While our stories and trips are SO exciting I am sure to read about, I realize that our day to day life is probably pretty interesting too since it is so different than life in the U.S.
One big huge gigantic difference is shopping. Say goodbye to Wal-Mart, Kroger, the Mall, etc and say hello to "metro mart" and "carfur" and the millions of corner shops that make up Cairo. I realized today how strange it is. I feel like I can't find anything here at all, and it isn't so much from a lack of shops. In fact I currently shop at about 5 different shops selling food. There is the nameless shop around the corner which is tiny and doesn't sell very much at all, but they've got some staples like rice, boxes of milk, and most of the time bread. Then about 15 min or so walk away there is the Metro Mart which is the closest thing here to some sort of chain, Metro caters to the expats with their large well lit aisles, prepackaged food, and many imported things. (and wide selection of meat that is in glass case and refrigerated) We buy a lot of our food here because it has the largest selection of most foods. Then right on the same block there are 2 more small shops (do they have names? I don't think so) one of these shops has all their food labeled in Arabic, and the other doesn't have prices on things which scares me because i don't want them to rip me off. Then across the street is another market, pretty big actually but it doesn't have a ton of food because it sells cleaning supplies, shampoos etc. It is good though for a few things. I would try getting meat there because it probably is cheaper than metro, but I can't read the price of their meat (It is only in arabic, and while I CAN read numbers, they have a huge sign up above the meat counter with all the kinds of meat and their costs, I don't know how to spell chicken in arabic)
Those are the shops closest to us. Then about a 30 min walk away (close to a few people I tutor) is another chain store, Soudis where I buy cereal, they have a pretty good selection of things available here, including Temmys brand cereal, and sometimes I can find other things there that i wasn't expecting. Like yesterday I found these little packs of "vanilla extract". It is a powder and instructs you to add it to the flour to sweeten things. I haven't been able to find vanilla anywhere so I bought a pack to try. I'm still not sure about it.
To buy fruits and vegetables I head to Rd. 9 *the road with Metro Mart* and there are multiple "stores" with fruit and veggies in boxes around inside and outside the small shop. I am told that it is cheaper on rd 7 but I haven't been over there to find one close enough to us yet. (plus it isn't expensive I usually spend about 5-7$ on fruit when I go and I get us A TON. Fruit here is excellent, we just make sure to soak it in water with bleach before eating it.
So like I said, shops everywhere... mostly with the same selection but each one has something (usually 1 thing) that you can't find anywhere else. But it is kind of exciting to walk around, sometimes. But as our friends April and Mark say, "you can't just go pick something up here, everything you do turns into a story"
So true. With an option of a few differnt kinds of canned goods, Strained Foul, Canned corn, tuna fish, and tomato soup (which is campbells and looks extremely beat up), and with one kind of bread option, when the US cereal is 40 pounds and the Temmys brand is 8 that leaves no question as to what we buy there! But there aren't many choices really... we eat a lot of corn flakes and museli. we also eat a lot of spaghetti and chicken and rice. Actually that is basically our diet! But we try to mix it up as much as possible, I think we've had french toast 50 times in a month! Good thing that it is so delicious huh? We went through I think 30 eggs last week, amazing? I know! I think we eat at least 3 eggs each day most days.
things they don't have: real cheddar cheese (the stuff we got IS very close though), vanilla, baking soda, cottage cheese, man and cheese, parm, lettuce, (i miss salads a lot), Dr. Pepper... and a lot more. It is really strange though! But exciting definitely.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Dynamics of Arabic
Sounds like a lot of people want to know how I'm coping with this great task before me--learning Arabic. Over the course of this academic year I'm Sure I will be posting a few entries about my learning process with this language. I guess I'm stressed. The funny aspect of my stress is that I'm not stressed all the time and learning Arabic is not particularly difficult. It is just a HUGE bite to swallow. It takes time, a lot of time! I'm learning diligence, which had been something I do not feel has been a particularly strong trait of mine in the past. I'm learning not to worry about what I don't know and my time constraints (even though I wish i wouldn't get so mentally and physically tired and the day would last 48 hrs instead of 24) I'm learning to just put my head down and push along. It seems easy to procrastinate and think about doing things instead of actually getting down to business and just simply doing it. In saying this I'm not confessing to laziness or too much procrastination. I can't remember even on my mission being stretched like this language is stretching me physically and mentally.
