Questions about Cairo

Numbers

2008-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Arabs use different numbers than we use in English. It took me a while to learn them.

To help me learn them faster, Andrew and I play a little game where I read license plates to him when we're out walking and he tells me if I read them right or not. First I would just say the numbers in English as I recognized them and then when I got good at that I started saying the names of the numbers in Arabic.

٠ is 0
١ is 1
٢ is 2
٣ is 3
٤ is 4
٥ is 5
٦ is 6
٧ is 7
٨ is 8
٩ is 9

See if you can figure out what numbers are on this license plate! (You can find the answer on the left side of the plate. Don't cheat, though!)

Cairo Flora

2008-10-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today Rachel and I went for a walk outside and thought we'd show you some of the flowers we like. Cairo is still bursting with flowers; it's hard to believe that it is almost time for Halloween! It doesn't feel like fall at all! It's still over 20°C here!

We are lucky to live in a neighbourhood of Cairo called Maadi that is really pretty and green. There are trees lining the streets and that helps cool things down a lot. The trees are so big and tall that they kind of make a roof over the roads so things are usually pretty shady.

One of my very favorite trees grows in front of our building. It's called plumeria. It's not actually a native plant, but it grows nicely here. It also grows in Hawaii--you'll probably recognize the flowers.

I just think they are so pretty and they smell even better than they look!

Although the flowers are pretty small, the leaves are humongous! Rachel picked one up so that she could show you just how big the leaves really are.

And that's not even the biggest leaf we've come across. There are many other plants here that have huge leaves! Some of them are as big as Rachel, some of them are almost as big as me!

Rachel with some plants in our "yard"

My hand on a leaf to show how big it is

Another one of my favorite plants is palm trees! There are plenty of those here. Even though Cairo is in the middle of the desert, it's pretty tropical. We love it!

Just a quick introduction

2008-10-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

My name is Nancy Heiss and I'm Deklan's aunt.

I used to live in High River, and like you, I went to Spitzee Elementary School.

Right now, though, my family lives in Cairo, Egypt, where my husband, Andrew, is doing his master's degree at the American University in Cairo.

We have a little girl named Rachel who keeps us very busy.

We're excited to tell you a little bit about Cairo and hear what you have to say!