back and all about spontaneity...i think...EGYPTIAN CULTURE FACT #2

well, i kept forgetting to blog for the last couple of weeks...but i'm back now.

i was thinking about something the last few weeks that i love and i hate in cairo. well, hate is a strong word...maybe its better to say something that is both great and not so great. spontaneity.

egyptians love being spontaneous! and egyptians hate commitment.  i think the two go together a lot of the time.  i have had friends in the past in the states with the same personality, but i never have experienced this in a culture. i think the french people are like this somewhat, but egyptians always take it up to the next level. they love the extremes.

so, i experience this definitely in everyday life here. whether its personal, business, or anything else, it seems that no one really plans in advance and in order to really have fun, they feel it is usually when its a spontaneous event.

there's a great side to this and a not-so-great side to this type of living. the great side is that i feel that i'm rarely bored and there are literally no 2 days the same ever!  when i think back to living in the states, i feel that i was so bored. not because people are boring, but just because everything was so routine living there. most days were alike and the ones that were different were the"fun" ones. on top of that, if you realized you didn't have plans for tomorrow or 3 days from now and tried to make plans with friends, they were definitely busy because they had planned that day for a month or more now. super-advanced-planning..that's americans. americans love to fill their calendar at least 2 weeks in advance and i remember it usually being more like a month! with egyptians, if you get in the mood to hang out with someone and you think about it right after work at 5pm, you can call them and they will happily invite you over or go out with you at 7 or 8pm..and really it can be even less hours than that. its quite fun that way!

the not-so-great side to that is that when you are trying to get a bit of planning in with an important event or just want to go ahead and plan your weekend on wednesday instead of waiting so that you can see both family and friends and go to church (be efficient!), then its virtually impossible. everyone will say a tentative yes, but the commitment is not there. and then the importance of confirmations comes in. here in egypt, its normal to confirm about 2-3 times...at least once the night before and then one time that day and usually even call when you are on the way to make sure they aren't changing the time by an hour or two :)  i think that's one reason its "bank" to own mobile phone companies here!

honestly, i can't decide what i like better. but i think egypt is "up one" on this one...because i'm rarely bored and end up spending way more time hanging with people and having quality time and conversations with family and friends, rather than just doing many many activities and feeling overwhelmed with a full schedule.

so, when i'm in the states this summer...i think i'll try to keep it spontaneous as much as possible. call me the day you want to hang out ;)

accomplishment...

every month there are more and more accomplishments i experience with living here in cairo. you can imagine that moving to a new city, country, etc. that is crazy like cairo and covered in arabic that i can't understand or even read the characters...this was quite a challenge and the feeling of accomplishment has been so important for me since moving here.

it's those little goals and milestones that keep me encouraged about making it to a place of "comfort" in the newness. and i feel i'm almost there. most days i am pretty comfortable. 

and when Rany travels for work, its actually the time when i experience the most accomplishments. i take my independence to another level every time he flies away.  this last week was no exception. again, i felt even more accomplished in my efforts as a daily living Cairo girl.

just to talk a bit about it...

one big thing is planning a schedule. this is nearly impossible here and calling different people to set up hang-out times ahead of time is definitely challenging...but really important so that i don't sit home at night, bored and feeling lonely. this last week was by far the easiest! every night filled itslef with great times with girl friends that are becoming so important and close to me these days. this was a huge indicator to me that i really have come to a place of having a strong support network here of friends and family that i can feel really comfortable with and depend on.

another thing is driving and especially directions! i am happy to announce that i really understand directions here in the city of crazy Cairo now :) my husband will actually readily admit that i understand directions here better than he does now! i can even know the "fastest" way to some places according to traffic. one big thing for me was going to and from an area in cairo called "shobra" that is extremely difficult to get in and out of...and i didn't get lost once!! of course, i asked to confirm every turn every 5-10 mins or so...but that's even another accomplishment (all in arabic!).  to wrap that up, if you look at my week last week, i drove to virtually every area of town: maadi, mohandisseen, shobra, menyal, haram, downtown.  all that's missing is heliopolis/masr gadida and that's the usual one for the weekends!

one last big accomplishment this last week was spending time with my husband's family without him. i don't think i've done this except once or twice. usually when he is gone, i just stick with hanging out with friends and his sister and parents. but this time, the extended family was having a party for a cousin and i decided to join them, even without rany. i think they were all pleasantly surprised and this really helped me feel like a part of the egyptian family. i even made a cake and they were all touched by that :) 

so, last week was a great week and full of accomplishments...thank you God! i need those encouragements often and i'm so grateful when they come!

i can't wait for the day that i can post that i have accomplished mroe in arabic (its slow going right now!)...but it will come one day soon!!!

