Today was a great day – not only because classes were cancelled, but also because it was finally the day of the SEA OLYMPICS! The Sea Olympics is something that every Semester at Sea voyage does. Each student can participate in a variety of events for their “Sea” (or residence area) throughout the day. My Sea is the Mediterranean, but there is also the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Yellow Sea, etc. The faculty, staff and life-long learners have their own group which they call the “Diploma-Sea.” : ) All of the Seas compete for the coveted gold, silver, and bronze medals (made from paper plates, of course, in true student affairs fashion). The festivities began at 11:00AM in the Union for the opening ceremonies. At the ceremony, the children on the ship brought in the Olympic “torch” that they had made out of paper then each Sea elected a few representatives to carry in their banner. Each Sea then had 30 seconds to perform their Sea cheer – there were quite a few creative ones! After Captain Jeremy Kingston gave some brief remarks about safety and good sports(man-woman)ship, he declared the official opening of the games allowing the games to officially begin!
The day was a little crazy – everybody wore their Sea colors all day, along with face/body paint, headbands, hair dye, and lots of other creative costumes. There were a variety of events that happened throughout the day including mashed potato sculpting, dodgeball, crab soccer, tug of war, relay races, bagel on a string, pie eating, shave a balloon, a Global Studies trivia contest, and probably the most popular event of the day – synchronized swimming! There was a HUGE crowd standing around the tiny pool on the 7th deck during the event. Some of the teams were actually really good. The Mediterranean Sea team was all male – they did a routine to “Single Ladies” with glittery orange outfits. My Living-Learning Coordinator, Kevin, also participated and I believe he was in charge of most of the chorography. Hilarious!
I participated in the flip-cup competition, but my team (of 11 people) got crushed in the first round! Too bad! We had some rookies on our team who must have gotten lucky in the qualifying round, which I think was our ultimate downfall. Haha It was still fun and it was humorous because the judge for that event was our voyage’s academic dean – Dean LaVohn. You just don’t get that kind of interaction with your dean on a land campus!
Later that afternoon, there was a Barbeque Dinner on the 6th and 7th decks before the Lip Sync Contest began at 7 PM. The routines were really creative…it’s amazing what students will come up with when you are stranded on a ship with limited resources and time. They did an amazing job! After the contest, the results were tabulated and…the MEDITERRANEAN SEA walked away with the BRONZE MEDAL!!! YAY! The gold medalists (the Caribbean Sea) won the prize of being the first Sea to get off the ship when we arrive in Norfolk, VA. The day was a lot of fun, though, and it was nice to see all of the students, faculty, and staff pulling together in friendly competition.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 5 in Egypt: Exploring Alexandria (Saturday, July 31)
During my last day in Egypt, I decided to explore the port city of Alexandria where the ship was docked. I went out with Greg, Kasie, and another Sarah that we had met on the Cairo/Luxor trip. We ended up going to this market area where some tall guy asked if we wanted to look at jewelry at his store. It was only a little sketchy, so of course we said yes. It was fun because while we were there buying kartouches, the whole family came out to hang with us in the one room of the store. It was so funny. The little brother kept playing different music that he thought we would like. The mom was just sitting there reading a newspaper in Arabic, and about 2-3 uncles or cousins popped their head in the door while we were sitting there. One funny thing that happened when we were there is that we needed to get more cash at an ATM to buy our jewelry, so we had to leave the store, walk down the street and around the corner to the nearest ATM. As we were walking through what I had THOUGHT was the produce market, suddenly all of the vendors started FRANTICALLY packing up their goods - throwing everything into boxes and onto carts and shoving things into alleyways. Not even kidding, the busy street we had been walking down was deserted in less than 30 seconds. No people, no animals, no produce. I was looking around in disbelief…wondering what the heck was going ON? When we got to the end of the street, I spotted a few police officers hanging around the entrance to the street. I guess their presence must have scared all of the vendors away. I’m not sure though, because when we left that same way a few minutes later, ALL of the vendors were set up again and doing business. Anyway, the cool part of this story is that now I can say that I have visited an underground produce market in Egypt! Haha It makes me sound so adventurous.
After we bought some jewelry, the older brother helped us get to the main street and got us a cab to get to our next destination. That was nice of him, because we got a really inexpensive price for the drive. There are no meters in cabs in Egypt – you have to argue about the price before you get into a cab. This system is a bit discriminatory for tourists because you don’t really know what to ask for because you don’t have a sense of how far you are going. I’ve found that you can usually judge how much it SHOULD be by taking the original price the driver asks for (say 50 Egyptian pounds) and then cutting that down to a fourth or a fifth of that original price (so like 10-20 Egyptian pounds – or 3-4 dollars for all of us if you do the conversion).
A note about traffic in Egypt: it is super scary and you are putting your life into the hands of the taxi driver everything you get in. I thought it was scary traveling on a bus until I rode in a taxi and discovered exactly what terror is.
Anyway, after the jewelry shopping, we went to have lunch at an Egyptian fast food joint. The café was right across the way from the great Library of Alexandria. This was once the oldest libraries in the world, but is suffered through a couple of fires and other disasters so they had to rebuild. The shape of the building is so interesting – it’s a sundial that is slanted diagonally down toward the sidewalk. There are 11 floors and they have about 1 million items to borrow. The library can hold up to 8 million books, so they have tons of room to grow. As a matter of fact, I saw many empty bookshelves where they must be planning for more books. Another cool thing about the library is that it is also the home to a few small museums. My favorite was the Manuscript Museum, where I got to see original books from the first Library of Alexandria. These books were made of papyrus and represented a wide variety of religious and spiritual beliefs. It was interesting to think about how much value the Egyptians must place on learning about other cultures and sharing their knowledge with others. It’s a cool concept and…what can I say? I’m a sucker for a good library. : ) I loved it.
