Long time gone..

Oh man, okay so I apologize for not updating this like I should.  I've been reading people's blogs sporadically, but not writing anything in my own.  So here goes :)

Hmm, after the Saqqara trip was the Luxor trip with Daphne.  My camera died so I don't have pictures of our last day, and I still haven't gotten them from her.. but when I do, I'll post a slideshow of the trip.  It was great.. we took an overnight bus down and it wasn't terribly comfortable, but it was empty enough that Daphne stayed in our two seats, and I went across the aisle and took up another two seats.  They turned the lights off, which was much appreciated, but around 1:30 I was woken up by a loud Egyptian movie that the driver had turned on to keep himself awake.  I was in too much of a sleep-induced stupor to worry over if he was really watching it, or just using the noise to stay awake.. but whatever was going on, it worked and we arrived safely.  The pit stops were.. the pits.  We made probably 4 or 5 stops, and I got off at two of them to walk around, get a snack, and use the toilet.. wait, what toilet?  Yeah, at each place, it was just a shed with dividers, holes in the ground that you squatted over, and no toilet paper.  I mean, I can't complain though because I only paid 100 LE for the trip down (just less than $18) which is like a dollar and a half per hour.  Still.....

Then we got down there and Reggie, the guy from our hostel who picked us up at the bus station, was someone who we almost instantly trusted (you can't instantly trust someone out here, but he turned out to be a great guy).  We were pretty tired from the trip down, of which he was very understanding.  He got us settled in to our room, and over breakfast he asked what we wanted out of the trip then gave us suggestions about how to schedule everything so that we'd still have relaxing breaks throughout the trip, instead of feeling like we were always hurrying somewhere.

After deciding upon our schedule for the weekend, we took a microbus to Karnak Temple and walked around there for a while, then walked down the Corniche for a bit (the road that goes along the east bank of the Nile) and even found a dilapidated gate that was no longer locked that went down to the balcony of a building that looked deserted, and we just enjoyed the view of the (mostly clean) Nile for a few minutes, before catching a microbus back to Luxor Temple and walking around downtown.  We had to fill time, so we went in a market place, hoping to get some good buys, but it turned out to be very touristy and I wasn't willing to pay what they were asking, so I ended up telling them we might come back later and never did.  Dishonest?  Maybe.  Only way I could get out of there without buying something in the stores I had walked into?  Sure thing.  Then we headed back to the hostel to meet Reggie and a German couple staying at the hostel for a felucca ride to Banana Island.  BEST FELUCCA RIDE, EVER!!!!  It was mid-late afternoon when we left, and there wasn't much, if any, of a wind so our sailboat was pushed along by the captain's son (using one of those long sticks that they use on gondolas) and we got to just enjoy the Nile as we sloooooowly drifted upstream :)  It was so beautiful and relaxing, and we got some great pictures of some boys playing with animals on a farm that the Nile was just starting to flood (that's a good thing.. see, the Nile floods, then leaves behind really rich soil when the water recedes) and there was all this long grass that was just a few inches underwater that they were walking on.. it was pretty neat :)

We got to Banana Island and Reggie gave us the the grand tour!  We got to see the banana trees, along with other fruit trees like mango, and... oh no!  I knew I should have written this earlier.. I've forgotten already :(  Anyway, we got to see lots of great trees, and we saw a baby alligator in a caged-in pond.  Someone asked what would happen to him when he grows up, but I didn't hear the answer.  I'm okay with that.  Then, after we got to see all the different stages in development of banana trees and learned interesting stuff like they don't turn yellow until they're cut off from the tree, and it takes about a week for them to ripen after they're cut off, and how they come from this big flower-type thing.. yeah it'll make sense when I post pictures.. anyway, after learning all that we got to eat some bananas and they were small and sweet and DELICIOUS!!!  Then we got to walk through a house on the island.. a real Egyptian house!  The view from the balcony was gorgeous :)  Then as we sailed back to the city, much faster this time as we had help from the direction the water was flowing, we got to enjoy watching the sunset on the Nile :)

