Egypt Prep

Hello Everybody!!!

I wanted to share the great news that I will still be going to Egypt August 23. I was afraid that I was not going to be able to go due to political issues but AUC has said they deem their campus safe and that they are happy I have decided to still participate in the program. I am finishing up paperwork and should hear back about the Egyptology scholarship I applied for in around ten days, so everyone wish me luck!!
Over the next four months the blog will transform drastically. From a travelogue the blog will instead become a place where every day or every other day I will post a picture, a place, an interesting person in Egyptian history, a current event, or my own experiences. One day might be the history of Abu Simbel, the next an expose on the High Priest/God Imhotep, and the next my take on current issues in Egypt.

I hope everyone enjoys and feels free to comment or share.

Talk to everyone again closer to the departure date!!!

Yay!!!!

So today is a wonderful day as I inadvertently rediscovered my old email password for my Egypt travelogue blog!!! For anyone who doesn't know, I am returning to Egypt for 4 MONTHS to study Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. I confirmed my classes yesterday and my room assignment, and I could not be any more stoked!! My official send off date is August 23rd, and I wont return until around Christmastime. I'll try to continue blogging and posting pictures from my stay as long as I don't get swamped with my 5 classes. I'll post more info as it gets closer to Send-off Day.

Day 14

6/25/10

Today we leave the ship. We are docked in Aswan still and are leaving for Cairo from Aswan airport aboard EgyptAir. We woke up at 6:00 to have our suitcases out and ready for pickup. We thought we were on time but were really dragging from the harsh pace of the last few days. There were crazy people who were up earlier than they needed to be and were chipper, CHIPPER! I don't understand it.
At breakfast we said goodbye to our friends the waiters in the restaurant. Two of them were with us a lot and we talked a lot.
After breakfast we boareded the bus after locating our luggage. We haven't had any luggage problems but one other person on the trip did have their luggage lost on one of our flights.
This is our longest domestic flight and it is several hours long. The last twenty minutes are the worst i've felt on the trips. They have been steadily increasing in pain level each flight. Our friend Carin was having worse trouble than me across the isle. Unfortunately Cairo airport was not ready for us and we circled twice. Neither of us appreciated that.
Going to our hotel is routine now especially since we are in the same hotel we were in the first week. Our rooms are still in the garden so we show Carin and her roommate how to get there since they stayed in a tower last time. On the bus trip to the hotel I saw Smash Tennis Academy. Yay!! I also saw clouds for the first time in this sunny country. Sam said it would not rain though this late in the season.
After settling in our new rooms we decided to get rid of our last Egyptian pounds by shopping! I especially want a purse that says Egypt or Cairo all around it. I saw a bag that said Luxor like that at Karnak Temple and I hoped I could find one in Cairo before we left. Fortunately I did! And I found a pink Egypt bag for mom! I also bought a book with some of my last pounds after Karin's Christmas present. (A black cat like her cat Chet).
Right away we needed to go to the farewell cocktail. It is kind of boring but we find some of our friends to say goodbye to. We say goodbye to Sam one last time and I told her about this blog.
Earlier on the bus we had promised Dorothy a bottle of water since she was asked anyone for an extra. Well we had plenty saved so we offered her one of ours but we forgot to get her room number at the cocktail. So we spend some time with the front desk trying to find Dorothy and we find the other Dorothy on the trip. Fortunately we had gotten to know her too and it wasn't too too weird.
While we were searching for her I was watching a movie in English, football in English, and tennis in Arabic. After we found the correct Dorothy we visited her room in one of the towers. She thanked us for the water and mentioned something about tennis and wanting to watch. Well I knew the channel so I found it for her. She is a major tennis fan too. She knows stats and remembers matches just like me. We talked tennis and Karin and Mark got the bored look on their faces that I had whenever they started talking college football. Karin asked if that was how I felt and laughed with me.
After taking pictures of Dorothy's amazing view of the Nile we ate dinner in the outdoor cafe we walked through everyday to get to our rooms. The food was pretty good and what we expected. I even got a burger no cheese how I wanted it. It was great.
We get ready for our harrowing fourteen hour flight tomorrow back in our rooms. For me that means reading and watching tennis happily. I am arguing with the Arabic announcers in English. I have watched enough tennis to know what they are saying even through the language barrier. LOL

Day 13

6/24/10

Today is the day we wake up extremely early to drive three hours through the desert to Abu Simbel temple. We are actually very lucky because everyone else who wishes to go must leave at four instead of five like we are. An armed caravan must drive with the buses. Grand Circle arranged their own. Still we had to wake up at three thirty in the morning to leave. I fell asleep on the bus after looking at the desert in the middle of the night... not much to see. But, sleeping on the bus was not the easiest thing, I ended up screwing my jaw shut for the rest of the day. I could talk but barely open my mouth to eat.