After checking out the library and the gift shop (of course), we got a cab to the new part of Alexandria. On the outskirts of the city, there is a new shopping complex complete with a Carrefour (which I believe is like a French Walmart). Anyway, it was fun to shop in a big store again, even if I didn’t understand anything that I wanted to buy…Also it was so busy, that families would come together and put one person in line with an empty shopping buggy and then each family member had a list of their designated items. They would run around and toss things into the cart as they passed by to get the next item while one person waited with the buggy until it was time to check out. Crazy, but I have to say I am impressed with their strategy.
We got back to the ship around 5 PM – an hour before “on-ship” time. There was a gigantic line in front of the ship because several Semester at Sea trips got back at that time as well. It took about 45 minutes to get past security and get on the ship. I had to hurry up and scribble out my postcards before the last call for mail went out. That night, we set sail for a 5 day stretch to Morocco. The time in Egypt went by so quickly!
After we bought some jewelry, the older brother helped us get to the main street and got us a cab to get to our next destination. That was nice of him, because we got a really inexpensive price for the drive. There are no meters in cabs in Egypt – you have to argue about the price before you get into a cab. This system is a bit discriminatory for tourists because you don’t really know what to ask for because you don’t have a sense of how far you are going. I’ve found that you can usually judge how much it SHOULD be by taking the original price the driver asks for (say 50 Egyptian pounds) and then cutting that down to a fourth or a fifth of that original price (so like 10-20 Egyptian pounds – or 3-4 dollars for all of us if you do the conversion).
A note about traffic in Egypt: it is super scary and you are putting your life into the hands of the taxi driver everything you get in. I thought it was scary traveling on a bus until I rode in a taxi and discovered exactly what terror is.
Anyway, after the jewelry shopping, we went to have lunch at an Egyptian fast food joint. The café was right across the way from the great Library of Alexandria. This was once the oldest libraries in the world, but is suffered through a couple of fires and other disasters so they had to rebuild. The shape of the building is so interesting – it’s a sundial that is slanted diagonally down toward the sidewalk. There are 11 floors and they have about 1 million items to borrow. The library can hold up to 8 million books, so they have tons of room to grow. As a matter of fact, I saw many empty bookshelves where they must be planning for more books. Another cool thing about the library is that it is also the home to a few small museums. My favorite was the Manuscript Museum, where I got to see original books from the first Library of Alexandria. These books were made of papyrus and represented a wide variety of religious and spiritual beliefs. It was interesting to think about how much value the Egyptians must place on learning about other cultures and sharing their knowledge with others. It’s a cool concept and…what can I say? I’m a sucker for a good library. : ) I loved it.
After checking out the library and the gift shop (of course), we got a cab to the new part of Alexandria. On the outskirts of the city, there is a new shopping complex complete with a Carrefour (which I believe is like a French Walmart). Anyway, it was fun to shop in a big store again, even if I didn’t understand anything that I wanted to buy…Also it was so busy, that families would come together and put one person in line with an empty shopping buggy and then each family member had a list of their designated items. They would run around and toss things into the cart as they passed by to get the next item while one person waited with the buggy until it was time to check out. Crazy, but I have to say I am impressed with their strategy.
We got back to the ship around 5 PM – an hour before “on-ship” time. There was a gigantic line in front of the ship because several Semester at Sea trips got back at that time as well. It took about 45 minutes to get past security and get on the ship. I had to hurry up and scribble out my postcards before the last call for mail went out. That night, we set sail for a 5 day stretch to Morocco. The time in Egypt went by so quickly!
Day 4 in Egypt: Luxor back to Alexandria (Friday, July 30)
After a decent wake-up call at about 6:30 (who would have thought I’d ever say THAT!), we ate a normal breakfast (not out of a box) at the hotel and then went to visit the Karnak Temple. The Karnak was similar to the Luxor Temple, but not quite as well preserved. One cool thing was there is this giant scarab statue in one of the open areas. Legend has it that if you run around the scarab ten times in a clockwise direction, your wishes will come true and you will be happy. Now, I’m not a superstitious person, but it can’t hurt to cover all of my bases, right? After running around in ten circles, I was ready for a Dramanine and a seat on our air conditioned bus. Because the group was so big (about 200 people), we had to split up into 2 groups to fly back to Cairo (where we would then take another bus back to Alexandria. I was in the second group, so I got to head back to the hotel for a nice relaxing morning and early lunch. My flight left around 2 PM from Luxor to Cairo and I got back to Alexandria around 8 PM or so. I was exhausted but SO happy with all that I had gotten to see in Luxor and Cairo!
Day 3: Luxor and the Valley of the Kings!! (Thursday, July 29)
So, I thought 4:15 AM was a rough time to wake up, but I was wrong…a 3:30 AM wake up call is much, much worse (especially when you only had 3 hours of sleep!). Anyway, after rolling out of bed, I packed up my bag and grabbed another boxed breakfast in the hotel lobby before jumping on the bus again to the Cairo airport for flight to Luxor. It was so early, I couldn’t even pay attention to the airport – I just went through the motions. I actually fell asleep while we were waiting at the terminal for about 20 minutes – usually I can never sleep sitting up or in public…so that just shows you how exhausted I was! Good thing my friends woke me up when we started boarding!
Again, I found that the early wake-up call (as much as it hurt) was TOTALLY WORTH IT. As soon as we landed in Luxor, we took a short bus ride to the Valley of the Kings. Luxor is right on the Nile River, but after you get a little further away, it is completely desert. The Valley of the Kings was all sand and stone – not a blade of grass in sight. The good news is that the Valley was incredible, but the bad news was that we were not allowed to take cameras into the Valley…we actually had to leave them on the bus so they wouldn’t have a chance of getting confiscated! Yikes. Anyway, I will just have to remember all the details in this blog (or Google image it later…) The best was to describe the Valley of the Kings is that it was “other-worldy.” I’m not even kidding, it reminded me of a scene straight out of those old Star Wars movies that Dad used to make us watch! Remember the scene with the little alien guys in red coats and hoods with just 2 small light bulbs for eyes? Probably they were working for that big worm with the tongue…what was his name? Jabba the Hutt?? Haha I wish I were kidding, but I am telling you, that is exactly what I thought of when we arrived at the Valley.