That night, the couple that went with us to Banana Island split off to do their own thing, so Reggie (who is doing higher education in Egyptian history and has been on digs in Luxor) walked us around the outside of Luxor Temple (you can see about 80% of it from walking around the perimeter) and told us how many pillars there were (140 closed in the main temple area, and 14 open lotus pillars at the entrance), the difference between closed and open lotus flowers at the top of the pillars, and then he made dinner for us as we just chilled on the rooftop lounge :)  Egyptian food can be delicious, especially when you're eating baladi bread, bird tongue soup, and salads while enjoying the company and atmosphere.  Then we listened to some Egyptian music, and finally hit the hay so that we could get up early for our tour of the West Bank the next morning (haha no, not Gaza).  After another delicious breakfast of eggs, bread, cheese, jam, and fruit (same as the previous morning), we hooked up with a tour guide who would take us to Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Nefertiti's Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon.  While it was nice to see, you couldn't take pictures inside anything and the scenery, though stunning as it was carved into the mountains, was the same after a while.  

We ended up finishing that around 3 in the afternoon, and we didn't have anything else on our list of things to do, except maybe museums.  However, we were so exhausted that we went to a juice place (or rather, Reggie found us walking in the street and took us to a juice place pretty close to the hostel, and I had orange & sugar cane juice.. mmmmm!) and just relaxed for a while, enjoying being out of the sun and getting re-hydrated.  After our little break, we were pumped full of sugar/caffeine (Daphne had two sodas) and decided to walk around some more, so we walked up and down some shopping streets, but even the fair trade store was insanely expensive, and you can get the same thing here in Cairo at the fair trade places for much more reasonable prices, so that ended up being a no-go.  We then got a quick snack at a cheap, but good Egyptian restaurant out on the edge of the tourist district, walked over to the park by Luxor Temple to enjoy our food, then walked over to the Nile in the direction of a couple museums.

We first came across the Mummification museum, which to most people is boring, but Daphne and I took the opportunity to work on our Arabic.  Yes, we're nerds and proud of it:  we read every single sign in both English and Arabic.  Some signs at the end of the museum had French on them, too, in which case we read the French, then the Arabic, and if there was still something we didn't understand we read the English.  It was pretty interesting.. I mean, there was a mummy of a person that at first looked fake to me.  I didn't believe someone could be that well-preserved after however many thousand years.  However, upon closer examination, we realized it WAS a person!  It was crazy.. his jaw wasn't hanging open or anything (most of the time, tongues swell up after death, making the jaw gape open, hence the dead-heads in movies so often portrayed as screaming).  There were also mummified animals, and when we came across some sort of poultry that had been mummified (I don't remember if it was a chicken or what), I was so surprised.. I immediately asked Daphne why they didn't just eat it?!  Haha.. because she was there 3500 years ago.......

Then we headed to the Luxor Museum, but it was 40 LE for students (which seemed like a lot at the end of our trip) so we decided against it and instead just strolled up the Nile, then finally returned to the hostel and hung out with Reggie until 1:30 when we left to catch our train.  Yes, a real Egyptian train :)  It was fun, and no one asked us any questions of how we got our tickets or anything!  Which is good because I'd rather not say... not that it's bad, but, well, you know.. we're not Egyptian so we weren't supposed to be on that train.  There's  a special tourist train that's crazy-expensive and has a military escort and blah blah blah, but we didn't care about comfort, just the price.  It ended up being 70 LE per person for our train back ($12.50) and though they never turned the lights out, at least it was quiet.  I ended up wrapping on of my scarves around my face to block out the light, and I fell asleep just fine.  The seats were big and cushioned, and there was plenty of foot room.  Overall, a good trip.. not counting the toilet.  See, there was an actual toilet this time, which was nice, but again no toilet paper, and it looked like it had never been cleaned.  Ever.  I had to bust out the hovering skills for that one...

