I really should not be updating this right now, seeing as I have two extensive research papers that need to be finished by thursday night... Oh well. I will just give a quick update for any of you who care! Jerusalem was amazing, and now I am moving on with my life... (yet still missing it every day!) Life is going well, I'm still going to school at BYU (excited to finish up the semester in 17 days) and now I am working for the Women's Research Institute as a research assistant working on projects specifically dealing with combating the violence that is spreading throughout the world through peace programs aimed at teaching children important higher-order skills needed for building peaceful relationships - i.e. kindness, forgiveness, compassion, and a deep respect for self and others, (rather than simply anti-violence or conflict-resolution programs). I think I'm really going to enjoy this job!
http://wri.byu.edu/index.htm
Another exciting event that transpired a week ago is that Michael Killen returned from his mission to El Salvador! I got to go to the airport to see him arrive and awkwardly shake his hand, haha, after which, we then spent the rest of the week together which was awesome. It was fun getting him caught up on movies and music a little bit, though he still has a long way to go. I sure did miss him. It's so good to have him back. Two years really is a long time!
Anyways, so those are the things that are going on in my life right now. Hopefully everything will continue to go well! I have a lot of decisions to make now... Graduate? Work? Graduate school? Internships? Marriage? Mission? It will be interesting to see what happens. :)
Love you all! Thanks for all of your support!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
PICTURES!
Ok so here are some really random pictures and stuff from Jerusalem/Egypt/Jordan/Galilee. :)
Doing some shopping in Egypt with our armed guard
Brother Seely in all his Glory!
Birthday Candles!!! That... were not really birthday candles, so I respectfully declined from blowing them out.
Several of us made it out a really small hole in the caves of Micha, so we all now have a new "birthday"--July 2, 2008
The Jordan River near where Christ was baptized.
That was the hottest it got on our trip. Heat exhaustion claimed many victims that day.
Galilee Roommates!!! Katie, Jenni, Me, and Tricia.
An average day of sweating after hiking up Gamla
Me with Brother and Sister Draper. I love them!
We were all tired. All the time. Jenni, David, Sarah and Danen demonstrate.
Definitely forbidden secret love going on somewhere near Ben yehuda street... Even Chase is suspicious.
Doin' what I do best at Masada. How archaeologists decided this was a"swimming pool" is beyond me. (I think they just made it up.)
Dinner time at the Kibbutz in Galilee! I love that Jenni's mouth is full of food. :)
Floating in the Dead Sea is the weirdest sensation ever.
St. Peter's fish... I don't know why I have so many pictures of me kissing stuff...
but I did eat some of that fish by the way.
but I did eat some of that fish by the way.
My roommate Sarina and Me at the Garden of Gethsemane one Shabbat
Welcome to the JC!
My love of water manifest itself in my Sea of Galilee pictures
I love the Sea of Galilee!
The Dome of the Rock--on the Temple mount near where the ancient Jewish temples stood
Lack of eloquence...
My lack of eloquence and time has forced me to do this. Ok, maybe not forced... but since I cannot seem to write down just how amazing Jerusalem was, I'm posting my friend Chase's article (without his permission, mwahaha). It's written beautifully and it made me miss Jerusalem so much. I hope you guys will enjoy a different perspective as you read it!
http://newsroom.byuh.edu/?q=node/1907
http://newsroom.byuh.edu/?q=node/1907
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Update at the Speed of Life!
Ok, so this one really is going to be the fastest update ever. I just returned from ten days in Galilee and I'm planning on mentioning all the most important things I've done since Egypt (I'll have to return to my epic at another time) in one blog. It won't be detailed or descriptive, it will probably leave almost everyone bewildered (I know I am and I was there for all of it) but it is the best I'm going to be able to do. Here goes!
Saturday, July 12th (Shabbat/Sabbath): On our way back from Egypt when we got to the Israel side, we went snorkling in the Red Sea! It was amazing, many beautifully colored fish, the Red Sea is actually very very very strikingly blue and no, I did not see any of Pharaoh's chariots at the bottom. It was salty and tasted yucky :).
Sunday, July 13th (Not the Sabbath): I went to the Holocaust Museum, it was interesting, extremely well put together, very somber and incredibly sobering. That night, a few friends and I ordered some pizza to the center, which was a pretty funny experience and then I ended up eating most of it... haha.
Monday, July 14th: I had six hours of class and spent some time talking to my family, I got a letter from Mike, I tricked Kristen by calling her on her work phone and pretending like I was a student wanting to transfer (it was hilarious. I am so funny!)
Tuesday, July 15th: Had a field trip day, went through Hezekiah's Tunnel, it was dark and wet and very, very intensely cool plus really really old,
and I also went up on the Temple Mount and touched the outside of The Dome of the Rock (that building with the big gold dome roof on it) which is really close to the place where the Ancient temples that Solomon and Zerubbabel built (Zerubbabel's temple was later expanded greatly by Herod). They won't let anyone in the Dome of the Rock unless they are Muslim. It was a big day, I was very tired.
Wednesday, July 16th: This day I got 2 letters from Mike and a card from my mom for my birthday, I discovered that I'm probably going to get horrible grades this semester, there is so much more to learn than I ever could in this amount of time, even though I want to really really badly. I didn't write what I did this day so much as I wrote about my feelings about the Jerusalem Center. I'm guessing I studied a lot.
Thursday, July 17th: In my jounal entry for this day, I said: "Today was brutally intense." Dr. Seely spent 2 hours spoonfeeding us direct answers from his study guide for his test, but we had finals for Islam and Judaism (I remember this day now, this was the day that I have never done as poorly on tests before in my life). It was a bad day, haha.
Friday, July 18th: I did well on my Old Testament final. (After my fervent resolve to never do poorly on a test again). Most places in the Old City are closed since it is the Muslim Holy day, but we went to this man named Omar's Olive Wood shop, he caters specifically to Mormons which is kind of funny cause he does olive wood carvings of Joseph Smith and Mormon and stuff, I was seriously tempted by one of the Liahona, but resisted. Anyway, that was a busy day.
Saturday, July 19th (Shabbat/Sabbath): Good speakers in Sacrament, Good lessons, Sabbaths are now my all-time favorite day of the week. I went with some friends to the Garden Tomb, which was a really nice, peaceful experience. I enjoyed seeing other zealous Christians there. In the Holy Land, almost everyone is really religious which is a striking contrast to the States where it is usually more socially normal for people to not be so rigidly defined by their religion. I was happy the tomb was empty.
Sunday, July 20th: A good day for all people, we left for Jordan, Brother Draper sang to me cause I wouldn't get cake, I got a Jordan stamp in my passport and the lady at the border told me happy birthday, we went to Mt. Nebo where Moses looked out over the promised land and was later Translated. We saw a map mosaic in a small, very old church in Madaba, Jordan (where I probably really irreverently pretended to blow out some prayer candles for a picture since it was my birthday) and after we got to our hotel we spent the night traveling around a 2 block limit (our free time in Jordan got destroyed because a malevolent ill-wisher of a radically religious nature decided to shoot some tourists in Jordan about 3 days before we went there) and shopped. Jenni got me a shirt, she's great. :)
Monday, July 21st: PETRA!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Petra was so so so so so Amazing. I'll have to come back to it along with the Egypt things to do it justice. It is like ... incredible castle rooms carved out of sandstone.
It was voted the 2nd world wonder of the new Ancient World or something. It's the place in the third Indiana Jones (The Last Crusade) where they go to find the Grail (it doesn't really have all those challenges inside the Treasury, but when I walked up to it, I couldn't keep myself from whispering "The penitent man shall pass." Petra was ridiculously hot, and we spent hours and hours there. I loved every second of it. Also, I rode a donkey up a cliffy mountain trail. Nearly died (both myself and the donkey). And my donkey was either really dumb, really blind or suicidal. I felt very sorry for it many times, and got off and walked with it. He looked a lot like Small One. We went to a different hotel and spent some time at a mall near there (they had good ice cream) and I got a few pirated DVDs since they don't have copyright laws in Jordan, and I decided that I hate Dinars (Jordinian Currency).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
Tuesday, July 22nd: We went to the Jabbok river, where Jacob wrestled with someone and received the name of Israel, then we went to Jerash/Philadelphia which was a really cool old roman city (and used to be called Jershon at one point which I thought was interesting cause of the Book of Mormon). There were many columns and theaters and old stones and roads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerash
Wednesday, July 23rd: Went to the King Abdullah I mosque in Amman, the girls all had to wear black robes with our hair covered by something, and I felt like I really was in Harry Potter. We got to go in the girls area too, which was pretty neat (albeit smaller... always smaller...*sigh*).
We went to a citadel overlook of the city and saw the temple of Hercules and went to an incredible little museum where they had part of the Copper Scrolls which are a big deal, they're part of the dead sea scrolls (Which my teacher Brother Seely helped translate).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Scroll
Then on our way back to Israel, we stopped at the river Jordan and hiked down to it and had a lesson down there and hiked back and my tour guide said he read a thermometer saying that it was 43 degrees C, which is about 109.5 F, without the humidity worked in. Yucky. It was SO hot.
