One Child Inspires

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 3:09 PM


The News Tribune / Tacoma, WA
Word on the Street
December 16, 2009 - Tacoma, WA

Lakewood police officer pens Christmas story
Posted By Mike Archbold on December 16, 2009 at 9:50 am

A little boy and his toy dinosaur who came by the Lakewood Office Department
station last Sunday to honor the four slain police officers touched an
officer enough that the officer wanted to share the story in a Christmas
letter to friends.

One of the friends who received the letter, Tukwila police officer Mike
Murphy, said he and his fellow officers were so touched by the story that
they thought it should be shared with the community.

Murphy said the officer who wrote it agreed but wanted to remain anonymous.

"It is just a story of one child reaching out and helping heal the pain we
have all suffered," Murphy said in his e-mail. "Our only goal in sending it
is to reach out to our community and thank them for this and all the other
love and support they have sent us through this very difficult time."

The Christmas story is reprinted below:

December 13, 2009

I'm not much for writing Christmas letters, and in fact this year, I didn't
even feel like making the effort of buying and addressing Christmas cards at
all. I'm sure you all have heard of the terrible tragedy that occurred here
in Lakewood two weeks ago today - four of our officers, four people that
have become my friends over the past 5 years as we all worked here together,
were gunned down as they sat in a coffee shop. Three fathers and a mother -
all of whom were dedicated to their jobs and their families - now dead. The
grief at our station and in our community has been overwhelming and we have
all now just barely begun to process what this means for our department and
for police departments all across our state and nation. Several times since
this event happened, police agencies have responded to reports of
individuals across King and Pierce Counties causing commotions and claiming
to be planning to kill more officers. We do our best to maintain our
composure and continue to do our jobs the best that we can.

It is hard not to remain bleak and jaded with these events so fresh in our
minds. But something happened today, just 20 minutes ago, which made me want
to send out a Christmas letter. I'm here at work and was just out in our
secure parking lot helping another officer load collection bins into his car
to take to a local Lakewood Police Independent Guild fundraiser event. I
heard a woman, standing with a boy who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4
years old, calling, "Excuse me...." through our locked gate. She had
apparently been trying to get to our front counter but found no one there,
it being Sunday, and had just happened to see us in the parking lot. I
walked over to her and saw that the little boy was holding a plastic baggy
containing a dollar and some change, and was clutching a well-worn stuffed
dinosaur.

The woman told me that her son, AJ, had seen the stories on tv about our 4
slain officers. She said that they had driven to our station all the way
from Kingston because her son was so intent on helping the children of these
officers. I opened the gate and the boy handed me the plastic baggy
containing all the money from his piggybank and a note on which he had
written "AJ....From me to Pleec. I Love You." And then, with tears in his
eyes, he handed me his stuffed dinosaur. AJ's mom explained that he wanted
to give the children of the slain officers the most precious thing that he
owned, and that was his dinosaur, Bruno.

I told AJ that I would take the money that he wanted to donate, but that I
thought the best thing he could do for the children of our 4 officers was to
keep Bruno safe with him but to keep those kids in his heart when he hugged
his dinosaur. He agreed and gratefully took Bruno back from me and held him
tightly as if he never wanted to let him go again.

We have seen many, many acts of generosity and kindness over the past 2
weeks. We have hugged more friends and strangers than we could have ever
imagined and have mended broken ties with people we haven't talked to for
years. Yet nothing has touched me deeper, or given me more hope for the
future, than AJ and his stuffed dinosaur. I gave AJ one of our department
challenge coins, explaining to him that we only gave them out to the bravest
and most deserving people we came across. I hope he will realize someday how
much more than a dollar and some change he gave to me and to the Lakewood
Police Department today.

So anyway, none of that is about Christmas, but it is about hope and love
and I thought it was appropriate to share this holiday season.

I hope this letter finds all of you well and eager to spend the holidays
with those you love. Squeeze everyone a little tighter and hug them a little
longer today because life really is precious. Merry Christmas!

Great Quotes About Learning & Change

Found in Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/858082@N25/pool/show/

The Grand Adventure - Wordle

www.wordle.net

The Grand Adventure is Drawing to a Close

Hi everyone,

At the moment I am in London and this time tomorrow I will be happily in my own bed, so you're looking at the last of my emails (yay!). I am looking forward to enjoying so many familiarities and comforts of home that I have been doing without for the past 33 days, including not-living-out-of-a-suitcase!!

So, we went to Spain. Dan, Tracy & I piled all our stuff into Dan's car and we took a road trip north. The border between Morocco & Spain is totally insane. These guys run up to your car and give you a border entry card, (and expect payment, of course), then you fill it out and have to park your car - right at the border - and go to a wicket to get the stamp. Then you go through about 4 or 5 passport checks and questions from men who sometimes look like they are buddy-down-the-street and are sometimes carrying guns. It's all chaos - people bud in line, yell over top of each other... and it was a Sunday when we went!

Anyways, we arrived in Ceuta/Sebta (Spanish/Arabic) and it was a lovely departure from our travels so far. Like being back in Europe. Tracy got us by with her Spanish skills (is there any language she doesn't speak?? apparently she hasn't been formally trained in either Pig Latin or Arabic) and we had an awesome time, soaking up the atmosphere. We walked around town, ate ice cream, took photos, soaked our feet in the Mediterranean and went to a pizzeria for dinner.

Ok, so we're at the Pizzeria and the server asks if we want to share a Caeser salad to start, and we agree. Let me tell you what was in the salad. No, wait, let me tell you what wasn't in the salad: the kitchen sink! It had lettuce, tomato, corn, artichokes, rice, olives, carrots, cucumbers, palm hearts, tuna, beets... and more. We're not kidding. And strange thing is, it was pretty good! But it ain't no Ceasar salad!!

The next day (Monday), we got up early and drove back to Rabat. Dan only tried to kill us a couple of times by looking somewhere else other than the road, but little does he know how hearty we are from weeks of crossing the street in Egypt! So, we made it all the way to the train station unscathed. Sad goodbye to Dan who was a very generous host - thanks Dan!!

Arriving in Marrakech, we checked in to our Riad and two young guys seemed to be running the place. They amused themselves greatly by continually quoting us ridiculous times for things - i.e. 4 hours to get to the airport, 3 hour walk to get to the main square, etc. However they were really friendly and helpful once they had their laugh. The Riad was very nice, as well. My only complaint is that there was no door on the bathroom (just a curtain), and you don't realize how important that is until you don't have one! Yeesh.

We walked to the main square which was called Jemaa El Fna, and it was crazy there at night! So alive with kiosks selling orange juice, crowds of people around storytellers, food stands, henna tattoo artists, kids trying to sell you tissue, and shopping shopping shopping. Marrakech is the Moroccan city most like Egypt in that people hassled us the most here out of any place in Morocco.

Tracy had another henna done on her hand and we decided to walk back to our Riad. Then, I was rudely welcomed to Marrkech by having a tomato thrown at me!! I was shocked and dismayed; I certainly do love my vegetables, but not when used in an unfriendly projectile sort of manner. There were Arabic guys walking on the street towards us and they were really shocked too, apologizing and making sure all was ok. I was pretty upset - but we wrote it off to random kids driving by and being idiots. Everybody else in Morocco has been so nice, it was such a shame, really. Washed out my clothes when I got back to the Riad.

The next day we took Marrakesh by storm and we spent time again at Jemaa El Fna (saw snake-charmers!), the Tombeaux, Marjorelle Gardens (an oasis in the middle of the insanity; we loved it), Palace ruins, Marrakech Museum, Ben Youssef and some famous monument thingy that we don't even know what it was - but was neat anyways.

