SJEDS Travels to Egypt

from Sunday, September 30th
On board of the Sonesta Moon Godess

We are up a little earlier than the wakeup call from the boat. Enough time to enjoy some quiet reflection on the deck. We are still docked in Aswan, ready for a morning of sightseeing before we leave to ride “down” the Nile to Kom Ombo this afternoon.

Egypt s so far has been more than I ever expected. Very different and at the same time still the same as the expectations that one has after preparing yourself for such a trip.

“Everything that seems so unreal is real and at the same time the reality of many things seem unreal to us “westerners.”

We are so accustomed to high budget movies, created and made with special effects that seeing the Great Pyramids or gazing up the giant statues of Ramses II might, at the first glimpse, be nothing that extraordinary, since our eyes are used to seeing such fascinating sights on the movie or TV screen.

The moment of “awe” comes, when realizing that this is the real thing, that it is not created by a talented special effects artist. You are standing before “time”. How many people before you have looked at and touched these stones? Most of the moments in time and history that are studied in school and influence our daily lives today are nothing but a recent flicker of a moment in time compared to when these monuments were built. The realization of how much these ancient stones, paintings, and stories engraved for eternity have witnessed and who has stood before them, comes with a sense of humbleness to me.

“Everything that seems so unreal is real and at the same time the reality of many things seem unreal to us “westerners.”

On the other hand, coming to the Middle East for the first time allows us to look at the modern life that seems so intertwined with the history, traditions, religion and present politics here in Egypt. Our western minds are surprised at how “unreal” daily life and certain customs are that we are witnessing and trying to sort, compare, compartmentalize and tag in our minds. Having traveled during the holy month of Ramadan has allowed us to gain a faint amount of insight regarding what role religion plays in the everyday lives of the Egyptian people. We are finding ourselves observing unfamiliar actions by locals and then suddenly able to make connections and being able to understand the background behind a particular behavior. We have seen many men with dark spots on their foreheads and then finding out that these come from praying and touching the ground with their forehead five times a day. We have seen many, many men sitting at street corners or on the side of the road and reading silently or chanting out loud from their prayer books. We spotted many pairs of shoes in front of a hidden corner of a house, only to see 10- 15 men kneeling on the ground, bending their heads towards Mecca. We have seen lots of little beaded necklaces in the hands of men or hanging down the mirror of a car that look very similar to a rosary. We were told by one of our drivers, that these are “sephas”, used after prayer. One very obvious fact is that we did not see many women after we left Cairo. All our tour guides have been male. There is not one woman working on, in or around our cruise ship. Not one woman or girl in the Alabaster factory shop we visited. The bazaars are filled with only men and boys. It seems “unreal” to not see many women out on the streets. But maybe this is only because we are in a tourist area and do not get to see the places where the average Egyptians lives, works and shops.

Cairo is a big, big city. Sixteen times more people live here than in Jacksonville.

We have seen many different plants and trees that remind us of Florida. I am sure you will recognize some of these plants as you have them in your garden at home as well, such as Lantana, Oleander, Vinca, Ficus, Rhododendron, and Hibiscus.

So far we have seen many different animals (no lions yet, Edward). At the Great Pyramids in Giza and also in Saqqara we saw many camels and horses. On the way to Memphis, we noticed that everyone seemed to use a donkey to move around. Even little kids ride their donkeys by themselves.

We felt very sorry for some of the wild dogs that we saw running around. It was very hot outside, the sun was burning in the desert and these dogs must have been very thirsty. We don’t know where they get to drink every day.

The camels seem to have a better life in the desert, since they don’t need as much water every day to survive the heat. Did you know that it was a myth that camels store water in their hump?

We were taken to a very interesting Papyrus Factory yesterday, where they showed us step by step how papyrus was and is still made today.

In ancient times the papyrus plant grew wild along the banks of the Nile.  There are similar plants native to Florida that can also be used to make papyrus. Why not try it out for yourself? You can look up directions on making and weaving your own papyrus here.

Cut and peel the stems of the plant and soak them in water. Take the inner side of the stem, peel it and slice it into thing layers, soak that in water too.

Weave the strips of papyrus in a basket form and lay them for several days under a heavy press to dry.