Abu Simbel was worth the discomfort. After we got off the bus and walked around the man-made mountain to the walkway. First we see the other end of blue blue Lake Nasser. It is beautiful as it is. But walk around the corner and BAM!!!!!

All I could say was "WOW!" Sam agreed with me and says it still hits her after all of these visits.

This is one of the few times I could say I was truely wowed. It is amazing. Guides are not allowed inside so Sam had explained everything earlier in the bus.

I walked around a lot on my own and the inside is as amazing as the outside.

Historical fact- there is a chamber straight back that is the sancuary of the temple. Twice a year the sun goes through the entire temple to this chamber and lights up three of the four statues resting there. The god of darkness is kept in shadow. Even after being moved, this feat occurs twice a year on different days. No pictures are allowed inside the two temples built here, they can only be used on the facades.

Its funny without Sam several of the people from my bus came up and asked me questions and I knew probably nine out of ten of the answers. A security guarde actually came up to me and asked if I was a tour guide. I said no and all was fine. I thought it very funny though. Iwas the last person from our group to leave the temple. I could have stayed even longer.

After the great temple built with the four likenesses of Ramsses I walked over to the smaller temple dedicated to hathor for Nefertari Ramesses chief wife. This temple is smaller but very well preserved and lovely.

Today is one of the hottest days here in Egypt. It is up to 125 degrees and we are in the middle of the desert. Grandma and Dorothy are having trouble getting back up the hill. Frankly most people were having a hard time. Strangely though I was hot but I was fine. Its strange, but I have created quite a heat tolerance.

We walked back to the entrance and a small market where we received our pictures of the inside that we ordered earlier with Sam. We sat and had a drink and Karin tried curry chips. Orange Fanta is nearly as refreshing as water in this heat and much better tasting.

We have another three hour ride back to Aswan, but it is still early in the day and we actually have a day left.

When I get back, you guessed it, into the pool I went. It is my new favorite place in the entire world. Before dinner went to the farewell cocktail, but we left early to buy more gifts. I picked up the ship DVD we had ordered earlier and Karin and Mark shopped some more. After dinner we had a trip to the spice market planned. Mom had asked for some cinnamon when she had looked at the itinerary before we left. After Bassim explained how it is selled here we were let loose. Grandma bought some saffron, vanilla bean and wanted some of my cinnamon. I bought cinnamon and vanilla for mom. We got a lot and it was only seventy-five Egyptian pounds. Ten ounces of saffron was that inexpensive.

When we returned, we needed to pack our suitcases to be picked up tomorrow morning to be set on the bus on our way to the airport to fly back to Cairo. Luckily we were packed by the time the lights went out, in fact we were in bed. They came back on eventually.

Sometime during the night someone or something called me. I do not having calling with my global plan I have texting. Even the call that woke me up and I hung up on will cost an astronomical amount of money! I don't even know who it was!!

I can't believe my trip is ending. Tomorrow is our last day in Egypt! NOOOOOOOOOOOO

Day 12

6/23/10

Today is we dock in Aswan. This is very far to the southern end of Egypt and it just gets hotter. Today we plan to visit the Aswan dams, Lake, Nasser, Philae temple, and Sondos Papyrus shop. First up is Philae temple. This temple used to be on Philae island before the island was flooded due to Lake Nasser's creation. The entire temple was moved to a new island and replaced exactly as it was before. The island was even modified to look the same as the other one. This temple is beautiful and delicate and feminine. Which makes sense as it is dedicated to the Chief female goddess Isis. We took a small boat to the island and back without grandma. She isn't feeling well and decided to stay behind today.