I think a big part of the difficulty with Arabic is that it is not a one or two sided language. It has multiple dimensions. For instance, the end of last week the entire class did very poorly on a quiz. Luckily the teacher foresaw we were not up to the standard she had hoped for us so before taking the quiz she told us it would not count for a grade, but it would allow her to find out where we are. I was particularly shocked at how easy yet difficult the quiz was. I knew what the questions said perfectly and I knew in English how I wanted to respond. Then, when I put my hand down to write it in Arabic I couldn't. Previously we have always had word banks and multiple choice test now it is time for us to be able to have the word bank in our head and be able to spit it out when needed. I just couldn't spit the majority of the vocabulary out. Since it is a new writing style it is much easier to recognize the words already written than to produce them myself.
Today I decided to fix this problem. Instead of studying by looking at the Arabic word and sounding them out then checking if they are correct on the English side of the paper, I decided to look at my vocab list in English and write it in Arabic. It was difficult. I worked at it for 2 hours and finally 100%! I knew about 100 of my vocabulary words and could write them freely out of memory! I was so excited! Since many of the words had to do with hotels and restaurants I decided to write myself a nice size paragraph and tranlate it from english to Arabic. I wrote 1/2 page in english and translated it almost perfectly into Arabic. Then I ran into the bedroom where Casey was reading a book and said I know you won't understand me, but I want to read this paragraoh outloud to you in Arabic. I commenced to read and less than 1/2 way though I was moving slower than a turtle and barley able to pronounce the words! I got so frustrated! I sent 2 hours really learning vocab from my brain not just recognizing it on paper and how to write phonetically. Then, I couldn't even read it out loud! It will take me another couple of hours to be able to pronounce it correctly and that just for 1 class! Then I have grammer which is extremly important because Arabic doesn't use punctuation it is all conjecation, atricles, and other grammer rules. They have a different word order and many new grammer rules to understnad. Then, there is the spoken language that is almost completly different.
I will be honest and say that sometimes I get frustrated like the story I just wrote. On the other hand, it is such a fun language to learn. I'm learning how to love the learning process instead of just wanting to know the language. I do have moments like what i just wrote about where I feel overwhelmed b/c there is so much to learn. The surprising aspect for me is that no individual part is difficult to learn. When I sit down to learn vocab I can learn 50 or more words and hour. When I do grammar after some hours of homework I comprehend it completely. It is just 4 classes of material per day that I feel the need to study 2-3hrs for each class and it is impossible.
I was telling Casey the other day that sometimes we want the short cut. We plan to lose weight by some new or exercise plan that does not require sacrifice and diligence. We would rather pay some personal trainer to do it for us. Those people are the ones that never do lose the weight. I'm learning that instead of planing to try to make ever single second of studying effective I should just do it and the effectiveness comes with time. As I apply myself i learn ways to help me understand and retain knowledge. It sounds good to try to come up with plans to effectively study and make it short and powerful before doing it, but those plans never turn out the way I planned them. As I really apply myself one step at a time and not worry about all the stuff I don't know, but worry about each individual thing I can learn then I see myself moving forward. When I look back i see how incredibly far I have come.
I think a big part of the difficulty with Arabic is that it is not a one or two sided language. It has multiple dimensions. For instance, the end of last week the entire class did very poorly on a quiz. Luckily the teacher foresaw we were not up to the standard she had hoped for us so before taking the quiz she told us it would not count for a grade, but it would allow her to find out where we are. I was particularly shocked at how easy yet difficult the quiz was. I knew what the questions said perfectly and I knew in English how I wanted to respond. Then, when I put my hand down to write it in Arabic I couldn't. Previously we have always had word banks and multiple choice test now it is time for us to be able to have the word bank in our head and be able to spit it out when needed. I just couldn't spit the majority of the vocabulary out. Since it is a new writing style it is much easier to recognize the words already written than to produce them myself.
