Behibbak ya Filistin: A day in the West Bank

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148622&id=5614018&l=0a4462ecc0

The best way for me to show you the West Bank is through my pictures and their extensive captions, which I put up on Facebook; I plan to put more pictures on Picasa at a later date. Go to the above link and look through the pictures and read the captions. Please share in this, please comment and let me know your thoughts on my picture.

Of all the things that I have posted, and said, this is the most meaningful experience I have had while studying abroad, the things I saw and felt and reacted to in this most contested part of the world. Please read, please learn, please think and read and consider with open eyes.

In addition, please check out the following related article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0425/p07s03-wome.html

With hopes for peace in the Holy Land and for humane treatment for all of humanity
Laura

Jerusalem, my Destiny---or rather, my destination

We arrived in Jerusalem yesterday at like 4:30, after like 20 hours of traveling. Needless to say, it was a long couple days. Luckily, Ayesha was only detained for like 25 minutes, as opposed to 3 hours for the first time. We will count it a success.

As for Jerusalem, or القدس as it is known in Arabic. There is nothing to really describe the feeling of coming around a corner and seeing the Dome of the Rock for the first time. Even though I am not Muslim, I have longed to see it ever since my old religion teacher had the Jerusalem panorama on his wall; it rises above all the other sites of Jerusalem, a gorgeous golden dome (that puts Notre Dame's to shame) rstanding above the holy city on the Temple Mount. It's breathtaking, but "breathtaking" doesn't really even come close.

Our hostel is in East Jerusalem, which is an Arab part of the city, so it feels a little bit like Cairo, with fruit vendors downstairs, delcious Palestinian food next door, and I can speak a little Arabic with them. We are within view of the Damascus Gate to the Old City, and we went walking around there a little last night. It's a little like Khan al Khalili in Cairo, with people selling all kinds of things: food including produce, dead cow, roasting chickens, fresh fish, along with tons of shoestores and shops selling Jewish, Muslim and Christian souvenirs, scarves, Muslim clothing, T-shirt stores selling Pr0-Palestine and Pro-Peace shirts alongside Israeli Uzi ones. . . like Cairo, it's a 1000 things at once. And the funny thing is, we were on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, without even realizing it till we saw a part marking the Third Station. It absolutely blows my mind that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall are 10 minutes away. And the Orthodox Jews were heading, many at a run, or sort of a trot to the Wailing Wall and the Synaogogue before sundown, as the Call to Prayer played above our heads. it was just everything.

In all of this, I had a vision of what Jerusalem could be. Religions intermingling in the holy areas like they could be all over the country, if only politics could be sorted out and the Palestinians actually had their rights. It was a beautiful vision, but I know enough about the history and the current situation to realize this is make believe. Our Taxi driver, Ahmed, told us that even though he is one of the few Palestinians with an Israeli Passport, life and mobility are incredibly hard. Our hostel owner Hisham told us that Palestinians in the West Bank can't even visit Jerusalem because they have no passports of any kind. No matter how hard Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush tries, this isn't changing any time soon. We'll go to the West Bank tomorrow, so more on that later, but on the surface, the New Jerusalem is an amazing place. . . and my dream, my prayer at the Wailing Wall and at every station of the Cross was that this could be realized, peace with justice.

Today we tried to go to the Dome of the Rock, but the Israelis have closed it on account of Sabbath and Passover, because they do that. So instead we followed the Via Dolorosa, which is beautiful. They have small chapels in the midst of the market place, and it was nice to sit and reflect on it, but this will be easier to describe when I can add pictures from backin Cairo. We got to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but I in all honesty preferred the rest of the stations, because the Church was nuts, obnoxious Eastern European tour groups, it was crowded and the line for the tomb was 2 hours, and I decided that the Church didn't feel holy enoguh to wait 2 hours for 2 minutes. It was still really special and sacred to be there, but felt strange all the same.

Alright, enough for now. Check back for pictures in a few days. I hope this gives you a little taste, but let me tell you that I can't actually describe my joy at finally seeing Jerusalem, its sacredness and its modern challenges all at once.

