Diving in Egypt.....Again

The Straights of Tiran

For February break we needed to find some sunshine so we returned to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for a week of scuba diving.   Besides relaxing and reacquainting ourselves with the sun, our goal this trip was to certify as Rescue Divers.  For those non-diving readers, the international dive association (PADI) has various levels of diver certification, from kids beginner (Bubble Makers) to having the ability to teach others.  The three of us had our Advanced Diver Certification; Rescue Diver was the next step.

The jetty at our hotel.  It's not really supposed to slope into the water on the left, but it does.  

Our first step in this certification was to take a one day first aid class last month.  It took some time to find somebody willing to teach it in English, but the local dive shop finally came through using a Dutch EMT.  He did a great job -- the only hiccup was the first aid test was in Dutch.  So for us to complete the exam he had to orally translate 50 questions.  No small task, especially on the true/false where the exact wording is quite important.  Our training that day included learning how to use an AED.  Those things are really quite simple to operate.  It's like a GPS, there is an automated voice telling you what to do. In the end we all passed so it was on to Sharm for the water section of the class.

In the water we learned how to respond to various emergencies....diver passed out on the surface, panicked diver, lost diver, etc.  We'd discuss theory on the shore then the instructor would create a scenario that we had to respond to.  One of us would be the "victim' and the other two the responders.  It made for very busy and tiring days but it was well worth it.  The only true casualty was that during one scenario I lost Grant's mask.  Overall it was a great class.  Now you should all feel comfortable knowing that we can save you from a diving emergency.

Like our last trip to Sharm, we did absolutely no sightseeing and saw nothing cultural.  We stayed on the resort the entire time.  It's a little bit "Ugly American" but in that area there's nothing better to do than diving.

We did have one crisis on the trip, but it wasn't health related.  Lori was scheduled to fly from Germany to Amsterdam to join us at the airport for our flight to Egypt.  That morning there was a strike in Germany by the security folks who were seeking a 30% raise.  They were striking at a different German airport everyday that week and she timed it wrong.  But she had a back up plan; take the train which would get her into Amsterdam with hours to spare.  Except that they discovered a WWII bomb along the tracks in eastern Holland so the train had an unscheduled stop for several hours in the middle of the Dutch countryside.  The first estimate had her arriving with 15 minutes to spare.  Luckily, when the bomb was "handled" and the train restarted, they made up some time and she arrived 90 minutes before take off.

The beach area at the hotel.  Somebody's getting a massage in the near tent.    Hope he didn't mind being in my picture. 

Lori and Grant with our instructor, John

The day after our return to Holland it snowed.  

Master Baker

Grant came back from band practice yesterday and announced that the saxophones were responsible for snacks at Jazz Band the next day.  He thought it would be a good idea to take cinnamon rolls.  I thought it was a good idea as well.  Only one problem.....Lori was out of town.

It is true that during our stay in Holland I have learned how to cook.  But it is also true that I have not learned how to bake....at least not very well.  So I told Grant he could take the rolls but he had to make them and I would help.  So we got out the recipe and dove right in.

After several hours of effort, many dirty dishes and two phone calls to Lori he had produced a pan of very nice looking cinnamon rolls.  We frosted them this morning and he took them to school.  Needless to say, the pan returned empty.  They were a big hit!

Winter Update

Unfortunately, not much exciting news to report from Wassenaar.  Winter can't seem to make up its mind whether to stay or go.  All of our snow was gone last week and the temperatures got near 10 degrees C.  Then Tuesday morning I awoke to thunder and lightning.  When I looked out the window, it was snowing!  I don't think I had ever seen a thunder snow storm before.

The snow didn't stick for long, but the entire week has been a series of snow clouds rolling in and out.  Skies will be clear one minute and the next minute there will be huge, wet snowflakes filling the sky.  It happened again last night so I took some pictures this morning.

Note that the only tracks in the road this morning are from a bicycle.