Today I decided to fix this problem. Instead of studying by looking at the Arabic word and sounding them out then checking if they are correct on the English side of the paper, I decided to look at my vocab list in English and write it in Arabic. It was difficult. I worked at it for 2 hours and finally 100%! I knew about 100 of my vocabulary words and could write them freely out of memory! I was so excited! Since many of the words had to do with hotels and restaurants I decided to write myself a nice size paragraph and tranlate it from english to Arabic. I wrote 1/2 page in english and translated it almost perfectly into Arabic. Then I ran into the bedroom where Casey was reading a book and said I know you won't understand me, but I want to read this paragraoh outloud to you in Arabic. I commenced to read and less than 1/2 way though I was moving slower than a turtle and barley able to pronounce the words! I got so frustrated! I sent 2 hours really learning vocab from my brain not just recognizing it on paper and how to write phonetically. Then, I couldn't even read it out loud! It will take me another couple of hours to be able to pronounce it correctly and that just for 1 class! Then I have grammer which is extremly important because Arabic doesn't use punctuation it is all conjecation, atricles, and other grammer rules. They have a different word order and many new grammer rules to understnad. Then, there is the spoken language that is almost completly different.
I will be honest and say that sometimes I get frustrated like the story I just wrote. On the other hand, it is such a fun language to learn. I'm learning how to love the learning process instead of just wanting to know the language. I do have moments like what i just wrote about where I feel overwhelmed b/c there is so much to learn. The surprising aspect for me is that no individual part is difficult to learn. When I sit down to learn vocab I can learn 50 or more words and hour. When I do grammar after some hours of homework I comprehend it completely. It is just 4 classes of material per day that I feel the need to study 2-3hrs for each class and it is impossible.
I was telling Casey the other day that sometimes we want the short cut. We plan to lose weight by some new or exercise plan that does not require sacrifice and diligence. We would rather pay some personal trainer to do it for us. Those people are the ones that never do lose the weight. I'm learning that instead of planing to try to make ever single second of studying effective I should just do it and the effectiveness comes with time. As I apply myself i learn ways to help me understand and retain knowledge. It sounds good to try to come up with plans to effectively study and make it short and powerful before doing it, but those plans never turn out the way I planned them. As I really apply myself one step at a time and not worry about all the stuff I don't know, but worry about each individual thing I can learn then I see myself moving forward. When I look back i see how incredibly far I have come.
Surprise?!?
Anyone a bit surprised to see our pictures? Thinking that our next blog entry may be pictures of Moses Mountain? Wondering how we ended up riding camels on the beach and on a boat snorkeling in the red sea?
We were surprised ourselves. I guess the whole ideas that "you can't judge a book by its cover" and "things aren't always as they seem" could be used in this situation. Our hotel we'd booked (and the tour to St. Katherine's and Moses Mtn we'd booked through them) had excellent reviews! The best sea food! Cheap and really clean! Great place, friendly expert staff! Great location! In fact our friends were planning on going to Taba over the weekend and not only changed their minds to come to Nuweiba with us, because it sounded so appealing, they also decided to stay at the same hotel as us!
Our drive was long, but because the four of us were so excited and the driver was so nice, it wasn't too bad! We talked and laughed. Then we arrived. The hotel didn't have our reservations; they sat us on the beach for almost 1/2 hour while they "cleaned" and "prepared" our rooms. The "Great location" and "excellent beach" we'd heard about weren't there either. The beach was nothing more than a strip of sand, seriously maybe 15 ft across, and when we saw the restaurant we were afraid. I don't know how these Egyptians aren't always sick--- seriously. I know if we'd've stayed there we'd all be throwing up and sick the whole time. And then the rooms. I don't know really how do describe them. You know there are kinds of dirty where they look dirty but they still look safe? This wasn't that kind. There weren't really lights, and I don't know if that made it look better or worse. I sat of the bed just briefly and wondered if I'd end up with sand lice if I stayed in it much longer... Our friends (who have a little higher standard of hotels since they have more money) were more than appalled I think (which is understandable since she is pregnant).
So eventually a couple hours and two hotels later we ended up at the hotel we stayed in. *we found the rooms through another hotel owner down the beach whose hotel was full but who our driver knew from a previous drive, so this hotel owner called all his friends to find us a place** It was nice there at our hotel and we got upgraded to suites. we think it is because we are American and everyone else there was Russian, in fact... they flew the Russian and Egyptian flag (that's it)!
We had an excellently relaxing weekend. We hung out on the beach and did a boat tour of 3 great snorkeling locations. But the whole town was strange. Like there wasn't a town really, just here and there something and a lot of Bedouins. We tried a sea food restaurant (not me, I don't like it I got chicken) but it was totally deserted and on this strange dark road (which was the main road) and the food wasn't too great either. The whole town seemed like a ghost town, we joked it was like the twilight zone and we'll leave and look behind us and it will have disappeared. The strange feeling was increased by the fact that our hotel didn't ever get our info since we were hooked up through the owners friend, it was like we didn't really exist. And EVERY hotel was booked but we didn't see a lot of people. The whole town just seemed a bit off like the setting of some suspense movie.
Although we did have a great time, we were glad to make it home (after we were joined in the car ride back by 2 policemen apparently Americans can't travel across Egypt alone after dark) back to our own place. Maybe Nuweiba just seemed empty after living in Cairo 2 months where there are people everywhere. I wonder if Denton will seem almost equally strange! No, I don't think so because there are cars everywhere and real places that are full... But I wonder if it will seem quite so busy!
We were surprised ourselves. I guess the whole ideas that "you can't judge a book by its cover" and "things aren't always as they seem" could be used in this situation. Our hotel we'd booked (and the tour to St. Katherine's and Moses Mtn we'd booked through them) had excellent reviews! The best sea food! Cheap and really clean! Great place, friendly expert staff! Great location! In fact our friends were planning on going to Taba over the weekend and not only changed their minds to come to Nuweiba with us, because it sounded so appealing, they also decided to stay at the same hotel as us!
Our drive was long, but because the four of us were so excited and the driver was so nice, it wasn't too bad! We talked and laughed. Then we arrived. The hotel didn't have our reservations; they sat us on the beach for almost 1/2 hour while they "cleaned" and "prepared" our rooms. The "Great location" and "excellent beach" we'd heard about weren't there either. The beach was nothing more than a strip of sand, seriously maybe 15 ft across, and when we saw the restaurant we were afraid. I don't know how these Egyptians aren't always sick--- seriously. I know if we'd've stayed there we'd all be throwing up and sick the whole time. And then the rooms. I don't know really how do describe them. You know there are kinds of dirty where they look dirty but they still look safe? This wasn't that kind. There weren't really lights, and I don't know if that made it look better or worse. I sat of the bed just briefly and wondered if I'd end up with sand lice if I stayed in it much longer... Our friends (who have a little higher standard of hotels since they have more money) were more than appalled I think (which is understandable since she is pregnant).
So eventually a couple hours and two hotels later we ended up at the hotel we stayed in. *we found the rooms through another hotel owner down the beach whose hotel was full but who our driver knew from a previous drive, so this hotel owner called all his friends to find us a place** It was nice there at our hotel and we got upgraded to suites. we think it is because we are American and everyone else there was Russian, in fact... they flew the Russian and Egyptian flag (that's it)!
We had an excellently relaxing weekend. We hung out on the beach and did a boat tour of 3 great snorkeling locations. But the whole town was strange. Like there wasn't a town really, just here and there something and a lot of Bedouins. We tried a sea food restaurant (not me, I don't like it I got chicken) but it was totally deserted and on this strange dark road (which was the main road) and the food wasn't too great either. The whole town seemed like a ghost town, we joked it was like the twilight zone and we'll leave and look behind us and it will have disappeared. The strange feeling was increased by the fact that our hotel didn't ever get our info since we were hooked up through the owners friend, it was like we didn't really exist. And EVERY hotel was booked but we didn't see a lot of people. The whole town just seemed a bit off like the setting of some suspense movie.
Although we did have a great time, we were glad to make it home (after we were joined in the car ride back by 2 policemen apparently Americans can't travel across Egypt alone after dark) back to our own place. Maybe Nuweiba just seemed empty after living in Cairo 2 months where there are people everywhere. I wonder if Denton will seem almost equally strange! No, I don't think so because there are cars everywhere and real places that are full... But I wonder if it will seem quite so busy!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Riding a camel
Our trip to Mt. Sinai didn't turn out the way we originally intended and we didn't actually make it to Mt. Sinai.
But we DID ride a camel on the beach on the Red Sea! What more could you ask for? More to come on our interesting trip!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Seeing History
Ever since we arrived here, the haphazardness of everything around me and the disorganization has astounded me immensely. Joe and I were both excited to go to the Egyptian Museum which is located downtown almost directly across the street from Joe's school and we had heard many different things about it. But we knew that we'd have to dedicate a good portion of our day to being there when we decided to go because we didn't want to pay for it and not get a chance to be satisfied! And we love museums. So we set out early Saturday morning and arrived about the time that it opened. First you have to enter the area through a metal detector, then wait through a line to go through security where your purse/backpack is sent through one of those things they have at the airport. After this point you can purchase your tickets to the museum and you are on the grounds. You also have to check your camera as they aren't supposed to be allowed inside the museum, but I guess that you can bribe someone because we saw a few people with their cameras inside. Well, being the upstanding people WE are, we checked our camera before hitting the next line where they take your ticket and you go through security yet again.
I don't think words can quite describe the Egyptian Museum. But I'll try to think of a few... massive, overwhelming, amazing, crowded, and there are many more. At the entrance you start seeing things right away. It isn't like museums at home where they put 3 or 4 things in a room with nice explainations right next to them. No, not at all. Some things did have explainations, some didn't. But there is just no way to really allow anyone to understand how many THINGS there were everywhere. And they are all so ancient. Old coffins that mummies were in, art carved into rocks, huge statues, small statues, old weapons and shields, and then all the things taken from Tombs. We looked at all the Tutankhamen (I believe is the spelling) things--- the vast richness and pride of these warriors amazes me! The gold his mask is made of is every bit as incredible as people say. It sure shines like nothing I've ever seen, not that I am accustomed to staring at gold and valuing it, but it was so smooth and beautiful. The paintings were so pretty too and the colors of it all. It was really interesting to me that in his tomb he had two statues made to look exactly like him to be there to guard his treasures, so that anyone stealing from him would have had to look right at him!
But one of the most amazing parts of the museum is the Mummy Room! Although your ticket into the mummy room(s) there are two, costs twice as much as your entrance fee into the museum there is no doubt as to whether or not the extra expense is worth it. We looked at the bodies of people who lived over a thousand years before Christ! These bodies have been dead over 3000 years and it is amazing how much they still resemble themselves! Those ancient Egyptians sure knew how to preserve a body! Many of them still had hair, and almost all of them had finger and toe-nails still intact. We saw the body of the Pharaoh who supposedly ruled when Moses with Gods guidance and strength freed the Hebrews, they think it is Ramses II. And he still looks real. You can see marks of age on their faces as if their wrinkles remain. You can also see their eyelashes! It is amazing to be able to see something like that, truly awe-inspiring! Part of me still can't believe that they really were alive so long ago.