Thursday, July 24th: My friend Jenni's Birthday- Bethlehem field trip. The security code was on high alert here because of the 2nd Tractor incident. My biggest impression of Bethlehem was that of poverty. Ever since the partition wall went up, I guess it's been really tough on the people who live there. They relied heavily on tourism and a lot of it stopped. They asked us not to give the children money, since they were trying to discourage begging, but it was so hard. That part was horrible. I also wasn't a big fan of the church of the Nativity. I felt rushed and it was a dark and rather gaudy... we sang some hymns in the over-decorated grottoes which claimed to be the birthplace of our Savior, but I didn't feel anything and to me those places held little to no spirituality for me, which was sad and rather frustrating. We shopped for a while in Bethlehem, and then drove to a place called "Shepherd's Field" which was definitely one of my favorite things we've done on this trip. We had a talent show prepared with some Christmas songs in the middle as we sat on a hill in a field and watched the sun go down. Basically we had Christmas in July. :D. Brother Draper had us read the story of the Nativity and discussed it with us on a very deep level, taking into account the emotional aspects it must've held for Mary and Joseph, and talking about the "Rogue Angels" who decided to tell the shepherds about Christ being born, haha. We had some contemplative time that night and I listened to some Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas songs about Angels on my ipod, and felt so close to my Savior as I sat on that hill, watching the stars come out and writing frantically in my journal to keep up with inspiration. It was a beautiful night.
Friday, July 25th: We were still on lockdown, so we all spent most of the day studying. I'm grateful for it though because I know I did better on my test than I otherwise would have. Then I went to a Synagogue with 19 other students and my Jewish Judaism teacher to welcome in Shabbat with some real-live Jews!!! That was really cool. I love how much heart and soul they put into their worship of Shabbat. I felt so guilty for ever saying that Sunday was not my favorite day. People here truly do use their day of worship as a joyful day to glorify their God and to rest and feel peaceful. I also met a really nice lady named Holly from Portland, she helped me follow along in my prayer book.
Saturday, July 26th (Shabbat/Sabbath): I LOVE Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom! I had Church and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Sang some hymns there with my two friends Jenni and Julia. It was a good relaxing day.
Ok, that's where I'm going to quit tonight. I'm falling asleep so I think that means time for bed, but I love and miss you all! I'll talk about Galilee in my next one, I promise. I got another Letter from Mike while I was in Galilee too. It was so cute. Anyway, off to bed! Goodnight!
Saturday, July 12th (Shabbat/Sabbath): On our way back from Egypt when we got to the Israel side, we went snorkling in the Red Sea! It was amazing, many beautifully colored fish, the Red Sea is actually very very very strikingly blue and no, I did not see any of Pharaoh's chariots at the bottom. It was salty and tasted yucky :).
Sunday, July 13th (Not the Sabbath): I went to the Holocaust Museum, it was interesting, extremely well put together, very somber and incredibly sobering. That night, a few friends and I ordered some pizza to the center, which was a pretty funny experience and then I ended up eating most of it... haha.
Monday, July 14th: I had six hours of class and spent some time talking to my family, I got a letter from Mike, I tricked Kristen by calling her on her work phone and pretending like I was a student wanting to transfer (it was hilarious. I am so funny!)
Tuesday, July 15th: Had a field trip day, went through Hezekiah's Tunnel, it was dark and wet and very, very intensely cool plus really really old,
and I also went up on the Temple Mount and touched the outside of The Dome of the Rock (that building with the big gold dome roof on it) which is really close to the place where the Ancient temples that Solomon and Zerubbabel built (Zerubbabel's temple was later expanded greatly by Herod). They won't let anyone in the Dome of the Rock unless they are Muslim. It was a big day, I was very tired.Wednesday, July 16th: This day I got 2 letters from Mike and a card from my mom for my birthday, I discovered that I'm probably going to get horrible grades this semester, there is so much more to learn than I ever could in this amount of time, even though I want to really really badly. I didn't write what I did this day so much as I wrote about my feelings about the Jerusalem Center. I'm guessing I studied a lot.
Thursday, July 17th: In my jounal entry for this day, I said: "Today was brutally intense." Dr. Seely spent 2 hours spoonfeeding us direct answers from his study guide for his test, but we had finals for Islam and Judaism (I remember this day now, this was the day that I have never done as poorly on tests before in my life). It was a bad day, haha.
Friday, July 18th: I did well on my Old Testament final. (After my fervent resolve to never do poorly on a test again). Most places in the Old City are closed since it is the Muslim Holy day, but we went to this man named Omar's Olive Wood shop, he caters specifically to Mormons which is kind of funny cause he does olive wood carvings of Joseph Smith and Mormon and stuff, I was seriously tempted by one of the Liahona, but resisted. Anyway, that was a busy day.
Saturday, July 19th (Shabbat/Sabbath): Good speakers in Sacrament, Good lessons, Sabbaths are now my all-time favorite day of the week. I went with some friends to the Garden Tomb, which was a really nice, peaceful experience. I enjoyed seeing other zealous Christians there. In the Holy Land, almost everyone is really religious which is a striking contrast to the States where it is usually more socially normal for people to not be so rigidly defined by their religion. I was happy the tomb was empty.
Sunday, July 20th: A good day for all people, we left for Jordan, Brother Draper sang to me cause I wouldn't get cake, I got a Jordan stamp in my passport and the lady at the border told me happy birthday, we went to Mt. Nebo where Moses looked out over the promised land and was later Translated. We saw a map mosaic in a small, very old church in Madaba, Jordan (where I probably really irreverently pretended to blow out some prayer candles for a picture since it was my birthday) and after we got to our hotel we spent the night traveling around a 2 block limit (our free time in Jordan got destroyed because a malevolent ill-wisher of a radically religious nature decided to shoot some tourists in Jordan about 3 days before we went there) and shopped. Jenni got me a shirt, she's great. :)
Monday, July 21st: PETRA!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Petra was so so so so so Amazing. I'll have to come back to it along with the Egypt things to do it justice. It is like ... incredible castle rooms carved out of sandstone.
It was voted the 2nd world wonder of the new Ancient World or something. It's the place in the third Indiana Jones (The Last Crusade) where they go to find the Grail (it doesn't really have all those challenges inside the Treasury, but when I walked up to it, I couldn't keep myself from whispering "The penitent man shall pass." Petra was ridiculously hot, and we spent hours and hours there. I loved every second of it. Also, I rode a donkey up a cliffy mountain trail. Nearly died (both myself and the donkey). And my donkey was either really dumb, really blind or suicidal. I felt very sorry for it many times, and got off and walked with it. He looked a lot like Small One. We went to a different hotel and spent some time at a mall near there (they had good ice cream) and I got a few pirated DVDs since they don't have copyright laws in Jordan, and I decided that I hate Dinars (Jordinian Currency).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra
Tuesday, July 22nd: We went to the Jabbok river, where Jacob wrestled with someone and received the name of Israel, then we went to Jerash/Philadelphia which was a really cool old roman city (and used to be called Jershon at one point which I thought was interesting cause of the Book of Mormon). There were many columns and theaters and old stones and roads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerash
Wednesday, July 23rd: Went to the King Abdullah I mosque in Amman, the girls all had to wear black robes with our hair covered by something, and I felt like I really was in Harry Potter. We got to go in the girls area too, which was pretty neat (albeit smaller... always smaller...*sigh*).
We went to a citadel overlook of the city and saw the temple of Hercules and went to an incredible little museum where they had part of the Copper Scrolls which are a big deal, they're part of the dead sea scrolls (Which my teacher Brother Seely helped translate).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Scroll
Then on our way back to Israel, we stopped at the river Jordan and hiked down to it and had a lesson down there and hiked back and my tour guide said he read a thermometer saying that it was 43 degrees C, which is about 109.5 F, without the humidity worked in. Yucky. It was SO hot.
Thursday, July 24th: My friend Jenni's Birthday- Bethlehem field trip. The security code was on high alert here because of the 2nd Tractor incident. My biggest impression of Bethlehem was that of poverty. Ever since the partition wall went up, I guess it's been really tough on the people who live there. They relied heavily on tourism and a lot of it stopped. They asked us not to give the children money, since they were trying to discourage begging, but it was so hard. That part was horrible. I also wasn't a big fan of the church of the Nativity. I felt rushed and it was a dark and rather gaudy... we sang some hymns in the over-decorated grottoes which claimed to be the birthplace of our Savior, but I didn't feel anything and to me those places held little to no spirituality for me, which was sad and rather frustrating. We shopped for a while in Bethlehem, and then drove to a place called "Shepherd's Field" which was definitely one of my favorite things we've done on this trip. We had a talent show prepared with some Christmas songs in the middle as we sat on a hill in a field and watched the sun go down. Basically we had Christmas in July. :D. Brother Draper had us read the story of the Nativity and discussed it with us on a very deep level, taking into account the emotional aspects it must've held for Mary and Joseph, and talking about the "Rogue Angels" who decided to tell the shepherds about Christ being born, haha. We had some contemplative time that night and I listened to some Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas songs about Angels on my ipod, and felt so close to my Savior as I sat on that hill, watching the stars come out and writing frantically in my journal to keep up with inspiration. It was a beautiful night.
Friday, July 25th: We were still on lockdown, so we all spent most of the day studying. I'm grateful for it though because I know I did better on my test than I otherwise would have. Then I went to a Synagogue with 19 other students and my Jewish Judaism teacher to welcome in Shabbat with some real-live Jews!!! That was really cool. I love how much heart and soul they put into their worship of Shabbat. I felt so guilty for ever saying that Sunday was not my favorite day. People here truly do use their day of worship as a joyful day to glorify their God and to rest and feel peaceful. I also met a really nice lady named Holly from Portland, she helped me follow along in my prayer book.
Saturday, July 26th (Shabbat/Sabbath): I LOVE Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom! I had Church and then went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Sang some hymns there with my two friends Jenni and Julia. It was a good relaxing day.
Ok, that's where I'm going to quit tonight. I'm falling asleep so I think that means time for bed, but I love and miss you all! I'll talk about Galilee in my next one, I promise. I got another Letter from Mike while I was in Galilee too. It was so cute. Anyway, off to bed! Goodnight!