With love and peace from the Holy City,
Laura

about that

I unfortunately can't say much right now and I can't show you anything. Actually, the first statement was a lie. My laptop's AC adapter died, it is khalas, finished, kaput. Egyptian electricity apparently has that effect on electronics, so I can't upload pictures to my computer or post them online right now. And another reason:

IM LEAVING ON SPRING BREAK TOMORROW!!!
(So I've been busy getting ready for that)

What's the plan? Leave for Jerusalem tomorrow on an overnight bus to Taba then another bus to Jerusalem, spend like 4 days there and hopefully seeing the West Bank and Bethlehem as well, and experiencing the Holy Land up close with all of its beauty and religious history and general holiness, as well as getting a taste of the modern political issues and contradictions and issues, to hopefully get a better grasp on that. I'm really excited about being able to stand in the city I've been hearing about since I was born (I 'member. . . . ), because there's nowhere in the world like it, nothing even comes close.

Then, to save ourselves a little bit of money, we will be taking a bus back to Cairo, meeting up with some people who aren't coming to Jerusalem, so we can fly to Istanbul on April 23rd. We spend 5 days there and come back on the 28th. Istanbul is supposed to be spectacular, I love the people I'm going with, and we're going to have a great time. I want to visit museums, see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (which I've been dying to see since AP world Sophomore year), and experience the Ottoman empire's seat up close and personal, since I've realized how big an impact the Ottomans had on Egypt. And live a bit of the high live, go out, live it up.

and THEN, we have 2 days of class (most people are just skipping them altogether but I'm being a good girl, and taking some time to breathe and simultaneously write a research paper), and then we have a 3 day weekend in which we're going to Luxor, in Egypt, where Valley of the Kings is. It's going to be SO hot.

Whirlwind, crazy trip and by the time I come back for any extended period of time it will be May, and I'll have less than 4 weeks of classes left. TERRIFYING.

Things that have been going on here in Cairo since I wrote last:
1)We're starting to wind up the English class I've been teaching with my friend Pat, only 2 more classes to go. I'm overdue on a blog entry about this; it’ll get done after Spring Break.
I registered for classes at Notre Dame, and am madly in love with my 3-day weekends (no Friday class) and I hope it stays that way. And since I'm mostly done with my majors, I am taking classes that will challenge and interest me, and then Economics because it's helpful if I want to go into a policy-related field. And it somewhat interests me.
2) I saw a GREAT Arab-American comedian named Muhammad (Mo) Amer. Check him out on YouTube. Just as soon as you think the joke about everyone in the Arab world being named Muhammad could never be funny again, you realize that, when everyone is named Muhammad, how could it ever NOT be funny?
3) Temperatures have begun to be consistently in the 80s and 90s. While still better than freezing for 3 months at ND, it's going to be HOT, and not all in a good way.
4)Today was International Day, with performances, food and exhibits from all the different countries represented by AUC. It was pretty cool, and we got out of class (including an in-class essay) for it. Pictures later, Insha’Allah.
5) Jimmy Carter is speaking at AUC tomorrow when he is in Cairo to talk with Hamas. A big deal. I'm going to try to attend for as long as I can before leaving by bus to enter the land of the fray myself. Read about his visit HERE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/16/israelandthepalestinians.usa

OK, that's enough for now. But until I have time to write again, with sweet pictures and great stories, here are some more articles about Egypt for your enjoyment. Assigned reading. There will be a pop quiz.

• http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7876
  
• http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/world/africa/17traffic.html?st=cse&sq=cairo&scp=9
  
• http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/world/middleeast/14cairo.html?st=cse&sq=cairo&scp=1 (this one is absolutely true in my experience; we had a great discussion in my English class about it, and the author has this one right on, although as an outsider he sees it as more of a problem than the locals do)
• Check out the other NY Times articles about Cairo as well
  

Talk to you after I acquire a few more passport stamps! Keep reading!
Laura

Mafish Thawra: There is no revolution

Today was supposed to be a big deal. Activists were calling for a general strike throughout the whole country. Everyone was supposed to stay home, wear black, and then there were plans to march on Midan Tahrir, which is the Plaza de Mayo, the Times Square, the Washington Mall of Cairo. What were they protesting?
Primarily inflation. Reuters wrote, “Egypt's urban consumer inflation jumped to an 11-month high of 12.1 percent in the year to February.” which I have even started to notice. When my cheap food-sources, while still cheap, go up a pound or two, I notice. But it doesn’t hurt me seriously. But when you’re trying to feed a family, it matters. And in Egypt, there is no minimum wage, wages of government workers and others haven’t kept up with inflation. There used to be price caps but that hasn’t even been in place. IN addition to the economic issues, activists added a laundry list of grievances: lack of freedom, security, etc. etc. etc. The day was chosen because to make a statement before municipal elections in 2 days, but if it’s any indication, I didn’t have a clue about the elections until a couple hours ago.

