Egypt!

I have sooo much to tell, but we'll see how far I get. I'm not feeling well, and there is no such thing as free time this week. I have 3 finals and a midterm. On top of my huge readings as usual. I took a great nap today because our fieldtrip was cancelled, but I still feel sick and could go to bed early.
Last night I got back from Egypt. I was only there for a week, but it felt like forever. I felt like I was in a dream, seeing all the wonders I'd only read about and seen pictures of. But now I have my own pictures! Don't get your hopes up on seeing them too soon. Unless I find a shortcut. Like my room mates laptop. Maybe. But once again, it takes forever, and I have no time at all.
Our first stop was Beer Sheba, which was pretty cool. We saw a well that dates back to at least Solomon's time, but it might well be the one that Abraham dug there. I took pictures of the kind of land where Abraham would have lived with his family. The first night we slept at a kibbutz only 5 minutes from the Israeli/Egyptian border. We wanted to be first in line for border crossing in the morning. And we were. It went pretty smoothly as far as border crossings go around here. Not so much for the way home.
We drove across the Sinai peninsula and took the tunnel under the Suez canal. I was a little disappointed not to see the canal, but you can't see everything can you? When we arrived in Cairo, all I could see for miles was the Projects, which are constantly under construction. That is such a dirty city. And my favorite part was their driving philosophies. My teacher asked our bus driver about the lines on the road, and he said "what lines? Oh... those are for decoration." And we realized in the next few days that he wasn't kidding. I had to close my eyes while we were driving anywhere, because it really stressed me out to watch. Lots of things stressed me out on this trip. Stay tuned. Our first glimpse of the pyramids in Giza was quite the experience. We all took pictures out the bus window.
Tuesday we drove 2 whole minutes to the pyramids first thing in the morning. We all got out at the Cheops pyramid (the biggest one) to take pictures. Those of us who climbed a little too far got whistled out by the Egyptian police. I didn't go that high. I like climbing things, but getting down is a different story. We went inside Khefrin, the next biggest pyramid, and it was so hot and gross in there. I'm glad I went in, because who can say they climbed inside one of the great pyramids? But it was just an in and out thing. There's only one small room in the middle, and you have to duck through the longest tunnel to get there. It smelled, but not as badly as I was expecting. We couldn't take pictures on the inside, so you wont have the joy of seeing how squished we were. That same day we saw some giant statues of Ramses II in Memphis, which was his capital. We also saw the step pyramid at Saqqara, and went inside a really old pyramid that now looks like a pile of dirt on the outside, but the inside was really nice. There were writings all over the walls from what is now the text in the book of the dead. That night we flew out of Cairo International Airport to Luxor. That was an experience. Talk about lack of airport security. We didn't even have to have our own tickets. I was Jen Lee for the night. We took a bus thing out to the plane and climbed a staircase onto it, which I don't ever remember doing before. The flight was only about an hour. When we got to our hotel in Luxor, I was really excited to discover the view of the Nile from my balcony. It was even better in the morning.
The next day we started early again to try and beat the heat. We took a carriage to the temple at Karnack and our tour guide, Rifak, told us about it for nearly two hours. We were so hot and tired by the end that we weren't motivated to take many pictures during our free time. It was really cool, but I was sooo tired. By the time we got off the carriage at the Luxor temple, i was already done. I wanted badly to soak in all the information Rifak was giving, because he really is an excellent tour guide, but I was exhausted. I went home and took a nap, praying that I would feel much better by 3, when we left for our faluka ride across the Nile to our camel safari. I did feel much better, and I was so glad, because the afternoon was amazing. I rode a camel through the neighborhoods of Luxor for almost an hour, and it was something I wont forget. I could hardly wait to get in the pool back at the hotel.
