Some may call me crazy

Jebel Musa was a powerful experience that I will never forget. There is a presence on that mountain that cannot be explained. A force that rackets your soul and makes your head spin, and your heart heavy. For the past year I have been going through a spiritual crisis, not knowing if there is a God, or who is right. I have been praying to the universe because thats what I believe connects us all. I was having a hard time believing, but I had peace in my mind because I trusted that the universe would provide me with the answers when I needed it. I got one of those answers on the mountain.
We were hiking up with our Bedouin guide Sobe and a huge group of people from Dahab. There are little shops every kilometer that sell snacks and drinks, and our group would stop at each one. My mom and I were searching for the quiet so we would go in front of or behind the group. We had stopped at one kiosk and my mom and I had walked a little bit ahead, my mom had turned back to ask our guide a question and I kept walking a little. I stopped and I looked up. Immediately, my heart felt like a rock that was sinking my chest in, while my head was in the clouds. The moon was full and lit up all the surrounding mountains, but Jebel Musa remained a powerful black silhouetted. I stopped and stared for about a minute in the quiet and felt a tear slide down my cheek. A man at the bottom of the mountain was saying that people come, they pray, they cry, then they leave. I was laughing at them in my mind and didn't want to be one of these babbling brooks, crying over a mountain. I felt my eyes tear up and one drop run down my cheek. I had been irritated the entire way we had climbed, why was I crying all of a sudden? I let go of my body and all feeling. Then my conscious just said to me, ( I actually ended up saying this out loud) "Everybody needs a God. No matter how strong you think you are, you need it." I had regained my mind and gave myself a very strange look, and felt very strange. Why had this idea popped into my head just then as I looked up at this huge black silhouette. I felt small, but powerful, alone and weak at the same time. After much speculation, I bet that I had been given one answer, that everyone needs a God. That does not mean that I am saying everyone should be Christian, I am just saying that everyone needs the comfort of a God. It may not even be that, because I don't even quite understand it. It was an incredible experience to just feel weak all of a sudden and have an idea pop into my head that "Everyone needs a God." Some may call me crazy, but it is my experience. The feeling of not being in my body, my heart like an anchor in my chest as my head floated up to the stars.

I always laugh at the people that think they talk to God and are spoken back to, but something talked to me that night. I had been irritated by the Americans screaming at the top of their lungs the Indiana Jones theme, and the Spanish guy going on 5 min rants that sounded like " dadadadal dkfjaldkjfajdhfkl ajhdfkaljdhfakdjhwueakda;dlkfjadlskfja;ldjfaldksjf....", but during that one second something strange happened. I didn't feel it when I was on top of the mountain or when I was climbing down, but just at that one moment with the glorious full moon lighting my face as the mountain where Moses received the 10 commandments towered over me, I think I felt God.

Dining in Dahab

They waited calmly for their food to arrive as their stomachs began to turn concave and any sight of food lifted their hopes, but then quickly smashed it into the ground, because they knew it was not theirs. They felt the cool sea breeze brush their skin as they turned to look at the calm waters of the Red Sea. The sun was just high enough to reflect dancing flashes of light on the little waves. The two of them pictured in their minds the wonderful life that was held just below the surface of this large calm pool of water. All of a sudden, they were interrupted by the clinking of plates and three men approached them, with plates in their arms and some carried tea and condiments. They placed a feast before them. One man laid down two large white plates filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, eggs, French fries, falafel, oranges, and a steaming dish of fooul. They began to grab their forks, but they were stopped as another man came and placed two large glasses of mint tea and a little pot of sugar. They resumed their fork collecting and were interrupted once more by a man who brought little dishes filled with hummus, babaganous, cucumber dip, a plate of 3 different kinds of bread, and one plate with ketchup, hot sauce and more napkins. By this time the two were speechless, but they managed to spit out a “shukran,” and the waiters seemed pleased at their shock and they walked away. One of them started on the foou,l which had the right consistency of beans mixed in with tomatoes, spices, and fresh garlic. The other started by cutting her falafel and dipped each piece in the wonderful dips. They both stirred sugar into their tea and kicked back, this is the life, they thought. The ocean, the mountains, the great place to stay, and the amazing food, was just the kind of relaxation they were looking for. Whew! It was not like the typical beach towns in the United States, with hoards of people, bright lights, and everything else horrible about the shores. (Cringe) They were having the most amazing breakfast of their lives, looking over the Red Sea, which is one of the best places for diving, and occasionally glancing up at the staggering rock mountains where Moses talked to god. It is a special place. Once their bellies were filled up to the brim they relaxed and chatted about what they may do for the rest of the day. They drew a blank except for going snorkeling. They left a tip of 5 EGP (1$) and paid a whopping 20 EGP (4$) for their meal. The both thought, “I sure could get used to this,” and headed to the sea.