But I felt the same way about a lot of the other exhibits we saw. Like the mummy of a crocodile (which were thought to be sacred and not killed but sort of fed like a pet) They had 2 mummies of crocodiles in there that looked well over 15 ft long, maybe longer. I wouldn't want that thing coming up to me asking for coconut milk and raw meat! They also had animal mummies of dogs, cats, pet baboons, crazy things! The entire museum was just so full of ancient things. There was no way that we could be satisfied in one trip. The vast amount of objects in each room doesn't allow for it. Before we quite reached the end we were feeling just so overwhelmed by the history and awesomeness that everything was beginning to look the same. We will definately have to return to really see everything, but i don't believe that it would still be possible in 10 visits to feel as though you've looked at everything that the museum has. they even had stacks on the sides of one of the largest rooms, stacks of ancient things that I suppose they had no room for!
Outside we picked up our camera again and proceeded to take pictures of some of the statues outside (which were also ancient as you can see) You could get up right next to them! Can you believe that we were sitting on some of these things? It was incredible, a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity that I'm so grateful I was able to have!
I can't get the pictures to work. I will try again maybe tomorrow!
I don't think words can quite describe the Egyptian Museum. But I'll try to think of a few... massive, overwhelming, amazing, crowded, and there are many more. At the entrance you start seeing things right away. It isn't like museums at home where they put 3 or 4 things in a room with nice explainations right next to them. No, not at all. Some things did have explainations, some didn't. But there is just no way to really allow anyone to understand how many THINGS there were everywhere. And they are all so ancient. Old coffins that mummies were in, art carved into rocks, huge statues, small statues, old weapons and shields, and then all the things taken from Tombs. We looked at all the Tutankhamen (I believe is the spelling) things--- the vast richness and pride of these warriors amazes me! The gold his mask is made of is every bit as incredible as people say. It sure shines like nothing I've ever seen, not that I am accustomed to staring at gold and valuing it, but it was so smooth and beautiful. The paintings were so pretty too and the colors of it all. It was really interesting to me that in his tomb he had two statues made to look exactly like him to be there to guard his treasures, so that anyone stealing from him would have had to look right at him!
But one of the most amazing parts of the museum is the Mummy Room! Although your ticket into the mummy room(s) there are two, costs twice as much as your entrance fee into the museum there is no doubt as to whether or not the extra expense is worth it. We looked at the bodies of people who lived over a thousand years before Christ! These bodies have been dead over 3000 years and it is amazing how much they still resemble themselves! Those ancient Egyptians sure knew how to preserve a body! Many of them still had hair, and almost all of them had finger and toe-nails still intact. We saw the body of the Pharaoh who supposedly ruled when Moses with Gods guidance and strength freed the Hebrews, they think it is Ramses II. And he still looks real. You can see marks of age on their faces as if their wrinkles remain. You can also see their eyelashes! It is amazing to be able to see something like that, truly awe-inspiring! Part of me still can't believe that they really were alive so long ago.
But I felt the same way about a lot of the other exhibits we saw. Like the mummy of a crocodile (which were thought to be sacred and not killed but sort of fed like a pet) They had 2 mummies of crocodiles in there that looked well over 15 ft long, maybe longer. I wouldn't want that thing coming up to me asking for coconut milk and raw meat! They also had animal mummies of dogs, cats, pet baboons, crazy things! The entire museum was just so full of ancient things. There was no way that we could be satisfied in one trip. The vast amount of objects in each room doesn't allow for it. Before we quite reached the end we were feeling just so overwhelmed by the history and awesomeness that everything was beginning to look the same. We will definately have to return to really see everything, but i don't believe that it would still be possible in 10 visits to feel as though you've looked at everything that the museum has. they even had stacks on the sides of one of the largest rooms, stacks of ancient things that I suppose they had no room for!
Outside we picked up our camera again and proceeded to take pictures of some of the statues outside (which were also ancient as you can see) You could get up right next to them! Can you believe that we were sitting on some of these things? It was incredible, a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity that I'm so grateful I was able to have!
