MarHaba!

Hello dearest friends and family,

We are here! It is almost 5 am and I am wide awake... waiting for the rest of of our family to wake up too.

The trip went very well. The first leg of the trip (the shortest one- only 2 1/2 hours) was the most difficult. The babies seemed to have fun overall. Benny and Joy made about 20 new friends. I will catch you up on the trip details later.

We arrived at Amir's parent's apartment at around 4 am. There are no houses here, so most people own apartments. We have a whole flat to ourselves! Amir's Grandparents bought an apartment a floor above Mama and Baba's place and they are letting us use it.

One of the most peculiar things about being here has been the Muslim call to worship- 5 times a day. I heard it for the first time a few hours after we got in. I had just gone up stairs by myself(at 5 am) when I heard the whole city come alive with moaning and singing- from people in their homes to Imams calling over the loud speaker of their mosks. It is a very solem but passionate cry.

Even though it is a calling out to Allah and the prophet Muhammed, I can't help be moved very deeply by it. It is also a great reminder: ' Yup, you're in Egypt!'

Today we will go to Teta and Giddu's (Benny and Joy's great grandparents) and hopefully see a couple of Amir's friends.

I am absolutly in LOVE with everything here. True, I am easily swooned, but I am positive even the biggest skeptic would be won over by the food alone. Throw in the sweetest, most wonderful family and I don't think it gets any better!

I am going to work on my Arabic now...

Lots and lots of love,

Sara in Egypt

P.S. It was 86 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze yesterday :)