Tuesday 28 May 2013

Pro-Am Golf Tournament - May 17-19



We were offered a free weekend at the Stella resort in Ain Sokhna in exchange for Sarah being the 
official photographer of the pro-am golf tournament there. We accepted, mainly because it provided 
a great opportunity for Sarah to add to her photographic repertoire. As well, the resort is absolutely 
beautiful and you get treated like celebrities.
Paul Broadhurst on the first tee.
The two big name golfers there were England’s Paul Broadhurst and Ireland’s Ronan Rafferty. Although 
they are not household names in North America, they both have multiple victories on the European golf tour and both played for the European side in the Ryder Cup. True, it was twenty years ago but they can still play.
There were also numerous up- and- comers in attendance. The tournament was won by a young 
Englishman named Matt Ford who shot a course record 63 in the final round. The longest drive, 325 yards, was recorded by 65 year old pro Nick Job. The fairway sloped downhill somewhat which helped boost the yardage but still awfully impressive. 325 yards is out there in Peter Cole range.
Ronan Rafferty
Nick Job
Each foursome was comprised of one pro and three amateurs. There were three ways to distinguish the pro: first, he was usually the only one wearing long pants; secondly, he was the only one playing from the back tees; thirdly, he was the only member of the group not drinking alcohol. Beer was flowing freely among the amateurs.
We spent many hours on the course taking pictures on the tee, in the fairway and on the green. Sarah’s amazing skills and fantastic camera resulted in many outstanding photos over the two days that we 
were there. On the final night there was a gala dinner which took place on the practice putting green. 
It was a high class affair with a 7 course meal which is why I wasn't invited. Sarah spent most of the night, wandering through the crowd and taking candid photos. Once again, all the players, wives, husbands etc. were having a great time.
Matt Ford on the 18th


http://www.stelladimaregolf.com/pro-Am.aspx?ProAmId=19  - This is the link to the golf club pro-am webpage. It hasn't been updated with the 2013 photos yet but I expect that it will be shortly.
The photos have already been posted on their facebook page - you can find them here: https://www.facebook.com/stelladimaregc?fref=ts
by scrolling down the wall or clicking on photos.


Final putt in front
 of the crowd.
A new course record
Congratulations Matt Ford!
 

Check out this players hair ...

..... or shall I say HAT - Sarah's mouth hung open
in surprise when he took his hat off. Apparently these
are available everywhere in the US.
Paul Broadhurst and his wife at the gala dinner.

Sarah with the team from South Africa.

Friday 24 May 2013

Grade 10, CISE

This is Becca's official grade 10 school photo.
The class photo was taken on the day that she was away at a volleyball tournament. Guess how annoyed I am about that??

Since her trip to France, she has really branched out and spent a lot more time with her friends. I hoped this would happen - it's just too bad that it took this long. The weekend that Mike and I went to take golf photos, she stayed with a friend the entire weekend. When she came home, she brought a homemade lasagna with her! It fed us for two suppers, one lunch and I finished it off last night. It was delicious! Last night she went to a birthday party and won't be home until later tonight because they are taking a trip to City Stars Mall and she already has another birthday party on her calendar. I think it's fantastic that she's going to leave here with lots of fond memories of school, friends and parties.

34 more sleeps (for those keeping track)

An observation completely unrelated to Becca: I was thinking this morning that I haven't seen one hybrid car in Cairo. Not one. I thought my dad might find that interesting.

Thursday 23 May 2013

May 11 – The Harlem Globetrotters came to Egypt!



How could we miss this! We didn't even know about Cairo International Stadium in Nasr City. It’s huge with several buildings. The hockey stadium where the globetrotters were playing was really nice. We figure there were about 2000 people there to watch and it looked like it could have held at least 18,000 more. I wonder if a hockey game has ever been played here? The kids in the audience were cute - all waving little Egyptian flags. The show was exactly what you can expect from the globetrotters. Becca hadn't even heard of them before! She really enjoyed it and I'm sure the theme song is burned into her brain now too. The next time she hears it in a TV add, she'll think of our afternoon in Nasr City. 




Wednesday 22 May 2013

May 2-5 Golf Holiday


May 2-5  Our Golf Holiday in Ain Soukna at the Stella di Mare Golf Hotel on the Red Sea

We’ve been here before. We know the hotel well and like it a lot. This time we were going specifically to play as much golf as we wanted and to relax and enjoy our last big break before the end of the school year.  We played 4 rounds of golf! Some rounds felt good – some not so good …. Becca was our chauffeur with the golf cart.  We enjoyed the pools at our hotel and the Grand Hotel on the sea. The weather was hot and sunny – just the way it is 95% of the time. It was a really nice holiday. We came home feeling relaxed and ready to take on the rest of the school year.
One afternoon while out on the course, the golf pro noticed Becca taking photos of us and came up to ask her if she was a photographer. Mike quickly told him that I was the photographer and he asked me if I would be interested in photographing their Pro-Am Tournament on May 16-18. After some thought and more discussion, we decided it would be a worthwhile experience for me and agreed to do it. More to come on that weekend soon!



