Mediterranean Sea Trip

We have been here for 2 months now and this was our first trip out of the city. We had a chance to stay on the Mediterranean Sea for 3 days. It was such a great time to get away and refresh!



Some older kids were burying themselves in the sand, so the Dunavants kids thought they should do the same! ( We are still getting sand out of our clothes.)

Gifts from Home!!!

Comfort food and toys came just in time! Many family and friends from home sent us some of our favorite foods and toys. We were just about out of "strawberries and cream" oatmeal when the box arrived. It also contained many of our favorite things to snack on (ie. famous Carley Cookies and apple caramel wraps)! Then about 2 hours later another box arrived with lots of fun toys for the kids. Thanks everyone!!!!! We love you (and the comfort food)!

Special People

So many people love our children here! We appreciate them so much for making life fun for our kids! Here are just a few pictures of them.

Mr. Amr-Sherry's mom's husband. He made a "Strawberry Tart" just for the kids

Ms. Hannah-We love to "hang out" with her!

Madison and Matthew Ray with Julia-they like playing with her at school.

Madison and Matthew Ray with their teachers.

Meredith and her School Friends

Our social butterfly is on her way to making many new friends here. She loves her school and as always loves talking and playing with friends.

Meredith with friends from Asia, Europe and Africa!!

Meredith standing in her school entrance

Meredith and her teacher

Total Tour

We have finally made our flat a home! It took a little work, time, patience, and language learning to get it done but we "think" we are finished!!! Notice the word "think." Many of you have known of our stuggles with repairs-new hot water heater (after 3 repairs), electrical work in several rooms, new stove, floor repair for hole, replacement of broken faucets, everything painted including ceilings, and washing machine repair (it just dances a little now). We think repairs are common here- We told our plumber we would just make a room for him!

So, here's the tour!

Meredith's Bedroom

Madison and Matthew Ray's Bedroom

Kid's Bathroom
View of Dining Area from Front Door
Family Living Room with Balcony in Back

Formal Egyptian Visiting AreaMaster Bedroom
Master Bathroom

Family Fun Movie Night

We have been here five weeks and we have spent so much of our time repairing, language, repairing, re-decorating, repairing, shopping for new things to fix broken things, language...... So, we decided we needed a Family Fun/Movie Night. The kids were so excited they dressed up for the event. Here are the girls dressed up like Cleopatra! Meredith didn't have a crown to wear so she is sporting her gardening hat. We are so thankful our kids can "make-do" with what they have! We could learn a lot from them. Stay tuned for new pictures of our Apartment Makeover!

Sherwin Williams Nicotene Yellow- NOT

When we arrived we found our place to be a really great flat BUT it needed some fixing up. The first thing on the agenda was paint. The walls were a shade of yellow that we had not seen before. After removing some of the pictures on the wall we found out that the color really was supposed to be white. The yellow color that we didn't recognize was called "Nicotine Yellow." (See if they have that color at your local Sherwin Williams!!!)

Anyway, we had some great painters come and paint EVERYTHING. These men were so nice. We had to stay in with them everyday from 10-5 for a week. They taught us so much Arabic and we had GREAT CONVERSATIONS with them. Here we are with them when the job was complete. They brought their camera with them on the last day and we took at least 20 different shots with them. The kids are now becoming camera hogs. They get their picture made at least every other day!

Meredith is such a Great Helper!!!

It takes the whole family "pitching in" to keep things running smooth around here. Here is Meredith hanging laundry on her balcony. I don't know what we would do without that little princess!!!

Lady of Leisure??????????????

Now with the makwaggy, the house help, and Matt's new found affinity for laundry, cooking and dishes I have become a lady of leisure - NOT!!!!

Our lives are busier than ever. Transitioning to a new culture and life-style is always a challenge. Our days are filled with hours of language learning and community time as well as repairing broken household items, laundry, laundry, laundry, walking to pick up children from their schools, meetings, meetings, meetings, and shopping for needed food and supplies without a Wal-Mart. To sum it up our days are filled with hours of how to make life work.

I just wanted to clarify so all will know that I am not sitting around being fanned with palm branches!!

Wonderful Culture of Egypt!

Everything in Egypt takes sooooo much more time than in the states BUT there are many great people to help get the work done for a small amount of money. Below are two of our helpers that we LOVE! This is Ali, the makwaggy (ironer). Since there are no clothes dryers most things need ironing. Ali comes to our door every other day and collects any clothes that we need ironed. He returns them in just a short time! Go Ali!!!!!

This is Sahar and she is our house helper. She comes 2 times a week and helps keep our kitchen, bathrooms and floors clean. This is a BIG job! She doesn't like to use anything electrical so she insists on cleaning ALL of our tile and hardwood on her hands and knees. It kills us to watch! We love her smile - it never stops. REMEMBER Sahar everytime you clean your floors.

Just Paying Rent!!

In the states we might hesitate going into a store named "Sxy's" but here it is where we pay our rent! Just thought everyone might need a laugh!

Magnificent View!

Meredith discovered this view from her bedroom balcony!
Doesn't it make you want to pray?

New Neighbors

Here are our new neighbors! They are such sweet people. Everytime we knock on their door they are ready with food and drinks for us. The hospitality here is unbelieveable!!!! Dalia, the mom, speaks great English and has visited the states many times. We had a GREAT CONVERSATION the other day. The lady in the first picture is Dalia and the others are her children and nieces.

Let My Muffins Go!!!!!

One of the many interesting things that has happened here almost became a culinary disaster! Four days after arriving we decided that we would break out the blueberry muffin mix from home and make muffins for breakfast. We knew our oven's handle was gone but we were still able to creatively open it. After a few minutes we were smelling the wonderful aroma of the familiar muffins from home- Then the disaster happened! The door to the oven would not open. Our entire family began to panic: "Oh no! What are we going to do? We are going to starve! This is going to be a waste of one of our precious muffin mixes from home! Quick, get something to get this door open!"

As many of you know, Matt is "Mr. Fix-it." He found a pair of pliers and two wooden spoons. We pulled as hard as we could on the door and Matt pulled the precious muffins out with the spoons and pliers. We all sighed a big sigh of relief and ate our muffins with joy. Needless to say we had to buy a new oven. The owner of the flat said, "They don't need an oven. They have the stove-top and the microwave." The first two pictures show Matt's creative idea for retrieving the first pan of muffins. The third picture below is Matt successfully pulling out another pan of blueberry muffins after our new stove arrived.

School Days!

Thought everyone might like to see Madison and Matthew Ray's school. .

They attend the school in the picture-Honey Bunny! They are slowly but surely getting used to their friends who speak a different language. Here they are on their first day of school. (FYI-they don't look this happy every morning!)

Madison told us yesterday that she was tired of not knowing what her new friends were saying. She said, "I say to the little girls, "What is your name?!? and they don't answer me!" We told her that they are probably asking her the same question in their language. That explanation didn't seem to help! A lot of people here call her Barbie! She is not impressed (yet!)

Stay tuned for the next blog of Meredith's school, activities and friends!

Laundry Balcony and Professional Laundry Man

Laundry is a different story here in Egypt! We have a washer but dryers are not common here at all. Our washer holds a VERY SMALL load of clothes and takes about 2 hours to wash. When the spin cycle begins it sounds like a bomb is going off in our bathroom. Then the washer begins to jump and dance until it makes it's way to the potty near by. When it is finished, we push the washer back to the wall and take out the clothes. Two days after we arrived our clothes got trapped in the washer for 3 days!

Here is the view from our laundry-drying balcony and here is the "now professional" laundry-hanger outer! It took Matt a while to get used to the cold air up here on the 5th floor!