Egyptian Culture Fact #1

(i decided i will start featuring some entries that highligh culture stuff i notice about egyptians...these are just opinions, although i call them facts ;) hehe...but i think they are interesting and since i've been here for almost 2 yeras and my husband and his family are all egyptians and i work will all egyptians in my office here, then i would say that my opinion is closer to a fact than some.)

FACT #1 :: EGYPTIANS LIKE COLOGNE AND PERFUME

I've noticed this since I visited, but this is definitely something that is in the culture and not just random people. All Egyptians like cologne and perfume...actually LOVE it...and not just some...A LOT. They love to put about 10-15 squirts on at a time :)  Maybe its out of generosity...they want everyone to enjoy their cologne/perfume and not just themselves or the 1-2 people closest to them...maybe they want to share it with everyone on the street and in the store or office. 

I was reminded of this fact this morning when I was walking from my parking space to my office and a man passed me wearing a strong cologne and as I continued walking I could smell it for almost 100 feet! It was like I was following his scent trail!!

I thought that this might be a "guy thing" where the guys put on way too much and just don't realize it...not true...its the girls too. They love their perfumes...and the flowery ones especially (not my favorite, I'm a Burberry Brit girl!)

The more I'm here (and here in the hot summers), the more I can understand it though. After all, its summer hot here in the summers and everyone sweats from the walking and the hot sun.  

So, I have to say, even though its a lot and maybe too much, I'm grateful for the obsession with the cologne/perfume...I would rather smell that than the sweat/BO that I would smell in Paris all of the time!

So, go ahead Egyptians...spray it on and enjoy!!

p.s. perfume is a famous thing of ancient egypt, so this might be a cultural thing that has been going on since forever!

another fun weekend...

wow, another fun weekend...let's keep this streak going!!! :)

we had a great weekend...in cairo this time. we started off the weekend at one of our aunt's houses in 6th of october (suburb of cairo). it was so fun getting to sit out by the garden until the sun set and then go inside and enjoy watching the soccer match (GO AHLY!) and eating homemade "hawawshi" (egyptian hamburgers), plus enjoying crazy kids and enjoying even more when they crashed and fell asleep on the sofas and floor...dropping like flies, one-by-one.

 (hawashi - picture NOT taken by me :) ) 

(kids asleep everywhere!)

the next day we had a great time at another aunt's house...this time on the other side of town near the airport. they have a new amazing villa...so huge and so beautiful.  but of course, i enjoyed the people and atmosphere more than anything. again we sat out in the garden, and it was so incredible. the weather was PERFECT, not too hot and with a nice breeze...and we sat overlooking the pool and the city. really relaxing. then we had some amazing fish with rice and salad...and it was incredible.  it was so fun spending time with this part of the family as well.

 (view from sitting in the garden - i know...wow!)

on saturday, we enjoyed another fun day...this time with friends. one of rany's close friends from a long time got married, so we joined them in the ceremony and celebration. the reception was at a really amazing clubhouse/golf club, called Katamaya Heights, and was just gorgeous. definitely one of the most beautiful places to have an outdoor reception. we enjoyed the amazing food, fun friends, crazy dancing, and wishing our friend a lifetime of happiness :)

 (rania - rany's sister - and me)

(sunset and my man)

(the happy couple...almost one year married!)

(a group of our friends)

traffic relief...

thank goodness. some relief from the traffic of cairo lately. the last 2 days have been so much better. and let me tell you, that makes a huge difference in life and me here.

for those of you who have ever lived in a crazy driving horrible traffic city (and driven daily in it), you can understand when i say that traffic brings out a "Pam" that i didn't know existed. its scary actually. it really pulls out the "ugly" from deep inside and has it shout from your lips in ways you never imagined. i swear, sometimes i feel "possessed" ;) hehe.

i've been trying to fight this a bit and not "excuse" this kind of behavior in myself...but its super difficult. especially if i am driving a lot in one week and the traffic is bad...my paitence and endurance and self control are all spent by the end of the week! 