an addition to the last blog

I remember one time Tom, my mom, and I were walking to go get a drink (I got strawberry juice which was really good, but Tom said it tasted like cold liquid jam. Yummy!) We said something rather quickly and to me and my mom it sounded like this, “jkwkjdbeuwwoepaldsdjkbalsdiwue;awoeraohsdlkhapqeuhanvnbm,bkajhdlbafhaleure?” My mom and I turned to each other and asked if the other actually understood what he just said. I have the same problem with Abbie (New Zealand) and Sara (Australia) back in Wadi Rum. One day, Abbie quoted a man who said that “England and America are divided by a common language,” which I believe is completely true at times. Well we are staying/stayed (because I am already back in Wadi Rum) at Bish Bishi, which is a really sweet little hotel. Our room was 25 EGP ($5 USD), not too bad eh? Dahab is fantastic and I am a little nervous to write about how amazing it is because I don’t want so many people rushing to Egypt and staying there, because it starts to feel like your own after a while. Boy oh Boy do I miss it, and will be back time after time.

The Bus Ride

Have you ever been confined to a seat for 18 hours? Well, let me tell you it is not fun at all. (Acutally as I write this I'm getting a marraige proposal from a 19 year old. I've only had a couple, but this one is looking good. I've got half a million red camels which he has to go to Iraq for, (differnt than normal ones) and houses all of Egypt, and it will be honemoon all the time. haha)

Anyways, we took a bus from Luxor to Dahab, and it was the longest trip ever. We left at 5 in the afternoon and arrived at 11 the next day. Our bus was a lot nicer than the other buses we have taken. This one had new seats, and air conditioning, and it was clean. The only problem with the seats was that they were covered in plastic, every 5 seconds you would have to skooch up to keep from sliding down. We had some interesting travelers on our bus. The first was a really nice Russian man who looked really Russian. We had met him in Luxor at the bus counter and I did not need to ask him where he was from because he looked like Vladamir Putin. There were also two girls on our bus from Nevada who were studying in Torino (they were on vacation). I was not happy by the way they dressed. (Gosh I'm really going to sound like an old lady) One girl was wearing a small tight tye-dye tank top and then with a slit in the tank top that went right down to her clevage. First, If she were in the states I would tell her to put some clothes on, but she was in a muslim country! Tank tops are a no no in anywhere but the beach, but she had a cut in her shirt to make it go lower! (Some people don't reasearch before the come on vacation I think). I felt offended, and ashamed that I came from the same country, because that is another example of an Ugly American. We did have another really nice guy on our bus from England. His name is Tom. (Hi Tom, I bet your reading this) It has been funny to hear the English accent and the fact that we can't understand each other sometimes.

Crikey! I hope there are no crocs!

