Okay, those of you that are close personal friends of Wendy (me) know that I am a NFL Draft groupie. I LOVE watching the draft on TV. I have been known to Tivo it if I am going to be out when it is going on but I usually like to watch at least the first two rounds on TV live.
My obsession started many, many years ago (I freaked today when I realized exactly how many years ago it was) when I had knee surgery. I had a skiing accident that pretty much ended my professional shopping career. Oh of course, I was able to keep my amateur status and I could have gone triple A or even to the Canadian league but everyone knows Canadian dollars aren't real money and if you aren't going to make it to the show why bother? Soooooo anyhoo, I was home recovering from my surgery, trapped on the couch, attached to a machine that bent my knee for me continually. I had pretty much run through all of the daytime television and late March is pretty dismal for sports on TV. So I came across the draft and I was hooked!! It has everything, drama, comedy, excitement. There is nothing like the heartbreak of following a draft hopeful that is projected to go early in the first round and watch him slip to the mid or end of the second, signifying a loss of salary in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. The draft is held in NY and as a result there are always Jets and Giants fans on hand. These fans are rabid and are very vested in who their team drafts. Usually they heartily approve or they are so despondent after their team picks that I am surprised no one has jumped from the balcony in the theatre. Sometimes the cameras will show the crowd after the pick and the fans can be slapping each other on the back in joy or have their heads in their hands seemingly trying to make some sense of the disastrous pick of some idiot front office guy who probably never played a down in his life.
So when we moved here, I resigned myself that my draft watching days were over. Last year, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that they had a tape delayed mini version of the draft. They go through it really quickly. you don't get all the analysis or the drama or the commercials and I think they went through the whole first 2 rounds in about an hour and a half. Usually the first round runs well over 4 - 5 hours so to do two rounds that quickly, you know you are getting "draft-lite". In fact our ESPN feed of the draft is hosted by a man who really doesn't know much about American Football at all but he is American and large so I guess that is his qualification. But us expat beggars can't be choosers so I will take what I can get.
This year, I decided to check and see when "draft-lite" would be on when what did my eyes see? There on the TV guide channel the words that brought a tear to my eyes "NFL American Football Draft - LIVE". Live? Live??? I had to blink. Blink again. Hell yes it was live. I watched the entire first round, right up to the time the NFL commissioner handed the announcing job over to Gene Washington. Now, they won't show the other rounds, I don't think but that is okay. All the really good stuff happens in the first round anyway. I am definitely satisfied. I leave you with a quote from Yogi Berra, famous American baseball player/manager, which I think describes the beauty of the draft succinctly.
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
Damn straight Yogi, damn straight.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Quad Biking, Camels & Politics
Recently a little fun sucking bird took me to task for the time between my blog entries lately. Sorry, I had been having fun living life instead of writing about it. Fun done, writing to begin. I have a few pent up blog entries to get through. So here we go. . . . .
One of the last things we did in Egypt was something that Snake was the most interested in but the rest of us thought it sounded fun as well --- taking quad bikes (ATVs with 4 wheels instead of 3) out into the desert. After being fitted with
head scarves to wear over our mouths and faces to keep out the dust, we boarded our quads. Right away I noticed the sticker that indicated no one under 16 should drive but I am sure they didn't really mean Snake. Every insurance-filled-bone in my body should have been screaming out "hey what are you doing?!!" but I went on. No real instructions, just get on and go. I have to admit I was a bit nervous and probably over cautious, which is why I was at the end of the line. I could go as fast as I wanted, although I was encouraged, or nagged, along by our tour guides.
The ride is on sand, not paved road, and it was pretty bumpy. The sand flies in the
air all over the place. It is tricky to keep pace, you want to be close enough to keep up but not too close to have to deal with all the dust the quad in front kicks up. Between the scarf and my sunglasses, I managed not to swallow any dust or get any in my eyes. We rode for about an hour and then you come to an area where there is an open air little cafe, where there are hundreds of the same kind of bikes parked. Apparently this is a very popular excursion in the area. We were directed to a small area where we sat and had some tea, took a load off. We were lucky there wasn't another group in our area and we had the place to ourselves. The kids and Bruce tried some shisha which is a fruit based product smoked through a water pipe. (Oh, I can see the disapproving looks --- it's not like we gave them heroin. It is part of the experience, the culture.) It was fairly obvious neither of them had smoked anything before, not much inhaling going on. I don't think I am going to have to drag them out of the shisha bars on Edgeware Road.
While we were sitting around drinking tea and smoking we got to talking to our Egyptian guide Abdulla. He asked where we were from. One interesting thing we noticed was that Egyptians didn't really seem to be able to differentiate between English and US accents. Very often they would think we were from the UK. Anyway when we mentioned the United States, he told us that he would love to talk politics with us but the tour company didn't really like him to. Of course, that was all we needed to hear and so we really encouraged him and encouraged him and encouraged him. Finally he agreed. I thought we would be discussing presidential politics because as I mentioned previously, Egyptians for the most part seem to have quite a good grasp of what is going on in that area in the US. However, that wasn't what he wanted to talk about. He was more interested in talking about the war and the perception of US citizens about the people in the Middle East. He believes very strongly that the US people hate people from the area, Egyptians, Iranians, Saudis etc. He thinks we all lump them into one group; ironically while doing the same himself. This viewpoint is encouraged and perpetuated by the local media. Abdulla professes not to understand why the western world, lead by the United States interjects itself into the region. Then came the most amazing statement of all. He doesn't believe that Middle Easterners orchestrated and carried out the 911 bombings for several reasons. First, all of the "alleged" bombers were Muslims. He believes that Muslims would not purposely cause the death of innocent people because of their faith. His second reason is that this plot was too sophisticated, too complex for a Muslim to conceive let alone carry out. He believes his fellow Egyptians and the Muslims from other countries in the region to be too simple, too pure in thought and deed to come up with something so dastardly. At first I thought maybe he didn't believe 911 happened but that was not what he was saying. He does think it happened, and get this - he believes that Israel (or the Jews as he kept saying) and the US orchestrated it together so the US would have a reason to attack the Middle East. Wow! Where do you go with that? I asked him if he knew other people who shared that belief. He told us that most of his friends believe similarly. I had read before that there were people in the Middle East who didn't believe 911 had happened but I hadn't heard this before. It was really fascinating listening to him talk. He wasn't lecturing, yelling, aggressive or upset. It is his genuine belief that Israel had something to do with this. It took me off guard but after reflection, I think it is very typical of the area. Over our past few days I had heard more than one reference to the different Israel/Egyptian conflicts and other comments about Israel or Jews. Adbulla was sincere and straightforward and I think he really believes what he is saying. Chizz and I found it fascinating and we talked to him for some time. It was really interesting getting a perspective on the whole war thing from this part of the world. We (meaning the US and our partners in these endeavors) may like to think that we know what the people here want but I don't think we have a clue. As incredible as it may seem to us, not every country or every people wants to be like America or Americans or have what America has or Americans have. It is way too complex to boil it down to "democracy or bust".
