Conversation with Kevan

Or maybe that should be "Konversation with Kevan"

But anyway...

Me: How was your ride to the embassy this morning?
Kev: Good. I missed the shuttle though, so I took a taxi.
Everso informational sidenote: Cairo taxi drivers are cray-to-the-Z. Seriously. But there are also some good ones--you'll still get a wild ride, but at least they know the city and/or can read a map. Y'know, minor things like that.
Me: Oh yeah? Did you get a good driver or a bad one?
Kev: Oh, he was a really good driver. He was bobbin' and weavin' that taxi through spaces a bicycle shouldn't've fit.
Me: So he was a man after your own heart then!?
Kev: Yeah...he was my kind of driver.

Newsflash! Egypt is hot!

So we've been here for almost 36 hours now, and about, oh, 35 hours ago we declared an at least year-long hiatus on anyone at any time declaring themselves to be "hot" (unless, of course, they're speaking aesthetically; that's always permissable ;), because, well, no duh.

Our trip here was looong, made longer by He Who Shall Not Be Liked refusing to fall asleep except for the first and last hours of the 11-hour flight. Lucky for him, we've already forgiven him, what with his extreme cuteness and all.

We flew from Salt Lake to JFK and arrived 20 minutes early, which we thought was great, since we only had an 80-minute layover to begin with. And then we sat on the runway for an hour and a half waiting for a gate. Thank goodness we brought along Kevan and his mad running-while-carrying-two-heavy-bags-and-two-heavier-children skillz. We got to the gate after the last boarding call, but made it on board in the nick of time. And then we sat on the runway for another hour. So fun! The flight itself was fine. The flight attendants and the people around us were all nice and very helpful, and the kids were well-behaved (even though we had somehow managed to forget to bring more than four crayons, go figure). Megan was next to the only seat on the whole plane that was empty, and she totally sprawled when she slept. I thought for sure the really big guy that was on the other side of the empty seat would take it over, but he kept himself tightly confined in his seat the whole time. It was pretty funny to see him--big, tall, and big--only taking up one seat, and her--short, little, and tiny--taking up two. She even had a leg in the aisle. Megan also gets credit for our favorite quote of the flight: when I took her on her second visit to the bathroom, we went to the back instead of the ones nearer our seats because the line was shorter, and when we squeezed into it, she said, "Hey! This is just like the other one! Only grosser!"

According to the map that showed us where our plane was, we flew over some really cool places, but it was always either too dark or too cloudy to see anything. By the time we had a combination of both sunshine and clear skies, we were already past all land and could only see the Mediterranean. We flew right over downtown Cairo (but didn't go far enough south to see the pyramids, unfortunately), and the kids were really excited to see the Nile. Sam's favorite part, I think, was the bus that took us from the plane to the terminal. It has "lellow" handles to hang on to, see, and that is very cool. We were met in the airport by an "expediter" from the embassy who took our passports and then basically whisked us through customs. 7 people, 14 bags, 1 hour at the airport--not a bad deal! The Marine who's finishing up her FAO training year here met us outside with two embassy vans and took us to the hotel. I guess I've been driving with Kevan for too long, because what I experienced of the crazy Cairo driving didn't phase me too much. Though, in fairness, traffic was pretty light. The kids enjoyed seeing the 3 donkey carts we passed, the bull in the back of the tiny pick-up truck, and the guy sleeping on top of a full truckload of watermelons.

We spent the afternoon trying to stay awake, with varying degrees of success, and finally decided to give up and go get dinner at 3:30. We walked to a near-by restaurant, ate, and then made our way back. And I know that I've had a pretty mild introduction to it thus far, and I know we're in one of the better neighborhoods, but I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to use the phrase "taking your life into your own hands" in regards to being a pedestrian in Cairo.

The food and the walk succeeded in waking us all up enough to make it to bedtime, and we all slept really deeply. Kevan got up early this morning to go in to the embassy, and I got up with him, but only made it about two hours before I had to go back to bed. The kids were still asleep, so I figured I'd just sleep until they woke up. At noon, I woke to a phone call and discovered that everyone was still racked out. Megan was the hardest to wake up, but I finally got us all up, fed, and dressed. The kids thought it was just the neatest thing that we had breakfast at 12:30. I aim to please. Jessica pronounced it to be her first act of "teenage sleeping 'til noon." We spent the rest of the day in much the same way--lazy as all get out. We experimented with some Egyptian food for dinner, with several hits and couple of misses, but it was fun to try.

Oh, and they told Kevan today that we should be able to move into our apartment on the 9th. The kids are so happy that Sam doesn't have to be homeless for his birthday.

Leaving, Jet Plane, blah blah blah

We're leaving for Cairo first thing in the morning! Aaahh! I'll post again as soon as I can after we get there to let you know if a) we're still alive and/or b) still have custody of our children. In the meantime, spend your day tomorrow being grateful you're not on a 17-hour plane trip with 5 children, one of whom is Sam.

Also, I have a big long post preatty much ready to go telling all about our last couple of months, but I've been having problems with both pictures and internet access the whole time we've been in Utah. So maybe Cairo will be easier? Ahahaha. Heh. That was a pretty funny joke, huh?

Ok then, off to finish packing! Woo!

Houston, we have a teenager!

On Thursday, Jessica turned 13. She immediately started slamming doors, being alternately flippant and sullen, and listening to loud music. We immediately locked her in her room. She will be released on her 20th birthday. You can tell by the picture the extreme personality change that has come over her. We just don't know what else to do.

A few months ago, Jessica asked if we would still be in California for her birthday, and was disappointed to hear that we wouldn't. But when I told her we would be in Utah, the wheels in her brain started turning, and she exclaimed, "That means HOLLY can make my birthday cake!"

Now, for those of you who don't know my friend Holly, she is pretty great. We met in 7th grade English in 1985, and we still like each other. We attribute the longevity of our friendship to many things--shared likes, dislikes, and shoe size, to name a few--but truly, it all boils down to a shared love: baked goods. When we were freshmen, we would walk everyday from school to downtown Salt Lake and go to the basement of ZCMI where we would buy 33 cent giant donuts (seriously, those puppers were HUGE! and 33 cents!) and eat them on the way to catch the bus home. (Oh to have my teenage metabolism back.) Well, several years ago, Holly took this love of all things pastry beyond merely appreciation and consumption and into the realm I like to call "Show Off." Oh, I kid. She took up cake decorating, and the girl is seriously awesome. Over the years she's made a few cakes for some of my kids if our visits to Utah or her visits to us have coincided with their birthdays, and a couple of years ago she mailed me a cake for my birthday (told you--awesome!), but she's never made one for Jess. So you can see why the thought of getting a Holly Cake was enough to take away the sting of not being with her friends on her entrance to teenage-dom. Boy howdy did Holly come through.

Behold:
And it tasted even better than it looks!