We Finally Did Something Interesting

So, contrary to what you might think, our lives are not all that glamorous. Sure, we've seen and done some pretty cool things, but our days are more likely to be filled with things like, "She's looking at me," "Do not make me tell you one more time," or "Really? You're hot? I can't imagine why."

But last night we got a taxi and went over to the Nile and hired a falucca--a boat--to take us on a ride. We took dinner along and had a picnic while we enjoyed the view. We were out for about an hour, and we seem to have timed it just right because we caught the sunset.

Waiting for the ride to begin:
This is our cap'n, getting the ship ready to go:
Some other boats at the dock:

Leaving the dock:
Oh my but Sam was so excited. He spent the whole hour running back and forth saying, "Bo!" (Boat, in case you couldn't figure that out. It's kinda like code.) This is a new addition to his vocabulary. Or rather, "vocabulary," since all it really consists of is animal noises and identifying forms of transportation. But either way, he was darn happy to be riding on a bo.
Here's another ship. The orange sails are big advertisements for Mobinil, one of the cell phone companies here. It's in English on one side and Arabic on the other. Emma had a lot of fun waving at every boat that came close enough to us that you could see the other passengers. Thus we had a lot of people waving at us. One man called out, "Where are you from?" and Kevan answered, "California!" To which the man said, "Why you not say, 'America?' California is not an independent nation!" And our only answer to that was, "It thinks it is."
Pensive Maggie:
The only picture we could get Sam into with the other kids:

Y'know that picture at the top of the blog? Not an anomaly.
See?
All of us but Kev. Notice that Sam is being held down. Also notice the expression on Megan's face. It is classic Mags. It says, "I'm smiling, I'm doing what you said to do, but I am sooo not paying attention."
And here is where it became clear just how cool our falucca driver was. We thought this was our last glimpse of the sunset:

See? No more light (and also what a falucca looks like with its sail out).
But then, he turned the boat and angled it just right as he was taking us back toward the dock that we were able to get every last bit of sunlight.
Really the only advantage to the pollution is really great sunsets.

Going...
...going...
...gone. This time for good.
Back on land, at the top of the stairs leading down to the dock.
Shortly after this, we were crossing the street to get to our taxi, and Jessica almost got hit by a car. Seriously, if she hadn't frozen the second I yelled out her name, she would have been creamed. The guy was speeding up and everything. So this is what we're realizing Cairo is like--the truly amazing cohabitating with the truly strange/downright scary.

We've also figured out that "Walk like an Egyptian" is really just a handy tip for how to get around the streets while dealing with a complete lack of discernible traffic laws.

On the good news front, we will be getting our household goods delivered on Saturday evening. This is very good. Kids will have toys, I will have things to organize, life will be grand.

I also want to thank everyone for being so kind and supportive of us. You all leave the best comments, and I totally stink at replying to them. I am most impressed with how many of you knew the song reference in the last post title, and Nathan, you did not teach it to me. Robin, I am not even a little surprised that you have it on iTunes. Tamara, I have always been funky ;) No, really. (Nathan, no need to pipe up on that one, thanks.)

Oh, and what's a blog post from me without a quote from Megan? Useless, that's what. We're in the taxi on our way home, and she collapses back into her seat, lets out a huge sigh, and says, "This is the sweatiest day of my WHOLE life!"