Meetings, Museums and Mosques

What a day! 4 meetings, 3 meals and tour of historic Alexandria. I want to describe a little about our day but don't have much time. After our breakfast meeting we had 4.5 hours to be tourist. We went to museums, the greek arena, the Citadel, and my favorite part, the Mosque pictured above.
The museum and greek arena were tourist stuff was neat but really nothing I never saw in a museum before. Sorry, I'm honest. However, the Citadel is a sight! Especially looking out to the sea. It was a beautiful day too. Perfect. There are many good pictures from the Citadel.
From there we went to the Mosque. We entered during the 1pm prayer calling so it had people rushing to pray. I was wearing shorts so I had to put on a dress as you can't show your knees. It was green and I was wearing a green polo so I really wished they would have given me a khaki color...ha, kidding.
The women entered from the back and had to be behind the men. Which is interesting, I do believe that Egypt's women in society play an instrumental role in all types of business. But when it comes to prayer, not so much.
We were free to take picutres which I was shocked at. They also have a tomb of where the founder is buried in the mosque. After prayer we exited and went to our next meeting. I think all of us were so happy to have this opportunity. This was an amazing experience.

Our meetings have all been a success. I look around at our team and I am so impressed at us. Bob Wilson was right, we are the best. I've just met 5 new bestfriends for the rest of my life. We have clicked so good. I think that it would be best that the District keep us together for all trips, maybe Brazil next year.....!

Quick thought though; No wonder some people don't like the US here, Chris and I finally get a chance to sit down and watch "American" TV and I can only get Fox News on the satellite. Terrible, don't blame any negative perception that comes from some people here because Fox News is clearly slanted. It actually hurts being a patriotic American and watching this from the Middle East. I think Fox News needs a Cultural Program in the Middle East. This is not a political statement, it's very true.

Lastly, today we get a day at the beach. A little well deserved R&R. Some people tonight will be attending a Opera. However, Chris and I were invited to a wedding. Could you imagine a Bride in America's reaction to two foreigners being invited the day of her wedding?!? Can't wait!

Bryant Eckert