There are no crocodiles below the dam, but my imagination would would not face this fact and tormented me with sick images of being attacked on the fellucca. I have to say that the Nile is an amazing special place, and feluccas are the best way to experience it. Our felucca trip was from Aswan to Kom Ombu. We started out of Aswan and once we had reached the end, peace had settles in. We zig zagged up the Nile and I loved watching the lush palm tree groves just below the looming golden sand dunes. The food was good, but I have a broblem in Jordan and Egypt. I don't like fresh tomatoes and they are in a lot of things. They just make me gag. Also, the Egyptian food makes me gassy and all I want to say about that is the other people on the boat should be damn happy there was a nice breeze and it wasn't closed in. (:]) The fist place we stopped for the night was a little plot of lush green grass with two cows, tall reeds, and alittle forest of plam trees with duomo on them. Duomo is a strange type of fruit that looks like a nut but is sweet on the inside. The outside is brown, smooth and misshapen. it feels like a rock and your teeth have to be very strong as well. The fruid inside is not you typical fruit but just under the hard coating is a little thicket of yellow fur that is sweet. I don't fancy it, but it is interesting. The cows were scary. S.C.A.R.Y. They looked like bones with fur draped over them. I could make out their ribs and their pelvic bones protruded out. If I were interested in studying cow anatomy, without the blood, these cows were the perfect subject. I did not sleep at all that night, Jessica was leeping right next to me and another lady named Christina at my feet were snoring all night long! At one point my body was so tired that I passed out. I was about to punch all the snorers in the face, because I could not fall alseep for hours. Apparently, I snored. Nobdy has ever told me that I snore, but whatever. Perhaps my subconsicous wanted to get back at all the other snorers in the boat. (MUWAHAHAHA) They next day was nice and I thankfull for Ipods. I love to hear the sounds fo a place, but sometimes I just want to experience it to my own beat. Everyone was doing their own thing I took my ipod, walked to the front of the boat, sat down, and cranked up the 90s tunes! The sun would come and go as the biloowing sail woudl move in the wind. Sometimes too much, when you close your eyes and it is like a disco of flashing light, then it turns annoying. Ayob and Jessica were playing cards. Heather and my mom were reading and listening to music. Christina slept. Mustafa was on his cellphone, and Abdu was navigating the boat. I was basking in the sun underneath the sail while listening to musich and casually glancing over at the palm trees and dunes. (Hows that for suave bragging) THe first place we docked was rather shitty and shady. It was shitty because there was trash everywhere and swarms of mosquitoes. It was shady because there were men sitting next to the boat just staring at us. Later, we moved to a nicer place away from the men and trash, but the mosquitoes followed. There were tall bright green reeds that looked like a perfect home for a crocodile. I played out scary images of a giant crocodile busting out of the water and grabbing hold of a deck hand and taking a peice of the boat along with it! We had no human trajic deaths, but things were lost. Heathers sandal was whisked away by the current, and my mom's sunglasses had a trajic drowning outside of Aswan. I did not lose anything thankfully. I would have like to say on the felucca for a couple more days. There is something strange about the prescence of the nile. Maybe it's the fact it has helped the magnificent ancient Egyptians build temples, or that it defys physics and flows up, or that it is in such a romantic setting. I felt drawn to it, that it welcomed anyone to make the river their home. I miss you already.

Abuuuuu Simbel

Taking the train from Cairo to Aswan was interesting. Our train was decent and we were sitting in an area with a couple other travelelrs. I listened to the ipod until the juice ran dry and somehow fell asleep. My mom and I were sharing an opened sleeping bag, which I pulled all the way over my face to keep the bright flourescent light out of my eyes. Before I went to sleep a man behind us began playing annoying arabic music from his cellphone very loudly. After about a minute I spun around and flashed him a drity look and he stopped. When I woke up the next morning we were going by lush green land dotted with tall palm trees. It looked like a little slice of paradise. I then turned my head and on the other side was a stark baren desert. I tried to use my periferal vison and see the vast constrast between the too landscapes. One other thing that was quite interesting were these tiny tin decrepit shack that were situated on the tops of appartment buildings. They were think slabs of wood with tin thrown together to try to resemble a house. I didn't think that anyone lived in them and they were perhaps storage areas, then I saw a woman come out and by the way she was acting, I could tell it was her home. We don't think or imagine that people live under those conditions, but they do. Once wer arrived, we wernt into the tourist information office to find out about taking a bus to Abu Simbel. They were no help at all!! They would not tell us anything and gave us a brochure of Aswan, IN ITALIAN! The one thing i hate about Egypt is that you cannot trust anyone. Everyone seems to try to get all the money they can out of you. It's tiring to always have your guard up. Theother thing is that you don't want to be rude, but in a way you have to be. I miss our pleaseant nook in Wadi Rum, where we always get the right price. Well, after the tourist office we decided to look for a hotel. A tall man approached us very calmly and gave us the name of a hotel and if we wanted to check it out he could take us to it. HE approached us very calmly, so we followed him to the hotel. OUr room was 40 EGP (8$) per night for the three of us! What a deal! It was also a nice room. After we had setteled in we met with our tall friend, whose name was Jimmy Hendrix. We planned a trip to Abu Simbel with him and apparently got ripped off. He quoted us $80 USD per person for a feluca ride and we decided to think about it. We went out to grab some luncha nd all the prices were a lot highter than Cairo. The hasseling is a lot worse in Aswan than it is in Cairo as well, probably because there are more tourists in Aswan. Later, we were approached by another very tall man named Ayob, he was a felucca captain. We negotiated a much better price of $30 USD per person. Ayob is very charasmatic and has a great big smile. He speaks arabic, nubian, english, and japanese fluently! We hung out with him a lot during our stay in Aswan. One night my mom turned in early and I stayed out with Jessica and Ayob. I am constantly with my mom and it's good to get out on my own. We went into a room with a big group of people watching an Egyptian soccer game while we played pool against a really small 15 year old. It was fun but I decided to go home and take a shower because the later it got the more uncomfortable I felt. I was out with a 28 year old, and a 33, and me being 15, I'm always uncomfortable! ( :] ) Well, our first real day in Aswan we went in a giant convoy to Abu Simbel. If you don't know what a convoy is, it was set up by the Egyptian fovernment to keep tourist safe. It is certain times during the day when hundreds of tour busses and microbusses get together and are escourted by the police to the tourist sites. The funny thing is that I felt way more unsafe. We are a giant group of foreigners all clumped together. An easy target don't cha think? That is something funny about the middle east. Being a foreigner, you can't completely stay under the radar, it's something you have to cope with. (dressing like them is stupid looking, especially for the guys) However, in a tour group I think you are in a greater danger. You are in a huge bus, stay at the large tourist hotels, and are always sticking out as a larger thumb. I also found that the people respect you more if you are a traveler. They notice that you are not here just for the sights, but to also get af eel of the culture, and interacting with the people. They seem to appreciate and love meeting travelers, but they deal with tours to make money. Well, Abu simbel was incredible! We arrived just after the sunrise and I noticed that the sun went directly through the temple. I later read it was done on purpose. Abu Simbel is the site with two amazing temples that were originaly found completely covered in sand and left to be covered over again after an explorer found no real tresure inside. (LOSER) The temples were moved after the making of the dam. Even though there are swarms of people, the intense feeling of the place over rules all of the bad tourist mojo. What is extremely impressive in my eyes is that some med looked at a mountain and said, "Lets build a temple," then carved a whole bunch. They had to first carve into the mountain, then make the statues, then make rooms, then do all fo these incredible heiroglyphics! Bajeebus that's a lot of work! My favorite think about the temples were the pictures of the gods, especially the jackal. It is such a famous symbol of the ancient Egyptians, that seeing it in person stops my heart and brings me chills. I bet the Egyptian teenagers have a more interesting "homeland" history class than we do. (personally,I don't care about paul rever and all those other powder wig guys) We also went and visited the dam, which was well, a dam. Then we took a little felucca ride to an island with a temple that had been removed before they built the dam. That was incredible, but being in a shitty-ake mushrooms (I have family reading this =])convoy, I did not have enough time to explore. We went back to Aswan, chilled out, and got phsyched for our felucca ride!