After our great conversation and a quick bit to eat, we wandered over to a Bedouin
encampment. I think the idea is that you get a feel for the lifestyle. I am not so sure these people live right here but apparently not far away. There were the ever-present camel rides. The kids and Chizz went, I politely declined. Hey!! I have ridden 2 camels in my life which I am willing to be is about 2 more than most of you - so off my back!!! Besides, someone needed to take pictures. We got a view of how the women make bread on an open fire. It was actually like a little tortilla. They managed to cook the bread, offer a sample and watch their 
children, who were playing nearby, all at the same time.
There was a cool demonstration of weaving on a very complex loom kind of thing.
Kiki made friends with the little boy hiding by the loom. She scooped him up and carried him about for a while. He kept wanting to kiss her. Adorable.
So we watched the sunset from the desert and it was brilliant. We climbed up a little hill so we could see it better.
Afterwards we got back on our quads and headed back for our 1 hour ride back to the base station. This time however, they wouldn't let us wear our sunglasses. Being a contact lens wearer, I was more than a little worried I would get sand and dust in my eyes and it would be all over. But the guide encouraged us and we went on. To be on the safe side, I squinted all the way back. I am so going to blame my crow's feet on this adventure, regardless of the fact that they were there before this trip. It was much scarier going back because it was dark and it made it more difficult to see the rocks and other debris that you should try and avoid. I stayed much closer to Kiki who was in front of me this time so I could see what she did. So, to mock an old parental saying, if she had driven off the bridge so would I. But much to my relief, she is a good driver and led me home (sort of).
We were so dust filled, that the black capris I was wearing looked light brown. Our showers that night ran very muddy for quite some time. I think that is the sign of a good outing, don't you?
One of the last things we did in Egypt was something that Snake was the most interested in but the rest of us thought it sounded fun as well --- taking quad bikes (ATVs with 4 wheels instead of 3) out into the desert. After being fitted with
head scarves to wear over our mouths and faces to keep out the dust, we boarded our quads. Right away I noticed the sticker that indicated no one under 16 should drive but I am sure they didn't really mean Snake. Every insurance-filled-bone in my body should have been screaming out "hey what are you doing?!!" but I went on. No real instructions, just get on and go. I have to admit I was a bit nervous and probably over cautious, which is why I was at the end of the line. I could go as fast as I wanted, although I was encouraged, or nagged, along by our tour guides.The ride is on sand, not paved road, and it was pretty bumpy. The sand flies in the
air all over the place. It is tricky to keep pace, you want to be close enough to keep up but not too close to have to deal with all the dust the quad in front kicks up. Between the scarf and my sunglasses, I managed not to swallow any dust or get any in my eyes. We rode for about an hour and then you come to an area where there is an open air little cafe, where there are hundreds of the same kind of bikes parked. Apparently this is a very popular excursion in the area. We were directed to a small area where we sat and had some tea, took a load off. We were lucky there wasn't another group in our area and we had the place to ourselves. The kids and Bruce tried some shisha which is a fruit based product smoked through a water pipe. (Oh, I can see the disapproving looks --- it's not like we gave them heroin. It is part of the experience, the culture.) It was fairly obvious neither of them had smoked anything before, not much inhaling going on. I don't think I am going to have to drag them out of the shisha bars on Edgeware Road.While we were sitting around drinking tea and smoking we got to talking to our Egyptian guide Abdulla. He asked where we were from. One interesting thing we noticed was that Egyptians didn't really seem to be able to differentiate between English and US accents. Very often they would think we were from the UK. Anyway when we mentioned the United States, he told us that he would love to talk politics with us but the tour company didn't really like him to. Of course, that was all we needed to hear and so we really encouraged him and encouraged him and encouraged him. Finally he agreed. I thought we would be discussing presidential politics because as I mentioned previously, Egyptians for the most part seem to have quite a good grasp of what is going on in that area in the US. However, that wasn't what he wanted to talk about. He was more interested in talking about the war and the perception of US citizens about the people in the Middle East. He believes very strongly that the US people hate people from the area, Egyptians, Iranians, Saudis etc. He thinks we all lump them into one group; ironically while doing the same himself. This viewpoint is encouraged and perpetuated by the local media. Abdulla professes not to understand why the western world, lead by the United States interjects itself into the region. Then came the most amazing statement of all. He doesn't believe that Middle Easterners orchestrated and carried out the 911 bombings for several reasons. First, all of the "alleged" bombers were Muslims. He believes that Muslims would not purposely cause the death of innocent people because of their faith. His second reason is that this plot was too sophisticated, too complex for a Muslim to conceive let alone carry out. He believes his fellow Egyptians and the Muslims from other countries in the region to be too simple, too pure in thought and deed to come up with something so dastardly. At first I thought maybe he didn't believe 911 happened but that was not what he was saying. He does think it happened, and get this - he believes that Israel (or the Jews as he kept saying) and the US orchestrated it together so the US would have a reason to attack the Middle East. Wow! Where do you go with that? I asked him if he knew other people who shared that belief. He told us that most of his friends believe similarly. I had read before that there were people in the Middle East who didn't believe 911 had happened but I hadn't heard this before. It was really fascinating listening to him talk. He wasn't lecturing, yelling, aggressive or upset. It is his genuine belief that Israel had something to do with this. It took me off guard but after reflection, I think it is very typical of the area. Over our past few days I had heard more than one reference to the different Israel/Egyptian conflicts and other comments about Israel or Jews. Adbulla was sincere and straightforward and I think he really believes what he is saying. Chizz and I found it fascinating and we talked to him for some time. It was really interesting getting a perspective on the whole war thing from this part of the world. We (meaning the US and our partners in these endeavors) may like to think that we know what the people here want but I don't think we have a clue. As incredible as it may seem to us, not every country or every people wants to be like America or Americans or have what America has or Americans have. It is way too complex to boil it down to "democracy or bust".
