Well, I am home now, and it has been over a week since I last wrote, so brace yourself for a very LONG post. Let me just say that it is wonderful to be home and share these experiences with my family and friends, but I miss Egypt terribly and would return in a heartbeat. And all of you who are reading this, you MUST go to Egypt. You will be blown away by this wonderful country and peoples.

Anyway, after my last post in the smokey internet cafe of Alexandria, my friends, along with our new found Egyptian friends, went to a very modern mall in search of some Egyptian music. We were unable to find a music store, but had fun chatting with the locals and they promised to make me a CD of music mixes (which now that I have unpacked everything I realize is somehow lost. Sad day!). We took an interesting taxi ride through the crazy traffic back to our hotel, then watched the sunset over the Mediterranean from our hotel balcony. That night we went to a traditional restaurant for dinner, but I was only able to eat some pita and cucumbers as my stomach had not yet settled. We returned to the hotel and instead of going to a movie we went to a tea house along the water with our tour guides Haney and Nayer and resisted the urge to order a water pipe and smoke shisha like everyone else was. Then we walked around the waterfront, but after seeing a few rats running around we decided to go back to the comforts of our Winsor Palace hotel. All of our hotels have been beautiful, this was no exception. It even had an old elevator that was over 100 years old and reminded Erin and I of the movie Charade.

The next day we took our tour of Alexandria, starting with the catacombs. We climbed deep into the underground tombs and our guide explained to us the various greek and egyptian influences in the sculptures and layout of the tombs. It was fascinating, but smelt horrible and the air was so stale, so I was grateful when it was time to go back into the sunshine and to the Roman amphitheatre. This was discovered on accident when they were expanding the modern train station, so it really made us wonder how many other ancient sites are buried under the city. It has been so incredible to be able to see such a variety of ancient sites and artifacts, from pyramids to temples to greco-roman tombs and ampitheatres--Egypt has such an intricate history and culture. Our final stop was the Library of Alexandira, which was amazing. It had an incredible architectual design (Norwegian actually) and was the largest library after the Library of Congress. After the library we went to a seafood restuarant along the sea, and the most wonderful surprise of that was when I went to the bathroom and the gentlemen who opened the doors and handed us our soap and towels (it was quite the fine bathroom experience) gave me a little pink rose as I left! So now I expect flowers after going to the bathroom...Our next stop was the palace of King Faruq and we walked around the grounds and took lots of pictures. It was gorgeous! After the castle we were dropped off at starbucks again and spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and talking with our Egyptian friends. I learned so much about the culture and perceptions of the US during that conversation. I was asked if I was afraid of terrorists while traveling through Egypt and that was the first time the thought had even crossed my mind. I felt far safer in Egypt than I do even in the streets of Seattle at times and have encountered nothing but kindness and interest in the people. After Starbucks we walked along the waterfront and collected shells as the sun set then went to a giant mall for dinner and shopping time. It felt like America here too, there was even a Cinnabon and Fuddruckers!

The next day we had an eight hour bus ride to Siwa Oasis, located in the middle of the desert near the Libyan border. We arrived just before dinner to the quiet and fascinating town of Siwa. It is actually one of the locations highlighted in "1000 places to see before you die" and so now I have 999 to go. After dinner we walked around the town to some old ruins in the hills that were all lit up. There we met Abdul, a young boy who invited us to his home. We went (it was like 10 at night by this time. We were all imagining his mother's reaction. I am not sure how my mom would feel if I showed up with 20 tourists at this hour!) and his house was a mud-brick structure with dirt floors and hardly any furniture. His mom--who is a single mom of like 9 kids-- welcomed us warmly and all his siblings and cousins came to greet us and practice their english with us. She showed us some of her handicrafts, and I ended up purchasing a purse and tablecloth that I will cherish forever as it will remind me of the family that we met there. After her house we shopped around the little town of Siwa then returned to the hotel and went swimming in the natural spring pool. We may have left our swimsuite behind....

Well, the next day we woke up and braved the desert heat on bikes. We rented a bunch, and though they weren't the most quality peices of equipment, it was super fun to ride around the streets. There aren't any cars really in Siwa, just donkeys, carts, and bikes. So this made it much easier to experience the town instead of from the confines and comfort of our giant tour bus. Anyway, our first stop was Dead Mountain, which was a huge mountain full of graves. We had a great view of Siwa from here. Then we rode on to the Oracle that Alexander the Great visited and was rumored to have been filled with treasures. We continued on our journey to Cleopatra's pool, another natuaral spring that was used by Cleopatra herself! It felt great to dip our feet in before continueing on the last leg of our biking journey. We got caught in the middle of a sand storm and almost got lost, so needless to say I was grateful to return to Siwa and have some water, as my entire being was covered in sand and sweat. Lovely, I know. After returning our bikes and taking a much needed shower, we went to town for lunch and had the most delicious juice ever. We saw them taking the oranges and lemons and squeezing them to make the freshest fruit cocktails ever, the perfect refreshment for a hot desert day. After lunch we swam a little longer than prepared ourselves for our trek into the desert.

