USA Delegation in Cairo, Egypt, Aug. 2008

Day 7 Excursion to the Red Sea

We ended our week with a bus ride to the Red Sea. We all enjoyed relaxing by the sea and the pool at the hotel. Teams were given rooms at the hotel which made it very convenient for meeting the needs of 13 bus loads.

A highlight of the trip was an excellent buffet with wonderful salads and desserts.

Once back in Murbarak City, the exodus to the airport at all hours of the evening and the day began.

We left at 4 am ending our 20th IOI in Cairo, Egypt. Well done Egypt.

Here are some of the best pictures (view as a slideshow)

Pictures

Day 6 Closing Ceremony

Aug 21

I just returned from the closing ceremony. We are happy to announce our team did a fabulous job winning two gold and two silver medals. David and Neal won high gold medals ranking in the top 10. Jacob and Brian won high silver medals. Needless to say, we are very proud of the team.

It was a long ceremony(3+ hours) and we had dinner at 10:30 after it was over. I have selected the important pictures and you can view them by clicking here. I will post more information in the blog later. It is now 1 am in the morning.

Pictures best viewed as a slide show.

Pictures

Day 4 Excursions

Aug 19

The day began with an excursion to the Pyramids of Giza. Our huge caravan of 13 buses took off once again for the hour and a half journey. We were given a police escort which shortened the time. Once at the site we had a couple hours to freely roam around. As soon as we walked off the bus, the local con artists were waiting, licking their chops, and went to work offering “free” gifts to anyone willing to take then. Jacobs “free” picture on a camel ended up costing $20 -- taken with his own camera. He also fell for another “free” head scarf which took another $5. To learn how it happened, you’ll have to talk to Jacob. I’m sure the story itself will be worth far more than $25 as it is retold over the years.

Even Rob had his money literally lifted from his wallet. A $20 crime that will return much more in its retelling. I photographed the crime scene moments before it happened, as you will see.

Many in our delegation queued up for a very hot and claustrophobic peek inside a Pyramid. Rob’s comment, “This would be a poor place to have a heart attack.” Moments earlier, someone had been taken out on a stretcher.

Instead, I took a walk around the middle Pyramid looking for a good angle for a photograph. Half way around, I was met by a man with three horses offering to take me to the best spot for viewing all nine Pyramids. So we made and deal and for $40 I mounted up and took off with a mighty, “hi ho Silver, away.” We trotted and galloped over the desert for an hour and a half, stopping off at different overlooks to take pictures. He spoke English well which he learned doing this job for 25 years – starting at the age of 10. He owns the horses and lives in a village near the Pyramids with a wife, daughter and two sons.

When I got back the buses had left the Pyramid parking lot where they said they would be waiting until 1 pm. Another surprise, they had moved to the Sphinx lot. A few others were in the same pickle but knew where the buses had gone. We took off walking to find them.

In the afternoon, guests had the option of getting back on the bus for another hour long ride to tour the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. Rob, a museum guy, loved it and thought it was fabulous in spite of the non air-conditioned rooms. The contestants remained in Mubarak City for an IMAX show and the game of Paintball. That’s where teams dress up in protective clothing and shoot paint at each other instead of bullets. It was difficult to move people through the game fast enough to engage very many participants. Jacob was the only one mildly interested, and didn’t get to play.

After 10 pm, the teams were confined to their rooms, while the leaders translated long into the night, some ending as late as 3 am.

Here are my best shot of the day, best viewed as a slide show.

Pictures 4

Day 3 Competition 1 and Nile Cruise

Aug 18

This was the first competition day. At 9 am our team marched behind their guide over to the computer room and began attacking three problems. Five hours later, they were having lunch with Brian & Percy discussing their solutions. A couple hours after that, they got their printed results. They all did well enough to be in the hunt for a medal on the second day. What color, gold, silver, or bronze, remains to be seen. Only half of the contestants receive medals and those in the ratio of 1 gold, to 2 silver, to 3 bronze. The final competition, in two days, will decide.