The strike was publicized primarily through the modern technology of Facebook. Yes, Facebook. Around 100,000 people RSVP’s to the event. “Dr. Ayman Nour, former Al-Ghad Party President, announced on 'Facebook' his and his inmates' participation from Torah Prison”
Words also spread with blogs, text messages, word of mouth and flyers, but activists got into a little trouble for handing those out. But the internet, unlike in Burma, will not be turned off here.

For the sake of security, solidarity and in response to the rumor mill, some AUC teachers cancelled classes. Mine did not, in keeping with “official University policy” and told us to leave extra early (in her defense, we spent the first 45 minutes of class talking about what was going on and what it means for Egypt, and I don’t blame her for holding class). Since AUC is literally on Midan Tahrir, I decided to go to campus a whole 4 hours early, camp out on the roof of the Main Building and watch the drama unfold. We were told to go nowhere near the square. Demonstrations and strikes aren’t allowed in Egypt based on the emergency laws passed in Egypt after Sadat’s assassination in 1981, and foreigners most certainly are not allowed to participate in any demonstrations that might occur.

Everything happened and nothing happened. I waited for 3 hours with other would-be-witnesses, and all we saw were a couple hundred policemen in riot gear blocking off entrances to the Metro and standing in groups on the Square with their blackjacks. I ran into Fatima, my ‘ammiya professor and she explained to me, in Arabic, within my limited ‘Ammiya vocabulary that there were plainclothes policemen everywhere as well. .
It's what they call "a significant police presence." There were small groups of protesters, but nothing noticeable. And then AUC Security kicked us off of the main building where we were standing after a couple of hours. We asked “lay,” why?
“Likidda,” Because.

There were a handful of major events going on all over the country. I’ll post the links to some stories at the end of the article that I really encourage you to read. There was a factory strike in the Nile Delta that was shut down (somewhat brutally according to a couple articles), and a couple of events outside Cairo and at universities here were subject to a crackdown.

But in Cairo, it was business as usual. Traffic was a little lighter, indicating that some people, some workers stayed home today. But for the most part was riot police looking bored. The Government had proactively arrested a spectrum of people, and more were arrested today in different parts of Cairo. But in Midan Tahrir, I witnessed only the non-history of Egypt. In fact, there was a dust storm sweeping the city, so we couldn’t really see much at all, part of the "50 days of dust" from the Sahara that hits the city on a yearly basis. The BBC deemed the strike a “failed one.” All day, the weather combined with the apprehension created a strange and eerie atmosphere.

It’s really a lot more complicated. This is only my side of things, my understanding, what I’m gathering from the internet from English sources. But even I haven’t been in Egypt long enough to really understand how the machinery works. I’m just trying to understand and convey as much of to you as I can. I would bet that a general strike in the US would be even more of a failure; it’s just not a part of our political culture. But in Egypt, it’s about the only recourse. And all the news isn’t available; from what I’m reading on the internet much of the news about arrests is based on hearsay and rumor. It’s about as smoggy as Cairo afternoon, and I can’t really illuminate it any more than that; I won’t try to piece the puzzle together when I’m still missing half of them. When I read about what happened on the news, it feels very abstract because it's a different perspective; I read the news like an outsider, but also have the parallel realization that I was there.
Today was supposed to be a big deal.

Check out these sites, or just Google April 6 Egypt Strike for more information.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06488125
http://www.arabisto.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogID=7&blogEntryID=1015
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a47Lg9rBLPFA&refer=home

This one is especially interesting, talking about the violence in Mahalla in Northern Egypt >>
http://arabist.net/arabawy/2008/04/06/police-abort-mahalla-strike/

UPDATE: Fatima explained in class today, in ‘Ammiya that several AUC students were arrested in Tahrir, one of which was an American taking pictures. Of course, the American, after contacting the US Embassy, was released within the day, but the rest, unless they have “Walid Kabir,” as Fatima put it, a big or important father, who knows what will happen. She said Cairo University students have been put in prison for 15 years before.