So you see, it really was a fun trip, and in the end, Daphne and I had only spent about $100 total.. that's transportation, food, lodging, and entrance into everything we saw.  Yay for having student cards and Egyptian friends :)

Alright.. I was going to continue the update to go up to today, but that will have to wait, as I have to leave pretty soon to make it to Al-Azhar Park for lunch with my Arabic class.  I hope God is blessing y'all as much as he's blessing me!!!!!

Saqqara video clip

I'm sorry this is so long-overdue.. I've had it done for a while, I just never got around to posting it.  Here goes nothing.. inshallah it'll work.  I've got another great weekend to write about, too, but I think I'll write my paper, first......

Busy Bee!

Hmm okay, so I guess it's been a while since I've posted.  I've had presentations and exams galore the past couple weeks and I've been coming home exhausted and falling asleep by 9 or 10 most nights.. talk about getting old and tired!  Anyway.. 

So, if I'm going to skip school news, that leaves me with church happenings and my random excursion yesterday!  Church has been going well.  Primary is tons of fun and this past Friday, I taught a lesson on missionary work/sharing the gospel where the kids got to go "fishing" (see Matthew 4:19) then they colored pictures of missionary boys and girls and I wrote their names on the name tag.. however, when I got to Farayella's picture (the little Sudanese boy) as soon as I took it from him he got all pouty but I quickly wrote فرايالا on it (his name) and when I gave it back, his eyes got all wide!  He was definitely one surprised and happy kid to see his name on that picture :)  Then for sharing time, we were talking about Fathers and Leandre got to be the Primary Father and we put a shirt, tie, and shoes on him and gave him keys and a phone and stuff.. Ann got some great pictures from that day, I'll post them when she emails them to me.

The next morning (yesterday) Jaehee and I walked to the big midan on Rd 9 because there was supposed to be this community-wide service project that our church was going to help with.  We got there a bit after 9:30, and didn't see anyone except Joseph.  Then, we saw the new family approaching, and we told them what we knew: we'd called (insert long list of names) and they weren't coming/didn't know any details, so we didn't know what to tell them.  We stayed and chatted for a while until their kids got crazy from the sun and they left, leaving Jaehee, Joseph, and I to figure out what to do with our day.  We soon decided that since Eric Knapp had offered to take people on a trip to the Red Sea today, that we'd give him a call.  So, we trekked to Joseph's apartment to grab his camera, bought some yummy goodies for the Prophet Mohammed's birthday (on Monday), I picked up my pb&j cookies for Eric, then we finally got there a little before noon.  After driving a little ways out of town, the wind was blowing the car all over and we saw billboards tipped over, signs blowing off billboards and into the road, obstructing traffic, and a tumble weed bigger than the car.  Needless to say, we decided to head back into town and go with Plan B:  The Pyramids at Saqqara (which none of us had seen yet, except our tour guide Eric).

It was really neat because we had to drive through this agricultural land to get there, but right at the entry of the park, the lush greenery all stopped because the irrigation only works up to a certain height above sea level.  

We went to the museum before we saw the pyramids, and I noticed that I'm slowly turning Egyptian because I completely disregarded the "No Pictures" signs and put my camera on Museum mode (yes, that's really what it's called :)  no flash or sound) and went crazy!!!  Then we headed out to see the pyramids.. the wind was so bad, though, that Jaehee and I covered our heads to keep the sand away (but we stayed stylish.. we didn't cover our faces, just our hair the Spanish way).  The ruins of the Upper and Lower Temples were amazing and I got some really neat pictures.. I'll make a slideshow for this, though, rather than trying to post a million pictures.  That will come a bit later..