I can't get the pictures to work. I will try again maybe tomorrow!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Eternal Life
This is something interesting Casey and I discovered at the Egyptian Museum. On our tour of Coptic Cairo the professor guiding our tour told us a story passed down through the Coptic Church about baby Jesus. The tradition goes: when Jesus' family fled to Egypt to save his life as a small child they traveled to Alexandria where their was a large Jewish community, then their are traces he traveled along the Nile all the way to the north part of upper Egypt. When they were traveling the Egyptians noticed something very different about Christ. To protect him the put their sign of Eternal Life, called 'Ankh' around his neck, because they recognized him as a God. The interesting thing about this story is that the Ankh is a cross with a loop on top. It was used anciently by the Egyptians and after the Pharaoh died and his 'heart was weighed and found worthy' one of the Goddesses would present him with the Ankh granting him Eternal Life and something like Godhood.
The first picture is the Ankh found in Tutankhamen's tomb. Also, we found the image carved in many of the temple stones. The second picture is a Temple stone with a Goddess giving the Ankh or Eternal Life to the Pharaoh
Uncle Joe!
Uncle Joe this boat reminds me of you! This was the Pharaohs boat. When he died it was buried beside the pyramids with instructions, so in the afterlife his servants can reconstruct the boat and the Pharaoh will be able to get around. From my understanding the Egyptian believed that water filled the immensity of eternity. It makes since to me that they would believe that b/c it was essential for life and when a person watches the sun rise it looks as if the sun comes up out of the water or that we water stretches as far as the sun.
I'm not sure about all the Egyptian theology, but in the Mummy exhibit at the Egyptian Museum the boat was a significant part because it carried the Pharaoh to the Gods and had a large role to play in the afterlife.
The Egyptians had two types of boats. One for sailing north on the Nile because the current flows North and the other was a row boat for traveling South on the Nile. This boat was actually used during the Pharaohs time because some of the wood has been in water before, don't ask me how they know that! The wood is all cedar wood which was transported from Lebanon around 4,000BC. The Majority of this boat is the original wood!
The first picture is the original Rope and the second pic is the original knots tied by the Ancient Egyptians themselves! It was so fascinating to be able to see something so old!
The most interesting part for me was to see how each board was tied together to form the boat. The 3rd pic shows a model of the haul of the boat and how the rope ties all the boards together. It was crazy to see this massive boat all tied together with rope. They say that the outside must have been covered with a type of tar b/c it wouldn't be water proof the way it is put together now.
It really made me think of Lehi sailing to America from Jerusalem and the manner of boat he built, 'not after the manner of man, but after the manner the Lord had shown unto him'
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Sphinx
Here's the Sphinx. Which is the Pharaoh's head with a lions body. It represents how the Pharaoh was wise and all that goes with the human head, then quick, agile and powerful as a lion.
Maybe you've seen a million pics of this before, but I bet you've never seen the Sphinx from the back side!
Pyramids
Here are some of the Pyramid pictures. Each stone weighs somewhere between 1-16 tons depending on size. It's pretty awesome to see. Too bad we couldn't take the camera inside to take pics. The passage ways are only 1 meter high by 1 meter wide. It really a lot of fun to crawl down a small steep corridor to the burial cambers.
the fourth pic shows the smooth stone on the top of the pyramid. This stone covered the pyramids so they were smooth. The stones we see today were just the skeleton of the pyramids, like the frame of a house, the outside was either a smooth polished granite surface or a yellow limestone or smooth mudbrick. The smaller of the 3 pyramids was going to be covered in smooth polished granite, but the pharaoh died before it was finished. The people decided not to complete the outside since they had to transport the granite by boat 900 kilometers from the granite mines down in Luxor! they already transported much of the stone before the pharaoh died, so their is all these huge heavy granite blocks scattered around the temple, much like the wood and sheet wall around the grounds of a house during the construction process. It looks like an unfinished construction project, its pretty neat looking.
Its difficult to image these pyramids being smooth. It would be amazing to see one of these magnificent structures all smooth with sharp corners and polished rock, glistening in the sun.
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