PICTURES!!!

These are some pictures from Egypt. They are in random order because i am in a hurry. Egypt was so much fun, i wish i could post all my pictures! Enjoy!

Veiw of the Nile from out hotel room.

In front of the big pyramid, which i went in!

This is a pretty good picture of how green egypt is, and in one step is pure desert.

Hiking down Mt. Sinai. 700 stairs was the last part of the hike. 

This is Dave and I on top of Mt. Sinai.

Kyle and I at sunset, i look pretty weird in this picture. 

Right when we got to the top. Best part of the Egypt trip!

At the pool in Cairo. These guys in our group like to through us and this is me doing a backflip.

Kaylie, me, Tess, and Leanna at the Oasis Hotel.

EGYPT!

Leanna and I outlining the pyramid!

This is our camel right at sunset by the Nile. 

Walk Like an Egyptian

So I went to Egypt this past week. It was pretty much the most amazing thing ever!

Day 1

Wake-up call is at 5:30 am for breakfast and loading the bus. We start our drive and stop every 1 ½ hours for field trip stop or bathroom breaks. We stopped many places but I think my favorite of the day was this lookout place overlooking the Wilderness of Zin. It had this Grand Canyon feel to it, but it was all one color, gray. We stop at this Kibbutz close to the boarder to sleep. A Kibbutz is a small socialist community. We got a tour of the place, they fed us dinner then we got to go to bed.

Day 2

Wake-up call is at 6:00. The Kibbutz feeds us breakfast and we get sack lunches as well. Then we head to the boarder where it takes about an hour to cross. At one point we could see Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan all at once. We also got to see the Red Sea and it was so beautiful. After we crossed the border we drive the Cairo with a few pit stops on the way. They take us to the Oasis Hotel and we see the Pyramids for the first time on the way. They were amazing! Later that night we got to go to the sound and light show. It was really cheesy, but I am glad I got to go.

Day 3

Wake-up call is at 6:00. We went to the Pyramids first because we wanted to buy tickets to go into the big Pyramid. They only sell 200 a day and each person has to be there to buy the ticket. Oh, I forgot to mention that every tour bus is required to have armed guys on the bus for our protection. We are in line to get these tickets and all these people try to cut us. Our bodyguards form this line around us and it was awesome. We all ended up getting our tickets and I went to the biggest Pyramid!! So cool, and so different then I thought. The place where they found his actual body was this black room with smooth walls and that is it. We also saw the sphinx. We saw lots of pyramids, and walked a lot, and it was a long day. We then went to this papyrus factory and that was pretty cool. After that we took a plane to Luxor. We stayed at this Sheraton Hotel and it was so nice.

Day 4

Wake-up call is at 6:00. First thing I do is open our balcony door and there is the Nile, looking big and beautiful. It was so great! This day we went and saw lots of temples and tombs. We went to the valley of the Kings and I went inside King Tuts tomb. His body was in there and I was not expecting that at all. His mummy is the smallest thing ever. After dinner, we got to ride a boat on the Nile to go ride a Camel. Our group got to go at sunset and it was so amazing! This night we also had free-time so we decide to take a carriage to do some shopping. These carriage guys are paid by shop owners to bring us to their shops, so it was an interesting night. I did get some cool stuff though. 

Day 5

Wake-up call is at 6:00. Today we get to go to the Luxor temple and Karnack temple. We go in style though. We take a boat to the Luxor temple, then a carriage to the Karnack temple and then a carriage back to or hotel. So awesome! Karnack is my favorite temple so far. It  was just so cool, and most of it was still standing. A lot of the temples I have seen you only have the outline of what was there. This temple had these huge pillars and statues and markings and it was just awesome. Then we had the whole afternoon free. Leanna was really sick this day and I was really tired already. So I went swimming in the pool, which is right by the Nile. It isn’t a good idea to actually go swimming in the Nile so I had to pretend a little. Later that night we load an overnight train to take us back to Cairo. Haha. I don’t even know what to say about this train. This room for two people was so small I could touch all four walls at one time. I ended up sleeping pretty well though.

Day 6

Wake-up call is at 5:00. Train arrives and we go back to the hotel for breakfast. We went the most beautiful Mosque. I took a lot of pictures of it, but none of them do it justice. I just wanted to sit in it all day and look at everything. Ill post pictures eventually again. We got to go to the Museum. This was pretty awesome as well. Saw all of King Tut’s belongings and lots of statues. Our tour guide read some hieroglyphics to us as well. He was a really smart guy. After the museum we got to go to Hard Rock Café! American food! It was like a whole new world in that place. I almost felt clean for a split second. They also took us to this market and I did some pretty awesome shopping. I really enjoy bargaining. I am not very good, but I had some moral support with me.