Papyrus lasts a very, very long time. At the Egyptian Museum today we saw beds from King Tut’s tomb where the base was made out of papyrus and is still intact, even after thousands of years.

Mrs. Tolisano and I had the most wonderful evening on Thursday.

We had dinner at the home of Dr. Amal. Dr. Amal is the aunt of one of our own San Jose Episcopal students, Summer. Dr. Amal was wonderful. She fed us a delicious, typical Egyptian meal and we were able to learn of the important work she does as a physician in Cairo. She is a professor of medicine at Cairo University and a specialist dealing with health problems that are caused by pollutants found in the earth, air, and water.

She often attends international conferences, from China to Germany and even in the United States. She is constantly trying to help the people of Egypt and is working on bringing new medicines and treatments to Cairo. Dr. Amal shares what she has learned with other doctors around the world. She has been to Jacksonville to visit Summer and her family.

Of course, Mrs.Tolisano started talking to Dr. Amal about how she could use technology to work with other doctors around the world. Mrs. Tolisano told Dr. Amal how to set up her own blog. Mrs. Tolisano will soon have everyone blogging. Talk about making global connections. Dr. Amal is an amazing woman and has done great things for healthcare in Egypt and we are sure will continue to do so.

Take a peek at Dr. Amal’s wonderful home.

On our first stop today I thought we were visiting a Medieval Castle. It was a huge gray building with walls like a castle. I learned we were visiting the Citadel. Construction on the Citadel started in 1176 A.D., by a leader named Saladin, to fortify the city against the Crusaders. Through the years many buildings were added and changes made and the result is an incredible complex, built on the side of a limestone cliff.

There are three mosques located there. A mosque is a place of worship where followers of the Islamic faith go to worship and pray. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims. To go inside we had to take off our shoes, which was fine, because there were beautiful rugs covering the floor. There were lights draped around the ceiling, which looked like glass jugs illuminated by clear light bulbs. There were no chairs so all the visitors sat on the floor. We asked our guide if the mosque was used by Muslims today, and she informed us that all mosques are working mosques and are used for services.

There were some beautiful stained glass windows and great domed ceilings that were intricately decorated. When we walked outside the mosque and entered the courtyard we were greeted with an amazing view of Cairo. We felt like tall giants looking down on the sandy colored city. When we looked up at the mosque we saw beautiful, spiral towers with tops shaped like Christmas tree ornaments that climbed into the sky. These towers are called minarets and all mosques have them. Muslims pray five times each day and it is from the minarets that the call rings out reminding that it is prayer time.

After taking in the breathtaking view of the Citadel we headed to the Egyptian Museum, one of the most popular spots for tourists to visit. Boy was it crowded, you could barely move without running in to someone.

Cameras are not allowed in the museum, so we will have to describe it to you. This museum is not like any museum you will ever visit in the United States. Many of the treasures there are not roped off or behind glass and yes, you can touch them, without a guard saying a word to you. There are rows and rows of giant statues of pharaohs and rooms full of sarcophagi. A sarcophagus is the beautifully decorated case that held a mummy. There were so many there we could not count. The most impressive part of the exhibit were the treasures found in the burial chamber of the famous King Tutankhamen, or King Tut as he is popularly known by. King Tut’s tomb is the only tomb that was found with all the original belongings in it. All other tombs of pharaohs had been robbed of most of their treasures by the time archaeologists found them. We saw the famous funerary mask of King Tut. Ancient Egyptians believed that you could take things with you into the after life and they went prepared. King Tut was packed with anything he might need including a bed, food, water, wine, wigs, jewelry, and small replicas of all his servants called shawabtis. There were 365 shawabtis in all, one to help him each day of the year. There was even mummified bread. The jewelry was beautiful and most of it looked very similar to jewelry worn today, except it was thousands of years old. Egypt is in the process of building a new museum and the treasures will be moved to the new site next year, which be located close to the Great Pyramid.

After leaving the museum our guide drove us through a bustling and busy marketplace. We learned that part of the reason so many were out today is that in Egypt the weekend is on Friday and Saturday, unlike our weekend which is Saturday and Sunday. The people were out doing their weekend shopping. There were numerous street vendors where the locals could buy everything from carrots, figs, dates, pita bread, fish, and meat.

