Spring Break in Egypt!

One of the best pieces of advice we recieved soon after our arrival to Lithuania in 2002 was to be sure that we left the country on a fairly regular basis. It sounds strange, but the person giving us the advice wasn't saying anything negative about Lithuania, rather he was saying that as North Americans trying to integrate into the culture we'd get burned out much more quickly if we didn't take breaks from the culture & get away every now & again. As much as we've been able, we've taken that advice to heart and have seen time & time again how it really has made a difference in our ability to continue living in a culture different from ours & avoiding burn out.

Here in Europe, Egypt is a very common tourist destination. Travel agents have loads of low-cost vacation package deals around this time of the year. It would be a similar equivilent to West-coast North Americans going to Mexico or Midwest/East-coast North Americans going to Cuba.

The Red Sea from the air - so beautiful!

For our spring break 2005, when I was 3 months pregnant with Ieva, we had the opportunity to go to Hurghada, Egypt with an LCC colleague. We split the trip between relaxing in the sun & visiting all the historic & educational sites we could see (Cairo & the pyramids, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings & a snokeling trip on a coral reef in the Red Sea). It was a pretty relaxing trip, but also extraordinarily educational.

Kim & Andrew at the pyramids - spring break 2005

So this spring break, the idea started forming among some of our friends that we should all get away for a multi-family trip to a kid-friendly warm destination! It came down to the Canary Islands or Egypt, and even though we had been to Egypt before, the dates of the trip fit our schedules better and the costs were lower. And we found a place to stay that looked incredibly kid-friendly. So, Egypt it was!

The Spring Break 2009 LCC Crew:

Chris, Lydia, Josiah & Levi Bosch; Jared, Carrie & Charlotte Schumacher; Andrew, Alene, Charlotte & Paige Kaethler & us

We've never done a trip with multiple families before and it turned out really well. Chris & Lydia Bosch just came to LCC in August 2008 and will be returning to their home in Ontario, Canada after this academic year. Their sons Josiah (8) and Levi (7) have become like brothers to Ieva this year as all three kids adore each other! Andrew & Alene Kaethler have been good friends of ours since they arrived to Lithuania from Vancouver, B.C. in August 2007. Their daughter Charlotte (2 & 1/2) is a year younger than Ieva and they've been good friends since before either can remember. Their baby girl Paige was just born this September & Ieva spent the fall semester referring to Paige as her baby sister, too. Jared & Carrie Schumacher just arrived to Lithuania from Texas in August 2008. They work with us in the Student Life department (Chris Bosch & Andrew Kaethler are both faculty) and have an 8-month old baby girl also named Charlotte. Both the Schumachers & Kaethlers are returning for another year at LCC with us, so we're all sad to be losing the Boschs!

The Girls at the Red Sea (about to dive in!): Kim, Alene, Carrie & Lydia

Because the Bosch kids & Ieva are a bit older, and the other two families have babies (Charlotte & Paige are only 2 months apart), we often ended up doing things in pairs of families. Since we had already seen the Egyptian sites on our first trip, we decided that we weren't going to do much more than RELAX around the hotel grounds. The Bosch family did a long day trip to Cairo so the boys could see the pyramids and the Egyptian museum, while the Schumachers, Alene & baby Paige went together on a day trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. We were happy to go nowhere, except for a few-hour trip in the "Seascope Submarine" to see the coral & fish of the Red Sea up close.

Looking at Red Sea coral & fish up close from the comfort of the 'Seascope Submarine' 15 feet below the surface!

The place we stayed turned out to be perfect for our families. From a wading pool for the little kids to the normal pool for the big to a kid's club that did events like a mini-disco and other kid-friendly events run by a wonderfully caring staff. In general, all of the staff were great with kids. The housekeeping staff would always make Ieva's bed with her stuffed animals strategically placed around & her blanket laid out like a fan. The restaurant/buffet staff who we'd see at every meal loved to talk to the kids and play little games with them. Overall, the staff made a huge difference in our enjoyment of the trip.

The big kids: Ieva, Levi Bosch, Charlotte Kaethler & Josiah Bosch

So we spent a week enjoying a reprieve from a long, cold Lithuanian winter and really enjoying time with good friends. Andrew & I celebrated our 9th anniversary there & now can say that each of our kids have been to Egypt in utero! What a gift. We're extremely thankful to have such an opportunity to do things like this while living in Eastern Europe.