Day 7

Wake-up call is 9:00! We leave to drive down to Mt. Sinai. We make a few pit stops along the way, and make it to the Morganland Hotel. I had to kill about 9 cockroaches in our room, but it was nicer then any place I expected to stay while in Egypt.

Day 8

Wake-up call is 2:00. This was my favorite day by far. We wake-up early and we drive 10 minutes to the base of the mountain. It takes about 1 ½ hours climb. I make it up there before sunrise and it was unbelievable. We were also able to hold an Old Testament class up there and a testimony meeting. We sang hymns and wrote in our journals. I still can’t believe I had the opportunity to climb this holy mountain. We leave Mt. Sinai and head for the border. It takes us about 2 hours to cross because they are a little strict with who they let in. A couple of my fellow students were asked some intense questions but we all eventually made it through. We finally made it back to the Center around midnight and I felt at home. It was kind of weird, but I liked it. I am no longer living our of a suitcase, so I guess it is my home for now. I live in Jerusalem, the place where Jesus Christ walked. Who would have thought?

Now it is time to get back to real life. Study, study, study. Paper due in a few days, but I could not be happier right now. 

From my dear friend Leanna

From the Blog of Leanna Davidson (btheholyland.blogspot.com) -- Very funny and has some truth in it :)

The Holy Land Endorses More Then One Kind of Hotness

The holy land is a land of grueling heat. The sun beats persistently upon our flushed faces. Beads of perspiration dampen every article of clothing that hangs on our exerted foreigner bodies. I look into the sky searching for any sign of cloud coverage. There is none, but from out of the glare of the sun a figure emerges. Suddenly all my tribulations are put on the back burner while I studied this inaccessible stranger. Like every girl's dream guy mine is tall dark and handsome, but here the Philistines exceed these little girls dreams. They put American boys to shame. As shallow as it may seem we put a lot of emphasis on dress, and even more shallow are the brand names people use and flashy gaudy apparel wear to "peacock" themselves. But here fitted jeans with a tucked in shirt, belt, and a nice pair of shoes are all that are needed. I like this attitude of less is more, this idea that clothes do not define the individual. Also a deep sense of respect and sincerity for their culture and religion can be seen- this is such a refreshing attitude from the superficial minds that roam college campus. So again let me remind you the key points of a hot guy: A) Tall, Dark, with mysterious eyes. B) Fitted jeans, belt, a nice shirt extra points for tucked in, and classy shoes (mmm is all I can say) and C) Let out all that air up there and fill it with something more substantial. Unfortunately, guys are off limits during my stay here. But I will keep dreaming my little girl dreams of that perfect guy.

Pictures, they go from new to old.

Elah Valley- David and Goliath

The Citidal with Kyle 

The Citidal 

My Favorite picture at the Citidal overlooking Jerusalem

We met these boys in the Old City a week ago, so funny!

Out by our Mormon University sign

Kaylie and Leanna overlooking Jerusalem at sunset

Leanna and Kaylie outside the Center on our first day of freedom!

First day of classes with Richie

This is a video of us singing at the bell caves, favorite part is leanna at the end. :)

Study, Study, Study

School has officially started here. I am taking Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Modern Near Eastern Studies from a Palestinian and the same class from a Judean perspective, Old Testament (New Testament will start in two months), and Hebrew. I feel like all I have been doing for the past three days has been reading, most of which is going right over my head. I am learning a ton; it is just frustrating because I know that I am not getting all the knowledge. Getting all the information, of course, is unrealistic.

My favorite class so far is Hebrew! It is a pretty easy language to comprehend. After one class I know the first two letters of the alphabet (Alef and Bet) and know how to write them in script and recognize them in print (two different symbols for the same letter). I also understand how to write words, I just don’t have the knowledge to actually write them. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

My Old Testament class is amazing as well. I took Old Testament about two semesters ago, so I love that I am learning it all again and picking up on new things. Part of our religion class is going to sites around the Hold Land. On Monday we had the opportunity to go to all these different view points around Jerusalem and see all sorts of things from a distance. We saw the City of David, Bethlehem, Rachel’s tomb, the Temple Mt./Mt. Moriah, Bethel, Mt. Zion, and a lot of other things. It was really cool to get back to the classroom and actually talk about them in text with the scriptures. I was actually reading about Abraham and Isaac when he takes him up on Mt. Moriah to sacrifice him and I looked up and there was Mt. Moriah! It was the coolest feeling ever and I am sure I will have other experiences similar to that.