Totally strange coincidence - while at the Museum we ran into 2 people that were staying at our Dar in Fes! Really specific places to be running into each other. Almost creepy... :) And then at the airport later we ran into more people that were staying at that Dar in Fes! What a small, small world. There were only 3 people at the Dar that we didn't see in a different Moroccan city (the strange English/French family that kepy insulting Tracy... maybe it was good that we didn't run in to them).

Our last Moroccan meal was delicious; cucumber soup, Moroccan chicken curry, vegetable pastry and poached pear & ice cream for dessert. We will definitely miss the food! Our last night in Morocco was a little annoying because there was really loud music going on at some neighbouring building - and it went on all-night-long!! Seriously, it was still going when we woke up this morning at 5:45am.

So, we flew to London. We had a proper English meal of fish n' chips and we stocked up on snacks and whatnot for travels ahead. I fly home tomorrow and Tracy has a few more days in the UK before she's back in the GVRD.

Here's some random thoughts:
- we've tried 4 types of Fanta: apple, orange, black current & lemon.
- the Moroccans eat their french fries with dijon mustard; Tracy has now converted.
- we saw several instances of Moroccans hitting their children out in public. Hard. :(
- shoving clothes into your bag willy-nilly makes them really wrinkled, but sweating de-wrinkle-fies anything pretty quick.
- there was regularly no shower curtain and you need a certain amount of skill to not get the bathroom floor flooded.
- I have eaten more pizza and drank more pop on this trip than any other one food/drink.
- there's no row 13 in airplanes? Like elevators I guess. I mean, who wants to sit in row 13 in a flying tin can?
- my Canada flag keychain was stolen off my suitcase. It would have been very difficult to remove. My carabeener clips got stolen off my luggage, but they would have been easy.
- a bunch of songs I paid for through iTunes, about 30 of them, still 'play' on my iPhone but with no sound. I have restarted the phone but to no avail. Strange! They were definitely working before, and went blank about halfway through my trip. Anyone know why?
- I have played inordinate amounts of cribbage on my iPhone and am now convinced that I am a better player. Anyone wanna take me on?
- if I were to do Morocco again, I would do Marrakech first, then Fes, then end with Dan in Rabat because it was so nice to have some real relaxing time without a crazy agenda.
- how do pilots know, when they are flying right IN the clouds, that there isn't another airplane in there coming the other way?? Karl??

Thanks all of you for reading these emails (or, well, for receiving them anyways!). Typing out my experiences is much faster than writing them all down and they are often things I want to remember too. Hopefully you've gotten a giggle or some helpful info out of them at one point or another. I'll send links to photos sometime in the next few weeks.

If you are in the GVRD, look me up before I go back to work on Sep 8th! If not, I hope we can get together sometime soon for a visit. Take care, and be good.

Cheers,
Elaan

Rock the Kasbah

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note this time.

We are in Rabat, staying at my friend Dan's place and it has been awesome - a great change of pace and nice to actually be in someone's home rather than dealing with room cleaners, check-out times, and sometimes unfriendly staff! Dan has been great and his two kids are a riot - two girls, 9 and 10 years old. They and the cat, Fudge, keep us entertained all the time. :)

Yesterday Dan took us out and we went to the Chellah (my nickname for it: the Chinchilla) which was like old castle ruins dating back to the Roman civilization. It's also a breeding ground for storks. Storks are very large, and it's certainly something to watch them fly around. We saw more lush greenery, flora & fauna in the Chellah than anywhere else on the trip so far.

After the Chellah, we went to the beach and the Kasbah. It was amazing. There were locals jumping off huge rocks into the crystal blue water (posted a photo on FB for your viewing pleasure). Yesterday was Tracy`s birthday and she had the choice between McDonald`s McFlurrys or an ice cream cake. She chose the McFlurry and we ended off the very hot afternoon with a great treat. N.B. - Moroccan McFlurrys are just sundaes; they don`t mix anything. They were still pretty good.

Came back to the pad and relaxed and then Dan made an amazing dinner of salmon, potatoes, pasta salad and garden salad. Yum & double-yum. The great day was capped off with a view of the ocean sunset from the roof, accompanied by a glass of lovely Spanish wine.

Today we went to the Rabat medina. Very different from the Fes medina. We did a little shopping and now have no idea how to fit anything in our luggage or how to get it home. Woes of a traveller!

Dan & the girls went out tonight so Tracy and I made our own dinner of pasta & salad and it was pretty scrumptious if we do say so ourselves!

Tomorrow, we go to Spain. A city right on the tip of Morocco belongs to Spain and we have to go across the border to get there. Should be great. After that we part ways with Dan & his family and head to Marrakech - and then London - and then home! Not sure how many more emails I will be sending. :)

Hope all is well at home and things have cooled down for you guys,
xo
Elaan

Funky Hot Medina

Hi everyone!

Ok, so it's my intention to send this email to you twice - the first time with an attachment (a voice clip from me!!) and the second time without, in case some people have trouble downloading/opening attachments. If you get the first email ok, then just delete the second one. :)

Where did I leave you last...? Ah yes, back in Egypt.

On our tour they would often give us a "welcome drink" at some of the places/businesses that we visited. It was Tang. Tang is big in Egypt, it seems. Strange thing is, we were advised not to drink the tap water in Egypt, although the locals drink it with no problem. Given that Tang is an orange-flavoured powder, I asked my tour leader if these places were mixing their Tang with the tap water, and he said no - that it was made with bottled water. RIGHT. I don't believe that for a second. And neither should you.

When going to an Egyptian restaurant, this is how it will generally go:
1. You tell them what you want.
2. They bring the food and you tell them what you ordered so they can give it to you.
3. They will not bring you your bill until you ask.
4. You have to tell them what you ordered so that they can figure out how much you owe.
5. What they say you owe is not actually what you should owe according to the menu, and they hope you don't notice this.
6. You pay with cash, and they will deny that they have any change.

Oh, and the cleanliness of food and drink? They don't have standards like at home. I mentioned that they drink the tap water, right? And that they get the tap water from the Nile? And that their sewage goes in the Nile? (I hope your sister doesn't do much travelling Lauren - she'd never eat!)

The light switches here are backwards - you push down to turn them on and upwards to turn them off. When I get home I will probably be doing it backwards. I will also probably ignore people when they talk to me, be afraid to cross the street, and brush my teeth with bottled water. I wonder if my daily pop quota will make its way back to North America, too - all the good dental habits I acquired are going to waste! D'oh.

For our last night in Cairo, we changed hotels and stayed in a really nice one called the Meridien Heliopolis. The guy that drove us there was the only person I had seen in Egypt that used turn signals. It was neato! His name was Ehab. I remember his name because I was thinking about Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Ya, ok, random. Whatevs.

In the fancy hotels that we have been staying in, there is usually a bidet in the bathroom. How exactly do you use a bidet, anyways? I mean, are you supposed to SIT on it? IN it? I can see all sorts of SNL skits coming out of the experimentation with the bidet. What if you got stuck in the bidet? My butt is a little wider than some of the ones we've seen... hehe.

So, we travelled from Cairo to Milan, and all I have to say about that is: it's nearly impossible to not notice when then guy beside you on the airplane is having an anxiety attack. Yep, lucky me, the guy beside me seemed very afraid of flying. He nearly hyperventilated during takeoff. Thing is, when it's an Arab MAN, you pretty much don't want to be friendly for fear that you are giving the wrong impression. Anyways, the flight was not full and he eventually moved to an empty row so he could spaz-out in private.

