Here are a few pictures from us celebrating Halloween in the
center. It was one of my favorite Halloweens because everyone got so into it
and had to be creative because none of us actually had anything to work with
besides what we brought. The professors’ kids came around and trick or treated
at each of our rooms and they loved our room that we decorated using our
curtains, blankets, and flashlights. It was so fun, and then we had a dance
party with everyone in the Oasis afterwards! It definitely is a Halloween I
will remember.
EGYPT…
Day 1
Our group was too big to fit on just one plane over to Egypt
so we had to split into two groups. Our group filled a whole plane, and the
leftovers (which was the group I was in) had to leave about three hours earlier
and we flew down to Egypt with about 20 of us, which ended up being really nice
traveling with a smaller group.
After we picked up the rest of the group from the airport we
went to the Old City of Cairo. We definitely
stuck out, being a huge group of almost 100 white Americans getting off huge
tour busses into a big crowd of Egyptians. They were filming something right
inside the gate so it was a little chaotic and super crowded. It was nice that
we had our security from the Center with us, but also some local security
personnel with us too. We walked through the Old City, which was really pretty,
but it was just a little on the stressful side because our group was so huge
and everyone was very interested in us. We broke into small groups to walk
around and see the Bazaar, which was nice and a lot easier to walk around. We
had to have groups of at least five with one boy in each group so I never felt
unsafe or anything. The craziest part of the Old City was when we left the bus
drove straight through the narrow streets of the Bazaar to take us back to our
hotel.
Day 2
The city of Cairo was very crowded. 20 million people live
there! There were cars and people everywhere you turned. What amazed me was the
fact that barely any of the roads had lines or signs or anything! There were
tons of tall apartment styled buildings where people lived, but also a ton of
buildings that had a couple floors completed on the bottom and towards the top
of the building it is just unfinished building. Our tour guide told us that if
the apartment isn’t completely build the people living inside don’t have to pay
taxes so they like to live there. Another crazy thing he told us, was that this
area made up of probably 8ish blocks of old tombs and 650,000 people live
inside of there! It’s free to live there because they aren’t real houses, so
that was pretty crazy.
The first pyramid we went and visited was the Step Pyramid
where a bunch of burial mastabas were build on top of each other. That was fun
to see, and we were able to see the other pyramids out on the horizon, which
was way cool to see. There are over 100 pyramids in Egypt! Who knew?
Then we went to see the Pyramids of Giza. They were huge! I
wish we had some more time there because they were so cool! Each stone was
huge, it was unreal. It was amazing to think about how those pyramids have been
there for thousands of years and are still standing almost virtually the same. I
also didn’t realize that when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had to flee to Egypt the
pyramids had already been there for 2,000 years. Another thing was so cool that
we did at the pyramids was going inside the small pyramid! There wasn’t really
anything inside, but it was kind of a cool experience to walk inside one of the
ancient Pyramids of Giza!
We got to the Sphynx right before it closed so that was
lucky! And I ended up matching one of my professors and my friend…so I guess that’s
what I get for bringing boy clothes to adhere to the frumpy dress code here
haha. That night we went to a papyrus factory which was cool to see, I didn’t
know that it takes at least two weeks to soak the bits of pounded papyrus
before pressing them together and drying them to make paper. That night we took
a night bus tour of the city, which was fun to see everything. We drove by lots
of different restaurants and places where all the old men were sitting outside watching
some soccer game on the TV, it was funny. It was cool seeing all the nice
hotels and everything along the river too.
The next day we went to the Cairo Museum, which I LOVED! It
was crazy because right outside the museum was the square where the Arab Spring
broke out in 2011 when my professor Dr. Judd was here with a group of students,
and our tour guide Ahmed was there too. And Ahmed is a stud because during the
rioting, him and some tour guide friends of his went to the Cairo Museum to
protect the antiquities and ended up getting shot in the leg by a rubber bullet
and the Jerusalem Center Doctor did a mini surgery to remove it! I just thought
that was seriously so cool that he went there to protect something that he knew
was so important to him and society in general. The museum was filled with tons
of amazing exhibits, but I think the sections of King Tut and the mummies were
my favorite. They had all of the treasures from inside his tomb, and he didn’t
even rule for that long! But the amount of treasures, gold, and craftsmanship
of everything it was amazing, it almost took up the entire second floor. It was
crazy to think that probably most people won’t see some of the things I saw.
The mummies were so cool too! I saw the mummies of the Pharaohs we have been
learning about in class, and growing up learning about Egypt.
That afternoon we had lunch on the Nile at TGIFriday’s which
was kind of weird because it felt like we were back in America inside the
restaurant but then looking out the window we were definitely in Egypt. Then we
went to the Muhammad Mosques at the top of the citadel in the city, and they
were beautiful and had an amazing view of the city!
Happy Birthday Dr. Judd! He turned 50 while we were in Cairo!
That night we took a dinner cruise on the Nile, and it was
definitely one of the highlights! We had the whole inside of the boat and we
had a nice buffet for dinner, and then while we were eating we had a show by
this Egyptian spinning dancing man. It was crazy, he spun the entire time, he
had tons of layers of skirts, some lit up, some he spun over his head, and the
grand finale was when he pulled his hat out and whipped his hair around haha.
It was crazy. But the best part was after his performance, we played DJ and all
danced on the dance floor together the whole way back and it was one huge
party, it was so fun.
The night before we flew from Cairo to Luxor. In the morning
we took little boats over to the Karnak Temple. There was an aux cord in the
boat so we had another dance party on the Nile again, obviously.
The Karnak Temple was an ancient temple that different
Pharaohs added onto. It was so crazy seeing all the different columns with all
their hieroglyphs and all of the reliefs on the walls. It was cool, there was
one that showed the ancient washing and anointing, and some of the other
carvings showed how future Pharaohs would scrape off past Pharaohs off the
walls.
That afternoon we got to take a camel safari along the Nile,
which was awesome! Abdul was the little boy that helped me and our camel George
Clooney. It was interesting talking to him about how important tourism is and
how happy he was that we were there and that they don’t get tourists visit as
much anymore.
After dinner we took carriages over to the Temple of Luxor
and we did the Luxor by Night, which was cool to see all of the columns and the
temple and everything at night. I really have liked the different places we
have gone at night because it just gives a different perspective and I like it
a lot.
Day 5
On our last day we went and visited the Valley of the Kings
where they buried all of the Pharaohs. King Tut’s tomb was the only one that
didn’t get completely emptied out by tomb robbers, but we still went inside 3
of them to see what they were like inside, and they were amazing. In their
culture they have only 70 days to dig, plaster, paint, and fill the tombs for
the different kings, which is insane because of how big, complete, and
intricate the tombs were. The reliefs and paintings on the walls and ceilings
were amazing, and so well preserved in there! I was definitely in awe. After we
visited a few of those, we went to the Temple of Hatshepsut, the female Pharaoh
and explored around her temple a bit.
That afternoon we came back to the hotel and hung out by the
pool which was literally a dream. I was able to sit out in the sun, warm
weather, by the pool, along the Nile in November, surrounded by my friends on
vacation in Egypt! I loved it. Overall, Egypt was an amazing trip!