Ducks swimming on the neighborhood pond.

After our morning walk.  

Graber loves the snow.  

Winter also means the winter dance at ASH.  Grant announced on Monday that he was going and he would require a suit.  Announcements such as this are not to be ignored, so Saturday at 3 we went suit shopping and by 7:30 he was at the dance in a new suit that actually fit very well for coming off the rack.   Luckily, he's a boy so shoes and accessories were not a problem.

The pre-dance picture.  Like most teenage boys, smiling for the camera is a struggle.  

More winter news comes to us from Kate in New Jersey.  It seems that she has managed to avoid the worst of the big snow storm in the northeast.  Her area only got 6 inches of snow.  She said that New Haven, CT had 31 inches.  Another good reason that she didn't go to Yale.

Would you let this girl perform surgery on you? 

Cleaning off the car on the morning after.

The only other news is that our Queen Beatrix has decided to retire.  She will abdicate on Queens Day, April 30, this year and pass the crown to her son and our neighbor, Prince Willem-Alexander.  Well, not really our neighbor but he does live in Wassenaar.  As a college student, Prince Willem had a party boy reputation, but while in his 30's he married an Argentinian woman, Maxima, who is credited with bringing style and reason to this generation of the royal family.

Prince Willem, Princess Maxima and their three daughters.  

Beatrix follows the Dutch tradition of abdicating rather than ruling until her death.  Her mother and grandmother did the same.  When Willem is inaugurated in April (not crowned) he will be the first King of Holland in over 100 years.  Maxima will become Queen.

Many of the streets (or wegs in Dutch) in our neighborhood are named after the royal family, this one being Queen Beatrix's mother.  We don't have a Beatrixweg, though.    

You will remember from earlier blog postings that April 30 is Queens Day -- a holiday started to honor Queen Juliana's birthday.  When Beatrix took over from her mother, she did not change the holiday to her own birthday because she was born in January and that's a rotten month in Holland for a holiday.  In 2014 the holiday will become King's Day and move to Prince Willem's birthday of April 27.  Unfortunately, for us that is a Sunday and in Holland when a holiday falls on a weekend, that's when you celebrate it.  None of this taking a Monday off because the holiday is on Sunday.  When this occurs it is aptly named a company holiday.  Not a good start to his crown if you ask me.

Once of the Queen's accomplishments is to have essentially the same hair style for her entire reign.  

  

Invasion

Our canal during yesterday's snowfall.  

We've had a couple of weeks of temperatures below freezing, so the canal behind our home is frozen.  It snowed while it froze so the ice is not good for skating, much to the dismay of the locals.  I had my fill of skating in Lake Louise so my disappointment is limited.  

This guy spent an hour eating in our yard

The frozen canal has allowed the deer from the neighboring Canadian Ambassadors estate to invade our yard.  They must be tired of the Canadian's vegetation because they have spent the last two weeks munching on our landscaping.  It's like a whole new buffet to them.

The Canadian Ambassador's Home.  

Many of you may be wondering how the deer are able to sneak into our yard under the nose of our ferocious golden retriever, Graber.  Well, the frozen canal also offered opportunities for him.  Last Saturday, he was spotted sprinting down the ice in chase of a bird.  He has no sense of direction so once he gets out, he's gone.  Luckily Lori lured him back with a squeak toy and promises of cheese.  After that incident he has been sentenced to inside living except for supervised (and leashed) potty breaks.  The deer quickly picked up on his absence and escalated their raids after that.

The prisoner fulfilling his sentence.   

Alas, today Holland famous rain has returned so the snow and ice will be gone soon.  Hopefully, the deer will be on the right side of the canal when it unthaws.

One of the downsides of owning a white car in the winter -- it really shows the grime.  

A new home construction on our street, as viewed from the canal.  The Dutch build homes to last several hundred years so it usually involved steel framing and cranes.  

