A little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day.

My cat Noir passed away last Tuesday. He wasn’t old at all, but he had respiratory problems, and was just ill from his days as a stray.


He was one of many stray cats that we have rescued over the years, but he was especially special to me- I spent over a year getting him to trust me, giving him bits of tuna, sitting beside him for hours on summer nights, not moving so as not to scare him. When he let me pet him for the first time, I was like a kid at Christmas. The first time I picked him up, he didn’t scratch or bite, but just sort of sat in my arms.


I am still pretty upset by his death.


But when life gives you lemons, God gives you adventures to take your mind off of the pain.


We went to Marsa Martrouh for one day and one night. Midd said they had too much left over money, so they were treating us to a night in an apartment and a day on the Mediterranean Sea.


It was probably one of my favorite days of this entire adventure in Egypt.


After a very long Wednesday, we left Alex at 1:30ish in the afternoon. We stopped off at the Egyptian World War II Memorial.


It is so strange to think that WWII happened here- I always associate Egypt with Pharaohnic times and its place today, but never as being an important place in the midst of the war.


The site was unbelievable. There were graves of soldiers from everywhere: Australia, New Zealand, England, Egypt. From all religions: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu. It was a humbling experience to say the least.


After this, we proceeded on our journey to the apartments.


Yes, apartments. Midd rented lovely apartments with seaside viewing for us. The sunset was beautiful, as to be expected over an icy-blue sea.


I roomed with Nehad (program director) and Lizz (resident coordinator) and Karin. We had a blast, to say the least, sharing stories ‘til 2:30 in the morning.


On Thursday, we woke up to the cows in the garden, breakfast on the bus, and the anticipation of a full day at the beach.


The first beach we made our way to had amazing natural caves. The water was unlike any I have ever seen before, too. Perfect, perfect blue, aqua and warm. There were also tons of beautiful rocks to climb on.


After a couple of hours here, we made our way by bus to the second beach. At this point, Khalid and Lizz whipped out lunch (the Egyptian version of sandwiches) as well as oranges, which Khalid proceeded to throw from the front of the bus to me, all the way in the back.


Half the group decided to drop off at this point, headed for the Marina. The rest of us headed to the most beautiful beach I have seen. There were literally no other people there, and the sun was perfect overhead, the water crystal, and the sand white and unbelievably clean.


Abe suggested that we build a sand castle, and we did so right by the water’s edge, so that our castle looked as if was built into the side of a sandy mountain.


Then we all played in the water for a few hours straight: monkey in the middle, a sand fight, Ibn Batoota (the Arabic version of Marco Polo), and Chicken Fights, which I had never played before, and was also partners with Khalid, which was a riot.


Other activities included a continuous battle of sand throwing, Scott, Chris and Khalid showing off their Frisbee skills, and making a mummy/mermaid/studious Midd Kid by burying Kremer in the sand.


I unfortunately sent our Frisbee off to sea, however. Hopefully he is having grand adventures in Italy.


When it was time to leave, we stopped off for pizzas (fresh from the oven!) and then slept the on the ride back to Alex.


I don’t know what I am going to do without Egypt, or without these amazing people that I call my family. . .