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I just got back to Jerusalem after the most amazing vacation I’ll probably ever have in my life. It all began last Sunday as we headed for Egypt making a few stops along the way. Among the places we stopped was the Valley of Zin, where Miriam died… sad. I made a tribute to her there, well by tribute I mean I pretended I was dead in honor of my namesake.
After going arriving in Egypt we woke up and headed straight for the Pyramids. They were AMAZING!! We saw Khufu’s pyramid first which was awesome, and then we got to go inside the pyramid of Khafre. It was a little Closter phobic getting in, and it was extremely hot inside, but we did what we could to make it just a little hotter. We played the hokey pokey while all the Egyptians looked at us like we are weird… I’m sure we did nothing to help the American stereotype.
After going arriving in Egypt we woke up and headed straight for the Pyramids. They were AMAZING!! We saw Khufu’s pyramid first which was awesome, and then we got to go inside the pyramid of Khafre. It was a little Closter phobic getting in, and it was extremely hot inside, but we did what we could to make it just a little hotter. We played the hokey pokey while all the Egyptians looked at us like we are weird… I’m sure we did nothing to help the American stereotype.
The sphinx is surprisingly small compared to the pyramids but it was still pretty huge. The Cairo museum was incredible. I got to see the mummy of Ramses II who is believed to be the Pharaoh that Moses asked to let his people go. We all thought we were hilarious and kept saying to Ramses, "let my people go". All of you who know me know how prissy I am, so I wasn’t sure how I would feel about looking at mummies, but I LOVED it. They were awesome, and even better was an animal mummy exhibit. I saw King Tut’s treasure, ridiculous, and so much more artwork that I learned about in my art history class in the fall, so that was really neat. We saw the temples in Luxor, the Luxor and Karnak, and went on carriage rides and a faluka (sailboat) ride on the Nile. I saw where baby Moses was put in the water, not really but I told people that’s where it was… On the faluka ride I even found true love! Osama was his name and he had beautiful chocolate skin and huge brown eyes. My friend Cate and I were totally in love. After we got dropped off we were watching the boat drift off and he waved at us. So we waved back, and then he started blowing kisses at us… like I said, true love. Cate and I are pretty sure we’re going to have to go back and find him one day. Osama and Miriam… I think it has a nice ring to it.
One of my favorite things during the trip was the camel “safari” we took through a village in Luxor. Note to Aunt Jeannie: I decided to give horseback riding a second chance when I get home! I was basically a pro at riding my camel. My camel’s name was Rasta/ Bob (that’s right he had a hyphenated name) and the little boy who led my camel was named Muhammad. Most of the boys are named Muhammad. He was so cute. At one point he asked if I wanted to be by a friend who was way ahead of us, and I said no that’s okay I’m fine where I am, but he didn’t take no for an answer. So all of the sudden, my camel takes off and we passed four camels in front of us on a little narrow road. How do these things always happen to me? My camel was pretty rambunctious so he ran (would you say a camel runs…?) most of the time! I liked it though. During this expedition also, I decided I want to adopt an Egyptian child. They were so precious coming out to wave at us go by. They were pretty sad sights though; they looked like they were straight from a National Geographic. Being in Egypt taught me so much about the blessings of safe water and food and clean living conditions we have in the states.
If anyone out there needs a self esteem boost, I recommend a trip to Egypt. As long as you’re a woman, you will be told you are beautiful. Everywhere I went men were asking if I was married and telling me I was beautiful. My response was always that I am married and that I have a really jealous husband that I love so much. My friends and I really got into it at the Bazaar in Luxor. We told all kinds of crazy things. Everyone wanted to know if we were American and we always said no, because you never know who likes Americans and who hates them. We figured we were safe saying we were Canadian, and that way if we did anything dumb we could blame it on Canada. I also got really good at bargaining. I was the best at wingman bargaining and I helped my friends buy what they wanted. One shopkeeper shook his finger at me and told me I’m a shrewd bargainer… thank you very much.
