Walk like an Egyptian

Okay, I've decided I just need to do a bit of Egypt each day for, like, the next week. So I'm just going to take a deep breath and dive in. Alright, day 1.
So we woke up for breakfast at 5:30 am...it's pretty much unnatural to eat breakfast at that hour of the day. We left the center around 6:30 and started on our adventure. Let me tell you, I was excited. People were a bit frightened by my enthusiasm so early...they either thought I was on something, or didn't get enough sleep. Oh well. Anyway, our trip to Egypt wasn't simply driving to Egypt. We stopped at significant places all along the way and boy was it cool.
Our first stop was Tel Ber Sheva, known in the Bible as Beersheba. It's heyday was around 1000 B.C. and it was the area of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! So cool! Everyone had to wear hard hats (don't ask me why). There's a well there that is over 1000 years old! It was really neat, we got to see the remains of the city and the coolest thing was their huge underground cistern! It was man-made and was absolutely incredible. I wish I could remember details on how big it was, but everything mushes together now. Anyway, we walked down tons of stairs into these huge caves that were full of water back in the day. Sweet.
Next, we went to an outlook of the Wilderness of Zin or Sin where the Israelites lived for 40 years. It was beautifully ugly. I never thought I would find myself thinking the desert was pretty, but it really was. The reason it was ugly was because it was the desert. It was rocky and barren and just the thought of living there for 40 years made me shutter. The Israelites must have really ticked God off for Him to exile them there. Whew. The overlook was also the grave site/memorial for Ben Gurion. He was a Jewish Zionist in the early 1900's who fought for a Jewish homeland and eventually became the first Prime Minister of the Jewish settlement/state. Cool.
Our last visit of the day was to Kibbutz Yotvata. A kibbutz is a huge communal Jewish farm. Everyone works together to run the farm and everyone gets the same amount of pay...kind of like the law of consecration. So anyway, we took a tour of this enormous kibbutz and it was so cool! They grow onions, dates, pomegranates, (plus a bunch of other stuff) and raise horses and cows. This particular kibbutz invented the drip system for irrigating their crops. Cool. (I thought of you, dad). Okay, so after the tour they served us dinner at the little restaurant they run and let me tell you, it was a feast! I ate like a fat kid on Christmas! Most of the stuff was homegrown/harvested. Their chocolate milk was fantastic. Oh, and, let me just tell you, they had ice cream!!! I haven't had real ice cream since I've been here and I just about lost control. I think people were scared. I was basically panting and frothing at the mouth waiting in line to get mine (okay, maybe not quite that bad). But they had Ferrero Rocher ice cream. Yes, I am dead serious. I have to stop...I'm starting to drool. So the cool thing was, this was not just dinner...they definitely provided entertainment. And let me tell you, it got wild. Pretty soon all 80 of us were up and dancing in circles and clapping and singing and shouting and shaking it for all we were worth! It was such a blast. Sadly, I had left my camera on the bus and so do not have evidence of me doing the Russian man dance and pulling a muscle in my quad. It hurt. But it was worth it. Ah, it was such a good night. And I'd say this was our first true, big bonding moment when all the walls came down. We saw sides of people we did not ever suspect of exisiting. So fun.
After our dinner show, we left to Kibbutz Eilot where we spent the night. My roommate Emily and I went running. I wrote that because that's big for me. It actually felt really good, although my clever peers started finding it really funny to hide in bushes until we ran by and then jump out and scare us. Each time I graciously provided a blood-curdling scream for their satisfaction. (You'd scream too if you had people popping out at you in the middle of the night in a strange land, especially when you'd been talked to so much about being safe and not getting groped!) Finally it became so expected that I didn't scream anymore and they gave it up. It's amazing how much entertainment people derive from me here.
Side note: This has nothing to do with Egypt, but I had to tell you before I forgot. Yesterday, two charming and quite genius young men decided to assign "perfect professions" for every person in our group. They posted the list with everyone's name and profession on the door of the dining hall so that everyone going in to dinner could see it. Many-a-person approached me that day telling me that mine was their favorite and that it was perfect for me. What was it you ask? Quote: New Age, Hippie Preschool Teacher End quote. In talking to one of the authors, he told me that the movie line that had inspired this perfect career was "Okay kids, today we're going to be fingerpainting and the paint is organic so you can eat it!" He said they immediately thought of me. Ha ha. It was actually really funny.