but lately its been better, especially with the help of the traffic getting a bit better...whew! so glad. i can't wait for next month when we start getting the wonderful "summer traffic" that is so so so so much better! yea!!

until then, i'll try to survive and try to keep my mouth shut!

recovering at the sea...

after the crazy bout with sickness, we spent the weekend with a group of leaders over the youth group at our church, "Gam3a Leaders." we had a lovely and fun retreat at the Red Sea in Ain el Sokhna just 1.5 hours outside the city. its our favorite place to go to the beach because its so close and has great sand and sea.

the weather was amazing. not too hot. the only sad part was the sea and pool were too cold for me to swim in...although that didn't seem to stop anyone else! it was a great weekend to relax and recover, and yet take advantage of the time to connect with new and newer friends in our church. they are a great bunch of leaders and rany and i are both excited to get to know everyone better and start serving together with them!

i've included some pics this time. :)

 {Kicking some ping-pong butt}

{Rany about to take the big plunge into the freezing cold pool}

{Some of the group playing a game in the pool}

{How many Egyptian can fit under an umbrella??? More than you can imagine!}

{It's "A-ok" now. Rany lounging by the pool and socializing with new friends}

{Playing "Never Have I Ever" the "clean" way!}

back from the land of the sick...

after a week of being virtually out of commission from "normal life", i'm back from the land of the sick. i came down with yet another case of food poisoning last week and it was a ride! the worst case i've had since moving here over 1.5 years ago. i've gotten the general case lots of times, but know how to deal pretty well with it, but this case was extreme and severe and took lots of medical help.

but after laying around for 4 days at home and sleeping over 12 hours every day/night, i'm finally back to almost 100% and watching every bite that goes into my mouth!

well, i don't want to leave a bad impression about egypt, although almost every visitor and foreigner and even local deals with the issues of unclean food...so, i'll post a positive post right away after this :)

a rough start...

there's an occasional day, maybe about once a month or so (much less often than it used to be), where things just get to me. whether its the culture, the traffic or this "new life" in cairo, it just all seems to fall down onto my emotions like a new waterfall pounding down on the untouched earth below.

today was one of those days/mornings.

having a full-time "secular" job in cairo means a lot of things, but the one thing it meant today was being frustrated, tired, and broken in horrible traffic this morning. sometimes the traffic is just waiting in terribly long lines on exit ramps and such. other days, like today, it means dealing with crazy drivers and not-so-nice people. that's the kind that gets to me most of the time. i can deal with waiting in lines for 1.5 hours, but i can only deal with unkind horribly inconsiderate driving for about 10 mins! then the breakdown comes.

it usually comes back to the following thoughts in my mind:

-why is it always a fight?
-how can people live like this?
-this is not a life to fight in traffic every morning?
-what kind of city is this where this is the normal?
-what kind of people are these people to act like this in driving?
-why am i here with these people living in this same city and driving on these same crazy streets every morning in rush hour traffic to this job?

and that's the base question that my thoughts always seem to hit. kind of the bottom pit of it all. it seems to always come back to the big "why"--why am i here???? that's the big one that hits so hard and with such strong desperation that you feel as if your life should just end at that moment.

of course, i'm being dramatic. (after all, i've been in egypt and its an emotional and dramatic culture!)

i don't want my life to end. and i really don't want to keep asking this "why i am here" question. but its just one of those days. and i have to remember that those days come less often than before and they only come on occasion.

so, i'll try to hang in there today, like i try to do on these kind of days, and just try to relax and trust in what i know to be true. i am here and i am supposed to be here...that's the plan..the Big Plan...and that's the reality. blessing and curse, good and bad, sickness and health, up and down, clear and confusing.

that's life i think no matter where i live. we get it all.

thoughts on life in cairo...

so, i've decided to start blogging on this personal blog again. i think i will start sharing some random thoughts on my newly cross-cultural married life in cairo, egypt...probably random daily things that should be quite entertaining. more coming soon...

photos coming soon...

hey all...i'm starting a new project for 2010...a picture project. although inspired by my friend's one-a-day picture project, i don't think i can pull off one every day...so i'm going for a "3-a-week" deal. look for it on facebook :)

inspired...

