Sunday, September 20, 2009

Cairo on Flickr

this is another good one, just searched for 'cairo' on flickr:

khan el-khalili bazaar

I had a great talk with Cassidy yesterday. She went to this amazing marketplace in Cairo called the khan el-khalili bazaar and bought a guitar of some kind and an egyptian drum! These are not her pictures, but a slideshow of what search results returned at flickr for "khan el-khalili bazaar."

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Note from our vacation plane ride in July

S: How are you?

h: ok

S: You are a good kid. No trouble.

h: :)

S: I am so ready to get off this plane!

h: Same here.

S: Are you enjoying your book?

h: Doi!!!!!!

h: Lets keep talking like this

S: What do you want to talk about?

h: ?

S: you are the one who wanted to keep talking! So... KEEP TALKING! :-p

h: What does :-p mean?

S: I am sticking my tongue out at you.

h: Ohhhhh

S: Yesss.

h: I want a iphone

S: Who doesn't want an iPhone? They are so awesome. Your mom is the
coolest mom around because she has an iPhone.

h: Oh sure (roll of eyes)

S: LOL This is boring I want off the plane!!!! Aaarrafghgjhhhhhb!!!!

H: I @($&ing want of this plane!!!!!!!!!!

S: Agreed.

H: Are you even mad I wrote @($&.

S: Well

S: I understand why you wrote it!!!

H: Of couse

S: The end

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, September 05, 2009

How Cassidy is doing


I have been in touch with Cassidy a few times and thought I would share some details with you, dear reader.

Number one is, Skype is awesome. If you haven't gotten on board yet and/or you have loved ones far away, you need to get off the rock and go with the flow.

Number two, it's been interesting to ponder the impact of technology and access to social tools like skype, chat, facebook, twitter and etc. Especially as it relates to families of students who're overseas like Cassidy. What is it that makes us presume that being able to connect instantly is bad for the student? This sort of thing.

Back in the day, if you were moving west with your new husband, very likely that was it for seeing your family of origin again. But now, you can be all the way over in Egypt visiting with your dear auntie on the computer! Kids these days (ahem), they've grown up expecting that instant access. I believe that, used properly, this sort of tool can help kids feel more confident about expanding their world.

Look at Cassidy. She's not avoiding life in Egypt by sitting with me for 10 minutes before she goes to bed and I've just come home from work. It is as much an intrusion on her daily life as a phone call; the tools are just smarter!

Having said that, I'm dying for her to supply me some visuals!!! We are sending her an extra Flip video we happen to have lying around, and she says she'll upload videos to youtube or whatever. As that happens, I will post them here.

She needs her own computer first, since her host family's computer is in her host mom's bedroom and she's just borrowing the use of it for now. There is an Apple store right down the street!

Anyway, she's doing great. Just great. It sounds as if she simply cannot believe her eyes about 9 times out of 10. There are tiny rusty boxy little cars everywhere, she talked about seeing a boy selling limes in the street, people watching a movie in an outdoor courtyard, selling food and vegetables from carts, guys strolling down the street playing drums, etc. She says she appears to be a pale oddity to most; has not laid eyes on any obvious seeming westerner. The country is more modern than you might expect; most speak some English, and all are warm and friendly towards her.

So! That's about it! I'm interested to see what's involved in sending my first care package to her, what with customs and assorted regulations about what you can ship to Egypt. ("No satanic materials.")

If you'd like her address to drop her a card or letter or something, please email me! I know she would LOVE to hear from you (whichever one of my handful of readers you are.)

Signed,

the proud auntie