We Were There

People are doing crazy things all over the world all the time.  I sometimes wonder why someone ever thought to do many of the things in the Guiness Book of World Records... like jumping up the CN tower on a pogo stick, or running hurdles wearing swim fins.  Last weekend Tom and I were fortunate enough to be a part of someone's world record.  Her record may not be as bizzare as the ones I've mentioned, but any runner knows that what she did was just crazy!  Tom and I helped with Marie-Louise Stenild's Cairo marathon, which was a part of her 7x7x7.  That is 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents.  Her marathon here in Cairo was her 6th of the 7.  If she completed all 7, she would be the first woman ever to do so, and only the second person.

The news of "7x7x7" made its way to us a little over a month ago when we joined a running group in Maadi (the area of Cairo that we live in).  Marie-Louise had asked this group to help organize her Cairo marathon, and would be visiting less than a week later to check out possible courses.  Two days later we were on a felucca on the Nile with this crazy woman who would not only travel to 7 continents in 7 days, but who would run a marathon on each one.  I expected her to have a personality to match this wild goal, and was surprised that she was a very quiet and laid back individual.

The night of the run, Tom and I showed up at the course around 6:30pm.  I was responsible for making a schedule of who would be running with her throughout the 5+ hour run, to make sure that she'd never be alone.  We had an abundance of runners (probably about 15), so that job was easy.  Tom and I were also the "official timers", so we had a little table set up with a couple of stopwatches, as well as water and snacks for Marie-Louise and all the other runners/volunteers.  The run got started no more than five minutes after she arrived, around 7:20pm.  Marie-Louise seemed high in spirits, while tired in body.  I can only imagine how grumpy I would be after flying to 6 continents in 6 days... I don't know how she managed to be so pleasant.

Unfortunately running in Cairo on a Thursday night is a nearly impossible thing to do.  It is the busiest night of the week here, and even when it's not busy, it is nearly impossible to run anywhere at night.  The marathon was planned as 10 loops around a university campus... not ideal, but not dangerous... success for a night run in Cairo!  Even with our timing duties, both Tom and I managed to run 3 loops (about 12.5km total) with her.  Tom and I ran different loops, but both ran the last one (around 1am) so that we could be part of the exciting finish.  Marie-Louise is the runner directly next to me. 

Marie-Louise left within an hour after her marathon run to catch her next flight, but not before Tom made her a hot chocolate on our camping stove.  I realized that she had just the right personality to be doing this crazy challenge... a calm and determined one.  She finished her 7th marathon in 7 days on 7 continents the following day in London.  She is the first woman ever to do this.  We're glad that we were able to be a part of it, and we definitely will be buying next year's Guiness Book of World Records.  Ok, so we're not going to be in it or anything, but we'll know that we played some (tiny) part in it.

If you are curious about Marie-Louise Stenild and/or her 7x7x7, check out her site:  http://www.7x7x7.co.uk/

Farewell October, Welcome November

It is with a little sadness that I bid farewell to the month of October, my favourite month of the year.  October is a month of leaves changing colours,Thanksgiving dinners (delicious even without the turkey!), Halloween, and most importantly: my birthday! (Glenda and Derek's birthdays too).  October in Egypt did not disappoint.  While no leaves changed colour, my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Halloween were all fun, along with some other interesting events.  Here's the (not so) short version.

The month started with a long weekend which we spent in Dahab.  You've likely already read our blog about our long weekend in Dahab including climbing Mount Sinai.  It was great!  Upon returning we went to a Thanksgiving dinner at one of our colleague's houses with more food than you can shake a stick at.  I did miss Joan's broccoli casserole and my mom's whipped potatoes.

My birthday was actually before Thanksgiving, but because we were leaving for Dahab on my birthday, Tom
gave me tickets for a Nile dinner cruise with a belly dancing show, which we would go to the weekend after our travels (and also a nice watch).  The cruise was great, the dinner was good, and the belly dancing was fantastic!  Tom had been following this belly dancer's blog in preparation for our move to Egypt, and he contacted her via e-mail prior to the cruise.  Lorna (the belly dancer) reserved our tickets and got us front row seats for her show, as well as for a sufi dancer.  Her dancing was amazing, she wished me a happy birthday, and we even got to chat with her after the cruise.  It was a relaxing and very entertaining night.


The following weekend Tom and I participated in the "Run for the Cure", a charity run to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  We signed up for the event through our school, and rode a bus with about a dozen other teachers and probably a dozen students to the pyramids for the run.  This wasn't quite like a run in Ottawa.  First of all, the course was only about a mile long... 1.6km... not much of a "run".  It was about the least organized event I've ever attended.  Tom and I renamed it "chaos for the cure".  Upon arriving at the pyramids, there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of people standing in front of the Pyramids gate, with no idea what to do or where to go.  We finally headed inside the gate, where hundreds (maybe thousands) of people who still had no idea what to do or where to go.  We eventually go onto a bus to the furthest pyramid, where we had our free t-shirts thrown at us from a booth crowded by people.

An announcer tried to get everyone between the gates for the start, but people neither stayed within the gate, or behind the start line.  As he was counting down, and wasn't anywhere near zero, everyone took off.  We walked, like most, and probably took close to 20 minutes to finish.  Don't worry Sam, I didn't count it as a run or anything.  In the end, I'm sure that a lot of money was raised for a good cause.  Maybe I'll just make a donation next time.  Actually the cost of the run was cheaper than admission to the pyramids, so I can't complain. 

On the last weekend of the month we participated in another running event, the "Rehydration Hash".  The best way I can describe it is as a desert pub crawl.  This was a run, no sorry a walk, maybe even a stumble, through a desert area about a half hour outside Cairo.  The course consists of ten stops, each hosted by a different country.  The country hosting the stop is responsible for providing a traditional drink (alcoholic of course) and food from that country, to give to about 150 participants.  You can imagine how straight people are walking by their fifth or sixth drink, especially with countries like Sweeden serving vodka shots.  Tom and I were asked to help with the Brazilian stop, so we served caparingas (a delicious mixture of vodka, lemon, sugar, and ice) and snacks.  Here is the whole of team Brazil, with only two true Brazilians.We were able to do this after making the first four stops, then we continued to the last five.  We were actually fairly well behaved, while still enjoying international drink and food (especially the Swiss and Dutch cheeses, French crepes, and homemade Polish perogies).  Here is "Team Brazil":


Finally (I know you must be tired of reading), we did make it out to a Halloween party, something we haven't done in Canada in the past couple of years.  We decided to dress up as tetris pieces.  I took some old student project from school for use of the cardboard, and had big dreams of making full-body tetris blocks to wear, with only holes for our arms to come out.  About an hour and a half later, when the front of each piece was not done, we decided that we'd just wear the front of tetris blocks.  Far too long after that, we finished our sad one sided costumes, and headed to the party down the street from us. 

Although we were a little disappointed with the outcome of our costumes, our friends seemed to think that they were pretty cool.  After two and a half months of life in Egypt, we are still fitting together as well as we ever have.

We're five days into November , and we already have new adventures to share.  With (slightly) more reliable internet, we will blog more frequently in November, inshallah.