Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Cave Church....

So after travelling through Garbage City
we made it to the Cave Church,
which as its name would describe is a church that is in the cave of a mountain.

It was so impressive,
with biblical carvings all over the side of the mountain,
and can hold up to 15,000 people.











We were invited to look into this room which was filled
with wheel chairs and crutches.
Apparently on Thursday nights they hold miracle
healing sessions and exorcisms of devils,
the wheelchairs and crutches are left behind by
those who dont need them any more.

Thats definitely something i'm going to have to go back to see!


Monday, December 27, 2010

A Different Kind Of Christmas....

This Christmas was a little bit different.
Mainly because it was 25degrees Celsius and spent in a place where Western Christmas traditions barely exist.

I went with a couple of friends to visit the Cave Church,
but to get there you have to take a taxi through Garbage City.

Here is the Wikipedia explanation for Garbage City...


Manshiyat naser (also known as Garbage City) is a slum settlement on the outskirts of the city of Cairo whose economy revolves around the collection and recycling of the city's garbage. Although the area has streets, shops, and apartments like any other area of the city, it lacks infrastructure and often has no running water, sewage, or electricity.

The city's garbage is brought to Manshiyat Naser by the Zabbaleen, or garbage collectors, who then sort through the garbage to attempt to retrieve any potentially useful or recyclable items. As a passerby walks or drives down the road he will see large rooms stacked with garbage with men, women or children crouching and sorting the garbage into unsellable or sellable. Families typically specialize in a particular type of garbage they sort and sell - one room of children sorting out plastic bottles, while the next of women separating cans from the rest. Anything that can be reused or recycled is saved by one of the numerous families in Manshiyat naser. Various recycled paper and glass products are made and sold from the city, while metal is sold by the kilo to be melted down and reused. Carts pulled by horse or donkey are often stacked 2.5 to 3m (8 to 10 feet) high with the recyclable goods.

The economic system in garbage City is classified as the informal sector. Most families typically have worked in the same area and type of specialization in the garbage piles and continue to make enough money to support themselves.


(all these bags are full of trash waiting to be sorted)


It was a very humbling experience.
To see how these people lived,
where they lived.
Children with no shoes sitting next to their mothers helping sort out the trash
And a young boy dancing down the street barefoot smiling
whilst blowing through his homemade paper horn.

It made me exceedingly grateful or all the things that i have.

There was a recent movie made called Garbage Dreams
which is a documentary on some teenage boys living in this area.
I haven't seen it yet
but i've heard it excellent
and want to watch it so i can learn more.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Basic Addition....

Secret Santa
+

Tiny Christmas Tree
+
party games
+
Friends
+
Santa Hats
Random Street Camels
+
Rehearsal
+
Performance
+

Ukulele Christmas Carols
+
Church
+
Bacon

=

My Christmas Eve

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas in Egypt.....


So there may no be snow or any of the traditional western images that surround the birth of Christ, but i am finding it kinda cool to be in a part of the world where the actual Christmas story took place.

matthew 2

behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

14When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt

15And there was until the death of Herod, that it might be fufilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Do you think he went to visit the Pyramids?













Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Power Of Christmas Music....


I'd like to share lots of pictures of me doing lots of Christmassy
things in this Christmas Week,
but this is what my week actually looks like....



Rehearsals,
rehearsals,
rehearsals.....

but too and from work whilst i'm squished
very tightly into the Metro on the womans carriage,
i am a million miles away,

Why?
Where?
Cause i'm listening to my Christmas music.
and all of a sudden i'm in a Little Women style novel with snow all around,
listening to sleigh bells and what-not.



i tell you Christmas Music is a very powerful tool for the imagination.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Ballets....

I dislike the Nutcracker.
There i said it.
Okay, to be fair not all Nutcrackers, but the bog-standard traditional version,
yes i dislike it.
It's a tired old ballet that in most companies is
run over the edge with endless repeats and no recent inspiration.

I did liked the version that i did with my previous company,
it had a fresh sparkle to it, mainly because the choreographer had opened
up the music to new ideas (we mixed the story with a christmas carol)

but now i'm back to doing a traditional Nutcracker,
and its not that its a bad show, its just that having seen
a version of the nutcracker like this every year
since i was born, i doesn't excite me.
And yet i'm sure it going to make many a little girl out there happy.

If i could go see a ballet this Christmas it would be this one,
Edward Scissorhands the Ballet


doesnt that look fresh and exciting.
i've seen works by this choreographer before and he is a master story teller.

but it isnt playing anywhere in the world at the moment....

so i guess i'll just to stick to The Nutcracker
besides hearing the music reminds me that its Christmas
and thats never a bad thing.



Thursday, December 16, 2010

Social Lifeless.....

I realised the other night that my outside of work social activities
have become very small as of late.
Well nearly non-existent.

Ordinarily i would put this problem down to my social skills
but today i'm going to blame it on my working hours,
which recently have been between 2.30-9pm,
after which i 'm normally too tired to go out bounding around being all social-likeable,
and people who dont have my
working hours tend not to want to start socialising at 10pm.

Which means no Christmas Concerts for me this year.
Boooooo
(i think last year i managed to get about 4 in)
and i have a sneaky feeling that they are going to make us work Christmas day.

Ballet Companies like to do silly things like that.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Dear Santa....

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is for someone to fix my washing machine.

Really thats all.

Love and Kisses

Rebekah

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Neverending Story.....

i'm re-reading The Neverending Story.
By the title of this blog i'm sure that its clear that i'm a fan.
As a child i dreamed of being The Childlike Empress,
and at around the age of 16 i discovered the book and a whole new adventure began.

When people ask me for a recommended read,
its always my first recommendation.

I've read about 20 pages and already i've oodles of quotes that
i've wanted to write out, i think i'm going to have to contain myself.





'I wonder, he said to himself, whats in a book while its closed. Oh, i know its full of letters printed on paper, but all the same, something must be happening, because as soon as i open it, there's a whole story with people i don't know yet and all kind of adventures and deeds and battles. And sometimes there are storms at sea, or it takes you to strange cities and countries. All those thig are somehow shut up in a book. Of course you have to read it to find out. But, its already there, thats the funny thing. i just wish i knew how it could be'
Suddenly an almost festive mood came over him.
He settled himself, picked up the book, opened it to the first page and began to read

The Neverending Story'

Michael Ende

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Kid History....

Have you seen this video yet?
It made me chortle....


Monday, December 6, 2010

A little bit of Dickens.....


I've never read, 'A Christmas Carol',
mainly cause i aint no fan of Dickens,
but after seeing these two little quotes
i'm thinking i might just have to find meself a copy.



'Marley spoke sadly of opportunities lost.
Said he: 'Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere,
whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness.
Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused!
Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!'

Marley added: 'Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings
with my eyes turned down,
and never raise them to that blessed Star which
led the Wise Men to a poor abode?
Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!'



"I wear the chain I forged in life....
I made it link by link, and yard by yard;
I girded it on of my own free will,
and of my own free will I wore it."

Friday, December 3, 2010

Snowflakes.....

Its not fair,
whenever i go on facebook at the moment is filled
with comments/stauses/pictures
from the UK where everyone is snowed in
and therefore having ample
Snow-Appreciation-Time

Not fair!
I am an expert Snow-Appreciator
and feel like my talent is being wasted
in thi 27degrees sun during the month of December.

But then again,
i have been spending my days lately
running around pretending to be a snowflake
and getting paid for it....

and take my word for it
life as a snowflake is short-lived
and tough for all its beauty.

So we do like to be appreciated.