Tuesday 21 May 2013

May 1 – Oriana and Karim’s Wedding


 I'm really fortunate to have met Oriana through work. She must be one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. We spend a lot of time together and I was surprised and very pleased to be invited to her wedding! I was excited to see what happens in Egypt at a wedding and so happy for Oriana. She kept me updated on the events leading up to the wedding. 1st there was the ring ceremony. They both put their rings on their right hand instead of their left – which means they are officially engaged. Next there was the paper signing ceremony. At this ceremony, they were officially married in front of their family. They signed all their official documents and moved the rings from the right hand to the left hand. And finally, the wedding day which was much the same as our traditional wedding receptions after the church. There was time with the photographer and then the party started with the first dance right away – and Oriana and Karim had fireworks because the whole reception was outside. No tent required in Egypt. There’s never a fear that it’s going to rain.

I have to tell you my story leading up to the party …. I still had one more place to look before making a decision on purchasing a new computer. We had the day off because it was a holiday and we were planning on going out for a nice brunch and then Becca and I had hair and nail appointments at 2:30 to get ready for the wedding. I figured we had lots of time to check out the Smart Computer Mall before brunch. Boy was I wrong. I ended up finding a computer that I wanted to buy. But instead of telling me it was going to take 3 hours to get the computer ready to leave the store, he told me to have a seat, it will be 15 minutes. He had to install Windows, various drivers, a virus program and Microsoft Office among other things. Mike and Becca found a doughnut shop and that ended up being our “brunch”, eaten in the tiny computer shop where the nice man loading up my computer was chain smoking.  When he finally handed me the computer, and I handed him the money, we were already 90 minutes late for our hair and nail appointments.
I should have just cancelled the appointments but I wanted them to at least cut Becca’s hair. We had put it off too long. I feel bad for the people in the salon. I will go back there someday soon. They were very nice and accommodating and tried to work as quickly as possible and still managed to make our hair presentable. I was really surprised – once I stopped being so upset about being late – at how nicely everything turned out.
Oriana told me she was making her first appearance at 6:00. I was having a fit because it was 6:45 before we pulled into the parking lot. We found a table and I was relieved to find out she hadn’t made an appearance yet. It was just after 7pm when they finally came out into the garden. Phew! What a crazy day. Oh and to top it all off – I FORGOT MY CAMERA. The photos I have are from my friend’s i-phone (yay for phone cameras). And one day soon, I will have a few photos from Oriana’s photographer.

Now, back to the wedding story … at 7pm (ish) Oriana and Karim came out to the beautifully decorated outdoor patio at the Country Club in Uptown Cairo. There was a band playing traditional Egyptian music in front of them and they were surrounded by family and friends – all singing and dancing up a storm in celebration. They eventually made their way through three arches and onto the dance floor where they had their first official dance. Oriana had a beautiful photo presentation for Karim and Oriana’s mom had a special gift for her. Then the dancing really started. There were fireworks and the dance floor was lit up …. And it was FULL! Everyone was crowding and dancing around the bride and groom and this, I’m told, is exactly how it is all night long. At one point, they did manage to escape from the dance floor to come around to each table and say hi to everyone. After a while the buffet opened and we enjoyed a delicious meal. They cut the cake on the dance floor – and Oriana tossed her bouquet from the stairs. The music was really good – a mixture of everything with lots of English tunes too. Our group was ready to leave just after 10pm. It was a beautiful reception.

This is a truly wonderful group of women to work with. I love them all. 

Monday 20 May 2013

Alexandria - April 25/26/27



Her dressing room star!
The day that Becca returned home from Paris was the same day that Brianna had her big opening night at school for 42nd Street – April 19th. She was honoured to play Dorothy Brock and we are all so proud of her.  She had a large group of family and friends come to see and support her. I am very thankful to each of them for being there for her on that milestone in her life that I only have a photo of. There is a rumor that we’re going to be able to see a taped dress rehearsal when we come home for the summer. My fingers are crossed for that for sure.
Brianna was thrilled and surprised to see
her Great Grandma Ruth at the show. 



On April 25th, Egypt celebrated Sinai Liberation Day. We decided to take advantage of having a long weekend and headed to Alexandria so we could put our feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was a longer drive than we hoped with construction and more speed bumps than I could count to slow us up. It was at least nice to see some vegetation along the way instead of just desert. We saw lots of grape vines, palms, banana, apple and orange trees. Our first view of Alexandria was refreshing. The sea was beautiful and the main highway for the city runs right along the coast so you can always see the water and feel the refreshing cool breeze. We found our hotel and were pleased with our room. We actually booked a 2 bedroom suite – and it was very nice.


