Ismailia and my Birthday Gift

It is my 31st birthday and I don't want a party... all I want is to see MORE of Egypt! 

We decided to take a day trip to Ismailia and visit the open air military museum. The drive there only took about 3 hours (that includes the ridiculous amount of time we spent at a military checkpoint). They did not understand why a foreigner was so interested in this place. Mohanned tried to explain that I am interested in everything Egypt has to offer. They still didn't get it. The ending results is Mohanned simply said I was crazy and wanted to go to every single point in Egypt. They accepted the "crazy" part and let us pass. 

We drove our car slowly onto the ferry (which was FREE!) and waited until all the other cars and people loaded. We were off! We slowly made it across the Suez canal from the Africa side of Ismailia to the Asia side of Ismailia. The difference from one side of the river to the other was amazing. On the African side it was lush with vegetation and people, buildings, animals and color. The Asian side was the vast desert with few passing cars and mainly strict military posts. 

After driving a few kilometers we reached our destination. We got out of the car. Egyptian law states that if you are married to an Egyptian then you are an Egyptian yourself when it comes to paying the fees (which are dramatically different prices). We bought our 3 tickets 3 le each and entered. We began our walk up the steep hill and began looking at the military stuff that were placed within the cases. 

After moving from the cased items area we got to explore the tanks and trucks that were left behind from the Israeli Army several years before during the Sinai war.

After the tanks and the trucks we went into the bunkers and got a great view from above!

At the top we saw....

After playing in the sand at the top of the barracks we decided to go below and see what we could find and get into!  

Enough playing it is time to eat! 

After crossing over the Suez Canal again I used Google to find a place to eat. When we went in we were the only customers. Most people would get curious about why... me, on the other hand, viewed it as more of a diamond in the rough. The owner waited on us and was extremely nice. The food was great, huge quantities and fresh! This is a place that we decided we will come back to and visit again. 

There is a lot in Ismailia that we didn't get to see. It is definitely a city that is overlooked by many Egyptians and foreigners. 

Jackson's 5th Birthday

We love celebrating Jackson's birthday and we look forward to it every year! This year was different though,  Jackson was excited for his birthday this year too! He started practicing singing "Happy Birthday" to himself in both English and Arabic months before the actual day. He didn't hesitate to prepare his list of "I want this!" months before. He included everything he saw on TV (and by everything I mean even the infomercials about spray hoses for the garden). LOL

A week or so before his birthday I posted on the Expat Women in Egypt Facebook group asking for suggestions on custom made cakes for his birthday. Since he was excited we were going to go all out for him this year. A woman contacted me via Facebook and told that she makes custom cakes and had a Facebook page. I check it out reluctantly. I mean, anyone could say they can make cakes but I wanted someone special AND look good. I also wanted something that tasted like back home. Cakes here in Egypt are typically tasteless or gobs of sugar are packed into it you get 20 cavities by just looking at it. I checked out her page The Honey Bee (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Honey-Bee/263765557009613?fref=ts) the cakes and cupcakes looked amazing! We were sold and asked her to prepare a Spiderman one.

A few days before his birthday we went to HyperOne, Kids Island, Spinney's and other locations searching for all of his items to make the party worth wild. I am such an amazing mom I even got tons of balloons for him (I am terrified of balloons) and decorated the house while he was in bed the night before.

The night before his birthday his cousin Amr came over to paint his wall. Amr is an amazing art that often works on movie and sitcom sets designing and creating the scenery. We asked him to come and paint a large Spiderman on his bedroom wall. It was completed about 6 hours later and it was so much better than we could have ever imagined!! It included not only Spiderman's face but also the backdrop was a city at night. There were glow-in-the-dark starts placed in the sky.

When Jackson woke up in the morning we escorted him to his bedroom for him to look at the wall. We expected him to have an "out of body" experience being overwhelmingly excited about the outcome like we were. Instead, he was very subdued. In a monotone voice he said, "Wow. It looks nice." 

His reaction was a let down, to say the least.

After seeing his bedroom we allowed him to go to the living room where his new blue shiny bicycle waited for him. He quickly perked up (I think because he was more awake by this point) and ran to it. He climbed on it and tried to peddle it away. He was very happy for this gift.

Later in the day family came over the for the birthday party. It was supposed to start at 7pm (since that is Jackson's bedtime) because I didn't want it to be too late. We are in Egypt and forgot about Egyptian time, so therefore, everyone showed up at 9pm. While waiting Jackson became very sad and asked several times why no one liked him and why no one wanted to come for his birthday. It was heartbreaking to hear. I became furious with everyone and wasn't very friendly during the whole party.

Overall, Jackson was happy with the day and his gifts. That is all that really matters. It was HIS day!