...i'm sitting in my bed right now, watching tv...and i'm truly inspired. inspired to a point of wanting to smile with tears in my eyes before our loving Creator.

so, what's brought me to this point? inspiring people. after all, i love nature, but the real true amazing inspirational moments seem to always come through people. and these people make me look at my life and realize that i can do anything!

these are "the smallest people in the world." its a tv show or special on TLC that documents the lives of people around the world that have a sever dwarfism called "primordial dwarfism" that truly makes them the smallest people in the world. at first glance, i couldn't even believe what i was seeing. i almost thought it was a computer affect (shows what i'm used to watching, huh?). but then i saw how incredibly perfect these kids and adults are...perfectly made....but just different from what i'm used to as "normal."

its amazing to see someone who is so small determined to climb anything and everything and do incredible push ups that look impossible...just by sheer determination. its unbelievable to see a young woman who is less than 2 feet tall, holding her "baby brother"'s hand and helping him learn to walk and him being taller than she is...and her entire goal is to "help him." its inspiring to see people who have been given the crazy gift and challenge and hardship and whatever else you want to call it...and them living life the only way they know how or can figure out or can just live because this is the reality of there life...its who they are.

and i can't help but think, every single time i see these amazing people, the first thought that runs through my mind in every moment is "You are one of God's amazing creations." and they are..we are....no matter our shape or size...we are made by God...100% God-made...from fabric to stitching to dying colors to hemming and trimming!

so, i just want to yell from the top of my lungs "YOU ARE YOU AND YOU ARE BEAUTIFULLY HANDMADE BY GOD!!!!" to each and every one of you.

(click here to check out the documentary)

get hooked like me...

...well, i was trying to think of all of the "stan" countries a while ago and ended up googling to figure out the ones i couldn't remember (just the names...i definitely could not tell you which is which on the map!). anyways, i love world maps and i really got in the mood to see one to learn some more geography. i mean, how can i not even know names of countries where millions of people live their lives every single day...let alone not even know where they are on the map!

so, i ran across this website and i got hooked! i mean, really hooked...to the point where i just missed the first 15 mins of american idol because i lost track of time! that's big time!!

well, i couldn't believe how many countries i had never even heard of! i shame myself. and this website definitely shames me. intrigued yet? try it out. you even get scored. but one warning, its hard to zoom in on those small countries with the timer going fast :)


World Map Game

Happy V's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my friends and family! I love you all SO much and appreciate your love and support that you give me every day, week, month, and year! Life wouldn't be life without each of you. Love, Pamela

a new year...

...there's something about the new year that makes me get all sentimental. i love the idea of looking back at a specific period of time as much as most people like new beginnings. i think the thing i love the most about a new year is the fact that we get to do both...and that's what i love to do--both.

the year 2007 has been a year for the books in more ways than one. and the most i can say about it is that i have no regrets and have been challenged more than ever before...creating more growth in my life than ever before.

and as 2008 begins today, i look on it with an assurance of hope that this year will be another one for the books...and one that i pray i will have no regrets about. i am so thankful for a creator that not only made me, but continues to guide me each day in the way to go and gives me grace when i start slightly off the path...he is the best one there is and the only one there is.

don't be afraid to look back and be joyful in the hope of the brand new year beginning!

happy new year! let's make 2008 the best year yet!!

challenged to open up my life...

Dear Friends....here is the challenge:


Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing. Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right; when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.

Dear, dear sisters and brothers, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!*


Will you take the challenge with me?


(*Taken from 2 Corinthians 6--The Message version)

what is it with seasons?...

...seasons have always been a part of my life. i grew up in georgia with 4 seasons every year. after living in singapore, i saw what having only 2 seasons and no temperature changes was like (and it was a lot easier to pick out an outfit in the morning!). but wherever you go, you still have seasons. even in antarctica there are seasons (i watched that penguin movie!).

so, how do the seasons of life, especially spiritual seasons, still take me by surprise?

coming up on a new season in my life, i'm a little amazed to look back at the last one and see that it really was a season. although everything is not going to change instantly, i'm seeing the leaves changing colors and the air is feeling a bit more crisp. when i walk out my door here in georgia i don't feel this or see this, but when i step into the quiet place in my heart i do.

and it is sweet.

the saving grace in learning about these seasons of life is that it seems i am figuring it our earlier as i get older. i have more times when i remind myself that it is temporary and something else is coming soon, than those many days in high school when i thought that one sad day was the end of my life. life takes on perspective as i grow up (yes, i'm fully admitting that i am still growing up!) and i sure am thankful for that.

seasons can be hard. but as long as i learn to embrace them as seasons, i know what is in store for me at the end of the journey.

my journey by the river...