To get to where all the tombs were, we had to take a short tram ride into the heart of the valley. All of Egypt’s ancient kings are buried in this one valley – they have found 62 tombs so far, but I believe that they suspect there are more to be found. King Tut’s tomb was the 62nd tomb that was excavated in the 1920’s. It’s funny though, because his tomb is not really in great shape. Because they buried him so soon after his death, they didn’t wait long enough for the paint on the walls to dry. There are black spots all over the walls from a fungus that grew after the moisture in the tomb’s paint couldn’t escape. We also had to buy a special ticket to go into King Tut’s tomb. Several people in my group elected not to do it. I felt like saying…are you CRAZY?! We are in EGYPT and King Tut’s MUMMY is about 100 feet underground and two minutes from where you are standing! Needless to say, it was flippin awesome. King Tut’s mummy looked like a child’s body, it was so shriveled up. The middle part of the mummy was covered with a white piece of cloth, but his head and feel were as black as coal. We also saw three other tombs (plus one extra that Greg and I sneaked into after befriending the ticket guy/guard). The other tombs were: Ramses III, Ramses I, and Ramses IX. The other one’s name has slipped my mind for the moment (probably because it wasn’t a Ramses!).
What is interesting about seeing the different tombs is that some are much longer than others. The longer that the king lived, the longer his tomb would extend under the ground. One of them, for Ramses I, was extremely steep and you had to climb down stairs at a pretty dangerous angle to get into the tomb room. Others went down gradually and had much more room. As a side note, I expected the descent in to the tombs to be through small, narrow openings like I climbed through to get under the pyramids…but it wasn’t at all like that – it was like walking down a spacious hallway leading underground.
Another mind-blowing thing was that the paint on the wall was amazingly preserved. I was seriously speechless after seeing the details of painting on the walls. HOW has that artwork lasted thousands of years? Apparently, they used egg whites, vegetable dyes, and a honey glaze to seal in the paint. Who knew eggs and veggies could be so well preserved? There is so much symbolism in the figures that it would take a life time to understand it all (which I suppose is what an Egyptologist does…). Every image would depict a story from the Book of the Dead or other Egyptian literature/text. The paintings were all very flat in the sense that in a painting of a person, you could only see one side of his or her profile and then his or her feet would be flat on the “ground” facing to one side. You can always tell the men from the women because the men in the paintings have orange skin and the women have much fairer complexions. Sometimes, if a female figure was REALLY important, she would be depicted as a king to show her high status. Hmmm….I know! Also there are kartouches (pronounced “car-TOO-shez”) everywhere – these are little ovals with hieroglyphics in a line from top to bottom that symbolize the identity of the person. Also there are ankhs (symbol of eternal life) and scarabs (symbol of existence) all over the walls. All in all, the tombs were awesome and I could have stayed there all day if it hadn’t been 120 degrees when we were there!
After the Valley of the Kings, we drove a short distance to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It was so cool because from far away, it seems as if it is just a building with three floors built into the mountainside. When you get closer, though, you can see that the temple actually stretches out toward you and each “floor” has a huge flat space you have to cross before you can get to the next set of stairs. It was an optical illusion…and I completely fell for it! haha Another cool thing about this temple is that the Queen had a secret passageway built into the temple that would lead a few kilometers away to the burial site of the queens, which is know as ...you guessed it! The Valley of the Queens. We didn’t get a chance to visit that, unfortunately, but it was ok because we had a ton of other things still to do that day…
We next make a short stop at the Colossi of Memnon, which were two large (maybe three or four stories high?) statues of pharohs that were almost identical. I’ll have to show you pictures to understand the magnitude! After that brief stop, we went to our hotel in Luxor to check in and have lunch. I had my OWN hotel room, which was sweet because usually everyone gets a roommate. You might say…”Your own room? Big deal.” It was, however, quite significant because I realized that it was the first time in almost a month and a half that I had total privacy! Don’t get me wrong, I love being roomies with Erin on the ship, but it was just nice to spread out and make my own mess. Our hotel/resort was really nice – the pool was right by the Nile River and…there was a swim-up bar so that you could sit in the pool and enjoy your beverage. It was sweet. : ) If I ever get a pool in my home, it will definitely have a swim-up bar. haha
After resting up a bit (and letting the hot part of the day pass a little), we jumped on the bus again to see Luxor Temple. Because of the amazing things that I had seen already in Egypt, I wasn’t sure that I would be wowed by “another” temple. Ohmygoodness. I was SO wrong.
The temple was located on a huge complex. When we got off the bus, we could only see the front walls and entrance way (lined with like 30 big lion statues). When we walked inside, we found out how expansive the temple actually was. Luxor Temple is an ancient Egyptian temple built on the east bank of the Nile was founded in 1400 BCE. It had parts added on from various kings throughout history. The columns were humongous and everything was a sandy brown color. Even though the weather had eroded some of the details away, you could still see an amazing amount of carving and painting. Every image told a story, which was cool. It was fun to try to imagine what the temple would have looked like in all of its glory. It would have been spectacular, of that I’m absolutely sure. After spending about an hour there, we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner and bedtime.
On a more serious note, I just want to mention that this trip through Cairo and Luxor really opened my eyes to the severe poverty that exists in Egypt. There are people all over the place who are without homes and jobs to support their families. It is really a sad thing. The most shocking thing that I heard had to do with the City of the Dead – which is a huge complex in Cairo where families have little buildings that act as tombs for their deceased loved ones. In this city/graveyard, over ONE MILLION homeless people take shelter in the tombs. When the families of the deceased come to visit, they bring sandwiches and other food to the people who are living in their family’s tomb. It is hard to justify why it is ok for me to stay in beautiful resorts with swim-up bars, when just outside the walls, there are people who literally have nothing. How can I be ok with that? The short answer is that I am really NOT ok with that…I just don’t know what to do to make it better. Should I not travel? Maybe, but then I wouldn’t know about the problems of the world! It’s just another example of why tourism is a frustrating concept to grapple with when it clearly benefits the rich and takes advantage of the poor. Sigh.