Then we were back in Italy. Ahhhh, being able to trust the food/water again is such a luxury! We only had a few hours there - stayed at another very lovely hotel and then were up at the godawful hour of 2:30am to get on our airport shuttle bus. This time we were flying out of Bergamo airport. Note to self: Italian airports don't make finding bathrooms very easy.

Back on the airplane again. This time flying Ryanair from Milan to Fes in Morocco. Ryanair is the cheapest airline ever, and they nickel and dime you for every service you could possibly want. Which means, it's not very good service. Case in point: they let a woman on the airplane that shouldn't have been there. SHE thought she was supposed to be there, but they did not. Why they didn't discover this before she actually made it on the plane, I don't know. So we sat on the tarmac for an hour and Tracy & I had a front row seat and watched the woman scream at various airport employees. The police finally came, she was taken away, and the whole airplane erupted in applause. And so we were off to Morocco.

When we arrived in Fes we had to go through customs of course and we got pulled aside for a health check and I got interrogated a bit. I got interrogated in French. Did I mention that I don't speak French? I actually knew what the guy was saying, but couldn't answer him appropriately ("zut alors!" , "mon dieu!" and "j'adore le francais, ca va?" came to mind) or quickly enough. Thank goodness for Tracy!! She saved me. I had visions of being hauled off to a Moroccan jail before she came to my rescue.

We were picked up at the Fes airport and taken to our Dar - a Dar is like a guest house. We stayed in Dar El Hana, which was right in the center of the medina. The medina is a section of the city, usually enclosed by walls, that has a billion streets that run in every direction and is home to a bazillion people and shops. There are 9000 streets in the Fes medina - okay, so that's not a billion, but it might as well be. It's still insane. You can get lost for hours in there - another reason why we needed to get picked up.

As soon as I got in the medina, I noticed very strong smells. I thought it was going to be like the Egyptian markets, but it was different in a number of ways. For example, we rarely got talked to. Where it's a constant harassment in Egypt everywhere you go, for the most part in Morocco they leave you alone. The odd person tries to talk to you or sell you something, but coming from Egypt we were well-rehearsed in ignoring people. There are donkeys and carts and motorbikes all vying for space in the narrow roads, whereas it was mainly pedestrian traffic in Egypt.

There are cats everywhere, like Egypt. They seem to get fed more in Fes - the shopkeepers will give them raw meat scraps and such. It still strikes me as rather sad.

We had dinner at our Dar, two nights in a row. Oh wow, is Moroccan food ever GOOD. The cook made Tajine, which is slow-cooked meat and spices and fruit in a clay pot. Last night we had chicken and apricots - yummm. The breakfasts are good too -- fruit and yogurt and honey and Moroccan pancakes with butter and jams.

While staying at the Dar, we had dinner with another family. They live in France, but the husband was English. Tracy talked about her family connections to England, and the husband proceeded to say that everyone from that her particular town were redneck hicks and strange ducks. She wasn't impressed. Then he asked me about Canada's political position in Iraq - to which I almost laughed. Can you imagine someone asking me about Canadian politics? Ha ha ha. Well anyways, despite those things, the family was pretty nice.

Yesterday we did a little shopping in the Fes medina and I picked up a couple of things but I am not much of a shopper when I travel. I'm not much of a shopper at home - when I have to carry it around on my back it's even less attractive. Still, I bargained myself a little Moroccan bag even though I hate bargaining! Why can't people just say what the actual price is?? Sheesh. :)

Today we left Fes and carried our heavy bags all through the medina, and I have never sweat so much in my life. I was the Elaan-filling in a donkey sandwich a couple of times, when I was caught in an inopportune moment in the medina. The donkeys give way to nobody. I almost got knocked over, too. It is rather treacherous at the best of times, and when you add another huge pack on your back, medium pack on your front... it gets even worse. But hey, what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger! And sometimes smellier!

We caught a lovely air-conditioned train to Rabat, and there my friend Dan was waiting to pick us up with his 2 lovely daughters. He gave us a quick tour of the school where he works, then took us for a "North American" meal at T.G.I. Friday's. Then we saw an amazing sunset at the beach, went his place where Tracy & I high-fived over the washing machine (yay!!) and settled in. Can't wait to just do whatever, without a schedule and stress.

Home soon, hope y'all are well!
Elaan

p.s. thanks for making it to the end of the longest-email-EVER!

Seeing the sights of Cairo, and then some

Hi all,

All over Egypt there are half-built buildings everywhere. Everything seems to be in a state of either creation or disrepair. There will be huge stretches of land, and then a tiny little hut, half-built, in the middle of it. Mudi says this is because the government will only sell/give pieces of land to people who build on it within a certain period of time. So they half-build something in order to keep ownership of their land.

Lots of fully-built buildings are crumbling and dirty and look totally unsafe for habitation, but you see the telltale signs of life all over: laundry hanging outside, A/C units fastened to the outside of the building, and satellite dishes. I thought it was strange that there were satellite dishes pretty much everywhere, even on the worst buildings in the worst areas of town (or at least the ones we saw - we probably never even got near the worst area of town!), but it's the way of life here.

I know I have remarked on the garbage here already; people throw their trash on the ground as easily as they walk. It's disgusting. Yesterday Tracy and I went for a walk down the street from our hotel, and we had to get off the sidewalk and walk in the street because there were huge piles of garbage blocking the way. As we did, an Egyptian man said to us, "yes, walk over here, it is much better. Sorry, but this is how it is in Egypt."

Pedestrian street traffic is primarily men and infrequently women. Mudi says that Egyptian women stay home with the kids while the Dad works, and when I asked if it was ever the other way around, he said that an Egyptian man would rather be dead than to take care of his kids all day and have his wife support him.

So we climbed up Mt. Sinai. It is the highest point in Egypt, and apparently has something to do with Moses?... hehe. There is a monastery at the bottom of the mountain that we had toured earlier that day and learned all about St. Catherine. That evening we got our stuff together and started the hike with our bonafide Bedouin guide. I compare it to hiking the Chief, because I thought I was going to die and it seemingly was never going to end. But then, when I thought I could take no more, it turned into the Grouse Grind and consisted of 750 slab steps to the top - what a nightmare. Tracy loved every minute of it of course, and kept saying, "This is so much fun! This is awesome!" People that were suffering (as was I) silently/not-so-silently cursed her at those moments.

Anyways, we made it and it took us only 2.5 hours to get there. We didn't die. And we got to the top and watched a great sunset with the most amazing views of the mountains all around us. It was rather heavenly. But then, as were starting to feel complete as human beings, we had to go down again. No chairlift - no gondola - no donkey - no camel. IN THE DARK. Ya, I thought it was a little nuts to be walking along this rock trail, along big dropoffs and sand and rocks and next to certain death or injury with only a flashlight. But hey, let's just say it was a bonding experience for us. I will also say that I need a wayyyyyy better flashlight than the one I have. Anyways we all made it unscathed, another 2 hours later.

And back to Cairo we came. Today we saw the Citadel, Alabaster Mosque and the Cairo markets. Oh, and an Egyptian hospital - but that wasn't on the itinerary. It was an unscheduled stop but well worth it and with good results (antibiotics). Tomorrow we have one more day in Cairo and then Tracy & I fly back to Milan before heading to Morocco!

