Trains, taxis, boats, camels, and planes!

Those are all of the forms of traveling we experienced while in egypt.... oh ya and buses and a horse drawn carriage! I think that by the end of the trip we were all sick of traveling!

Boat ride out to ride our camels!
Meet 50 cent! this was the camel I got to ride with the most awesome name ever.. I was so excited!

My friend Lindsey on her camel! I dont have any picture of me on my camel because I couldnt really take any of myself but I know other people got some so I will have to take it from them.

This is my egypt roommate and I right before checking out the nasty dinner and sleeping on the train! definitely an interesting experience.

The breakfast they brought us in the morning which contained a piece of bread, a roll, a cresant, and some fruit bread... could there be any more bread! ha

Well things are great! Today a couple of us went to the biblical zoo today and yesterday went to some botanical gardens. Tomorrow we have a field trip to Jericho. They just are always keeping us busy. I cannot believe I have already been here for a month. Crazy!

Pyramids and Sphynx

On the first day that we were in Cairo we woke up pretty early in the morning had breakfast and were off for the day. First we went straight to the pyramids (which were right near our hotel) where we spent a lot of time taking pictures and walking around looking at them. We then went to the sphynx and then went to a papyrus factory where they showed us how they make papyrus and we got to spend some time looking around at all the papyrus and buy some if we wanted. It was really neat finally seeing all these sites that I have always heard about to finally see them in person. Later that night we went to the airport and flew to Luxor which we were going to be for the next three days but it was challenging because we were only allowed to bring our one little backpack so it was stuffed to the max with clothes and anything else I might need for the next three days.

Me kissing the sphynx!

Walking like an egyptian in front of the pyramids. Wow I seriously look like a giant in this picture. haha
In front of the largest pyramid of Giza
The lady at the papyrus factory demonstating to us how to make papyrus with the many different papyrus in the background.

Many more from egypt is to come. There was just so much we did that I just have to do it a little bit at a time.

Egypt

I just got back from a week long trip to Egypt and I had such a great time but have never been more happy to be happy to be back in Israel with clean water that we can brush our teeth with and just being able to eat all the fruit and salad we want to without being scared that we might get sick. Luckily I made it through the whole trip without getting to sick besides a little sore throat and a runny nose but that is ten times better than what I could have gotten so I am very greatful. I took around 400 pictures from the trip which I will not put all on here but it might take me a few posts to do the egypt trip. Last sunday was the beginning of our drive and for some reason I was thinking we were driving straight to egypt but we didnt. On sunday we drive right to the boarder line where we stayed at a kibbutz (which is is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture.) Before arriving at the kibbutz though we toured a couple of places.

This is a sign that was on the side of the road that we were all laughing at. Our bus driver stopped on the side of the road just so we could take a picture of it. How awesome is that. haha.

Alright well more is to come but right now I should probably be studying for my old testament midterm which is tomorrow! Love you all

Life is Great!!

The wall in front of the center in which we live. They have pretty tight security here which makes us all feel pretty safe. Sometimes even safer than we felt in the united states.
A couple of girls and I at the Jerusalem time machine. It kind of reminded me of the star tours ride at disneyland because it was a motion ride and it took us back in time and talked about the history of jerusalem.

A little sneak peak of what the shopping is like in Jerusalem. There are just a ton of shops like this right up next to each other and most of the shops have pretty similar things. We found one shop that has 5 sheckel earings which equals around $1.50! sweet deal huh
On top of the old city walls. It was really cool to be able to see the city from above.

Garden of gethsemane! Wow what an amazing experience it was to go there. There are several trees and one they have dated back to around 2000 years old which they say could possibly be the tree in which christ knelt by to pray. As we were here we all just say down and read our scriptures and wrote in our journals. I know for a fact that I will be going back there since it is just across the street! AMAZING!

A little example of what the guy girl ratio is like here. ha! pretty sure in this picture there are 9 girls and 1 guy! Sometimes I feel kind of bad for the guys because they have to have a lot of patience being with so many girls that are wanting to go into every store to shop. Matt was great though! he def made us feel safe!

Brother Skinner teaching us about the area around us. We went on a little geography tour of the area and he was our little tour guide. He is our near eastern studies teacher and he is a genious. He knows so much. Last night he talked to us about the dead sea scrolls in which he was involved with the work that has gone on with them.
As we were on our tour a herd of sheep started coming up way close to us. It was the craziest thing ever we all immedietly pulled out our camera's and started taking pictures and the little boy that was with the sheep was not liking that we were taking pictures of his sheep so he started yelling at us and telling us to put our camera's away or to give him 2 sheckels!

On top of some dome thing that was on top of a church that we went to while on our tour. The wind was crazy the whole time and I honestly thought I was going to fall off. haha

This is the view from outside of my room! Is that not the most beautiful thing ever? The gold dome is the dome of the rock. We havent gotten a chance to go there yet, but Im excited to be able to get a closer view of it. Everyone says that it is a pretty incredible building.

Me eating a falafel. A falafel is a fried ball made of chickpeas and is usually served in a pita or a tortilla with vegetables and humus. It is a very popular food item here and is served all over. It is a little bit different but I thought is was pretty good.

My friend Lindsey and I in front of the church of the holy Sepulchre. It was a very cool experience to be able to see this. This is where some people believe that Jesus was crucified and the place where he was buried.

I have officially been here for a week now and it seems like I have been here for forever. We were finally given permission on sunday to go out into the city and when they told us that we all got super excited went out into the town. (since sunday isnt the sabath here) That day I went with a group and we took a tour of the church of the holy seplechure (sp) it was really neat, i took some pictures and I going to try and post some soon but right now I am on a computer in the center so the pictures arent with me. We also went shopping, the shopping here is pretty cool. They have tons of scarves, jewlery, beautiful olive wood nativities and much more and most of the prices are pretty good so i am for sure going to take advantage of that! :) Yesterday which was wednesday was our first field trip and they took us on a geography tour around the city it was really cool. I feel like there is a lot that I dont know about this area so it will be cool to be able to learn more. I know these posts would be a lot more exciting with picture so as soon as possible I will do that! love you all

Holy Lands

The above picture is indeed my house for the next 4 months. how crazy is that? haha it is so beautiful. we eat, sleep, go to classes, attend church.. basically do most things in that center! I have been here for about 4 days now and i have been loving it. It is for sure different than I am use to and it might take a little bit of time to adjust (especially to the crazy time difference, attending church on saturdays, and the many prayer calls every morning) but i know that these next 4 months are going to be an experience of a lifetime and I cannot wait!