So these are some of the more candid videos...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Travels with LP
Here are a few videos on the Pyramids, Abu Simbel and Philae. Did you really think that I would let LP show up to Egypt and not video tape every movement.
Pyramids
Abu Simbel
Philae
Pyramids
Abu Simbel
Philae
My house
Yes, we live next to a cemetery. It was built by the British after WWII. No, I'm not scared and no I've never seen anything or heard anything stranger...other than my stomach when I'm hungry.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Egypt Weeks
The Egypt Weeks:
Week One in Egypt-
So I have not been blogging as consistently as I did when I was in Turkey. This is true. The problem is that most of Egypt is still using dial-up and only a few of my cousins have cable. We would have cable in my house, but we’re only here maybe one or two months of the year so we’ve never invested in it. I’ve never had a blog, so worrying about internet connections was never an issue. I thought for sure that the Nile Cruise and Resort in Sharm El Sheik would have wifi. They are, after all, five star locations. Nope, not in Egypt. You either pay out of your ears to use the wifi, or go to Starbuck down the road. Welcome to third world.
So the first week in Egypt was my laziest week of the summer. It will probably be the only lazy week that I get. I was so exhausted from Turkey that I used my first week back home to sleep and spent time at home with daddy, helping here and there…and of course eating like it was my job. Any other time outside of that was spent in preparation for LP’s arrival. None of my USA friends have ever come to visit me in Egypt and LP is my best friend so this was a special moment. It was also going to be the first time that Egypt was going to have to deal with the both of us within its borders. That’s big stuff.
LP made the arrival on Sunday August 2. Dad and I waited for her at the airport and it was a great reunion, I have to admit. Having multiple nationalities sounds really cool, and it is, but it also means that I’m split between multiple roles and responsibilities. It means that I have to share my life on opposite ends of the globe and that I don’t always get to spent time with the ones I love. That’s a hard role to play. LP finally saw that this year. She’s always had an idea of the role, but she finally understood the struggle to balance family and friends on multiple continents.
Week 2 & 3 in Egypt-
LP’s arrival meant that I wanted her to see as much of Egypt as possible, the good, the great and the fabulous. I wanted her to see all the touristy things, but also meet my family; the aunts and uncles, and endless number of cousins. I wanted her to see Egypt with my eyes and understand why I feel so attached. In the end, I wanted her to love Egypt for the same reasons I do. Most foreigners have a love-hate relationship with Egypt, and by that I mean you either love it or hate. There is no middle. So I had to make sure that LP loved.
LP’s first few days in EGYPT were spent in Cairo, the heart of Egypt and the Middle East. 17 million people, one of the largest cities in the world, bigger than New York, and the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. Big stuff. Of course, we took her to the pyramids and the sphinx. Only Anthony Bourdain shows up to Egypt and doesn’t visit the pyramids, but not my best friend. That was the first thing she got to see from Cairo. She also experienced our crazy traffic. LP got a chance to visit Cairo museum, which carries one of the largest collection of antiquities in the world…so more old stuff…and she visited our Royal family in their mummified state. Yep, she saw the mummies. You can’t come here and not see them either…its royalty.
For lunch, I took her to Abu Tarek, a restaurant that specializes in Koshary. This is an Egyptian dish through and through. No other Arab country makes it and Abu Tarek is world famous for it. When we got into the restaurant, my dad told the waiter that he’d brought two American girls to Abu Tarek to taste his koshary because we’d seen it on TV. SO…we got VIP seats on the top floor of the restaurant that only celebrities get to eat in, and we met Abu Tarek himself. Yes…I took our picture with him. That’s going on facebook, baby.
LP was suffering from jet lag big time so we went back for a nap and later that evening went to Khan El-Khalily, the largest bazaar in the world. We also took a quick look around the inside of the Mosque of Hussein. It’s said that this mosque was named after the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) because when Hussein was killed in Karbala, the head was brought to Cairo and placed in this mosque. Why he was killed? Who killed? When? Long story, I’ll go into it later = basically the Shia/Sunni split. Most importantly it was LP’s first time inside a mosque so why not take her to a controversial one! Who got VIP treatment? Oh yep, LP did.
