Melissa has charged with summing up the end of our Egyptian adventure. Since I had charged her with singlehandedly buying a house, I think it’s a fair tradeoff.

Our time in Egypt ended as it began – strange and wonderful and foreign and familiar.

As Patrick noted, on Monday Finn and I said goodbye to Egypt and flew off into the sunset (or sunrise, as it were). I meant to update as soon as we landed, but to be honest with you I needed a little time to recover. As I was sitting on the plane with a screaming toddler, one of the nice old ladies leaned back and told me I’d laugh about it someday. I’m still waiting for that day. I’m recovered enough from the mental trauma that is corralling a kid who doesn’t like to sit down for more than 20 seconds on a 12 hour flight enough to be able to blog about it. Laughing about it might be the next step. I’m taking it a day at a time.

A quick update. Melissa and Finn left Cairo yesterday morning. It was an appropriate farewell scene — the university sent a smaller car than we expected, so it was kind of like trying to pack a clown car, and then there were men shouting and arguing a few feet away. We wouldn’t want Melissa to leave without one last Arab shouting match ringing in her ears.

Anyhow, they made it to the airport on time and got on the plane, and that’s when the fun began. Finn apparently squirmed and screamed for pretty much the entire 12 hour flight to New York. Fortunately the plane was full of several dozen Mormon grandparents just returning from a tour (and who better to sympathize with a young mother and crying baby than Mormon grandparents?), and on the other end of the aisle was an Egyptian woman who didn’t have kids but wanted them. So even if our prayers that Finn would be patient and still on the flight weren’t answered (dare I say that such a request would stretch even God’s powers?), the surrounding company seems to have been as understanding and supportive as possible.

Bottom line is that they’re back in the US of A, were picked up at O’Hare by our friends Kay and Stacy (pulling the midnight shift), and should be arriving in South Bend right about now. The househunting begins tomorrow!

(We’re still taking entries on Melissa’s last post. Reply now for a chance at a fabulous prize of Egyptian camels!)

We started this blog in August of 2007 with a post about our panic and hysteria. In the  midst of our normal expat feelings of isolation, we connected with friends and family through this blog. We were amazed how many were following us and were thrilled to be able to share our adventure. We were wowed by all of you who came along for the ride of waiting for Finn and really touched to have you rejoice with us at his arrival. This is by no means the end of State of d’Nile, we’ll continue to write here, but it’s the end of the line for Cairo.

I thought that with the end of the Egyptian chapter and beginning of the American one, it was time for a little navel gazing. So here goes.

So in a move making him the hands down winner of the Best Husband Ever Award, Patrick surprised me by booking a three-day trip to Dahab (my favorite Egypt destination) and arranging for Sammy to watch Finn while we were gone. Wow! Three days of laying on the beach, doing whatever I wanted, no schedule, no responsibilities, no poo,  and the knowledge that Finn would be happily playing with one of his favorite people in the world. To say that I was excited is an understatement.

There were thirteen of them in the beginning. On a clear Easter morning, as the call to prayer floated above the Cairo rooftops, they prepared themselves for the most important day of their lives. This was what they had been waiting for, their purpose, the reason they had spent the morning getting ready, choosing the perfect color, coming up with names. This was the very reason they had been created. To be a part of…

EASTER SMACKDOWN 2009!

Sorry about the silence around this blog lately. Between trips, illnesses, trips, playing, visitors and sorting things into piles, life in d’nile has been pretty busy. Here is an illustrated guide to what we’ve been up to in the past month.

Finn keeps me busy, especially since he discovered playing outside. Multiple times throughout the day, he’ll run to the front door and throw himself against it to let me know he wants to go out. It’s starting to heat up here though, so I’m not always super excited to take him outside. In other Finn news, he’s also started styling his hair ala Adam Lambert from American Idol.

Our awesome friends from South Bend, Jim & Kay came to visit us at the beginning of April and the adventure began.

Miscellaneous unique experiences-

Last week, the Cairo branch Relief Society (our church’s women’s organization), like Relief Societies around the world, celebrated the organization’s founding. In most wards, this involves a birthday party, usually at the church building. In Cairo, however, this is a perfect excuse for a sail down the Nile.

Otlob.com – online food delivery. They have everything from fancy Middle Eastern restaurants, to Chinese, Indian, pizza, to McDonalds. The entire menu is online, you just click what you want and a guy on a moped delivers it to you in a half hour. It’s amazing!  Delivery is definitely a plus here. I can call the grocery store and have them deliver whatever I want, or if I go there and my bags are too heavy to carry home, they’ll deliver for me.

Numerous and sometimes random holidays- Last Thursday was Taba Liberation Day.

Once we made the decision to move back to the US, I found myself noticing things about everyday Egypt that I would miss. I kept thinking that I need to start a list but I’m terrible about remembering, so I’ve decided to start a running blog list. I’ll just add things as I think of them.

Today’s nostalgia nuggets: