Egypt - The Wonders of the World

SHARIFF
A journal entry moment for you:
Today we left from Egypt. Our travel agent, Shariff, shared with us some of his feelings about his experiences with us, “the mormons” He told us how he gave up opportunities to work on other charters because we are his favorite. He was so sincere as he told us that we are such a kind, happy people with “clear hearts” He said in the past a group gave him a “Mormon book” in Englsih and as hard as it is for him, he is trying to read it. He thanked us thoroughtly and sincerely for who were were and the examples that we set. He also shared with us that it has always been his dream to travel since he was a young boy. As an Arab, this has proved very difficult to do and so he has resulted to his line of work: tourism. He helps others do his dream. This moment really made me re-evaluate and remember #1 I carry a message with me wherever I go and whatever I do. We are constantly influencing one another and #2 What a blessing and privilege it is to be on this trip – to have the freedom to do what I love: travel.

Our first night we saw a sound and light show extravaganza which depicted the history of Egypt through lasers on the pyramids.

The Pyramids of Giza

Egypt - Merchants

Walking through the markets of Egypt was an unforgettable experience and impossible to describe fully. The Egyptian merchants are some of the most conniving men I have ever seen in my market-buying career. “Special deal for you because you are so beautiful” “a scarf for you beautiful eyes” as he puts on the scarf and walks away and then returns to demand that you pay him. The best experience and example of their sneaky tactics is, of course, the jump-in-your-picture-and-demand-payment maneuver. The method is self-explanatory I believe despite the inconceivability that it would occur. Luckily our teachers warned us previously and we all followed as directed and demanded that the sneaky merchant pay us for having the privilege of being in our photo. If said with good humor it usually resulted in a good laugh from both sides and an understanding that we both know how to play the game. The picture here is an example of one such man’s attempt.

Egypt - How Many Camels?

One of the safety precautions of this program requires that us vulnerable and defenseless women always be accompanied by a man when going through the markets of Egypt. Because there are more men than women in our particular program, the guys were divided up amongst the group. Our group consisted of John, Elyssa, Abi and myself. Do the math: 1 man- three women. In the current culture this is not uncommon, in fact, it was assumed that we were the wives with the husband in the market. The Merchants and men on the side seemed incredibly curious that day to know just how many camels John had to pay for such a quantity of beautiful women, or so we though. They would call out from the side, “Lucky man! How many camels?” After hesitantly ignoring their calls for a repetitive four or five times, John called back “50 camels” the man grinned and replied, “I’ll take them!” Realizing that he had just made an unwanted deal with this man and gained 50 new camels he corrected himself and pronounced, “each” to which the man dejectedly returned to his post. Whew! That was a close one.

Egypt - Camel Ride

CAMEL RIDE
Recently inspired by an inspirational friend – I created earlier in the year a list of the things that I felt were absolutely necessary for me to do while I am still on this earth. One of them was accomplished when I rode a camel in Egypt. My safari (that is what I will call it because it sounds more exotic) was an adventure in deed. I, for some reason, wasn’t expecting that the moment I sat upon the camel it would immediately elevate itself. Therefore at my surprise, I went up squealing the entire way. My guide whose name I can’t repeat because it was too complicated spoke entirely too much English and seemed to have only been instructed in the area of “how to hit on foreign women” vocabulary. The entire ride he begged that I be his girlfriend and even to be one of his wives to which I repeatedly denied. He insisted that “Egyptian men are strong” and that he could “make me happy” His invitations escalated as he offered to give me a leg massage and kept pinching my heel (it was all that he could reach). He invited me to the discotheque to have some marihuana with him and other things that I will refrain from mentioning. I remembered the old commercials that would show women saying, “that is sexual harassment and I don’t have to take it” promoting women to defend themselves in such situations as I found myself in. I firmly and strongly threatened to break his nose with a strong kick to the face if he didn’t stop touching me and speaking provocatively. I don’t know if that was all part of his English vocabulary but he seemed to get the message.
Aside from the unwanted harassments, the camel ride was everything I would have ever wanted to firmly place a check mark next to my list. The ride lasted an entire hour (which feels like an eternity longer when you have a fifteen year old Egyptian boy hitting on you) and they took us through a village. The views were beautiful and the sun was setting on the Nile river. The best part was passing through the villages and waving to the little children who had left their homes to watch the odd American tourists pass by. It was fascinating to see into the homes and the daily ways of life.

Other Adventures in the Holy Land

Everyday we are going to some sight or doing some sort of field trip. Here are just a few of the highlights for now:

One of our many field trips: the Tel-Beersheva an excavation from the time of Abraham.

Tel Beerseba

We are lost children looking out over the Wilderness of Zin where the children of Israel wandered for forty years. What I learned from this field trip:

It would not be a fun experience - look at it!

Practicing with my trusty sling in preparation to slay Goliath in the valley of Elah.

Crawling through caves which we have decided to name the Micah caves. While inside, we turned off our lights and had a lesson about faith as we sat in the dark. We also sang my favorite hymn: "Lead Kindly Light"

The Church of the Holy Seplechre. This church is used by 6 different religions who all claim that this was the site of Christ's crucifixion and his burial place. It is one of two sites that claim these events occurred there (the other can be shown below. See "shabbat")

This is an alley way that is part of the Via Doloroso, or the painful way. The Via Dolorosa is the path that Christ would have walked while bearing the cross towards his own crucifixion.

