sleepless

I'm having trouble sleeping tonight, so I might as well make a little update while waiting for my mind to shut down.
This last week we went to Egypt. The last time I think I packed this much into such a short period was while I backpacked Europe.
Day 1
We went to Beersheba, a place mentioned a few times in the Old Testament. We stopped to look at the wilderness of Zin. I climbed around in cave houses in Tel Avdat after exploring the main ruins on top of the hill. We toured a Kibbutz and then spent the night there. That was all before getting to Egypt.
Day 2
After we got to Cairo some of us went out to get a taste of the city. It was wonderful to have only 4 in the group, and with how strict all of the rules have been up till now I felt like I was doing something wrong flagging down a shady taxi and haggling the price myself on a dark street.
Day 3
The next day we toured the pyramids, went down in the tomb of Kafre (the guy whose face is supposed to be on the sphinx and has the second largest pyramid), toured the sphinx and an ancient temple nearby. We then went to the first step pyramids or the stacked mastabas created by Imhotep and got to go into one of those tombs. We also toured Memphis before going to catch a flight to Luxor.
Day 4
Toured the Valley of the Kings and went into 4 tombs, including King Tut's. Went to the funerary temple of Ramses III. Saw the Colossus of Memnon. Went on a Falukah ride and then a camel ride. That evening the guys split up to take the girls shopping.
Day 5
Carriage ride to Karnak Temple and then to Luxor Temple. Went swimming and then shopping again (shopping here means going to the Bazaars and haggling for hours). Got on the night train back to Cairo.
Day 6
After a miserable night sleep and bad train food we got back to our previous hotel in Cairo and had a real breakfast and then a Sacrament meeting. The guys had gotten together last Shabbat and worked out Brightly Beams, and considering half of us were sick, we had no piano, and we'd only practiced once, it was really good. We then toured the Egyptian Museum. Next, we went to the Khan al-Khalili Bazaar which was the best bazaar we'd been to, but we only had an hour. Lunch was at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Day 7
We toured the Cairo Citadel and learned a bit more about Islam. We had McDonalds to go for lunch. Then we drove straight to Mt. Sinai and went straight to bed.
Day 8
After maybe 4 hours of sleep we got up at 2 am to go and hike the mountain to be on top for the sunrise. It was cold on the ground before we started so I bought a tapestry-like blanket while waiting for everyone to load the bus. I used one of those traditional men's head scarf things to keep my head warm. We made it to the top of Mt. Sinai in plenty of time (those of us at the front were huddling together for over an hour and a half) for the sunrise. We had planned a religion class up there, but we were all so cold we took a group picture and went back down. We then had lunch and got on the bus to come back to Jerusalem. We stopped for dinner at the Kibbutz, and then got home around midnight.

Minor Update

Ok, I am obviously not very good at this whole blogging thing. I've now been here for a couple of weeks. We have gone to the normal sites like the Dome of the Rock, the Western Wall, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Kotel Tunnel, a walk on the ramparts of the walls of the old city, and we have done lots of walking around the place. We are going to Egypt on Sunday. Um, yeah, that's about all I'm going to say right now.

The beginning

I don't have a lot to say yet. We got to Jerusalem just a few days ago and this is the first day that I am not brain dead from jet lag. Most of us had to take 4 flights to get here, and since then we have had lots of orientation meetings and a really quick walking tour of the old city. The center is incredible! Every view is stunning. The architecture is marvelous. Even the drinking fountains are made of chipped limestone. Our academic schedule is a little bit more than just rigorous, with us already having had to read 20 chapters in Genesis and over 100 pages in other text books (classes started yesterday, and all of that was due before class and the 100 pages weren't assigned until two days ago). I am excited for the material though. The field trips are also going to be incredible.