Cairo Chronicle, Issue #11, May 19, 2000.
Wow, time has been flying by! We only have 3 1/2 weeks left of school and about 4 left until we set foot back in the good old USA! Time lately has been spent trying to use up stuff in the refrigerator, packing items to take home, packing winter clothes and other things we're not using now, but don't want to take home, and generally preparing ourselves for the boon of Western civilization. We are especially short on boxes to pack things in. Where do you get them and how do you ask? We finally asked our bawwab yesterday if he would find some for us, and we'd pay him for the service. School revolves around another program (!) and finishing up the year. Sandy Lake (for the folks in Ponder choir) would have been last week, right? How did it go?
We had a lovely and blessed Easter. We joined a combined choir with Maadi Community Church to sing for the sunrise service at 5:30am. Barbara had a duet called "Calvary Came Through" (Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir), and we both sang several other numbers during the service including the traditional "Christ the Lord is Ris'n Today," a Memonite hymn "Who Are These... ?" and a South African "Amen. Alleluia!" It was, as should be expected in Maadi, a cross-cultural experience, with Arabic, English, French, African, Korean and German prayers, songs, and messages. The (Episcopal) Bishop of Egypt & North Africa himself, Ghais Abdel Malik, was there and delivered a stirring ecumenical message in English. He even sang an Arabic version of Colossians 3:1ff during his lesson, which was quite a distinct musical shift from the more Western sounding music of the morning. He was actually a very good singer. For those familar with the hymn "Thine Be the Glory" (aka "Tochter Zion, Freue Dich"), this was the finale of the service, with every represented language singing the same hymn tune. We aren't alone in saying that goosebumps ran up and down our spines when we heard everyone singing this song in their own language.
Another memorable part of that weekend was staying overnight with another choir member (since we didn't want to try to taxi down there at 4:30am from Heliopolis!!) who works for the American Embassy. We went to Maadi House (the Embassy club) and the commissary. The commissary was like heaven for the homesick Thomases. She let us pay her back for buying all the items (like bacon, sugar-free ice cream and real non-UHT milk, vitamins A&D fortified no less) that we can't get here. This experience only heightened our desire to look into Department of Defense schools next time around.
But the big event of Easter break was Barbara's chemical face peel. For about ten years, Barbara has felt self-conscious about the scarring on her face from acne. In Egypt, reconstructive surgery and facial treatments are about 1/3 the price. So we thought, okay, let's go for it! Both of the British nurses at AIS had recommended a particular doctor, so she scheduled the peel for the day after Easter Sunday. A little diary of the process follows:
Day 1:
Procedure: The doctor applied anesthetic cream to my face, and let it set for about an hour. Then he and and his assistant removed the cream with alcohol and acetone. The next step was to apply a weak peeling agent, and then the strong one with a Q-tip. At first, it didn't feel so bad, but then the chemicals started to work. By the time he was finished applying everything, my face felt on fire. I had to whimper a little. The assistant started to fan my face, and it felt heavenly. The pain didn't really subside to tolerable levels until about 1 hour and a half later. All in all though, it hurt less than expected. Or else I was being tough.
After: my face looked pure white, like an alien. As the pain receded, it started turning lavender, then pink. About 2 hours later, my face looked almost normal. I had to wash my face gently with glycerin soap that night.
Day 2:
Woke up with a tight and swollen face. The color slowly turned from pinkish to tan colored. No peeling yet.
Day 3:
My face is even more swollen and tight, but now it is turning a deep red. By the end of the day, there was a little peeling around my nose and mouth.
Day 4:
Even my eyes are puffy today! The peeling is still just around my nose and mouth, but a much wider area. I put on some cold compresses, and that helped the swelling. With the help of cuticle scissors, I was able to gently clear my upper lip and a little of my chin and nose. But I discovered I had tiny little water blisters all over. My doctor wants to see me tomorrow evening.
Day 5:
The part of my face that has already peeled is getting tight and uncomfortable. My doctor said that everything looked normal, and not to worry.
Day 6:
The new skin areas are peeling AGAIN! I guess they peeled off too quickly. My forehead has started peeling now.
