It's been absolutely forever since I last updated this page. Sorry. We run a really busy schedule and haven't had too much free time. The time that I am free, I choose to keep in contact with people through email rather than work on pictures and this website. I've got a huge backlog of photographs to work on; literally thousands of them. That being said, I was able to find time tonight to get this thing in order. I hope you enjoy!

I'll start off with some Arabic writing for you to look at. Arabic writing is pretty confusing. The letters don't correspond with the English alphabet, meaning that it isn't as easy as memorizing what letter corresponds with A, which corresponds with B, and so on. The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 (I think) letters. There is no distinction between capital and lowercase letters; instead, each letter looks different depending on where it appears in the word. It's confusing, no doubt, but gets easier the more you study it. I've been studying it a bit lately and am starting to make some sense of it. I've been practicing writing different English words (computer, coffee, easy things like that) in Arabic text and have actually had a bit of success. My friend is going over it with me and I hope to have a good grasp of reading and writing it by the time I leave. We'll see how that works out. Even if I can't understand what I'm reading, at least I'll be able to pronounce it, which is better than nothing.

We've enjoyed a few falooka rides since coming here. A falooka is just a small boat. You can go to the Nile and find a dock with a few falookas and rent one for as long as you'd like. It's real nice; you just relax on the boat with your friends while the driver sails you up and down the river. It's a great way to spend a couple hours.

Riding in a falooka means that you get some great views of the buildings of downtown Cairo.

We rented a falooka for my birthday. It was a great time. These towers, which you may recognize from an earlier picture, are quite distinctive. I think they're a bank building.

On the falooka, we sailed by the restaurant where we ate my birthday dinner. We went to a floating Chili's restaurant and I think it was even better here in Egypt than it is in America. Maybe I just miss good old American food. I dunno. Either way, it was an excellent dinner.

This is what we call the Cave Church. It was carved out of a mountain, which is an impressive feat no matter who you are. The place is absolutely huge.

The story goes that back in the 10th century AD, there was a conflict between the Muslims and the Christians of the area. The Muslims challenged the Christians to have their God move a mountain, based off of the scripture of Matthew 17:20. According to legend, God actually did move the mountain and the sunshine could be seen underneath it. I can't say whether this is true or not, but I'm told that geological evidence seems to say that it did actually happen. This church stands as a memorial on the mountain.

A view of the stage from the back of the auditorium. Did I mention how big this place is?

By the way, I have ridden camels at the pyramids of Giza. How cool is that? The second camel I rode was named Mohamed.

Riding around the pyramids, I was struck by the fact that these pyramids were standing when Moses led the Isrealites out of Egypt. In fact, they were already over one thousand years old by that time. Go back and read that last sentence again. That means that they're close to being five thousand years old. Wow. Talk about history.

One last view of the pyramids. In the background, you can actually see the city of Cairo. The pyramids are just on the edge of the city, but they might as well be ten thousand miles away.

Here's Amanda on the Nile.

Angela blows some bubbles. Kids seem to either love bubbles or hate them. The reaction is either laughter or tears. I think they're fun. Go figure. They taste good, too.

Amanda standing in the elevator in our building. Elevators here are different than they are in the States. A lot of them actually don't have doors on the inside. They're just three walls, with the fourth wall being the elevator shaft. That means that the fourth wall actually moves up and down (well, you move and the wall stays still, but you get the idea). It's weird at first, but you get used to it. Just don't stand too close to the wall unless you want to get your clothing caught on it, which could potentially rip it. That would suck. The advantage of being able to see the wall means that you know exactly where you are in the elevator shaft at all times. You get to recognize which doors go to which levels and what the wall looks like between each floor. You can say with confidence, "just two more floors until ours," and things like that. It makes you look really smart.

If you don't want to take the elevator, the stairway is always an option. It's a long way, though, and you'll probably be winded by the time you get to your floor. Don't worry, you're not a wimp; it is easy to lose your breath in this city because the air is so bad.

In poorer areas of the city where there are no elevators available, the stairway is the only choice. The stairways are all steep, narrow, and winding. The steps are all made of cement, too, so it really hurts if you fall. Not that it could ever feel good falling down a staircase, but I digress...

Once again, the view from our rooftop. You can see Talaat Harb Street down in the bottom left corner. Talaat Harb Street, as I mentioned before, is one of the main streets in downtown Cairo. It was actually the scene of a recent mob scene, which I witnessed and photographed.

