January 27, 2011 Thursday
After breakfast we took motor boats up the Nile to the Karnak temple. I loved standing on the front of the boat, looking out even though the sun was killing. My sunglasses are my best friend this trip. I loved the Karnak temple. Especially the Great Hall with 134 huge columns. Funny story: inside the Karnak temple is a large stone beetle on top of a small column. Supposedly running around it three times brings good luck, five marriage, seven children. Brother Judd’s class got different information so they all ran seven times in the wrong direction. My class had a good laugh about that. I will leave it to your imagination as to how many times I ran (or didn’t).
After the Karnak temple we rode in carriages to the Luxor temple. My favorite part of the Luxor temple was the Avenue of the Sphinxes in front, which we could see as we drove around it on the carriages. It kind of made me feel like royalty as we drove up, much like the ancient priests would have made their pilgrimages between temples. I am slowly adding to my hieroglyph interpreting skills. I learned that a braid on the side means son of a king. We got in the same carriage for the way back. I got to sit up front and that was a fun experience. I was a lot more aware of the crazy traffic from the perspective of a carriage. Nasir let me drive a couple of times and I was singing the chorus of Perfect Day by Lady Antebellum in my head as I drove along the Nile.
There was a beautiful sunset across the Nile right before we started eating dinner then we went to the train station. The train security was interesting. We didn’t have to put our bags through the x-ray and just carried them through a screaming metal detector. I was just a little nervous. On the train I felt like I was on Anastasia. I was grateful I followed the advice to take a nap during free time earlier today because it was a long night.
January 28, 2011 Friday
From the train station we went straight to our hotel in Giza and got our luggage!!!! I was so happy to put on clean clothes! At this point, due to the protests, we were playing everything by ear/feel so plans kept changing. We got on our busses expecting to go to Cairo’s most famous mosques but found out that we were headed to more pyramids instead. We went to Dahshuer, well outside of Cairo. No BYU group has ever gone to see Dahshuer. We walked around two of Sneferu’s four pyramids (the Red and the Bent). Again we were blessed to have Brother Muhlestein with us—he excavates at one of the other two. We also got to go see the valley temple where he had never been so it was fun to see him get super excited. It was a rather hard morning between little sleep and the uncertainty of the situation so I was grateful for his genuine enthusiasm that kept things interesting.
In between lectures, Jessica filled Faith and I in on the protest situation. I learned 1) there will likely be an even bigger protest in Cairo this afternoon and 2) that the government shut off the internet and cell phone towers to try to stop people from communicating and assembling. (The protests on Tuesday and in the other countries also protesting right now were started over Facebook.)
On the bus ride back to the hotel we got Egyptian Political History 101 starting with Muhammad Ali to help us better understand the protests. Right now Egypt is at peace with outside countries so the educated class of people is looking to fix the problems within.
Back in Giza, after learning that we couldn’t go to any of our planned stops because they were either a) closed because of the protests or b) in the middle of the protests or c) both, we buckled in for an afternoon at our hotel. If I had to choose a place to be locked down I’m not sure I could have picked a better one. There was a basketball court. Of course I would have rather have been seeing the Cairo museum but hey-I spent a good chunk of time playing basketball in Egypt and getting a great tan from the killer sun. I played until my knee didn’t want to any more. Then I watched the news. They just kept replaying the same pictures but it was crazy to see what was happening a fifteen minute drive from where I was, along roads I had recently been on. After dinner was Sacrament Meeting. We had the District President and the Branch President with us so I guess it’s okay to do that on Friday. We met in a hotel conference room. Possible (Probable) history-changing protests were occurring in the same city. We were in Egypt, near the pyramids. I was wearing a skirt and tennis shoes. We had to sing quietly so as not to disturb the other guests. We could hear the languages of people speaking outside as they checked in and out. It was not your typical Sacrament Meeting. However, the Spirit was strong and it was a blessing to feel the spiritual strength of the amazing people who surround me. Five of us had been asked to talk briefly so it was a pretty short meeting.