After our great conversation and a quick bit to eat, we wandered over to a Bedouin
encampment. I think the idea is that you get a feel for the lifestyle. I am not so sure these people live right here but apparently not far away. There were the ever-present camel rides. The kids and Chizz went, I politely declined. Hey!! I have ridden 2 camels in my life which I am willing to be is about 2 more than most of you - so off my back!!! Besides, someone needed to take pictures. We got a view of how the women make bread on an open fire. It was actually like a little tortilla. They managed to cook the bread, offer a sample and watch their 
children, who were playing nearby, all at the same time.
There was a cool demonstration of weaving on a very complex loom kind of thing.
Kiki made friends with the little boy hiding by the loom. She scooped him up and carried him about for a while. He kept wanting to kiss her. Adorable.
So we watched the sunset from the desert and it was brilliant. We climbed up a little hill so we could see it better.
Afterwards we got back on our quads and headed back for our 1 hour ride back to the base station. This time however, they wouldn't let us wear our sunglasses. Being a contact lens wearer, I was more than a little worried I would get sand and dust in my eyes and it would be all over. But the guide encouraged us and we went on. To be on the safe side, I squinted all the way back. I am so going to blame my crow's feet on this adventure, regardless of the fact that they were there before this trip. It was much scarier going back because it was dark and it made it more difficult to see the rocks and other debris that you should try and avoid. I stayed much closer to Kiki who was in front of me this time so I could see what she did. So, to mock an old parental saying, if she had driven off the bridge so would I. But much to my relief, she is a good driver and led me home (sort of).
We were so dust filled, that the black capris I was wearing looked light brown. Our showers that night ran very muddy for quite some time. I think that is the sign of a good outing, don't you?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Striking Fear Into the Heart of One Man
The other day I went to Stoke-on-Trent, home to the pottery factories and more importantly the pottery factory stores of Royal Doulton, Wedgewood, Spode, Emma Bridgewater, Portmerion, and many more. I shipped my treasures home via UPS and they are starting to arrive.
Be afraid Chizz, be very afraid.
XOXOXO
Be afraid Chizz, be very afraid.
XOXOXO
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Cairo Redux
Okay, so faithful readers of Wind the Frog know that the kids & I went to Cairo a few weeks ago. I went to watch the tadpoles swim in a league championship meet(get it? tadpoles because this is wind the frog? oh forget it!). Unfortunately Chizz was not able to go with us. Hey!! Someone has to work to finance the blog! So he wasn't able to see the Pyramids etc.
When we got to Hurghada, I found out that for a nominal (comparatively)fee, we could book a side trip to Cairo. The downside, another 5:00 a.m. trip. Great, I had to tell our teenagers we might possibly get up another spring break morning at dawn. I would rather stick my head in a lion's mouth. But I did, and you know what? They didn't mind. They really wanted Chizz to see it and because it was so fascinating they didn't mind seeing it again. Also, they were hoping to see the Egyptian Museum which we hadn't had a chance to see yet. Really, they were!!
So when we arrived at Cairo, we looked for our tour guide. We were told there would most likely be a group of us so we should look for a sign with the company name on it. When we got there, we were assigned a guide and off we went. So we had a guide for just the 4 of us all day. It is so much nicer to have a private tour, you can ask the questions you want and not have to worry about pushing to the front to be able to hear the commentary.
The first place the guide took us was the Citadel. No, no, no, not the one in South Carolina. A citadel is a military fortress or compound. This one is in Cairo and is more formally known as the The Saladin Citadel of Cairo. There you go. The
beautiful mosque inside the Citadel is the Mosque of Muhammed Ali (no, not that one or the other one!). Now you, my faithful readers, have known for some time that I am a sucker for a church. I love going inside churches and taking a look around. There is almost always something interesting in a church. I am finding out that I have the same feeling toward mosques as well, I love going inside and taking a look. This mosque was built between 1830 and 1848 by Muhammed Ali (of course), who is considered the founder of modern Egypt. This was one of the more conservative mosques I have been in. I know that seems a bit strange but I have found there are degrees, some mosques have insisted that women wear head scarves, some insist that any cleavage be covered, some allow you to wear shoes, some do not. This mosque did 
require that we take our shoes off. Also, women who were wearing shorts or shorter skirts, or other wear that was deemed immodest was required to wear a green robe that would cover all the "indecent" parts. So, considering this mosque was filled with tourists, most 
wearing typical tourist garb, there were quite a few women required to wear the green robes. Now interestingly enough, men wearing shorts were not required to wear the robes, but they did have to take off their shoes. There were 2 young women in the mosque who were in charge of making sure that all the women in the mosque were appropriately covered. If not, they handed you a robe. They walked all over the mosque looking for women that might have sneaked by. One came over to Kiki and told her to button up her sweater. She was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt over a tank top and then had a 3/4 length sweater on top of that. Apparently she thought Kiki's shirt was just a little low cut (trust me, it wasn't) and watched her button the sweater for one more layer of protection.