LP’s next day in Cairo was spent at the Mohamed Ali Citadel, where Mohamed Ali massacred the ruling Mamluk tribes of Egypt in the Castle and officially made Egypt a part of the Ottoman Empire. She also got a quick visit of Al Azhar Park, and Qauy, a very fancy restaurant on the Nile. Yep. LP ate her kebab and kofta on the NILE! I was sure to take LP to City Stars, which is one of the largest malls in Egypt, with 8 towers of condominiums, and 6 floors, and 5 blocks of shopping. When we do things in Egypt….we do them on a big scale. Did I mention that the “Mall of America,” can fit inside, twice?
On LP’s third day we flew out to Aswan to begin our Nile Cruise. We had a chance to see the Aswan High Dam, the Island of Philae, and the statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. We were roughly an hour’s drive from the Sudanese border. LP got to visit the temples at Edfu and Kom Ombo as well as the huge temples from Egypt’s ancient capital, Luxor and Karnak. Needless to say, we took tons of pictures, and I made sure that almost every moment was captured on video or in picture format. We got to see the best that Ancient Egypt had to offer and more, all while cruising down the Nile. LP was also lucky to see a Papyrus factory, Alabaster factory (I went on a crazy shopping spree in both places. Someone please take my wallet away from me!) and the mother of it all…the Valley of the Kings! We saw three main tombs from Pharaohs Tutmoses, Ramses and one more guy I can’t remember right now, but I swear I have a picture of it. I also made the tour guide stop off at Hatshepsut’s Tomb, which was near the Valley of the Kings. That was a huge deal to me. Man, I need to make my own discovery channel.
More than anything though, I really have a much better idea of what I want my kids to see when they come here. I hadn’t been to this part of Egypt in 8 years. When I come, I come to visit family. I see the history when I can, but I have to visit my family before we become history. It was a great refresher course and I’ve got a set schedule for what needs to happen. I’m convinced the kids will love it….simply because they’ll be in my presence.
After a 3 day cruise, I flew LP out to the Las Vegas of the Middle East, our Sin City (no joke) Sharm El- Sheik. If you were a royal prince, president of USA or had tons of extra cash and didn’t know what to do with, where would you go? Paris? Rome? Madrid? Greece? No honey…they go to Sharm El-Sheik. The Arab Summit is held here, the Saudi Princes party here as well as half of Europe, and Asia. That’s where LP and I are now. We’re only a few hours drive from Israel and the rest of the Middle East, but you’d never know. We’ve spent 3 days here and tomorrow will be our last day then its off to Cairo again to pick up the car and drive to visit my family and show LP my roots. We’ll stay in my house there, go to our family’s beach and hopefully show her the Suez Canal.
Do not worry kids. I promise to have pictures of everything. LP and I will fly back together, God willing, on Friday. So be ready. Friday, folks, 1:30 pm at Metro Airport. I’ll be jet lagged, so please call off the parade. Maybe on Saturday. After 2 months outside the USA, I’ll finally be back. I thought for sure that I was ready to come home, that it was time to go back. I thought that was the case 3 weeks ago, but now I see things differently. I think two months wasn’t enough. There are some things that only time can take care of and clearly two months wasn’t it. I was hesitant at first to leave the USA and leave so many responsibilities behind for so long, but now I see that regardless of my presence those things, people and places and I valued have worked just fine without me. Some things have worked out better than others and some have changed completely, but they’re still ok. There is no excuse now. Now I can travel, 2, 3, or 4 months. Things will go on as they always have and everything will be fine. Doug said it best when we started this trip and he reiterated it again when his mom died during our 4th week in Turkey. “Monica,” he said, “what are you worried about? The things that you love in Michigan will still be there. The people that you love will still be there….if you really love them and if they really love you. What you love will be waiting for you when you get back.” I know his mom was waiting for him when he went back home too. I’ve already waited two months to go home. Doug’s right. One more month won’t make a different. What I love will still be waiting for me. I’ve traveled enough to know that by now. I just needed to hear it from someone else. I’ve just added country number 27 to my listed of countries that I’ve visited, lived, studied and worked in. There are 190 countries in the world. I’ve still got a lot more ground to cover and I can’t do that sitting in Michigan.
