Back to Egypt days 7 & 8

I think I should mention an oversight of mine from the day that we took the train from Luxor back to Cairo. There was, of course, concern from our bosses here that the train would not be safe or that there would be delays etc. But, our sources in Egypt assured us there would be no problems -- and there weren't. BUT, the very next day the trains were all shut down! Just one more evidence that "someone" was watching over us!





Now, back to Day 7 - our drive from Cairo to Mount Sinai. Normally, we would spend the morning in Cairo and then drive. This time we just stayed at the hotel and left following breakfast. As we drove across the bridge, out of Cairo, we saw some burned-out police cars. That was our only "contact" with the revolution.


The change between the green of the Nile and the desert is dramatic and almost instantaneous! Below is one of a few oasis - very likely one that Lehi and his family would have stopped at, since any travelers in the desert will go from oasis to oasis. In the background you can see ships in the Red Sea.

Here are a couple of bedouin women near the oasis. As we got off of the bus, we were immediately surrounded by children and their mothers asking us to buy their wares. I bought 3 bracelets and 2 necklaces - very cute!

Another oasis stop called Elim. Here the students reenacted the story of

Israelites fighting the Amalekites. The one where the Israelites won as long as Moses had his arms raised. It was quite entertaining! Here we were out in the middle of the desert and we drive by this little road-side mosque.

Here come the mountains of Sinai:

The tree in the above picture is called a Shittim wood tree. It is what they made boats out of.

This is the Morgenland Hotel, where we spent the night. Well, those who hiked Mount Sinai didn't spent much of night :)

This is what those who hiked the mountain, experienced: a beautiful sunrise on the top. Cold in Fall, freezing in Winter.

Some were so exhausted after getting up at 2:00 am and then hiking for 1.5 to 2 hours that this is what they did:

Somehow I've deleted one picture. Kent is the Elder's Quorum president and one of his 2 counselors was set apart on top of Mount Sinai in the Fall semester. I had a picture of the Kent and his 2 counselors. Sorry. You'll just have to imagine. But, look at this sunrise!!!!!

These little shops are all along the path up the mountain. Winter Semester, Kent took a camel most of the way up. He was with 2 sick students and one of the service couples. It was the camel ride from hell! The camels were really unruly and dumped dear Shari off. One of the girl's camels walked into one of the shops and about beheaded her in the doorway! Kent was so cold by the time he reached the top that the faculty told me he was physically shaking as he tried to get out his notes. He got very sick the following day! The service couple and one of the 2 girls stayed in a little place like this where they could be warm and have hot chocolate as they waited for the rest to come back down.

Kent has told the students several times that camel drivers are wicked and evil. Here he is - becoming his own worst nightmare:

The camel driver was terribly ill and at one point on the way back down the mountain he just handed Kent the rope and left him to lead the camels. The woman in the red is Shari who got thrown off her camel. She refused to get back on even after she fell and sprained her ankle. Kent and the tour agent had to force her on the camel. Like I said - the camel ride from hell! Kent just came in and is complaining that I'm telling this story when I wasn't even there. But, I figured you'd like to hear the story before we come home ;)!

The woman in red is Shari - the one who got dumped off her camel. She's even smiling. She's such a good sport!

This is St. Catherine's monastery at the bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately, it is closed on Sundays so the students couldn't go inside.

This is looking back up the hill.

Close up of the monastery.

Now, here's what I did. I slept in and then took a leisurely stroll around the property: The pool was great for the fall semester students but way too cold for winter.

In the background you see the hotel where we stay now. In the foreground - where we used to stay. The stone structures have ledges inside where we laid really scary-looking sleeping bags and then there was a tent top that went across. Boy, those were the days! In fact, the structures are an upgrade. Jeff Chadwick remembers just sleeping on the ground.

More hotel.

In the Winter semester, one of the docs didn't hike up either. She and I went for a walk after we woke up. We strolled by the restaurant, which was closed, but the manager saw us and let us in and brought us plates of cheese, breads, fruit and hot chocolate. We had a lovely breakfast and a nice chat.

The picture above is looking out the front gate of the hotel complex. If you turn to your right you see the little shops: Christine and I had lots of fun in them. I bought a couple of brightly colored tops. These places were very popular the night before - the students/faculty were buying hats, scarves and gloves for the hike!

After shopping in the outdoor shops, we went inside the main building where there were MORE shops. We had fun buying little gifts for children and grandchildren. We made the owners very happy. Christine bought a couple of beautiful wall hangings. One of the last supper and the other of the Madonna and Christ child. Really lovely.

