The countryside was beautiful, as were the people. A former British colony, the Kenyans are universally bilingual. In addition to their native Swahili, they all speak excellent English.



We traveled by Kenya Airways (which, in terms of service, puts most American carriers to shame)



Grant is always fascinated by air travel and gives us a play-by-play account of what's going on outside the window.



He brought his own plane along with him (which eventually turned out to be the long metal object that got Barrett searched in the airport).



Of course, as Parker and Grant discovered, there are other ways to become airborne.



We spent the week in a conference center built by the British a hundred years ago or so. It’s high in the mountains (about 8000 feet) and surrounded by tea and coffee plantations.



For the kids, grass was the main attraction. Unlike Cairo, there's plenty of room to stretch in Kenya. Here's one of the many tea plantations that sprawl across the countryside.



The architecture is British to the hilt as this photo of the dining hall demonstrates.



Everything grows bigger in the tropics. Here’s Grant in front of a poinsettia tree.



(‘Twould be a bit difficult to get one of these in a flower pot for Christmas back home).

Andrea and John spent most of each day sequestered in meetings, but the kids enjoyed the outdoors non-stop: lots of grass and trees (rare commodities in Egypt).



We did manage one family outing to a giraffe refuge. Here’s ACB feeding a giraffe. Trivia Question: Which is longer, the neck or the tongue??



Our quarters were spartan but comfortable (actually, several notches above the "Bonus Hotel" seen here in a village we passed through en route to the giraffe refuge!).



It’s the rainy season, so we got wet at least once every day (Kenya is south of the equator, so winter is approaching). The altitude kept it cool, almost chilly at night. Our room had a fireplace, but we never were able to round up any dry wood!

We enjoyed meeting friends and associates from other parts of the region. It was an outstanding week, but in the end, we were delighted to return to balmy, DRY Cairo.

The things they tell you in the travel books ain't necessarily so. We came to Egypt from Mississippi expecting a life very different from the one we were accustomed to.

American culture and Egyptian culture, say the experts, are very different from each other. In Egypt, they tell us, clocks are seldom taken seriously. Being friendly and helpful (as when giving directions) is more important than being accurate. Friendship comes before business. Religion rules the culture. And it’s devilishly hot in the summer.

What we’ve discovered is that the folks who write those books never lived in Mississippi. We come from a place where meetings start at 7:00 “or there about.” Where you beg your guests to stay and have another cup of coffee while you’re really thinking, will these folks ever go home? Where a discussion of the weather, sports, or Aunt Laura Mae’s health is a mandatory prelude to any serious discussion of business. Where there’s a church on every corner, and where the simmering summer heat smothers you like a hot, wet blanket.

There is that small matter of speaking a different language, but since most people in the USA are convinced that Mississippians already speak a foreign language, I guess we’re halfway there.

At the bottom line, it’s easy for a Mississippian to feel right at home in Egypt. Cairo’s population of 20 million is a little larger than Jackson, Mississippi’s 500,000 (including all the suburbs), but we’re adapting to the difference. After all, you can only get to know people one at a time regardless of where you are.

(That's "Cairo" to the uninitiated). Everybody is safe, sound and (mostly) sane.



There's never a dull moment, so we're 'way behind the times in keeping folks at home updated. But now we're in the Blogosphere, so perhaps a weekly update will be forthcoming, in sha'allah. (For you Westerners, "in sha'allah" is the Arabic version of Mississippi's "Lord willin' and the creek don't rise." Your average Mohammed would never think of talking about the future without throwing in a couple in sha'allah's for good measure).

The trip over was uneventful. We left on December 28th. The 29-hour flight was smooth, and no one had any meltdowns -- not even Grant...

No drugs necessary!

The lady at the airport in Jackson was a bit taken aback by our 22 pieces (1/2 ton) of luggage, as was the taxi driver who took us from the Cairo airport to our new flat.

The apartment is much nicer and more spacious than we expected. There's plenty of room for everybody and everything (the contents of 22 pieces of luggage is really not that much when you spread it all out).

There are three bedrooms. The boys aren't fully convinced that it's fair for them to all bunk together while the Princess of the family gets her own private quarters.

No, the boys don't have to sleep all the in the same bed! And Grant is not asleep in every picture. Here he is, first in line at the "hadonna" (Egyptian preschool) where he and Parker attend.

And here are Barrett and Anna Catherine at their school.

The people here in Cairo are wonderful. We felt welcome from the first day. We have much to tell about our experiences with them, but those observations we'll save for another installment.

We leave for a week-long business meeting in Kenya a couple days from now, so there probably will be no updates until we return. But afterwards we'll try to post something every few days until we catch up, and then we hope to provide regular, weekly updates.

In sha'allah.