Egypt Observations

You've probably noticed the delay in getting any Egypt info up since my return... How do I summarize a trip like that- the silly, the serious, the majestic, the tacky, the wonder, the frustration, the expected, the surprising?

Hm. Maybe I'll work from least to greatest. We went to McDonalds a lot. Five times in fact. I say this with utter embarrasment, but have to quickly add that I was a willing participant, and that we also went to Starbuck's, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday's, and Chili's. If I had been coming from the US to Egypt, I would have scorned these things and been disgusted by the sprawl of American marketing. Coming from Kenya, where none of those chains exist, they were welcome tastes of home. I maintain enough of my scorn to have mixed feelings about our eating habits, but I'll confess that I enjoyed my chicken crispers.

Another unexpected taste of home- I ran into people from Los Alamos in our little tour group! There were the 4 of us Rosslyn teachers, a woman from Tasmania, and a couple who work at the Lab. Weird. My Rosslyn friends are _starting_ to believe the stories I tell about "the other LA" after being asked questions like "What latitude do you live at?" =) I love nerds.

Of course the sightseeing was phenomenal: I'VE BEEN INSIDE A PYRAMID! You know, the Great ones! In Egypt! It was hot and stuffy and narrow (and made me want to sing the Indiana Jones theme). I've dipped my hand in The River Nile- our tour guides never referred to it as The Nile, nor The Nile River. Always The River Nile. I've feared for my life while an Egyptian cab driver takes his hands off the wheel to clap along to his favorite song while navigating crazy traffic. I've been to The Egyptian Museum. Not the wing in the British Museum, nor the stuff displayed in the Louvre. The one in Cairo. That one. I've been inches away from mummies and wondered at how their hair is still preserved. I've seen alabaster canopic jars with the organs still inside (ew). I now own some Egyptian cotton and know what the costume designer in The Incredibles was talking about. =) I've bargained for jewelry in an Arabic bazaar (didn't bargain in Arabic, of course), and I've touched hieroglyphics in the Valley of the Kings. I've wandered the catacombs in Alexandria and pondered The Citadel in Cairo. I've been dwarfed by the columns at Karnak and burned my feet on desert sand.

What I apparently _can't_ do tonight is get my pictures to upload, so I'll have to save my further musing for another date. But I hope you enjoyed this preview (hint: comments inspire further blogging).