Day 6- Sunday, January 30th, 2011
It was such a beautiful day. The sun was out and the curfew had lifted; the citizens of Maadi were gaining confidence to venture out of their caves to see the streets first hand. Many stores, small shops and banks were boarded up while most of the streets were barricaded off in some way to prevent vehicles from entering their neighborhoods. As I walked past my favorite bakery, the Egyptian owner, Tony stops me. In his attempt to comfort me, he tells me not to worry because the continued gun shots are only coming from the Maadi Prison to scare the escaped inmates.... Thanks, Tony.
After meeting with the very scared and concerned Hayah staff, may of us realize the school was not overly organized in their next steps. It was unfortunate, because at the time, many of the other American Schools had put plans into place to provide their international staff with some protection and security with immediate evacuation plans. At that point, we realized it might be time to reassess the situation and create an independent plan of action.
Sunday night was a repeat of Saturday... Gunshots from the local militia, Egyptian Army shooting off their tanks only blocks away from my window and one last really tasty dinner with my five new roommates. The boys also extended their weapons (American metal baseball bats) to our security around the neighborhood. Below is a picture of Marco with his weapon in the kitchen.
We enjoyed our dinner on the balcony and listened to the sweet sounds of the Revolution. At one point the boys got excited and raced to the terrace on the roof. After a few additional seconds I knew to remain under the protected and covered balcony. Once gun fire goes up, it must come down.....
It was such a beautiful day. The sun was out and the curfew had lifted; the citizens of Maadi were gaining confidence to venture out of their caves to see the streets first hand. Many stores, small shops and banks were boarded up while most of the streets were barricaded off in some way to prevent vehicles from entering their neighborhoods. As I walked past my favorite bakery, the Egyptian owner, Tony stops me. In his attempt to comfort me, he tells me not to worry because the continued gun shots are only coming from the Maadi Prison to scare the escaped inmates.... Thanks, Tony.
After meeting with the very scared and concerned Hayah staff, may of us realize the school was not overly organized in their next steps. It was unfortunate, because at the time, many of the other American Schools had put plans into place to provide their international staff with some protection and security with immediate evacuation plans. At that point, we realized it might be time to reassess the situation and create an independent plan of action.
Sunday night was a repeat of Saturday... Gunshots from the local militia, Egyptian Army shooting off their tanks only blocks away from my window and one last really tasty dinner with my five new roommates. The boys also extended their weapons (American metal baseball bats) to our security around the neighborhood. Below is a picture of Marco with his weapon in the kitchen.
We enjoyed our dinner on the balcony and listened to the sweet sounds of the Revolution. At one point the boys got excited and raced to the terrace on the roof. After a few additional seconds I knew to remain under the protected and covered balcony. Once gun fire goes up, it must come down.....
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