Once we were settled, we went out for a very late lunch and Becca and Mike ordered a pasta dish that came in a bread bowl.
Becca's pasta bowl.
mmmmm delicious!!!

After our lunch it was finally time to put our feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was pretty cold – but that didn’t stop the locals from swimming. Most of the women in the water were swimming fully clothed, veil and all. We walked down the beach for a bit then took to the sidewalk. It didn’t take too long to notice that we seemed to be the only tourists in all of Alexandria. It’s not as culturally diverse as Maadi. It was nice to be able to walk and not be hounded by too many people for money (only the odd one – which was much better than some places we’ve been). We stopped to watch the sun set and Mike started talking to a guy who spoke some English. Before we knew it, he was asking to have his picture taken with Becca. On the walk back to the hotel we ran into a man who was on his way to have a beer by himself and he invited us to join him. His English was strong and he seemed very nice so we decided to take a chance and make a new friend. The bar that he wanted to take us to was closed but he spoke, in Arabic, to someone and before we knew it, we were sitting on the shore drinking beer and wine and snacking on peanuts and popcorn. It was strange but nice. We learned that Alain was born in Cairo but grew up in Germany, and owns a flat in Alexandria. After our drink, we exchanged phone numbers with a plan to possibly meet for coffee the next day and went back to our suite.


The next morning, we had a traditional Egyptian breakfast delivered to our room including falafel which I love. We decided to start our sightseeing with the closest venue – the Montazah Palace. It is set in extensive gardens and overlooks a truly beautiful stretch of coast. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century by Khedive Abbas II, a relative of King Farouk (the last Egyptian King). The palace itself is closed to the public but we enjoyed the grounds and view of the sea.


Next, we met up with our new friend Alain for coffee and then rode a public bus (for the first time in Egypt) all the way to the library. We thought we would just get a taxi but Alain told us that taxis in Alexandria do not run on a meter. The driver would take one look at us and try to get top price (as much as 80LE) and then some. The bus was only 1 pound! And actually, the bus that stopped for us wasn’t even open for business. The driver was on his way to the terminal but saw us and took us beyond where he needed to go so we could arrive safely at the library. The outside of the library was very interesting but we were shocked to find out that it was closed that day. So, we took a photo from the outside and moved on to the Citadel a.k.a Fort Qaitbey. It looks like a castle and has a great view of Alexandria and out to sea. We toured the fort which was just a bunch of stone walls, floors and stairs with exception to the mosque in the middle (the oldest in Alexandria) which had a marble and alabaster tile floor.
After the Citadel, Alain took us to the Greek Club overlooking the harbour for another very late lunch. When lunch was finished, we took the bus back to our hotel and with the heat of the day beating down on us, we were ready to be in for the evening.  Mike and I did take a walk down to a convenience store for some beer and snacks a while later but other than that, we relaxed in our suite. We enjoyed watching a couple old Woody Allen movies on TV.


On Saturday morning, we went to the restaurant suggested by the hotel for breakfast before heading back to Maadi. Breakfast could have been better … I’ll just leave it at that. 
Our time in Alexandria was too short! There are lots of sites we didn't get time to see like the Roman Amphitheater, the Graeco-Roman museum, Pompey's Pillar and the Royal Jewellery museum not to mention the INSIDE of the Library. If there is ever a next time in Alexandria for us, we know where to start.



Sunday 19 May 2013

Becca's History Trip - April 11-19, 2013


3 am - up and ready for the airport!
I apologize for the long wait between posts. I have no idea where the time has gone. I have about 5 posts coming. I'll try to do one every night this week until I get caught up. 

Becca’s school history trip was from April 11 – April 19. This was her first school trip of this kind. (Where multiple payments were made and then you leave with a suitcase and passport and don’t return for 8 days.) She had a blast. They visited Paris, Vimy Ridge and Normandy. They saw all the Canadian sites and soil and museums and memorial walls, plaques and cemeteries. Not to mention the Eiffel Tower and Paris shopping! She took a small camera with her that she got for Christmas a couple of years ago. Note to all reading this – never buy a camera that takes double AA batteries. If it doesn’t have a rechargeable lithium battery – DON’T BUY IT. I sent her with full power batteries and an extra pack of specific camera Kodak batteries and both sets died on her before the third day. Now, she could have forgotten and left the camera on or taken a video or two and drained the battery that way – I didn’t get a detailed account – but still, if it was rechargeable, she would have her own photos to show you. She has collected some photos from friends thanks to their cell phones. She had a really great time. 

The minute she walked through the door.
(I probably should have let her catch her breath after
  dragging a suitcase up 4 flights of stairs.)




Classic Becca - she got her hair caught in the back of the hair dryer at one of the hotels. LOL



Converse shoes are protecting a lot of feet in Egypt. I bought a pair at the converse store when they had a 60% off sale earlier this year and Becca bought herself a pair while shopping in Normandy.