Yuck Yuck Yuck

I opened my cupboard this morning, pulled down a box of cereal (which I haven't eaten in two weeks), and saw little tiny sugar ants all over the shelf. Yuck! I keep my kitchen clean so that this won't happen, I try to spray frequently to keep them away, and I haven't had any problems with them since I first moved in to the flat.

So, I took everything off the shelf, found the container of crackers that they were busy noshing on, and sprayed them all into oblivion. Unfortunately, I can't find their source...I'm not sure where they are coming from. There was no little orderly single file line leaving the crime scene. I sprayed on top of the cabinet to be safe, but I have a suspicion that their friends will return to avenge their comrades' deaths.

Ok, back to my cereal!

Update: I came home from school yesterday to find they had relocated to the toaster and stove area. Sprayed some more. When I got home last night, there were more out, but all dead, save the one atomic one that was going from dead ant to dead ant, looking for a comrade to save.

Come Back to Cairo

Last summer, many of my Cairene friends departed the land of sand and sun for their respective homelands. I managed to convince one of them, Yvette, to return for 10 days. We started our week diving in Taba...

Doesn't this look like fun?

...then commenced to have too many late nights with good friends. Let me tell you, I did my best to make Cairo seem like the best place to be. We laughed a lot, gossiped a lot, played around a lot...lucky for me, my students were not at school (classes were canceled for two weeks by the Egyptian government due to H1N1). Doesn't this look like one happy camper?

Now, I'm just wondering which friend I can convince to visit next? Julie? Aileen? Diving could be in the works! Don't you hear Cairo calling?

Taking the Plunge

Over the weekend, I journeyed down to Taba, a lovely little place (village doesn't even seem to fit) on the west coast of Sinai at the Israeli border. From the beach of the Taba Hilton, you could see the coasts of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the "Welcome to Israel" sign. Our last night, we heard some booms in the air and saw missiles going off over the water (target practice, apparently). High rocky cliffs dotted the coast, the ocean was calm, the water blue and clear.

But I didn't go to be a tourist and lie on the beach; I went to learn how to dive. And boy, was it worth it!

During our first "pool" session, this little fellow greeted us:Bernie the Barracuda
He circled us a few times and came back almost every time we were in the water. All of our "pool" sessions were at the house reef, and all of them ended with a little swim around the reef.

Then, we did our open water dives and ventured further out. We saw so many fish: clownfish, angelfish, a little juvenile angelfish (with a bullseye pattern instead of stripes), frogfish, moray eels, spotted sea snake eels, pufferfish, stonefish, and tons of others. Plus, all the coral. But by far my favorite fish were the ones below:Lionfish - there were a lot one day right before dusk when we went out, just swimming all over the reef
Parrotfish - these guys were just so big and colorful!

All in all, it was an excellent weekend. On our final dive, we went over some coral canyons and saw a school of yellowfin tuna. I'm hoping to get my Advanced certification next month, and I am planning another diving trip to Taba in late November.

Many thanks to my friend Krista for putting me in touch with her boss, Barry, the best dive instructor ever! Also, thanks to Yvette for coming all the way from the Netherlands to learn to dive with me. Nitrogen narcosis was blamed for our giddiness and silliness throughout the weekend!

More Hashing Fun in the Desert...

When I first thought about running on the hash, my one concern was, "But don't you fall? Won't the rocks trip you?" It took three hashes for this to happen:
And that's just my thigh...you can imagine what my hands, arms, knees, and lower leg look like. And it happened about a minute into the run. After I did a spectacular face plant along the side of a cliff, I hopped up, brushed myself off, and carried on!
This is some of the spectacular scenery...it was a long run, lots of ups and downs, and a gorgeous stretch along a ridge that afforded great views of the canyon.
Here, Ken is having to explain the concept of a group hug...which people didn't seem as keen about as usual, due to the heat and our general sweatiness.
But we finally did show some love, then continued running back to the RV. On On!
Now, I would have typed more, but my right hand is bruised and sore.

Another Great Thing About Cairo...

Driving to the pyramids today to play a round of golf, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the truck barreling down the highway in front of us. This is not unusual for Cairo. Many items will be haphazardly loaded on the back of a truck, fastened with a little bit of rope, and magically stay on while the truck careens in and out of traffic.

I liked the white stuff that looks like giant toilet paper rolls. Not sure what exactly it was, but it was humorous. As long as things bring a smile to my face, I am ok here.