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Epic of Egypt: Part 3... Valley of the Kings and Romantic Egypt Camel Ride Proposal
So, I finally have some time! Not much though, we leave for Galilee pretty soon so I figured I'd better get as caught up as I can. I'm hoping to get the rest of Egypt, plus Hezekiah's tunnel, Jordan, and Bethlehem covered before I go. ... hmm... yes... "hope" is a good word for that. :) Today was pretty crazy cause it was Brother Seely's huge midterm. I would have never believed that I could cram that much stuff into my head so quickly. But since we are on "lockdown"--due to recent events in the city concerning bulldozers and malevolent ill-wishers of a radically religious nature, (plus the fact that presidential hopeful Barack Obama was in Jerusalem and Jordan on the same days as we were)--many of us got more studying in than we originally expected. It was really good for me to not be allowed to leave the center because then I didn't feel guilty for studying instead of going out and seeing all the many splendid and wonderful things that I could've seen. The hard thing about living here is that when you procrastinate studying, you're never doing something unproductive. It's always something worthwhile, interesting, and productive-- sometimes even moreso than studying would be. Anyways, now that I have time to relax, I will write more concerning the fantastically dazzling trip that was Egypt.
Okay, so on Wednesday, July 9th 2008, (Brittni's Birthday!) we woke up at 5:15 to hit the Valley of the Kings as early as we could, to avoid the heat and the masses of tourists. The morning looked a lot like the day we went to Giza, and it was light out by the time we left, but not overly bright. Luxor is pretty in the early morning, before it gets hot and people begin to yell things that I can't understand in Arabic. I don't remember ever seeing clouds in Egypt, so the sky must've been clear and blue with a grey layer beneath that is something of a semi-permanent desert inversion mixed with some pollution (although less than Cairo). I expected the Valley of the Kings to be much more vast, and look more like hills of golden sand... I was surprised to find it made mostly of pale orange sandstone with a whiteish dusty-looking pathway leading to the tombs of various kings.
Part of me wished that I could've been there to see how it was before all the archaeologists, pollution and tourism got to it. Emad, our tour guide told us that the kings started to be buried ("Bae-reed" Dad, not "Buhr-reed" hehe) there after the pyramids because the pyramids ended up being something of a giant flashing neon sign to tomb robbers saying, "HEY! PICK ME!!! I AM FULL OF GOLD AND TREASURE, PLUS I'M HUGE AND TAUNTING YOU!" so... I think they probably made a wise decision, at least since they truly believed that all their treasure would be helpful to them in the afterlife. Even so, many of the tombs in the valley of the kings were raided by individuals like the bad guys in Indiana Jones, even though all the stuff in them clearly "belongs in a museum" as Indie would say. I believe that the tomb of Tutankamun (King Tut) was the only one which was not plundered, because it was so well hidden due to the excavation of another tomb near it.
Anyways, so here is the part where I tell the story of the time I was most frustrated on the entire Egypt trip: So we got to the Valley of the Kings and received some instruction from Brother Draper that was rather helpful, informative (and very concise!!),
we then had the opportunity to listen to our tour guide explain many things about the Valley. *deeeeep breath*
Okay. So Emad is a very knowledgeable individual. I am very grateful for the things that he taught us... I just had an incredibly difficult time listening to him. I'm sure he is an excellent tour guide to many groups of individuals who don't listen or catch things the first several times around, but I felt like our group is rather sharp, and fairly adept at listening to important and interesting facts. I consider myself a relatively patient person, and honestly, I wanted to be respectful and listen, but I simply could not. The feeling of wasted time in a place that I so desperately wanted to explore, and had such a limited amount of time to do it in, was almost overwhelming. Redundancy is not usually a huge issue with me, but as I was standing there, feeling the air get hotter as the bright Egyptian sun began to beat down heavily upon us and saw what seemed like thousands of tourists pouring into the valley, (thereby destroying the very reason we woke up so early) and torturously watched my minute hand go nearly halfway around my watch, I looked around in angst while trying to remain respectful. I slowly felt any Christlike attributes I may have begun to attain in my life drain from my heart only to be replaced by sorrow, annoyance and frustration. This frustration with poor Emad did not recede for the rest of the Egypt, and he lectured us every day at every site. *sigh* There were times when I felt like screaming Strunk and White's motto of "OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS!" at him. All I wanted was to listen to what Brother Draper (or Brother Seely if he had only been there) had to say about the sites. Anyways, after facing my Mt. Moriah of patience, we were turned loose in the Valley of the Kings, to see King Tut's and the tombs of 3 other Pharaohs of our choosing!!!! :D
I first went into King Tut's tomb, which was pretty interesting. They had his mummy on display in a case at the lefthand side of the tomb... he was just a little guy. (A lot of that was probably the fact that he was a mummy and his organs were in jars somewhere and skin was all dried out.) But still. He was young when he died, possibly about 16 or 17, and Egyptians were a pretty small people to begin with. Little did I know it, but his tomb was far from impressive compared to the tombs of some of the other pharaohs that I saw that day. It was rather small, with some painted hieroglyphics to the right side where his sarcophagus was for thousands of years. The quality of the paint was astonishing to me, I couldn't believe that it had lasted so long. There was a guard down there, making sure we didn't take any pictures. OH! And I picked up another pet peeve in Egypt. While I was yet annoyed with poor Emad (Or "Habibi" as he is commonly referred to by the Draper students due to his superfluous use of the word to command or yell at us), I felt a jabbing agitation at Arab guards, who, when they do not speak English, feel that it is their duty to communicate harsh or abrupt commands with loud clapping, and seem to think that will do the job. Being angrily "clapped at" when you don't know what you are doing wrong is highly frustrating. And listening to others being constantly clapped at is not all that fun either. (So the angry-arab-man-clap has officially made it to my top 3 pet peeves, right after stuff in the eye and pronouncing the word "nuclear" "nukular".) So we were angrily-arab-man-clapped at several times before we figured out/decided that he was trying to tell us that our time in the tomb was up and we needed to leave... and even then as an act of rebellion I stayed stubbornly situated in the tomb for 2-3 more angry claps, pretending like I didn't hear/understand them until I felt good and ready to go. I am an arrogant American after all ;). My friend Savanna and I got our picture taken by the sign when we got back up out of the tomb.
So after hitting Tutankamun's tomb, we were forced to listen to Habibi for a short while (although it seemed like eternity) we were finally set free on the site. I believe the tombs I went to were that of Ramses IV, Tutmoses III, and one that I wrote in my journal as "I can't remember, I'm so exhausted." The other tombs were truly impressive. We weren't allowed to take pictures in any of them, although I got some of the entrances.
Colors in the tombs were highly impressive, as well as carvings that covered the walls and the ceilings. In many, the outermost casing of the coffin was left, gigantic granite boxes, held open slightly so that if one were to shine his or her "torch" in them, one could see the inscriptions and carvings on the inside. All of the tombs made me wish I was an Egyptologist who could easliy read hieroglyphics. I knew what many of the symbols meant, from packets, class and Brother Draper's optional pre-Egypt seminar, but couldn't piece together anything really exciting. By the time we left, the sun was really working us hard and we were all feeling the heat. We had a bathroom break--Water Closets or WCs (restrooms) are a valuable commodity in Egypt. You have to pay, usually a few shekels, and take your own toilet paper since the individuals stationed there feel that it is only needful for you to have a teensy tiny square. Going to the bathroom in America is a ridiculous luxury that I will probably someday take for granted again, but hopefully not too soon. Luckily, not every toilet was a squatter-hole in the ground, although a flushing toilet was considered "nice." Hand sanitizer became my best friend. Funny side note--a few days after we got home from Egypt, my roommates informed me that while I was sleeping one night before they went to bed, I slept-sanitized my hands. I clapped them together above me and rubbed them vigorously and said "thanks Ashley!" as though I had borrowed some from her. That is how habitual it became. Okay, so we had a bathroom break after the valley of the kings which was very helpful considering many of us had already consumed 1.5 liters of water.
As for the rest of the Valley of the Kings day, we visited the temple of Ramses the III which was pretty cool, and then went back to the hotel. Then I believe several of my friends and I walked down the road from the hotel a ways (to the end of the Luxor Temple--which is in no means a Mormon temple for any of you that might've been confused) in the blistering heat before going back and deciding to go swimming.
Swimming!!! Hooray! It was so much fun. The water was cool, and although I was frightened at first to put my face in, (you know, amoebas, protozoans and giardia and whatnot), eventually I caved to peer pressure (only after an intense scrutiny of the water and its possible chlorine/ozone level) and many of us were splashing and playing for a good few hours. I don't remember if it was that day or the day following it that we built a giant human pyramid in the pool. Someone got it on video of their camera, I shall have to obtain a copy, but it was incredible. We had a small boy from Holland named Sylvester be the tippy top of the pyramid, but that afternoon we didn't quite make it. Anyways, it was fun, and a rather unifying, "team-spirit!", building experience. Haha. "Building." :) I am punny. After dinner, we went on the camel ride.
Oh the camel Ride. Many of you have heard tales about the camel ride, since I was quick to tell about it when I got home. I'm just going to take straight out of my journal what I said about the camel ride, (although I reserve the right to edit it and make it more interesting since I was falling asleep when I wrote it and it is not the best quality): "We took a falucca ride (a falucca is something akin to a small sailboat) across the Nile and our falucca...driver? Captain? was really cool. He put on Bob Marley music at someone in our group's request and we all had a dance party! I got my picture taken with him.
Brother Draper truly "got jiggy with it" and busted out some seriously amazing dance moves, hahaha. It was awesome. So we got to the western bank of the Nile & there were the camels waiting for us. It was so cool! I was very excited. I went over to my camel and my guide guy helped me get on.
