The Dead Sea

We only stayed in Jordan for 2 nights and 1 day so we didn't get to see very much.

Something we did do was to float in the Dead Sea.

It was super fun to float/ so crazy that you really can't control it.

Sometimes I was actually annoyed because I love to swim around and use my legs to float, but you just gotta embrace it.

It was Great!

Syria

Our time in Syria went by so fast.

We spent the first day in Hama after an exhausting day of traveling. The next day we went to the krak des chevaliers, one of the last few standing Crusader castles. It was awesome! I felt like a little boy in a dream as I was running around and exploring the place. There were even times of sneaking through corridors, tunnels and secret places to spy.

Then we had one of the best lunches ever with savory delicious garlic chicken.

Then we went to a town of some of the last people to speak Aramaic. We saw the church of St. Tecla in the mountains. I got a swig of holy water, saw some old icons, and even met with a head priest who prayed the Lord's prayer in Aramaic for us.



Then it was off to Damascus. We stayed in a monastery close to the city wall of old Damascus. It was so beautiful. We got to take a tour of the church of St. Ananias, where there are still ruins of where he was and where Paul was. There was plenty of shopping and delicious food (seriously, every meal was SO good). We got to particpate in a Turkish bath a.k.a. getting scrubbed down by a fat hairy Turkish man but feeling so good afterward. We got to met MESP alums who were working in the area, that was my favorite night because it was a talk on the future, we got to hear their heart on everything. Then a few of us went on the roof and saw all of Damascus. My heart was so happy.

The place was beautiful.

Travel and Shotty Internet

My dear friends and family,


I am so sorry that I have not been as consistent with my blog as I have hit travel blog. Travel schedule here is filled speakers but also during down time there is SO much to explore.

We left Istanbul the other day after a final night doing Karaoke! (one of the best nights for sure). We have currently been spending two days in Ankara the capital. Today we talked with two officials in the Turkish foreign ministry which was SO insightful in Turkey's piece to Middle Eastern peace puzzle. We also visited Ataturk's tomb (look him up if you don't know why he's a big deal over here :]). Luckily I have been finding rest because there isn't much to do here in Ankara, so we have been watching movies and I learned how to play the card game Rook (so fun.)

Tomorrow we head to Syria, and the day after that we actually make it to Damascus (we fly to border then drive for a while and stay in Hamas, then actually head to Damascus).

I cannot believe that this is my life right now. The day the bombing happened, as I was biking around the entire perimeter of an island in the Asian side of Turkey, I thought to myself "How is this my life right now??"

To a friend I wrote about how I am going to Syria for about a week (a place I never dreamed of going to) and then to Israel/Palestine (the place I dreamed of going to) and that fact that I never even knew about Turkey and have loved it.

It's crazy that I have become more interested in politics, in the world, in religion. Things that once overwhelmed me are becoming more and more interesting.

I am so amazingly thankful for these opportunities of a lifetime.

Miss and love you all.

What Happened on Halloween.

Today there was a bombing in one of the major business squares of Turkey where my hotel is located.

I was no where near Taksim Square (the incident where the bombing happened), I was actually on a boat going to a island near the Asian side of Istanbul. I went bike riding the whole entire day and didn't know that anything really went on until I was on that island.

We are still staying in a hotel near the square for one more day before we head off to Ankara (the capital) for the rest of our travel component. We had a meeting tonight to lay out more safety boundaries and such. Overall, I am so thankful that all of us were instantly accounted for within the first five minutes of hearing about the bombing.

Here is a CNN article on it if you are interested:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/31/turkey.blast/index.html

I am doing fine. It's weird to come back to the hotel and everything around us is generally back to normal.

Goodbye Egypt, Hello Turkey.

Saying goodbye to Egypt was a very strange feeling as we had spent 2 months of our time there.

When we arrived it in Turkey, it was immediately different, there was RAIN!! It was cold, rainy and everywhere we looked outside our bus windows we saw lots of modern cars and modern windows mixed in the ruins. It was flippin' sweet.


We then took a boat tour (the picture is of my friend Ben and I on the boat) we got to see the Europe side and the Asia side of Istanbul.

Then the next day we were got to meet with a foreign affairs member from the U.S consulate and a very famous journalist while spending the day touring around Taksim square.


Today we met with a person from the AK party (the government party currently in control) and then we went to the Hagia Sophia! It was beautiful. Pictures could not capture the beauty within.


It is really nice to be here. I am so interesting in the politics of Turkey and seeing the role it plays in the West and in the Middle East. In Egypt I was so bogged down with learning Arabic, studying for Islam Thought & Practice and then trying to figure out Egyptian politics. Here it is so great to engage in the politics, easily be able to follow the political topics. We are here truly in an unique time as they are bidding to be in the EU and becoming a power country.

Not to mention, cold is a nice change :]

The Last Days of Egypt

The last weekend of Egypt was filled with plenty of adventures. It was hard because we had two finals and three papers over a week span but we also realized that we only had a little bit of time to get things done.


On Friday I decided that I had written enough of my papers that it was time to get mark something off the list of Egyptian sightseeing! After waking late in the morning, I called my Egyptian friend Emad and went with my roommate and him to the Cairo Museum. It was crazy! Imagine instead of a organized museum, a huge warehouse of some of the most ancient things. There were tons of statues, ancient artifacts. The coolest thing was the Tutenkhamen exhibit, were the gold mask that would be on his mummy is on display as well as the elaborate coffins.
Other coolest thing: Ancient tweezers. They used tweezers back then!


The next day, I had signed for the "Race for the Cure". It was .93 mile race and it was so fun. Ridiculous thing though was that the starting line could not be contained and when they announced for the start, there were still buses and cars using the roads so we ran against traffic. It was hilarious!!! I saw a boy run into a car, he was alright, but that was just how wild it is. My friends and I who went had such a good time.

Then that day I went to lunch with a few of my MESP friends along with a few of my Egyptian Christian friends, it was so great and it felt like grabbing lunch with old friends. We joked about our awkward first few weeks, our homestays, our arabic, it was a great time.


Sunday after turning in one of our papers. Sunday night was filled with studying arabic the entire night at hanging out at the other guys' flat.


On Monday, I finished the final Arabic test which turned out to be so much easier than I thought. It was also so awesome that my teacher said that I was really good and that I should continue studying it.

Then afterward I did a Dabka dance recital that I had been practicing for with a group of people. We did pretty well. I will be teaching lessons once I am back in the states if you are interested (not really, but hey, I probably could).

That night a few friends and I went to our friend Lynn's host family's wedding. It was SUPER fun. I busted out my dancing skills and they would never let me sit down since. There were tons of people dancing, some people were spraying fire out of a canister and the groom even played with a sword (which I got to dance with too, so cool).



Great last hooray before packing the next day and and a little get together with my English students. It is so weird to be saying goodbye to this place already.

Spinning and Spinning and Spinning

There is a place in the Khan-Al-Khalili where the Whirling Dervishes are and it is one of the most spectacular shows.

Did you know a man can spin for a half hour straight and take off then twirl a skirt-like thing while never stopping?

To say the least, I was amazed.