We talk about “Blue Magic,” or the special privileges of our pretty blue American passports, and this is a clear example. And I’m just not sure how I feel about it. I don’t want another American in an Egyptian prison, but I wish the treatment of Egyptians weren’t so dramatically different.

A day in the life. . .

Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, i noticed i was late. . .
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
--The Beatles, and my life in general

So many of my most recent entries lately have been about traveling and sightseeing, so I decided to bring the Third and Final Continent back to earth as I also bring it up to date. It’s been a really tough week here, because midterm exams in any country are simply an enormous pain in my academic bum. I had a midterm on Monday for my Modern Movements class in the form of the class dramatization of “The Trial of Sayyid Qutb.” Sayyid Qutb is one of the major thinkers behind Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which I don’t have the time, the space or the knowledge to explain satisfactorily myself. It’s hard to find a balanced report, but I’ll just refer you to Wikipedia for the bare bones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt
I spent most of the weekend preparing for that and writing a paper for my literature class, which involved several late nights, which, combined with 8 AM class resulted in some serious exhaustion, but I lived. It can only make me stronger, right?

Anyway, on Wednesday April 2nd, I tried to take pictures of my everyday activities, and I’ll give you a brief narration of one of my days of school, so you know a little about Egypt beyond traveling and tourism. I wake up at about 7:00 every morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, throw on clothes, check my e-mail and run downstairs to catch the University-provided shuttle by 7:30 that goes between my dorm in Zamalek and the campus in downtown Cairo, close to the main square Midan Tahrir. This involves crossing half of the Nile on any given day, which is really cool even if we start to take it for granted after a while. Based on how much Cairo traffic there is and how aggressive our driver is at any given time, it can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.

On this particular day, coffee is a must. It’s instant coffee produced in bulk and absolutely terrible, but it costs 1.25 pounds and is a means to an end, with my primary end being staying awake enough in class to learn Arabic. The weather was gorgeous on this particular morning, so I sat in the sun, drank my coffee and then climbed 4 flights of stairs to Arabic, part 1. We did 1 hour and 20 minutes of grammar, vocabulary, culture, and self-awakening exercises on my part. Then, at 9:20, we picked up and move to a different classroom on a different campus known as Greek Campus (AUC has 3 separate campuses within a couple blocks of each other. An hour and a half more of Arabic, and then we were done, finally, at 11 AM. Then I had to finish a novel before my 12 PM class, so I camped out on “the Plat,” a big platform on Greek Campus that is kind of the “see and be seen” locale of campus. I spent my free hour finishing the book (Wild Thorns, an excellent Palestinian novel that I have to write a presentation for this weekend), grabbed a 60-piaster falafel sandwich at the "Magic Window," recognized by its blue and yellow tiling, and then moved to campus #3, known as Falaki for my Gender and Arabic Lit in Translation class. There are only about 12 of us in the class, and the discussions are usually quite intense and stimulating, since we’re dealing with controversial and important issues: men, women, colonialism, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and on top of that, most of our authors are some combination of feminists, Marxists, radical thinkers, nationalists and other random ideologies. We had a good discussion, and by this point I was pretty hungry.
I decided to go on an all-out favorite Egyptian foods binge, so I started with a shawarma sandwich from a take-out restaurant across from Greek campus. Then I stopped by the fateer place and grabbed some Fateer b’asl, or with honey for a glorious 75 piasters, and then, realizing I had some small change in my pocket, I snagged some Boreos, my other favorite Egyptian snack food. They’re essentially fake Oreos, except a small pack is 50 piasters, so much cheaper and absolutely delicious. And then I sat out in the sun with my friend Kyle by AUC’s lone fountain, chatting and homeworking for the hour and a half until my last class of the day, Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, or ‘Ammiya.

‘Ammiya is kind of a drag because it’s the last class in a long day, because it’s the 4th of Arabic language in one day, but on the other hand it’s a lot of fun because 1) I am actually able to communicate with real people on the street thanks to the class 2) ‘Ammiya, unlike formal Arabic, is taught a lot more like a 6th grade Spanish class, with games and role-playing and other stuff that makes the late-afternoon class a lot more bearable than it otherwise might be. My professor is a very enthusiastic young Egyptian woman named Fatima, and we’re all rather fond of her. I think the lesson was reading restaurant menus and talking about names of places, so it was quite fun. Not to mention, so many of the words are borrowed from English, that it’s not too big of a deal to learn words like “siinima” and “muul,” (guess those, please, min fadliku) although “mustashfa” and “mathaf” are a little trickier (hospital and museum for any of you following along at home).

