One of my fellow Fulbrighters is a paleontologist working out near Wadi al-Hitan and we took jeeps out to the desert to view the area, and 45 million year old whale boans!  Then entire desert in the area used to be a sea.  part of the argument amonst scholars is just how deep that sea was.  Our first stop was to view some petrified HUGE trees.  Sitting in the middle of what is today barren desert!  Really makes the head spin thinking about it.  Well those trees, according to John the paleontologist, are part of what lead scholars for years to think the area was a shallow swampland.  Well, finding huge whales and sharks nearby as well as learning that what appeared to be the remains of mangrove tree roots are actually fossilized burrowing sea creatures, have made scholars realize the are was likely a very deep sea. 

We enjoyed romping through the desert in the jeeps for a couple hours, an hour-long tour wlaking amongst the whale bones, and then a great dinner out in the desert with a view of sunset! 

Sooooo wonderful to get out of Cairo and breathe fresh air!

Click on the pictures below to see them bigger!

The air was clean, open spaces were wonderful, driving through the desert off-road was exciting, and the whale bones were AWESOME!  Will write a longer post later, but here's a picture. 

A few bland, random, updates:

Justin's teaching (paid!) twice or so a week (whenever he gets called) as a substitute down at a fancy, dancy American K-12 school in Ma'adi. He's been called quite often to substitute for math and science classes, which it seems he really has enjoyed.  There's a home cooked meal in the teacher's lounge every day which he tends to utilize for lunch.  He's also volunteer teaching twice a week (except when he has to call in when he gets called to sub in Ma'adi) at St. Andrews Refugee School, teaching mostly Sudanese youth in higher level chemistry and biology.  He's also still working for COAR on the website. 

Something happened last night.  I don't know what, but when Justin and I headed out this morning the sky was blue.  Not brown.  Not grey (in other cities usually suggests overcast but in Cairo actually means grey smog, blocking any clouds that may or may not be present above).  But blue.  And there were white fluffy clouds floating around in the blue!  It was amazing.  I'm assuming the clear skies had something to with the fact that it was Friday, the Egyptian religious day, and there was a light breeze moving through.  

I didn't have my camera on me when we first noticed the blue sky, and I assumed I had missed my chance, as the traffic increases through the day.  However, a few hours later, Justin and I headed out to an outdoor coffee shop and lo and behold the sky was still blue!  The picture was taken on Justin's computer camera. 

First, I have to apologize to the friends and family for neglecting my blogging responsibilities :) I've no real excuses, except perhaps that I've been working... on websites, as a substitute teacher, as a volunteer teacher, and on fellowship proposals for next year. So, without further ado...

There is a KFC around the corner from our flat where I sneak off for chicken sometimes (usually nights when Cara is studying late at the university). Though I try to avoid the likes of KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's in favor of fuul, tamiya, and koshari, this KFC is different. I knew what to expect when I first went looking for it over a month ago because my mom tipped me off to it. She had heard about it from a co-worker in Budapest! What would make such a lowly KFC so popular?

It is entirely staffed by hearing impaired persons.