So far

So today we took the day off. We have done nothing but sleep, hand wash clothes, and eat. So I thought I would take some time to write. 

Day 1
We left from OHare on July 9 and when they say a 12 hour flight is a long one, they are NOT joking. We both tried to sleep and I succeeded for about a total of 2 hours. When we left it was night time and they came around and closed the windows on the plane as soon as we were over the ocean.  We actually ended up flying right over Canada and out into the ocean crossing Newfoundland. A few hours after that I opened the window and took a picture of the sunrise over the ocean from the plane. We flew in over England, France, across Italy, the Med Sea...and we both watched as we flew over Israel and the West Bank. I was awe struck knowing that I was seeing the Holy Land and a place that has endured war and turmoil from the beginning of time.
I think that I was running on pure adrenaline. Jeff wasn't really feeling very well.  Once we landed in Jordan and got off of the plane, we both started to feel a little bettter.We were DEF the minority! We first cashed in some $ for some Jordan currency to bring home and then we found a Starbucks in the airport. We sat there for a few hours until it was time to board our plane.

So we take our bags through "security" and there is something in question about my suitcase. Of course, all of these people are gathered around and talking to each other in Arabic about my bag and I had no idea what was going on. They asked me to open it and so I did. A man pulled out my batteries and talked to another guy and it was just a mess. Then they had Jeff and me step over to this desk away from everyone else with our suitcases and sit down. He got on the walkie and asked someone for what must have been a manager. Then we were told "5 minutes." Fifteen later, no manager and a guy went through Jeff's passport. He also had Jeff open my suitcase. It was about thirty minutes before our plan was supposed to take off and I was getting scared. Then I started to cry. Jeff tried to explain to the man sitting with us why I was upset. The man did try talking to us a little and was more friendly after that point. (He was a very good looking man I must say).  Anyways, someone came and told us in broken English to take our bags to the ticket counter at our gate and we would just have them checked. I guess they were too heavy for the overhead bins. SO WHY THE HUGE "pull us to the side and make us wait" drama?  (I will keep what I really think to myself at this point.)

We had about 30 minutes to wait (ended up being our plane was late anyways) and there was a little boy, girl, baby girl and two moms sitting across from us. We started talking to the kids and they were so funny and nice. Anan, the boy...tried teaching us some Arabic and explained to us what a Tok Tok is. (It's a VERY small car thing that hauls people around.) We ended up getting their phone number and the mother said that if we needed ANYTHING that we should call them. They lived in Cairo.

We finally got on the plane and the man that ended up sitting next to us was the only other white guy on the plane. He was British and is manager of a construction company that builds hotels. He has been living in Cairo for  a year and travels the middle east all of the time to over see the hotel construction. His name is Andrew. This man was a God send and I asked him queations for the entire flight. He told us the ins and outs and even wrote down places that we should eat for us. I felt SO MUCH BETTER after talking to him. That's not even the best part. When we got off the plane in Cairo...we were CLUELESS. We needed to get a Visa, exchange money, fill out these forms, wait in some lines, etc. Jeff and I had accientally switched passports and had to refill out some forms....it was funny.  This guy lead us every step of the way. He even stood with us and made sure that we had our luggage. He walked us through the terminal and when our driver was not there, he called our hotel and took care of business. He waited with us for 40 minutes for our driver. He had even offered to take us home with his own driver. Angel Andrew was amazing. We took his card and eventually were picked up.

Cairo...........people drive where they want, as fast as they want. They don't stop for people.  Jeff and I were both thinking it was CRAZY. It is like NASCAR driving in go karts....everyone wants to get to the front of the line.  We got to our hotel and passed out.