We got a call for help today from some students of Chris Craft in South Carolina. They found a note under their classroom door in Arabic and they wanted to find out what it meant. Mr. Craft scanned in the note and posted it on his blog. Of course, Omar and I came to the rescue!!

Here is our reply to them:

Omar and I are so happy that we are able to help your students. I love to talk with people all around the world.

It was very easy to find someone to read the note, since here in Egypt EVERYONE speaks Arabic. It reads:

“Welcome to South Carolina”

Omar and I are having a great time, although we got separated from Mrs. Tolisano and Mrs. Menger. They are catching up to us though and they will hopefully meet us when we go and see those great statues of this pharaoh (that I can’t remember the name of) in Abu Simbel. Do you know the name of that pharaoh???

Hi everyone!

Omar and I found an Internet Cafe and we thought we would post some pictures of us that we took yesterday at the pyramids. It was awesome to see Mrs. Tolisano and Mrs. Menger on the pictures they posted. We were in the same places, but must have missed each other by minutes. I hope that they will catch up with us in Abu Simbel. I will keep you posted on my adventures with Omar. I am having an amazing time.

Omar and I at the Step Pyramid of King Djoser in Saqqara. Don’t we look little compared to the big pyramid?

Here we are a little closer.

Omar and I sitting on an sarcophagus in Memphis.

On the great Pyramid in Giza. Having a great time!

Jacksonville is a city located on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. Our students grow up being able to play in the sun, sand and surf of the beaches. Many students are fortunate to maybe even live close or directly on the beach. When preparing for our trip to Egypt, we expected to see much sand as well. What better way to connect Jacksonville and Cairo by leaving a part of Jacksonville in Egypt and bringing back more than memories and photos.

We were starting to get pretty anxious and wanted to push on to get to the Great Pyramids of Giza. We had seen so many pictures already about these three pyramids that were standing in the middle of the desert. Built over 46 centuries ago, these structures have impressed many, many people, including Napoleon, Alexander the Great and Herodotus. We were looking so much forward to seeing them. Of course we were also excited to catch up with Jose. We started to miss the little guy.

Our first surprise was, when we caught the first glimpse of the pyramids and we were still within the city of Cairo. It was not at all as the pictures always made us believe that the pyramids are isolated structures surrounded by miles of sandy desert. Wow!

Apartment buildings wherever your eyes touch and the city’s edge almost reach the pyramids. Hundreds and hundreds of tourists arrived together with us at the site. We heard so many different languages, that even I gave up in trying to identify them. Another surprise for us was that we were allowed to directly walk up and climb and touch the pyramid. We could actually climb up on the lower blocks of the pyramid and sit down. Many of the tourists were climbing around on the lower portion posing for pictures.

We were looking everywhere for a friendly little bear with a small camel. But everywhere we looked we didn’t see them. We decided to walk around the base of the pyramid and as we were walking around we spied a bright, pink piece of paper and to our surprise our names were on it. We quickly inspected it and found it was a note from Jose and Omar. We were so happy!

The note said:

Dear. Mrs. Menger and Mrs. Tolisano,

Omar and I are safe and sound. After we left Cairo we caught a bus to the Great Pyramid of Giza and as soon as we arrived we found Omar’s family. Believe it or not, they had never been to visit the Great Pyramid! Egypt is awesome. Omar’s family will be staying with relatives in a nearby village for the weekend, and then will be headed to Abu Simbel. Come and meet us there. We are going to a place where there are four giant statues of a pharaoh. You can find a picture of the statues on the one pound Egyptian note. Meet us there. Can’t wait to see you.

Love, Jose and Omar

Mrs. Menger and Mrs. Tolisano were completely puzzled. Where are there four statues of a pharaoh. We needed to look at a one pound Egyptian note. We went through our money and quickly solved the puzzle. They are headed to the statues of Ramses II!

We wanted to head off to the Great Pyramid in Giza, in search of Omar and Jose, right away. Unfortunately our tour took us first to the town of Memphis (not the one in Tennessee). There we checked out the Alabaster Sphinx and one of the many statues of Ramses II.

There were many “friendly” people around who wanted their picture taken. After Mrs. Menger did take their picture they demanded money from her.

The next stop was the Step Pyramid in Saqqara. It was a great moment when we both stood in front of the Pyramid of King Djoser (doesn’t his last name sound like the one of our music teacher at school?).