The Real Deal (part 1)

Yes, this is me, for real, posting. You may not have noticed (though I'm guessing you probably did), but I've been avoiding this post like the plague. Do you know how much went on during that week?? It occurred to me, though, that as I avoided Egypt week, life at Jerusalem kept going, and if I put it off for too much longer catching up would be hopeless. So... here we go. On the plus side, I have pictures! Forgive me? :)

So! Egypt! Well, Egypt was pretty cool. :) We left on Sunday, January 25, and got back the next Sunday, so it really was a fairly long trip. I've been thinking this over, and I think the best way to do this is to try to hit at least the highlights of each day. So, here we go!

Sunday, January 25

We didn't actually make it to Egypt this day. Instead, we kind of took our time, stopping at several sites in Israel and staying overnight at a kibbutz. One of our first stops was at Tel Beersheba, which is actually only about 12 miles from Gaza! Ha ha, we all wanted to take pictures of it (imagine having that photo on your blog! So cool!), but the main city of Beersheba was in the way, and they sure weren't taking us any closer! Oh well, at least I can say I've been to the West Bank. :)

The coolest place we stopped today was definitely Tel Avdat. Tel Avdat made me decide that, as wonderful as America is, its distinct lack of ancient ruins is rather tragic. Seriously, it was like a giant playground for adults! Actually, I think we probably weren't supposed to climb on some of those arches, but nobody stopped us, so that makes it okay, right?

We also stopped at a place with a desert outlook. It looked... really deserty. That's all I have to say about that.

We eventually made it to Kibbutz Yotvata, which gave us a tour. Kibbutzim actually are pretty interesting--anybody ever heard of them? I guess you would describe them as little socialist communities: everybody works, and everybody's paid the same amount of money, and all things are supposed to be owned by everyone. Or at least, that's how it started out. I'm not sure if they're quite so extreme anymore, though I do know that the pay for everybody is still the same, whether they teach, hold elected office, or work in the cafeteria. It's an interesting, yet simple, way of life. I probably couldn't handle it, but they seem to be getting by just fine. After dinner at the kibbutz, we went to another kibbutz outside of Eilat where we stayed the night.

Monday, January 26

We finally got to Egypt! ...Not that we did much. Most of the day was spent driving through such desolate terrain that I'll probably never complain about the drive through Nevada again. By the time we got to Gaza, it was definitely dinnertime, and we ate at the hotel. Thus began a long succession of horribly depressing meals, consisting mainly of meat, bread, and longing looks cast toward the produce table. It's not even that I like salad all that much, but by the time I got back to Israel I was craving it!

This was also the first day that we experienced having to brush our teeth with a water bottle, pay to use smelly bathrooms, and obsessively pull out hand sanitizer every 30 minutes. I also discovered that, compared to Cairo traffic, Jerusalem traffic is absolutely nothing. After analyzing Cairo traffic for about an hour, I came up with one rule of the road: if your car fits, put it there. I have to wonder why they even bothered to paint lines on the road when they're so blatantly ignored. However, as big, dirty, and insane as Cairo is, I infinitely prefer it to Luxor, for reasons I'll explain later.

We did have a small adventure this night--a group of about four of us decided to take a taxi to Pyramid Street (which was an adventure in and of itself), and we wandered about for a bit looking at shops. We spent most of our time at this perfume shop, where I bought a little bottle of this scent call "Aida." The merchant was really nice, too, completely misrepresenting most merchants in Egypt. :P Lol, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's not much of one! I'll never call Jerusalem merchants pushy again!

Tuesday, January 27

Life from this point on was extremely scheduled and hectic, though it was a good kind of hectic. Today we hit the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, a papyrus factory, Saqqara, and Memphis, and then we took an evening flight to Luxor. Unfortunately, my eye chose this day to become red and puffy and cry continuously, so I hate almost all of my pictures from this day. It was still really fun, though, and luckily I remembered my eye drops, so it wasn't an issue for the rest of the week.

We actually got to go inside pyramid Khafre, which is the second largest one, and that was a pretty cool experience. Being a bunch of college students, we decided it would be cool to do the hokey pokey in there... so that's what we did. :P We also had random dance parties in the hotel lobby, at the Hard Rock Cafe, at a rest stop near Sinai... and we wonder why people think that all Americans do is party!

Wednesday, January 28

Today we went to the Valley of the Kings. Tragically, cameras weren't allowed inside the tombs, for obscure reasons that I can't comprehend. All I can say is that the tombs were fascinating. There's so many symbols involved with the funerary art of ancient Egypt, and even though I know a little bit, I could barely comprehend most of what was going on. The ceilings were always pretty cool, though--they were painted blue with hundreds of white stars, symbolizing the sky goddess, Nut. Also, apparently there was an Ancient Egyptian belief that pharaohs would become stars after death, so it's significant in that respect, as well.

This was also the day when we rode camels. :) Meet Ali Baba, my faithful steed who steadfastly carried me through a small Egyptian town on the edge of the Nile. My guide's name was Muhammad, an 11-year old boy who was pretty funny when he wasn't trying to barter for his tip. I'm pretty sure somebody has a picture of me on the camel, but I can't remember who, so I'll have to find out later. By the way, camels are my new favorite animal. I can't even imagine a more awkward creature! They're hilarious!

After watching sunset on the Nile (which was beautiful), a group of us decided to walk to the bazaar in Luxor and take a look around. This is when I decided that I could never, ever live in Luxor. Luxor's a pretty small city, especially compared to Cairo's 17 million people, and it's much cleaner and much less crowded. However, the men there were so much more forward! Some of the comments were kind of funny, like, "Oh, you are so beautiful! I cannot believe my eyes! Eighty-million camels would not be enough!" (my self-esteem rose at that one!) or, "You have five wives? Lucky man! Share one with me!" (directed to the boy who was walking with us, obviously). Some of them were disturbing, though, and I could never get over the way that the men just seemed to stare. As opposed to Cairo, which has thousands of shops and even more tourists, there's only one street of bazaars in Luxor, and merchants there are like hawks. Sometimes it felt almost nightmarish trying to get down that street with merchants coming at you from both sides, making comments and sometimes trying to physically pull you into their shops (one actually dumped a scarf on my head to force me to stop). I think I've never been ripped off so much in my life, either, because I really didn't get the hang of the whole bartering-thing until we went back to Cairo. It was still pretty fun at times, though, and even though the scarf-man ripped me off BIG time, he also showed me a couple of new ways to tie my scarfs, so I've forgiven him. :P

I had intended to cover all of Egypt tonight, but it's past midnight here and I still have to study for a quiz tomorrow, so I'm calling it quits. I'll be back tomorrow, though, so hopefully this'll last you until then!

To be continued...