Mt. Sinai and Saint Katherine's Monastery

Saturday morning, after playing at the beach, we headed 3 hours south and inland and reached the Bedouin village of St. Katherine and the Monastery located at the base of Mt. Sinai and Mt. Katherine (the highest peak in Egypt). At the monastery we slept in the guesthouse, which was a very sparse room with 6 beds in it, a bathroom and that is it (no phone, tv, etc….) and had a wonderful Egyptian dinner. The kids loved the yellow lentil soup and the fava bean/tomato/cucumber/cabbage salad. Emma liked the fresh watermelon for dessert best I think!
We explored and “bouldered” around Saturday evening. Almost all the picture I took of the monastery and Mt. Sinai (aka Mt. Horeb or Moses’ Mount) were from high up from the mountains on the opposite side of the little valley.

Sunday morning we hiked up the camel trail way so the little girls could ride most of the way. Then after reaching the very top all together (we had to get off camels and climb last 800 “stairs”) we all came down the more direct, but extremely steep and muscle-taxing, “3800 stairs” way. The stairs are really rocks placed strategically by a penitent monk some years ago. The top of the mountain is not in the pictures you see…..it is behind the face of the mountain, though it is the same mountain. On the top is both a small stone church with a cross on the roof and a small stone mosque. This site is important to both Christians and Muslims in the world. The guide who took us up (from the local Bedouin tribe) showed us inside the mosque, helped us find the path down, and spoke English well enough to give us a little history of how the Greek Orthodox monks and the Bedouin tribe work together to preserve and share the holy mountain. Hamin, the guide, spoke with reverence about the mountain and showed us where it is believed that Moses actually prayed (under the mosque side, naturally!). It was amazing, breathtaking view and incredible to be surrounded by the peace and quiet of the mountains. I am glad we went! After the 6 hour mountain trek, we grabbed an ice cream from the gift shop at the monastery and then headed 5 ½ hours home to Maadi and arrived without any troubles:)
The pictures just don't do the whole experience justice, but they will have to suffice. Feel free to visit us anytime for a more tangible experience:)

Just a note: the face of Mt. Sinai is not where the top is....you can't even see it from there. The stairs go right up through the rocky area in the face, while the camel trail goes around the back. Once around the back, you see the mountain extends much farther back and higher. The very top of the highest part is where the church and the mosque are built.

Journey to Red Sea

Here are pictures:
what cute kids:)
playing at Ras Sudr
palm trees on the beach
tanks on the road




We left Maadi after church on Friday 22nd and drove 2 ½ hrs. to Ras Sudr, Egypt on the Sinai Penninsula. To get there, we crossed the Suez channel through an underground tunnel and passed through multiple security checkpoints with insanely high speed bumps (FYI: when bring car to Egypt, jack it up as high as possible to be able to still drive it---that is what all the taxis do). We drove south along the Gulf of Suez (which is what the “bay” that connects the Red Sea and the Suez Canal is called officially---really it is all just the Red Sea!). We saw mainly barren desert next to turquoise water, but also passed 2 giant tanks driving on the road, off-shore oil rigs and deserted-looking small towns with busy tea shops (very indicative of Egypt, where a lot of people are sitting around drinking tea all the time and doesn’t look like anyone is running anything in the town). We drove into the Ramada hotel and got settled. Probably the most run down, dirty, bug-ridden hotel I have ever stayed in but shockingly the place was pretty busy. After we saw the beautiful beach we understood why. There were a bunch of French people from Maadi (2 families happen to live in our building and we didn’t even know they were going there) and they said they come in spite of the terrible rooms, for the kite surfing. I guess it is one of the best places in the world for that…..shallow water, nice wind year round. Despite the bed breaking on us in the middle of the night (and yes, we were ONLY sleeping) and the kids getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and sand flies, we had a great time at the beach and the food was pretty ok too---very French, which works for me:)

Much about nothing

Feel like I am behind on this, but I think that is because so much happens all the time:)

A couple of things:

It cost my housekeeper (who is really my friend now and I don't know what to call her....so I guess I will just call her by her name: ReRe) a full day of pay to buy me lunch (which she INSISTED on doing) and I feel humbled, blessed, grateful.....also, a bit unworthy and mad at the unfairness that exists in this world. I wish all those with pure hearts could have (and no doubt share) all the wealth of the world. Maybe I would be the one living in a shack and begging on the streets, but that would be better than what reality is now! Yesterday I took kids to McDonalds for treat. This little, tiny girl in dirty clothes came up to us, reached for the drink in my hand and kept whining for it. She followed us down the road for awhile. I felt terrible and so did the kids. Painful, but still unsure how to handle it best. I need to keep granola bars in my purse, just like I did in the car in DC.