This was taken from my room balcony. At the time, I didn't realize what was happening. I just heard lots of screaming, shouting, and honking of car horns. Amanda and I went onto the balcony to see what the commotion was about, but we couldn't make anything out of the chaos. It was the first day of the celebration of the end of the Ramadan holy month, so we figured that it was probably a pretty good time. We went downstairs onto the sidewalk to get a better view, but couldn't see over the crowd. Only weeks later did I learn that it was actually a raging mob that had busted out the windows of the theater next door and was ripping off the clothing of innocent women. White women and Muslims alike had shirts, bras, and headscarves torn off of their bodies. The mob was running up and down the street chasing whatever women they could find. Shopowners were able to protect some of the women by pulling them into their shops and locking the men out, while a taxi driver got some women into his cab to keep them away from the crowd. The police did not respond to the situation except for one or two policemen that happened to be standing nearby when chaos broke out. Like I said, I didn't know any of this at the time, but I read about it a few days ago in a local magazine. I'm thankful that Amanda and I stayed safe in the midst of everything. A few of our girls were out at the time and returned home shortly after the crowd had dispersed. It was good that they weren't thirty minutes earlier. This picture isn't the greatest; much of the crowd is hidden behind the building on the right.

On a happier note, I really like the complimentary green and red in this photograph. I guess that's why I took it.

No complimentary colors here.

A polluted sky means a pretty sunset. This vertical panorama, taken from al-Azhar Park, consists of six pictures stacked top to bottom.

You all know that I normally don't like pictures of me, but these are a few that I couldn't resist putting up. This first one is me on a falooka.

A new hairstyle? I like it!

Self-portrait of me on my 21st. You can kinda see the bug bites on my hand. I'm absolutely covered in bug bites. They itch so much!

I figured I'd leave you with this most recent picture of me. It's so... emo? I dunno. I think it could be the cover to a real awful CD or something. I figured you ladies would like it. Don't lust, now.

Sorry folks, I don't have many pictures yet. I'm working on it, though. I'll post up what I have for you all to see. I've got more stuff waiting to be put up, so it'll be online soon.

Angela reading.

Arabic text is read from right to left, which means that they read "backwards" from what we're used to. I'm slowly learning pieces of it, and I can write my name in Arabic.

This is a typical rooftop view in an area in the north of Cairo.

This is part of the view from my hotel room balcony, which is on the eighth floor in a hotel in downtown Cairo. Our location is really great.

Another view from my balcony. The streets of Cairo are very interesting. In the same traffic jam, you'll find 30 year old Fiats, brand-new BMWs, donkeys pulling carts, and men carrying huge loads on their heads as they ride their bicycles. As you can see, people and cars all travel very close to each other on the streets. I've been in two separate taxi collisions in the past week. Neither were major, but it shows you how the streets really operate.

Both of these cars are traveling down the road as this woman crosses the street. To cross a street in Cairo, you can't think of it as crossing a whole street. You cross the first lane then, when traffic clears, cross the second lane. Do so until you're all the way across the street. This woman is a great example of how it's done.

Looking down at the street from my balcony. Foot traffic is light in this picture. During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the people fast from sunrise to sunset. Nighttime, as a result, is filled with feasting and fun. I live in an already crowded part of the city, but the streets really get hopping during the Ramadan celebrations.

These are the views from the 13th floor of my building. This is a huge city.

My trip to Cairo requires a stop in Singapore and a stop in Dubai. I am amazed at the Singapore airport. I can say, without a doubt, that the Singapore airport is the nicest one I've ever been to. There are massage parlors, gyms, indoor and outdoor gardens, a swimming pool, a movie theater, lounges with huge flat screen TVs showing news and sports, the list goes on and on. The shopping is pretty good, too, although I won't indulge. The whole airport is very big and extravagent, and it makes me want to see the rest of the city.

Fancy fancy fancy.

I don't understand three out of four languages on that sign. I'll head to the minimart and see what I can find.

What a great "minimart!" Look at all this candy.

Those are the biggest tubes of Mentos I've ever seen.

I don't see anything that I want to buy, so I wander upstairs.

From upstairs, I see more shopping areas. This place is filled with shops that range from electronics to cosmetics to candy to model cars.

A movie theatre! Cool. Next on the list to be played is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, but my plane will have taken off by then. Oh well.

On the way to my gate, I look down and see this garden. How quaint.

I make my way downstairs and have a stroll through the garden. These flowers are very pretty indeed, and the color here is almost overwhelming.