it's all booked

since char is in jordan until august on an archaeological dig and i happen to have the entire month of august off, we had the brilliant idea of travelling together. not that either of us has a ton of money to spare, but when else will an opportunity like this come along? we had to take it :)

so we will be in egypt for two and a half weeks in august touring with g.a.p. adventures, a toronto based tour company specializing in small group travel. char and i originally thought about going it alone b/c we didn't want to be part of a big group on a tour bus, but this is a happy medium. safety in the group (10-15 people max) but lots of choice and flexibility in the schedule, i.e. once we're in a given city we can decide for ourselves which sites we want to visit. it'll be a grass roots style of travel, via train, local bus, sail boat--very rustic conditions. we'll be staying on an overnight train twice and spending two nights on a felucca ship which involves sleeping on the deck in the open.

i have a friend at wayne state named ereeny who is also from toronto. she's egyptian and she might go to egypt with her family this summer. if she does we'll meet up in cairo for a couple of days at the end of the tour. another friend, kevin, lent me his book on arabic so i can try to learn a bit before i go. the Egypt travel guide Let's Go has also been helpful. i've learned that "la, shukran" means "no, thank you". the book has also told me how to avoid water-borne diseases in risk areas: "don't rinse your toothbrush under the faucet, and keep your mouth closed in the shower". sage advice.

eventful week

i had church's chicken for lunch last sunday, as it marked the end of my lent. it was sooo good you have no idea. then later that evening nicole and i went over to our classmate abby's house to celebrate her birthday. we had cake and played euchre. it was funny b/c i had just learned how to play earlier that day...at church. we had finished setting up for service really early and this guy happened to have a deck of cards on him so he taught me and kelly how to play euchre. it was weird playing cards at church, but i don't think citadel is legalistic about stuff like that.

then on tuesday it was free cone day at ben and jerry's so nicole, abby and i went downtown for it. i had to parallel park, but it wasn't awful, thankfully. we saw the long lineup and put an hour on the parking meter but we got our ice cream in under 15 minutes! so with 45 minutes still left on the meter, we lined up again...and again. so i had three ice cream cones for dinner that day. it was awesome.

wednesday one of the girls (well, women) on the setup team at citadel invited me and kelly over for dinner so we went and had good food and played rook and skip-bo. i brought carrot cake. over the past week i made two carrot cakes and 3 batches of banana chocolate chip muffins. i was definitely on a baking spree. plus i had to use up all the carrots and bananas we had.

thursday i had a meeting at church for the dance ministry. for easter service i joined the liturgical dance group thinking it was a one time thing, but now i think they expect me to keep doing it long term...i don't know how to break it to them that i only wanted to do it once! it was fun and i met some great people. the women are all really nice, but the best part was that i was this one little chinese girl in the midst of 8 or 9 african american women. i fit in surprisingly well; they're all really sweet.

friday i went to comerica park and saw the tigers play the white sox. the tigers lost, but it was a good day b/c we got free stuff: a replica championship ring (for the first 30,000 fans) and a tigers fleece blanket (for a credit card "application" that i know will get declined anyway).

today i stopped by london on the way back to toronto to see doreen :) i hadn't seen her for 8 whole months! we had a delicious barbecue and a good time catching up. now i'm home for two weeks before school starts again.

beatboxing flute player

i was searching for sesame street pictures to use in therapy and look what came up:



random side note: i made carrot cake yesterday and while i was grating the carrots i grated my finger :( but the cake was delicious, so it was worth it.

gypped

every saturday i go to detroit's eastern market, which is a farmer's market where you can buy fresh produce, meat, plants, etc. everything's much cheaper there than in local supermarkets and today i bought three boxes of huge beautiful strawberries for $1 each. but afterwards i felt gypped. how could i feel ripped off when the same box costs 3-4 dollars at the store? elsewhere at the market i saw them 2 for $1!! and another vendor was selling a case (8 boxes) for $3! grrr...not that i could eat a whole case...but you know you're a cheapskate when you complain about paying $1 for a box of strawberries.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Attr. to Bernard of Clairvaux
Eng. trans. by James W. Alexander

O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down;
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
How art Thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!

O Lord of life and glory, what bliss till now was Thine!
I read the wondrous story; I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners' gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever; and, should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

Be near when I am dying, O show Thy cross to me;
And for my succour flying, come Lord, to set me free;
These eyes, new faith receiving, from Thee shall not remove,
For he who dies believing dies safely thro' Thy love.

cheering for toronto

last night kelly and i took our friendship to another level: we watched her beloved penguins play the maple leafs on cbc. there were some intense moments, but our friendship passed the test and now we are level 3 buddies. *snicker* oh the drama of hockey... : D in kickboxing a couple of weeks ago we were using boxing gloves, so we totally had a mock hockey fight, throwing off our gloves, pretending to jersey each other, etc. we're nerds.

and the tigers are hosting the blue jays at comerica park all this week, but wouldn't you know it, the games are at 1pm and i can't make any of them. what a bummer.