Again, I found that the early wake-up call (as much as it hurt) was TOTALLY WORTH IT. As soon as we landed in Luxor, we took a short bus ride to the Valley of the Kings. Luxor is right on the Nile River, but after you get a little further away, it is completely desert. The Valley of the Kings was all sand and stone – not a blade of grass in sight. The good news is that the Valley was incredible, but the bad news was that we were not allowed to take cameras into the Valley…we actually had to leave them on the bus so they wouldn’t have a chance of getting confiscated! Yikes. Anyway, I will just have to remember all the details in this blog (or Google image it later…) The best was to describe the Valley of the Kings is that it was “other-worldy.” I’m not even kidding, it reminded me of a scene straight out of those old Star Wars movies that Dad used to make us watch! Remember the scene with the little alien guys in red coats and hoods with just 2 small light bulbs for eyes? Probably they were working for that big worm with the tongue…what was his name? Jabba the Hutt?? Haha I wish I were kidding, but I am telling you, that is exactly what I thought of when we arrived at the Valley.
To get to where all the tombs were, we had to take a short tram ride into the heart of the valley. All of Egypt’s ancient kings are buried in this one valley – they have found 62 tombs so far, but I believe that they suspect there are more to be found. King Tut’s tomb was the 62nd tomb that was excavated in the 1920’s. It’s funny though, because his tomb is not really in great shape. Because they buried him so soon after his death, they didn’t wait long enough for the paint on the walls to dry. There are black spots all over the walls from a fungus that grew after the moisture in the tomb’s paint couldn’t escape. We also had to buy a special ticket to go into King Tut’s tomb. Several people in my group elected not to do it. I felt like saying…are you CRAZY?! We are in EGYPT and King Tut’s MUMMY is about 100 feet underground and two minutes from where you are standing! Needless to say, it was flippin awesome. King Tut’s mummy looked like a child’s body, it was so shriveled up. The middle part of the mummy was covered with a white piece of cloth, but his head and feel were as black as coal. We also saw three other tombs (plus one extra that Greg and I sneaked into after befriending the ticket guy/guard). The other tombs were: Ramses III, Ramses I, and Ramses IX. The other one’s name has slipped my mind for the moment (probably because it wasn’t a Ramses!).
What is interesting about seeing the different tombs is that some are much longer than others. The longer that the king lived, the longer his tomb would extend under the ground. One of them, for Ramses I, was extremely steep and you had to climb down stairs at a pretty dangerous angle to get into the tomb room. Others went down gradually and had much more room. As a side note, I expected the descent in to the tombs to be through small, narrow openings like I climbed through to get under the pyramids…but it wasn’t at all like that – it was like walking down a spacious hallway leading underground.
Another mind-blowing thing was that the paint on the wall was amazingly preserved. I was seriously speechless after seeing the details of painting on the walls. HOW has that artwork lasted thousands of years? Apparently, they used egg whites, vegetable dyes, and a honey glaze to seal in the paint. Who knew eggs and veggies could be so well preserved? There is so much symbolism in the figures that it would take a life time to understand it all (which I suppose is what an Egyptologist does…). Every image would depict a story from the Book of the Dead or other Egyptian literature/text. The paintings were all very flat in the sense that in a painting of a person, you could only see one side of his or her profile and then his or her feet would be flat on the “ground” facing to one side. You can always tell the men from the women because the men in the paintings have orange skin and the women have much fairer complexions. Sometimes, if a female figure was REALLY important, she would be depicted as a king to show her high status. Hmmm….I know! Also there are kartouches (pronounced “car-TOO-shez”) everywhere – these are little ovals with hieroglyphics in a line from top to bottom that symbolize the identity of the person. Also there are ankhs (symbol of eternal life) and scarabs (symbol of existence) all over the walls. All in all, the tombs were awesome and I could have stayed there all day if it hadn’t been 120 degrees when we were there!
After the Valley of the Kings, we drove a short distance to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It was so cool because from far away, it seems as if it is just a building with three floors built into the mountainside. When you get closer, though, you can see that the temple actually stretches out toward you and each “floor” has a huge flat space you have to cross before you can get to the next set of stairs. It was an optical illusion…and I completely fell for it! haha Another cool thing about this temple is that the Queen had a secret passageway built into the temple that would lead a few kilometers away to the burial site of the queens, which is know as ...you guessed it! The Valley of the Queens. We didn’t get a chance to visit that, unfortunately, but it was ok because we had a ton of other things still to do that day…
We next make a short stop at the Colossi of Memnon, which were two large (maybe three or four stories high?) statues of pharohs that were almost identical. I’ll have to show you pictures to understand the magnitude! After that brief stop, we went to our hotel in Luxor to check in and have lunch. I had my OWN hotel room, which was sweet because usually everyone gets a roommate. You might say…”Your own room? Big deal.” It was, however, quite significant because I realized that it was the first time in almost a month and a half that I had total privacy! Don’t get me wrong, I love being roomies with Erin on the ship, but it was just nice to spread out and make my own mess. Our hotel/resort was really nice – the pool was right by the Nile River and…there was a swim-up bar so that you could sit in the pool and enjoy your beverage. It was sweet. : ) If I ever get a pool in my home, it will definitely have a swim-up bar. haha
After resting up a bit (and letting the hot part of the day pass a little), we jumped on the bus again to see Luxor Temple. Because of the amazing things that I had seen already in Egypt, I wasn’t sure that I would be wowed by “another” temple. Ohmygoodness. I was SO wrong.
The temple was located on a huge complex. When we got off the bus, we could only see the front walls and entrance way (lined with like 30 big lion statues). When we walked inside, we found out how expansive the temple actually was. Luxor Temple is an ancient Egyptian temple built on the east bank of the Nile was founded in 1400 BCE. It had parts added on from various kings throughout history. The columns were humongous and everything was a sandy brown color. Even though the weather had eroded some of the details away, you could still see an amazing amount of carving and painting. Every image told a story, which was cool. It was fun to try to imagine what the temple would have looked like in all of its glory. It would have been spectacular, of that I’m absolutely sure. After spending about an hour there, we headed back to the hotel for a late dinner and bedtime.