Cairo Pt. 3

Okay. Here is the continuation.

Everything was fresh and the little market had every color of the rainbow in food form, dotted here and there with large white decrepit looking scales. There were women completely covered in the burqua yelling at the seller about the condition of the vegetables, I felt immeresed. Throught our entire bazaar experience, we only passed one other couple of tourists and that was it. I belive that we had walked far off the beaten path because people either gave us a quizzickle look or blurted out all the english they knew and smiled. It did not cross their minds to hassle us or try to get us into their shop. We walked on and on passing throught different districts. There is the cotton and clothes district, textiles, kitchen applainces, kitchen wear, wood carving, food area, miscealaneous (darn no spell check, sorry), car and machine parts, slaughter houses, sheeshas, mats, tassles (yes there was a special area that just sold tassels,rugs, lumber, and probably man more. We weaved in and out of streets, as we got lost in this maze. The coolest area i thought was an area where they carved bowls and untensils out of wood, which would normally cost a fourtune in the states, but they were practical here and were not expensive at all. We decided to turn right and head back to what we thought was the larger street and my mom spotted an interesting store. She walked across the street to get a good picture when all of a sudden 2 police officers appreared. They had sour faces and approched my mom. An elderly woman passed by and made a motion of no pictures and then crossed her wrists to show "arrest."Jessica and I were confused as we watched my mom go from being interogatted to being hit on by the policemen. I glanced up and saw the building behind her had barbed wire. I remembered that it was illegal to take pictures of government or militarry things, but my mom did not take a photo of that,but something across the street. She showed the policemen the pictures she had taken and after being hit on, we continued. As we walked by the barbed wire building, I realized that the woman did not mean my mom was going to be arrested, but the building was a jail. The area of the bazzar that the jail was located was the lumber departement and the street was dark, one side filled with wood and men smoking sheesha, and the other side was a large black wall and just passed it was a dark looming building with men shouting out of the barred windows. As we walked on, I noticed women and children standing in front of the lumber store, looking up and talking. I look up and saw they were talking to the men in the jail. It was interesting to watch this strange intereaction. We walked on through kitchen applaiances, tassels, and fabric. Just as we were going to leave. I spotted a juice bar and turned in. I grabbed a mug of deliciousness! The little bar was grubby and had plastic chairs with flies swarming around, but I didn't care because the juice was fantastic. It was bannana, mango, and strawberry with large chunks of fruit nicely displayed on top and bananna and strawberry chunks in the drink. It only cost 2 EGP (about 40 cents). We then hopped into a taxi, worn out by the stimulation of our bazaar experience. (Ooh Pun!)

