Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Cairo is hands-down one of the safest cities in the world to live in. Excluding the real-life game of frogger when crossing the street, it's amazes me how secure and welcomed I feel here.

Sunday night, after working my way down by plane from Eastern Europe I arrived in Cairo International Airport at 2:15 am. After clearing customs with my visa and grabbing my bags, I cruised outside to get a ride home. Taxis at the airport are relatively expensive for the city, since the airport is a ways from the center of town. I found bus number 400, hopped on with a bunch of Egyptians and we started flying down the highway... at least until we got a flat tire.

We pull off the side, 3:30 am at this point, while some fellow Egyptian travelers wave down a minibus. We pile in (reminds me of a joke about Guatemala, "How many people fit into a Guatemalan chicken bus?... One more", the same applies here). I have my big hiking backpack fresh with my clothes from the States which my Dad brought over, and a laptop computer. The big bag goes on my lap, the laptop on the lap of the guy next to me, and we cruise to the center of downtown Cairo.

Me and my friend have a running competition of seeing who can get home from the airport for the least amount of money. Taxis cost about 50 pounds (9 dollars US)... at this point I'm up to 1 pound, I'm doing pretty well. It's now 4:30 am, the morning call to prayer is beginning to echo in the distance as I'm walking around Cairo in the dark, by myself, as a foreigner carrying a big backpack and a laptop computer. In all honesty, I wouldn't have wanted to be in that situation anywhere else, but Cairo. I eventually give in and catch a 5 pound cab to my apartment in west Cairo putting my total at 6 pounds... so I lost, the record is 3.5 pounds. Next time...

The rest of the time with my brother and Dad in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Poland was great. After seeing the small town my bro lives in for the Peace Corps., my Dad and I made a quick stop in Sofia before catching a flight to Bratislava, Slovakia and then a train to Prague. The weather warmed up a bit so we were able to tour the city, hit the sites, and of course drink some quality Czech beer. From there we moved on to Katowice and Krakow, Poland where we saw some old friends from our church. It was a whirlwind three days, but definitely worth it.

By the end of the trip I was itching to get back to Cairo. Something about this place just draws me here. This is beginning to sound like a government-sponsored tourist advertisement... but the Egyptian people are hands-down the most friendly, loyal, and hospitable people I have ever met in any of my travels. They make this crazy city feel like home.

Interspersed are some random pictures from the last few months here. Thanks for all the loving from back home.