January 30, 2011

As we had no internet for all of last week, I was unable to post to the blog, but I did write and saved them and will post them for you. Just cause I'm awesome like that.

January 30, 2011

Day 3

The grocery store this morning was just weird. There were huge gaps of items that were missing from the shelves. They were completely out of milk and bread, but at the large store where we started, most other items were available. Brian bought the last piece of beef and 4 whole chickens.

We drove to another store, Metro Market, hoping to find milk and bread, but they were out of more things than Alfa was and their check-out line wrapped around the store. We found milk at a small kiosk and vegetables at our local souk.

The amount of groceries we carried in was staggering, but we know that because there are a bunch of people who are eating, they will disappear quickly.

After grocery shopping, we drove around for a short time just looking at our city. We drove by Carrefour and checked out the devastation left by the looters. And we drove by a couple of our friends houses to be sure they were still standing. They were.

Everywhere we drove, streets were blockaded and men were standing near their homes with various clubs and weaponry. Evidently, yesterday the Egyptian government issued  a statement to the people to use whatever they had to defend and protect their homes from the looters. We saw 12 year old boys carrying broom handles and clubs. Men with machetes, a samurai sword, b-b guns, a chain, all types of metal and wooden clubs fashioned from anything that looked like it could be used as a weapon.

The ends of streets were barricaded with everything from light poles, tree branches, trash barrels, sand bags, an old couch, chunks of rock, concrete blocks, and even a few piles of trash. Men stand guard and approve or turn away each car that drives through. It is a little awesome to see everyone owning their piece of ground and ready to defend it.

It is difficult living in a small space with a bunch of people. 6 of these people are ages 6 and under. Poor Savannah asked me last night if we could “please just go home. I really miss my home, Mommy.” And Sophie has such a hard time getting a decent nap. Understandably, she is both in a new bed and it is hard to keep 13 people quiet.

There is an upside, tonight I gave the girls bathes and 3 other ladies cleaned up the kitchen. There are always game players and movie-watching buddies. Any time you need a wii buddy, there are at least 2 who are interested in playing.

Many of my local friends have called to check on us and saying goodbye to my friends upstairs was harder than I expected.

It was weird today, after we packed up our suitcases, to look around the house at all the extra things that would be left behind and think that maybe it would be the last time to see it. I keep thinking of things I should have put in the suitcase. Particularly the vase Emily made for me. Insha’allah it will be there when I get to go back home to it.

One of our buddies just related a funny Savannah story:

He said that Savannah told him today, “My mama is really mean.” He said, “Really?” And she said, “Yes, ‘cause she won’t let me eat snacks whenever I want to.”

Yes, I am mean like that. Even during an Egyptian coup.