Real Troopers do Cheek Kisses

I'm apparently a "real trooper" now.  This honor was bestowed on me for attending a Christmas party with a bunch of Brits that I didn't know.  I can think of worse ways to spend my time.  It was actually quite fun.

A lady that Chris works with in London lives near us.  She had our family over for a yummy summertime British barbecue.  We had them over for our fried turkey American Thanksgiving feast.  Now that we're in the Christmas season we were invited back for "Christmas drinks".  The guests were mostly neighborhood friends, all native Brits except for one other American family who has lived here for 8 years and the wife has acquired a british accent so they don't really count.  We arrived an hour and a half into the party and the "drinks" were definitely already flowing.  Several people introduced themselves, we were offered appetizers including the traditional mince pie, and conversation started flowing as well.  I like the line that one guy said: when English people start drinking, they become more social, more "American".

So we had a good time and as we were leaving, the hostess was impressed that we were able to fit in with the locals, and that's when she said I was a real trooper.

Cheek kiss

One thing I struggle with a little though is the European style of greeting people.  Americans hug, the English do cheek kisses.  See photo (not of me, it's pulled from the internet).  I'm never sure what the protocol is when an American is greeting a local.  And is it one or both cheeks? I usually end up in an awkward half kiss / half lunge.  Oh well, something to work on.

Eating BBQ in London

Yes, there is American style Barbecue in London!!!  We went to a place called Bodean's BBQ (any relation to Jethro??)  It felt like stepping into a room from home.

There was classic rock music playing via Sirius satellite radio: Guns N' Roses "Welcome to the Jungle", AC/DC's  "Back in Black" to name but a few.


The TV was showing American football and basketball from ESPN's website.

There were longhorn skulls on the walls and lamps made from antlers.


Just the decor alone felt like Texas.  And then there was the food....

Baby-back ribs, hot chicken wings, brisket, sausage, pulled pork, bbq beans, cornbread muffins, and all the favorites from back home.


I like what the slogan on the menu said:

need no teef

TO EAT MY BEEF

Their website boasts:  “Best ribs this side of the Atlantic” Time Out, Feb 2009


Drinks?  Beer of course, but also Homemade Iced Tea!  Now you may think what's the big deal?  Well the only iced tea they drink in England is bottled, not the same in my book. They like their tea hot of course. So when I ordered an iced tea the waitress made sure I knew it was homemade and was I okay with that?  Heck yeah!


It's funny how you take things for granted until you don't have them, like American ambience and American BBQ.

Four Days in Cairo

Spending four days in Cairo, Egypt was interesting, exciting, inspiring, and long enough!

TASIS England Soccer Team

Champs!

The American school in Cairo hosted the ISST (International School Sports Tournament) for Girls Soccer in November.  Twelve international schools from 7 countries participated.  Hubby and I travelled there to watch our daughter’s varsity soccer team from TASIS England compete.  Okay, I can’t wait until the end of this article to tell you…. TASIS took first place!  That’s a 3-peat for the girls – champs for 3 years in a row -- way to go!

So that definitely made the trip exciting.  We did some sightseeing while there so let me tell you about the rest of the trip.

We visited the Giza pyramids, even rode on camels next to them. We got face to face with the Sphinx. It was breathtaking to actually be there, a place that you see in pictures but never dream of seeing in real life.  The pyramids were larger than life, and the morning sun shadowing one side of the pyramids made for pretty photos.

Garbage City

We also visited a place called “Garbage City”.  It’s where a group of people called the Coptic Christians lives.  They collect the garbage from all of Cairo and cart it back to Garbage City on trucks or donkey-pulled carts.  They sort out the garbage into different piles for recycling.

The Coptic Christians have built churches into the side of the hills at Garbage City and made "Cave Churches". The largest church seats 20,000 people.  Artwork is carved into the stone.  It's amazingly beautiful.

While we were looking around, Egyptian kids that were also touring the churches were very friendly to us and tried out the little English they knew, "Do you speak English?", "What is your name?"  Chris shook hands with them all and then they started asking for money.  Of course!

Traffic is crazy in Cairo, not sure why they bother marking lanes, cars just straddle two lanes and then honk if someone is in the way.  Watching people catch vans that act as buses was hilarious.  The van slows down, the door slides open and people run along beside it and then hop on and try to shove their way into the over-crowded space.  Sometimes the door can’t close again because people are hanging on.  Needless to say, we did not take any public transportation there.  We hired drivers to take us around.

One driver we had didn’t speak any English and got lost.  They don’t seem to use satellite navigation there; in England everyone has a GPS.  The driver kept pulling over to ask locals where the restaurant was, and they would always point him in the opposite direction we were going.  We were heading to a Chili’s restaurant, I guess that wasn’t a well-known place for him but we were craving it as there are no Chili’s restaurants in England.

Another night we walked to an Asian restaurant right down the street from our hotel.   We had to cross a very busy street and that was quite an adventure in itself! There were no traffic lights to help us across. We just had to dart out.  Someone said just make eye contact with the driver and they will let you across.  Pretty scary!

The Hotel Sofitel we stayed at had metal detectors at the entrance, all the big hotels there do, remember hotel bombings there recently? There was also a barrier that the taxi couldn’t pass through until dogs sniffed our van for bombs.  Again, a little scary.

Guards with machine guns are seen out on the streets and in guard towers.  But we were told not all the guns are loaded; the government just wants to provide jobs for the guards.

Cool things:

•        Our hotel was right on the Nile River.
•        Saw a woman walking on the street balancing a large basket on her head.
•        Drank a refreshing drink made from Hibiscus flowers.
•        Warm sunny weather in November.

Not so cool:

•      Don’t drink the water!
•      Don’t bring attention to yourself by showing shoulders or knees.
•      Took 10 minutes to get hot water in hotel bathroom, and it was a 5 star luxury hotel!

Nile River

Being in the walled complex of the Cairo American school felt very safe.  The Cairo students have bongo drums that they play during the soccer games and the awards ceremony. It really adds to the ambience and reminds you that you are in Africa!

It was an interesting experience being in Cairo but by the end of the trip most of the soccer parents were ready to “get back home”.

Winter through my Window

Snow Day today... School Cancelled.  I'm happy to view the winter wonderland through my back window.  My teenage daughter, however, had other ideas.  Friends came over and concocted a plan to have our 2 golden retrievers pull the girls around on a sled in the snow. They tried and tried but the dogs weren't cooperating.  Just as it was getting dark they moved the operation to the street where it was slicker and Jack decided he could be a sled-dog after all and just started running down the street, sled in tow behind. All were happy, even me, watching from the window...