When Jacob and Athanasius left in the middle of the night two weeks ago to fly back to the States, Nehemiah, Evangeline, Hadassah, and I took a train to Alexandria, Egypt where we spent 10 days with some familiar faces from our past (they worked in the same country as us in the past). A friend here in Cairo helped us get the train tickets and took us to the train station in Cairo. The tickets were just about $10 for an adult and $6 for the children. We got out of the taxi and followed our friend through the crowded station. Thankfully we found our seats just before the train pulled out. The trip would be just under three hours.

Shortly into our ride, it was lunch time, and someone had told me that there would be a snack cart coming down the aisle. When the woman asked if we wanted lunch, I said sure. Ten minutes later she brought three trays to our spots and as we unwrapped the food, we found that we each had half a chicken! I started to realize that we were the only ones taking advantage of the train lunch…oops. That might have been because the lunch cost almost as much as the train ride.

The train tracks must run parallel to the Nile because most of the three hour trip was through fields of crops. Every time we came to a new city Nehemiah would say “This must be Alexandria.” Finally, when most of the people on the train started to stand up, I began asking if we were in Alexandria. I couldn’t understand exactly what they were saying but figured out that this was one of multiple stops in Alexandria.

Now, these are the times when I feel a little stressed out. So the first person I saw off the train I said “Taxi?” I definitely broke rule #1: Never take the first taxi driver’s offer because he’s going to rip you off. But there were tons of people and we had three carry on suitcases…so we went with him. We followed the driver through the crowd and down some stairs onto a busy street. He put our luggage into the trunk and then I called Brian, the father of the family we were planning to stay with, who was going to give directions to the driver.

After Brian talked to the taxi driver, he told me the driver wanted way too much money so I needed to find another taxi. We unloaded the trunk and Nehemiah and Evangeline guarded our suitcases as I flagged down another one. Meanwhile the first taxi driver gathered some fellow drivers. I found another driver, but they began to give the new driver a “hard time” about cutting into their business. The new driver stuck with us though and didn’t completely rob us on the cost for a ride. The Lord brought us safely to our friends’ house 45 kilometers outside of the city.

Nehemiah and Evangeline did an amazing job. They followed me every step of the way and didn’t freak out. They just said, “What did that guy want Mama? Money?” They are starting to pick up on the fact that many look at us (as foreigners) and see dollar signs.

Here are couple pics of the kids along with some of the kids of our friends in Alexandria. Evangeline enjoyed making biscuits with Heidi, while Nehemiah took time to pose with Samuel and……little Nehemiah (YES…..there is another Nehemiah)!