...Every day is a new challenge. Although I've been on the same journey for so many years and I've climbed many hills and small mountains, I'm definitely in unfamiliar territory right now. I am climbing one of the biggest mountains I can imagine at the moment and I feel as if I'm in a fog during the greatest hike of my life. All of myself keeps me next to the river, following its path up the mountain to reach the top. But its not easy to stay there. Its not easy to stay beside that river with so many obstacles coming my way. Day after day, there is a new pull or push to come or go away from the river, the source of both my life and well-being and also the true guide to my destination. My strength is weakened with every new hit from that which comes against me. Yet somehow I've carried on for days, weeks, and months now. Somehow, even when I've given into the pulls and pushes and gone far from the river, it beckons me back with its constant hum of peace as it flows. It does not deter from its normalcy or somehow change its path to meet me on my untrue path, but rather it calls me back to where it lives and breathes life. It calls me back to its own journey, its own path, its own destination. Because ultimately its journey is my journey, its path is my path, and its destination is my destination. Oh that I may stay beside the peaceful waters that move faithfully and call to me over and over. That I may drink of life and know what steps lie ahead of me. Renew my strength, great river. Help me to keep walking. Push me on this journey to keep hiking through the thick fog up this great mountain.

what is life?

what is life without changes,
without new things and challenges,
without strangers becoming friends and relationships growing deeper,
without new thoughts and ideas,
without seasons and phases,
without mountain tops and valleys,
without days lived through fires and weeks lived through warm summer days,
without bluesy mondays and thank goodness its fridays,
without love and loss,
without hope and despair,
without times of great joy and times of great pain,
without greater depths and deeper understandings,
without tasting new foods and smelling new smells,
without hearing new languages and seeing new faces,
without seeing the earth wither and then come alive again?

for how do we truly know joy without knowing pain,
or know what we've missed without seeing what was missing all along,
or know how good fridays can be after living through mondays,
or know what true hope is without living through those months of despair,
or know what new growth and life is without seeing the sadness of death,
or know that we are standing on the mountain top without walking up the steep climb from that valley?

this is life. and to know its true greatness, you must go through its hardships. i welcome life. but am i ready for it?

sometimes biographies speak loudly...

...i'm sitting here flipping the television and i ran across a special biography (interview montage) on david beckham on espn. just recently i've become intrigued by the beckham family. and that continues upon hearing more about his story and his journey as a football player.

david beckham is one of the greatest "footballers" in the history of the game. yet, he has not always been "wanted by all" as we think. after not only playing wonderfully for the england team, but also acting as captain, beckham was sitting on a plane waiting to take off when he received a phone call. the new manager of the team was calling. unaware of the reason, beckham was taken by surprise when his new "boss" informed him that with new managers come changes to teams and there are always "causalties"--and unfortunately beckham was one of them. as strong as beckham is, he is also emotional and this news led to many tears.

but following those tears were days spent with family and close friends. together they assessed the situation and tried to determine how beckham could get out of it. shortly thereafter, spain asked beckham to play for them..and so he did, with all of his heart and strength, as he always does.

as the country of england, as well as the "big guys," saw england lose match after match and the poor management of the new guy, they decided changes had to be made. beckham recalls sitting in front of the t.v. and watching an england match and hearing the crowd beginning to chant his name, calling out for him to come back and play for them. and so, the "big guys" responded to the crowds and asked beckham back.

beckham, strongly and courageously, returned to his home country and team and held his head high, holding no grudges and showing no wounds. and he played. hard. not long after that he was named captain once again and given the second chance that he longed for.

but this was not the only potential set-back of beckham's career. while playing for spain, he faced hardship. after announcing to the team that he had decided to play for the l.a. galaxy, the coach decided that he would no longer let beckham train with the team. keeping this from the press, beckham was forced to train with the team for the first 15 mins while the press was there, and then after they left, he was asked to go off and train by himself.

beckham recalled how tough this was. he said that it was not only hard for him as a football player and teammate, but it hurt him "as a man." this only grew more difficult after beckham received a call that the coach had announced on a press conference that beckham would train with the team, but he would not play out the season with the team. this moment could have been devastating to beckham. but he took this hardship and used it to grow stronger.

