halfway

This last week marks halfway. It makes me so sad to think half of the bliss is already over, but so grateful that I have so much manna ahead of me. As I reflect on these last 8 weeks of my journey, I see already how much I have changed. My mind and eyes have been stretched and opened to so much knowledge and goodness. My heart as been softened and healed, pulled and pushed, and grown to include two peoples that exist in one place, but at first glance seem so different. The other day as we took the short cut from Aladdin's (the money changer) to the nativity shops, it hit me: I live here. It is one of my homes. A piece of my heart has fallen in love here. And although I will not let go of all the goodness I found in other places, a part of me belongs here. Jerusalem is my city. It is such a good feeling. That first day, that first sight of the Old City, was so overwhelming with sights and sounds, I didn't ever think I would grow to know it. Although I still have so much to learn from this Holy Land, I am beginning to know the city. It is such an enlightening feeling. We had a fireside tonight in which both of the speakers reminded us that we are different, set apart from the world here, we bear a light, a light of truth. They reminded us to not just walk this land, but to let it pass through us. To have scriptures and thoughts come to us as we see these wondrous sites. And that we will not find Christ at the Garden tomb or on Herod's Steps, but in our hearts, as we study his life and teachings and strive to live and become more like Him. So inspiring.

My faith has grown, my heart changed, and my countenance hopefully becoming more like His.

embracing the journey,
m

typical

our days are crazy. take today as our case study:
5:00 up for some review for our ANES midterm
6:15 get ready for the day
6:30 breakfast
7:00 quick apartment cleaning for room check
7:30 Old Testament
9:30 dash down to the room to indulge in our room check reward
9:45 Judaism class
11:00 Ancient Near Eastern Studies midterm
12:00 lunch
12:30 some reading and a quick nap
2:00 Palestinian class
4:15 walk to the western wall
4:45 observe the beginning of Jewish sabbath
6:00 walk back to the center
6:30 dinner
7:30 quick call to the mama
8:00 off to socialize and eat some treats
9:00 reminisce about my childhood as I watch Anastasia
10:30 bed (hopefully I'll make it)

and each minute of that busy schedule is spent growing in ways I didn't think was possible. Can my brain grow that big? I hope it can
exhausted,
m

Sinai

probably my favorite part of our whole trip. Wake up call was 1:00am. the stars were amazing, the view magnanimous, and the spiritual experience beautiful. I wish I had time to write in detail about it, but alas my to do list is longer than the nile.
finally caught up on egypt posts,
m

Cairo again

cairo=
overnight train from luxor
trip to the egyptian museum to see lots of famous things
lunch at Hard Rock cafe that included group dancing and loud music
the bazaar (yet another one)

sleep

muhammud ali citadel
another mosque
driving

sinai

sorry I'm not more descriptive.
m

our cute little train compartment
muhammud ali citadel

luxor day two

ah... same excuse as last time,
m

Luxor
Karnak
Karnak
(temples of course. don't know what I'm talking about? look it up on wikipedia!)

luxor day one

For lack of time, I'm leaving the story of my first day in luxor be told by my pictures and brief captions. I have way too much to do to be blogging.
busy busy,
m

me and whiskey, my trusty camel
me and king tut's tomb, valley of the kings
me and Ramses III temple

the py-ram-ids

our first official day in Egypt was filled with pyramids, tombs and temples. Can it get any more Egyptian? I feel like I've said it a million times, but it felt so unreal. I could not believe that men made those vast, huge structures. After taking pictures at the Khufu pyramid, we went to Khafre's pyramid. The tunnel looked small, but I thought I could take it. Until the smell and the heat and the humidity met me at the doorway. yuck. but... when would I ever get to go INSIDE a pyramid again. So in I went. downupdownleveluplevel. step after step. I made it. The tomb had been raided thousands of years ago, but it was still amazing nonetheless. leveldownlevelupdownup. I made it. air.

Next stop was the pyramid overlook. total typical tourist trap, but great picture taking opportunity. Then on to the sphinx. It was also awesome. Also unreal. Off to the step pyramid of Zoser and his temple complex. I got my first glimpse of authentic hieroglyphs. They were so beautiful. I feel like I just keep describing everything the same way, but I can't help myself. There is no other way to describe it but amazing and beautiful. And my brain is too busy to think of any other way to say it. You just had to be there I guess.

another day in the works,
m

me, Khufu, and my model pose
midge enjoying the pyramids too
hehe. the pyramid overlook. I was really excited
step pyramid of Zoser

into Egypt

the next day was spent mostly in the bus, driving long hours, chatting, thinking, listening, and sleeping. But before all of that, we had to make it through the border. I've never seen more serious and intimidating people in my life. I felt like if I smiled they wouldn't let me through. Luckily we all made it even in good time. Several hours later after passing through virtually nothing but desert, we made it into Cairo. I never knew the bus could maneuver like that. You know you are in a different world when buses carrying 45 people are on the same freeway as donkey carts. Egypt reminded me so much of the Philippines. I loved just soaking it all up. Just when I thought I couldn't take anything more in, our professor casually said over the mic "if you look to your right, some of you will get your first glimpse of the pyramids" we were like kids running to the ice cream truck. Everyone screamed cheered, and ran to one side of the bus to see the grand pyramids in the distance. Although I was disappointed they were so close to the city, it really was an amazing site to see them. Literally unreal. The night ended with a check in at our nice hotel, a quick dinner, and the light and sound show at the pyramids. We were giddy, jumpy up and down, giggling with delight as we watched the "history" of the pyramids.

m

my first step onto egyptain ground
the pyramids from the bus