Next we were loaded onto buses for an hour and a half ride to the Nile and our scheduled dinner cruise. The guests were on one bus while our team and team leaders were on another. Unfortunately, and unknown to us on the guest bus, they had to wait on their bus for an additional hour and a half while we went on a boat for the dinner cruise. Turned out one of the scheduled boats had a problem and could not run that night. So they ran the cruise in two shifts. As a result, the team did not get home until midnight after a hard day of competition. It also meant that Delphine and Brian were not together for the cruise dinner down the Nile. By being on the first boat, I was able to capture the sun setting over Cairo and the Nile.

Here are the best photos of the day, best viewed as a slideshow.

Pictures 3

Day 2 Opening Ceremony - Practice Session

Aug 16 Evening

Delegations continued to arrive all day today. In the evening, we gathered at a night spot outdoors for a show of good, but loud music. It was geared for the young contestants and got them off their feet clapping to a primordial beat. For the older leaders it caused ringing in the ears.

Aug 17 Opening Ceremonies

The day began with the traditional opening ceremonies. The chairman of IOI 2008 hosted the event, which included a couple speeches, an introduction of the teams, and a couple of outstanding artistic performances. The pictures below tell the story.

Next, the teams got a chance to get comfortable with the competition computers. Then it was off by bus to Golf Alsolimania Park. They are still away. The team leaders stayed here picking the problems for tomorrow's contest and translating them into their native language. This will go on until the wee hours of the morning. We ourselves are lucky. Since the official language at IOI is English, little if any modifications will be needed.

Here are some pictures, best viewed as a slideshow.

Pictures 2

Day 1 Arrival Day

Aug 15

There were a few delays on the flight from Washington DC to Paris, but it turned out OK since the plane from Paris to Cairo was delayed too. We all made it to Mubarak City of Education at 11 pm our time ( 4 pm East Coast Time). The trip from the airport took about an hour through heavy traffic after 10 pm at night. Things get started here after 8 pm and go on long into the night.

First impressions of the venue.

Mubarak City is 50 kilometers from Cairo and completely isolated. If you take a look at it from the sky with Google Earth you will see we are surrounded by desert.

There a loads of guides and helpers at this IOI. They have been here for two weeks getting things ready. There are two guides for each country which translates into 160 guides. The contestants are separated from the leaders and guests. Rob and I share a room which has four single beds. Our first big surprise – each bed has only one sheet. Apparently they sleep directly in contact with the blanket. Our solution, take the sheets off the two beds we were not using and use them for the top sheet.

I went to bed at 1 am and slept soundly through the night. If Rob snored, which is known to happen, it didn’t bother me. Rob and I both took Melatonin to reset our internal clocks. It appears to have worked – stay tuned.

Aug 16

Up this morning and ready for breakfast. Surprise number 2. As you will see in the pictures, breakfast is very heavy on the bakery goods. Add olives and a hard boiled egg and that’s breakfast. You can get cornflakes too. The coffee is instant Nescafe. Juice is in a box. Meals are served at 7am, 2 pm and 8 pm. There is a place where you can get sodas, water, and snacks any time of day – all free.

At the airport, Brian and Delphine were met by the father of a graduate student at Clemson who comes from Cairo. He presented them with a box of home made baklava, two cell phones, and an invitation to spend today with him guided around Cairo. So you can guess where they are today.

The rest of us can surf the Internet, play games at the sports center, or see a movie at the I-Max, or just hang out and do nothing. (Or work on photos and the blog.) I didn't see the team until lunch – they skipped breakfast. The weather outside is 95 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and feels good. Of course inside it is all air conditioned. In our rooms, you need a blanket to keep warm at night.

I walked around Mubarak City today to get a look of the campus. Here are some pictures – best viewed as a slide show.

PICTURES