Did I already mention that almost EVERY man (and boy above 8 years old) smokes here. It is so weird. The cigarette containers have a picture of a man dead on a table, but that doesn't seem to deter.
Also, litter is just out of control! The guide who took us up Mt. Sinai said that when Egyptians come climb that mountain they just drop their litter and that he likes it better when any other culture of people come because they don't litter.

I need to vacuum out the van, as sand is an issue here (shockingly). You wouldn't believe the trouble one has to go to in order to do this. I must schedule an appointment at the auto shop and then bring the car in, have them clean it, and wait and then pick it up and then do that all over again in another month or so!!! I miss the gas station, quarter-run car vacuums!

pictures of the nastiest public rest stop bathroom I have ever seen (hey is that just a hole in the ground....yep, yep it is!) and a car with a huge load, or should I say a huge load with a little car!



Journey to the Red Sea and Mt. Sinai coming next........

Mt. Sinai, the Red Sea and Brent leaves for Ghana

Over the weekend we went to the Red Sea (beautiful beach) and then to St. Catherine's monestary and Mt. Sinai. I will post pictures asap. Brent is leaving in the morning for Ghana, so we are getting him packed. He will only be gone a week this time:) Love and miss you all. Congrats to Taylor for 1 year down, to Michelle for anytime now, and to Alan/Lisa for the big, awesome trip! Love you all!

Things are looking up!

The day after Brent left for a 12 day trip, I got really sick. Bed ridden for the last few days and I am finally resurfacing. I would give you all the gory details, but you really don't want to know. Let's just say that I learned you can live off Gatorade for 5 days, that your body can produce quite a variety of colors and smells and that no matter where you live there are good people who will take care of you at your worst. The housekeeper, who is now part of the family, basically nursed me for an entire day. She kept wiping my face down with ice water when my fever was raging, tucking me in when the chills were raging and kept bleaching everything that I got dirty. She is amazing and I will offer prayers in her behalf forever more.

The kids are bored out of their minds and have figured out how to play indoor soccer---much thanks to Josh for inventing that game. All the girls got haircuts.....Rebekah and Elisabeth got it done in a salon (I use that word quite liberally) but the man has been cutting hair for 20 years and did a great job and it only cost 25LE, or $3.50. I cut Emma and Sarah's hair myself and think I did an ok job.

We are planning to take a trip next weekend, assuming Brent gets back when he is supposed to, and visit Mount Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery. Some of us hope to climb Mount Sinai....probably Brent and Rebekah and Josh. We will post more about that later:)

Brent got his first helicopter ride yesterday from the airport in Iraq to the US Military hospital in Baghdad, where he is training the people how to test for and deal with swine flu, just in case:)

Here are some pictures of the haircuts. Love you all

Pictures

Pictures are of:

Ladies washing dishes in the Nile while their sons watched (and shouted greetings to us!)

Microbus too full, but doesn't stop this guy from riding it!


Egyptian public school
teacher
classroom
courtyard

Mahshy, "as you like" and other signs that you are becoming Egyptian

Mahshy (pronounced "mashy") is an amazing food made with highly seasoned rice wrapped in grape leaves and steamed. WOW is it good! Served warm and with a cucumber yogurt dip, it really really really is good!

Whenever you ask anyone for anything here the response is always, "as you like". With my great deduction skills I realized that essentially this means, "hey, you are the one paying for this, so do whatever you want, but MAKE SURE you pay us for it!"

A friend, who lived in Oman for awhile, told me that you have to drive the front of your car and let the rear take care of itself......that is dead on accurate driving advise for this part of the world!

All bread is called Aysh (pronounced "I E sh")and you differentiate between the Egyptian varieties by saying either aysh baladi (flat, round like pita bread), aysh fino (french bread--baguette or soft white bread) or aysh toast (sliced white sandwich bread).

Also, we went to this local desert gorge place and had a campfire. Learned: that the desert is beautiful even if there is absolutely NO green in site, that "bouldering" is fun but a bit scary when kids are involved, that roasted marshmallows are good no matter where you are in the world and that Land Rovers may be more practical than minivans when living outside the US of A:)

Love you all and hope all is well. Happy Mother's Day to all and we absolutely LOVED talking to Aaron (my missionary brother) through my Dad's cell phone over the computer.....yeah Skype really is quite awesome!!!

Crazy white girl "finds herself" in Egypt

Picture this:

Minivan swerving around in crazy traffic

Music cranking LOUD (With You by Chris Brown---yeah, I still like the song)

Egyptians laughing at "crazy white lady driver who is singing and playing steering wheel drums"

White girl: driving, singing out loud, smiling, and even crying a bit at the sheer joy of feeling like myself for the first time since arriving!

It was a good day:)

Swine Flu: what not to do

My friend Patty forwarded this to me and I burst out laughing....had to share!