Sunset over the Mediterranean

It has been quite a day--24+ hours of traveling! My flights from Salt Lake to Chicago, then Chicago to Vienna, then Vienna to Cairo, were uneventful and pretty boring. It's really more fun to travel with Reid than by myself, but I just kept thinking of the reward waiting for me at the end--seeing Andrew, Nancy, and Rachel. On the flight to Cairo, I got to see an amazing sunset over the entire horizon. The colors just kept getting better and deeper over the span of over half an hour. It was really beautiful.

It was such a relief to land in Cairo. I followed Andrew's instructions on how to get my visa, go through the passport check, get my luggage, and get through customs. I was worried that Andrew wouldn't be outside waiting for me or that he would be at a different terminal or something, but there he was--waving and grinning as only Andrew can. All my fears vanished, and I felt as if Andrew & Nancy hadn't really moved away from us but were just living down the street in Orem. That is, until Andrew started talking to the limo guy and the driver in Arabic. So cool!

It took about an hour to get to their apartment, where Nancy and Rachel were waiting for us. At first I thought Rachel was afraid of me, but as soon as I put my suitcases down and held my arms out, she came running. I can't adequately express how good it felt to hold her. And she must have felt the same way because she wouldn't let go of me for over 10 minutes. She only let me put her down when I suggested we look in the suitcases for surprises.

Opening the cases was just like Christmas! Andrew & Nancy had given me a long list of things they wanted from America, and I was able to accommodate. I kept bringing things out and telling Rachel to "give it to Mommy." She was so excited to be my helper and kept coming back for more. She got especially excited when she saw the packages of Swedish fish and Sour Patch things!

So I'm going to try to get a full night's sleep now. Six hours of fitful sleep on an airplane just didn't satisfy me, and now I have to get used to a new time zone. Hooray for Cairo!