The evening ended with another once-in-a-lifetime experience. We gathered together and watched the breaking news. About 25 people crammed in a hotel room lining the bed and the floors, sort of watching the TV and mostly listening to Brother Muhlestein answer questions about what is going on. As I went to bed I reflected on a sobering day. There were so many thoughts going through my head. Time will tell whether these demonstrations or future ones successfully bring about change for the Egyptian people. Hopefully that change will be for the better but there is no easy answer.
I was asleep when glass broke. My roommate dropped a glass and scared me to death.
January 29, 2011 Saturday
The drive out of Cairo was exciting. We sang “Deliver us” from the Prince of Egypt movie. We could see some smoke from continuing protests downtown (ground zero at the Cairo museum where we would have been this morning) and had to close our bus window blinds at one point but we had cars making sure that the way ahead was clear. Our travel agency took great care of us. We passed a lot of police and military vehicles on our way out. Soon we got to the Red Sea and turned south along it, paralleling this time the path of the Exodus as we drove to Sinai. We had a lot of songs played to us over the bus speaker but the most epic was “Let it snow” from Dr. Chadwick as we drove through the desert. I loved looking out the window again, this time imagining the Israelites following Moses. It is such desolate country, with almost nothing growing in the wilderness. The wilderness is a perfect symbol of total trust in God. The Israelites were alive only because He met their every need and led them every step of the way on their journey to the Promised Land. Of course we get to blow our story out of proportion and claim that we escaped Egypt too now.
We stopped at a Marah-which is the traditional spot where Moses and the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and the bitter (Marah) well which Moses healed. It isn’t three days away from the coast but there is a well so it illustrates the story. There were little kids begging for money or food. One little boy had a toy truck made from bent wires. It looked like both a piece of junk and his most prized possession. Watching the kids made me really sad.
Our next stop should have been Elim (place of palm trees and 12 wells, where Israelites camped, blessing of manna begins). We didn’t get out, just stopped for two minutes for pictures out the window because our security guards were very antsy and wanted to get us to the hotel before dark. [if you were following the news at this point there was trouble in “Sinai” an area which encompassed the whole Sinai peninsula. The trouble was up near Gaza and we were headed for the mountains at the south of the peninsula.]
We did stop at Rephidim. This is where there was a battle and Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands so the Israelites could win. My class was attempting to be spiritual and Judd’s class went crazy acting the story out. They finished the lesson first and we were in the middle of a spiritual moment when they started singing “Judd, Judd, Judd, Judd, Judd…” to Eye of the Tiger. I can’t even describe how funny it was even though we pretended to be mad.
We made it to our hotel before dark. We had some time to look in shops and I ended up playing games for a while. Egyptian Rat Screw must be played in Egypt.
After dinner, Brother Muhlestein led anyone who was interested out into the desert for a star gazing/Moses 1 reading expedition. We got to a hill, climbed it, got semi-situated on the pokey rocks, and had just turned out our lights so we could see the beautiful stars when our security guards came chasing after us, calling “BYU where are you?” They insisted we come back to the hotel quickly. They were concerned about us-nice guys. So we had our discussion by the side of the huge hotel pool with very cold water.
January 30, 2011
Woke up at 2:30 am. Either put on or put in my JC backpack every possible layer of clothing. I got a wrap from Mallory and wrapped my knee which had been bothering me since playing basketball. Right before we left I passed by a stand (which was miraculously already open) and there were walking sticks. I asked how much they cost and found out I could rent one for a dollar-best investment of my life! We left at 3:15 for the mountain and had to tiptoe past St. Catherine’s Monastery so we didn’t wake up the monks. We used our headlamps which helped us to see very well, but only what was exactly in front of us. The trail was pretty sandy and rocky but not terribly steep with the exception of a lot of steps. We could see our breath and struggled to stay warm between the sweat and freezing cold air blowing so hard in places that I almost fell a few times. We got to the bottom of the 700 stairs and stayed there a while because we knew the top would be even colder. The 700 stairs were killers.