After everyone's return, and showers, and lunch, we drove home. We had a very quick and fairly painless border crossing. About 40 minutes across the border is a kibbutz/restaurant. It is called Yotvata. We had an early dinner here. Their milk products are home made so yummy chocolate milke and 1 scoop of delicious ice cream for dessert! Here we are waiting in line for dinner.

This is where we ate.

It was a hard decision on the ice cream - so many yummy choices!

This was one of our nicer rest stops on the way home. Just wanted you to see the women's sign, close up.

Our next stop was home! Yea, our own beds, drinkable water, clean bathrooms! :)

Valentine's Day - a little bit late ;)

I found these heart doilies in my office filing cabinet, so I hung them in front of our apartment doors.

On Valentine's Day morning we awoke to find that we had been "heart-attacked" by the students. All of the faculty/staff doors were covered in the same way. In fact, now that I think about it, so was the Oasis door, the security window, the 7th level office, and a few walls and railings throughout the Center. It was really fun!

This is a close-up of just one message. Kent often refers to places, movies, or events as "the 4th most amazing" or "coolest thing in the world." Hence, the heart below:

The other 3? Me, the grandkids, and his Harley! :)

Look at this beautiful valentine. My visiting teacher made this for me!

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day too!!!

Egypt Winter 2011 - the "old people" side-trip

I just took a little break from the blog - did an online puzzle. While I was sitting here a group of students congregated out in the hall. 2 guys home teaching an apartment of girls. These are such great kids!!! The one who is teaching the lesson right now is a convert and he is sharing some of his story with the rest. Kent and I ate dinner with this young man one night and heard part of his story. This is the amazing/totally new for me part - he is from Colorado City and has 40 siblings. He was raised in a polygamist home!!! Now, he is a faithful Latter-Day Saint and has served a mission.
All of these students are really wonderful people. They are talented, smart, good and extremely LOUD! Everything they do is at a high level - we're adjusting. :) If they weren't so good and loveable it would really BE an adjustment.
Anyway, back to our side trip on day 6 in Egypt. Our tour agent, Emad, arranged for us to go back to the Giza pyramids and have a tour of a Solar boat that was found at Giza near one of the tombs. - The boat that the pharaoh used to cross over into the hereafter. Below, is the buidling at the base of one of the pyramids. This is the big stone box that the boat was buried in. This thing is HUGE!!!!!!

These are some of the stone slabs that covered the box:

Here is some of the rope used on the boat - still intact!

This is a model of the entire boat -

Here is the boat itself.

Isn't it amazing. Pictures really can't let you "feel" how big this thing is! We had to wear these big booties - triple the size of Parade of Homes booties! We were flapping. It was really fun!

Egypt Winter 2011 - Day 6 - the alternative

Ok, so normally on this day, we would tour Old Cairo, go to the Egyptian Museum, have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and spend the afternoon at the Khan al-Khalili Bazaar. HOWEVER, Cairo was full of protestors so we go to do something that no other groups has done or probably will ever do. We went to the Dashur Pyramids. This area is an on-going excavation dig and noone besides the archeologists are allowed there. Cool huh!!!
So, we all slept in, had a late breakfast and then went to Dashur. Here is a view of the 2 pyramids there as we approach. Notice that the one on the left is bent. Oddly enough, it is called the Bent Pyramid!! This pyramid is the Red pyramid.

We walked all the way around it.

Here is a section, where the outside covering is still in place. This would have covered the entire pyramid.

Some went inside. I'm actually not sure whether this is going UP inside or DOWN inside. :)

At least it looks like they can stand up in this one!

This is the Bent Pyramid. The story they tell, is that the architect started building and then realized that it wasn't going to stand up at the angle he had begun it at, so he changed angles to finish. Our archeologist faculty don't think so. But, that is much more interesting than their explanation! ;)

You can see that this one has more of the covering face left on it.

Here is a close-up. Notice, that even way out here, where there aren't usually toursits - there are camel drivers!

More outer casing.

This is Snefru's Valley Temple. This is where the main dig is taking place. Our 2 archeologists thought that they had died and gone to heaven. They had each tried to get in to this place using their archeology cards/influence. But, to no avail, until now!! Thanks Gabry Tours.

In the right, lower corner of this photo, is the causeway that ran from the temple to the Bent Pyramid.

Here is our 2 archeologists, expressing their delight!

Following this adventure, we went to a really cool outdoor tent restaurant. There were musicians and the food was great and the atmosphere was so much fun. Not sure why Kent didn't take any photos here. - He was probably thinking more about eating than about bringing his camera with him from the bus!

The rest of the day, the students spent, relaxing at the hotel.

Stay tuned for the what the "old people" did!