He was very talkative and friendly... he said all the things that people trying to get money from you always say, like 'beautiful smile! Magical eyes!'etc... and so I was just quietly saying thank you and trying to shove off my uncomfortableness and enjoy the camel ride. He asked me if it was ok that we talked and of course I said yes, so he was talking to me as we got everybody on camels. Then my camel stood up, which was quite [an uplifting (haha I'm so funny)] experience. They get up with their back legs first which isn't what I was expecting, but it was really fun. Anyway, so Nathanael came over on his camel and said hi and I took a picture for him and my guide (he told me his name but unfortunately I can't remember it) asked if he was my boyfriend. I said no, that he was just a friend, but I think he misunderstood me, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and I decided early on to just let him think that, and you'll hear why later. So we went on the camel ride all around and it was beautiful country. There were banana trees and date trees ('Sugar Dates!!! Sugar dates and Pistachiooooosss!!!!' a gold star to whomever can name the movie!) and the sun was setting. As we were walking, my guide began to say things like 'you're happy with your boyfriend? You not want an Egyptian boyfriend? Boyfriend not need to know!' to which I would answer respectively (and truthfully when considering Michael, ;)) 'Yes, very happy! No, thank you. (*nervous laughter*) haha... I would know. No thanks.' At first jokingly saying it and I laughed nervously and tried to be as polite as I could, but it was awkward. Oh, and at the beginning, he had me promise that I would get a picture with him at the end, to which I politely, although begrudgingly, agreed. He also asked me where I was staying (I told him I wasn't allowed to tell him) and how old I was. He was/is 20. We kept going and every once in a while he'd pull my camel out of th eline and let a few more go past, until I was nearly at the end. It made me pretty nervous, but Mark and David were still behind me so I wasn't too panicked. Then things started to get really awkward. He told me he would massage my legs and asked me if it was ok, but I told him a very firm 'No' and after he said it many times, I told him it would make me very uncomfortable. He then asked me if my boyfriend and I lived together, and I said no, that we lived in separate houses (I didn't mention that it was several countries for the time being ;)) with our own families. He then proceeded to say [GRAPHIC WARNING TO YOUNGLINGS! haha] 'you come sleep with me tonight. Just one night, boyfriend not have to know.' He was dead serious too. I was freaked out, and I think he could tell, and then he said 'you will like. Egyptian men are strong' to which I strongly and boldy flat out said 'NO. No no no no no no no no no no.' Yikes. After that he asked if he made me mad, and I said no, I should've said yes, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. He then offered me another leg massage and told me how he wants to go to America and how difficult it is in the Army (everyone in Egypt has to serve in the army for a certain period of time, it is not a choice). After that, he offered me a cigarette, and then some weed. When I declined both, he asked if I drank and I said no, then he went on some more about Egypt and how he really wants to go to America, and right then and there he asked me to marry him. (:| YIKES!) Not even jokingly. I was scared that I might misunderstand something that he said and accidentally agree to something horrible and get in huge trouble. I obviously declined, (I was highly disinclined to acquiesce to his request). Anyway, we were led through a village and everything was so delapidated and dirty, and people were asking us for money, but I only had the dollar we were to give to our guide as a tip. These people were so poor, but the children were so cute. I felt horrible riding through that village on a camel like it was such an even or place to witness. Ugh. *sigh*. ugh. ...Anyway... my guide and I continued to have really awkward snippets of conversation that I tried to kill as quickly as possible, and yet in the most polite way I could the rest of the way back. He offered me/ gave me a flower (which I promptly threw into the Nile after the ride). Oh, and he had me ride "Egyptian style" which was to put my feet on the camel's neck, and he used the rope to tie my feet up (semi-jokingly) but yeah, creepy. Anyway, after another offer to massage my 'very nice' legs, we were finished and I got off and got my picture with him as quickly as possible
and gave him his tip (he wanted me to kiss him for the picture, but I said 'No way'). Then I grabbed Mark (the nearest JC male) who was very confused and had been oblivious to everything going on and told him to walk right next to me as I had a minor panic attack of creeped-outedness as we walked back to the falucca. Anyway, besides the creepiness, my camel ride was way cool. My camel's name was Alex." Wow. That was a long journal entry. I did it on the train the night afterwards, because the night before I fell asleep writing it. Anyways, looks like I only got one more day done for Egypt! I'm off to bed, seeing as I spent 2 hours on that, haha. I love you all so much though, and hopefully one of these days I'll get all caught up, though it is very doubtful. At least now all of you have an accurate account of my Camel Adventure. :) In splendidly wonderful news, I got a package from Sherri for my birthday! Looks like she loves me most. ;) I noticed that she carefully chose to include a large package of MIKE n' Ikes, haha. It made me laugh. Daniel and Bertha's wedding announcement was beautiful and very tastefully done as well! Thank you so much Killen family (also, Mike finally got an American companion! Hooray!)! Anyways, I really need to upload these pictures and get to bed, but I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for everything, I'll try to write again soon!
Okay, so on Wednesday, July 9th 2008, (Brittni's Birthday!) we woke up at 5:15 to hit the Valley of the Kings as early as we could, to avoid the heat and the masses of tourists. The morning looked a lot like the day we went to Giza, and it was light out by the time we left, but not overly bright. Luxor is pretty in the early morning, before it gets hot and people begin to yell things that I can't understand in Arabic. I don't remember ever seeing clouds in Egypt, so the sky must've been clear and blue with a grey layer beneath that is something of a semi-permanent desert inversion mixed with some pollution (although less than Cairo). I expected the Valley of the Kings to be much more vast, and look more like hills of golden sand... I was surprised to find it made mostly of pale orange sandstone with a whiteish dusty-looking pathway leading to the tombs of various kings.
Part of me wished that I could've been there to see how it was before all the archaeologists, pollution and tourism got to it. Emad, our tour guide told us that the kings started to be buried ("Bae-reed" Dad, not "Buhr-reed" hehe) there after the pyramids because the pyramids ended up being something of a giant flashing neon sign to tomb robbers saying, "HEY! PICK ME!!! I AM FULL OF GOLD AND TREASURE, PLUS I'M HUGE AND TAUNTING YOU!" so... I think they probably made a wise decision, at least since they truly believed that all their treasure would be helpful to them in the afterlife. Even so, many of the tombs in the valley of the kings were raided by individuals like the bad guys in Indiana Jones, even though all the stuff in them clearly "belongs in a museum" as Indie would say. I believe that the tomb of Tutankamun (King Tut) was the only one which was not plundered, because it was so well hidden due to the excavation of another tomb near it.
Anyways, so here is the part where I tell the story of the time I was most frustrated on the entire Egypt trip: So we got to the Valley of the Kings and received some instruction from Brother Draper that was rather helpful, informative (and very concise!!),
we then had the opportunity to listen to our tour guide explain many things about the Valley. *deeeeep breath*
Okay. So Emad is a very knowledgeable individual. I am very grateful for the things that he taught us... I just had an incredibly difficult time listening to him. I'm sure he is an excellent tour guide to many groups of individuals who don't listen or catch things the first several times around, but I felt like our group is rather sharp, and fairly adept at listening to important and interesting facts. I consider myself a relatively patient person, and honestly, I wanted to be respectful and listen, but I simply could not. The feeling of wasted time in a place that I so desperately wanted to explore, and had such a limited amount of time to do it in, was almost overwhelming. Redundancy is not usually a huge issue with me, but as I was standing there, feeling the air get hotter as the bright Egyptian sun began to beat down heavily upon us and saw what seemed like thousands of tourists pouring into the valley, (thereby destroying the very reason we woke up so early) and torturously watched my minute hand go nearly halfway around my watch, I looked around in angst while trying to remain respectful. I slowly felt any Christlike attributes I may have begun to attain in my life drain from my heart only to be replaced by sorrow, annoyance and frustration. This frustration with poor Emad did not recede for the rest of the Egypt, and he lectured us every day at every site. *sigh* There were times when I felt like screaming Strunk and White's motto of "OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS!" at him. All I wanted was to listen to what Brother Draper (or Brother Seely if he had only been there) had to say about the sites. Anyways, after facing my Mt. Moriah of patience, we were turned loose in the Valley of the Kings, to see King Tut's and the tombs of 3 other Pharaohs of our choosing!!!! :D
I first went into King Tut's tomb, which was pretty interesting. They had his mummy on display in a case at the lefthand side of the tomb... he was just a little guy. (A lot of that was probably the fact that he was a mummy and his organs were in jars somewhere and skin was all dried out.) But still. He was young when he died, possibly about 16 or 17, and Egyptians were a pretty small people to begin with. Little did I know it, but his tomb was far from impressive compared to the tombs of some of the other pharaohs that I saw that day. It was rather small, with some painted hieroglyphics to the right side where his sarcophagus was for thousands of years. The quality of the paint was astonishing to me, I couldn't believe that it had lasted so long. There was a guard down there, making sure we didn't take any pictures. OH! And I picked up another pet peeve in Egypt. While I was yet annoyed with poor Emad (Or "Habibi" as he is commonly referred to by the Draper students due to his superfluous use of the word to command or yell at us), I felt a jabbing agitation at Arab guards, who, when they do not speak English, feel that it is their duty to communicate harsh or abrupt commands with loud clapping, and seem to think that will do the job. Being angrily "clapped at" when you don't know what you are doing wrong is highly frustrating. And listening to others being constantly clapped at is not all that fun either. (So the angry-arab-man-clap has officially made it to my top 3 pet peeves, right after stuff in the eye and pronouncing the word "nuclear" "nukular".) So we were angrily-arab-man-clapped at several times before we figured out/decided that he was trying to tell us that our time in the tomb was up and we needed to leave... and even then as an act of rebellion I stayed stubbornly situated in the tomb for 2-3 more angry claps, pretending like I didn't hear/understand them until I felt good and ready to go. I am an arrogant American after all ;). My friend Savanna and I got our picture taken by the sign when we got back up out of the tomb.
