everybody's blogging

My first blogging endeavor last year was rather unsuccessful, but it has come to my attention that everybody's blogging.

Following the example of several of my friends who have begun blogging or restarted their blogs, I have decided to give it another try.

World of blogging, nice to see you again.

I LOVE JERUSALEM STUDY ABROAD

This week we hit the eight week mark, meaning we are halfway through our adventure. The time is flying by and I am enjoying every minute! I thought this would be a good time to put up a list of just a few things I love about Jerusalem and reasons why this is the best semester ever!

This is the Hebrew version of the LOVE sculpture in NYC, at the Israel Museum. Ahava is love in Hebrew and here it is! (Aleph, Hey, Vet, Hey)

i love . . . 

the VIEW from the Center my beautiful balcony with the rose garden & pomegranate tree

 Damascus Gate              the Old City!!!

our sweet security staff The Oasis (cafeteria)

chocolate pudding with whipped cream for breakfast everyday          PITAS (at every meal!)  

basically everything about the gorgeous Center that we live in  

Sunday Evening Classics Concerts

   

the auditorium the organ the gardens  

professors who live just two floors up and hang out with us  

shawarmas Hebrew  

vendors who say “BYU!” and “Hey Mormons!”                     Elia Photo Service

 

Western Wall                 Jewish Holidays!                  

cute Jewish girls with their headbands, black skirts & flats                         kippas   

calls to prayer 5 times a day standing out from everyone on the street 

Ben Yehuda Street & West Jerusalem      

bad English spellings & grammar  

taking a week off of class and going to Egypt  

boats on the Nile & camel rides  

Pyramids  

Valley of the Kings mosques                                     Hard Rock Cafe  

fancy hotels and restaurants headscarves

 walking through history  

diversity of dress  

olive wood & Omar making olive oil

rockin awesome field trips                    Dramamine! 

rollin in Mercedes buses                       BYU-JC backpack  

1 shekel popsicles at Lana’s                   Augusta Victoria                 1.5-liter water bottles  

Tel Aviv & the Mediterranean  

shekels cleaning checks with treats   

service couples donkeys, horses and goats just hanging out around the city

internet- even if it is painfully slow student choir random schedule  

forums Hebrew U  

consulate families                       stellar movie collection in the library  

learning about different peoples and cultures

being able to drink the water in Israel Kibbutz Yotvata                 

being taught by and associating with people who are known worldwide         

official name-tags wandering and shopping  

Palestinian Costco   herding sheep  

tons of soldiers and people with huge guns everywhere

 

Dormition Abbey Aladdin Money Changer Shabban's 

BonBons, Ali Babas & Jericho Wafers Genie pants

. . . everything

Funny Egypt Items

So I realize that I have blogged a lot about Egypt and not much else lately, but I thought of a couple funny anecdotes that I wanted to tell people. 

In the markets the people are always saying "Welcome to Alaska!" -I'm still not really sure what that means. They're always talking about Ali Baba and telling you you're breaking their hearts as well. 

Groups have to have an armed security guard, and with good reason. You may have heard about the tourists who were kidnapped in September . . . yeah, pretty sketchy. 

Getting a carriage ride in Luxor is way cheaper than a taxi. They follow you down the street and harass you. I'll say one thing for these guys. Persistence is not lacking. 

They love the word Habbibi. I guess it means friend or buddy, but they use it all the time.

I can't say enough how incredibly slimy and sleazy the Egyptian men were. Yikes. There's the joke here that we were hit on more in that week than in a whole semester at BYU!

Driving there is insane. If they have driving laws, no one follows them. Lane lines are maybe kind of there, but no one stays in them. At one point we had like five and two-thirds lanes going on. Cars, bikes, motorcycles and wagons were just everywhere. Also, the funniest thing. The bus is driving us to the airport in Cairo and the guy misses the exit. He realizes he should have turned off, and what does he do? No worries, he just kicks it into reverse and we go backwards down the highway so we can get off at the exit. Sheer madness. 

Our group seemed to be a tourist attraction everywhere we went. Everyone on Sinai was taking pictures and videos of us. At the hotel in Luxor we were building towers and such in the pool. You wouldn't believe the numbers of people watching us and taking pictures. Weird. 

Belly dancing is one of the highest-paying jobs you can have in Egypt. I think being a tour guide must pay pretty well too, since our guide had a law degree. 

Everyone and their dog and their grandma loves Bob Marley. I hadn't realized he was such a huge international sensation. Bob Marley is probably the most popular name for their horses too. It was so funny. 

Egypt is really dirty. Everything is dusty and germy, and everyone smells bad. Also, you generally have to pay to use a stinky toilet that doesn't even have toilet paper; you have to bring that with you. Even in really nice places we wouldn't dream of eating fresh fruit or vegetables that had been cut. And after you wash your hands with water to get the dirt off you still use hand sanitizer. 

Going to Egypt was such an experience. Man oh man! I love love loved it, even with the yucky men and pushy merchants and dirtiness. I was heartbroken to find out that the pyramids are not on the list of the Seven Wonders of the World, though. Egypt got jipped on that one, if you ask me. I saw some of the coolest things I will ever see there, and it is hard to imagine a better week than my week in EGYPT!

MORE Egypt . . .

Sunrise from Sinai 9/28/08

Muhammad Ali Mosque 9/27/08

Luxor Train Station- waiting for the night train 9/25/08

Travel Dream #2 =)

Luxor Temple 9/25/08

Karnak Temple 9/25/08

Habu Temple 9/24/08

Great Day in Luxor 9/24/08

Valley of the Kings

Falukas on the Nile

My camel, Ali Baba, and Amman

The Old Bazaar