It didn’t take too long from there until we were at the top. We joined a large group huddled on the ground, singing songs and watching the horizon for the sunrise. It took us just under 2 hours to get from bottom to top, including our break before the stairs. I didn’t like being crammed into the group but was grateful for the warmth at the same time. We sang High on a Mountaintop the most frequently but all the classic hymns as well. The view was beautiful as the sun slowly peaked through the haze and we could see more and more of the breathtaking red granite mountains around us. We climbed a lot higher than I had realized. After the sun rose we went down a little ways to a more sheltered place and sang some more. One of the guys in the group saw that I was freezing and held my hands to warm them up. I didn’t have gloves and could barely feel my fingers. I didn’t realize they were so cold though until he started warming them up because I was so focused on the view. I was very appreciative of his contentiousness.
We had our lesson in a place with a beautiful view of the other side of Sinai in a sheltered part of the mountain in the welcome, warm sun. Brother Muhlestein pointed out that in 1 Kings 19? Elijah is in Sinai (Horeb=same thing) and a great strong wind rent the mountains so he wrapped his face in his mantle-I’ve done the same thing and will never read those words the same way again! I literally had a blanket wrapped around my head to keep warm.
We read the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. We talked about how God wants to reveal himself to us and to establish His covenant with us personally. It was a great cap on our previous lessons.
The most notable experience from the ride back to Israel and then Jerusalem was dulce de leche flavored ice cream/schnitzel/fries for dinner at another Kibbutz.
We pulled up to the JC in the rain. We sang “Love at Home” as we pulled in the drive. I had an epic thirty minutes where I called home and found out that my Mom was called as RS president and that I got accepted into the Accounting program!!
January 31, 2011
Picture labeling, journeling, thinking, resting, studying.
February 1, 2011
Another chill day with more studying.
February 2, 2011
At noon I went with a bunch of girls to help in the kitchen for Arab culture night tonight. I got to sauté onions, then find and cut up six lemons using a huge knife, then sauté more onions that looked like worms because of the spice added to the oil. Then I cut the peel off some vegetable. First I cut off the root part then the green things sticking out of the top then used the knife to peel around the edges. After a literal finger count I finished. I have a new dream—I want to go to Italy and to a culinary school for a couple of months—how awesome would that be?!!!
The Arab culture night was pretty cool! First two men demonstrated first how the Qu’ran is read. They sing/speak it and it is both beautiful and so foreign sounding that it was hard to get used to. It sounded very similar to the call to prayer which they demonstrated next. There was a young man and his father. They both work in the Dome of the Rock which is a huge honor and passes down in families. Everyone dressed up in their Arab attire for dinner. After dinner and a ton of pictures we learned how to dance. Or at least most people learned and I tried really hard.
February 3, 2011
I love studying with my roommate/friend Jessica. Our thoughts and ideas are complimentary and fill in the other’s gaps quite well. It is so much fun taking the same classes as everyone else because we can not only relate to what others are going through in terms of work load, but also discuss what we are learning and get so much more out of it. I went out shopping between classes and cut it close time wise. We literally ran most of the way back down and up the Kidron valley because we were going to be late for class. We got some funny looks. I realized going out though that I am so much more comfortable in the city since coming back from Egypt. It feels like home.
February 4, 2011
I love Fridays—having two hours of OT and of Near Eastern Studies is the best! I helped assemble Humanitarian kits again for an hour. I guess last time we assembled 1700 kits and today we were limited by towels to 1000. Pretty cool huh! I watched half of our Friday night movie “Death on the Nile” (yes there were some funny jokes about how real this almost was) but was too restless to stay for the whole thing. I left and played the piano for a while. Apparently Jessica left soon after because when I got back to the room she was there. She could tell I was super restless so she suggested walking around outside. We walked around in the rain and wind for a while, looking out over the city and talked. I am grateful for good friends.
