Today's trip to Cairo was much better than Tuesday's.I even attended all three of my classes today and made sure I had all my football practice photos captioned, edited, printed, and on the server before I even thought about going out of town. Today was probably the first day in like a month I haven't received a phone call from Ryan making sure I was gonna get my stuff in. In fact, I didn't receive a phone call from Ryan at all. Kinda weird, since he didn't see me all day and I never really told him I had put my fball pictures in. I guess he found em and nothing was wrong with em and everything worked out numba wan AOK.
At about 2pm I went to Cairo Project class and when big P popped the question 'Who went to Cairo?' like he always does, I'm like I'm going now! So he said go, So I went. So it was. I even stopped at South 51 McDonald's on my way out and got a Big Mac. It's weird, I've eaten McDonalds twice in the last couple weeks and before that it's been like 6 years since I went there on my own accord (I was a Taco Bell junkie in my teen years and never went to burger places). Anyway, about 5 minutes after arriving in Cairo, driving the speed limit, I found this group of people, 7 in all, standing at a corner on Commercial Avenue, two of them playing guitars. Like always when I see something interesting, I had that little quick fight with myself in my head about whether or not I should stop, and I stopped. As I approached the group they all looked me and said, "Hi! Are you a student from Southern Illinois University??" Apparently, they've seen members of the Cairo Project before, even a few this semester, and were used to college students with cameras coming up and talking to them.
They're actually a ministry, Christian, but not from any particular church, that worships in different places in Cairo to bring the love of God into the town and ask Him to turn Cairo around. They want the people of Cairo to accept the Lord and worship with them, because they believe that faith will save Cairo. Honestly, I believe it, too. They played music, sang, read scripture, prayed, and invited the few people who walked by to worship with them. Anyone who knows Cairo knows that this is quite a bit of excitement for Commercial Avenue.
As I said, there are seven of them: a married couple, Gary and Sharon, and 5 girls, Sarah, Kristy, Stacy, Heather, and Heather. They asked me lots of stuff about the class and why I was there and what was gonna happen with the photos and if I could send them to them also and where I was from and stuff like that. They were very friendly and made me glad I came. They invited me over to the city's chili social kinda thing, the first event of Cairo Riverboat Days. They also invited me to come down tomorrow night and come to their worship, which they have in an old school building.
I'm definitely going to go tomorrow night and see more of what they do. I think maybe they could be my more in-depth photo story if I build a good relationship with them and they let me into their lives a little more. Heather said they've tried countless times to get Cairo to open up to God, but haven't been able to get people to join them. Now, they're kinda waiting to see what god wants them to do next.
They have a mission, I know, and it's a big one.
Then Heather asked me if she could pray for me and, after I said go ahead, she said a prayer for me, asking God to help me with my work in Cairo. Then she asked if she could pray for my mom and then said a prayer for my mom. They really seemed to sympathize for my mom's breast cancer and the death of my sister and showed concern for me, even though I had just met them. It was comforting to know that people this compassionate and passionate lived in Cairo. It made me excited to be there and I'm excited about going back tomorrow.
So they invited me over to the chili thing at a Methodist church that was the first event of Cairo Riverboat Days, the annual town celebration sort of thing, which happens to be this year celebrating Cairo's 150th birthday, its sesquicentennial. Whoah, I spelled that right.
I tried the spicy chili first, which, by the end of the bowl, was burning my insides off, so I had to get a bowl of the regular mild kind to cool down. Very good! Probably the best chili I've ever had. I met lots of people, including the pastor of the church Kelly Cox, a cool white-haired and bearded guy who was kinda running the shindig.
I also ran into two other SIU students from the Cairo Project class who had come down to take pictures of the "Little Miss Cairo" Pageant, only to find that there weren't any pageants in Cairo tonight. I didn't take any pictures of them, though.
The shindig took place in the front yard of the parsonage next to the church, where there were tables set up with crackers and candy corn and lemonade and tea and lots of chili up on the porch. I had a good time and introduced myself to lots of friendly people, who all told me that I could come and visit them and Cairo whenever I wanted, even if I wasn't in the class anymore.
Eventually, it was getting dark and little mosquitoes were attacking my face and my arms and my legs, so I decided to call it a day and head back home. I said goodbyes to all the people that had talked to me and hit the road.
I've got to say, my previous experiences in Cairo had almost convinced me that I wasn't ever going to have a good time there. I was mistaken. There are wonderful people who live in Cairo.