After the mosque we went over to the Egyptian Museum. The kids and I didn't get to
do that before and we were anxious to see some of the pieces in the museum. Room after room of pieces thousands of years old and remarkably well preserved. One of the highlights of the museum were the artifacts from King Tut's tomb. Some of the things from the Egyptian Museum have been on tour before(remember the song Steve Martin wrote?). But some of these pieces have not left the museum before. I know in the past I was disappointed that the piece they use seemly to advertise when there is an exhibit of King Tut memorabilia is not really in the exhibit. You know the one - the big gold death mask. The mask in the exhibit is a little tiny one, a smaller one that they found in the tomb but they don't take the mask that was on the mummy on the road. We got to see that, as well as all of the other staffs and things he had in his hands. We also saw some of the materials they put in his tomb for afterlife, jewelry, beds, materials. Another highlight? The mummy room. You can see some of the mummies completely wrapped, but others are unwrapped and you can see the dried up mummies. Really cool. Like most good museums, I could have spent several more hours in there.
But we wanted to get to the Pyramids and Sphinx. Considering that we had just been
here days before, I wasn't sure whether I would have the same reaction I had before or it would be old hat. No, not nearly. Again, it was amazing, awe inspiring, goose bump inducing. I mean this is the last remaining of the original ancient wonders of the world I was glad to see it with Chizz too. He enjoyed it as much as I knew he would. We were able to go inside another one of the pyramids, one of the smaller ones. Ran into one of the baksheesh guys at the end but Chizz handled it as usual. (Thanks Chizz!) We also went on another camel ride. The family that rides together, stays together. Funny, the camels we rode on this time had the same names as the camels we rode last time. Actually I think that these camel herders are pretty clever, Americans show up and the camels have names like "Charlie Brown, Mickey, Elvis". French people show up and the same camels have names like "Maurice Chevalier, Nicolas Sarkozy, Napoleon". Wonder what they had for the Russian tourists? We were surprised to see some other pyramids in the distance. I hadn't seen them before, I think the pollution was too bad the day I had been there before. You can just make them out in the distance. These are the lesser known, but equally as spectacular, pyramids at Saqqara. We didn't have an opportunity to out there and see these pyramids but maybe some other time!
We also managed take a short boat ride in a traditional Faluca on the Nile river. A faluca is a small sail boat. Unfortunately, not much wind on the day we went so the poor captain had to kind of punt along. But it was nice and now we can say we have sailed on the river Nile. Of course, just like jello there is always room to time to do some shopping -- Kiki & I picked up some Egyptian jewelry - earrings for me, a pendant for Kiki and some other tidbits.
It was a very long day but amazing just the same. I am glad we got to share it with Chizz as well. We had a few more adventures. Stay tuned!
When we got to Hurghada, I found out that for a nominal (comparatively)fee, we could book a side trip to Cairo. The downside, another 5:00 a.m. trip. Great, I had to tell our teenagers we might possibly get up another spring break morning at dawn. I would rather stick my head in a lion's mouth. But I did, and you know what? They didn't mind. They really wanted Chizz to see it and because it was so fascinating they didn't mind seeing it again. Also, they were hoping to see the Egyptian Museum which we hadn't had a chance to see yet. Really, they were!!
So when we arrived at Cairo, we looked for our tour guide. We were told there would most likely be a group of us so we should look for a sign with the company name on it. When we got there, we were assigned a guide and off we went. So we had a guide for just the 4 of us all day. It is so much nicer to have a private tour, you can ask the questions you want and not have to worry about pushing to the front to be able to hear the commentary.
The first place the guide took us was the Citadel. No, no, no, not the one in South Carolina. A citadel is a military fortress or compound. This one is in Cairo and is more formally known as the The Saladin Citadel of Cairo. There you go. The
beautiful mosque inside the Citadel is the Mosque of Muhammed Ali (no, not that one or the other one!). Now you, my faithful readers, have known for some time that I am a sucker for a church. I love going inside churches and taking a look around. There is almost always something interesting in a church. I am finding out that I have the same feeling toward mosques as well, I love going inside and taking a look. This mosque was built between 1830 and 1848 by Muhammed Ali (of course), who is considered the founder of modern Egypt. This was one of the more conservative mosques I have been in. I know that seems a bit strange but I have found there are degrees, some mosques have insisted that women wear head scarves, some insist that any cleavage be covered, some allow you to wear shoes, some do not. This mosque did 
require that we take our shoes off. Also, women who were wearing shorts or shorter skirts, or other wear that was deemed immodest was required to wear a green robe that would cover all the "indecent" parts. So, considering this mosque was filled with tourists, most 
wearing typical tourist garb, there were quite a few women required to wear the green robes. Now interestingly enough, men wearing shorts were not required to wear the robes, but they did have to take off their shoes. There were 2 young women in the mosque who were in charge of making sure that all the women in the mosque were appropriately covered. If not, they handed you a robe. They walked all over the mosque looking for women that might have sneaked by. One came over to Kiki and told her to button up her sweater. She was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt over a tank top and then had a 3/4 length sweater on top of that. Apparently she thought Kiki's shirt was just a little low cut (trust me, it wasn't) and watched her button the sweater for one more layer of protection.After the mosque we went over to the Egyptian Museum. The kids and I didn't get to
do that before and we were anxious to see some of the pieces in the museum. Room after room of pieces thousands of years old and remarkably well preserved. One of the highlights of the museum were the artifacts from King Tut's tomb. Some of the things from the Egyptian Museum have been on tour before(remember the song Steve Martin wrote?). But some of these pieces have not left the museum before. I know in the past I was disappointed that the piece they use seemly to advertise when there is an exhibit of King Tut memorabilia is not really in the exhibit. You know the one - the big gold death mask. The mask in the exhibit is a little tiny one, a smaller one that they found in the tomb but they don't take the mask that was on the mummy on the road. We got to see that, as well as all of the other staffs and things he had in his hands. We also saw some of the materials they put in his tomb for afterlife, jewelry, beds, materials. Another highlight? The mummy room. You can see some of the mummies completely wrapped, but others are unwrapped and you can see the dried up mummies. Really cool. Like most good museums, I could have spent several more hours in there.But we wanted to get to the Pyramids and Sphinx. Considering that we had just been
here days before, I wasn't sure whether I would have the same reaction I had before or it would be old hat. No, not nearly. Again, it was amazing, awe inspiring, goose bump inducing. I mean this is the last remaining of the original ancient wonders of the world I was glad to see it with Chizz too. He enjoyed it as much as I knew he would. We were able to go inside another one of the pyramids, one of the smaller ones. Ran into one of the baksheesh guys at the end but Chizz handled it as usual. (Thanks Chizz!) We also went on another camel ride. The family that rides together, stays together. Funny, the camels we rode on this time had the same names as the camels we rode last time. Actually I think that these camel herders are pretty clever, Americans show up and the camels have names like "Charlie Brown, Mickey, Elvis". French people show up and the same camels have names like "Maurice Chevalier, Nicolas Sarkozy, Napoleon". Wonder what they had for the Russian tourists? We were surprised to see some other pyramids in the distance. I hadn't seen them before, I think the pollution was too bad the day I had been there before. You can just make them out in the distance. These are the lesser known, but equally as spectacular, pyramids at Saqqara. We didn't have an opportunity to out there and see these pyramids but maybe some other time!