beckham began training even harder. he may have been training alone, but he was training as if he was the captain. he grew stronger and better and sure enough, he was asked back to play in the matched for spain. he stated that it was not in spite or revenge or for any other reason that he trained harder, but rather it was for his "love of the game." and beckham played out hard...through the very last game.

and now he begins a new phase in his career, playing for the galaxy. he is embracing the change and excited about what the future holds. and although he hopes for success, his desire is that everyone will know that he has always "played his best."

how amazing his story is! with two potentially devastating points in his career, fueled by bad decisions and poor leadership (actually admitted to by the very leadership that made the decisions), beckham didn't let it get him down. although he felt depressed at moments (as his wife recalls him sitting on the coach watching matches that he wasn't playing in and being completely depressed), he never let it deteremine the fate of his career. he stayed strong. he continued to train strong. he fought harder by being the best at what he knew and determined he could be. he knew he couldn't change the leadership's mind or decisions, but he knew the one thing he had control over was what he did. his reactions and his actions. his attitude and his discipline. and now as he sits, waiting to start yet another "new beginning" (as his tattoo reads!) he can truly say that he has absolutely "no regrets."

i don't know about you...but that is inspiring. may i always be able to take potential set-backs and continue to train hard and do my best at being who i am created to be for the game that i love and the God that i serve.

ok, ok...

...well, Emma's comment was taken very seriously--afterall, its the only comment so far so it gives it more weight. :)

so, because of her efforts, i decided i really should post a bit about my sister's visit here. we do have different perspectives and why not share mine.

its been so much fun having someone here to do fun stuff with, like traveling, eating out, and going to the last few tourist places i haven't hit yet. its also fun to "come home" to someone after work (something i hope to have in the future one day...i really love this!) we have done so many amazing things and laughed at a lot of funny cultural moments and have eaten tons of food (including all the snacks she brought from the states for me--namely Nutter Butters for me:)

our trip to Jakarta and Bali was so much fun and so much traveling! we felt like we were in airports most of the time. let's see, we traveled a total of 6 days and were at airports 5 different times!! pretty nuts. budget airlines are cheap...but you definitely lose a lot of time in delays and inefficiencies!

jakarta is a huge city--and not necessarily the best city we've ever been to. the Indonesian people are amazing and so relational, and our partners and friends who hosted us were so great. we did a lot of shopping and sat in a lot of traffic. the traffic is truly a part of the culture there.

bali---WOW WOW WOW! that's in it a nutshell. carolyn and i absolutely LOVED it. we have it on our list as the #1 spot to go back and visit again (which means a lot considering the amount of traveling we've both been lucky enough to have done). we stayed on Sanur beach in the south and it was so quiet and peaceful. yes, we might have been one of the few young people there, but it was relaxing and that's the most important part for a beach to us. the view from the beach and pool was incredible. we had a great time walking up and down the beach each night to decided where to eat dinner and then walking up and down the street in front of our hotel to shop and stop into stores. there were lots of Aussies there and they are so sociable! we were always being asked if we were having a good time--you would have thought they worked there (hmm...i'm thinking of another blogpost on this!!). and i'll never forget the phrase that one older aussie man spoke to us on the last day at the pool "are the american girls having a good time?" (you really have to hear it with the accent!). it was so cute. and to top everything off, we had the chance to ride, feed, and play with Asian Elephants...next time, its a tour at the volcano! what does this island NOT have??? everyone should add it to their list of places to visit!!

singapore--well, this was back to "normal life" for me as me and carolyn made our way back to the city, island, country. i think carolyn really enjoyed the life here. its a lot like an american city, much more western than the rest of asia. it was so much fun to have someone to hang out with at night after work. we definitely had a packed schedule. i had a list of stuff i wanted carolyn to do and she had her list too...so we packed it all in. she did her own thing during the days and then we had a great time going out to dinners, going to the Night Safari (we bought the cooleset elephant wine glasses!), walking around town, seeing a part of a Chinese opera, and hanging out with my friends. the weekend was fun too...we made it to the Bird Park (cool but exhausting!) and to my church.

all in all...it was a great visit and she left with only a few days left for me in singapore. thanks for visiting sister!!!!