My Life in Pictures: King of the Mountain

Bet you don't walk past this on your way to work...

My Life In Pictures: My Office

I realize that I posted no pictures yesterday, but this was taken yesterday...

My Caffe Greco office: Cozy. Yesterday I set up my office in my favorite coffee shop and spent a few hours planning, working on finances, and meeting with kids.

The Basbousa Rap

Here in Cairo, many people cannot properly pronounce my name. The "th" sound is not a part of Egyptian Arabic, and therefore presents a pronunciation problem. So I have a nickname: Basbousa. Basbousa is an Egyptian dessert, and is basically the equivalent of calling me "Sweet Thing." Not sure how I feel about that, but for better or for worse, I'm Basbousa to the egyptian people, my friends, and the ex-pat kids that I work with.

Last night at youth group, our game consisted of dividing the kids into groups, giving each group a leader, and having the kids write a song about their leader. I am proud to announce that my group's fabulous writing, singing, and performing skills produced an original hip-hop "ode to me," and won first place! Congratulations Jenna, Mary, Tina, and Danny! Without further ado, I present their masterpiece, The Basbousa Rap:

They call her Basbousa but her name is Bethany

She travels the world cause she's livin' the dream

A southern girl that hates ice tea

What this girl really loves is a cup of coffee

(insert some intense beat boxing and fabulous hip hop moves here)

Basbousa

Basbousa

Basbousa

Basbousa

She's here in Egypt working for Rock

She loves to cook but she hates them socks

She's Martha Stewart with a flare of spaz-spunk

What she really really hates are them stinky stinky skunks

(repeat chorus and dance moves)

They did a super job and I'm super proud of them! (and my weird song! except that skunk part - not sure where that came from)

My Life In Pictures: NOT Martha Stewart...

Somehow, here in Cairo, I've gained quite a reputation as a domestic goddess. Somehow, I've managed to fool everyone into believing that my home is always a clean and cozy retreat (it isn't) and that every dish I produce is a taste-bud tingling wonder (definitely not). The MCC youth staff say that I'm "Martha Stewart with a flare of spaz-spunk." Folks, it just ain't so. I do enjoy keeping a cozy home, but in the interest of keeping it real, the following is a picture of my kitchen after prayer breakfast this morning.

There you have it. Myth debunked, goddess dethroned. Martha Stewart I am not! Just sayin'...

My Life In Pictures: Coming Soon!

I am not a great blogger. That is, I have a blog, which I update occasionally, and I enjoy reading the blogs of a few friends around the globe, but that is the extent of my blogging. I have noticed, however, that I most enjoy blogs with pictures. I love not just reading about the lives of dear ones, but seeing their lives as well. With that in mind, I am going to try a grand new experiment. A picture a day! Or maybe more, if I get inspired. Just tiny snapshots of life in Cairo to give you a window into my world. Enjoy!

That's how we roll...

The youth staff dressed for a game of Gestapo at a recent youth retreat