February 5, 2011
In nursery today JD and Elio were excited to see me-JD said he missed me last week! He is the oldest of the five kids in our nursery. Things in there have calmed down somewhat now that they are more familiar with us.
After church I joined a group going to Gethsemane. It was the first time I have been. “Gethsemane” is a term encompassing the Church of All Nations, a private olive tree garden next door whose owners kindly lets us “Mormons” in, and a cave that was an oil press during the time of Christ.
On the way, two men (one said it and the other agreed) told me I had beautiful eyes. Another later said “I am looking for a Mormon wife-you are very beautiful.” So I am counting on getting two milkshakes from a certain uncle when I get back because you can take that as a proposal.
February 6, 2011 Sunday
Conglomeration of site-seeing Sunday. The first place we went was St. James’ Armenian Church. Very strong incense. After, we went to David’s citadel. Laurence started helping the guys who were doing reconstruction work so we all got to carry a bucket of dirt to be dumped. Inside we watched a movie that detailed the chronology of Jerusalem. I enjoyed having all the names and dates thrown at me in a concise dialogue that helped tie things together better in my mind. After the movie we went up on one of the towers and had a great view of the citadel and the city. I can’t get enough of the view! Inside the citadel were a lot of museum-rooms built along the walls. We walked through time and looked at maps and dates and artifacts and models had lots of “ahah, now this makes sense” moments as things came together even better.
We ate lunch as we walked towards the Temple Mount. There is only an hour window where visitors are allowed up on top each day. Once on the Temple Mount a few things surprised me. First, the Dome of the Rock seemed too small to be the eye-catching marvel that dominates the city view from anywhere else. Also there was way more empty space up there in the courtyard than I expected. Some little boys were playing soccer.
We hit a candy shop (gotta have chocolate), Golgotha, and Omar’s (olive wood carving-amazing!!) on the way back to the center to study.
February 7, 2011
Way awesome field trip day! Archeology of the Shfelah (low hill country)-including the valleys of Sorek, Elah, Guvrin, and Lakish along with major cities. I couldn’t get over how much greener it is since we drove through here on our way to Egypt. It is the rainy season so it will be green for a few months! The landscape was captivating. We began our tour with Tel Gath-anciently home to Goliath, currently home to Dr. Chadwick’s excavation. He has been excavating here since 2001. Ruins date from 3000 BC to 1949 CE when the Arab village which had been there vacated to Gaza following the war. Between the two dates there has been almost continuous civilization which I find fascinating. The excavation encompasses 14 strata. At the time of Goliath, the city of Gath covered 125 acres in comparison to Jerusalem which was 10 acres. I hadn’t realized before that David actually stayed in Gath for a time, with the king of the Philistines no less, while he was fleeing from Saul. Gath was also a stopping place for the Ark of the Covenant when the Philistines were playing hot-potato with it before sending it back. Gath is located on the west side of the Elah valley. The battle of David and Goliath took place to the east a couple of miles but we went there later.
After Gath, we drove to Mareshah. Within Mareshah we visited the Bell Caves, the pigeon cave, a gethsemane cave, and a Sidonian burial chamber next to a rest stop with ice cream. The Bell caves were chalk mines, shaped like bells because that’s how they were dug out. They are huge-probably 50 feet high and we sang songs inside. Light comes in from 4ft wideish holes at the top of each bell. The pigeon cave supplied food, fertilizer, and sacrificial pigeons. Mareshah was the guardian city for the Guvrin valley and a lot of battles were fought here. The gethsemane (oil press) cave was way neat. Olives have to be pressed out of the sunlight or the oil tastes bitter so often gethsemanes were in caves. The Sidonian burial tomb reminded me of National Treasure. I couldn’t find my cell phone or I would have taken a picture reaching for it.