In any case, we had a great time until we were on our way to the Lower Temple grounds, where Jaehee started fading due to lack of water.  She and Eric headed back to the car while Joseph and I explored a bit more.. and boy did we find some neat stuff!  We were walking along the pathway between the Upper and Lower Temple, when I randomly looked over the edge and found some burial chambers!  We stopped at a covered bridge and tried to decipher the hieroglyphs (as the bridge was between us and the stairs we found leading down to the burial chambers) but to my horrible luck, this Egyptian guy found us as we were walking to the stairs and flashes this key in our faces saying "I can take you to tombs!  Beautiful colors!  Where you from?" blah blah blah.....  I knew he'd want baqsheesh (politically correct translation: a tip..... real translation: a bribe) and the smallest bill I had was a 50 LE note so we shoed him away, using mostly Arabic to show him that we weren't stupid tourists and I finally said "في المستقبال ين شا الله" (translation:  "In the future, God-willing") and he finally left us alone.  We bided our time, then when he wasn't looking, we made a break for it and ran like mad down the stairs to the burial chambers!  Haha you know, come to think of it.. we really didn't find that much cool stuff down there, as everything was locked up (but the ket that Egyptian guy had wouldn't have worked in the locks.. though a lock pick would've done the trick!) but we got some really neat pictures down there, and had tons of fun as well.  After that adventure, though, we made our way back to the car to begin our journey home.  

I was so overcome with the pretty country side and the simple farmers that I was going picture crazy and it was really slowing us down.  It's a good thing, though, because a little ways down the road, we saw this truck pulled over with two flat-bed trailers carrying some pretty heavy loads of powder cement mix.. when all of a sudden the right front corner of the second trailer fell and a cloud of dust went up!  Eric slowed down and as we were driving by I saw a man pinned under the axle of the trailer yelling in agonizing pain.  Eric immediately stopped the car and the guys got out to try to help.  Soon enough, lots of Egyptians had also stopped and gathered around (because that's what they do) and a couple guys with trucks had gotten out their jacks and raised the trailer enough to get the guy out.. and boy oh boy was he lucky!  What happened was, he had taken the tire off to fix something on the axle, and propped the tire under the trailer to catch the weight of the load in case his jack failed (good thinking).  Of course, his jack had failed and if the tire wasn't there, he'd have died from being crushed by that load!  He was lucky enough to get out with only a broken foot (though, it was broken pretty bad from what the guys told me.. Jaehee and I stayed in the car this whole time).  I think I have that image burned into my memory bank, though, of seeing that guy pinned under the trailer as we drove by... wailing never sounds good, but wailing in Arabic is just a terrible, gut-wrenching sound and.. ugh okay I gotta stop.

After that, we decided we would just go back to Eric's place and order in.. so that's exactly what we did.  After a day filled with such adventure, it was nice to have somewhere to kick back, relax, and eat delicious Lebanese food :)

And, I've spent too much time online this morning.. it's time to go eat candies and do my homework (even though I don't have class until Tuesday.. thank you Prophet Mohammed for having your birthday on a Monday this year!)

Surreal

So, today there was a bombing at Khan el Khalili, a tourist site that my friends and I, along with many tourists, frequent.  It was kind of weird watching the news and knowing the cafés in that courtyard and seeing the mosque that has the imam that has a really nice call to prayer (though it's a little slow, he can hold the notes steady and strong).  I've been there with friends and even with my dad.. and thank God I've been safe every time I've gone.  It's kind of a surreal thing to think about and it's late and I really should just get to bed, but I figured I'd write a little blurb to let everyone know I'm alright.  I mean, I don't get comments on this but who knows ;-)

What a weekend!