Okay, back to Egypt. So, we sleep at Kibbutz Eilot and the next morning is when we heard about President Hinckley. It was only a whispered rumor and nobody knew for sure if it was true, but later that day it was verified. It came as a shock to me. I hadn't really been thinking about it, much less expecting it. We had a devotional on our bus that morning. I loved that little old man so stinkin' much. I can't wait to meet him someday.
Alright, so we arrive at the Israel/Egypt border and we're basically the first ones there. That was our goal because at the border, anyone held up for any reason holds up everyone else behind them. When we got there, we found that our travel agent who had our visas was not there. And he didn't come for an hour. So we sat on the border for an hour breathing second-hand smoke (everyone smokes everywhere there...it made me really grateful for California smoking laws) and playing SPONGE. SPONGE is this game that me and this boy named Matt Funk invented in the bus the previous day. It caught on and lots of people started playing it. I'm kinda too lazy to explain it right now. Sorry. Anyway, finally our man came and we all got through smoothly (which, apparently, is very rare). Our bus picked us up on the other side and we started our drive through Sinai. Now, regarding Sinai, our teacher announced on the microphone to try to wake up every 20 minutes or so to see what it's like and know what the Israelites were traveling through. Okay, it never changed once. It was like watching a 2 second clip of the desert over and over and over again. Completely dry, rocky, and deserted. I actually think it was worse than the Wilderness of Zin because it wasn't even pretty in any way. (Although we did see some wild camels...that was cool). Also, in Egypt, packs of wild dogs roam the wilderness and the cities. They don't ever really approach people, but the cats do, and at lunch one guy in the group had to kick a cat away three times before it decided that it wouldn't approach him again. Stupid animals. We stopped for lunch at this little I-don't-even-know-what-to-call-it place. It was in the middle of nowhere. And I had my first experience with the hole-in-the-ground system of going to the bathroom. Crazy. I'm not the biggest fan, although I guess anything's better than going in my pants.
We had two other rest stops along the way, one of which provided me with a funny and somewhat scary experience. So before we left we were talked to almost constantly about being careful around the men in Egypt. They told us to avoid eye contact, bodily contact of any kind, etc. So anyway, we were standing in line waiting for the restrooms and in Egypt you have to give a tip to the bathroom person who will then give you a square of toilet paper. Seriously, a square. They told us to bring our own toilet paper because sometimes you don't even get a square. Anyway, so this tip man was standing there watching us ladies joke around and laugh etc. And I saw a friend standing a little ways away talking to someone else and so I decided to make a face at her until she saw me. So I put on this huge fake and creepy grin with my eyes really wide. I looked at her for a long time and she didn't look at me. Finally I looked right past her shoulder and saw that the tip man was looking at me with a very happy and eager grin on HIS face. I then realized that the angle of my friend to me could very easily have provided the man with the impression that I was grinning madly at him. Well, I'll tell you that wiped that stupid grin off my face pretty darn quickly. I kinda jumped a little and almost let out a tiny squeak. Nothing happened, but man, I did not grin like that at ANYONE again while in Egypt. Haha.
Well, we got through Sinai and right about dusk we pulled into Cairo. I guess I didn't realize that Egypt is a third world country, because I was not expecting what I saw. That place is poverty-stricken, man. It doesn't help that none of the buildings are finished. Building contractors just simply don't finish their buildings for three reasons: 1) It never rains (although I beg to differ due to our experience), 2) they have to pay less in taxes if the buildings are unfinished, and 3) if in 10 years they need more money or something they just add on more levels. Yeah. So it's crazy with just all these unfinished buildings that are so run-down. Garbage fills every nook and cranny. Almost every city has a large canal running through it and they are all completely filled with garbage. We saw a dead horse in the canal a couple times. It was sick. But our first view of the pyramids took our mind off of the filth for a while. We were just driving through Cairo, the sun was setting and all of a sudden they were just there, looming high above every other building, silhouetted against the sky. It was incredible. Anyway, we crossed the Nile into Giza and ended at the Oasis Pyramids Hotel. It was about 6:30 pm and they had dinner waiting for us. Some people went out to do things that night. My religion teacher was giving a presentation, however, on the first Facsimile in Moses and some background and history of it and Egyptian hieroglyphics. So I went to that I was really glad I did. It gave me some basics that I could then recognize while in Egypt and feel all cool an smart because I knew what stuff meant. But I'll have to tell and show you guys some cool stuff about Egyptian art and writing when I get back. What a fascinating, fascinating culture.
After that I hit the sack because I was tired. But it was so exciting to be there. This is so long...I am so sorry. But I've got two days done and now I only have six to go. So stay tuned.