After Philae we drove to Sondos Papyrus factory. We had a quick tutorial on papyrus making. If I had simply soaked my papyrus fibres in water for six days I would have had much larger pieces to work with and I would have had more impressive samples for history fair. Oh well, too late now. I bought a painting of Anubis, and a painting of the Weighing of the Heart scene from the Book of the Dead. I'm going to need to get them framed when I get home. I also asked Karin and Mark to make a painting of Thoth be a graduation present to me and they agreed.

We were the first bus to the factory and the first to leave. Next is the two dams and Lake Nasser. Lake Nasser is huge, it is over 300 kilometers long. The other end is over three hours away drive by bus.

The water is beautiful and you can see what an unencumbered Nile looks like... until it hits the dam of course. It was so windy though. My skirt had a mind of its own.

Since we were the first to the dams, we were the first back to the ship. We have never been first, we are always last, but today we made it. We had lunch and a lazy afternoon until 4:00.

At 4:00 we have a falucca ride. (little sail boat) We kept rocking around enough that I stuck my hands in the water whenever we rocked to my side. There was a nice breeze and wonderful views of an island garden. It was nice.

We came back in time to get ready for dinner. But, before dinner we have the port talk and the U.S. vs Algeria soccer world cup match. Soccer is really big over here and you can't help but get involved yourself. So, the four of us went to the bar and watched their tv while drinking our usuals. Unfortunately we were pulled out for the port talk. But, part way through the bar tender and his friend ran out to tell us that the U.S. scored against Algeria. The match was over by the end of the port talk and the United States won. The Egyptians were as excited as we were because Algeria knocked Egypt out of the World Cup and there is bad blood between them.

After dinner there was a show in the lounge but we decided to skip it because we need to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to leave for Abu Simbel.

Our early night did not happen!! There is another boat docked next to us and they have a tv on their sun deck. The stupid german boat stayed up until one in the morning cheering and booing!! We got no sleep! I was so mad.

Tomorrow is the amazing trip to Abu Simbel, it is one of the highlights of the trip. Plenty to talk about tomorrow.

Day 11

6/22/10



Woken up this morning to the ship vibrating as it sails at four this morning, not fun. We sailed from Esna to Edfu during the early morning in order to make it to Edfu temple dedicated to the falcon god Horus. It was a diverting temple and I found good reliefs of Seshat the goddess of writing and history, and Thoth the ibis-headed god of wisdom. Karin found many cats and kittens who looked healthy and was happy.
After the temple I went up to the sun deck yet again. This is a wonderful tradition I have clung to and I am really going to miss it when I go home. The best part is how quickly you dry, so it's no hassel to get wet. ( Which is my usual deterrent) Grandma, Anne, Mark, and Karin joined me and we talked and gossiped about the sites and the other passengers. It was fun. Lunch was pretty good, normal.
After lunch I washed my hair and went up to the sun deck to dry off. I love how quickly my hair dries!!!!!! I am so going to miss it when I go home.
When we were getting ready to go to Kom Ombo temple we found another ship had docked right next to ours and were walking through ours to get to land. Grandma decided not to come with us, so it was only Karin, Mark, and I. The temple was cool, and I saw a relief of Ma'at the goddess of truth underneith an oracle of ancient times made for commoners. This temple was dedicated to both Horus and the crocodile god Sobek, so half is decorated with falcons and Hathor his bride, and the other half is decorated with crocodiles.
Karin was not feeling well so we walked back and left Mark to take a few more pictures.
I got back to find Dorothy and Grandma having a drink and talking in the lounge. I throught this a great idea and I got a drink too. I always get a diet coke and the guys at the bar know it by now. They see me coming and they have it ready almost by the time I get there.
Next is the port talk we have every night about where we are and what it going on for the rest of the night and the next morning.
Tonight is the night of the Egyptian dinner. This means we are supposed to dress Egyptian and the food is all authentic egyptian. (Well mostly anyway)
After the dinner we had Egyptian Night up in the lounge. My only concession to dressing Egyptian was a purple scarf meant for your head that I wrapped around my hips and my large ankh necklace. ( an ankh looks like a cross with a curved top like an upsidedown teardrop) Mark wore the King Tut headress with the cobra crown and pleated nemes. (nemes just means the cloth side part). Everyone throught we was a hoot. The headdress though is meant for his nephew. He'll never now unless he sees the pictures we took of Mark. The DJ also gave me a tourquoise belly dancer hip wrap that I put on top of my purple one. It wasn't a bad effect.
Bassem is our mc for the party and of course he, Sam, and Jihan are all decked out and look way better than the rest of us. Each group came up for a group shot with their program director.