As for the rest of my classes, they are pretty interesting. Today I found myself staying after a 2 hour class to listen more about Jewish history for another 45 minutes. There is so much I did not know about their history, their current faith and their practices. So much to learn, so little time!

So I went into the Old City a couple of days ago and we got a little lost, and these 9 year old boys could tell. We wanted to see the Dome of the Rock, but it is really hard to get close to because you have to be Muslim to go in. We just wanted a place to get a good look. They took us up on the roof of all these buildings and it was really cool up there. We ended up hanging out with them for like an hour and a half. One of the boys spoke four languages; English, Arabic, French, and this other language I haven’t even heard of. They were trying to teach us some Arabic, but they mostly just laughed and pointed at us because I am sure we were mispronouncing everything. They ended up inviting us to go to their house to meet their parents. We were not sure at the time if it was a good idea to go, but we found out that we are allowed to make friends with the local families. We obviously just need to be careful and such. This made me so excited to get to know more people here and it was just a good experience overall.

Well, it is late. I have some scriptures that need reading and a journal that needs writing, so I will leave you all for now. You probably wont hear from me again till after I go to Egypt (leave in a week, and will be gone for a week). So expect a long update! Thanks again for all your comments, I love reading them and hearing from you! 

ps finished reading Catching Fire. Bridget, I will call you Saturday morning.

The Holy Land

I finally made it! Jerusalem is great and nothing like I expected. We got off the plane in Tel Aviv and got on a bus to go to Jerusalem. On the way we did see a McDonalds. We finally got to the Center at about 4:30 pm and they would not let us go to sleep, instead we had to go to two more orientation meetings, dinner and things. The food here has been pretty amazing so far. Pita bread is a regular meal item (it even served as our sacrament bread). They have really good fruit and I’m excited to try some new things.

I have had the chance to walk around the Old City twice now. We are just trying to get familiar with it. Tomorrow we have a full free day and we plan to go to Sister Zion’s Convent, walk the city wall, Oscar Schindler’s grave, Dormitory Abby, and Chagall Windows. We have to go and write a short paper on a few of these cites for our Old Testament class. So far I have been to The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Old City, and just kind of walked around Jerusalem. Today was the Sabbath so we had church, some people went to Gethsemane before church and I cant wait to go as well. After dinner we walked up Mt. Scopus past a hospital, and said hi to a few people. We found this really cool lookout and took some pretty awesome pictures. As for security, I feel a lot more secure then I thought. We have security guards all around the Jerusalem Center, they gave us cell phones, key cards, and most people in the city know us as mormons and kind of lookout for us, which I think is pretty awesome. The people are really nice and I cannot wait to get to know them better.

We found out today that the Hebrew University is only like a block away. I am taking an online class so I have to go there to use their Internet to work on that class. Hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures at that time. We go on our first field trip on Monday, and I’m expecting to take lots of pictures.

You shall hear from me soon! And it was really good to read your comments.

Until next time!

Bridget- I have Catching Fire and I am little more then halfway done. I plan on calling you and having a deep conversation about everything that has happened. It turns out I am a little busy so I only read when I cant do anything else.  

Melissa- Hope you are able to read it, and you will have to let me know what you think of it! I love it so far!

From Vienna

My first blog comes from the Vienna airport! Going to the airport at 400 am without sleep I boarded my first flight at 550 headed for Denver. We had a 45 minute layover and headed for Washington D.C. It was here that my first awesome surprise came. As we got off the airplane Kaylie and I hit every bookstore we saw on our way to our next gate. We found Catching Fire!!!! I am already half done with it. J After a 3 hour layover in D.C. we boarded a flight for 9 hours and landed in Vienna. We still have a 3 ½ hour flight to Tel Aviv and a bus ride before we actually reach our destination.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to upload pictures to my blog regularly. Most of my posts will be all text. I am using free wireless in the airport, so this will be your first and possibly last picture till I get back. It looks like I have been traveling for  20 hours, and that is because I have. Enjoy! 

Kaylie, Leanna, and I in the Vienna Airport