On a more serious note, I just want to mention that this trip through Cairo and Luxor really opened my eyes to the severe poverty that exists in Egypt. There are people all over the place who are without homes and jobs to support their families. It is really a sad thing. The most shocking thing that I heard had to do with the City of the Dead – which is a huge complex in Cairo where families have little buildings that act as tombs for their deceased loved ones. In this city/graveyard, over ONE MILLION homeless people take shelter in the tombs. When the families of the deceased come to visit, they bring sandwiches and other food to the people who are living in their family’s tomb. It is hard to justify why it is ok for me to stay in beautiful resorts with swim-up bars, when just outside the walls, there are people who literally have nothing. How can I be ok with that? The short answer is that I am really NOT ok with that…I just don’t know what to do to make it better. Should I not travel? Maybe, but then I wouldn’t know about the problems of the world! It’s just another example of why tourism is a frustrating concept to grapple with when it clearly benefits the rich and takes advantage of the poor. Sigh.
Day 2 in Egypt (Wednesday, July 28)
Freakin’ early wake-up call this morning – 4:15 AM. Ouch. After grabbing breakfast boxes from the lobby, though, we hopped on the buses to go to the Giza Plateau to see the sunrise over the pyramids! What an incredible experience. We got there in complete darkness and within a two hour period, the scenery had undergone an amazing transformation because of the changing light. It was really hazy too (probably from all of Cairo’s pollution), but it gave the entire site a mystical appearance. It was an incredible way to experience the pyramids, though, and I think I must have taken about 300 pictures that morning. The pyramids really are an amazing site. Because we were there so gosh-darn early, our Semester at Sea group were the only visitors, which made picture-taking a dream and the overall experience more pleasant than if we were being pushed around by a bunch of other tourists. Also, although the sun was HOT, it was nowhere nearly as hot as it would be at mid-day. I think someone said it was 110 degrees when we were leaving. Though I might have been grouchy at first, it was totally worth the early morning wake-up for this experience.
While at the pyramids, Greg and I bought an extra ticket to actually climb inside the Second Pyramid! This is my favorite pyramid, for sure - it’s definitely the best one. : ) The pyramids are solid on the inside and the burial chamber is dug underneath. It was similar to the day before when we had to crouch down and climb through a small opening then down a really steep ramp. The climb down into the Second Pyramid’s tomb was A LOT longer than the one the day before. There is a room in the middle where you can stand up a little before you have to climb BACK up the other side to get to the burial chamber. As soon as you get inside, it feels like you are in a cave. (Takes me back to our spelunking days, Kim!) There were fewer details on the walls than we had seen the day before, but it was much bigger. The best thing about this experience, though, was that we were there SO early that there were no other people inside! Greg and I had the entire tomb to ourselves! It was creepy and awesome at the same time.
After getting our fill of the pyramids, we jumped back on the bus for the short drive down the hill to see the Great Sphinx of Giza! SO COOL! It was a great view with the pyramids in the back. It was definitely one of those, “I can’t believe I am here!” moments.
The next stop was the Egyptian Archeological Museum in Cairo where we saw ancient statues and works of art along with all of KING TUT’s burial treasure. AH! KING TUT! It was incredible because he was the only Egyptian king whose tomb was not raided. He was buried so quickly after he died that no one had a chance to see where he was buried – the paint wasn’t even dried on the wall of the tomb when they sealed it! An archeologist named Carter excavated the site in the 1920’s and found the tomb to be completely intact. All of Tut’s treasures now reside in the Archeological Museum in Cairo. We also got to see the MUMMY ROOM! (Rachy, I was thinking of you, Bones, and Booth the entire time!!!) To me, it is difficult to fathom how all of the most famous rulers of Egypt have their BODIES on display in a museum. The bodies were creepily well-preserved. The teeth were perfectly intact along with hair and even eyelashes! There are hardly words – it’s just so crazy to think about the history that is evidenced by the remains of these famous rulers.
The museum was fantastic because we had a guided tour from our tour guide for the trip, Rhem (pronounced Reem). Side note about Rhem: she is an AMAZING lady – I think she was a former archeologist or something. She is also super bossy – which was great because we were always the first bus to get anywhere! She pretty much talked NON-STOP for 4 days on the trip, filling our heads with facts and stories. She did such a great job of telling the history of Egypt and making it sound like a narrative. It was great. I wish I would have had her for my personal tour guide the entire summer. Also, she has this super loud voice, so she would yell “BUS SIX, ANGELS! THIS WAY!” and you knew exactly where to go.
After getting admiring all of Tut’s treasures, we went to the Alabaster Mosque. It was another beautiful mosque – with low lights and beautiful rugs all over the floor. We took our shoes off (of course) to enter into the building. Once inside, we sat down on the rugs and listen to Rhem tell us all about Islam. Such interesting stuff. The mosque was decorated wonderfully and had gorgeous chandeliers hanging all over the place. It was nice and cool and shady in the mosque and I really didn’t want to leave. : ( On the way out, I saw the women’s section – another tragically small area with a crude curtain hung up to shield it from the vision of people in the mosque. I understand that it is traditional for women to pray behind the men, but it just FEELS so oppressive to me and it makes me upset. What I’ve learned in the past few weeks is that I would probably make a very bad Muslim if I had to jam into a little area like that to say my prayers when the men get great seats and all of the room that they need. Oh well, apparently I am still working on my cultural understanding….maybe I will “get it” someday…
After the Alabaster Mosque, the whole group of us jumped on a lunch cruise down the Nile River! I kinda expected the Nile to be this gorgeous, glistening river…instead it reminded me A LOT of the three rivers in Pittsburgh – pretty muddy and like nothing you would ever want to swim in. Regardless of its appearance, though, it is the source of life for many many Egyptian people, which it pretty amazing if you think about it. During the lunch cruise, we saw a belly dancing show as well as an “oriental show” which was like the whirling dervish show I saw, but with more interesting costumes. The whole thing was pretty cheesy and touristy – it was nothing I would have picked to do for myself, but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and see more of the city of Cairo. : )
After our late lunch, we returned to the hotel around 3:30 PM. We had a few hours to relax and get out of the sun, which was nice. I went out to the pool and sat under a shady umbrella and finished my book (“Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” – it was a crazy storyline, but pretty addicting – can’t wait to read the next two in the series!). Before long, I was feeling toasty again, so I jumped into the pool. By the time I got in there were about 50 other people from Semester at Sea because all of the Cairo overnight trips were staying in the same resort. The pool was magnificent. The bottom of the pool was dark blue and it had streams and waterfalls running into it from the front and back sides. It was incredible! When the sun started to go down in the sky, the water was reflecting so much light, it was almost blinding.