Okay, so Thursday I was supposed to fly to Saudi Arabia and see my dad.. BUT once I got there, someone noticed that what I had wasn't a visa to enter the country (although, I showed the same document to lots of airport people in Cairo and no one noticed that it was wrong so they stuck me on the plane) and then I finally got to Riyadh but they wouldn't let me leave the airport.  The people dealing with me didn't speak English very well.. they could just point and say "please" and one guy knew "bag" so he told me to put my bags on the x-ray security things.. which I knew to do anyways, but I mean I went through about 5 or 6 rounds of security before I realized that they had walked me through the airport and were about to stick me on the same plane I had just gotten off of and send me back to Cairo.  At this point, I was freaking out, mostly because I knew my dad was probably wondering why I hadn't found him yet.  I turned my phone on to try to call him, but it was in SOS mode and wouldn't make regular calls.  Luckily, a man who introduced himself as the President of Egypt Air approached me, asked what was wrong, and I explained that what I thought was a visa (and what everyone in Egypt thought was a visa) really wasn't and I couldn't enter the country.  He then asked if I had any family meeting me at the airport, and I said my dad was waiting for me, but that my phone wasn't working.  He offered me his phone and let me call my dad while he walked through the airport looking for him then guided my dad through security so that we could at least talk for 5 or 10 minutes before I was deported.  I really appreciate that he did what he could to help!  That was scary, though, before I got to talk to my dad!  Then I finally got home about 2:30 am and set my alarm for church but totally didn't make it.  Not that they were expecting me anyways.. everyone thought I was in Saudi Arabia.  However, I got a call Friday afternoon from Nancy, and a couple minutes later from Jaehee, both asking me if I wanted to have a girls night (they and Carolee were single for the night because their husbands were out camping in the desert with the boy scouts) so I said sure, why not and had a great time.  I made brownies and we all had a great time listening to Nancy's stories until midnight and playing cut-throat bingo.. i mean uno ;)

Then today the church went on a trip to a leper colony and we sanded and painted benches, then we got a tour of the grounds and I mean, they really think of everything there!  There's a shoemaker place and a clothing/sewing room and they even make limbs and stuff.  There's also a water filtration system and a back up generator (Egypt has icky water and lots of power outages).  Most of the buildings I saw, though, were clinics.  They do surgery once a week for whoever needs it, and there's an eye-care clinic and physical therapy and tons of stuff!  On top of that, they keep everything freshly painted and gardened so it's really a nice place.  The compound is a joint effort between LDS Ministries and a Catholic church in Italy.  The nuns live close-by and go there every day, and the LDS church has humanitarian missionaries that help out there, along with lots of other projects in and around Cairo.  And.. Nancy came and brought Rachel (because Andrew was still camping) and I've got tons of cute pictures/videos of Rachel that will be sent to their family very soon!

Alright.. so even though I'd love to be spending time with my dad right now, I'm still having a good weekend with Plan B.... I mean, this is an opportunity that I never thought I'd have when I came to Egypt :)  Plus, Mike has been an awesome boyfriend and is doing what he can from the States with sending me emails and supporting me however he can.. I'm really not sure what I'd do without him!  However, I've got lots of homework to get crackin' on........

It's a Peanut Butter Day

Who ever said Valentine's Day in the midst of a long-distance relationship is no fun?  I mean, yes I sure missed Mike yesterday, but I still had a great day despite the distance and my allergies :)

I got up at my own leisure, hopped online to read the emails he'd sent me overnight, and watched some movies on TV.  Then, Daphne and I decided that we were going to bake.. A LOT.. so we did!  We were looking through recipes but I already knew what I wanted to make:  my peanut butter and jelly cookies :)  See, we didn't do much baking last semester because we didn't have an oven thermometer.  However, we have one now and, I mean idk how to explain it, but I feel at home when I'm baking.  It was nice to be back in the heat of the kitchen again.

I ended up making my pb&j cookies using strawberry jam for half and apricot jam for the other half.  I also made peanut butter bars with cinnamon sugar and chocolate on top, and a peanut butter cookie cake with cinnamon sugar on top and then decorated it with chocolate chips when it got out of the oven, putting them around the edge and making a heart in the middle.

I already owe some of this peanut butter goodness to the Halls, since I borrowed their vanilla extract, but whoever is in a peanut butter mood can just give me a ring and we'll see when you can make it over :)

Oh, and to top off the peanut butter day, Daphne made chicken, veggies, and noodles in a peanut butter sauce.  I love having a roomie who can make good Chinese food!

