Texas is hot

Hotter than Egypt (Alexandria at least), which is contrary to what most people assume. But we're slowly adjusting to the 100 degree heat.

Brandon is working full time now over at Neuric! They bumped him up last Friday. What a blessing from God.

Also, we've put a deposit on an apartment and are planning to move in on July 1st (or 3rd)! We're going to miss living with the Rynikers, but we're going to be living down the street from them, so we'll hopefully still see them almost as often as we see them now.

We want to get a puppy/dog sometime after we move in. We went to an animal shelter here in town on Saturday. All of the dogs there seem so sad. We want to rescue one! But we're going to wait until we get settled at the new place and feel like we can afford it (our complex has quite a hefty pet deposit, but it's fully refundable, which some other complexes don't offer).

I'm off to check out a Middle Eastern market that's nearby!

Until later.

We're back!

We've actually been back, really, for a week. We've spent time visiting family in both the Fort Worth area and San Antonio, and we arrived to Austin a couple of days ago. We had the privilege of revisiting our church, Hope Chapel, today, and that was absolutely amazing. The worship, the people, the building, the message. It all feels like home. We also got to witness several baptisms, and there was a picnic after church, so the day at Hope was quite full.

Brandon is starting work tomorrow, at Neuric Technologies. It will be exciting to hear all about his first day. I'm going to work on getting my name changed tomorrow so that I can officially become Mrs. Wilson! We may start looking for a place to live this week, also.

And by the way, Brandon is well. I guess I never confirmed in blog world that he was restored to total health after his Egyptian hospital visit. God healed him up nice and good. Thank you for your prayers!

Fin.

Leaving today

Yes, indeed. We'll be getting on a bus tonight at 10pm (about 8 hours from now) that will take us to the Cairo airport. Our flight out of Cairo is at 5am. I've just about finished packing, and Brandon is just starting. Earlier today, and yesterday, he was working on one final paper for his program. And he's almost all done. He just has one more phone interview/test that he'll complete once we're back.

We said most of our goodbyes these past two days, to classmates, teachers, and church friends. The people we've met here are probably what we're going to miss most about Egypt. We're also going to miss the food, the Arabic, the Mediterranean, the richness of the culture, the relative cheapness of everything, and the meshroua (incredibly efficient, cheap transportation system). I'm not going to miss the noise, and the crowds. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for big city life for the longterm. One of my favorite places to visit here was the desert. No people, no buildings, no cars, no smog for miles and miles in all directions. Awesome.

Being in Egypt this past year has been a wonderful experience and opportunity. Not all of it has been easy and pleasant, but we wouldn't trade the experience for anything, and we thank God for showing us another part of His beautiful world. Egypt is OLD! And the history (both biblical and otherwise) here is just amazing.

Pray for safe travels. See you in America!

One Year

We have now seen the inside of an Egyptian hospital

It's not exactly something we had set as a goal for ourselves. But it happened.

Having visitors went really well. Picking them up worked out pretty smoothly. The one little hitch was that the airline had lost their luggage. So, that took some time to get straightened out. But then they managed to get their bags back to them after about a day and a half. We took a trip into Cairo last weekend, which was going pretty well, but then on the last day, Brandon was sick. So, so sick. We decided to take the train back a little earlier than planned, but once we got home he wasn't getting any better. He had been having chills all day, sore legs, and bad stomach problems, and then he got a high fever and was finding it pretty difficult to walk.

We decided it was worth going to a doctor or hospital. Brandon's program director and classmate Adrienne took us to a private hospital here. I think it is the best one here. Another classmate, Jenn, and his language partner, Mohamed, met us there. Brandon definitely had a lot of good people there to support him! He went into the emergency room, where he got his head put under cold water and then got an IV in his arm to get some medications in his body. He stayed there for a little while, as his doctor kept checking up on him and changing out the IV medicines. Once he had regained his strength, we got our bill and medication prescriptions and the program director brought us home. I got his prescriptions at the pharmacy downstairs and Brandon went up to rest. I think his final diagnosis was an intestinal infection with also a little bit of heat exhaustion. All in all, the whole hospital trip was about $40. I don't have much experience with US hospitals, but I have a feeling that's not a bad deal for going to the emergency room. And we'll probably even be able to have it covered by our insurance.

Brandon's been gradually feeling better and better, but he still has some lingering stomach problems. We're praying for him to get to 100% soon.

We made a deal to sell all of our furniture to our landlady, so we're excited about that. It's probably less than we would have gotten had we sold everything separately, but it will be so easy to just pack up our bags and leave everything else here on our last day. Brandon will be doing school, and I will be tutoring, until pretty much our last days here, so this is just a good plan for us. I've had fun with my Chinese student and have so enjoyed seeing his progress as he begins to understand more and more in English. I will be a little sad to leave him. But hey, we're coming back to friends, and family, and Austin, and Hope Chapel, and Mexican food, and clean air, and more, so I can't be too sad, right? On the contrary. I am SO excited. I can't believe it's only two and a half weeks away.

It's so soon that we might only have one or two more blog posts before then. Until next time!


Brandon, me, Mohamed, Angie, and Kirk. Photo borrowed (or stolen) from Mohamed's facebook album.