Cairo pt. 2

Sorry I have not been blogging. I have been so caught up in Egypt that I haven't processed. Here we go into Cairo pt. 2. I already wrote this down in my journal so I could copy it here.

It had all started out as a little stroll down an alley, but then we were trasported into a labrynth in another world. I walked past some stands selling copies of the Quran until my mom had spotted a herd of goats being navigated through long tunics, colorful scarfs, ripe plump strawberries, spices,and old men smoking sheesha. Their little furry buts waddling to and fro, one occasionally being separated and with a quick slap and a "baaaaa", it rejoined his mates. I was transfixed and struck dumb at the alley ways. The alley was only about 12ft wide and had drapped cloth that created a tunnel effect. The alley was lined with spices, fruits, vegetables, egyptian cotton, scarfs, shoes, blankets, anything imaginable. It didn't feel real as I walked silently through these noisy passageways. There was the occasional kissy noise and the "welcome to egypt." ( I must have heard that 150x and I did feel welcome) As we walked on my mom was being pulled by her camera to the goats, it was magical. If you have a stereotypical image of a romantic bazaar in your mind, IT'S BETTER! We came up to the goats as they were entering a building and I wondered if they were brought there for meat or for fur. It was hopefully the 2nd, but most likely the 1st choice. Jessica and my mom snapped photos as I was too shy and nervous to stick around. I think that is my weakness in my way of traveling, which I hope to fix, that I always have a hard layer up and don't want to stop so I can avoid confrontation, I need to be a little looser and not feel antsy about stopping. We continued and decided to take a right towards life that we saw down the way. As we were wlking a truck beeped at us from behind to move, mind you there is only about 6 feet of room, and we jumped out of the way. Being a pedestrian in Cairo is not good and very very dangerous. we hopped out of the way and we were pushed into a large fruits and vegetabnles market.

got to stop there. time is up for internet

Cairo pt 1

I find myself having mixed feelings about Cairo. Do I like it? Do I love it? Do I hate it? I am not sure. Maybe one of you can hint on my feelings towards the city by my description. I just think the city is alright, better than I excpected actually. When we asked people about Cairo half of them said it was horrible and we were better off just skipping it and the pyramids as well. They told us tales of hassling and harrassment and pinches. I have had no such experience. Cairo is like any other big city, and houses about 11 million people I believe. By the architecture, the city looks just like a typical large European city and is not anything very special except for the museam, mosques, bazzar, and food. Before I go into my impressions I think I owe it to the men on our bus to dedicate a little part of my blog to their bus ride.

We had left Soft Beacha at about 8:45 to catch the 9:00 bus to Cairo and waited around with 3 other girls who were going to Cairo too. (They spoke Arabic thankfully) THen a man in a minivan pulled up and offered to take us somewhere and the girls negotiated for him to drive us to Cairo for 60 Egyptian pounds each. (about 12 USD). We piled into the car and went to the passport checkpoint. We handed him our passports and he glanced at them and told us to turn around. We were not allowed through! The driver had no idea why and we wondered if it was because we were American or we had an Israeli stamp. We will never know. The minivan after ruining our plans of taking the 9 o'clock bus, dropped us off at the bus station. We were so disapointed because the next bus to Cairo was at 3 and that would mean we would arrive at the hotel at 12 in the morning! (no thanks) The girls asked and a man said that a bus was coming for us in about 10 min. We were very skeptical but just as he had said, the bus pulled in. We bought our tickets and as I was climbing up the little staircase to the bus, I looked up and it was all men looking up. It was us 6 girls and a bus full of men. (Woah) We were ushed to sit in the front and we began the drive. The men acted like 3 year olds! They were hollering, laughing, drinking soda, chaning seats, and acting like children! I was sitting next to Jessica and she fell asleep as I covered my mouth to keep out the smoke and looking forward to keep from getting carsick on the windy road through the rocky cliff desert. I remember turning my head to say something to my mom and huge green palm tres caught my eye. There were two elderly women making a fire and weaving under the shade of 2 huge palm trees with a huge towering cliff of rock looming over their heads. It was a beautiful sight. We got out of the rocky desert and everthing became flat. Completely FLAT! I supposed the straight road was a signal for the men to hit the music. The driver pushed in a tape then BANG!!! Thumping ear popping music blasted through the speaker over head. Jessica shot up and had a face of sheer confusion, and terror. (Poor Jessica). I realized that it was only our little speaker that worked in the entire bus so we were the lucky ones that got to have our ear drums bursted. The men all got up and went into the aisle of the bus and started dancing!! It was so funny. They were shimmying, clapping, going "aye aye ayye rrrrrrrrrrrrr (spanish roll of tounge on the R), and having quite a blast. This went onn for a long long long time and was quite the amusing show, and an experience one can't forget.