So yeah... there was no cuddling or "romance" on my Valentine's Day, but I got to talk to Mike a few times, through emails and gchat, and I finally got to bake, for the first time in a long time.  So I'd say that made for a good day!

All things considered, though, I should go finish my homework and keep drinking fluids and blowing my nose... this stupid Cairo pollution gives me allergies like you wouldn't believe.  I never got allergies in Michigan.. I can deal with the pollen and dander and whatever else.. but here in Cairo the air is a disaster!  However, it's snowing at home, so I'll take some sniffles over being freezing cold with no hope of getting warm until May, haha :)

What a day!

Okay, so yesterday I had a pretty awesome day.  I guess I'll just tell the story as the events unfolded..

I woke up and had a lazy morning, took the 10:30 bus to campus and got there about an hour before my Arabic class started (my only class of the day on T/Rs), got to the library and finished my homework and even started an assignment that's not due for a while.  I got to class and I mean, it was class.  I like my teacher and my classmates, but it was just like any other class.  However, during our break I asked my teacher how much an abaya would cost, seeing as I have to wear one to Riyadh.  She told me how much they'd cost and where to find a nice one, but then after class she asked me when I was leaving, so I told her that I was planning on leaving in a week and she said I could borrow hers for the airport, then get myself a nice one out there (since apparently there aren't any nice ones over here..?) so that's really nice of her!  She also pulled me aside, along with two girls from Tuft who are very good at Arabic, and said that if we were bored she could work with us outside of class if we wanted.  I mean, can you believe I haven't even covered all the prerequisite material for the class and she thinks I'm ahead of the class?  I love being a nerd, sometimes :)

That afternoon, I caught the bus home and was lazy for a while, enjoying the first part of my weekend, then Jaehee came over to meet up with Daphne and I.. we brainstormed for travel ideas, then went to a craft bazaar downtown where I got a great scarf, necklace, and bracelet for 35 LE (about $6.25).  The bazaar had crafts made by refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, and the profits this month go towards help for the civilians in Gaza.  Then, us girls went to Tabouleh and had a DELICIOUS dinner, and went to a café for drinks (for juice, but I got apple cider because I was a bit chilly).  

The best part, though, was on the way home.  Daphne and I had dropped off Jaehee and were walking home.  We were almost to Degla Square (though, all the "squares" here are actually roundabouts) we saw lots of flower stores all prettied up for Valentines Day.. I had my camera out and was taking pictures of them, then this car full of guys stops in my line of sight and ruin my picture.. they start hollering at us and Daphne walks up behind the car and gives it a swift, loud kick to the rear bumper and asks what the f they're doing!!!  Haha no damage, but the looks on all the guys' faces were priceless!  The driver got mad, but the rest of the guys in the car didn't know what to do and their jaws dropped.  They sat there for a second or two, then just drove off.  OH MY GOODNESS I wish I'd have gotten it on video, because I've wanted to kick a car since I got out here... not just any car, guys cruisin' and hollerin' at foreign girls.  YAY DAPHNE!!!

Today was good, too.  Church was good, and I'm glad I took some extra quiet time this morning.. I felt like I needed to bring all my language stuff and somehow was translating the lesson plan into French in my head as I was reading it.  Today, Grant was gone (the whole family, actually) so the little French boy and the little Sudanese boy were there.  Ann and I were so glad we had the each other there.. I worked my French and she fiddled in Arabic, and we actually had a great class!  I didn't know why, but I prepared lots of picture stuff (and not really any written stuff except for reading a couple scriptures) for the lesson, so we were able to use the pictures and teach that way.  I'm being lazy right now and getting ready to cook a dish to pass for the pot luck dinner Daphne and I are going to try to make it to in Heliopolis tonight.

Valentine's is tomorrow.. and I'm really missing Mike.  However, Daphne, Peter, and I have worked up a group to go to Dreamland tomorrow (a funpark out here), so we'll see how that turns out.  I think it'll be a crazy day :)