The Visit: Part 1

A visit to the Harley store…for John, Sr.

Sunday we were dining with friends when one asked, "So what did you do over the holidays?"

I paused and thought, "Where do I begin?"

Not wanting to be rude and say, "Y'know…all kinds of stuff" or "It all started on a dark and stormy night…(insert 1 hour of great detail)" I began to succinctly recount events over the last few weeks.  Later that night I thought, "I'm not sure if I told my friends about all this either! I've got to write a blog entry!"

So here we are.  I would advise you to pause for a moment, pour yourself a cup of your favorite caffeine and prepare yourself.  While I'll try to keep the details reined in, let's be honest…no one who reads blogs wants bullet points.  If we did, we'd all be looking at Twitter right now.

They're here!

I think the last time I left you, we had just said goodbye to our Korean bicyclist and Russian backpacker friends who had stayed with us for a few days.  Following their visit, I began to kick into high gear for "Operation: Emileigh and Jacob Coming."  John knowing me well indulged my requests by lifting, cleaning, toting and offering various (positive) opinions when asked.  This would be the first time that they would see our new home and I wanted it to feel just like that…home.    You see, our girls don't have the opportunity to go home for the weekend or make their way to us on most holidays.  Plane tickets are expensive and the 25-30 hour flights are prohibitive.  All that to say is that when they are with us, we want them to feel very much at home.  (Aria will be joining us this summer.)

Jacob had entered Emileigh's life 3 years ago.  Over a SKYPE meeting (while we were in Sudan), he asked if he could date Emileigh.  We agreed and the relationship grew over time.

Dinner at a Lebanese restaurant

John and I flew to Cairo to meet them, but arrived a couple days early in order to visit the brand new IKEA which had recently opened.  Yes, you read that right.  IKEA has come to Cairo.  Let the angels sing!  I suppose it wouldn't be as big of a deal if we weren't minimalist in our decorating sense.  Most everything sold in Egypt looks like it was produced by Napolean's interior designer…gold, over the top, opulent.  John is Mr. Zen man (which means he would prefer maybe at most a bed, a fridge and one cool lamp) and I am somewhere in between Napolean and Zen.  We roamed for hours and came out with one small throw that is currently on my lap.  (I know big talk for such small purchases, but there's always next time.)

We then prepared to meet Emileigh and Jacob at the airport by leaving our hotel early enough to allow for the constant severe traffic Cairo offers.  They arrived right on time and we were over the moon happy.  They would be with us a total of 9 days which meant we needed to cram a lot of good times in a very short while.  Since it was Friday (or Go to Mosque Day), we just visited with each other at the hotel, ate dinner and prepared for an early start in the morning.

Saturday was the big TOURISTY day.  Emileigh had seen all the sights many times before, but this was Jacob's first visit.  We couldn't disappoint!

The Great Pyramids really are great.

We first took him to the Great Pyramids.  We had hired a driver for the day so he navigated his way through the traffic, through the vendors and up to the main entrance.  Pre-revolution this place would be packed.  Busses would be everywhere and tourists in Hawaiian shirts would be pushing at the gate.  Today, however, we were the only ones.  A sad reminder of the current economic condition here.

Once inside, we began to regale Jacob with stories, facts all the while deflecting the numerous peddlers who smelled fresh bait.  A persistent man offered his camel transport services to which John agreed.  Emileigh and Jacob would ride while John and I would happily stay grounded having had this opportunity before.  They dressed Jacob properly making sure he looked the true part of bedouin and then led them up and around the pyramids.  You don't realize just how huge the structure is until you stand near it for scale.

We took all the necessary pictures near and around the pyramids and the Sphynx (or "spheen-kees") as they say here.

After, we proceeded to the Mena House Hotel for tea.  This hotel along with the Old Cataract Hotel in our fair city are the two most famous places to stay in Egypt.  Apparently Winston Churchill made his rounds too because he stayed at this hotel as well.  We sipped and talked savoring our time together.

Lobby of The Mena House

It takes a while to get from Point A to Point B no matter what time of day you try, so we began the trek back to the hotel where the jet lagged couple were feeling their hours of previous travel.  Emileigh and I headed to our room where we were promptly unconscious.  I'm assuming the men were too.

I had made arrangements earlier for us to meet our good friend, Moody, and his new wife, Margo.  They agreed to meet us for dinner and then run around with us in the evening.  We ate at our favorite place in Maadi called, "Lucille's."  Lucille's reminds us a lot of home where the refills are free and the hamburgers huge.  When we arrived the whole area had had a power outage, but it bothered no one.  We were eventually seated at our table along with a candle while the cooks in the back worked by flashlight.

So many beautiful lanterns…
so little luggage space.

Following dinner, we made our way to the famous market, "Khan al Khalili."  This huge market has been in existence as early as the 1500s as an important trade location in the heart of Cairo's Islamic district.  Emileigh wanted to look for lanterns so we made our way through the cobbled streets, vendors' calls and many Egyptian shoppers.  We found a shop with a huge variety so we stopped and Emileigh went into haggle mode.  She's quite good at this.  I am not.  I watched from the sidelines.  Happy with her purchases, we decided to take a tea break at the famous Fishawi Cafe established and continually running since 1773.  The place was packed and hookahs were everywhere.  Smoke permeated the air and all I could think was, "Poor Jacob.  This is too much too soon."

Fishawi Cafe

A man lifted a small board of watches to eye level for our review and a woman displayed henna designs as we sipped.  We thanked them and declined their offers.  We laughed and talked for a while before I told Moody, "We would like to go to the Qsr el Nil Bridge now."  

"What?!" he said, "The Mortons go to bed at 10 pm.  It's already after 10.  What are you thinking?"  

I told him that this was one of Emileigh's favorite places and that the bridge is more fun if you walk on it at night.  He shook his head and said, "Okay, we will go but if there are tanks there we will have to go another day." I agreed.

The famous lions at Qsr el Nil Bridge

We hailed a small van that could take us all and explained to the driver what we wanted to do.  He nodded and took off in the normal "Bat out of…" fashion that all Cairene drivers do.  The traffic only worsens as the evening progresses so I was hoping that we would 1) be able to get there in a timely fashion and 2) that there would be no tanks present.  The driver pulled up and much to our happiness the bridge was open.

We all piled out and walked along the bridge looking at the Nile River and the city skyline.  Emileigh and Jacob walked a bit further and were being entertained by young teenage boys trying to be impressive (not so much).  We began to talk with Moody when he asked, "Why did you want to come tonight?"  

"Because we think Jacob is going to propose to Emileigh here!" I said in a whispered voice.

"Ooooooooh," he said, "That's awesome."

John said, "Hey, I think this is it."  Sure enough Jacob had asked Emileigh those four wonderful words, "Will you marry me?"  They came back from where they were standing holding hands and wearing huge grins.  

Now THOSE are happy faces...

I screamed and hugged Emileigh.  John hugged Jacob.  Then we all hugged each other as Emileigh showed us her ring.  We gave hearty congratulations and talked over one another in our excitement.  This was epic.  This was one of THOSE moments that you picture in your mind when they are a baby in your arms.  It was here.  Jacob had been the recipient of our years of prayers.  We just hadn't yet known his name.

I snapped back to reality and we began telling the van driver what was happening.  He offered an excited, "Alf mabrook!" (A thousand congratulations!) to Emileigh and Jacob.  We hopped back in the van and once again joined the long line of curling traffic back toward the hotel.  We said goodbye to Moody and Margo and headed to our rooms.  Emileigh couldn't stop beaming.  Neither could I.  What an amazing day!  And we had 7 more to go!

The beautiful ring...