanted to go. I talked to my roommate about it, and we both decided that the best application of the word was to go diving.

So, long story short, I went scuba diving this weekend. I had a really fun time, and got to meet some local guys when I was on the boat and got a few of their phone numbers. It was a great time, but somehow I was expecting more. You know, maybe to meet some incredible person on the boat or something like that. It was a great time, but I was just hoping for something a little more . . . significant . . .

But it was a lot of fun! Who knows, something may come of it in the long run too.

Hunting for friends . . .

Hey guys,

A little over two weeks in a new place. It might be close to three weeks now. I'm not quite sure. Somewhere in that range.

CS Lewis writes in one of his essays that any friendship requires some kind of bond. He paints a picture of two friends standing side by side, both engaged in the same thing. Either the same activity, same interest, same passion, same job, same hobby . . . you get the idea. Here's a quote from his essay, Friendship:

"That is why those pathetic people who simply 'want friends' can never make any. The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends. Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be 'I see nothing and I don't care about the truth; I only want a Friend,' no Friendship can arise - though Affection of course may. There would be nothing for the Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers."

That's been a challenging thought lately. I came to this town a few weeks ago, and am trying to meet people right now. Honestly, it's been a bit lonely here. Meeting folks in Cairo was so easy. Here, not so easy. Not sure what the difference is. In Cairo people were happy to hang out and talk. But here, it seems like everyone that I talk to wants something from me. It's been a frustrating experience. I'll hang out with someone for an hour and feel like we're getting to know each other. But then they'll ask me to buy them a computer or get them a visa to the USA or something like that. I feel like I'm always waiting for the bomb to drop. But yesterday a thought occurred to me. If I'm just "looking for friends," I'm doing the same thing to them that they're doing to me. I'm trying to use them to fill my loneliness in the same way that they're trying to get something from me.

Yikes! Not a particularly pleasant realization. Looks like I've got some soul-searching to do in the near future.

On a positive note . . . some friends from Cairo are going to be in town this weekend. They're coming down to go diving, and I should get to hang out with them while they're in town. It'll be nice to see some familiar faces!

Okay, that's it for now . . .

Adjustment

Hey guys,

Just realized it had been a while since I wrote. Okay, I thought I'd post you a couple of pictures of our new flat. However, our internet connection has been EXTREMELY sketchy here. I'm not sure why. I can get online, but then the connection dies after a minute or two. So, I'm going to shoot for one picture. If I can get that much uploaded, I'll be happy.  (It's up!  This one is of the kitchen-nook.  It's probably the part of the apartment I'm the proudest of.  Ok, picture 2 is of our sitting room.  No pink wall like the last place!  I'm so proud!  Okay, now I'm going to try for picture 3.  Got it!  Okay, picture 3 is my room.  Notice the guitar lying on top of the unmade bed.  I am such a rock star! )  Okay, I just realized that the pictures posted in the opposite order that I thought they would.  So, picture 1 is on the bottom, etc . . .

I also thought I'd clue you in to a couple of things here. The culture here is very nocturnal. Literally, nothing happens before ten in the morning, and almost nothing happens before noon. Only in Egypt can you call a friend at one in the afternoon and have to worry that you might be waking him up.

I've also made a couple of great friends here. It's funny. One of my friends is a guy that was helping us find an apartment when we first got here. But when he found out that I knew someone from his hometown . . . the doors of relationship flew right open. It was crazy! I'm still learning about the culture here, but I've started to notice another major difference. In the States, things are determined by how hard you work. If you work hard you advance. If you're lazy, you get nothing. But the culture here is based on relationships. If you know the right people, you can get almost anything you want. And, a friend of a friend gets an almost immediate welcome into relationship. It's fun. Almost any time I buy anything or do anything one of my friends tells me, "you should have talked to me first. I know someone who does that."

Okay, that's it for now. Peace . . .

Shazzam! Brand new start!

Hello everyone!

So, I'm in a brand new town, trying to figure out how life works here.  I've been here on the Red Sea coast for the last couple of days.  I think I got in two night ago.  Anyway, it was a mad rush to try and find an apartment before it got REALLY expensive living at a hotel.  Good news!  We found one!  It took us almost a month to find a place when we first got to Cairo.  But we managed to find one and get moved in in less that 24 hours here. 

Just figuring out how to do life in a new town is kind of a bummer.  I've realized that as much as I rebel against a schedule any time that I have one, I really am a creature of habit at heart.  (Mom, if you're reading this - stop laughing!)  This from the man who hasn't been on time to anything for the last two years :)  Leaving behind friends in Cairo was tough.  But I've been invited to a wedding in Cairo in about a month, so I think I'll be heading back for that.

In Cairo there was a really big community of ex-pats.  So finding friendship and relationship was pretty easy.  But it's been a little tougher here.  There aren't many ex-pats here, so finding community has been a little harder.  Most of my social interactions are in arabic too, which definitely limits my ability to interact.  It's strange.  I think I'm kind of a funny guy when I'm speaking english, but I just don't come across as funny in arabic.  It's hard to speak freely and crack jokes when you have to think about everything you say to make sure it makes sense.

No pictures this time, but I'll try to get some up in the next couple of days.  Au revoir . . .  (Yes that's French for you Jerome!)

Road less travelled

Okay, so my sense of direction is legendary . . . for being terrible! Anyone who's every travelled with me knows to ask me where I think we should go, then go the other direction.

I didn't have much to do today, so I decided to try a little experiment. I know a lot of parts of Cairo pretty well, but still don't have a really good grasp of where they are in relation to each other. But, I had a flash of inspiration today. It's the same Nile in my part of town as downtown, right? So, I decided to try to walk from my house to downtown. No problem, right?

Three and a half hours and two liters of water later, I finally got to downtown. A summer afternoon was definitely not the right time to investigate this hypothesis! Let's just say that the one pound metro ticket is well worth it! My curiosity is appeased, and I will definitely sleep well tonight.