After ‘Ammiya I get the 4:30 bus home to Zamalek, come back and do homework for a while. Then a friend of mine is in the hospital with a stomach bug, so we went to visit her. I took Bad Bat the Bedouin Benguin to keep her company, and I think he was a hit Then it was back to the dorm (the hospital is right across the river in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Mohandiseen, so it’s not a long haul) to do more homework and get my life together for the next day, the last day of a very long week!!! Here’s to the weekend.

Thanks for skimming, more exciting new soon. There's going to be a general strike tomorrow!
Laura

Main Campus:

Greek Campus, and the road I cross daily to get there (and frequently almost get hit)

Falaki Campus

I have trod on the ground where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have trodden. Watch and see

Scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Because I like posting. And procrastinating, I found this indisputable video evidence of how amazing Petra is, and Harrison Ford, and Sean Connery, and all of that, and that I HAVE BEEN HERE.

OH! and I forgot, another cool picture/factoid from Petra. The people selling souvenirs and being guides in Petra, like the Pyramids and Wadi Rum and Dahab and many sites in the Middle East are generally part of Bedouin tribes, and many inhabit the caves and mountains in Petra itself, and try to make a living off of tourism. Here's a picture of Muhammad, who came to us asking for candy. Our guides for the donkeys were younger boys, one of whom said that his mother was one of 4 wives, and he was one of 15 children, and he lives in a cave with his friends. . . . I'm still trying to get my head around this, and figure out how I feel about the way Bedouins are today, but it's a cool picture and food for thought.

I love you all, thanks for reading, and watching!

In other news . . .

I completetely forgot to write about my birthday. I've been bitter for a while that, although my 21ST birthday was theday before St. Patrick's day, when the kids back on Campus, drinking and being merry, and it would have been a spectacular time to turn 21. I still had an unforgettable birthday, and best of all, I still remember *almost all * of what happened.

The night before my birthday, we took a Felucca, a kind of Egyptian boat out on the Nile, with a few bottles of wine and a bunch of my new friends and some of my old ones. It was a GORGEOUS night, and I had a great time, got quite tipsy, and then they took me to Hard Rock Cafe. Unfortunately, I was quite quickly too far gone, so had to be taken home before I got my special birthday treat. It was a 21st Birthday American-Style, only in Egypt, and I am so grateful for my friends here who made it sweet. My family did the coolest thing possible: I have a YouTube video in my name (if you're bored, search "Birthday Wishes for Laura"), and it was a little taste of being at home with them, even if we were thousands of miles away.

Also, for all my ND friends (Mom, DON'T READ THIS) I purchased a sheesha/hookah pipe for personal use next semester, and AJ was nice enough to take it home for me so I don't have to deal with it at the end of the semester. I am actually quite fond of it already, because it's so pretty, but all I have left are pictures, so my feelings towards it are like those for an adopted child from China that I only have pictures from for the time being. I plan on having sheesha nights at my apartment, perhaps accompanied by Egyptian food, and you are all invited. I am also contemplating the idea of sheesha tailgates, if only for the strange satisfaction I'll get out of explaining to the Indiana State Police that I am, in fact, only smoking tobacco (Here, Officer, try it, it's great, no seriously. Try it, I mean it.) Be there.

OK, enough for now. I have to write the longest paper I've written in 4 months today, and I'm not liking that idea at all. I should get on that.

Thanks for reading, questions and comments welcome!!

Laura

Indiana University Joneses: Easter Weekend in Jordan!

So I just need to give up on the whole up-to-date blog thing, and just do my best, in between hanging out and school and an extracurricular or two. I should summarize my weekend in Jordan, though, although the best summary are my pictures posted on Picasa. Also, some of this is a rehash from my previous entry, but please bear with. I was on a roll.