Some random observations/thoughts/comments:
- The elevators commonly have level 0 (zero), and one we've seen even had a -1 floor.
- We get stared at a lot. Kids wanted to take our photo today cause they had never seen Westerners outside of TV before.
- Tracy has somehow earned the nickname of "angel" or "St. Tracy". Wonder what that makes me. ;)
- We saw a camel in the back of a pickup truck.
- We saw a guy riding a bike, while balancing a huge flat (maybe 8x5') of bread on his head.
- The billboards/advertisements that we've seen that feature women NEVER show women wearing the headscarf.
- Mudi says you have to give money evenly to multiple child beggars or they will kill each other to get the money from one.
- 5 hours is much too long to wait for a bathroom break.

Hope all is well at home. Any news going on besides the heat wave hitting YVR?
xo
Elaan

Burn Baby Burn

Hi everyone

There is all sorts of interesting street traffic here in Egypt. Try to imagine cars, public buses, greyhound-style buses, motorcycles (never helmets), donkeys pulling carts, people riding donkeys, people riding camels, bicycles made into flatbed carts, horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians, beggars... all swarming the street at once. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to anything, and yet there is. Most of the time it seems to work. Although, while in Cairo we DID see a pretty bad car crash, and when our taxi took us to our hotel he nonchalantly smashed off someone's side mirror (obviously it was their own fault since everyone else on that extremely narrow street had their mirrors pulled in).

Everyone here is driven by money, money, money. The tourist industry is big and everyone's in on it. When we have long bus rides we make occasional stops at public washrooms and coffee shops to give everyone a break, and there are always beggars, toilet attendants, and sometimes there's even entertainment - like the muslim women who paraded around donkeys with baby goats balancing on their backs (I didn't pay to take a photo of that, but if it was a goat on a donkey on a CAMEL then that I would have paid to see!) or the guy who um, shall we say, kinda made all kissy-face with his camel. Ew. Still trying to forget about that one - maybe passing it on to you will help. :P

I kind of think it's a shame that many Arab men can be a little smarmy. While I generally just (inwardly or outwardly) roll my eyes, when you are by yourself or clearly outnumbed it can feel a little uncomfortable. We have gotten a few offers of marriage and some have loudly declared their single status in order to lure us away to their den of Egyptian love. A guy got right in my face and asked, "how many goats for you?" As usual, you pretty much don't react, pretend you don't understand them, and don't make eye contact. Our tour leader Mudi is very helpful and he tells them all to back off if they give us any hassle, but that's only if they don't realize that he's with us; they don't mess with their own. Anyways, I think it's kind of a shame because it makes me reluctant to have real conversations with the people here, even when in totally different, friendly and respectful settings because I start worrying about what their motives are or what they are thinking. I don't really feel free to be myself.

Anyways. Our last night in Luxor we had a tour of the city in horse-drawn carriages and we ended up at the Luxor Temple which looks amazing all lit up at night. Posted a photo of it on FB so you can see. It is an amazing place and I can't really describe the feeling that you get from being there -- I want to touch everything (but I don't) with wonderment and I can't believe that kings and queens walked there and people 5000 years ago carved those stones and made those monuments. What are people going to be looking at 5000 years from now?

There is precious little to do in Hurghadab, unless you want to PAY to go to the beach. That's right, all the beachfront belongs to hotels, and our hotel was not on the beach. The Egypt guidebook describes Hurghadab as a tourist-mess, and that's about right. It was not terribly impressive. We only had one night there, so we just did some walking around, relaxed, recharged and spent a night out at the local bar. It was pretty fun - great live band, good company and amusing cheesy ninja show with a dude walking on glass and stepping on knives, etc.

Upon our arrival in Dahab, we were taken to a resort village (called the "Happy Life Village") which for most people is basically an all-inclusive getup with awesome beachfront, 3 pools, swim-up bars, several restaurants (our breakfast was eaten in one that was built like a boat) and desert mountain views all around. It definitely feels a little luxurious; we're not complaining.

Yesterday evening we went out on the town and went ATVing/Quad-ing in the desert hills. It was awesome! I had the luck and misfortune of being the leader of our little pack; lucky because I had very little dirt and dust in my face like everyone behind me did, and misfortunate because the ATV leader-guy was sitting behind me yapping in my ear the whole time so I knew where to go. And he kept telling me to slow down so that we didn't lose the others in the group -- sheesh! I got up to 90km on the road but only 50km on the sand & rocks. It was SO MUCH FUN.

After that we went to an amazing seafood restaurant right on the water (they are all right on the water in Dahab) and they had these things called Mango Thickshakes - I drank all of mine before my meal ever arrived. Yum yum! We got to bed pretty late and were up again this morning to go snorkeling. We snorkeled around an amazing coral reef just off the coast - it was filled with life and colour, totally amazing. Purple fishes, orange fishes, striped fishes, mini jellyfishes, corals and rocks and life teeming everywhere- if only I had an underwater camera. Oh, and despite my best intentions and preparations, I burnt myself quite nicely today - all over my back. I guess it was only a matter of time.

For those that asked, yes I am feeling a little homesick. We are lucky to be busy most of the time though, so I am trying not to dwell on it.

The next few days we are off to climb Mount Sinai and I think I will be off the internet-radar again for a few days (okay, Mom??) but hopefully I will have lots to tell you when I get back online. Soon we will be back in Cairo to finish up our tour and shortly after we'll be heading to Morocco!

Hope all is well and you guys are surviving the heat!
xo
Elaan

Water Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink

Hi all

So no risk of dehydration really, cause we are drinking bottled water like crazy. I can barely get down half of the H2O I need at home, but here it is a total necessity. You are basically thirsty all the time - and we all carry 2L water jugs with us everywhere. We buy them cheap but will pay whatever we have to if we need. And they are best cold (of course) but they don't stay that way for long - so another reason to drink lots, and to drink often.

No recycling here. Garbage is a problem, too. A couple in our tour group watched as the waiter at our last hotel threw their empty pop cans into the Nile. THE NILE. What the heck?? People swim in there! And drink the water in there! I bet the sewage goes in there. It goes without saying that when offered a chance to refresh with a quick dip in the river, we all declined.

No real risk of sunburn either. Sounds strange, given that we are in such a hot place. And we do get up each morning, shower, and put sunscreen on... but truthfully we are pretty much covered up all the time. I am always wearing at least capri-length bottoms, and always have sleeves of some sort on top. So we just need to apply suncreen to ankles, arms and be careful about face & back of the neck, etc. If we are out in the direct sunlight we usually wear out hats, too. I fear that I will come home as white as I left, but with really tanned/burned forearms (should look great for your wedding Yuuko, ha!).

The tourist police are everywhere we go - all the sights and even parts of the city. They wear white uniforms and carry machine guns. They look rather imposing but some of them will offer to take a photo of you standing next to whatever, which is great. But then they want money. And they have a gun, so... ha, no it isn't as bad as all that, but yeah, this is a tipping culture and everybody wants a piece.

The public washrooms are pay, too. Technically they can't stop you from using it if you have no money, but they will not give you any toilet paper if you don't pay. I have all my own toilet paper with me, but I tip them anyways because many of the attendants seem to be poor and/or kids. It's only 1 Egyptian pound anyways - like 20 cents. I bet they make more money than we think!

We went to a restaurant a few days back that was like being on a farm. An area for cooking/eating, and an area for animals. There were camels, goats, birds, ponies, cats... etc. And you could take pictures of them if you wanted to pay. There are lots of cats that run around the streets here too, staying under your feet while you eat in hopes of getting some scraps. They are cute but not so cuddly... and no, I didn't try to cuddle them - you can just tell that they are not the snuggly kind!

