Ahlan wa sa'halan (Welcome to Egypt!)

This is a special moment! You are my first e-mail American contact! The internet is a fabulous security blanket. I am only a key-stroke away.

Egypt has been a trip (bad pun intended)! Life is filled with amazing challenges, confusing situations and incredible adventures. So all, in all, it is pretty terrific!

Although you haven't heard much from me, I have been doing lots of homework. Our personal belongings took two months to get here. We were amazed that for the most part we didn't need much that we sent. Packing for a move overseas is the ultimate values test. What is it that is so important to you that you feel you cannot live without it? By the time our stuff got here, I had forgotten that I thought family pictures, candles and dehydrated soup from Trader Joe's were indespensable. Thankfully we bought our computer. We settled on a Performa ( simple but effective and within our budget). As it turns out our school is installing fiber-optics and networking and up-grading.....therefore few computers are running at full capacity at this time. Having a home computer gives me a great deal of freedom and in a land of "different roles for women", it is nice to have choices.

I have spent the past two months interviewing some very interesting people about our WWW project. I talked to the editor of the Egyptian equivalent of "Arizona Highways". Her magazine is called "Egypt Today." I have interviewed directors of programs and universities. I have run into some interesting cultural issues that I would like to talk with you and Naomi about. There is certain censorship ettiquette here that is very different from the United States. I am slowly getting a better understanding of the do's and don'ts of it all. I would like to make a phone date with the two of you in the next week or so. Our work week is from Sunday through Thursday. When it is noon in Tempe, it is 8:00 p.m. here. When it is 100 degrees in Tempe, it is 89 degrees here. So give me a few possible times to catch you and Naomi for a mini-conference call. It will be fun to hear about life in Tempe.

"Living" in Egypt has many advantages. We have been able to discover parts of Egypt that aren't on most tourist stops. People are generous, kind and patient with foreigners. Egyptians seem to get a lot of entertainment out of watching and helping all of us adjust. They have dealt with intruders for thousands of years. I want to share this side of Egypt with you. The landscape, people, culture inspire photos and description.