Getting to Jordan was a little complicated. A group went ahead of us, but since AJ was coming from Notre Dame at 10:30 PM, it was too late for the 10:00 bus, so myself, my friend Kyle and AJ left on the 6 AM bus to Taba, Egypt, where we crossed the border into Israel without too much trouble, just interesting questions at the border. . . My friend Ayesha, a Pakistani-American who was a part of the first group was detained for 3 hours, though only interrogated for about 10 minutes of that. I’ll post a link to her blog soon so you can get her side of things. It’s an interesting and enlightening story.

We took a Taxi ride through Israel for all of 20 minutes to the Jordanian border (Born and raised in America, the idea of being able to be in 3 countries in the span of an hour is absolutely beyond my imagination). Our taxi driver gave us an earful of Israeli nationalism, which was an interesting side of things. We paid a 70 shekel ($23) departure tax, and crossed into Aqaba, Jordan, where we took another taxi to our hostel, the glorious “Bedouin Garden Village.” When we arrived, we were surprised to discover that our accommodations were none other than a bamboo hut, without doors, without an actual roof, a light bulb for electricity. See the picture for details. It was roughing it, and that was fun for a while, but when we started waking up to progressively more and more bug bites (we suspect flies), I came to understand why my parents never took me camping. Once again, when you pay $8 a night, you get what you pay for. The bathrooms were also quite sketchy, but alas, it was an experience and ON THE OTHER HAND, through our doorway I could wake up in the morning and see the light hitting the mountains across the Red Sea, so the view and the 5-minute beach access made it worthwhile.

The beach was SWEET. The Red Sea is bright blue and perfectly clear, so if I went out like 50 feet into the water, I could see beautiful coral reefs and fish I’d only seen in aquariums or books I also found a dead blowfish, who I named Hootie, and had a lot of fun chasing the boys with him, since apparently I was more of a 3rd grade boy than they were. There’s nothing like seeing things with your own eyes that you only could imagine as a child, yet it’s right there in front of you, to be experienced and photographed, you could hold it in your hands and avoid the stings of jelly fish and sea urchins. Amazing.

The first full day there we went to Petra, which is an amazing ancient Arab city, full of Greco-Roman architecture but carved into the red rock of this canyon. It’s now one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, so I can add another to my short list of 2. You have to see it to believe it, and if you’ve seen Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, you HAVE seen it, since that’s where they ride to in order to find the Holy Grail. AJ, Ayesha and I got separated from the larger group, and took a donkey ride up to find the Monastery, which is another feat of architecture (I promised my mountain climbing days were over but I lied, mostly because donkeys are awesome and so surefooted), and sang the theme song all the way up, except when AJ was freaking out. Trust me, I have video. Petra is huge, and it’s hard to imagine what it was like in its prime, at the height of a very unique and sophisticated civilization, but it would have been sweet to see. You MUST go to Petra. Also, check it out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra. Then we saw another gorgeous sunset.
That evening in Aqaba, I saw the WORLD’S TALLEST FLAGPOLE, bearing the Jordanian flag, of course. Also, I spent the best 1 dinar of my life on an INFLATABLE PENGUIN, which has since been dubbed “Bad Bat the Bedouin Benguin,” based on too many inside jokes to explain. He’s going to be my new best friend, photographed in every country I ever visit. Stay tuned. On a side note, Jordan is very interesting in that every establishment, hostel or restaurant or tourist destination, has pictures of the royal family, especially the Prince and his wife posted. They seem to love the prince. It was a reminder that monarchies are alive and well in the 21st century.

The next day we bummed on the beach in the morning, then went to Wadi Rum, a famous desert in Jordan where Lawrence of Arabia once had his stronghold. We saw the amazing scenery that I couldn’t photograph enough because my camera was dying, but I saw another amazing sunset, had a great time with my friends, saw ancient rock carvings and climbed rocks, which my childhood prepared me well for. Amazing.

The next day was Easter Sunday, and since we needed to get into Israel ASAP in case Ayesha was detained again, there wasn’t time to go to Church. Ayesha was only questioned for like 15 minutes this time, so we went to a shopping mall in Elyat Jordan to pass the time till our bus came, and unfortunately shopping in the Holy Land is about as close as I got to being religious, given the circumstances of traveling and national security and all that jazz. Being in Israel is very strange. I couldn’t speak Arabic anywhere near the border for fear of drawing suspicion, and it’s being back in the first world again, with rather nice bathrooms and a ton of infrastructure, and Europeans everywhere. Having spent 2 months in Egypt, I felt very out of place in the first world, and looked forward to being back in Egypt. It’s definitely starting to feel like a second home.

