Catch Ups As We Wind Up

As we headed towards the end of our second year in Maadi we spent time with Bonnie, filling in our weekends with small excursions to places, within Cairo, we hadn't yet seen. We had been to Mokattam previously but not to Garbage City. The winter church was very different to the larger one we had already seen but still featured the wonderful carvings.
The A.P.E centre is a must go to place in Cairo! I will return, hopefully with my class in tow, later in the year. The work that the women do there is exceptional and makes my heart warm to see that some of the rubbish that is created in Cairo is put to good use. The centre not only teaches the girls and women skills but also pays them for their work. The more people that buy their wonderful crafts, the more work the centre can do.
The City of the Dead surrounds the base of the Citadel area. The city has its own shops, schools, mosques. There are thousands of people living in the city who are responsible for looking after the mastaba that make up the area. We were lucky to meet a family who lived there and a local silk spinner. I say lucky because these people were so welcoming and friendly towards us. We would not have had such an opportunity if we had gone on our own.
The Manial Palace was built by the grandson of "the" Mohamed Ali who built the citadel. It doesn't look much from the outside but once you are within those walls it's another world. Apparently Club Med had set up a hotel within the grounds but luckily someone saw some sense and eventually it became what the prince had wanted it to be - a museum.

Mokattam Mountain - the winter cave church

Mamluk Mosque in the City of the Dead

Stained glass and tiles featured in the domes

A silk thread spinner

Inside one of the many mastaba in the city

Entrance to the Mohamed Ali Palace on Manial Island

Window overlooking the gardens

The tower between the reception hall and the mosque

Thousands of tiles featured throughout his private residence

The throne room

French influence

View over Garbage City from Mokattam Mountain cave churches

Purchases from the Recycle Centre made from tear tabs and coffee pods.

Tomorrow we fly back to NZ for the summer (winter in NZ) but I am looking forward to another year in Egypt when we return in August.
Watch this space.

Ismailia and Suez Canal

We headed north this morning to visit Ismailia, about 128km from Cairo, then the Suez Canal. We passed through the city to cross the Suez Canals, the old and the new which is being constructed at the moment. We stopped in at the National Museum of Imailia for an hour then crossed the old canal by ferry. The new canal is over a km away and is due to be finished in August this year. It's an impressive project considering the Egyptians have only given themselves one year to open it.
On the Sinai side of the canal is Tabet El Shagara, one of 18 Israeli military sites, which was won back by the Egyptians before the Sinai was returned to Egypt during Sadat's time as president. Mubarak had the beautiful memorial erected beside the canal which celebrates Egypt's victory over the Suez.
A day of history and geography lessons, followed by a well deserved snooze in the van on the way back to Maadi.

Islamic Cairo and the Cave Church of Mokattam

A couple of weeks ago we decided to do a walk about of the Islamic Mosques in Cairo. Our guide for the day was very good to include a visit to the Coptic Church in the Mokattam Hills, also home of the Zabaleen.

5 Days in Ain Sokhna

Ain Sokhna is about 2 hours drive from Cairo. I had booked into a hotel south of Porto Sokhna called "Romance Hotel". Doesn't really live up to it's name unless all those young families were conceived there.

Anyway the idea was to have a break from the hustle and bustle of Ma'adi. What I hadn't really researched well enough was that there was no alcohol and the nearest alcohol was probably at the Movenpick Hotel half an hour back towards Cairo. Five days without a beer isn't such a bad thing I guess. The other major letdown was the lack of a decent coffee - latte that is. However, we did survive and we did enjoy our R & R, as the photos will show.

Our very big room even had a dining area and double deck
overlooking the pool and beach.

The view of the pool from our deck.

Luckily the hotel wasn't busy. Plenty of beach chairs to lie on.

First swim in a long time. The sea was warmer than the pool.

Time out from the sun playing chess and pool.

Afternoon walks on the beach.

Managed a bit of jet skiing in between reading and swimming.

View across the Gulf of Suez to Sinai Peninsula from our hotel room.

 Next holiday? Homeward bound in July.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

We informed our school before the Italian trip that we would finish our contract at the end of this June and head somewhere closer to home. The news of our first grandchild and a wedding next February influenced our decision but MAC's owner has persuaded us to stay one more year, with time off in Feb for the wedding. So back to NZ for good at the end of the 2015 - 2016 school year. We will head home in July / August, to catch up with family and friends, thanks to Raymond's staff rates. A stopover in Brisbane for a few days on the way to NZ and in Singapore on the way back will hopefully mend our winter blues. This will be the second summer opportunity we have missed.
Who would have thought when we started this journey that we would be in Egypt for three years and we would be heading home to be grandparents?
These are a few photos taken over the last term:

International Day we studied Samoa.
Nofoali'i is famous in Ma'adi.

3Y made lolly leis and performed a sasa

March performance - looking cool
before hitting the stage

View to the stage and art gallery during the finale.

Sports Day for Grades 1 - 3. Ten different ways to run a relay.

Our icecream sundae party for learning our timestables. It was also Autism Awareness Day, hence the blue.

Meanwhile on the streets of Ma'adi  Balady dogs rule...

... and sheep continue to be driven past our school gate.