Day 7:
About the same, except my forehead is completely peeled. Everything else is starting to itch.
Day 8:
My face is finally starting to look better. It's more of a pink color, and I experimented with putting makeup over it. The peeling was noticeable, but not horrible. I find that if I wash my face with lots of hot water, it speeds the peeling.
Day 9,10,11:
I am able to wear makeup over heavy sunscreen and moisturizer now. Each day the peeling gets a little less. School has started again, and all my students keep asking, "Where did you go?" I'm afraid that one section of my face that had deeper scars than the rest, still has scarring. Still probably too early to tell, though.
Day 12,13,14:
Well, my peeling is getting less and less, and on Day 14, I could wear some sunscreen that stung a week before. Everything is settling down nicely, and even though my cheeks aren't perfectly smooth, they are much better than before.
END OF DIARY
It has been about 4 weeks since the treatment, and Barbara is pretty happy about the results. She will go see the doctor for a final checkup on May 28th.
One of the fun things we got to do about a week ago was sing karaoke at a Korean restaurant in Maadi. We had done it before, and it was extremely fun. There were a varying number of people who came and went. But both of us sang for four hours straight. We took turns singing with all kinds of people. At the end, Todd and Matt Koehler (who sings with us at church, and does a mean Crash Test Dummies impersonation) had to be pried (yes, we mean PRIED) off the microphones. They probably sang ten songs (likely more!) in a row there at the end. Now Barbara can't get "Copacabana" out of her head!
As a final field trip for the year, Todd went with his third graders to the Citadel and the Hanging Church in Coptic Cairo. The experience at the Hanging Church was in most cases the first experience any of Todd's Muslim children had of being inside of a Church sanctuary. Todd explained the meaning behind the icons, and even took time out during his social studies class to field student questions about the Christian faith. While at the church, students saw small statues of St. George (one of the admired saints in Christian Egypt). Pews, which do not exist in mosques, were a curiosity. Some of the students wondered, "Why don't Christians just sit on the ground? Do they consider it Haram (against God's will)?" They also were able to see a communion table and a baptismal font, which prompted other questions on the site. After the Hanging Church, Todd's class visited the oldest mosque in Egypt. For those unfamiliar with Islamic places of worship, the mosque looks like a huge pavillion (rugs & carpets cover the cement floors here) with pillars. A sheikh, or preacher, reads from the Q'uran at a pulpit of sorts, and leads the congregation in prayers at noontime on Friday. This particular mosque has 366 pillars, one for each day of the year. It also has a large inner court, with a gazebo-like structure in the center, which has been termed the "Heart of the Mosque." Mosques have two separate areas for prayers -- one side for the men, and one for the women. You are not allowed to wear shoes inside, and so must leave them at the door. The mosque's caretakers wanted to charge non-Muslims (read Westerners) a whopping 6 LE just to store their shoes! Our Muslim parents objected strongly to such treatment by supposedly religious caretakers, and told the teachers that they should just carry their shoes and under no conditions allow the insistence of the caretakers to sway us. The Citadel was next, and was quite a treat (despite a 45-minute wait to get inside because of logistical red tape). Todd's class first went to the Mohammad Ali Mosque, with its 5 domes and tremendous acoustics. The mosque was originally a seat of power, not unlike the White House is to Americans. It was later improved and converted into a mosque. The architechture and color in the spacious mosque are gorgeous, and well worth a visit if you decide to come to Cairo. Outside of the mosque, from the pavillion, Todd's class were able to see the Pyramids in the distance. This was especially exciting, and those children that had brought binoculars chose to get a better view. On the lighter side, a group of Japanese tourists had also been visiting the mosque. Their "Konichiwa" greeting was met with our children repeating it back to them. These tourists so loved our kids, that they had Todd's class pose with them for a "Kodak Moment."
Finally, if you made it this far.... let us know if you want to stay on the Cairo Chronicle list. There may be some people who now have enough of an idea of what our experience in Cairo has been like to need to clear their hard drives. If we don't hear from you in the next few months, we'll assume you want off the list. So please, give us feedback! One sentence is enough.
We miss you all!
Todd and Barbara
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