I took a quick shower and then jumped back onto Bus 6 with the rest of the “Angels” to go back to the pyramids at sunset for the “Sound and Light Spectacular” show. What they didn’t tell us was that the word “spectacular” was used quite loosely in this instance. Unfortunately, it had like 1983 special effects and was pretty lame. However, it did have a lot of good information about the pyramids and the Sphinx, which helped to supplement what I had learned earlier in the day.
We had a short drive back to the hotel and our bus driver BOOKED it back. He passed all of the other buses and it was pretty obnoxious because we weren’t exactly waiting our turn – but, that’s the way it is in Egypt! If it’s a 3 lane road, 6 cars would easily fit into one row. There’s just no concept of a safe distance here. Plus, don’t even think you would get a chance to doze off on the bus – the horns on the streets were blaring every five seconds. Egyptian drivers seem so aggressive, which is one reason why I couldn’t live in Egypt – I would never get anywhere! We had a delicious buffet dinner at the hotel and then I pretty much crashed into bed barely holding my eyes open.
While at the pyramids, Greg and I bought an extra ticket to actually climb inside the Second Pyramid! This is my favorite pyramid, for sure - it’s definitely the best one. : ) The pyramids are solid on the inside and the burial chamber is dug underneath. It was similar to the day before when we had to crouch down and climb through a small opening then down a really steep ramp. The climb down into the Second Pyramid’s tomb was A LOT longer than the one the day before. There is a room in the middle where you can stand up a little before you have to climb BACK up the other side to get to the burial chamber. As soon as you get inside, it feels like you are in a cave. (Takes me back to our spelunking days, Kim!) There were fewer details on the walls than we had seen the day before, but it was much bigger. The best thing about this experience, though, was that we were there SO early that there were no other people inside! Greg and I had the entire tomb to ourselves! It was creepy and awesome at the same time.
After getting our fill of the pyramids, we jumped back on the bus for the short drive down the hill to see the Great Sphinx of Giza! SO COOL! It was a great view with the pyramids in the back. It was definitely one of those, “I can’t believe I am here!” moments.
The next stop was the Egyptian Archeological Museum in Cairo where we saw ancient statues and works of art along with all of KING TUT’s burial treasure. AH! KING TUT! It was incredible because he was the only Egyptian king whose tomb was not raided. He was buried so quickly after he died that no one had a chance to see where he was buried – the paint wasn’t even dried on the wall of the tomb when they sealed it! An archeologist named Carter excavated the site in the 1920’s and found the tomb to be completely intact. All of Tut’s treasures now reside in the Archeological Museum in Cairo. We also got to see the MUMMY ROOM! (Rachy, I was thinking of you, Bones, and Booth the entire time!!!) To me, it is difficult to fathom how all of the most famous rulers of Egypt have their BODIES on display in a museum. The bodies were creepily well-preserved. The teeth were perfectly intact along with hair and even eyelashes! There are hardly words – it’s just so crazy to think about the history that is evidenced by the remains of these famous rulers.
The museum was fantastic because we had a guided tour from our tour guide for the trip, Rhem (pronounced Reem). Side note about Rhem: she is an AMAZING lady – I think she was a former archeologist or something. She is also super bossy – which was great because we were always the first bus to get anywhere! She pretty much talked NON-STOP for 4 days on the trip, filling our heads with facts and stories. She did such a great job of telling the history of Egypt and making it sound like a narrative. It was great. I wish I would have had her for my personal tour guide the entire summer. Also, she has this super loud voice, so she would yell “BUS SIX, ANGELS! THIS WAY!” and you knew exactly where to go.
After getting admiring all of Tut’s treasures, we went to the Alabaster Mosque. It was another beautiful mosque – with low lights and beautiful rugs all over the floor. We took our shoes off (of course) to enter into the building. Once inside, we sat down on the rugs and listen to Rhem tell us all about Islam. Such interesting stuff. The mosque was decorated wonderfully and had gorgeous chandeliers hanging all over the place. It was nice and cool and shady in the mosque and I really didn’t want to leave. : ( On the way out, I saw the women’s section – another tragically small area with a crude curtain hung up to shield it from the vision of people in the mosque. I understand that it is traditional for women to pray behind the men, but it just FEELS so oppressive to me and it makes me upset. What I’ve learned in the past few weeks is that I would probably make a very bad Muslim if I had to jam into a little area like that to say my prayers when the men get great seats and all of the room that they need. Oh well, apparently I am still working on my cultural understanding….maybe I will “get it” someday…
After the Alabaster Mosque, the whole group of us jumped on a lunch cruise down the Nile River! I kinda expected the Nile to be this gorgeous, glistening river…instead it reminded me A LOT of the three rivers in Pittsburgh – pretty muddy and like nothing you would ever want to swim in. Regardless of its appearance, though, it is the source of life for many many Egyptian people, which it pretty amazing if you think about it. During the lunch cruise, we saw a belly dancing show as well as an “oriental show” which was like the whirling dervish show I saw, but with more interesting costumes. The whole thing was pretty cheesy and touristy – it was nothing I would have picked to do for myself, but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and see more of the city of Cairo. : )
After our late lunch, we returned to the hotel around 3:30 PM. We had a few hours to relax and get out of the sun, which was nice. I went out to the pool and sat under a shady umbrella and finished my book (“Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” – it was a crazy storyline, but pretty addicting – can’t wait to read the next two in the series!). Before long, I was feeling toasty again, so I jumped into the pool. By the time I got in there were about 50 other people from Semester at Sea because all of the Cairo overnight trips were staying in the same resort. The pool was magnificent. The bottom of the pool was dark blue and it had streams and waterfalls running into it from the front and back sides. It was incredible! When the sun started to go down in the sky, the water was reflecting so much light, it was almost blinding.