We arrived in Cairo and went to our hotel whichh is okay, very clean and nice, but service and stuff is not spectacular. We headed our into Cairo at night to grabb a bite to eat (we got shwarma which is this large hunk of meat the spins and they shave of a bit and mix it with spices, juices, and vegetables, and sometimes will put it into a sandwhich. At night we got some stares and a few "mwah!"'s, but not bad at all. We got a great night of rest and were ready for the egyptian museam. The egyptian museam is more like a ridiculously large and very nice antique shop with things thrown here and there. We were a little flustered and got a really great Egyptian guide. Everything in there is spectauclar from the huge stone spinxs, large faces, crystal eyeballs in the statues, to the endless amount of hieroglyphics on just about every piece of stone. It was amazing. We were in quite a shock at the contents of Tutankhaman's tomb. OH MY GOD! GOLD EVERYWHERE! This man knew how to go down in style. It was so cool to see the famous mask up and close only about 4 inches away from my face. His jewlery was incredible, and the large gold plated boxes that encased his tomb (like Russian nesting dolls) were impressive. There is so much to see in that Museam that if you spent 1 min looking at every little thing, it would take you 9 months to finish the whole museam! After the museam we hitched a cab to the Islamic Area to check out the mosque and the bazzar.

Our cab stopped infront of a mosque which holds the oldest University in the world. We had to take off our shoes and cover our hair and we were whisked away by a man who seemed offical, but I had my radar on and knew he was not a tour quide and would want baksheesh (tip) for his services so we said no thank you and he left. We went into another room and were offered this same tour guide things but instead of being offered they just went into talking about the place! My mom and I were ready to just leave because it got annoying. I have to say that mosques are way more comfortable than churches, getting to feel the wonderful carpet under your toes and the smooth cold marble. Wonderful. As we were leaving I stopped myself and walked into the center of the mosque. It was all white alabaster on the floor stretched out and brightened up even the sky itself. There was a covered walk way all around the center with men sitty lazily in the shade. I was impressed at the whiteness of the stone and wanted to run all around it jut because It looked like one of those amazing nicely made beds that make you want to just jump into the covers and feel that craftsmanship. I had to urge to walk and run and skip on this giant slab, becaus it looked holy. We went outside and headed into the labryth they like to call "bazaar". People are waiting to use the computer and I am not going to be rude. 'Till tomorrow my friends, I leave you with suspense with these hints "wood carving, almost being arrested, inmates families, kitchen appliances, and smoothies"

Bailey

P.s Sorry about the typos

Egypt trip! Woot Woot!

Our trip so far in Egypt has been an interesting one. I have so many things to share but I find myself not able to process them into writing. I used to live in the future and in the past, revel over the events and play them over in my mind. Now, I live in the present and it is hard to think of the future because I have no plan, and there is no time to think abou the past. I was craving this and feel alive now that I do live this way. It's refreshing. Now to the task at hand, Egypt.