We also managed take a short boat ride in a traditional Faluca on the Nile river. A faluca is a small sail boat. Unfortunately, not much wind on the day we went so the poor captain had to kind of punt along. But it was nice and now we can say we have sailed on the river Nile. Of course, just like jello there is always room to time to do some shopping -- Kiki & I picked up some Egyptian jewelry - earrings for me, a pendant for Kiki and some other tidbits.
It was a very long day but amazing just the same. I am glad we got to share it with Chizz as well. We had a few more adventures. Stay tuned!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Luxor
I couldn't help myself and interrupted my Egyptian blogs to brag about my superior mouse catching skills and our unseasonal snowfall, so now I am going to get back to business and catch up on Egypt.
Luxor is about 16o miles north of Hurghada but for reasons I am going to explain in a minute, it takes about 5 hours to travel between the two cities. It is the site of the ancient city of Thebes (remember that from history class?). We wanted to go to Luxor to see (among other things) Valley of the Kings, where all the tombs of the Pharaohs (including King Tut) were found. So we signed up for a tour. We were picked up at 5:30 a.m. (all teenagers LOVE to start Spring Break days at 5:30 a.m.) from our hotel in a 16 passenger mini-bus/van thing, and we went with 4 other people and a driver and tour guide. You can drive between Luxor and Hurghada on your own if you want but you are required to stop at every military checkpoint along the way. One thing that is reinforced over and over again from the moment you land in Egypt is that this is a country on military alert pretty much all the time. Heavily armed policemen and military personnel patrol all of the towns. And I mean heavily armed, machine guns, automatic rifles etc. All of the hotels require their patrons to walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched. These hotel checkpoints are usually manned by hotel security and either a local police official or a military officer, again armed. Most of the hotels have their driveways blocked and you cannot drive your car up to the front door. If you can drive the car to the front door, sniffer dogs are used to walk around your car and sniff for explosives. It is fascinating but in a way it doesn't really scare you and is strangely reassuring.
So that the highway between Luxor and Hurghada is not one big traffic jam caused by all of the cars being checked at the checkpoints, there is a convoy that leaves from a prearranged spot 3 times a day. All the tour companies sending tours up to Luxor meet at the prearranged spot and leave together. The companies provide the convoy
operators (the military) with a list of their passengers, their nationalities and other information. Then at the appointed time the convoy pulls out, escorted by armed police. I was absolutely floored by how many buses and tour vans at the convoy point. There had to be at least 30 big huge tour buses and then 50 or so smaller vehicles like ours. Then there were some personal vehicles, cars, trucks, business vehicles that wanted to go in the convoy. At the 
start of the convoy there is a little market where you can buy water, snacks or that must have tourist item. The 
convoy also stops mid way for a break. When we got to the break, out of nowhere these women and children show up with donkeys, camels, goats, dressed in costume. You can take a picture with them for a small fee. It was kind of sad to me, it was very apparent that these women and children (no men at all in the group) obviously make their living at showing up at the convoy stops and posing for photos and tips. Then at the appointed time the convoy leaves.
As you drive through towns and villages, the traffic is stopped and the convoy is allowed to go through all of the intersections without stopping. You can see people waiting on the side streets for what must be 1/2 hour or so for all of the cars to go through. I imagine it is quite an inconvenience when you think this happens
about 6 times per day, 3 times to Luxor and 3 times from Luxor. It is a mixed blessing because the country is so dependent on the tourist income but still all of these tourists disrupting every day life must be annoying. You get a really interesting view from the window of your bus. You get a chance to see village life. People go about their business, taking their products to market by donkey cart or by basket. You see how people live; many mud huts built right on the river for easy access to water for daily life.
Once you get to Luxor, you can go off on your individual tours and itineraries. Our first stop was Valley of the Kings. It is an area where for about 500 years, from the 16th - 11th centuries BC., the Kings and very high noblemen of Egypt were buried. It has been the site of pretty much constant archaeological exploration since about the end of the 18th century. So far they have found 63 or 64 tombs (depending on who you ask). Just about every archaeologist who explores there eventually declares there are no more tombs, all the tombs are discovered only later to have another tomb found. The most recent acknowledge tomb is KV63, found by Americans in 2006. It was the first new site discovered since Harold Carter found King Tut's tomb in 1922. There has been a claim that a 64th tomb has been found, but the explorer that found that tomb did not go through the proper channels (the Egyptian authorities) to verify his find and instead reported the find through the media. So that is still in dispute.