Week One in Egypt-
So I have not been blogging as consistently as I did when I was in Turkey. This is true. The problem is that most of Egypt is still using dial-up and only a few of my cousins have cable. We would have cable in my house, but we’re only here maybe one or two months of the year so we’ve never invested in it. I’ve never had a blog, so worrying about internet connections was never an issue. I thought for sure that the Nile Cruise and Resort in Sharm El Sheik would have wifi. They are, after all, five star locations. Nope, not in Egypt. You either pay out of your ears to use the wifi, or go to Starbuck down the road. Welcome to third world.
So the first week in Egypt was my laziest week of the summer. It will probably be the only lazy week that I get. I was so exhausted from Turkey that I used my first week back home to sleep and spent time at home with daddy, helping here and there…and of course eating like it was my job. Any other time outside of that was spent in preparation for LP’s arrival. None of my USA friends have ever come to visit me in Egypt and LP is my best friend so this was a special moment. It was also going to be the first time that Egypt was going to have to deal with the both of us within its borders. That’s big stuff.
LP made the arrival on Sunday August 2. Dad and I waited for her at the airport and it was a great reunion, I have to admit. Having multiple nationalities sounds really cool, and it is, but it also means that I’m split between multiple roles and responsibilities. It means that I have to share my life on opposite ends of the globe and that I don’t always get to spent time with the ones I love. That’s a hard role to play. LP finally saw that this year. She’s always had an idea of the role, but she finally understood the struggle to balance family and friends on multiple continents.
Week 2 & 3 in Egypt-
LP’s arrival meant that I wanted her to see as much of Egypt as possible, the good, the great and the fabulous. I wanted her to see all the touristy things, but also meet my family; the aunts and uncles, and endless number of cousins. I wanted her to see Egypt with my eyes and understand why I feel so attached. In the end, I wanted her to love Egypt for the same reasons I do. Most foreigners have a love-hate relationship with Egypt, and by that I mean you either love it or hate. There is no middle. So I had to make sure that LP loved.
LP’s first few days in EGYPT were spent in Cairo, the heart of Egypt and the Middle East. 17 million people, one of the largest cities in the world, bigger than New York, and the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. Big stuff. Of course, we took her to the pyramids and the sphinx. Only Anthony Bourdain shows up to Egypt and doesn’t visit the pyramids, but not my best friend. That was the first thing she got to see from Cairo. She also experienced our crazy traffic. LP got a chance to visit Cairo museum, which carries one of the largest collection of antiquities in the world…so more old stuff…and she visited our Royal family in their mummified state. Yep, she saw the mummies. You can’t come here and not see them either…its royalty.
For lunch, I took her to Abu Tarek, a restaurant that specializes in Koshary. This is an Egyptian dish through and through. No other Arab country makes it and Abu Tarek is world famous for it. When we got into the restaurant, my dad told the waiter that he’d brought two American girls to Abu Tarek to taste his koshary because we’d seen it on TV. SO…we got VIP seats on the top floor of the restaurant that only celebrities get to eat in, and we met Abu Tarek himself. Yes…I took our picture with him. That’s going on facebook, baby.
LP was suffering from jet lag big time so we went back for a nap and later that evening went to Khan El-Khalily, the largest bazaar in the world. We also took a quick look around the inside of the Mosque of Hussein. It’s said that this mosque was named after the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) because when Hussein was killed in Karbala, the head was brought to Cairo and placed in this mosque. Why he was killed? Who killed? When? Long story, I’ll go into it later = basically the Shia/Sunni split. Most importantly it was LP’s first time inside a mosque so why not take her to a controversial one! Who got VIP treatment? Oh yep, LP did.