Well, to get to Egypt we had to go from Jordan through Israel and into Egypt, all in one day. It was incredible to go from each country and in a matter of meters the whole area changed. It all looked the same geologically, but was drastically different in the color of the people, feel of the area, economic wealth, and all that other good stuff. I think the most shocking situation of the entire trip was coming from Jordan to Israel. After being put on a facotory line (being stamped, questioned, and inspected), passing AK-47's, and barbed wire, we were in an entirely different world. THe language changed, the people changed, and the women changed. I was seeing women in short sleves with their hair showing! I was in quite a surprise on the cab ride. We met an austrian couple and decided to share a cab, but they wanted to go to this aquariaum (funds were not sufficent so we did not go). We all piled into a car, and headed off to Eliat. I saw white people again, women in tight shirt, WOMEN IN SHORTS!!! (not people that should be wearing shorts might I add), T-shirts, and long hair billowing in the wind. I was shocked at how much skin they were showing. THe girls with their short skirts, tank tops, looking like little harlets. (Now I sound like an old lady I've already started with the "music being too loud") Eliat is a modern city that looks like a typical american beach scene except there are grey desert mountains in the background. I wanted to turn right around and go back to Jordan. As my mom and I sat on a bench in front of the Aquarium for a long time, I didn't get my stares, they all dressed innapropiatley, and I missed home. Even now, thinking about Wadi Rum makes me nostalgic. I long for my sand, my bad music, and my nook. I feel at home there, with drama, laughs, fights, friends, and many more. I felt like I was back in America and was ready to run out of there into an Arab country. Once we got into Egypt, It was like we were a piece of meat and all the taxi drivers were like hungry wolves. They would drive very slowly next to us and say "excuse me my sister, taxi , taxi , TAXII!" Over and over again. There was so much stimulus and I already had stress up to my eyeballs, I was about to punch him in the face. It was also HORRIBLY HOT!! I could not role up my sleves because I did not feel confortable and getting any more attention than I already was......so I opted to soil my clothes in sweat. (haha lovely description, soil.ha) We got on a bus to Nuweiba and I thought we were about to go off the road the driver was driving so fast! The coast here is interessting with sandstone mountains and a blank desert (not as pretty as Wadi Rum) then an aqua blue puddle they call an ocean. THe Gulf of Aqaba is an interesting converstion. YOu have Israel and Jordan up on top (plus a little Egypt) and then the giant mass of Saudi Arabia. If you are not familiar with how women are treated there I will just say this, even women travelers have to be completely covered from head to toe in traditional dress. Our camp was wonderful (even though I got a lot of bug bites). It was right next to the beach with about 45 little palm froned huts and a restaurant. There are also a lot of lage areas filled with cusions right along the water in the shade. There is also private service right to your little kingdom of cushions on the water with amazlingly cheap food and amazing fruit drinks. I would just lay and look out at the ocean with was about 10 feet away and ocassionaly gaze over at Saudi Arabia. I went snorkeling while I was there with Jessica ( a wonderful girl we met in Wadi Rum). It was quite an experience. Even though I may want to be a marine biologist, I still have a fear of the ocean. We walked in and in 2 seconds I was seeing crabs. We walkeed furter and then the reef started. OH! The day before this we tried to go to another reef but I got freaked out when I walked in about 15 feet and saw a large poisonous water snake that was black and white. (no thanks!) Well we got on our equipment and started to go around the bottom of the water was about 5 feet down adn the reef was abotu 2 to 3 feet from the top of the water. Jessica took a turn towards the top of the reef and I followed. I felt like I was about to brush innto all the coral and large purple sea urchins. I got so scared and hyperventelated in my snokel (which was already broken) and got all water then put my hand down on the reef! I didn't touch anything thankfully! We swam more and saw beautiful hot pink coral colorful fish and giant black sea cucumbers. I was in awe because I had never seen this much life. It was an amazing exerpeince that I can hopefully elaborate some other time (people are waiting for the computer). We had lots of fun at Soft Beach Camp, made so friends and spent some time with adorable puppies! Then after 3 days, we headed off to the bus to take us to Cairo. And I leave you with suspense 'till the next blog post I bid you adieu.

Bailey

P.S Sorry about the typos if there are any, I am in a rush.

Off we go!

Tommorow my mom, me, and a girl named Jessica (who we met here) are going to egypt! We are so close and it would almost me ridiculous not to go. We will be spending some time in Dahab snokeling and head to Cairo to see the pyramids and hopefully take a felucca up the nile. (cross your fingers so that we have enough funds) I hope to write in interent cafes about my trip there.
Bisous,
Bailey

Put on your thinking caps!

I was thinking today about what I was going to write in my blog. Maybe something spiritual, something informative, something artistic, or something just plain goofy. Then I came to a realization, I don't know what you think about the Middle East. How can I provide a real look into my life in Jordan, when I don't know what you picture in your mind. So, I am going to ask you some questions and I want you to think hard and not just click the comment button and write whatever. I want you to be honest, real, and don't be afraid to express how you feel and I will try to clear things up for you. You can also email me at petitbateau17@gmail.com. Here we go!