The tombs in Valley of the Kings are built into the side of the mountain. Your
ticket entitles you to visit three tombs. Usually on any given day only a handful of tombs are available for entry, including King Tut. However the day 
we were there, King Tut's tomb was closed. You walk inside the tombs, no pictures allowed inside, and walk down usually a long hallway. These hallways still have the drawings and markings on them. The colors are still so very vibrant. The drawings much more intricate than I thought, I was surprised at how 
complex some of them were. I guess I had always thought they were primitive but that is not the case when you view them in person. I found some pictures on the internet to give you an idea, these are pictures from some of the tombs we saw. Along the hallways might be different rooms where items we placed for the afterlife. In some of the tombs you can still find a sarcophagus or two in one of the rooms. The sarcophagus were made of stone and usually housed a coffin or two, and within the coffin the mummy. Like a Russian nesting doll.
One of the most famous finds in the Valley of the Kings was the tomb of King Tutankhamen (King Tut). Almost everyone has heard about King Tut, the boy king. He
was only 8 or 9 when he became a pharaoh and died when he was 18. He didn't do anything particularly spectacular in his reign, no important discoveries. He really didn't have time, he was a very small blip on the pharaoh radar. Why is he so famous? For one simple reason, his tomb was found practically intact which had never really happened before. Valley of the Kings was not really "discovered", people have always kind of known where it is. And therein lies the problem. Initially the tombs of Pharaohs were in the most danger from other Pharaohs. They stole from each other to furnish their own tombs. Coveting the cool stuff they knew were in the tombs, they consistently raided them. It was like a little shell game. The stuff was moved from one tomb to another. Then over the years, archaeologists would claim and take stuff for different museums. How do you think the stuff you have seen over the years got there? Apparently in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the black market was flooded with Egyptian Antiquities. The Egyptian government is slowly but surely recovering some of this stuff, most recently a mummy that had been in a German Museum for some time. You can still see some really old graffiti on the inside walls of the tombs, carvings dated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. King Tut's tomb did show evidence that it had been robbed early on, probably within months of his burial. Is is believed these initial thieves stole valuable oils and perfumes. The tomb showed evidence of being resealed. The the tomb was forgotten really, buried in stone chips they believe 
covered King Tut's pad when other Kings tombs were built. So that left pretty much everything else for Howard Carter to discover in the 1900s. Valley of the Kings is still an active exploration site. They believe there are more tombs to discover. Recently, in 2007, they found more stuff in King Tut's tomb, some 3000 year old fruit and 50 clay jars.
After Valley of the Kings we went to Deir el-Bahri, a temple complex that housed
several mortuary temples and a cache of tombs. It is extremely impressive, right up against and carved from the cliffs in the background. The drawings and markings on these walls are amazing (and I was allowed to take photos of these!)
Now it was in Valley of the Kings and the temple complex that I learned about Baksheesh. When I was in one of the Ramses tombs in Valley of the Kings, a man in a long robe and turban gestured to me. I went over to him and he told me that I should follow him over the ropes into this other area. Now this was clearly an area that people weren't supposed to be in and, because I am usually a rule follower, I hesitated. No, he assured me it was okay and there were better drawings in this room. (Very similar to pick up lines that I heard in school but for some reason I was pretty sure this guy wasn't trying to pick me up!) Anyway, I went in the room and he was right. The drawings here were pretty spectacular. Chizz came to see where I had wandered off to, and we looked at the room together. When we were wandering out, I heard Chizz and the robe guy talking and Chizz gave him some money. Later, I asked him what that was about. Chizz said it was Baksheesh, a bribe or tip sort of. What for? For showing you the room. Really? Yes, Chizz said Baksheesh was a way of life in the Middle East. From that point on, I was a little bit more wary of men in robes and turbans trying to show me things (hey, hey, hey - not that - I meant their ancient drawings and artifacts!). So when I went to the temple, it happened to me again. I must have tourist sucker written all over me, okay, I carry the camera, I walk around in awe and I was wearing khakis - but other than that! So the guy takes me into another area and again shows me some pretty cool stuff. And again, since I am like the Queen of
England and usually don't carry the money when we are on vacation (Isn't that what credit cards are for?), Chizz had to hand over the Baksheesh. Usually it was only a few Egyptian pounds. Egyptian pounds are worth very little in dollars, although what currency is these days. But Egyptian pounds are like 5 pounds to the dollar, so if Chizz gave him an Egyptian pound - he is giving him like 20 cents. This picture is of a couple of Bahksheesh guys that hang around the temple waiting for unsuspecting tourists. I think the one on the top was saying "Hey go find that American wearing the Talbots pink top. She's clueless and her husband is good for a few pounds."
On our way to the next stop, we took a mini break to see the clossi of Memnon
Statues. The statues are the only standing remains of the ancient temple in Thebes built by pharaoh Amenhotep III. I am bummed that my photo of both of the statues together somehow didn't turn out. But here is one and double it your mind, you'll get the idea. These statues are about 60 feet tall and are impressive. Just last week, they discovered another intact statue of one of King Amenhotep's wives. It is an amazing find because many of the statues and other works of art have been destroyed in a series of earthquakes and floods that ravaged the area in the 1st century. They have found pieces of other statues, a hand here , a head there but nothing intact until this statue. So you can see that these historical areas still hold quite a few treasures yet to be discovered. The whole area is like one big archeological dig.
Another form of Baksheesh is the various shops the tour guides take you to on your day of touring. You can stop at a papyrus center, where you learn all about the fascinating (not) history of ancient papermaking, a jewelry store, a perfume center or in the case of our trip to Luxor, an alabaster store. There are alabaster quarries all over the Middle East and then the shops recreate from there. We
stopped and watched an exhibit of how alabaster is shaped into vases, ashtrays, etc. Then we bought a few alabaster items, some vases, a statue , a bowl. After the demonstration, Chizz had to give a little baksheesh. Of course. The tour guide gets a kickback from the shop owner. Truthfully all of the places we went to with our various guides make a sales pitch but if you aren't interested, you can just say that and they pretty much leave you alone.