Our night in the desert was one of my favorite and least expected moments on this trip. I had no idea it would be as amazing and adventurous as it proved to be. We boarded jeeps and then went straight into the desert, driving over huge sand dunes at top speeds, feeling somewhat like Indiana Jones. We even hung out the windows and felt the sand whip our faces and it was glorious. The greatest adventure ever! We stopped first at a hot springs in the middle of the sand dunes. It reeked of sulfur and was a pretty tiny pool, but we all took the plunge and it felt great. Our guide Haney prepared us some snacks and tea, and us girls had a miny photo shoot in the oasis. It was so fun! Then we continued on our trek to another pool, this one was cool and more like a lake. We swam around and then had to air dry in the desert because there were no towels. It was awesome! After that we drove around even more (our jeep was all girls so I think our driver got a huge kick out of our screams and laughter each time he went super fast or drove down a sand cliff) and then reached a ridge of sorts to watch the sunset. We all sat in silent awe and wonder as the sun set, with nothing but sun and sand and sky around us. It truly made me realize how small and insignificant we all our in view of God's splendour and creation.

After the sunset we reached our camp. The tents were already all set up, as well as carpets and blankets, a roaring fire, and small tables of food. After dinner we sat around the fire and reflected on the trip and how we have been changed and what we have been thankful for. We all had much to say, yet words seemed insufficient to describe how completely amazing the past three weeks have been. I have learned and lived so much, to say I feel blessed almost seems like an understatement. One thing that has stood out especially to me is the joy that I have witnessed in the face of poverty and need. The children running around the villages without shoes and in dirty clothes exhibit such a pure and uninhibited joy at life. They are so eager to say "hello!" and wave and laugh, I wonder that as an American I have become too easily pleased with entertainment and excess and have lost sight of the beauty of creation and simplicity.

That night we slept outside with the sand as our mattress (a rather hard and lumpy one) and the stars as our ceiling. Since we were all rather close to each other, none of us slept too incredibly well, thanks to the lovely snoring of our professor Paul. But it was still fun to stay up and talk and laugh and gaze at the stars. Morning came along with an army of flies that drove all of us relatively insane. Each bite of our breakfast was risky and my friend Kristin ended up swallowing two! I now have a very strong aversion to flies...After packing up we visited one last lake and then returned to Siwa to prepare for another long drive back to Cairo. Though the drive was super long and we didn't get back to the city until later in the evening, it was fun to sit on the bus and laugh and talk with our group. We have all become such good friends, and I am so thankful for the new friendships that I will have when we get back to school next year. This experience has been that much better shared with this group.

For our final day in Egypt, we went to Garbage City in Cairo. Not exactly a tourist destination, this city is home to thousands of Christians who take the garbage of Cairo, sort it, and salvage nearly 90% of it. It felt strange to be in our huge tour bus, passing through the narrow alleys and being greeted by the waves of the locals. I had come expecting to see filth, flies, poverty, and despair, and most of that was present, but not the despair. God certainly showed me that loving people does not involve victimizing them and assuming that because they lack material wealth they lack life. The people I saw had a sense of peace and purpose and joy evident in their faces, and I came to realize that living in garbage and filth is a relative term. I am sure my own life is filled with far more "waste." We eventually arrived at a monastery carved into the side of the rocky hill/mountain. I loved the stone carvings, and there were also incredible views of all of garbage city. We could also appreciate the stench a bit more, as well as the flies.

We left garbage city and returned to the market in Cairo for our final purchases. I will miss being able to negotiate prices, though in all honesty I am pretty horrible at bringing any prices down. After the market we went back to the hotel and got ready for our falucca sunset cruise on the Nile. Faluccas are basically sailboats, and it was such a fun and relaxing end to our time. We watched the sunset over Cairo then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for our last dinner. Paul said that we could order whatever we wanted as our last meal, and we definitely took him up on that. Our table of five girls got nachos, guacamole, milkshakes, sodas, burgers, onion rings, and two hot fudge sundaes to share. We couldn't exactly eat it all, but what we could tasted delicious! Our table was next to a dance floor and throuhout the dinner the waiter would gather us all and we would dance to songs like YMCA, grease lighting, and even a spanish number! It was the most fun, even the cook came out. I have never laughed so hard and enjoyed food and friendship so much as during that night, it was great.

After that we went back to our hotel, packed up, and left for the airport. Now I am home, missing Egypt, excited to share stories and pictures, and so incredibly thankful for the opportunity I had through this trip. Thank you for reading and for your prayers and concern for me. Go to Egypt! It's the greatest country EVER!