So after hitting Tutankamun's tomb, we were forced to listen to Habibi for a short while (although it seemed like eternity) we were finally set free on the site. I believe the tombs I went to were that of Ramses IV, Tutmoses III, and one that I wrote in my journal as "I can't remember, I'm so exhausted." The other tombs were truly impressive. We weren't allowed to take pictures in any of them, although I got some of the entrances.
Colors in the tombs were highly impressive, as well as carvings that covered the walls and the ceilings. In many, the outermost casing of the coffin was left, gigantic granite boxes, held open slightly so that if one were to shine his or her "torch" in them, one could see the inscriptions and carvings on the inside. All of the tombs made me wish I was an Egyptologist who could easliy read hieroglyphics. I knew what many of the symbols meant, from packets, class and Brother Draper's optional pre-Egypt seminar, but couldn't piece together anything really exciting. By the time we left, the sun was really working us hard and we were all feeling the heat. We had a bathroom break--Water Closets or WCs (restrooms) are a valuable commodity in Egypt. You have to pay, usually a few shekels, and take your own toilet paper since the individuals stationed there feel that it is only needful for you to have a teensy tiny square. Going to the bathroom in America is a ridiculous luxury that I will probably someday take for granted again, but hopefully not too soon. Luckily, not every toilet was a squatter-hole in the ground, although a flushing toilet was considered "nice." Hand sanitizer became my best friend. Funny side note--a few days after we got home from Egypt, my roommates informed me that while I was sleeping one night before they went to bed, I slept-sanitized my hands. I clapped them together above me and rubbed them vigorously and said "thanks Ashley!" as though I had borrowed some from her. That is how habitual it became. Okay, so we had a bathroom break after the valley of the kings which was very helpful considering many of us had already consumed 1.5 liters of water.
As for the rest of the Valley of the Kings day, we visited the temple of Ramses the III which was pretty cool, and then went back to the hotel. Then I believe several of my friends and I walked down the road from the hotel a ways (to the end of the Luxor Temple--which is in no means a Mormon temple for any of you that might've been confused) in the blistering heat before going back and deciding to go swimming.
Swimming!!! Hooray! It was so much fun. The water was cool, and although I was frightened at first to put my face in, (you know, amoebas, protozoans and giardia and whatnot), eventually I caved to peer pressure (only after an intense scrutiny of the water and its possible chlorine/ozone level) and many of us were splashing and playing for a good few hours. I don't remember if it was that day or the day following it that we built a giant human pyramid in the pool. Someone got it on video of their camera, I shall have to obtain a copy, but it was incredible. We had a small boy from Holland named Sylvester be the tippy top of the pyramid, but that afternoon we didn't quite make it. Anyways, it was fun, and a rather unifying, "team-spirit!", building experience. Haha. "Building." :) I am punny. After dinner, we went on the camel ride.
Oh the camel Ride. Many of you have heard tales about the camel ride, since I was quick to tell about it when I got home. I'm just going to take straight out of my journal what I said about the camel ride, (although I reserve the right to edit it and make it more interesting since I was falling asleep when I wrote it and it is not the best quality): "We took a falucca ride (a falucca is something akin to a small sailboat) across the Nile and our falucca...driver? Captain? was really cool. He put on Bob Marley music at someone in our group's request and we all had a dance party! I got my picture taken with him.
Brother Draper truly "got jiggy with it" and busted out some seriously amazing dance moves, hahaha. It was awesome. So we got to the western bank of the Nile & there were the camels waiting for us. It was so cool! I was very excited. I went over to my camel and my guide guy helped me get on.
He was very talkative and friendly... he said all the things that people trying to get money from you always say, like 'beautiful smile! Magical eyes!'etc... and so I was just quietly saying thank you and trying to shove off my uncomfortableness and enjoy the camel ride. He asked me if it was ok that we talked and of course I said yes, so he was talking to me as we got everybody on camels. Then my camel stood up, which was quite [an uplifting (haha I'm so funny)] experience. They get up with their back legs first which isn't what I was expecting, but it was really fun. Anyway, so Nathanael came over on his camel and said hi and I took a picture for him and my guide (he told me his name but unfortunately I can't remember it) asked if he was my boyfriend. I said no, that he was just a friend, but I think he misunderstood me, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and I decided early on to just let him think that, and you'll hear why later. So we went on the camel ride all around and it was beautiful country. There were banana trees and date trees ('Sugar Dates!!! Sugar dates and Pistachiooooosss!!!!' a gold star to whomever can name the movie!) and the sun was setting. As we were walking, my guide began to say things like 'you're happy with your boyfriend? You not want an Egyptian boyfriend? Boyfriend not need to know!' to which I would answer respectively (and truthfully when considering Michael, ;)) 'Yes, very happy! No, thank you. (*nervous laughter*) haha... I would know. No thanks.' At first jokingly saying it and I laughed nervously and tried to be as polite as I could, but it was awkward. Oh, and at the beginning, he had me promise that I would get a picture with him at the end, to which I politely, although begrudgingly, agreed. He also asked me where I was staying (I told him I wasn't allowed to tell him) and how old I was. He was/is 20. We kept going and every once in a while he'd pull my camel out of th eline and let a few more go past, until I was nearly at the end. It made me pretty nervous, but Mark and David were still behind me so I wasn't too panicked. Then things started to get really awkward. He told me he would massage my legs and asked me if it was ok, but I told him a very firm 'No' and after he said it many times, I told him it would make me very uncomfortable. He then asked me if my boyfriend and I lived together, and I said no, that we lived in separate houses (I didn't mention that it was several countries for the time being ;)) with our own families. He then proceeded to say [GRAPHIC WARNING TO YOUNGLINGS! haha] 'you come sleep with me tonight. Just one night, boyfriend not have to know.' He was dead serious too. I was freaked out, and I think he could tell, and then he said 'you will like. Egyptian men are strong' to which I strongly and boldy flat out said 'NO. No no no no no no no no no no.' Yikes. After that he asked if he made me mad, and I said no, I should've said yes, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. He then offered me another leg massage and told me how he wants to go to America and how difficult it is in the Army (everyone in Egypt has to serve in the army for a certain period of time, it is not a choice). After that, he offered me a cigarette, and then some weed. When I declined both, he asked if I drank and I said no, then he went on some more about Egypt and how he really wants to go to America, and right then and there he asked me to marry him. (:| YIKES!) Not even jokingly. I was scared that I might misunderstand something that he said and accidentally agree to something horrible and get in huge trouble. I obviously declined, (I was highly disinclined to acquiesce to his request). Anyway, we were led through a village and everything was so delapidated and dirty, and people were asking us for money, but I only had the dollar we were to give to our guide as a tip. These people were so poor, but the children were so cute. I felt horrible riding through that village on a camel like it was such an even or place to witness. Ugh. *sigh*. ugh. ...Anyway... my guide and I continued to have really awkward snippets of conversation that I tried to kill as quickly as possible, and yet in the most polite way I could the rest of the way back. He offered me/ gave me a flower (which I promptly threw into the Nile after the ride). Oh, and he had me ride "Egyptian style" which was to put my feet on the camel's neck, and he used the rope to tie my feet up (semi-jokingly) but yeah, creepy. Anyway, after another offer to massage my 'very nice' legs, we were finished and I got off and got my picture with him as quickly as possible
and gave him his tip (he wanted me to kiss him for the picture, but I said 'No way'). Then I grabbed Mark (the nearest JC male) who was very confused and had been oblivious to everything going on and told him to walk right next to me as I had a minor panic attack of creeped-outedness as we walked back to the falucca. Anyway, besides the creepiness, my camel ride was way cool. My camel's name was Alex." Wow. That was a long journal entry. I did it on the train the night afterwards, because the night before I fell asleep writing it. Anyways, looks like I only got one more day done for Egypt! I'm off to bed, seeing as I spent 2 hours on that, haha. I love you all so much though, and hopefully one of these days I'll get all caught up, though it is very doubtful. At least now all of you have an accurate account of my Camel Adventure. :) In splendidly wonderful news, I got a package from Sherri for my birthday! Looks like she loves me most. ;) I noticed that she carefully chose to include a large package of MIKE n' Ikes, haha. It made me laugh. Daniel and Bertha's wedding announcement was beautiful and very tastefully done as well! Thank you so much Killen family (also, Mike finally got an American companion! Hooray!)! Anyways, I really need to upload these pictures and get to bed, but I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for everything, I'll try to write again soon!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Egypt! Part 2
Okay everyone, sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here to finish updating about Egypt. It is truly a daunting task--there is so much to tell about! Not only is it daunting, but I find myself disappointed with the quality of descriptions that I have been able to give you thus far... rushed work is far from perfect. I also hope that all of you appreciate this entry a lot, since we had 2 finals today and one tomorrow and my brain is aching for some leisure time and half of my friends are watching Arrested Development in the room next door ;) So let me see... where did I leave off? The light show in Cairo...
that was fantastic. After the show, we were all far too exhausted to do anything else, so we simply went to bed (delightedly). :) The next day was a truly unprecedented day in the life of Chelsey.
The air in Cairo was thick and misty that morning, and although my romantic side would like to believe it was a mist rising from the Nile, the more practical side of me knew it was from the heavy pollution. I think I was expecting Cairo to be more... orange. Psychologically I seem to have associated the color orange with Egypt... probably from the sand and the pyramids. It really is more brown and grey, with a surprising amount of green close to the Nile. It was slightly less humid than Israel, slightly more humid than Utah. It was fascinating to see how abruptly the line of green stops and the desert begins. Anyways, back to the morning of Giza.