I took a quick shower and then jumped back onto Bus 6 with the rest of the “Angels” to go back to the pyramids at sunset for the “Sound and Light Spectacular” show. What they didn’t tell us was that the word “spectacular” was used quite loosely in this instance. Unfortunately, it had like 1983 special effects and was pretty lame. However, it did have a lot of good information about the pyramids and the Sphinx, which helped to supplement what I had learned earlier in the day.
We had a short drive back to the hotel and our bus driver BOOKED it back. He passed all of the other buses and it was pretty obnoxious because we weren’t exactly waiting our turn – but, that’s the way it is in Egypt! If it’s a 3 lane road, 6 cars would easily fit into one row. There’s just no concept of a safe distance here. Plus, don’t even think you would get a chance to doze off on the bus – the horns on the streets were blaring every five seconds. Egyptian drivers seem so aggressive, which is one reason why I couldn’t live in Egypt – I would never get anywhere! We had a delicious buffet dinner at the hotel and then I pretty much crashed into bed barely holding my eyes open.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Day 1 in Egypt (July 27)
Today is the first day of a 4-day organized trip to Cairo and Luxor. Normally I’d like to avoid the big tours because you lose your autonomy and end up doing things to please the group, BUT, let me tell you…after 5 countries…I am SO ready to be shuttled about from place to place and stay in nice hotels! Can’t wait! As soon as customs cleared our ship and our passports were released to us, we were ushered out of the ship and jumped on the tour bus for a 3 hour bus ride to Cairo. On the way, we stopped in Giza for lunch at the Meridien Pyramids hotel. It was a HUGE buffet with lots and lots of choices. I tried a little of everything (surprise!) except the cold salad items. They told us to avoid eating anything that had been washed with cold water or had a skin (like tomatoes) because we are not used to the water. It was sad, though, because it was such a waste of food. : (
Our first site-seeing stop was at Memphis. We went to an outdoor museum of ruins and statues from ancient temples. My favorite item from this site was a GIANT statue of Ramses II (an Egyptian king). It was lying down on the ground because the lower part of the statue had broken off. Even without the legs, the statue was truly gigantic and was incredibly well preserved because it had been completely covered with sand. Really cool stuff. I think I’m going to like Egypt. : )
Next up was a trip to the pyramids of Zoser at Sakkara and Lasataba. These were different type of burial monuments – they slightly resembled pyramids, but were more like big piles of sand and stone over a tomb. We got to climb inside, which was SO cool. To get in, we had to crouch down and keep our heads down to get into a very narrow passage. We had to hold on to the railings and head down a steep ramp until we were all the way down. It was pretty dangerous and several of the people on the trip decided that they didn’t want to do it! It was a pretty tight and awkward climb – definitely not for the claustrophobic. It’s really funny, though, because if we were in the US doing this activity, there would have been detailed training session on how to climb AND everyone would have had to sign a waiver to make sure they wouldn’t sue Egypt if they got hurt. In addition, they probably would have had to install an elevator to make sure it was accessible. But no, not in Egypt. It’s enter at your own risk!
After Sakkara, we drove to the hotel in Giza which was a beautiful complex. We checked in and had a short rest at the hotel before the evening activity, which was a visit to the Khan El Khalil Bazaar. The bazaar was an overwhelming experience. For the first time on this trip, I had a few moments when I felt far out of my comfort zone. This was primary the case due to the blatant and persistent sexual harassment targeted toward women which is so common in this area of the world. I was with Greg and Serena (another girl in my cohort) while we were there. The crazy thing is that I know the harassment probably would have been about 10 times worse if Greg had not been there with Serena and I. Two blonde American girls stand out like sore thumbs in an Egyptian market, let me tell you! In addition to the verbal comments, the vendors were much more aggressive with selling their items than they were in the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. The bazaar in Egypt was also much more dangerous because people push carts around in the narrow streets without stopping – it’s up to you to get yourself out of the way. Scary!
But, even in what appears to be crowded and dirty chaos to an unfamiliar eye, there are moments of sincere humanity. I was touched when a young Muslim women reached out, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out of the way of a man rushing by with a cart. Startled, I turned and tried to thank her. She smiled and I didn’t need words to tell me what kind of a person she was to pull a stranger out of the way of possible danger. It was a really nice moment and it made me think about it’s the little moments such as that one that make this experience special.
Not everyone had a good experience at the Bazaar, though. One girl that I was with complained the entire time about how we were getting pushed and shoved and how she couldn’t wait to get out of there. The way that I look at it, though, is that we were in THEIR way, right? Everyone else around us seemed to know the drill – walk fast and move if there are carts. We were the ones holding up the line by moseying along, right? How can we blame the others there if we were invading their space and not following the protocol? It is interesting (and annoying) how different people can interpret the same situation so differently…
After walking though the market area, we tried to visit a mosque in that area, but the man at the door told us that no women allowed inside, so I couldn’t go in. I think that was the first time I’ve ever been denied entry into a building because of my sex. It wasn’t a big deal (we didn’t HAVE to go inside), but it certainly wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I was more concerned with…WHERE do the local women of the area worship?? How do THEY feel about that? Is that “just the way it is”? I still don’t know. I need to talk to some local people to get some perspective! Certainly, one of the problems with a Semester at Sea trip is that there just isn’t time or opportunity to interact with normal people (and by normal, I mean folks who aren’t guides or trying to sell you something). It is strange because I feel like I’ve visiting Egypt, but there are so many things that I don’t understand and so many questions that are going unanswered...