Next stop was Lakish. This place was awesome!! Accompanying the views were graphic descriptions of battles fought here-thank you Sennacherib for drawing pictures. It was a battle fort and the last city that enemies would conquer before attacking Jerusalem so it was hugely important. We specifically talked about Sennacherib but applied what the people would have been feeling as their city was attacked and conquered to all of the land of Israel. My ancestors were among those under attack and kicked out somewhere and thinking about it that way gave me a totally different perspective, much more personal than I have ever considered before. Brother Muhlestein talked about the men knowing they had to keep the enemy out, knowing what would happen to themselves and their families if they were unsuccessful. It was kind of overwhelming to think about that kind of life-and-death situation. What a different world we live in today! We also talked about signal fires and the Lakish letter 4, telling Jerusalem that the signal fires of Azekah could no longer be seen. In that moment the people of Lakish knew they were next and that Jerusalem would follow if Lakish fell. It rained while we were at Lakish so we were in the mud and trying to keep notes and cameras dry.
Next my favorite part of the whole day. Elah valley where David faced Goliath. We got off the bus and walked along a muddy field. Sabrina Muhlestein (age 5?) and Brock acted out the battle and then we got to use slings to throw rocks into the field. (The farmer probably loves tourists-I only threw one) Miraculously no one got hit in the head. Everyone was having a blast and it was just incredible to be able to stand there and picture the Israelites encamped on the North hill and the Philistines hidden in the trees covering the south hill with Goliath standing out in the field, calling for David to come. I would have loved to climb the hill where the Israelites were but we didn’t stay very long before we attempted to clean our shoes and got back on the bus.
Azekah was the guardian city for the Elah valley and sits just to the west of the famous battle site. The point of stopping at Azekah was to have the overview of the Elah valley but we also tied it to the Lakish letter 4. This was the city which was conquered before invading armies went to Lakish.
On to the Sorek Valley and Bet Shemesh. From Bet Shemesh we could basically see Samson’s life play out geographically. To the northeast we could see where Samson grew up in Zorah, then to the northwest on the other side of a hill was Timnah where his Philistine wife was from. In between he likely killed his lion, burned the fields to the west, and the Jawbone story in Ekron to the southwest over another hill. In addition to all of that, Bet Shemesh was where the Philistines sent the Ark of the Covenant pulled by cows to get rid of it. I loved the visual orientation of all these cities in one shot.
When we got home we had to go to our outside doors instead of through the building because of our muddy shoes.
FHE was a blast! We played volleyball. The game was absolutely non-competitive and everyone was super supportive and just had fun.
February 8, 2011
Palestine class was great today. I just related well to what Dr. Musallam was teaching I guess. First he talked about Egypt and how the protests are coming mainly from young, educated people who are united by a love for their country and the desire to make things better, along with the effective use of social media technology for organizing. His reiteration helped me more fully comprehend my feelings of support for the protestors who are seeking democracy (balanced by a fear of worse results if/when extremists take over the government instead of creating that democracy). These mainstream protestors are people just like me, except they were born in a country not protected by a Constitution and not guaranteed basic rights.
February 9, 2011
Oh midterms.
Dinner was a historic moment of my life. My plate consisted of 2/3 salad. Salad consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, red, yellow, and green peppers, cucumbers, and some kind of white sprouts. It looked beautiful and hasn’t killed me yet.
February 10, 2011
Worse midterms.
February 11, 2011
I got the worst grade of my life on a OT quiz this morning. Luckily I got a pick-me-up e-mail from an awesome friend.
In the evening I got to go to a synagogue for the evening prayer service to welcome in the Sabbath. Dr. Yardin arranged for us to go in four groups over four weeks to visit different synagogues. The meeting was mostly singing. Our prayer books had the Hebrew words and the English words but no transliteration so I was sad not to be able to sing but I hummed along as best I could and had a blast following along by tracking each time they said Adoni at least. I also tried to read the Hebrew letters I know and realized how much I don’t know (it didn’t come as a surprise).
Mubarak stepped down so who knows what will happen to Egypt. They are calling this the January 25th Revolution of 2011. I was kissing the sphinx that day.
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