We stayed at the Oasis Pyramids Hotel in Cairo, where my roommate Katie and I enjoyed a cold morning in our hotel room. It had taken us several minutes the night before to figure out that our air conditioning was not, in fact, broken (we were both momentarily terrified when we got there and it didn't immediately work--as air conditioning is a precious and invaluable commodity) but all we had to do was stick our card in a slot and it began bursting out air that was as cold as it gets in Egypt in July. Anyways... The first few days I probably sanitized my hands upwards of about three times an hour. I had, regrettably, forgotten my toothbrush in my rush to leave the JC, so I made due by sanitizing my finger, putting toothpaste on it, brushing my teeth with it, rinsing with bottled water and sanitizing my finger again. It was a pain, though luckily, I was soon able to acquire a new toothbrush for the rest of the trip. We woke up early, as we did every day, in the hopes of avoiding the terrific, scourging heat that is Egypt, (it got to about 104 F in Cairo and 110-115 F in Luxor). We were each issued two 1.5 liter bottles of water and authoritatively, (almost threateningly!), instructed to "drink, drink, drink." (Yes, many-an-alcohol jokes were made about this among the less mature of our group...*cough*... myself included. You can't just leave yourself open like that! heehee.) But in all seriousness, apparently dehydration is a common problem for the students when they go to Egypt in this program.
We then traveled via bus (although it might have been faster to walk since the traffic in Cairo is so bad) to the pyramids at Giza. My friends and I referred to it as "Geeez-eh" all day because that was what the narrator voice in the sound and lights show the night before had called it. Our tour guide, Emad, told us for the first time: "Habibis! Please prepare your headsets!" ... a phrase which 96% of us came to loathe by the end of Egypt. Habibi is an Arabic term for something similar to "beloved one," a term of endearment if you will, although few of us felt that Emad was in any way "endeared" with us. Not that he didn't try. The lack of respect (if my perception was correct) ended up being rather mutual. We quickly became frustrated with him for redundantly repeating himself over and over again unceasingly with much repetitiveness as he told the same story again and again using even the same words over and over... redundantly. I know that I felt that this was a waste of my precious time at all the sites when I could have been looking at things and being more productive. I'll talk more about that when I get to the Valley of the Kings.
As the bus approached the pyramids, a gasp arose from the bus. Even though we'd all seen the pyramids the night before at the sound and lights show, their ominous presence pervaded us on that early morning as they became more and more clear through the ... mist. [smog]. I could only imagine what an ancient traveller must've thought when he saw those towering figures in the distance. Many of us couldn't help ourselves from taking pictures through the bus windows, even though we knew we'd get some far more amazing shots within the hour. Before we got off the bus, Emad graciously warned us of the people who wandered the tourism sites trying to sell things. He told us to not make eye contact and that if we showed any interest at all they would not leave us alone, and would waste much of our time at the sites. All of us tried our best, but several of us (including me) were cornered by individuals who wanted money to have our pictures taken with a real Egyptian at the pyramids. I found that the quickest way to dispel these peddlers was to simply tell them the truth. That I didn't have any money with me. (I had left it all on the bus). I only had to leave two or three disgruntled Egyptians behind in before the word must've spread that the girl in the white pants and hat was broke. :)
The Pyramids! The Pyramids!!! They are truly magnificent! Anything I could say to describe them would be a cliche. First of all, they are massive!
Truly an engineering feat beyond anything I would've thought capable. Even if we had made them today with all our modern technology I would've been utterly astounded. If nothing else, they are surely a monument to the ingenuity, innovation and enterprise of mankind, and yet, I felt as I approached the great pyramid of Khufu, a reminder of our nothingness. I thought of how their vast presence was filled with hollowness. They are simply stone monuments, and while they have lasted thousands of years, they will not last through the eternities. The Egyptians were obsessed with obtaining eternal life, (and probably came the closest to their goals as anyone could have expected), however, mummies lay desecrated and the great pyramids once lined with beautiful white limestone could be destroyed far more easily than they were erected. Once I got over the initial shock of seeing the actual pyramids, the thought that struck me (surprisingly) was this: that these people didn't build these pyramids simply for some scam religion or superstition that they hoped would save them in the afterlife. The people of Egypt must have truly believed and had a deep and powerful commitment to their religion, probably similar to the one that I feel to mine. Human blood must've gone into erecting those monumental towers whose purpose was not only to allow its inhabiter a path into the next life--but also to frame him forever in this world. It served to me another stark and almost bleak reminder of how many things can seem to work out for us in this life, but will do little or nothing for us in the life to come.
Anyway, enough of my philosophizing, I'll tell you the touristy stuff! People are no longer allowed to climb the pyramids. This was a terrible tragedy to me, but once I got over being mildly devastated, I was quite pleased to simply be able to touch it. After I finished my "being in awe" stage, I ran full-force towards the pyramid of Khufu and put my fingers to stone that was laid there approximately 4500 years ago!
I took Brother Seely's advice to "touch everything...when they're not looking" for the whole trip. :D I love Brother Seely. He is our Ancient Near Eastern Studies teacher, and besides being overwhelmingly knowledgeable (like all the staff here) he is incredibly entertaining and adventurous. Oh and don't worry, I always sanitized after I touched anything. :). Anyways, we sat on the bottom few ledges where they will still let you climb, took pictures,
were harassed by salesmen, and managed to stay hydrated through the first hour of our day, despite the fact that each of us was already sweating in our middle-eastern/JC approved garb. Despite being hot, I'm grateful that I was clothed as modestly as I was. I definitely think it made a difference when it came to the Arab men, and I found that sunglasses do a great job of helping me keep from making unwanted eye-contact.
After the first pyramid, we piled onto the bus again to be carted off to the 2nd pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre. This pyramid was slightly smaller than Khufu's, and belonged to his son. It didn't look too much smaller since the tippy-top of the other pyramid was dismantled [some number which I don't know] years back. Anyways, the tippy top of Khafre's pyramid still has some of the limestone which originally encased the ancient structures. (It's really cool-looking, and I can only imagine what it must've looked like with all of it!) Apparently after Egypt was conquered, the conquerers mined the ready-cut limestone to build their own buildings.
We got to go inside Khafre's pyramid! I was so excited, going inside a pyramid has been a dream of mine since at least fifth grade that I can remember. We all lined up with 2 girls between each boy (for security reasons) and slowly began to make our way down a small tunnel into the heart of the pyramid. It is Hot inside the pyramids. If you are expecting it to be cool because it is out of the sun, you are incredibly mistaken my friend. Perhaps it would be cooler without the body heat of thousands of tourists being emitted in it every day... but all I know is that I was sweating more profusely inside the pyramid than at any point in the sun on the Egypt trip. Not only is it hot, but as I stooped down to enter the pyramid, something assaulted my senses which can only be described as the reeking body odor of a hundred thousand tourists who have never heard of deodorant, or who purposely did not put any on the day they went to the pyramid of Khafre, simply to leave their own lasting mark on tourists who marveled at the pyramids. (Keep in mind, I am still thinking this whole business of going inside the pyramids is absolutely fabulous, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything :)). One thing that fascinated me about the tunnel that led to the tomb, was that ... well... that was it. A tunnel. There were no hieroglyphics on the walls, and there were a few break-off points that I'm sure were filled to the brim with all manner of precious metals and gems at one time... but it was a simple stone tunnel. It proceeded down from the entrance for a while, and then up for another while, so by the time we reached the burial chamber or tomb, we were truly in the heart of the pyramid. It opened up into a rather small room, probably a little smaller (narrower definitely) than the "New Room" in our bountiful house. It was shaped like a 3-d version of the shape I'd draw in 1st grade when I wanted to depict a "house". A rectangle with a triangle roof. As we exited the tunnel, we turned to the right and saw the outermost granite casing where the sarcophagus once was. Everything was empty and there were no decorations or hieroglyphics (again, astonishing to me). I did, however, stand inside the granite casing, but jumped out rather quickly because it felt eerie. :) Nevertheless it was fun. As fascinating as it was to be inside the pyramid, I can't say I wasn't happy to reach the "fresh" air of Cairo when I exited it. Again, we took more pictures, and a few of my friends and I decided to walk around the entire pyramid. So now I can say that I've walked around the pyramid of Khafre, and stick my tongue out at the rest of you and say "neener neener neener!!!" Although you all know that I would never do such a thing ;). heehee.
The third, and smallest of the 3 pyramids of Geeezeh, the Pyramid of Menkaure, was closed to tourists, so we got to see it from a distance at our next lookout point. I was disappointed for a while, but then it got really hot outside... so my disappointment at being inside an air conditioned bus rather than right next to the little baby pyramid in the torridity was slightly abated. We got some great shots of all three pyramids (and a good depiction of just how mucky-gucky the air is there) as well.
The sphinx, which we saw next, was also fantastic, although we didn't get to go too close to it. Many of the girls in my group got some good pictures of each other "kissing the sphinx."
It was pretty fun. After the sphinx, we hit the papyrus factory where I got a lovely papyrus depicting the 3 facsimiles of the Pearl of Great Price (how wonderful that they've learned to cater to the Mormons!) We then ate lunch (I had a wonderful "Lamb kabob") Then we hit Saccara and by that afternoon we were off to the airport to go to Luxor! Oh, metal detectors. Oh! And armed guards. OH! And Arabic words!