Then we crossed the border, decided not to take the bus and found a Minibus driver who would take us for 40 pounds each. After much delay (and arguing with him) we headed back from Taba to Cairo, and our driver Hassan was going literally 90-100 mph almost the whole way, when converted from kilometers. It was terrifying and crazy and awesome. I was glad to make it home alive, but exhilarated at the same time. "Travel Young" is my new motto, because I’m experiencing this so much differently than I ever will in 10 years or more.

And then we applied lots of cortisone cream and slept, then woke up for 8 AM class. Life goes on. And Life is good.
New Vocabulary word: Alhamdulillah, Praise be to God

Especially this time, you need to totally check my other pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/CrazyDaisyLady/Jordan. It's the next best thing to being there, and obviously, looking it up on Wikipedia. Also, AJ's awesome and I miss her already. Anyone else bored and have a few hundred bucks lying around, COME VISIT, I promise I'll make it worth your while.

In Peace, Laura

Under the Jordanian moon (an entry on the run!)

Since I am once again behind, I thought I would write a quick entry from Jordan itself. I've been in 3 different countries today, which for someone from the United States is incredible, since in North America that would take DAYS. today, it was a matter of hours.

My friend AJ from Notre Dame is here and we're having a great time. She arrived at 11 PM last night, and today, we took a 6 hour bus from Cairo to Taba at 6 AM, crossed into Israel and dealt with border security and silly questions there, took a 20 minute taxi ride across the very bottom tip of Israel along the Red Sea, then crossed into Jordan. We are staying in Aqaba on the Red Sea, home to the world's tallest flagpole (pictures when I make it back to Egypt!!), and today altogether I bought an inflatable penguin (see 2 previous entries), watched the sun set over the red sea, swam a little bit, dealt with 3 different currencies in a matter of hours. the Jordanian dinar is actually worth MORE than the dollar ($1=~.8 dinars), so, still thinking in pounds, I'm spending way more money than I think. Alas, this is life. Also, our hostel is a camp, and our room for the evening consists of a bamboo hut without a door, but at least it won't rain!!!! I'm still young, and traveling on the fly, sleeping in unique conditions, living every day like an adventure, this is being alive. Of course, ask me that in 3 days. . . . Whatever, i could potentially tell any potential children in the very distant future some very interesting stories, as soon as they reach an appropriate age, say 25. And the red sea is 5 minutes away. Here's to the Bedouin Garden village, in all its wonders. Tomorrow we go to Petra (google it!!!!) where the 3rd Indiana Jones was filmed, there will be pictures in abundance soon enough. We leave at like 630 AM and will spend all day there, so I should probably "yalla" along and get ready to crash. Especially as I'm going on like 4 hours of sleep. More when I get back!!!

Salaam,
Laura

I may have photographed the Apocalypse. . .

While waiting for the Sunrise on Mount Sinai, I took this awesome picture that deserves an entry of its own. . . Somehow a flash was going off at the same time and I got this couple in the corner holding each other like the world was going to end. I don't know how it turned out this way, but I like it. A lot. And I hope you do to, for what little time we have left on this earth. Here's to Egypt.

About that time we climbed a mountain in the dark singing Savage Garden

I’m about a week behind on the whole blogging thing, but I’ll just skip ahead to this weekend (the exciting part) and maybe do a rewind later on if I have time. Insha’Allah, if God wills. This weekend was crazy, unbelievable and so much of it can’t quite be summed up into words, English, Arabic or otherwise. Team Penguin, this one’s for you.

My new friends Teresa from Georgetown, Pat from Indiana, Kyle from New Jersey (the school is escaping me, my apologies) and Matt from Georgia Tech and I ventured to Dahab, which is on the Red Sea. The bus ride to get there lasted from 5:30 PM to 3 AM due to all the stops, going through Sharm Al-Sheikh etc. It was a big bus full of Arab men. And us. But we made it, and learned quickly there are no actual taxis in Dahab, only men that drive pickup trucks, and call them taxis. So Kyle and Teresa got to ride in the back of the truck to our hostel, the name of which is actually the Penguin Village.
Yet there are no penguins, and this was disappointing. It was cozy and only 30 L.E. a night, which is less than 6 bucks. Not exactly the 4 Seasons, but it was home. And when we got there, I went to sit in the reception era, heard the sound of waves and realized that we were right on the water. And across the water, we could see lights from SAUDI ARABIA . . . how insane is that? I waved to the Wahhabis and probably incurred surveillance from the US government for it.