Our last stop was the famous Karnak Temple. It is the second most visited place in
Egypt, right behind the pyramids. The temple was started in the 16th century BC and added to over the centuries by many different kings. It is very impressive. This is the hypostile hall which was started by Amenhotep III and finished up by Seti I, about 100 or so years later. I wanted to show the scale 
of the columns, so I have included a photo with some people so you can get the scale. It is amazing how big they are and how intricately carved. The carvings seem almost delicate but when you remember that some of them are over 3500 years old, it is even more spectacular somehow. Somehow though I get the distinct feeling walking around that these temples served two pursposes, one for glorifying and satisfying their gods, and the other for glorifying and satisfying themselves. There are as many carvings detailing great battles and individuals successes as their are carvings dedicated to the gods and their good deeds.
After the temple, we headed back to the meeting point for the return convoy to Hurghada. It always seems to take longer going back and the ride in our little mini-bus was not very comfortable. But I think Luxor was one of the many highlights of our visit and I am so glad we went. Stay tuned for more adventures and politics.
Luxor is about 16o miles north of Hurghada but for reasons I am going to explain in a minute, it takes about 5 hours to travel between the two cities. It is the site of the ancient city of Thebes (remember that from history class?). We wanted to go to Luxor to see (among other things) Valley of the Kings, where all the tombs of the Pharaohs (including King Tut) were found. So we signed up for a tour. We were picked up at 5:30 a.m. (all teenagers LOVE to start Spring Break days at 5:30 a.m.) from our hotel in a 16 passenger mini-bus/van thing, and we went with 4 other people and a driver and tour guide. You can drive between Luxor and Hurghada on your own if you want but you are required to stop at every military checkpoint along the way. One thing that is reinforced over and over again from the moment you land in Egypt is that this is a country on military alert pretty much all the time. Heavily armed policemen and military personnel patrol all of the towns. And I mean heavily armed, machine guns, automatic rifles etc. All of the hotels require their patrons to walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched. These hotel checkpoints are usually manned by hotel security and either a local police official or a military officer, again armed. Most of the hotels have their driveways blocked and you cannot drive your car up to the front door. If you can drive the car to the front door, sniffer dogs are used to walk around your car and sniff for explosives. It is fascinating but in a way it doesn't really scare you and is strangely reassuring.
So that the highway between Luxor and Hurghada is not one big traffic jam caused by all of the cars being checked at the checkpoints, there is a convoy that leaves from a prearranged spot 3 times a day. All the tour companies sending tours up to Luxor meet at the prearranged spot and leave together. The companies provide the convoy
operators (the military) with a list of their passengers, their nationalities and other information. Then at the appointed time the convoy pulls out, escorted by armed police. I was absolutely floored by how many buses and tour vans at the convoy point. There had to be at least 30 big huge tour buses and then 50 or so smaller vehicles like ours. Then there were some personal vehicles, cars, trucks, business vehicles that wanted to go in the convoy. At the 
start of the convoy there is a little market where you can buy water, snacks or that must have tourist item. The 
convoy also stops mid way for a break. When we got to the break, out of nowhere these women and children show up with donkeys, camels, goats, dressed in costume. You can take a picture with them for a small fee. It was kind of sad to me, it was very apparent that these women and children (no men at all in the group) obviously make their living at showing up at the convoy stops and posing for photos and tips. Then at the appointed time the convoy leaves.As you drive through towns and villages, the traffic is stopped and the convoy is allowed to go through all of the intersections without stopping. You can see people waiting on the side streets for what must be 1/2 hour or so for all of the cars to go through. I imagine it is quite an inconvenience when you think this happens
about 6 times per day, 3 times to Luxor and 3 times from Luxor. It is a mixed blessing because the country is so dependent on the tourist income but still all of these tourists disrupting every day life must be annoying. You get a really interesting view from the window of your bus. You get a chance to see village life. People go about their business, taking their products to market by donkey cart or by basket. You see how people live; many mud huts built right on the river for easy access to water for daily life.Once you get to Luxor, you can go off on your individual tours and itineraries. Our first stop was Valley of the Kings. It is an area where for about 500 years, from the 16th - 11th centuries BC., the Kings and very high noblemen of Egypt were buried. It has been the site of pretty much constant archaeological exploration since about the end of the 18th century. So far they have found 63 or 64 tombs (depending on who you ask). Just about every archaeologist who explores there eventually declares there are no more tombs, all the tombs are discovered only later to have another tomb found. The most recent acknowledge tomb is KV63, found by Americans in 2006. It was the first new site discovered since Harold Carter found King Tut's tomb in 1922. There has been a claim that a 64th tomb has been found, but the explorer that found that tomb did not go through the proper channels (the Egyptian authorities) to verify his find and instead reported the find through the media. So that is still in dispute.
The tombs in Valley of the Kings are built into the side of the mountain. Your
ticket entitles you to visit three tombs. Usually on any given day only a handful of tombs are available for entry, including King Tut. However the day 
we were there, King Tut's tomb was closed. You walk inside the tombs, no pictures allowed inside, and walk down usually a long hallway. These hallways still have the drawings and markings on them. The colors are still so very vibrant. The drawings much more intricate than I thought, I was surprised at how 
complex some of them were. I guess I had always thought they were primitive but that is not the case when you view them in person. I found some pictures on the internet to give you an idea, these are pictures from some of the tombs we saw. Along the hallways might be different rooms where items we placed for the afterlife. In some of the tombs you can still find a sarcophagus or two in one of the rooms. The sarcophagus were made of stone and usually housed a coffin or two, and within the coffin the mummy. Like a Russian nesting doll.One of the most famous finds in the Valley of the Kings was the tomb of King Tutankhamen (King Tut). Almost everyone has heard about King Tut, the boy king. He
was only 8 or 9 when he became a pharaoh and died when he was 18. He didn't do anything particularly spectacular in his reign, no important discoveries. He really didn't have time, he was a very small blip on the pharaoh radar. Why is he so famous? For one simple reason, his tomb was found practically intact which had never really happened before. Valley of the Kings was not really "discovered", people have always kind of known where it is. And therein lies the problem. Initially the tombs of Pharaohs were in the most danger from other Pharaohs. They stole from each other to furnish their own tombs. Coveting the cool stuff they knew were in the tombs, they consistently raided them. It was like a little shell game. The stuff was moved from one tomb to another. Then over the years, archaeologists would claim and take stuff for different museums. How do you think the stuff you have seen over the years got there? Apparently in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the black market was flooded with Egyptian Antiquities. The Egyptian government is slowly but surely recovering some of this stuff, most recently a mummy that had been in a German Museum for some time. You can still see some really old graffiti on the inside walls of the tombs, carvings dated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. King Tut's tomb did show evidence that it had been robbed early on, probably within months of his burial. Is is believed these initial thieves stole valuable oils and perfumes. The tomb showed evidence of being resealed. The the tomb was forgotten really, buried in stone chips they believe 
covered King Tut's pad when other Kings tombs were built. So that left pretty much everything else for Howard Carter to discover in the 1900s. Valley of the Kings is still an active exploration site. They believe there are more tombs to discover. Recently, in 2007, they found more stuff in King Tut's tomb, some 3000 year old fruit and 50 clay jars.After Valley of the Kings we went to Deir el-Bahri, a temple complex that housed
several mortuary temples and a cache of tombs. It is extremely impressive, right up against and carved from the cliffs in the background. The drawings and markings on these walls are amazing (and I was allowed to take photos of these!)