LP’s next day in Cairo was spent at the Mohamed Ali Citadel, where Mohamed Ali massacred the ruling Mamluk tribes of Egypt in the Castle and officially made Egypt a part of the Ottoman Empire. She also got a quick visit of Al Azhar Park, and Qauy, a very fancy restaurant on the Nile. Yep. LP ate her kebab and kofta on the NILE! I was sure to take LP to City Stars, which is one of the largest malls in Egypt, with 8 towers of condominiums, and 6 floors, and 5 blocks of shopping. When we do things in Egypt….we do them on a big scale. Did I mention that the “Mall of America,” can fit inside, twice?
On LP’s third day we flew out to Aswan to begin our Nile Cruise. We had a chance to see the Aswan High Dam, the Island of Philae, and the statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. We were roughly an hour’s drive from the Sudanese border. LP got to visit the temples at Edfu and Kom Ombo as well as the huge temples from Egypt’s ancient capital, Luxor and Karnak. Needless to say, we took tons of pictures, and I made sure that almost every moment was captured on video or in picture format. We got to see the best that Ancient Egypt had to offer and more, all while cruising down the Nile. LP was also lucky to see a Papyrus factory, Alabaster factory (I went on a crazy shopping spree in both places. Someone please take my wallet away from me!) and the mother of it all…the Valley of the Kings! We saw three main tombs from Pharaohs Tutmoses, Ramses and one more guy I can’t remember right now, but I swear I have a picture of it. I also made the tour guide stop off at Hatshepsut’s Tomb, which was near the Valley of the Kings. That was a huge deal to me. Man, I need to make my own discovery channel.
More than anything though, I really have a much better idea of what I want my kids to see when they come here. I hadn’t been to this part of Egypt in 8 years. When I come, I come to visit family. I see the history when I can, but I have to visit my family before we become history. It was a great refresher course and I’ve got a set schedule for what needs to happen. I’m convinced the kids will love it….simply because they’ll be in my presence.
After a 3 day cruise, I flew LP out to the Las Vegas of the Middle East, our Sin City (no joke) Sharm El- Sheik. If you were a royal prince, president of USA or had tons of extra cash and didn’t know what to do with, where would you go? Paris? Rome? Madrid? Greece? No honey…they go to Sharm El-Sheik. The Arab Summit is held here, the Saudi Princes party here as well as half of Europe, and Asia. That’s where LP and I are now. We’re only a few hours drive from Israel and the rest of the Middle East, but you’d never know. We’ve spent 3 days here and tomorrow will be our last day then its off to Cairo again to pick up the car and drive to visit my family and show LP my roots. We’ll stay in my house there, go to our family’s beach and hopefully show her the Suez Canal.
Do not worry kids. I promise to have pictures of everything. LP and I will fly back together, God willing, on Friday. So be ready. Friday, folks, 1:30 pm at Metro Airport. I’ll be jet lagged, so please call off the parade. Maybe on Saturday. After 2 months outside the USA, I’ll finally be back. I thought for sure that I was ready to come home, that it was time to go back. I thought that was the case 3 weeks ago, but now I see things differently. I think two months wasn’t enough. There are some things that only time can take care of and clearly two months wasn’t it. I was hesitant at first to leave the USA and leave so many responsibilities behind for so long, but now I see that regardless of my presence those things, people and places and I valued have worked just fine without me. Some things have worked out better than others and some have changed completely, but they’re still ok. There is no excuse now. Now I can travel, 2, 3, or 4 months. Things will go on as they always have and everything will be fine. Doug said it best when we started this trip and he reiterated it again when his mom died during our 4th week in Turkey. “Monica,” he said, “what are you worried about? The things that you love in Michigan will still be there. The people that you love will still be there….if you really love them and if they really love you. What you love will be waiting for you when you get back.” I know his mom was waiting for him when he went back home too. I’ve already waited two months to go home. Doug’s right. One more month won’t make a different. What I love will still be waiting for me. I’ve traveled enough to know that by now. I just needed to hear it from someone else. I’ve just added country number 27 to my listed of countries that I’ve visited, lived, studied and worked in. There are 190 countries in the world. I’ve still got a lot more ground to cover and I can’t do that sitting in Michigan.
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