This is a primarily Muslim country, so there is a call to prayer five times a day and unless you are working, you are supposed to face Mecca and do your thing. Sometimes it's a little distracting, especially when you are trying to sleep. Even when we were on the river in the felucca, it kept us awake from the city. They pretty much broadcast it everywhere. There is some Christianity here too - at our last hotel the Internet Cafe was adorned with Jesus everywhere. Seemed a bit out of place, actually.

Today we rode donkeys on our way to the Valley of the Kings. My donkey's name was Ali Baba and man, was he a stubborn ass! No but seriously, he would not do a darn thing that I told it to. I tried yanking on the rope, steering it, kicking it, yelling at it, making the requisite sound effects at it, but it still wanted to walk in the middle of the road where the oncoming traffic was approaching. I don't think he liked me. Or maybe he had given up on life. Or maybe he was kamikaze-donkey. Who knows...

After the Valley of the Kings (which was basically the desert with a bunch of tombs that were elaborately deisgned & decorated beneath the sand), we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - the only woman to have ever ruled Egypt. By that point it was SO hot that we were in and out of there like a flash. You get really efficient with your time and your camera when you have to be.

Tomorrow it's the Karnak Temple and the Luxor temple light show. Then the day after we move on to Hurghadab to do some beaching/frolicking/sunning. Relaxation, basically. I hope.

Thanks for listening to my latest update... :P Be good!
xo
Elaan

Walk Like An Egyptian

Hello everyone!

What I should say is, SWEAT like an Egyptian. Except that sweating doesn't seem to phase them much here, while I remain in a constant state of discomfort. Everyone sweats so much that I don't even really smell anyone. So, either I have gotten so used to the B.O. smell that I don't even notice, or perspiration actually recycles itself so often that it doesn't have time to stink. Like Tracy says, you should listen to anybody that tells you to avoid this place in July/August! I actually think this place would be a lot more paradise-like in December or March.

So we started our Egyptian tour a few days ago. The way that tours work is that they not only take you to the most popular tourist locations, but they also try to expose you to snippets of the culture, and arrange for you to have typical tourist experiences but under the safety and guidance of a group leader. Our group leader's name is Mudi, and he speaks English quite well and has a Masters degree in Egyptian History & Culture, which comes in handy.

Amidst seeing the pyramids and museums and temples, he also has arrangements with certain places that sell tourist souvenirs. For example, yesterday we went to a papyrus shop. They did a demo and explanation and then they try to sell you stuff. It can seem a bit annoying to have someone give you a sales pitch, but it's actually really informative and you know that the stuff is good quality and you aren't getting ripped off. Having said that, I haven't bought anything yet - my bag is heavy enough as it is!

One of the first activities we did with our group was to have an authentic Egyptian dinner called a Koshary - I think it literally means "mixture" - which is what it is, a mixture of stuff. Pasta, meat, lentils, chick peas, tomatoes... and you mix it all up with garlic sauce. It was YUM. I Loved it. It was awesome. And tasty. And flavourful. And... I woke the next morning sick to my stomach. And so begins my love/hate relationship with Egyptian food. It's REALLY good - but I try to mix it with a fair amount of bland stuff (breads, buns, rice, plain pasta, french fries etc.) so that I am not upsetting my delicate system too much, hehe! It's been 5 days in Egypt and everybody in our group except 2 have been less than 100% at one point or another.

On our 2nd day of the tour we went to the Egyptian Museum (got to see mummies, King Tut's stuff,and about a million/billion other mind-boggling pieces) and the pyramids at Giza. Oh, it was amazing there! Talk about fulfilling a dream. We rode camels down closer to the pyramids, and that was really really cool - definitely a highlight for me so far. LOVED the camels. You gotta lean back when they stand up/sit down though, cause otherwise you will flip right off of them. :P We also got to go right inside a pyramid, which was awesome - how many people can say they have been inside a pyramid?? And the sphynx too - was very impressive.

That night we went straight to an overnight train, which was kinda awful because we had been up since 6am or something and sweat all day. Then we get on the train and Mudi says to make sure we use bug spray. So now we are covered in greasy sunscreen, oily sweat, and sticky putrid bug spray. There was a train attendant who was the Egyptian-equivalent of Mr. Bean - except that he was creepy, too. And just for future reference... train food = bad. And then we had to try to sleep on the train. It was... bleh.

So we arrived in Aswan the next morning and we went straight to our hotel to shower. Tracy & I discovered that the A/C in our room was leaking through the ceiling. We told them, they said they would fix it. We had some lunch, and then met our group for a Felucca ride down the Nile. Very majestic. We stopped at a Nubian village for lunch (again, it was very yummy but...) and we got henna tattoos from a local artisan. Then we went back to our hotel and we noticed that our A/C was still leaking so they came to fix it again. Then we spent the evening at the pool. It's less hot when the sun goes down, but doesn't cool off as much as you hope.

While at the pool we chatted a bit about the blue fluorescent lights they had up, that zap the mosquitoes when they land on them; we have them at home too. A few minutes later, we noticed that there was smoke and flames coming from somewhere across the Nile. The quiet order of the night erupted into frantic shoutings and boats going back and forth to put the fire out. It was quite the scene. Amidst all this, I became distracted by the noise of the mosquito-killing-machine, and muttered, "those little buggers can fry!". Uhhhhhhhh, that was an untimely remark. Luckily Tracy figured out that I wasn't talking about the Egyptian people in the burning building, and cleared it up quickly. For a minute though, the people in my tour group were probably wondering, though. We all had a very big laugh at that one. After that, we watched some Egyptian National Soccer (thanks to you Ted I knew more of what was actually going on!) and went to bed.

Day 4 of the tour we went to Abu Simbel, which is this huge, amazing temple that is basically built into the side of mountain. It was optional, but everyone in our group went. Most people had heard of it or had it recommended to them by someone. In order to go, though, we had to wake up at 2am, and be on the bus by 3am. You cannot go to Abu Simbel on your own; you must be part of a convoy, and there are only 2 convoys a day - 330am and 4am. You basically drive 3 hours, spend 2 hours at the temple, and drive 3 hours back. The temple is fantastic - and totally worth seeing, but holy crow that was a tough day. No sleeping on the bus for me and we were all crammed in there and the only thing to drink is pop.

On our way back from Abu Simbel we were taken to an aromatherapy shop and given lunch. Of course, after lunch we got a sales pitch about the aromatherapy oils and essences (not to be confused with perfumes) and given free 5 min massages. I didn't buy anything. When we got back to our hotel, the A/C was STILL LEAKING. By that point we didn't care and were totally used to dodging the 2 buckets that we had to have at the foot of our beds. We went to sleep for the rest of the afternoon (had to use earplugs at this point to block out sound of dripping).

That night we had Shawarma for dinner (kinda like a donair) at the Aswan markets. The markets are crazy, they remind me of HK - people yell all sorts of things at you to try to get your attention. We heard, "hello lady," "g'day mate," "hola!," "moins chere," and our personal favourite, "everything free! everything for nothing!". They also jump right in front of you and follow you around. Mudi says that sometimes they can be very touchy too, but I haven't experienced that yet. Perhaps it was because he was with us. Basically you just avoid eye contact and ignore them and they give up.