Ok, ASIDE TIME, before I forget: There are metal detectors EVERYWHERE in Egypt. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. They're like churches in Provo...possibly even more. *pauses for gasp.* I know. Crazy. Anyways, the funny thing about these metal detectors, is that, when in Egypt, you do as the Egyptians and simply walk through them without removing anything. And the Egyptian metal-detector-dudes sit there and watch you go through as the metal detector bleeps and blares its protest at your watches and belt buckles and cameras, and they don't even flinch. I honestly think you are more likely to be stopped if you are NOT wearing metal than if you are. :) It's fantastically humorous. Another part of this aside is the armed guards. Everywhere we went in Egypt we had, for our bus of 40, two armed guards that were like... not regular "security guards" but like... full-on CIA material, in suits, with the guns hidden, watching everything armed guards. All they needed were the ear-pieces. I wanted to get a picture with them, but I was nervous to at first and by the end I had forgotten. Blast!!! According to one of our travel agents, Sharif, we receive all this special treatment because we're Americans. When we all gave him rather baffled looks, he looked at us like we were crazy for not immediately understanding what he was talking about. We are Americans. We are the elite of the world, apparently. We have everything at our fingertips, and so we get "special treatment" in Egypt (at least at the security checkpoints that our busses had to go through when crossing the Sinai). This was mind-boggling to me. I still have a hard time with that concept because I feel like people are people no matter which nationality or how wealthy or poor they are, and should all be treated equally. However, maybe I am only willing to say that because I've been incredibly blessed and only lived on the high-class side of things when it comes to the world. Anyways, that was probably the first eye-opening experience where I had a brush with true poverty--where I was faced dramatically with the reality of what money means in a world where it is scarce by comparison.
This is probably the longest blog ever in the history of Chelsey, so I think I'm going to cut it off there for the night. I don't want to overwhelm all of you with my novel of Egypt tonight. I can't believe that only covered one day! I will have to finish Luxor, Arabic and the rest of Cairo and the train and everything when I get time again! Now I also have to add Hezekiah's tunnel, and the terror that was my day of finals (today), and possibly even Jordan if I get that backed up! We leave for Jordan on my birthday, so I won't be able to call home, but know that I love and miss you all!
Anyways, Jeff, it was fantastic to hear about EFY, Kim and Kristen, I hope school and/or work is going well, Mom and Roger, keep watering those tomatoes ;), I'm sorry about waterskiing, but maybe that will teach you all to try to go without me! mwahaha. Dad and Melyn, I hope you're not wearing yourselves out too much with all the traveling and missing me that you are doing ;). Hehe. FABULOUS NEWS!!!: I got 2 letters and a post card from Michael!!!!!!!! *squeal* :D :D :D and I also got a card from Mom. Thank you so much everyone! hehe. I love you all so much, and thank you for those of you who powered through this gigantic blog! I appreciate it, and I'll try to simplify the next ones and omit needless words. :)
With all my love, I miss you all!
~Chelsey
that was fantastic. After the show, we were all far too exhausted to do anything else, so we simply went to bed (delightedly). :) The next day was a truly unprecedented day in the life of Chelsey.
The air in Cairo was thick and misty that morning, and although my romantic side would like to believe it was a mist rising from the Nile, the more practical side of me knew it was from the heavy pollution. I think I was expecting Cairo to be more... orange. Psychologically I seem to have associated the color orange with Egypt... probably from the sand and the pyramids. It really is more brown and grey, with a surprising amount of green close to the Nile. It was slightly less humid than Israel, slightly more humid than Utah. It was fascinating to see how abruptly the line of green stops and the desert begins. Anyways, back to the morning of Giza.
We stayed at the Oasis Pyramids Hotel in Cairo, where my roommate Katie and I enjoyed a cold morning in our hotel room. It had taken us several minutes the night before to figure out that our air conditioning was not, in fact, broken (we were both momentarily terrified when we got there and it didn't immediately work--as air conditioning is a precious and invaluable commodity) but all we had to do was stick our card in a slot and it began bursting out air that was as cold as it gets in Egypt in July. Anyways... The first few days I probably sanitized my hands upwards of about three times an hour. I had, regrettably, forgotten my toothbrush in my rush to leave the JC, so I made due by sanitizing my finger, putting toothpaste on it, brushing my teeth with it, rinsing with bottled water and sanitizing my finger again. It was a pain, though luckily, I was soon able to acquire a new toothbrush for the rest of the trip. We woke up early, as we did every day, in the hopes of avoiding the terrific, scourging heat that is Egypt, (it got to about 104 F in Cairo and 110-115 F in Luxor). We were each issued two 1.5 liter bottles of water and authoritatively, (almost threateningly!), instructed to "drink, drink, drink." (Yes, many-an-alcohol jokes were made about this among the less mature of our group...*cough*... myself included. You can't just leave yourself open like that! heehee.) But in all seriousness, apparently dehydration is a common problem for the students when they go to Egypt in this program.
We then traveled via bus (although it might have been faster to walk since the traffic in Cairo is so bad) to the pyramids at Giza. My friends and I referred to it as "Geeez-eh" all day because that was what the narrator voice in the sound and lights show the night before had called it. Our tour guide, Emad, told us for the first time: "Habibis! Please prepare your headsets!" ... a phrase which 96% of us came to loathe by the end of Egypt. Habibi is an Arabic term for something similar to "beloved one," a term of endearment if you will, although few of us felt that Emad was in any way "endeared" with us. Not that he didn't try. The lack of respect (if my perception was correct) ended up being rather mutual. We quickly became frustrated with him for redundantly repeating himself over and over again unceasingly with much repetitiveness as he told the same story again and again using even the same words over and over... redundantly. I know that I felt that this was a waste of my precious time at all the sites when I could have been looking at things and being more productive. I'll talk more about that when I get to the Valley of the Kings.
As the bus approached the pyramids, a gasp arose from the bus. Even though we'd all seen the pyramids the night before at the sound and lights show, their ominous presence pervaded us on that early morning as they became more and more clear through the ... mist. [smog]. I could only imagine what an ancient traveller must've thought when he saw those towering figures in the distance. Many of us couldn't help ourselves from taking pictures through the bus windows, even though we knew we'd get some far more amazing shots within the hour. Before we got off the bus, Emad graciously warned us of the people who wandered the tourism sites trying to sell things. He told us to not make eye contact and that if we showed any interest at all they would not leave us alone, and would waste much of our time at the sites. All of us tried our best, but several of us (including me) were cornered by individuals who wanted money to have our pictures taken with a real Egyptian at the pyramids. I found that the quickest way to dispel these peddlers was to simply tell them the truth. That I didn't have any money with me. (I had left it all on the bus). I only had to leave two or three disgruntled Egyptians behind in before the word must've spread that the girl in the white pants and hat was broke. :)
The Pyramids! The Pyramids!!! They are truly magnificent! Anything I could say to describe them would be a cliche. First of all, they are massive!
Truly an engineering feat beyond anything I would've thought capable. Even if we had made them today with all our modern technology I would've been utterly astounded. If nothing else, they are surely a monument to the ingenuity, innovation and enterprise of mankind, and yet, I felt as I approached the great pyramid of Khufu, a reminder of our nothingness. I thought of how their vast presence was filled with hollowness. They are simply stone monuments, and while they have lasted thousands of years, they will not last through the eternities. The Egyptians were obsessed with obtaining eternal life, (and probably came the closest to their goals as anyone could have expected), however, mummies lay desecrated and the great pyramids once lined with beautiful white limestone could be destroyed far more easily than they were erected. Once I got over the initial shock of seeing the actual pyramids, the thought that struck me (surprisingly) was this: that these people didn't build these pyramids simply for some scam religion or superstition that they hoped would save them in the afterlife. The people of Egypt must have truly believed and had a deep and powerful commitment to their religion, probably similar to the one that I feel to mine. Human blood must've gone into erecting those monumental towers whose purpose was not only to allow its inhabiter a path into the next life--but also to frame him forever in this world. It served to me another stark and almost bleak reminder of how many things can seem to work out for us in this life, but will do little or nothing for us in the life to come.
Anyway, enough of my philosophizing, I'll tell you the touristy stuff! People are no longer allowed to climb the pyramids. This was a terrible tragedy to me, but once I got over being mildly devastated, I was quite pleased to simply be able to touch it. After I finished my "being in awe" stage, I ran full-force towards the pyramid of Khufu and put my fingers to stone that was laid there approximately 4500 years ago!
I took Brother Seely's advice to "touch everything...when they're not looking" for the whole trip. :D I love Brother Seely. He is our Ancient Near Eastern Studies teacher, and besides being overwhelmingly knowledgeable (like all the staff here) he is incredibly entertaining and adventurous. Oh and don't worry, I always sanitized after I touched anything. :). Anyways, we sat on the bottom few ledges where they will still let you climb, took pictures,
were harassed by salesmen, and managed to stay hydrated through the first hour of our day, despite the fact that each of us was already sweating in our middle-eastern/JC approved garb. Despite being hot, I'm grateful that I was clothed as modestly as I was. I definitely think it made a difference when it came to the Arab men, and I found that sunglasses do a great job of helping me keep from making unwanted eye-contact.
After the first pyramid, we piled onto the bus again to be carted off to the 2nd pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre. This pyramid was slightly smaller than Khufu's, and belonged to his son. It didn't look too much smaller since the tippy-top of the other pyramid was dismantled [some number which I don't know] years back. Anyways, the tippy top of Khafre's pyramid still has some of the limestone which originally encased the ancient structures. (It's really cool-looking, and I can only imagine what it must've looked like with all of it!) Apparently after Egypt was conquered, the conquerers mined the ready-cut limestone to build their own buildings.