1. When you think of the Middle East what is the first thing that comes to mind?
2. What do you think the people do during the day?
3. Do you support the war in Iraq? If so, how can you justify all the deaths of innocent civilians?
4. Do you feel educated enough on the turmoil in the middle east to make statements about the situation?
5. Do you think the media is bias when providing information about the Middle East?
   
6. What do you imagine the Middle east is like? You can pick a country and state what you think about that one.
   
7. Do you think that every Muslim is a terrorist?
8. Do you know all the countries that make up the Middle East? (not looking at a map or google =])
9. Do you travel outside of North America? If not, why not? Are you afraid?
   
10. Would you ever travel to the Middle East? Maybe see Petra or the pyramids?
    
11. Please provide me with any feelings you have towards the Middle East (Maybe about the women, children, daily life, Islamic extremists) Or if you have any questions please email me and I will have to have a sit down day and go through all of them and address them!

These are questions that have been buzzing around my head because I want to understand your point of view. I have had some horrible generalizations about the Middle East that need to be cleared up and before I can provide the correct answer to questions and address these generalizations, I need your input. I believe that I owe to you to show you a real perspective of this world, my experience, observations, and feelings.

Regular life

I would like to share some of the little normal things about life here in Wadi Rum.

Television-

• There are over 300 channels
• The girls in the music videos are not beautiful, but rather plump and stocky with lots of makeup on, and they only swing their long hair around.
• There are lots of shows that are based around the king. Some of them have men dancing while throwing silver guns around like batons
• Channels 13 and 116 are english

The House-

It is large for Wadi Rum and consists of a front room/office (where we meet tourists), a room where all the kids sleep (all 9 of them, and you were complaining about sharing a room with a brother or sister, try about 7 more of them =] ) a living room with mats on the ground and a Tv and heater, the parents room, and a kitchen and a bathroom. The thing about the kitchen is that if you clean it and leave it for about 3 hours you will come back to an entire new mess.

A day-

Sometimes we go out on 6 hour jeep tours and guide the tourists and provide them with some information on the area. If we do this we will end up at the camp  where we prepare the tents, watch the sunset then all gather into the communal tent for food, dancing, and music.  The communal tent is round with a cement bench with a fireplace right in the center with mats around. It is very welcoming and is one of the best things about the camp in my opinion. If we do not go on a tour we meet guests, make tea, clean, and I do school. (I have internet access but no telephone)

The Wadi Rum desert-

When I go out on a tour I try so hard to process this place, but it still hasn't come through me. Many people asked if I would be bored in the desert, but I would love to get bored so I could just sit and stare at the amazing rock mountains. We are usually busy, so I would love to just have my mind go numb.  The mountains look like someone took a big blob of clay and make lines and squooshed things up

The family-

The kids in order of oldest to youngest are..Shaker, Eptisam, Joeher, Achmed, Zeneb, Othman,  Ashma, Mariam, and Iman. The wife had a son in her first marriage before she married Mohammed Sabat, but they still call him their brother. Things with the family are smooth sailing and have been great so far. 

The food-

OH MY GAWDDD. So amazing. We like to eat up at the camp because Abu Iyman (the chef) makes a wonderful buffet of things that I don't know what is in it , but I just dig my spoon in. The ice cream here is really good and only 20 piestas (about 25 cents) and is just like that of an ice cream truck.

The sky-

We are under the same sky as people in America, because I am still in the norther hemisphere. When we go out to the camp, I like to step out and look at the stars. Here I have seen more stars that I ever have in my entire life. There are so many that they clutter up the sky and you can't find the constellations.  The sunsets are always amazing and right after the sun dips down, the sky looks like a rainbow.

The bathrooms-

You stand. I have not gotten used to it even thought it is more sanitary than western toilets.

The way people dress-

The men here wear the traditional dress with the keffiyeh (I don't know how to spell that) and the robe. It is not religious, just traditional. When you see women in the streets here in Wadi Rum  they are completely covered with only eye slits, but I will deal with the women's culture in a later blog post.

Work Schedule-

The way people work here is very different from the states. The work is not very hard and difficult is just because the business is tourism, you have to be on call. They do not work all the time and have lots of time to relax and be with the family, it is just the people that work with the company have to be on call, but then again there is not much else to do in Wadi Rum besides just chill and work. haha.

Cell phones-

EVERYONE HAS THEM!!!! It is very strange to see a beautiful man leading his goats into the moutains and then brriiinngg "Marhaba". 

If you have any more questions please feel free to email me at Petitbateau17@gmail.com I will gather the questions and make another post.

Bisous,

Bailey