Yesterday (Day 5) we checked out of our hotel, and went on a Felucca again... this time all the way down the Nile on our way to Luxor. We stayed overnight on the Felucca, which was another special brand of Egyptian torture. It wasn't too bad when we were moving, but when we stopped (for Lunch, Dinner, or Breakfast this morning) it was a dead heat and totally awful. The worst was at night, because it didn't cool down at all like we expected. There were 12 of us all sleeping together on this big boat, 10 out of 12 of us were sick in one way or another (and some in our group are really, really sick), and the food wasn't exactly... well, as Tracy puts it, they probably don't have Foodsafe standards to live up to. The toilets overflowed, the sinks didn't work, and most people didn't sleep at all. I chose to stay up all night (wasn't sleeping anyways) with 2 of the sickest girls - keep them company, brought them tissues, bottled water, sympathized through their dashes to the toilet or barfing over the edge. I am not feeling well, but I am nowhere near that bad; somehow I manage to stop feeling sorry for myself when I see that others are suffering worse than I am. Despite that, it was lovely to see the stars overhead and besides, how many people can say that they have slept on the Nile? (At least it wasn't IN the Nile!)

This morning we woke up, had Breakfast on the Felucca (ick) and took a 3 hour bus ride to complete our journey to Luxor. We stopped at a public toilet halfway there, and all I can say is, have you seen that movie Trainspotting? 'Nuff said.

Upon arrival, all of us headed straight to our hotel rooms. We showered and went to bed and aren't meeting up again until dinner tonight. So, Tracy and I had a nap and decided to catch up on some emails! So that's the update on Egypt. It has been amazing, fabulous, once-of-a-lifetime, breathtaking experience so far. But there have understandably been some very trying days. Still, we have a really great group and we are having fun and staying positive despite the heat and the food, hehe. :)

When the days are tough it's really nice to hear from home so feel free to send me a message when you get a chance. :) I have posted 4 photos on my Facebook account so you can see a few highlights. As expected, we haven't had regular access to the Internet, so sorry that this message was SO long! Hope all is well with you!

Cheers,
xo
Elaan

The Journey to Cairo: Trials & Tribulations (and a few bits of Awesomeness!)

Oh, the trials and tribulations of travel...

When we got to the airport in Milan, we couldn't find our flight to Cairo on the departures list. Turns out it had left that morning - we had the wrong time written on our itinerary (who made our itinerary? I DID!!). There's a small chance that it might be Expedia's fault, cause there are a few things that don't quite add up, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might just have been my own error. @#$%!! Very pricey mistake.

So, we had 2 choices; take the next flight to Cairo with Alitalia (Italian Air) which left the next day or take the next flight to Cairo with Egyptair which left in a couple of hours. We chose Egyptair - we'd keep our hotel booking in Cairo, we would only be an hour behind schedule, we were already at the airport... although truthfully, we didn't much want to be flying with them. I think we were quite comfortable in our little Italian bubble and weren't quite ready to be gawked at by the Arab men. Turns out the Arab men gawked no more or less than the Italian men did. :P

While waiting in the very long line to check-in for Egyptair, we got pulled out and told to go stand in the Business Class lineup. A bit strange, we thought - kinda like reverse discrimination. All went smoothly though. When we got on the plane we realized that we were assigned 2 of the best seats in Economy - lots of legroom and space. And, to our mild surprise, the flight was actually enjoyable - as far as flights ever are, that is. We were feeling very lucky.

Going through security, I set off the alarm (of course). I kept taking things off - my watch, my ring, my sunglasses - but was still getting the alarm. It was my hair clip that was causing all the commotion, but we only discovered that after the female security officer gave me a few raised eyebrows and vigorous pat downs. Sheeeeesh.

Upon getting off the flight in Cairo there were many, many checkpoints, the first of which was a health check. I didn't say anything about my sore throat - in fact, it seems to have completely subsided. We had to buy a Visa, go through immigration, get our photo taken, passport check, luggage area and final secuity check. They're nothing if not thorough!

As soon as we go through all that, we got accosted by a young man who wanted to drive us to the hotel. Tracy tried unsuccessfully to bargain him down from his seemingly ridiculous price. We went with him anyways, and when we got to the parking lot we realized that it was just some guy with his car... not a taxi like we had thought. He seemed like a nice enough guy though so we went with him anyways. As soon as we got to an airport checkpoint (kinda like a toll booth-ish place), he wanted more money. I was choked, but I didn't know what to do since we were stuck in this guy's car! Tracy was much more straightforward and pleasant with him than I was - at least at first.

It all worked out ok, actually. The drive to our hotel was worth the seemingly ridiculous price (given that it was an hour and a half), and even though that extra $$ at the checkpoint was definitely a scam, we didn't care - he was pleasant, cheerful and really personable. He chatted with us and pointed out landmarks, practiced his English and played the popular local music (he kept turning it up and saying "now, practice listening" - it was cute). He was only a kid, about 25 years old, and there was nothing creepy or smarmy about him. He called Tracy "Treezee" and he called me "Chicken." Perhaps it was because I sat in the front and had a much-too-close view of the style of traffic here. As he said, there's "no system" - cars wedge themselves anywhere - drive centimeters apart - don't generally heed pedestrians (and pedestrians don't heed them) - people use the horn as a reminder instead of a warning - it's total insanity. We passed by numerous breakdowns and accidents, and it was a miracle that we didn't hit anybody on the street.

But, we made it to the hotel unscathed, at about midnight. We got told that there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that our room only had one King bed. The good news is that it was one of the Royal Suites on the top floor - and once we got up there we saw why it was Royal. We shrieked and danced around and high-fived each other and lamented that we were only staying one night. It's a huge suite, with a living area, kitchen, patio, bathroom - and we had a view of THREE PYRAMIDS right outside!! I still can't believe it. We got up early this morning just to take photos. It's amazing. Seeing those pyramids in person has been a life goal for as long as I can remember. I am excited to start our tour tomorrow so I can see them more up close.

Today, we go to our new hotel and meet up with our tour group. Emails from me will likely be more sparse from now on (I know this will be a relief for some of you) since we'll be on tour and there are several points where I am fairly certain that there will be no internet available (like when we stay overnight on a felucca!). The tour starts in its entirety tomorrow. Yay, Egypt!! :)

Hope all is well, miss you guys.
Elaan

Milano to Cairo

Buon Giorno!

Killing time at our hotel in Milan because we are a bit ahead of schedule - Tracy is uber-organized and it means that we have time to relax, check messages, enjoy non-rushed meals, take lotsa photos.. and we don't feel like we are missing out on anything. I like it!

When we arrived at the hotel yesterday I noticed a card in our room that read, "so that you can plan your day tomorrow, we have included the weather forecast for you" and it listed highs of 32, lows of 26. It also marked sun\cloud and an X next to a picture of what looked like lightning. I thought to myself, "what a waste of paper if they print this out every day for every room!"

After we checked in, we quickly headed out again to get the most out of Milan while we were here. We went to the world-famous Duomo (3rd largest church in the world!), a huge Castello (medieval castle), navigated the subway and ate baaaaad food for dinner (which was oh so good at the time). A great evening, in our estimation, given that we only had a few hours.

When we got back to the hotel we relaxed a bit, checked messages, and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and fresh fruit in the hotel lounge. The hot chocolate was the thickest richest drink I have ever had in my life! Seriously, we were dipping our fruit in it like our very own personal fondue.

We went to bed early last night - today is another heavy travel day - and planned to be up fairly early this morning. I woke at about 3am, a little disoriented and having dreams about nightclubs, strobe lights and Spanish children (who knows... dreams are crazy). It wasn't a strobe light though, it was a lightning storm! The rain was SO loud it woke us up, and the lightening was flashing over and over into our hotel room. I have never seen a storm like that before; no thunder really, but lightning every 1 or 2 seconds. Torrential rain - the streets were flooded. There was so much lightning that I was able to get a photo of it after only a few tries (albeit not a very good one since I was not willing to open the window)!

