Throwing Stones

Photo: Security forces throw rocks at demonstrators from the top of a bridge. Credit: Agence France-Presse

Yesterday my husband and a friend drove right through this protest on the way to the pyramids and saw this first hand.  They witnessed police and local people throwing rocks at each other and rioting over the building of a church.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/11/egypt-one-protester-killed-dozens-injured-and-arrested-in-coptic-clashes-with-police.html

Also, this weekend, Egypt will also be hosting elections for political office.  If you could, please keep Egypt in your prayers over the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving (and a Birthday)

Whose Great Idea Was Turkey Anyway? Bah Humbug!

I have exactly 24 hours until Thanksgiving dinner and I am thinking of going vegetarian this year.  No, it's not because of the cows I saw slaughterer last week, it's because I haven't bought a turkey yet.  As the only Americans coming to Thanksgiving, it's my job to do the turkey.  Fact: Turkey is actually referred to in Arabic as "Greek Bird".

Of course, Thanksgiving is not about the Greek bird and this for sure won't be our first Thanksgiving without a turkey.  One year, while living in the Boston area, we had lobster.  Poor, poor, little creatures boiling in a pot of hot water!  Still, there is an internal struggle between longing for tradition and thoughts of breaking free from it.  There is also an internal struggle between going totally pre-made, pre-boxed, processed with ease vs totally from scratch.

Luckily, I am not on my own for making the entire meal.  I have a handful of wonderful people bringing their wonderful international take on American Thanksgiving side dishes.  Hopefully everyone will remember to bring their thankful hearts with them...including my children.  What more could you ask for.  Well, maybe just for our families to be there too.  That will be the only thing missing, regardless of whether or not a turkey nests on our table this time tomorrow.  Enjoy making memories tomorrow, I know I will.

My thankful thoughts

Today I am thankful for:

Street cats that clean up after the Eid

Ant spray

Handmade palm baskets that my boys are playing with this morning

An imported can of refried beans and the last of my taco bell mild sauce

Water that was on when I went to take a shower

Hearing birds sing this morning (since people still have work off and therefore only mild honking is heard.)

My daughter's school

My husband who will be picking my daughter up from her school

Electricity that surprises my boys when they flip the lights on and off again like they are doing right now...oh, never mind I think they just blew the fuse.

Happy Eid *please be aware that these photos are very bloody, so don't look at them if they offend*

Last night we took a little trip around town, not to look at the Christmas lights, but to look for cows.  We had a great family time spotting all of them.  We woke up early this morning to singing over the loud speakers followed by chopping and hacking sounds.

This is what our morning looked like.  I will spare you the rest of the description of sounds and smells.  Although, the rest of the day should smell like a yummy BBQ.  I will also spare you the video this year:).

I stayed downstairs and watched only until I realized I was sitting in the splash zone.  After that, it was back up stairs for my window view.

Even though this holiday isn't Thanksgiving, I can't help but dwell on things that I am thankful for, maybe it's just that time of year.

Poor, poor cow!

In just a few days, Eid Il Adha will be here.  I used to dread this time of the year, but it has become most fascinating to me.  It is the day when Muslims celebrate Abraham's obediance to God by offering up the sacrifice of his son...Ishmael.  Yes, you may know of another verson of the story starring Issac, but in this part of the world, it's Ishmael.  

Last year our landlord and landlady bought a cow.  What usually happens is the morning of the feast, men in white butcher coats roam the street.  If you have been so lucky to have purchused a cow, sheep, or goat, you just stick your head out the window and yell "yah, butcher".  For a small fee they will come and kill the fatted animal of your choice.  We waited all day for the men to show up and all day we listened to that sad cow crying, then, right before sunset, the men came.  The kids were insistent on watching the execution from our balcony window.  Which we filmed, and for those who didn't watch the horror film last year, I will repost it here.

Of course, you may be able to see enough just from the picture, without watching the video.  Eeeeeek!

Usually an animal is shared among families.  If it is a big animal, like the cow from last year, the extras will be given to the poor. After they finished with Bessie, which we lovingly named last years cow, all the women sat down with big vats and started cutting and cubing.  It is traditional for the cow to be named.  In fact, a lot of times the children will be allowed to play with the animal and grow somewhat attached to it.  In this way that may gain a small understanding of how Abraham must have felt by obeying God and giving up his son.  Of course, his son's outcome was much better than Bessies.  One the other side of their gate were a line of very happy, laughing and smiling poor people from the neighborhood.  They lifted bag after bag up over the gate and all the people went home knowing that their families would be able to celebrate the feast with full bellies.

In case you find this a cruel and horrible act of Middle Eastern violence, a friend reminded me yesterday that next week Americans will be doing the same thing with millions of Turkeys.  Happy Feasting!  

Somewhere beyond the sea

For those who wonder if I am still alive or if I ever will post again, here I am.  I actually have written about 5 posts this month.  That's not a huge amount, but some posts are for posting and some are just for processing.  So this the post to start them up again.

October, like our cat, just ran away from us.  About a week ago the weather here has cooled down and that has made life so much better.  Jubilee had fall term break and we did something that was long over due.  We went to the Red Sea again.  Unless you have lived in Cairo, you may never fully understand the importance of a trip like this.

It was wonderful for several reasons, but the main one is that our children are finally old enough to play well together without much interference from Mom and Dad.  Theo has stopped putting everything in his mouth and was pleasantly cautious to not go in the water by himself.  I also realized that all my kids have been sleeping through the night.  I don't even know when that started...I just now thought of it.  We did return with stuffy noses and sore throats, but at least we were well relaxed to deal with it.

Now that I am on this side of our 3 night get-a-way, I am faced with the reality of what the next month entails.  In just short of a month we will be sending across the oceans our small worldly lot, mostly my husbands books but also pots and pans, toys, etc., ahead of us.  We will be saying goodbyes and making our  final memories of Egypt.  Last night we bought our tickets and now have a return date of Dec. 11th.  We come back on 12/11/10 @9 (It's a bit silly, I know).

Last night I had an anxiety dream that included first tastes of peaches, snow slides, giant cookies, bubbles blown at the wrong time, left items, and time limits.  It was a long dream, to say the least, that I insisted on my husband listening to before I drank my cup of coffee and lost the details.  After thinking about it today I felt like I was trying to take care of my own needs and the children's needs and make sure that nothing got left behind.  That is my worry right now.  I don't know how we will all feel in a month but I am trying to be proactive to provide the easiest transition possible.  Ultimately, as much as I would like to have full control of every detail of our return, it will be much better if I just give it to God.