Most embarrassing moment of my trip to Egypt:
We went to the Hard Rock Café in Cairo for lunch on our last day. All of our meals were already paid for when I paid for the program, but soft drinks were not included. And in Egypt, you just don’t drink the water. So at the Hard Rock I got a 7 up to drink with my meal. My waiter brought out the check which was 24.26 pounds which converts to about 5 dollars. I was still really thirsty so I asked if refills were free and he said no. Later, however, (because in Egypt blondes get special treatment I guess) the waiter brought out another 7 up and said because you are beautiful no charge. So I was all, yeeeeea blonde hair is payin off for once. Later he came back to collect the money and I was telling some people a really really awesome story and was apparently distracted. I went to pay him, counted out 25 even handed it to him and he walked away. On the way back to the hotel realization sunk in that I had paid in DOLLARS! not pounds! AHHHH. Best dang 7 up I ever had, it was worth 25 dollars to me. Word spread quickly about Miriam’s blonde moment and some faculty members assured me that my story would live on in the history of the Jerusalem Center for years to come… lucky me!
One of my favorite things during the trip was the camel “safari” we took through a village in Luxor. Note to Aunt Jeannie: I decided to give horseback riding a second chance when I get home! I was basically a pro at riding my camel. My camel’s name was Rasta/ Bob (that’s right he had a hyphenated name) and the little boy who led my camel was named Muhammad. Most of the boys are named Muhammad. He was so cute. At one point he asked if I wanted to be by a friend who was way ahead of us, and I said no that’s okay I’m fine where I am, but he didn’t take no for an answer. So all of the sudden, my camel takes off and we passed four camels in front of us on a little narrow road. How do these things always happen to me? My camel was pretty rambunctious so he ran (would you say a camel runs…?) most of the time! I liked it though. During this expedition also, I decided I want to adopt an Egyptian child. They were so precious coming out to wave at us go by. They were pretty sad sights though; they looked like they were straight from a National Geographic. Being in Egypt taught me so much about the blessings of safe water and food and clean living conditions we have in the states.
If anyone out there needs a self esteem boost, I recommend a trip to Egypt. As long as you’re a woman, you will be told you are beautiful. Everywhere I went men were asking if I was married and telling me I was beautiful. My response was always that I am married and that I have a really jealous husband that I love so much. My friends and I really got into it at the Bazaar in Luxor. We told all kinds of crazy things. Everyone wanted to know if we were American and we always said no, because you never know who likes Americans and who hates them. We figured we were safe saying we were Canadian, and that way if we did anything dumb we could blame it on Canada. I also got really good at bargaining. I was the best at wingman bargaining and I helped my friends buy what they wanted. One shopkeeper shook his finger at me and told me I’m a shrewd bargainer… thank you very much.
Most embarrassing moment of my trip to Egypt:
We went to the Hard Rock Café in Cairo for lunch on our last day. All of our meals were already paid for when I paid for the program, but soft drinks were not included. And in Egypt, you just don’t drink the water. So at the Hard Rock I got a 7 up to drink with my meal. My waiter brought out the check which was 24.26 pounds which converts to about 5 dollars. I was still really thirsty so I asked if refills were free and he said no. Later, however, (because in Egypt blondes get special treatment I guess) the waiter brought out another 7 up and said because you are beautiful no charge. So I was all, yeeeeea blonde hair is payin off for once. Later he came back to collect the money and I was telling some people a really really awesome story and was apparently distracted. I went to pay him, counted out 25 even handed it to him and he walked away. On the way back to the hotel realization sunk in that I had paid in DOLLARS! not pounds! AHHHH. Best dang 7 up I ever had, it was worth 25 dollars to me. Word spread quickly about Miriam’s blonde moment and some faculty members assured me that my story would live on in the history of the Jerusalem Center for years to come… lucky me!
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