February 3, 2011

February 3, 2011
Day 7 - the airport

At 5:45 this morning we got a call saying that Anderson Cooper had
been beaten up in a riot and that it was recommended that we go to the
airport early in case there was any anti-American sentiment that was
about to be expressed. A driver picked us up as soon as curfew was
lifted at 7am.

The ride to the airport was fairly uneventful, save for two road
blocks where men demanded to see identification from the driver and
one stop to add a few more to our number to our exodus.

We arrived at the airport and made it past the first security
checkpoint with all bag and baggage accounted for.

It was then 9:30 am. A mere 10 hours until our flight leaves.

We staked out a vacant corner and piled our luggage around us in a
half circle. I will spare you the details, but luckily we had brought
movies, snacks, books, drawing supplies and juice boxes. Those helped
a little.

I took sophie to the bathroom to feed her and while we were there, a
little boy came in with his little sister and mother.
He walked up and said: "esme Mohammad" (my name is Mohammad)
I said, "esme Christy"

He then said something else that I couldn't understand, but then his
mother used words I know. He was wanting to know what the babies name
is.

"esmaha Sophia, " I said (her name is Sophia)
"Ana behab Sophia," he said (I love Sophia)
And then he leaned over and kissed her square on the mouth.

It is currently 2:10 in the afternoon, and as I type the Egyptian Red
Crescent  just stopped by and dropped off little bags containing
juice, crackers, and a bottle of water.

I've heard that at 3:00 we can check our baggage and proceed through
security to the gates. There are restaurants after that point, but we
have no way of knowing if they are serving food to hungry people.