Photo Shoot and the Magama

On Sunday (which is like Monday in America) Kelly, Brenna, Gordon, and I hopped on the Metro to go downtown to get our visas. We were accompanied by a native Egyptian man, who was our saving Grace. Apparently in years past, it has taken around 7 hours in a crowded, non-air conditioned building to go through the process of getting a visa. It took us approximately 25 minutes.

     Being downtown definitely brought into reality the fact that I am living in a third world country... Sometimes it seems like the people here are actually trying to make things as difficult as possible. Very few things are d

one efficiently (and it's worse if you don't speak Arabic). So going to the "Magama" (gov't building where they process all of the Visa's) was definitely an adventure. Although 

we didn't actually have to do anything but sit there and then sign a couple of forms. Our precious Egyptian friend took care of all of it for us...saving us an untold amount of time and frustration.

     After getting our visa's taken care of, we went in search of the "Apple" store to see about getting my computer fixed... I should've known better. Once we got to the right street, we asked someone where the store was, and they pointed down a dimly lit, shady, alley-way. We then proceeded up the stairs to the 5th floor where we found the 'repair shop' (a small room with some partitions). We almost immediately noticed the irony that the Apple store didn't actually have any Mac computers...they were all P.C.'s. Needless to say, they didn't have a clue what was going on, though they said they would charge me $328 to 'fix' it. I graciously declined. Then we got to go eat Lunch at the US Embassy with Andrea! It was great to be 'on American soil' for an hour!

     We're finally starting to get into the swing of things as far as our schedule goes. We've had our kick-off events for Middle School and High School. It has been great getting to know the girls! It is so funny to observe the incredible similarities between the students here and the one's back home. I sure do miss MBCC! But what an amazing opportunity to get a whole new perspective on youth ministry! 

    

During the weekend, we decided to go on a 'photo shoot' so that we could show everyone back home where we lived. Here are a few pictures:

This is Brenna and I (A.K.A. "Team Intern") in front of our house... at least that's what we told our Moms. 

This is Kelly, Brenna and I in front of our favorite tree (there are actually a lot more trees and greenery than I thought there'd be).

Our Make-shift pyramids... since we haven't been to the real ones yet.

Hopefully there will be many more pictures to come! Thanks again for your prayers and support!