Day 3: Giza & Cairo

Day 3: Cairo

I am writing this from a train. Now when I say train do not think Europe or United States train…. Think Rebecca is in Africa right now, in a third world country. It’s not that bad but I think I’m going to get beat to pieces. There’s not going to be a whole lot of sleeping tonight.
Story: Room check last night my RA called my room and I was asleep. So this morning I was talking to my roommate Emily and said I feel really bad that I didn’t answer the phone. Emily looked at me kind-of funny and said Kathleen said you talked to her. I said, NO I didn’t. I couldn’t have. I was asleep. But sure enough when I talked to Kathleen later I had hung up on her the first time and then the second time told her Emily wasn’t there and goodnight. I have no recollection of this WHAT so ever!
I went to the Pyramids of Giza today! Let me just say… EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME! I wish everyone could visit them. As Ted said, I really wish I could call up all my friends and be like, As we speak I’m staring at the Pyramids. I thought about looking for a phone but considering it would have been 2 in the morning Central time I decided that might not be the best plan. We had a man there take a group picture of us and some how we ended up with them hours later. The Pyramids were a sight to behold. They weren’t smooth like I was expecting them to be. The pyramids would have been standing there when Abraham was alive. Can you imagine growing up with those in your backyard? Here’s an interesting thought. By the time of Joseph, the pyramids would have been around 1000 years old so they might have been like one of our modern day “tourist attractions.”
We also went to the Cheops Boat Museum. We learn about the different types of boats, a little about how they were maid, etc. I got to see the oldest boat known to man-kind. I never did find out why but we had to wear the goofiest looking shoe-covers I’ve ever had to wear in my life! We all looked slightly like Donald Duck.
Next stop, going inside one of the pyramid. Like a lot of places in Egypt we were not allowed to take pictures here either. Osman told us, when you get back home go into a dark room, take a picture, and tell everyone it’s from inside the pyramid. The passage-way down into the Pyramid is really narrow and you have to duck the whole way. It levels out to where you can stand for a little bit before heading up into the tomb. There is absolutely NO ventilation in that thing. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated that much in such a short amount of time in my entire life. The nice thing though was when you got outside it felt like you were in air-conditioning.
Last stop before we left the Pyramid site was at the Sphinx. This was pretty awesome looking. Just to be able to say that you’ve actually seen these things in person! The reality still hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m wondering if it ever really will. Right before the Sphinx is a temple. Temples on the west back of the Nile were used for mummification and the ones of the east, for worship. So this one was used for mummification
By this time we were all about to die but we had 2 more stops before heading for the train. The first of which was the Cairo Museum. You could have just left me there for a week and I would have been perfectly happy. If you spent only 1 minute at every display in the museum it would take you over 9 months to see everything. I could spend pages and pages telling you about what I say but it really wouldn’t do it justice so I’ll hit the highlights. Again this was another place we couldn’t take pictures! Favorites were the King’s mummy room and the King Tut exhibit, most specifically his mask. In the mummy room they have them unwrapped where you can see their face and feet mainly. These mummies still have hair, toe-nails, teeth, and various other things. It’s wild! You can actually picture the person. The King Tut items were exquisite! Although my first thought when I say the mask was, it looks too new. It looks like it was made a couple of years ago. Not 1000’s.
Did you know that in ancient Egypt women chose the men by giving them flowers? Personally I think that girls should give guys flowers every now and then anyway, but this is just pretty cool. 7 flowers means that you are in love with the man, 9 means you want to marry them and finally more than 10 means that you want to start a family.
So finally we get to where I am now… The train. The first one I saw go by wasn’t a sleep train and was disgusting. When we got on ours though it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Although the restroom left a LOT to be desired. It’s weird the things you begin to value after living overseas, and restrooms happen to be a BIG one! You couldn’t go while the train was stopped because the waste empties directly onto the tracks.
Emily and I decided to try and eat 7 saltine crackers in 1 minute. This is a very messy challenge. We happened to have the misfortune of shoving them all in our mouth right as our porter came by to bring us fruit. I was laughing so hard that I spewed cracker crumbs all over his face. Emily sprayed them all over the room and my bag. He started laughing at us and when I tried to take my fruit he wouldn’t give it to me saying that he would wait outside the room until we were done.
It’s these experiences… The traveling accommodations, the lack of sleep, the laughing and the stories that continue to knit our group even closer together! I’m going to be in Aswan in a few hours so until then…
Love, Rebecca

Day 3 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004566&l=967f0&id=1523040053
Train Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004567&l=dfe63&id=1523040053