Anyways, we got back to sleep and this morning it looks as if nothing ever happened. Go figure.

On the health front, I have had a bit of a sore throat for about a week now and yesterday it got particularly bad. Strange thing is, it's only on one side of my throat! And I don't feel sick in any other way. Online-diagnosis, anyone? I was thinking that maybe it was just the pollution or something, but it's really been persisting. I do NOT want to have to see a doctor in Egypt. Hopefully we can find some lozenges today before we leave Italy and that will do the trick. Now I know why I have been drinking so much pop!

We are flying into Cairo this afternoon. Going to spend time getting to know our hotel. Take a crack at the pool, maybe (ack! bathing suits!). We meet up with our tour group tomorrow night so we don't want to do a bunch of sightseeing that we will end up repeating with them, anyways.

Hope y'all are well,
Elaan

Viva Venezia!

Hello everyone!

Tracy & I are in Venice and soaking up Italian life. I have been living on a diet consisting of mainly gelato & pop - I might be diabetic when I return home. We did manage to squeeze in some bona fide pizza and spaghetti, but really they are just accompaniments to our gelato-diet.

It is hot here- apparently they are having a heat wave and this coming week will be even hotter. We keep telling ourselves that it's just preparation for Egypt & Morocco. Truthfully, we've been surviving by frequently returning to our hotel to refresh and recharge. We're located right in the heart of Venice, so it's quite convenient, especially since the public washrooms charge a fee!

Nighttime here is the best; it cools down, the daytripping tourists disappear, and the ambiance comes out full force. Quite lovely- and very romantic! We've done our share of sightseeing too: St. Mark's Square, Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge... and boy, is it ever ornate and picturesque.

I have taken 456 photos so far, and I am six days in to my 34 day trip (but don't worry, I have lotsa memory card space and I still have yet to change my batteries!). It's difficult to post pictures while I am travelling because they are quite huge files and I need to carry my cords with me, etc. I can write a quick email in about 10 minutes and don't really have the time to spend an hour or more uploading photos. Hopefully my descriptions are imagery enough for now!

Tomorrow Tracy & I are going to Milan. We take a public boat (like a bus but there are no cars in Venice) to the train station and it'll be about 3 hours on the train to Milan. We'll have one night there before we fly to Cairo!! Holy crow I'm going to Africa -- isn't that crazy?! :P

Hope all is well at home. Even though I don't have time to respond to all your messages, I sure love getting them - makes me considerably less homesick. So keep 'em coming if you have time.

Cheers,
Elaan

The Last of London

Heya peeps,

I know, I know.. emails from me every day. Don't worry, once we hit Egypt I think we will be severely limited as to when we can access the internet. So it may be Elaan-overload NOW, but... bear with me. :P

Today Tracy and I went to Leicester Square to try and get half-price tix to a musical... no go. It was cold & rainy and the lineup was long. So we decided to pass. Then we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, down to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, Hyde Park, Harrods, Picadilly Circus and we are soon meeting up with Frank to have dinner.

- the weather here is totally schizophrenic. Seriously, it changes every ten minutes: cold, rainy, windy, cloudy, sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, sunny... kinda makes it hard to dress yourself properly. I made the mistake yesterday of underestimating the nice weather, and yes.. got sunburned. I shrieked when I saw myself in the mirror; Tracy thought there was a spider in the bathroom.

- officially I have almost gotten shmucked by vehicles twice. Looking the wrong way for traffic is a bad pedestrian mistake to make. They even write directions on the road for you, i.e. "LOOK RIGHT -->" so now I am pretty savvy.

- I am disappointed at the lack of recycling facilities here.

- except for missing out on home-cooked meals, I could eat at Marks & Spencer and Pret A Manger every single day. One thing I have noticed here is that there is 2 prices on foodstuffs - a higher price if you are going to eat "IN" and a cheaper price if you are "TAKE AWAY". Interesting.

- crowds of people make me homicidal. Guess I'd better get over that. It is sooooo crowded here. Much reminds me of Hong Kong, like the subway, and the crowds, and the pollution.

- Harrods is pretentious and the changing of the guard was boring. Eep! I really do love it though. The theatre district is really nice - might like to live here.

- an incredible city for people-watching. People have their own personal sense of style & behaviour. Sometimes it's _very_ odd. Like the guy on the subway who listened to his iPod and sang out loud, the women with spiked hair and the many buskers in the stations.

- tomorrow morning we fly to Venice! Romantic city, woooo! :)

Hope all is well, thanks for all the messages.
xo
Elaan

Shakespeare & Tate

Hi all

Just wanted to send another short message!

We started the day with the London Eye and 360 degree views of the city. Nice! Saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, went to the Tate Modern Gallery, had a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (woo!!), went to St. Paul's, and then went back to the Globe to watch a show.

Here's the short sheet:

- My back aches and my feet hurt. Walk, walk, walk!
- It's been windy but it did NOT rain on us today. Thanks heavens! :)
- The Underground is awesome. And humid and sticky and crammed full of sticky people.
- The Tate Modern art gallery had lots of nudity in it and reaffirmed for me that men are not pretty naked (sorry guys).
- Shakespeare's Globe is AWESOME. Tour was totally worth it.
- St. Paul's had amazing architcture and sculpture.
- As You Like It at the Globe was AWESOME. A little uncomfortable, but still awesome. Now I am officially complete (and Shakespeare-d OUT - I've had enough to last me... well... until next year).

Tomorrow we are gonna try to get half-price tix to a musical, see the changing of the guard, go to Piccadilly circus, London Tower, Harrods... and meet up with Mark nd possibly Frank. We leave Wed morning!

Thanks for all the messages. Love you guys!
Cheers
E!

The Eagle Has Landed

Hi all

Just a quick note to let you know that I am in London! This place is crazy, busy, filled with a million people and there are a million things to do. Too bad I only have a few days here. :)

I didn't sleep on my flight, so I am pretty much a zombie - but it didn't stop me & Tracy from making sure we got some sights in! We have already seen Buckingham Palace, the Institute of Contemporary Art (should have been Institute of Confusing Art, but perhaps I not cultured enough.), had a picnic in the park, went to a pub for drinks, went to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square.

Tomorrow we are going to see the changing of the guard, the London Eye, and watch As You Like It in Shakespeare's very own Globe Theatre!
Woo! Which reminds me, when I was packing, I ignored all references to rain gear since 31 of 34 of my days are in a very hot/dry climate.
But guess what - those three days? Yep, the forecast is RAIN. Not quite sure what I am going to do about that. Suffer, maybe. :)

Have overheard the locals complain about Americans a couple of times, so I make sure that if I must speak - Canada gets mentioned in there.
Yeesh, those Yanks giving us Nucks a hard time on our travels!

Anyways, there's not much more to say except that we are already having fun and having some laughs. More to come...

Hope y'all are well!
xo
Elaan

Selling Jackson to the Gypsies

I have two cats.

Cami is 9 years old and most of the time, she is an angel. She doesn’t make a lot of noise, she waits patiently to be fed, likes to be near people and is even occasionally affectionate. The worst thing Cami ever does is urinate outside of the litter box if I have been significantly remiss in my duties – which is rare, and pretty much my own fault. She’s quite well-behaved and a very low-maintenance cat.

A few years back I had the bright idea to get another cat to keep her company. I felt guilty leaving her alone all day. In retrospect this seems rather silly since most cats sleep all day, and Cami is no exception. Since she was a girl, I figured that it would work best if her companion was a boy.