Then the next day we went to the beach, and this time we ALL got to ride in the back of the truck. Then the beach. The water is bright blue, perfectly clear, cool but swimmable. We laid on the beach, ate Boers ( you guessed it, the 50 piaster Egyptian equivalent of Oreos), , and mostly enjoyed being in the sun, relaxing, BSing about everything, getting hassled by Bedouin ladies and their children trying to sell us things. The water was really salty so it was easy to float; we could see the Sinai Mountains rimming the water. In short, it was AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, RELAXING, and just PERFECT. I love this country, and every once in a while it is nice to live the expatriate life, just as long as I don’t take it for granted. That night we smoked sheesha and drank wine and listened to the sea, even went wading with some adorable Egyptian children. Life is sweet. That’s all. And Mom, I thought of Oregon with the whole Mountain-Ocean thing. . . Frankly, Egypt is better. No running necessary.

We left the Penguin Village at midnight for the mountain. Our driver raced around short and steep mountain curves in the dark, and out our window we could see the silhouettes of the mountains against the stars. We got to the mountain at 2 or 230, got our belongings stored away with a guy for the ride home, and got ready to climb a mountain.

We were assigned a Bedouin guide, but we manage to, um, somehow lose track of him. I.E. we used the cover of darkness and the abundance of tourists to make our own way. Climbing the mountain I can’t really describe, but I’ll do my best. First of all, Mount Sinai is really really big, and we didn’t even realize how big it was, except that you keep expecting to be at the end shortly, but an hour and a half later, you’re still climbing steadily, still thinking you’ll be done soon, and 30 minutes later you’re still at the last, and most difficult leg of the journey, the “Steps of Repentance”. If we could have seen and understood its enormity, we might have turned back. Ignorance was bliss, leading to periodic frustration. And trust me, I repented. We took the “camel path” up, which meant we spent most of it looking at a camel’s hind end, and Teresa even got somewhat trampled by one. It was dusty, slippery, hard to find footing and physically strenuous, but WE CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN, I’ve been to the mountain top, I have been like Moses and something I’m really proud of and bewildered by. And that my friends and I are still speaking. Altogether, this weekend can be summed up by the quote from which I named my blog. . . everything I’ve done is beyond my imagination.
And it gets so much better. For starters, I saw more stars in Sinai than I had ever seen before. It was like a book of the constellations, only so incredibly real. I could see Scorpio, the Big Dipper, and others. No light pollution, no air pollution, just stars, all around me. You can really feel like you were looking at “the heavens.” While we were climbing, we could see a line of the glow of flashlights stretching out for miles behind us, more pilgrims to Sinai making the ascent. It was a steady stream of people, most often 3 or 4 abreast, plus a camel or two thrown in for good measure. The line of light kept us realizing how far we had come . . . and how far we still had to go.

As for the sunrise over the Sinai Mountains . . . there’s nothing like it in the world. I won’t try to describe it; I will only let you see pictures so that you might, almost understand what it was like to be there. It was quite crowded and hard to find a vantage point, there were people speaking in tongues (someone commented it was like Borat), Africans singing religious songs, and a lot of tourists with cameras at the ready. I had no idea what to expect, but it definitely wasn’ tthat.

Ba’da Kidda—After that, we climbed down, another 2 or 3 hours, which was almost worse, dustier and we slipped a lot, but at least we could see where we were going. We decided against hitting the monastery, St. Catherine’s where supposedly the “Burning Bush” is because we were far too tired. We grabbed food, found our driver and returned to Cairo dirty, smelly, and exhausted but on a high that you can only get from seeing truly unforgettable things.
Then we came back, but that was long, hot and boring, so I’ll stop here and write again as soon as I can. It’s going to be a relaxed weekend, celebrating my 21st birthday, getting work done, since the next weekend for Easter Break my friend AJ from Notre Dame is coming and we are going to Jordan! Because we can, and because it's cool.
I climbed a mountain this weekend. In case you didn't get that.
Sincerely,
Laura