SJEDS Travels to Egypt

The second school we visited on our last day on Egypt was the El Alsson School in Cairo. We were so fortunate to have this opportunity and it came about through a connection with one of our advisory board members, who also happens to be a parent of a student at our school, Summer. El […]

We were very lucky, that our tourist agency arranged for us to visit an elementary school on our last day. In addition we were going to visit a second school, which was arranged by Dr. El Safty’s brother and sister-in-law.
The first school, we visited was Futures International School.

Dr. Maged Zaki was very gracious to receive […]

After a vibrant Jewish community in Egypt for thousands of years, there are only a few hundred Jews left in modern day Egypt. The last members of this community are mostly elderly.
Since Egypt and many of its sites have significant meaning to the three major religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, it was understandable that […]

The first mosque we visited was Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, which was built around 1356 A.D. The mosque has a bent entrance, which helps keep out the desert sand that is ever present in Cairo.

Before entering we had to take off our shoes, since they are not allowed inside. Modest dress is required and no […]

When we entered the Coptic Christian area of Cairo, the sights were very different. Few women wore scarves on their heads or the long dresses more present in other parts of Egypt. There were no men wearing galabiyas and the most obvious difference in the local landscape was that there were crosses in abundance. There […]

Mrs. Tolisano and I had the most wonderful evening on Thursday.

We had dinner at the home of Dr. Amal. Dr. Amal is the aunt of one of our own San Jose Episcopal students, Summer. Dr. Amal was wonderful. She fed us a delicious, typical Egyptian meal and we were able to learn of the important work […]

On our first stop today I thought we were visiting a Medieval Castle. It was a huge gray building with walls like a castle. I learned we were visiting the Citadel. Construction on the Citadel started in 1176 A.D., by a leader named Saladin, to fortify the city against the Crusaders. Through the years many […]

Hi everyone!
Omar and I found an Internet Cafe and we thought we would post some pictures of us that we took yesterday at the pyramids. It was awesome to see Mrs. Tolisano and Mrs. Menger on the pictures they posted. We were in the same places, but must have missed each other by minutes. I hope […]

Jacksonville is a city located on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. Our students grow up being able to play in the sun, sand and surf of the beaches. Many students are fortunate to maybe even live close or directly on the beach. When preparing for our trip to Egypt, […]

We were starting to get pretty anxious and wanted to push on to get to the Great Pyramids of Giza. We had seen so many pictures already about these three pyramids that were standing in the middle of the desert. Built over 46 centuries ago, these structures have impressed many, many people, including Napoleon, Alexander […]