Randoms of Egypt

Holding my breath under the Suez Canal

Twin sandwich :) Love these girls

Loong bus ride

Sunset in Cairo

Gorgeous Red Sea, we passed it on our way

I loved seeing the culture of Egypt, even though it was only for a few days. The pace was so fast and the streets were so loud. I was shocked at the people who just walked across the middle of the highway, in and out of traffic. And the donkey carts just trotting along next to cars zooming past. And the 5 or 6 lanes of traffic in what was supposed to be 3 lanes. Cairo was so dirty and crazy, but so fascinating. I seriously loved it there.
But it felt good to come back "home" to the JC and be in a place that was familiar. Plus, the shopkeepers in Luxor were intense and so pushy. The sellers in the Old City are so much easier to say 'no' to now.

The Sahara

We went a little delirious in the Sahara Desert
A few of our plans got rearranged because of the protests going on in Cairo. So instead of the Egyptian Museum, we got to walk to some cool pyramids that no Jerusalem students have gotten to see before! (ahem, might be a reason no one has seen them before, but, we were lucky to be there, so that's all that matters) We saw the Bent and Red Pyramids, and then went on a mile or so walk in the Sahara to some ruins in the sand. Our teacher, Bro Muhlestein is an Egyptalogist and was in heaven, so that made it all worth it. Plus, I've walked in the Sahara :)

We stopped at the Zaacheus Tree on our way to Egypt, and these were the gorgeous flowers nearby.

Midnight train from Luxor to Cairo
This was the worst night ever. I had a cool cabin mate named Brittnie, but that didn't help all that much, because the train was awful! This picture was taken before we got on..before we knew what we were getting ourselves into. The train tracks were so shaky and loud, it was impossible for me to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. Nasty food, a toilet that flushed straight onto the tracks, and a 4 am wakeup call. I was so excited to get off of that thing.

Below are just a few more random pics taken on our drives

Free Day in West J

Ahh! I love West Jerusalem! It's so much fun there, and so pretty.



Me and Sarah :)

First falafel

I had such a fun day 2 weeks ago. We went to the Ariel Center in the Jewish Quarter, which was a little museum, with a cool 3D movie and we loved our cute pregnant tour guide. Then we shopped in West J. My big purchase: a new camera. It's sweet.

We shopped and walked around some parks and fountains, a grocery store, and saw a cool view of the Western Wall. My group was so fun, and I had such a fun day. Yay.

Some tels on the way to Egypt

Chels and me: quick sacrifice on our way out

4-horned altar at Tel Arad. One of the remains from a satellite temple destroyed in about 600 BC



Day one (January 23): started out early, and we saw a few tels along the way across the country. We went to Tel Sheva. Beersheba is where Hagar was comforted after Sarai was angry at her. Also, the same area from which Abraham starts out his journey to sacrifice Isaac. So, Tel Sheva was a government outpost built by Solomon, built next to Beersheba. The old city of Beersheba is currently under the modern city.

Next stop was Tel Arad. Honestly, the tels grow similar to me after awhile, but we saw an old tabernacle and things dating over a thousand years before the time of Christ.

We stayed in a Kibbutz that night. Which was very interesting. I didn’t love finding a few bugs in my bed. But, it was cool that it was such a community-focused place. We ate on the floor, on little mats around mini tables, and the food tasted so good, we were all starving.

Camel and Felukah

Sunset on the Nile

Our Felukahs

Not-so-good pic of me on my camel, Cassanova

Jessica Moose + Jessica Madson

(My posts are not in chronological order, but this is as good as it's going to get)
In Luxor we had such an incredible day! First of all, we were staying the Sheraton, which is never too shabby. So we took a felukah/sailboat ride along the Nile. In Cairo the Nile was kinda gross looking..saw some people doing things in it that were...gross. But Luxor is farther south, and it was gorgeous!

The camel ride was so crazy! My little guide didn't really speak English, but definitely asked me if I have a husband..and if I want one. That made for an awkward 45 minute ride. Haha, not really.

The camel was so high off the ground. It was super jostle-y, especially when it ran. But it made me laugh really hard and I got used to it really fast. And my main thought as I sat atop my ride "I can't believe that I'm riding a camel next to the Nile in Egypt." Being on the camel as it was standing up or kneeling down was the scariest part, but I'd definitely do it again in a heartbeat.
The Nile was so pretty there and smelled like boating. I broke the rules and put my hand in the water. It felt like regular water, and maybe my hand will be withered eventually, but it was worth it.

Pyramids

Cool roommates at Hufu Pyramid in Giza.

Do not ask me who took this...

So, this information is purely historical and will be boring to everyone but me. But, I'm writing it to document for myself. Ahem.
The blocks for the Great Pyramid were about 2 tons a piece, sometimes up to 15 tons! And it has 3 million blocks on it. It's the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.
Originally it was coated with white limestone, but later Pharaoh's took of the white limestone for their building projects, so just the yellow limestone undercoat was left.

The 3 pyramids were family pyramids; father, son, and grandson. We went into the inside of the smallest of the three. It definitely smelled like someone had been dead in there for 1000 years.