More Demonstrations Expected, and odds & ends...

Dust / Sand Storm on Wednesday had us seeing orange rather than our beautiful green garden
(this picture is not filtered and taken from outside the villa)

The recent decision by the Presidential Election Commission to reject the candidacy of 10 Presidential hopefuls, including 3 frontrunners, has left a bitter taste in the mouth of their zealous support bases.  Several political parties are planning "Determining Our Fate" demonstrations in Tahrir Square and other city centers this weekend.  The appeals by the candidates were rejected and the decision is binding under the current constitution.  This may have created 2 new leading candidates, "Abouel Fotouh, who is popular among revolutionaries and the educated classes but lacks Moussa’s popularity among the masses".  The Muslim Brotherhood announced their "plan B" candidate, but not even they feel confident he will be able to gain enough attention as he is not nearly as charismatic as the previous candidate.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to focus on Arabic lessons as we only have 3 classes left in level 1 (9 hours).  It has been something new everyday, so now we're attempting to review and put all this together to demonstrate a good foundation of understanding and our preparedness to begin level 2.  Arabic is continually confounding in so many ways; for example, if you have two of something it is said differently as it is spelled with a different ending--makes sense, it's just plural right? -- WRONG; if you have 3 to 10 of the same thing, it has a completely different spelling than the one or two, maybe even changing the root word entirely!  But then, if you have 11 or more, it is just said as the singular.  We finished the alphabet and it just got more confusing; there are not only 2 different letters for "s"-sound, there's another for the and "sh"-sound; add to that 2 different letters for the "t"-sound and 2  more different letters for "th"-sound!  But, there's no official "v" or "p" (though modern constructs have been created from existing letters to help transliteration of English to Arabic).  Oh, and keep in mind there are usually 3 different forms to each letter depending on whether or not it comes at the beginning, end or middle of a word.  We are working hard at all of it though, and we really are doing pretty well.

We are extremely saddened by yesterday's report of the accidental death of our colleagues in Paraguay, Julie Kurrle and her son Timmy; her husband and their daughter survived the auto accident.  Funeral services were just a few hours ago, sped up due to no embalming in Paraguay.  Norberto Kurrle was a classmate of ours at Anderson University, and we believe his wife was, as well.  Our hearts go out to them, and our prayers go up to our Heavenly Father for their comfort in facing such a sudden and tragic loss.  Join us in praying for them; you can learn more of their ministry at their blog.

Attempting to get a bank account today has proven to be a bit more challenging than in the states.  Question number 1 is to see your passport, to make sure that you are not only legally in the country, but to insure that you are here on more than just a tourist visa.  Then you have to show all your proof of residency and occupation.  Then you sign several papers, assuring that you will maintain a balance of at least $1000 USD or EGP equivalent.  Now, I wait for a call back to make the initial deposit, pending account approval in a couple days.  Fees are much less than in the US; monthly 15 EGP, annual debit card fee after the first year is only 35 EGP, and use of another ATM is a whopping 3EGP (about 50c).

Thanks for your continuing support...