Western Wall

One of my greatest experiences here has been a day where we walked down to the Western (or wailing wall) to observe the Jews welcome in the Sabbath. For them the Sabbath is a "delight" (Isaiah 48) and they celebrate God with so much devotion and with their whole souls and yet always with respect and reverence. Because of the Jewish laws and customs, unfortunately I was not able to take any personal pictures, but I hope that I can describe it properly to give the experience justice. Many people came to pray and they would rock with their whole bodies they felt their prayer so much. One girl was whispering into the crevices of the rocks and others stuffed written in the cracks. Many were reading and reciting from the Torah and others were clapping, singing and dancing. I went right down with them and sang (I made up my own words) and danced amongst them, but my favorite part was just observing. I found a spot on a bench right along the divide between the men and women so I could see both congregations and I just watched. I loved watching them.

Shabbot (Sabbath)

My first Shabbot in the Holy Land
In a land where three major religions are prominent, the Sabbath day is an interesting issue. For the Muslims it is Friday during the day, for the Jews it goes from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday, and for the Christians it is Sunday. Due to complications that are above my knowledge our Sabbath here is on Saturday. I am adjusting to referring to gospel doctrine class as Saturday school or my personal favorite, Fast Saturday. Despite the new lingo, the jet lag and brimming schedule have outweighed any reasonable cognate thought of what day it really is anyway and therefore I have adjusted easily.
The sacrament meeting are in a beautiful auditorium that overlooks the old city of Jerusalem in all of it’s Glory. It is indescribable to hear someone quote a scripture and look out and identify with where that event actually occurred or to ponder on the Savior’s atonement and know that it happened just five minutes away.

Following our meetings we walked to the Garden tomb. This is one of two locations that claim to be the place of the burial and, more importantly, the resurrection of Christ. There is some controversy between many scholars on this topic but as I spent time there I felt assured that the ACTUAL sight is of less importance than the spiritual significance of what happened. Whether or not that empty tomb was due to the resurrected Son of God or whether there is another story behind it, the fact is – Christ’s tomb was empty. What a miracle. An empty tomb, a resurrected being, a promise for all.

While at the tomb we had our first encounter of being asked about our beliefs. Just outside the tomb a young man approached us eager to know about religion. He was Jewish from birth but had come to feel inclined towards a belief in Jesus Christ. He has been studying for years and had come to the tomb to encounter other fellow Christians who could share with him what they believe. For the first time in my life – I was silent. As an agreement between the church and Israel, we are under a strict no proselyting restriction EVEN if someone approaches you. “We can’t talk about it” was the response. It was odd not to jump at the chance to share with someone who was so eagerly seeking and yet I wouldn’t dare tamper with the church’s privilege to be in this land.

Sounds of Jerusalem

I have quickly come to discover that the people of Jerusalem use any type of festivity as an excuse to set off giant fireworks. These explosives create well . . sounds of just that: explosions. Why a city who has experienced so much war and violence since it’s very existence would allow or choose to fill it’s night sky with sounds similar to those devastating days is beyond me.

My first night was welcomed in by such. Having traveled a LONG distance and time, my arrival to the BEAUTIFUL Jerusalem Center on the Mount of Olives was greeted by the sounds of explosives set off in the not-so-far distance. Being a little hesitant in my new surroundings this was not a welcoming sound. I went to our balcony overlooking the city and made a video for my mom which showed a view from the city at night having carefully failed to show the portions with the visions of the pyrotechnics but being sure to record the violent sound. I never did send it home for fear of her immediate demand that I return home! As tired as I was, however, it was not difficult to fall asleep until . . . 4:00 a.m. the call to prayer. Prayer?! Who is praying at 4:00 a.m.? The Muslims. From various minarets throughout the city a man prays over the speaker as the faithful Muslims turn towards Mecca and pray. Five times a day this is repeated, and we get to hear it. It is actually quite beautiful . . . unless it is 4:00 a.m.

My favorite sound of the Old City could quite possibly be the venders who somehow (sarcasm) recognize us as BYU students and call out “hello BYU” and of course, “A special price for you BYU” ☺ One vendor, Shabaan loves our business, err I mean us, so much that he provides cold juice when we stop by and proudly displays he picture with him and Steve Young in front of his shop. I wonder if Steve has any idea that he is part of a promotion ad for this merchant.

Shalom! Greetings from the Holy Land.

With great plans to fully communicate my adventures and insights through the well-known world of facebook, unfortunately (or fortunately is the question) these plans came to a halt as we were informed that one of the (many) restrictions here at the Jerusalem Center is, in fact, the center of all knowledge and gossip: facebook. Life without facebook in the beginnings was a dire time indeed. The feeling of disconnect from the world of almost effortless communication was almost disturbing and I might even say that I experienced a form withdrawals. Three weeks free of facebook, however, has brought about a new freedom and has led me here: the blog. As technically unaware as I am I have to give myself props for its creation, (credit being given to assistance from dear friends Danen and Hayley of course) and so – Here I am!!! Sarina Thomas: official blogger. Official, but all the same – amateur. An amateur blogger with an arduous task ahead: catch up on four weeks of incredible experiences, insights and adventures from the perspective of a scattered and extremely tired mind. So here goes . . .