And along came Jackson. Jackson is about 4 years old now, but when I got him he was a tiny little adorable kitten. He purred a lot and loved attention. He was (and still is) my “baby.” He always had more energy than Cami, and at first I thought this was a good thing.

However, lately Jackson is driving me nutso. He runs around in the middle of the night and when he’s particularly determined to wake me up, he runs across the bed at various trajectories – usually it’s across my legs, but he’s also been known to run across my head (that’s the worst), torso, or other delicate bits. It’s most disconcerting to be woken up in such a fashion. 3 or 4am is not my idea of a great wake-up call.

It’s particularly bad when my boyfriend stays over. It’s completely endearing and charming that T loves cats despite being allergic to them; he always seeks out Cami and Jackson minutes after arriving, and interacts with them in a playful and loving way. He just takes care to wash his hands afterwards. He takes an allergy pill if he’s staying for a while, just to be sure.

Sleeping here is another matter. If I know that T is going to stay over, I do the best I can to prepare: I wash the sheets and pillowcases, vacuum, swiffer, and use the lint remover on anything that might retain errant cat hairs. All in all, we are both pretty good about controlling his allergy (still, I suspect he has serious misgivings about our moving in together – and rightly so – but that is fodder for another post).

Despite his allergy, T loves cats. But having a cat run across various parts of your body while trying to sleep is totally unacceptable. And when I am at home alone, I deal with it in various ways: I shut the bedroom door (Jackson meows louder and louder outside of it), I fill his food dish (sometimes this works), or I put a pillow over my head and arrange my body so that a cat-race around my bedroom will not cause significant discomfort (but will always inevitably wake me up).

Eventually Jackson calms down and lets me sleep. But when T is here I cannot “wait it out,” and am thus plagued by insomnia. I feel so guilty! I mean, T is extremely tolerant and understanding but when he comes over he already fights an allergy – the least I can do is try to ensure he has the best sleep possible (and I want nothing more than to escape into a peaceful slumber myself)!

Nights like this, when I am woken up over & over, feeling fatigued, stressed and guilty, are the nights that I get grumpy and tell Jackson that I am “selling him to the gypsies.” In the light of the day I try to find practical solutions (although I am not so productive on 3 or 4 hours sleep, ha!) but I feel defeated. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to get rid of Jackson, but I can’t imagine living the rest of my life like this.

And with that, I am off to attempt some slumber; maybe the answer will come to me in a dream!

Pfffffft! The Pitfalls of Presenting at Pro-D

I don’t know about you, but I really look forward to Professional Days. They are worth way more than simply “a day without kids” (which really IS valuable). Often in the school year, we are so busy trying to get through the day, week, month, that time for generating new ideas and collaborating with colleagues is limited.

Like many, I learn best visually and when engaged with others. Even having a conversation with my own staff helps me think my way out of the box. The instant feedback of others is often necessary for me to be challenged and experience growth. It works wonders for problem solving, creating choices, engendering support and inspiring change. One would think that Professional Days would have the same kinds of effects.

The fact that many sessions at Pro-D are inspirational is without debate. It is exciting to hear about the amazing things that other educators are doing with their practice - and I feel honoured that they give up their time to come and share with us at Pro-D. They give us license and encouragement to try something new, take some risks, and hopefully effect vast amounts of improvement in our own practice.

However, I have often left a conference, workshop, or keynote speech feeling a bit demoralized and debilitated - probably pretty much the opposite of what the presenter would have expected. For a time, I just kept my mouth shut about it and said nothing. But as my years of teaching experience grew, so did my willingness to be frank about what I saw as my own “shortcomings.” I was both happy and dismayed to discover that many others had similar experiences at Pro-D - indeed, some of whom are professionals that I highly respect.

Don’t get me wrong, these sessions are inspirational. But the other half of the equation is the reality that seems to set in during the session or after it is over. Some thought processes might reflect something similar to this:

Guilt/Shame - “I haven’t been doing that” / “I’ve been doing it wrong”

Often the presenter will identify some antiquated ways of doing things, or even go so far as to say they are wrong. Wanting the best for our kids, it tends to feel like we aren’t doing the best we can for them, and in some cases are even being a detriment.

Fear/Uncertainty - “I don’t know how to do that”

Sometimes the presenter introduces something that is foreign or complicated and it instills fear about the unknown.

Overwhelmed - “How do I even begin?” / “It’s too much”

Of course it makes sense to show us all the end product – we want to be wowed, and the process to get there might be lengthy and mundane. But without a map to get there we can feel lost and the task too great to undertake.

Shut Down/Defeat - “I can’t” / “I’m not good enough”

All of this can result in not very much change: It’s easier to stick with what we know—we’ll do it later—there isn’t enough time to “figure it out”—obviously we don’t have the skills that the person presenting does—etc.

Any time I have been asked to present at a Pro-D, I have done it. As a nervous public speaker, I am not the most confident about my abilities to deliver a useful, riveting workshop. But I do it because I have no hesitation sharing what I have with anyone - and I want to give back to my professional community. What do I try to keep in mind when presenting so that people don’t leave with any of the aforementioned feelings? Here are some suggestions (and I’d love to hear more):

**Relate to your audience by telling them the kinds of things you were doing before you changed your practice with your new method/strategy.

“I also used to teach PowerPoint every day before I discovered the impact of this Media Literacy program”

**Validate some common practices, and then talk about how your new method/strategy could improve them.

“Teaching this lesson out of the Math textbook works ok, but using Lego-Dacta manipulatives totally improved how my kids could visualize the problem solving questions”

**Identify the parts of your method/strategy that may seem foreign or complicated to others.

“When I first started using the online program with my class, I thought it was strange that the menus were located on the side – but I got used to it pretty quickly”

**Give the audience your email or your Twitter ID and encourage them to contact you if they have questions or hit roadblocks. Give a sample activity to try with their class, and tell them to email you with feedback afterwards.

**Near the end of the presentation, review some starting points for teachers. Give a handout or send an email with step-by-step instructions on how to get started. Or give a “Top 5” list of the most important points you covered.

**Emphasize that these major changes will take some time, and that teachers shouldn’t expect themselves to accomplish all of it at once. Suggest biting off small chunks and making goals, like trying something new each week or each month and developing change slowly. Teachers are more likely to shut down if there is too much to change all at once.

A Twitter colleague (@bengrey) asked a question the other day:

“A very high percentage of what many presenters demonstrate at conferences, isn’t happening in their own district. Why?”

I think it’s because of many of the reasons I’ve stated here. There is amazing & inspiring work going on around the world, in your own country and in your own district. It is important to not only make it accessible, but also realistic and digestible for teachers. When we support growth amongst ourselves as professionals, we are better prepared to nurture growth for our students – because after all, we are all students in this journey together!


(This post was originally published here)

Valentine's Day

I usually alternate between making fun of Valentine’s Day and being disdainful of it. I resent this holiday for being one of the biggest commercial & consumer gluts of the year. Still, I do try to see the good in it – it’s good that we be reminded that we should love each other, and that love should be celebrated in all its forms. I just don’t like being told HOW to celebrate – specifically, with dinners, flowers, chocolates, etc. Love & Romance is not obligatory, contrived, prescribed, manufactured, required, stipulated, or imposed – but Valentine’s Day seems to be. Perhaps it just isn't a day that we need to take very seriously.

Here's some of the sites where you can send a very politically incorrect Valentine's day card:

Some e-cards – Valentine’s Day
http://www.someecards.com/upload/valentine_s_day/index.html?ep=30

Be My Anti-Valentine
http://www.meish.org/vd/