We got to go inside Khafre's pyramid! I was so excited, going inside a pyramid has been a dream of mine since at least fifth grade that I can remember. We all lined up with 2 girls between each boy (for security reasons) and slowly began to make our way down a small tunnel into the heart of the pyramid. It is Hot inside the pyramids. If you are expecting it to be cool because it is out of the sun, you are incredibly mistaken my friend. Perhaps it would be cooler without the body heat of thousands of tourists being emitted in it every day... but all I know is that I was sweating more profusely inside the pyramid than at any point in the sun on the Egypt trip. Not only is it hot, but as I stooped down to enter the pyramid, something assaulted my senses which can only be described as the reeking body odor of a hundred thousand tourists who have never heard of deodorant, or who purposely did not put any on the day they went to the pyramid of Khafre, simply to leave their own lasting mark on tourists who marveled at the pyramids. (Keep in mind, I am still thinking this whole business of going inside the pyramids is absolutely fabulous, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything :)). One thing that fascinated me about the tunnel that led to the tomb, was that ... well... that was it. A tunnel. There were no hieroglyphics on the walls, and there were a few break-off points that I'm sure were filled to the brim with all manner of precious metals and gems at one time... but it was a simple stone tunnel. It proceeded down from the entrance for a while, and then up for another while, so by the time we reached the burial chamber or tomb, we were truly in the heart of the pyramid. It opened up into a rather small room, probably a little smaller (narrower definitely) than the "New Room" in our bountiful house. It was shaped like a 3-d version of the shape I'd draw in 1st grade when I wanted to depict a "house". A rectangle with a triangle roof. As we exited the tunnel, we turned to the right and saw the outermost granite casing where the sarcophagus once was. Everything was empty and there were no decorations or hieroglyphics (again, astonishing to me). I did, however, stand inside the granite casing, but jumped out rather quickly because it felt eerie. :) Nevertheless it was fun. As fascinating as it was to be inside the pyramid, I can't say I wasn't happy to reach the "fresh" air of Cairo when I exited it. Again, we took more pictures, and a few of my friends and I decided to walk around the entire pyramid. So now I can say that I've walked around the pyramid of Khafre, and stick my tongue out at the rest of you and say "neener neener neener!!!" Although you all know that I would never do such a thing ;). heehee.
The third, and smallest of the 3 pyramids of Geeezeh, the Pyramid of Menkaure, was closed to tourists, so we got to see it from a distance at our next lookout point. I was disappointed for a while, but then it got really hot outside... so my disappointment at being inside an air conditioned bus rather than right next to the little baby pyramid in the torridity was slightly abated. We got some great shots of all three pyramids (and a good depiction of just how mucky-gucky the air is there) as well.
The sphinx, which we saw next, was also fantastic, although we didn't get to go too close to it. Many of the girls in my group got some good pictures of each other "kissing the sphinx."
It was pretty fun. After the sphinx, we hit the papyrus factory where I got a lovely papyrus depicting the 3 facsimiles of the Pearl of Great Price (how wonderful that they've learned to cater to the Mormons!) We then ate lunch (I had a wonderful "Lamb kabob") Then we hit Saccara and by that afternoon we were off to the airport to go to Luxor! Oh, metal detectors. Oh! And armed guards. OH! And Arabic words!
Ok, ASIDE TIME, before I forget: There are metal detectors EVERYWHERE in Egypt. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. They're like churches in Provo...possibly even more. *pauses for gasp.* I know. Crazy. Anyways, the funny thing about these metal detectors, is that, when in Egypt, you do as the Egyptians and simply walk through them without removing anything. And the Egyptian metal-detector-dudes sit there and watch you go through as the metal detector bleeps and blares its protest at your watches and belt buckles and cameras, and they don't even flinch. I honestly think you are more likely to be stopped if you are NOT wearing metal than if you are. :) It's fantastically humorous. Another part of this aside is the armed guards. Everywhere we went in Egypt we had, for our bus of 40, two armed guards that were like... not regular "security guards" but like... full-on CIA material, in suits, with the guns hidden, watching everything armed guards. All they needed were the ear-pieces. I wanted to get a picture with them, but I was nervous to at first and by the end I had forgotten. Blast!!! According to one of our travel agents, Sharif, we receive all this special treatment because we're Americans. When we all gave him rather baffled looks, he looked at us like we were crazy for not immediately understanding what he was talking about. We are Americans. We are the elite of the world, apparently. We have everything at our fingertips, and so we get "special treatment" in Egypt (at least at the security checkpoints that our busses had to go through when crossing the Sinai). This was mind-boggling to me. I still have a hard time with that concept because I feel like people are people no matter which nationality or how wealthy or poor they are, and should all be treated equally. However, maybe I am only willing to say that because I've been incredibly blessed and only lived on the high-class side of things when it comes to the world. Anyways, that was probably the first eye-opening experience where I had a brush with true poverty--where I was faced dramatically with the reality of what money means in a world where it is scarce by comparison.
This is probably the longest blog ever in the history of Chelsey, so I think I'm going to cut it off there for the night. I don't want to overwhelm all of you with my novel of Egypt tonight. I can't believe that only covered one day! I will have to finish Luxor, Arabic and the rest of Cairo and the train and everything when I get time again! Now I also have to add Hezekiah's tunnel, and the terror that was my day of finals (today), and possibly even Jordan if I get that backed up! We leave for Jordan on my birthday, so I won't be able to call home, but know that I love and miss you all!
Anyways, Jeff, it was fantastic to hear about EFY, Kim and Kristen, I hope school and/or work is going well, Mom and Roger, keep watering those tomatoes ;), I'm sorry about waterskiing, but maybe that will teach you all to try to go without me! mwahaha. Dad and Melyn, I hope you're not wearing yourselves out too much with all the traveling and missing me that you are doing ;). Hehe. FABULOUS NEWS!!!: I got 2 letters and a post card from Michael!!!!!!!! *squeal* :D :D :D and I also got a card from Mom. Thank you so much everyone! hehe. I love you all so much, and thank you for those of you who powered through this gigantic blog! I appreciate it, and I'll try to simplify the next ones and omit needless words. :)
With all my love, I miss you all!
~Chelsey
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Traveling to Egypt- part 1
Ok, so now I'm going to tell all of you all about my trip to Egypt, and hopefully it will be preserved forever so I don't forget it :). I can't think of any clever way to start it other than... we had to wake up REALLY early the day we left. Breakfast was yummy, I had French toast as usual. We picked up our sack lunches and went out to the buses. We were all very tired and groggy, but we pulled away from the center in record time (this soon became a habit with our group, apparently the 2008 summer term group is one of the most prompt and efficient groups they've had in a long time). So the day we left Jerusalem we went on several field trip stops. We traveled through the "Negev" which in Hebrew means "dry." And it is very, very, very dry. It was very hot and we were all very tired. We went to a tel at Ber Sheba (a "tel" is a city that is built on a whole bunch of other old cities that had been destroyed previously and it is now like a big plateau. Archaeologists love them for some reason. Brother Seely can't seem to get enough, haha). Anyways, so we went to that tel, and it was pretty cool. It had a neat little water system with nice and cool caves inside... we also went to a lookout point for the wilderness of Zin (actually spelled with an "S" according to Brother Draper, but we had to memorize it for our maps and it was spelled with a Z so I'm just going to spell it that way cause that's how I'm used to spelling it) which was where the Israelites camped for about 38 years after escaping from Egypt. If I tell about all the places we went on our way down though, I'll never get through it. Let's just say it was hot and dry and we saw a lot of biblical and important places... and it was hot. The heat increased exponentially (hope you liked that kim ;)) throughout the day as we headed farther south and the sun rose higher into the sky. I wish had time to write more beautifully or descriptively, but unfortunately, I don't have time and I wouldn't get it all in. If I was getting paid per word, however, I could be a very wealthy woman. ANYWAY... we eventually made it to a Kibbutz. A Kibbutz (pronounced "Kih-boots") is a ... well... I'm too tired to think of a better word than "communist"... although they're like the nicest people ever... zionist? socialist? Anyways, they share everything. Everybody works hard and gets paid the same. It takes a long time and it's really hard to become a member of the Kibbutz, there are tough requirements. The ones we were at ranged from between 150-400 members if I remember correctly. The Kibbutz where we had dinner was really fun, we had a tour of a milk factory and saw their date farms and they taught us some songs and we had dinner, and then we had another dance party to Jewish music using the styles and techniques that were shown to us by our Jewish brothers and sisters at the Western wall, and it was hilarious. The lady said that the building we were in had never seen such partying. It was fantastic and tons of fun. Anybody who has never had a serious dance party to Jewish chanting and singing is totally missing out. After dinner there, both groups (Draper and Ostler) left to different Kibbutzim (plural of Kibbutz) for the night. All 80 of us at one would've probably overwhelmed just one, so we separated. Our Kibbutz ended up being way better though, because they kept the pool open for us until 10:15 so about 20 of us got in some serious pool playing time, in which we played a game called "prisoner" which was very much like pool dodge-ball, but with some tweaks. It was SO fun. I loved being in the pool at the kibbutz, mostly because I wasn't afraid to open my eyes there like I was when we were in Egypt--but I'll get to that later. So we spent the night at the Kibbutz, and Jenni and Katie and I were roommates, which was a blast. Although we're all always so tired by the time we go to bed that it leaves no time for any kind of slumber party/ sleepover discussions...but it was still fun anyway. The next morning, we ate breakfast at the kibbutz and picked up our sack lunches for after the border crossing. The border crossing went fine, but it took a really long time. My roommate Caryn got held up there though because she's from South Africa and they were suspicious because the rest of us were from the United States... although Mark's passport is Japanese, so I don't know why that worked out, but anyways, moving on... then we had a really really really long bus ride to Cairo, and I had my first ever view of the Pyramids at Giza. We drove past them and then got all checked into our hotel and had dinner and then we went to a really cheesy but cute sound and lights show at the pyramids with lasers and lights and it told the history of Egypt. It was really cute, and I liked it a lot. I got some good pictures of it to share when I get home. :D Anyways, I spent way too long writing this and now I have to go finish homework and get to bed, so I'll be sure to write more as soon as I have time and tell you more about Egypt! I love you all, goodnight!!!!
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