Then the real party started. We were all invited onto the dance floor for a dance competition. As we were the last group up, we stayed on to try it out. Every once in a while Bassem would stop the music and tell us to get in groups of however many. If you didn't find yourself in a group, you were out. Karin and Grandma left Mark and I up there. His long arms served us well. I lasted until the final six and he lasted till the final three. I received many complements on my dancing basically because I was one of the few who can move their hips independently. Bassem even came up and danced with me. It was a whole lot of fun though I was embarrassed laughing for most of the time.
After the dance competition Bassem took four guys out into the hall and told them to pretend to be riding a motorcycle. He told us to pretend they all had Pharaoh's revenge ( yes it is like Montezuma's revenge) We were laughing hysterically for twenty minutes straight. We wouldn't tell the guys though until the end so they were confused. Hehehe.
Next Bassem called up a couple from each group for the mummy wrapping contest of course. This was funny in who each program director picked to participate. It was another good laugh.
Next was free dancing, and surprisingly this time we stayed. We sat out the first dance then got up for the next, it was a latin dance. I'm not up there two seconds when the DJ comes out, grabs my hand, and starts teaching me the merengue. I keep laughing over my mistakes until I get it. I got it pretty quick though and it was so much fun. He kissed my hand when the song ended, and then we all left for our cabins. I got a few complements on the merengue on my way out and Mark had several requests for pictures with his headdress.
Tomorrow we arrive in Aswan. Home of the famous dam and supposedly the best place to buy papyrus.

Tune in tomorrow for more of Sarah's Egypt Adventure.

Day 10

6/21/10

Today was the day of the early balloon ride. Mark was the only one of us who wished to wake up really early to go. Apparantly the view is spectacular and we charged Mark with taking many pictures. Unfortunately, the balloon rides were canceled due to low visibility after everyone arrived at the launch site. So Mark woke up and left only to come back empty handed.

Karnak temple is today. It is one of the largest complexes and is only a few miles away in Luxor. My camera acted up again today and refused to let me view any pictures I took. Grandma and Karin desperately needed the bathroom when we were on the complete opposite side of the complex. We walked back, and the heat was so much today that I didn't mind one bit walking back and not exploring forever.

We returned to the bus and rode home. Some people actually stayed and walked home since there is a straight route back by walking. They are crazy. When I got back to the ship I changed into my bathing suit again and commenced reading and cooling in the pool. I returned for lunch where it was American Day; pizza, hamburgers, french fries, fried chicken, perfiderols and icecream. True the pizza had tuna on it and the fried chicken had a different crust than we would ever expect and perfiderols are french, but it was a good day.

Karin and Mark found kindred spirits in our seatmates today at lunch. The two of them have been following the college football shuffle and they found others who are much more enthusiastic than Grandma and I have been. I enjoyed listening and learning something new.

After lunch I addressed all of my remaining postcards and decided what gifts are going to whom. I found gifts for my librarians yesterday and I sorted them out.

While we were going through a large lock, several small boats attached to our ship. Then, the people on board whipped out bags of clothing and table clothes etc to sell on the boat. They threw the merchandise up to our third deck sun deck and negotiated from the water. If you liked the product you threw the money down in a bag, if you didn't, you threw it back. It was hilarious and I got a bad picture of it through the glass, because if you opened your window they threw stuff to you too! It lasted until we were through the lock and out of reach.

After our black and white dinner, we had a show in the lounge. It is a play directed by program director of the red group Jihan. I got pulled in by Bassam and was chosen to play the window. Everyone was confused and laughing and trying their best to follow Jihan and it was great fun. I'm go glad i've learned to laugh when i'm embarrassed instead of turning bright red.

After our show there is a crew show. Some of the crew came and performed an Ancient Egypt show and then a modern one. In the modern one they were pulling people in to dance. Again I got pulled in. Only I didn't get pulled into the group circle dance, I got pulled into the middle. Thank you ten years of dance training. I was able to not make a fool of myself.

Throughout all of this Karin and Mark had planned on staying in their room. When I became the window, Grandma fetched them and their camera so this is on their camera and the tape of the show the boat is making. After the second crew show we left (ran away). Before any more silliness could ensue.