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NEW Regular Mail Address
Barrette and Sandy W. Plett
El Salam El Haditha School
Om El Batell Sq.
70 El Gomhoria St.,
Assiut, Egypt
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WARNING Since May, we have had 5 sent packages and 0 received packages (via regular mail). If you have something that needs to get to us, please email before mailing; we may be able to suggest a better shipping method.
Barrette & Sandy go to Egypt: An MCC Journal
by Sandy and Barrette Wiebe Plett
A R C H I V E
April 2008
20.April.2008
In Egypt, March comes in like a toaster and goes out like a furnace. The last half of March was filled with visits to schools in Assiut and Luxor, and we started April off with a visit from my parents, who met Orie for the first time. Other than that, there's not much news to report.
Barrette W. Plett
Barrette, enjoying the museum.
The family meets Orie's first friend (Dr. Hassan Salah, who you may remember from Dec. 10, 2007)
Orie and Grandpa Marvin
Grandma Alviera rides a camel
A R C H I V E
Babies take a fair bit of time
14.March.2008
The past three months have been a whirlwind of cuddles, poop, laundry, poop, diapers, not sleeping, and work. Orie continues to be a great joy, and our work has been full of many interesting people and activities.
Website updates have not been as regular as I'd like, but that doesn't mean we're not busy -- just that we are.
So here are a few small things to give you a glimpse into our lives as of late:
First, a photo-journal of a train trip I've taken twice in the past 4 months.
Next, three YouTube videos I've posted: one of a frightening adventure I had, another of Sandy's television commercial for the new Children's Cancer Hospital in Cairo, and the third showing Orie kicking his fat little legs.
Next web update: 11 April 2008
Barrette W. Plett
A R C H I V E
Now we are 3!
16.December.2007
I can guarantee you that this page will suffer the effects of our latest family news. There are only so many hours to update websites in the day, and I suspect my energies may be focused on Orie's site for the next while. But we are still working for MCC in Upper Egypt, so I will try to keep this page up once I reduce the piles of diapers, laundry and dishes that have accumulated.
Barrette W. Plett
Orie Markus Zaki Plett
A R C H I V E
…Two Years
05.October.2007
Asif Giddan! This is how I would say, "I'm very sorry" in Arabic. So to make up for infrequent summer updates, this update is a huge double-issue with nearly 20 new pictures!! Summer has come and gone (it only goes to 30°C these days), and it feels like time is racing by.
We spent the summer doing teacher training in our new (and almost complete) Training Centre and outside Assiut. September was filled with more training, 2 weeks of Arabic lessons for us, and a couple of weekend vacations we managed to squeeze in, including trips to the Suez Canal and the only waterfall in Egypt.
The beginning of the school year has given us a chance to catch our breath before we jump into our last full school year here in Upper Egypt. I'm including a few pictures of our latest escapades.
In honour of the beginning of the new school year, I've also put two new special bonus animal pictures on the Kids' Page.
Finally, I have an answer for those of you who'd like to see a picture specifically of Sandy's rapidly expanding belly. Most of our readers are people who we miss and would like to see. So, all you have to do to receive a very special, limited-edition, picture of Sandy's belly email is send us an email with a picture of yourselves. In your email, please specify: regular, giraffe or ultrasound. (If you want all three, you have to send three pictures of your own.)
Barrette W. Plett
Barrette's Canada Day stir fry.
Our new Training Centre office.
Cairo summer morning.
DELICIOUS MANGOES and Matthew, the new MCCer in Qosseya.
Crowds at the August Festival of the Virgin Mary.
Lunch in Adel's village.
Barrette in a galibaya in Adel's village.
Sandy taught the teachers to make sock puppets.
Barrette used our new camera to take pictures of some of Assiut's beautiful murals.
Another mural.
A huge ship enters the Suez Canal at Port Said.
A huge… I mean, Sandy at the beach in Port Said.
Barrette and taxi driver Abdullah in Ismailia.
At George's house -- Sandy gets in some tennis.
Barrette “playing” with the neighbour kids.
Egypt's waterfall in the Wadi El-Rayan protectorate.
Egypt's new Children's Cancer hospital foyer.
Sandy recorded a TV commercial for the hospital. It will soon be available on their site.
The luggage we used to move here; bought at the Altona MCC Thrift Store.
Barrette wrote an article for the MCC Thrift Stores Fall 2007 newsletter.