I would love to talk more about today's experiences, but I am extremely tired. More events will unfold tomorrow and Saturday and hopefully produce meaningful results. I plan on going back to Cairo tomorrow, and maybe Saturday, but I have to shoot the SIU vs. Youngstown State football game at SIU Saturday afternoon, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to drive down there. After that, I really want to go up to see Amber and spend the night home and come back Sunday. That's all for now, I can't keep my eyes open.
grax
TB
At about 2pm I went to Cairo Project class and when big P popped the question 'Who went to Cairo?' like he always does, I'm like I'm going now! So he said go, So I went. So it was. I even stopped at South 51 McDonald's on my way out and got a Big Mac. It's weird, I've eaten McDonalds twice in the last couple weeks and before that it's been like 6 years since I went there on my own accord (I was a Taco Bell junkie in my teen years and never went to burger places). Anyway, about 5 minutes after arriving in Cairo, driving the speed limit, I found this group of people, 7 in all, standing at a corner on Commercial Avenue, two of them playing guitars. Like always when I see something interesting, I had that little quick fight with myself in my head about whether or not I should stop, and I stopped. As I approached the group they all looked me and said, "Hi! Are you a student from Southern Illinois University??" Apparently, they've seen members of the Cairo Project before, even a few this semester, and were used to college students with cameras coming up and talking to them.
They're actually a ministry, Christian, but not from any particular church, that worships in different places in Cairo to bring the love of God into the town and ask Him to turn Cairo around. They want the people of Cairo to accept the Lord and worship with them, because they believe that faith will save Cairo. Honestly, I believe it, too. They played music, sang, read scripture, prayed, and invited the few people who walked by to worship with them. Anyone who knows Cairo knows that this is quite a bit of excitement for Commercial Avenue.
As I said, there are seven of them: a married couple, Gary and Sharon, and 5 girls, Sarah, Kristy, Stacy, Heather, and Heather. They asked me lots of stuff about the class and why I was there and what was gonna happen with the photos and if I could send them to them also and where I was from and stuff like that. They were very friendly and made me glad I came. They invited me over to the city's chili social kinda thing, the first event of Cairo Riverboat Days. They also invited me to come down tomorrow night and come to their worship, which they have in an old school building.
I'm definitely going to go tomorrow night and see more of what they do. I think maybe they could be my more in-depth photo story if I build a good relationship with them and they let me into their lives a little more. Heather said they've tried countless times to get Cairo to open up to God, but haven't been able to get people to join them. Now, they're kinda waiting to see what god wants them to do next.They have a mission, I know, and it's a big one.
Then Heather asked me if she could pray for me and, after I said go ahead, she said a prayer for me, asking God to help me with my work in Cairo. Then she asked if she could pray for my mom and then said a prayer for my mom. They really seemed to sympathize for my mom's breast cancer and the death of my sister and showed concern for me, even though I had just met them. It was comforting to know that people this compassionate and passionate lived in Cairo. It made me excited to be there and I'm excited about going back tomorrow.So they invited me over to the chili thing at a Methodist church that was the first event of Cairo Riverboat Days, the annual town celebration sort of thing, which happens to be this year celebrating Cairo's 150th birthday, its sesquicentennial. Whoah, I spelled that right.
I tried the spicy chili first, which, by the end of the bowl, was burning my insides off, so I had to get a bowl of the regular mild kind to cool down. Very good! Probably the best chili I've ever had. I met lots of people, including the pastor of the church Kelly Cox, a cool white-haired and bearded guy who was kinda running the shindig.
I also ran into two other SIU students from the Cairo Project class who had come down to take pictures of the "Little Miss Cairo" Pageant, only to find that there weren't any pageants in Cairo tonight. I didn't take any pictures of them, though.
The shindig took place in the front yard of the parsonage next to the church, where there were tables set up with crackers and candy corn and lemonade and tea and lots of chili up on the porch. I had a good time and introduced myself to lots of friendly people, who all told me that I could come and visit them and Cairo whenever I wanted, even if I wasn't in the class anymore.
Eventually, it was getting dark and little mosquitoes were attacking my face and my arms and my legs, so I decided to call it a day and head back home. I said goodbyes to all the people that had talked to me and hit the road.I've got to say, my previous experiences in Cairo had almost convinced me that I wasn't ever going to have a good time there. I was mistaken. There are wonderful people who live in Cairo.
I would love to talk more about today's experiences, but I am extremely tired. More events will unfold tomorrow and Saturday and hopefully produce meaningful results. I plan on going back to Cairo tomorrow, and maybe Saturday, but I have to shoot the SIU vs. Youngstown State football game at SIU Saturday afternoon, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to drive down there. After that, I really want to go up to see Amber and spend the night home and come back Sunday. That's all for now, I can't keep my eyes open.
grax
TB
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