The small lake in our neighborhood where the kids skate (except for the day I was taking pictures)

O Canada

Kate requested that we celebrate with a white Christmas this year, so we packed up our parkas and headed to Banff, Canada where it was certainly white and even more certainly cold.  Christmas morning we awoke to temperatures of -30 degrees C, which translates to -20 degrees F.  Both numbers are cold.... real cold.

Like all good winter resorts, Banff had a number of sporting goods stores, so we supported the Canadian economy and stocked up on additional cold weather gear to reinforce ourselves.  Plus Kate brought along an economy pack of hand and foot warmers, so we were able to survive and enjoy all the winter activities.  The condo where we stayed had a heated outdoor swimming pool.  A number of people went swimming (probably Canadians) but we weren't up for the frigid dash between the pool and the changing room.  

Dog sledding was probably the highlight of the trip.  Everyone got a turn at "driving" the team, which sounds fun until they tell you that you have to run and push when the sled goes uphill.  In fact, the guide's quote was "the dogs will look back to make sure you're pushing too.  They really appreciate the help".  Running through the snow in full gear pushing a sled uphill is pretty taxing, but who wants to disappoint a dog.  The other downside of driving was that you're fully exposed to the elements, while the other two people are toasty warm, wrapped in blankets in the sled.

Luckily the dog sled place rented snow boots because Kate's were in her missing suitcase.  

You know it's cold when even the sled dogs where coats. 

Lori getting ready to drive the kids, who are well protected.  

The view from the dog sled trail

Now it's Lori's turn to bundle up

Thanking our dogs for a great time.  

One day we drove over to Lake Louise for high tea at the Fairmont Lodge, followed by ice skating on the lake.  Everyone did well, no serious spills or thrills.  An hour of ice skating was enough though.

The view from the dining room at high tea.  

Although it is hard to tell, this is Grant laying on top of the lake with snow piled on top of him.  

It was a similar story when we went skiing.  No injuries, but one day satisfied our skiing appetite.  The ski resort also had a tubing hill, with a lift to take you back up the hill.  Unfortunately, the lift was broken so what had originally sounded like a fun idea didn't sound so fun anymore.

They look kind of like Star Wars characters, don't they? 

Most of our thrills were limited to traveling.  Lori, Grant & I flew from Amsterdam to Chicago where we planned to meet Kate and all fly to Calgary together.  Unfortunately, Kate's flight to Chicago was cancelled.  The next flight arrived too late, she missed the connection and spent the night in United Airlines Service Center lines and an airport hotel.  Between the cancelled flight and overnight stay, she got $40 in food coupons from United so she spent the next day sampling all the O'Hare Airport food offerings.  Even at airport prices, $40 is a lot of food.

So Kate arrived in Canada one day late.  As did one of her suitcases.  Her other suitcase -- which contained her winter coat and the winter coat that we'd ordered for Grant -- didn't arrive until two days later.  So we made a few more trips to the sporting goods store.

The travel woes didn't stop there.  The 1.5 hour drive from Banff to the Calgary airport ended up taking us three hours due to an accident (not us).  We missed our flight from Calgary to Houston and spent the night, 4 to a room, at the Calgary Airport hotel.

Christmas Dinner at the Post Hotel, Lake Louise

Kate and Lori with a friend

On this trip, we retired our playing cards.  We bought them for our trip to Southern Africa in 2007 and have taken them on every family vacation since then.  As you can see, they are a little worse for wear.  And what you can't see is that Graber recently ate two of them.  

Happy Birthday Lori

Lori had a milestone birthday this year so we opted for something a little more special than the typical store-bought cake and a card that says "Fijne Verjaardag".   As part of our Christmas holiday trip, we swung by Houston and hosted a party at one of our favorite restaurants.  The cake was still purchased, but at least it came from a professional bakery.  It was great to see family and friends again.

Now there's one lucky fellow

Lori and her parents, Don & Joan

Two sisters

Kate & Doug

Birthday girl with her loot