A R C H I V E
A Plethora of Pictures (or "Pictures Aplenty")
18.June.2007
June. This month finds many of our friends winding down the wintere lives and gearing up for summer holidays. In Egypt, school summer holidays began over a month ago, and Sandy and I are already finished our holidays. We spent a great 3 weeks with Sandy's parents who came for a visit. Now, we're in the 3rd of 15 weeks of training we'll offer this summer.
I couldn't decide which pictures to cut from my short-list this month, so, to celebrate our DSL, I decided to upload them all. Enjoy.
The last (but not least -- well -- SORT of least in terms of size) thing in this update is an interesting bit of new information that I hope you find interesting… A final note: we managed to find a renter for our house for the rest of our time in Egypt. Another prayer answered.
Barrette W. Plett
Our free afternoon in Alexandria during the MCC retreat
Alexandria - walking down the Corniche
Leaving retreat, with construction materials blocking the road.
Egyptian bus drivers are AMAZING. I wouldn't attempt this on a bicycle!
We saw a lot of sights with Sandy's parents during their visit.
Khan el Khalili Market in Cairo
The ultimate lawn ornament. A granite statue of Horus.
A look down onto the temple of Hatshepsut.
Hatshepsut again.
Karnak temple. The pillars are REALLY big.
Breakfast in Dahab.
Ras Mohammed National Park.
The gate to Ras Mohammed National Park.
Ras Mohammed National Park.
A R C H I V E
Time Warp
15.May.2007
They say time flies when you're having fun. We must be ecstatic. Since the last entry, we passed our 50% mark with MCC in Egypt, and I haven't even had time to update my spreadsheets. We blasted through April, started May with the MCC Europe and Middle East retreat, which was a whirlwind of inspiration and rejuvenation and are now 6 days into our hosting of Sandy's parents for a 3-week visit!
Pictures and reflections from the retreat and Ron & Emmy's visit will come sometime in June…
A final and sobering note. I was surprise to find in my email last week news of the surprise death of Waterloo friend, Jake Sauer, from acute leukemia. Jake and I have kept some level of contact since my departure from Waterloo, and it was with sadness and surprise that I read this news. Those of you who knew Jake may be interested in visiting the "Celebrating Jake" website. I'll end this entry as Jake often signed his emails to me: "Be well."
Barrette W. Plett
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A R C H I V E
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective MCCers
10.April.2007
Okay, I have a confession to make. I (along with 15 million other people) have now read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I'm almost embarrassed to post this in public, lest you think less of me. And yet, perhaps it is not coincidence that the past month for us has been one of our most effective in Egypt… Here is a light take on the 7 Habits as they apply to MCCers in Egypt.
We've, been busily traveling the countryside, visiting schools to follow up our March training. It's been hectic, but rewarding. You'll notice that 'traveling the countryside' is a link. This is because, when we talk to/email people, we now casually drop names like "Beni Suef" or "Sohag" just as if we were saying 'Kitchener' or 'Elm Creek,' when in fact, the names probably don't really mean alot to the average North American reader of our page. So, I've created what I feel is a fairly nifty interactive map of Egypt. You can see all the places we go (or have gone) for work and pleasure. Click on the place names to see (somewhat) representative pictures. If you click on the Manitoba flag at the bottom, you can also see how the scale of our travels roughly compares to Manitoban geography. Is that exciting or what?
Other highlights of the past month included a trip to Palm Sunday in Beni Suef (like last year), a visit to Lake Qarun in the El Fayoum Oasis, and a bittersweet highlight…
A few weeks ago, we awoke one morning, opened the curtains, and were startled by a flutter of wings. Overnight, a laughing dove had built a nest, and inside was a perfect little pinkish egg. All day, we eagerly peeked at this little miracle on our windowsill, trying not to startle the setting dove. The next morning, the egg was joined by another. However, when we looked again in the afternoon, the dove was gone and so were the eggs. As unexpectedly as they'd appeared, the eggs were gone. Take from this what lessons you will.
Barrette W. Plett
Our laughing dove.
Her (or his?) eggs.
Palm Sunday revellers.
Camels on the shores of Lake Qarun.
Easter Sunday lunch with friends. Can you find the pigeon?
Interactive Map of Egypt
A R C H I V E
Working Hard!
17.March.2007
We've had a busy, busy last 4 weeks. Each weekend, we offered a weekend training session for our English teachers in the nearly-completed Training Centre. We've been happy to feel busier and more productive.
I've also created a neat little new flash widget. We get a LOT of SMS messages from our friends here. It's very popular to send mushy messages to your friends to celebrate holidays. This "virtual phone" lets you see some of our favourites.
Egypt MCCers: if you have a great message you'd like added, email me, and I'll put it in the phone!
