Sunday, December 27, 2009

first day

Saturday December 27d
The Cairo International airport was crowded with mostly Chinese passengers. I was not sure if they were tourists or business men. They came each with their families with 10 suitcases each.
A young Egyptian man carrying a sign with my name was waiting outside of the gates, which practically ignored me as I happily waved my hand to get his attention. He along with his friend took me to the parking lot where another man was waiting to drive me to the hotel.
I arrived at the Sonesta hotel a little bit after 1:00 am. Outside of the hotel there was a security check point similar to the ones at the airport. You have to send your luggage through the security gate and walk though another gate.
The hotel is lovely and cleans (lets not compare to the hotels in the U.S). I was welcomed with a glass of mango juice. First they took me to a beautiful suit with a Jacuzzi in the bathroom. It took them less than 5 minutes to realize it was a mistake

At 4; 30 pm we are going on a river boat at the Nile River, where we will be placing 1400 lighted candles to mark those who died in the attack, the same day last year.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Preparing for Gaza

I'm getting myself ready for my trip to Gaza. I am leaving on Friday and will be there one week.