Thursday in the middle of the night, I woke up so sick. I wont write all the details, but as Dr. Hayes would say, I had the full experience in Egypt. Don't ask me what I ate, because I dont know. I was totally following all the rules. Maybe I should have brushed my teeth right after getting out of the pool or something. I felt a little better when I woke up, but I didnt dare eat breakfast. As soon as I got on the bus, I knew I should have stayed in bed. I let the Seely's know I was feeling badly, and Sister Seely walked with me to make sure I was ok in the valley of the kings. Good thing too. I lasted about 3 minutes on my feet, then she helped me find a bench to listen to the rest of Rifak's lecture before we went into the tomb of Tutmose III. I went down into the tomb with everyone, and I was so amazed by the colors on the wall! More than 3000 years old, and still so brilliant! I lasted there another three minutes, and then I felt so sick that I was afraid I wouldnt make it out. Sister Seely led me to lean over the railing while she called for Brother Seely, and I almost passed out, but not quite. It was probably like last summer in Hershey park, except I remember the whole thing. The Seely's led me out of the tomb as soon as I could walk again, and we found a place for me to lie down in the shade. Someone went to find me a sprite, and brother and sister Seely and sister Ostler all took turns staying with me while everyone else was in the next 2 tombs. I should have told someone to take a picture, because I really want to know what I look like when this happens since everyone tells me its so scary. By the time my class went into king Tut's tomb, I thought I could make it, so sister seely took me to the front of the group and I saw it really fast. His mummy is actually in there on display, which is pretty cool. The rest of the day I stayed on the bus. Back at the hotel I packed as fast as I could feeling the way I was, then I slept in one of the rooms we were keeping until we left the hotel at 6. I was so achey. It was just like the flu. I was not excited about getting on a train all night. But I felt a little better by the time we actually got on the train. I hadn't eaten anything but bread all day, and I was sooo hungry, but not hungry enough to risk Egyptian train food. I was scared enough of the disgusting curtains, and I didn't dare sleep under the bedsheets. I was freezing the whole night. I slept under my scarf.
By morning I was pretty much back to normal. Just tired like everyone else. We had sacrament meeting in the conference room at our hotel, which was interesting because we would get in serious trouble if they knew that's what we were doing. We couldnt even use the word church outside that room. I sang with a group of about 12 for the musical number, and I was glad to be feeling well enough to do that. Next we went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which was really cool, but most of us were too tired to fully appreciate it. I did take time to see the royal mummy rooms, where 22 ancient egyptian kings and queens are on display. I saw all of king tut's treasure, which is huge. I don't know how it fit inside his tiny tomb. I can only imagine how it would have been multiplied if he had lived to be king more than nine years. Next, we had an unimpressive lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, then went to the worlds largest Bazaar to shop. We only had an hour and a half, and I was with 7 other people who kept stopping. I didn't buy anything, and it was just an overall stressful experience. I didn't like the bazaar in Luxor either. I'll choose shopping in the old city any day, because what I have to endure to get cheaper prices in Egypt is so not worth it.
Yesterday we travelled forever to get home. It took hours to cross the border. Then our bus was late. A bunch of kids jumped in the red sea as soon as we crossed to wait. When we finally drove to Eilat, it was so short that I thought we should have walked. Snorkling was cool for like 5 minutes, but the water was sooo choppy. You know I'm not one to have a problem with choppy water usually, but it was really deep, and I was trying to breath through a tube. It stressed me out. So I took it off and did my best to swim back to the platform. It really was gorgeous. I didn't take many pictures, but i'm sure I'll steal one from my friends. When that was over, it was 4 more hours to the Jerusalem Center. I wished I could sleep on a bus, but I cant. And my ipod was dead too. I sang with Camille for a while. We sang all of the combined choir songs we knew since she was in concert choir this last year. Then we started on spirituals, since she had a Moses Hogan book in her backpack, and we tried to remember what we could of the singers CD, I Believe this is Jesus. Then I went back to my seat and tried to sleep as best I could. We were sooooooooo happy to finally see Jerusalem on the horizon. And to eat fruit. I was excited to sleep in my bed, but I only got 4 hours. Thats a different story.
This is a really long post, and I'm going to bed. Hopefully there will eventually be pictures. I love you! Have a beautiful day!