It is definitely spring-time in Cairo! I have only been gone for three weeks but in that time, the weather has gone from cool and gray skies to sunny and warmer! It is wonderful! Many of the trees are in bloom-one is ‘dressed’ in red and another adorned in purple! Everywhere the planted areas are abloom with nastursums, daiseys, hibiscus, and more! Birds are singing their little hearts out, and I see butterlies flitting among the plants outside my window. If only this were as hot as it gets!
Yesterday, we went on our first felucca ride on the Nile River! A felucca is an Egyptian sailing boat. It has a large sail, plenty of seating, and a huge table in the center to spread out the picnic we brought to snack on. Manuvering past moored boats, our captain deftly oars our ship into the Nile’s current. He is quite a character, wearing the traditional galibeah and head scarf. Today there is enough breeze to catch our sail and we move swiftly into open water.
The occasion of our two hour voyage is to get to know our friends’, (Dave and Julie,) kids a little bit. They are here on their Spring Break and with a full schedule planned for them, this is our opportunity to spend some time with them! We are a group of about a dozen-many are young adults from MCC who work with youth. We feasted on a spread of veggies and dips, brownies, cookies, bread sticks and tangerines-sodas and water while we floated past beautiful villas with flowering gardens, bullrushes, children playing in the water near shore, and women doing their laundry--laying it out on the banks of the river to dry.
I wasn’t really ready for the ride to be over. The breeze, the warmth, the sun, the slap of the water against the side of the boat...a wonderful way to return to Cairo. I don’t think Cleopatra could have done it any better!
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