Back in Egypt for Year 4!!

We have arrived back in Egypt with no problem. We had a great time in the Pacific Northwest (in their unusually cool summer), including a week each in Whistler and Victoria. Karan finished her graduate class and application to renew her teaching certificate for Washington. Cairo's weather is slightly cooler than normal (upper 90s now), so Texas must be taking all the heat for themselves! We should have spent our last week in Texas instead of our first week so we could readjust to the heat!



On the political front, things are heating up in Cairo as every Egyptian is glued to their TV set to watch the Mubarak trial--an unprecedented thing in the Middle East. But no one knows how justice will occur in this complex situation. A speedy trial is not necessarily a fair trial, and may cover over 30 years of issues. It doesn't help when you read things like this from a defense lawyer: "Mubarak actually died in 2004 and an impostor has been ruling Egypt as part of an American/Israeli conspiracy!" Jerry Springer are you watching?!

Here is a clip from an Egyptian newspaper about a poll regarding upcoming elections this Fall. So far no real evidence that extremists will be voted in.

Poll explores Egyptians' views on presidency, parliament and foreign relations
By Safaa Abdoun / Daily News Egypt/August 1, 2011

CAIRO: Twenty-seven percent of Egyptians have said that a Muslim Brotherhood majority in parliament “would be a good thing,” according to a poll by Newsweek and Daily Beast conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC and Thawra Stats.

The poll which encompassed 1,008 randomly selected Egyptian adults from 19 Egyptian governorates between June 24 to July 4, surveyed Egyptians’ opinions on a variety on issues from Israeli relations to the upcoming president.

On the parliamentary elections, which is tentatively scheduled to take place the coming November, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party scored a plurality of support at 17 percent.

Thirty-five percent of the poll’s respondents said that a Muslim Brotherhood majority would be a bad thing while 38 percent weren't sure.

Liberal Al-Wafd Party got the support of 11 percent of the respondents with the National Democratic and the Free Egyptians parties both scoring seven percent. The remaining parties on the scene all got five percent or less.

In a race between the three presidential hopefuls, Amr Moussa, Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh; Moussa, the former secretary-general of the League of Arab States scored 47 percent. ElBaradei scored 17 percent and Aboul Fotouh scored 16 percent both coming in close with the 18 percent of undecided respondents.

On the other hand, when asked who they will vote for in an open race, 27 percent said they are undecided, 16 percent chose Moussa and ElBaradei came in next at 12 percent along with former prime minister Ahmed Shafik.

When it comes to foreign relations, “less than one-quarter surveyed say the US, regional ally Saudi Arabia, media power Qatar, or regional rival Iran had the best interests of the Egyptian people in mind during the revolution,” stated the poll.



Alex returns from the US on August 8. Karan starts school on August 7, while Alex starts classes on August 14. Over the summer in the US we visited six colleges. Alex likes Gonzaga University (in Spokane) best, then Western Washington University (in Bellingham where Brett will finish this year in Graphic Design-Production track). Brett is finishing up his summer working in graphic design at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center near Santa Cruz, California. Travis has been promoted to sales with Verizon and was employee of the month his first month in his store in Spokane Valley and sixth in the district in overall sales in June. We think he has found his niche and he is certainly making more money than before (finally).

Karan ended her summer in the US with oral surgery. It turned out that her dead front tooth that received a root canal 27 years ago finally gave up. So she had to had a periodontist insert a metal post in her bone/gum and then a dentist glued the old tooth back in place to hold for a year (hopefully). Then next summer she has a false tooth placed on the post. It's a better procedure than a bridge. We have video of Karan on her "anesthesia" pill to prepare her for the surgery. It is a condition no one has ever witnessed in this straight-laced belle from Arkansas. We may have to auction the video on Facebook to help pay surgery costs!



Love to hear from you! Karan is on Facebook at "Karan Wooley Flora", and Steve is on Twitter at "srflora". We still feel quite safe in Egypt (Cairo is one of the safest big cities in the world), but please keep us in your prayers nonetheless.

Steve and Karan