After the eventful bazaar, we had dinner at the hotel at 10 PM. Dinner was good and was almost identical to the menu we had for lunch. It was buffet style and there were a variety of meats, chicken, rices, and (of course) pasta for the Americans. : ) Bedtime followed shortly after dinner!
Our first site-seeing stop was at Memphis. We went to an outdoor museum of ruins and statues from ancient temples. My favorite item from this site was a GIANT statue of Ramses II (an Egyptian king). It was lying down on the ground because the lower part of the statue had broken off. Even without the legs, the statue was truly gigantic and was incredibly well preserved because it had been completely covered with sand. Really cool stuff. I think I’m going to like Egypt. : )
Next up was a trip to the pyramids of Zoser at Sakkara and Lasataba. These were different type of burial monuments – they slightly resembled pyramids, but were more like big piles of sand and stone over a tomb. We got to climb inside, which was SO cool. To get in, we had to crouch down and keep our heads down to get into a very narrow passage. We had to hold on to the railings and head down a steep ramp until we were all the way down. It was pretty dangerous and several of the people on the trip decided that they didn’t want to do it! It was a pretty tight and awkward climb – definitely not for the claustrophobic. It’s really funny, though, because if we were in the US doing this activity, there would have been detailed training session on how to climb AND everyone would have had to sign a waiver to make sure they wouldn’t sue Egypt if they got hurt. In addition, they probably would have had to install an elevator to make sure it was accessible. But no, not in Egypt. It’s enter at your own risk!
After Sakkara, we drove to the hotel in Giza which was a beautiful complex. We checked in and had a short rest at the hotel before the evening activity, which was a visit to the Khan El Khalil Bazaar. The bazaar was an overwhelming experience. For the first time on this trip, I had a few moments when I felt far out of my comfort zone. This was primary the case due to the blatant and persistent sexual harassment targeted toward women which is so common in this area of the world. I was with Greg and Serena (another girl in my cohort) while we were there. The crazy thing is that I know the harassment probably would have been about 10 times worse if Greg had not been there with Serena and I. Two blonde American girls stand out like sore thumbs in an Egyptian market, let me tell you! In addition to the verbal comments, the vendors were much more aggressive with selling their items than they were in the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. The bazaar in Egypt was also much more dangerous because people push carts around in the narrow streets without stopping – it’s up to you to get yourself out of the way. Scary!
But, even in what appears to be crowded and dirty chaos to an unfamiliar eye, there are moments of sincere humanity. I was touched when a young Muslim women reached out, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out of the way of a man rushing by with a cart. Startled, I turned and tried to thank her. She smiled and I didn’t need words to tell me what kind of a person she was to pull a stranger out of the way of possible danger. It was a really nice moment and it made me think about it’s the little moments such as that one that make this experience special.
Not everyone had a good experience at the Bazaar, though. One girl that I was with complained the entire time about how we were getting pushed and shoved and how she couldn’t wait to get out of there. The way that I look at it, though, is that we were in THEIR way, right? Everyone else around us seemed to know the drill – walk fast and move if there are carts. We were the ones holding up the line by moseying along, right? How can we blame the others there if we were invading their space and not following the protocol? It is interesting (and annoying) how different people can interpret the same situation so differently…
After walking though the market area, we tried to visit a mosque in that area, but the man at the door told us that no women allowed inside, so I couldn’t go in. I think that was the first time I’ve ever been denied entry into a building because of my sex. It wasn’t a big deal (we didn’t HAVE to go inside), but it certainly wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I was more concerned with…WHERE do the local women of the area worship?? How do THEY feel about that? Is that “just the way it is”? I still don’t know. I need to talk to some local people to get some perspective! Certainly, one of the problems with a Semester at Sea trip is that there just isn’t time or opportunity to interact with normal people (and by normal, I mean folks who aren’t guides or trying to sell you something). It is strange because I feel like I’ve visiting Egypt, but there are so many things that I don’t understand and so many questions that are going unanswered...
After the eventful bazaar, we had dinner at the hotel at 10 PM. Dinner was good and was almost identical to the menu we had for lunch. It was buffet style and there were a variety of meats, chicken, rices, and (of course) pasta for the Americans. : ) Bedtime followed shortly after dinner!
Getting ready for Egypt! (Monday, July 26)
Today in class, the ship was moving so much that I got really sick during class. : ( It was unfortunate because I had to break my drug-free streak. Anyway, after popping a couple of pills I felt much better, but the medicine makes me SO tired. I had to work on my internship and blogging between episodes of dozing off.
By late afternoon, I just gave up and went out to the fifth deck to read. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite areas on the ship because in the late afternoon, you can sit on a comfy deck chair with your legs stretched out in the sun and your upper body in the shade. There is always a nice breeze, too, so it’s the perfect temperature. Not to mention the view of the horizon is incredible. In my case, there is the added bonus that I don’t feel the motion of the ship much at all when I look out at the horizon and feel the fresh air. : ) Anyway, I sat in the sun and read for an hour or two before dinner, then I had dinner with Lynette (the Assistant Dean of Students) and her husband, and then went to inter-port lecture and pre-port orientation about Egypt. I can’t believe I will wake up in Egypt tomorrow!!!! Tonight, I am packing, blogging, and going to bed early so I can get a good rest before my big Egypt trip starts tomorrow!
By late afternoon, I just gave up and went out to the fifth deck to read. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite areas on the ship because in the late afternoon, you can sit on a comfy deck chair with your legs stretched out in the sun and your upper body in the shade. There is always a nice breeze, too, so it’s the perfect temperature. Not to mention the view of the horizon is incredible. In my case, there is the added bonus that I don’t feel the motion of the ship much at all when I look out at the horizon and feel the fresh air. : ) Anyway, I sat in the sun and read for an hour or two before dinner, then I had dinner with Lynette (the Assistant Dean of Students) and her husband, and then went to inter-port lecture and pre-port orientation about Egypt. I can’t believe I will wake up in Egypt tomorrow!!!! Tonight, I am packing, blogging, and going to bed early so I can get a good rest before my big Egypt trip starts tomorrow!
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