Now it was in Valley of the Kings and the temple complex that I learned about Baksheesh. When I was in one of the Ramses tombs in Valley of the Kings, a man in a long robe and turban gestured to me. I went over to him and he told me that I should follow him over the ropes into this other area. Now this was clearly an area that people weren't supposed to be in and, because I am usually a rule follower, I hesitated. No, he assured me it was okay and there were better drawings in this room. (Very similar to pick up lines that I heard in school but for some reason I was pretty sure this guy wasn't trying to pick me up!) Anyway, I went in the room and he was right. The drawings here were pretty spectacular. Chizz came to see where I had wandered off to, and we looked at the room together. When we were wandering out, I heard Chizz and the robe guy talking and Chizz gave him some money. Later, I asked him what that was about. Chizz said it was Baksheesh, a bribe or tip sort of. What for? For showing you the room. Really? Yes, Chizz said Baksheesh was a way of life in the Middle East. From that point on, I was a little bit more wary of men in robes and turbans trying to show me things (hey, hey, hey - not that - I meant their ancient drawings and artifacts!). So when I went to the temple, it happened to me again. I must have tourist sucker written all over me, okay, I carry the camera, I walk around in awe and I was wearing khakis - but other than that! So the guy takes me into another area and again shows me some pretty cool stuff. And again, since I am like the Queen of
England and usually don't carry the money when we are on vacation (Isn't that what credit cards are for?), Chizz had to hand over the Baksheesh. Usually it was only a few Egyptian pounds. Egyptian pounds are worth very little in dollars, although what currency is these days. But Egyptian pounds are like 5 pounds to the dollar, so if Chizz gave him an Egyptian pound - he is giving him like 20 cents. This picture is of a couple of Bahksheesh guys that hang around the temple waiting for unsuspecting tourists. I think the one on the top was saying "Hey go find that American wearing the Talbots pink top. She's clueless and her husband is good for a few pounds."On our way to the next stop, we took a mini break to see the clossi of Memnon
Statues. The statues are the only standing remains of the ancient temple in Thebes built by pharaoh Amenhotep III. I am bummed that my photo of both of the statues together somehow didn't turn out. But here is one and double it your mind, you'll get the idea. These statues are about 60 feet tall and are impressive. Just last week, they discovered another intact statue of one of King Amenhotep's wives. It is an amazing find because many of the statues and other works of art have been destroyed in a series of earthquakes and floods that ravaged the area in the 1st century. They have found pieces of other statues, a hand here , a head there but nothing intact until this statue. So you can see that these historical areas still hold quite a few treasures yet to be discovered. The whole area is like one big archeological dig.Another form of Baksheesh is the various shops the tour guides take you to on your day of touring. You can stop at a papyrus center, where you learn all about the fascinating (not) history of ancient papermaking, a jewelry store, a perfume center or in the case of our trip to Luxor, an alabaster store. There are alabaster quarries all over the Middle East and then the shops recreate from there. We
stopped and watched an exhibit of how alabaster is shaped into vases, ashtrays, etc. Then we bought a few alabaster items, some vases, a statue , a bowl. After the demonstration, Chizz had to give a little baksheesh. Of course. The tour guide gets a kickback from the shop owner. Truthfully all of the places we went to with our various guides make a sales pitch but if you aren't interested, you can just say that and they pretty much leave you alone.Our last stop was the famous Karnak Temple. It is the second most visited place in
Egypt, right behind the pyramids. The temple was started in the 16th century BC and added to over the centuries by many different kings. It is very impressive. This is the hypostile hall which was started by Amenhotep III and finished up by Seti I, about 100 or so years later. I wanted to show the scale 
of the columns, so I have included a photo with some people so you can get the scale. It is amazing how big they are and how intricately carved. The carvings seem almost delicate but when you remember that some of them are over 3500 years old, it is even more spectacular somehow. Somehow though I get the distinct feeling walking around that these temples served two pursposes, one for glorifying and satisfying their gods, and the other for glorifying and satisfying themselves. There are as many carvings detailing great battles and individuals successes as their are carvings dedicated to the gods and their good deeds.
After the temple, we headed back to the meeting point for the return convoy to Hurghada. It always seems to take longer going back and the ride in our little mini-bus was not very comfortable. But I think Luxor was one of the many highlights of our visit and I am so glad we went. Stay tuned for more adventures and politics.
WAIT!!!!!! What date is it???????
Okay, last week I was getting hopeful. I went out side and ran my errands in a sweater. The tulips are out in the store. And the Olympic Torch is running through London this weekend. All signs that spring is in the air and warm weather around the corner.
Then this morning, I woke up to this:
Wait, it is April. This isn't supposed to be happening to this California girl. It has been coming down for over an hour this morning since I woke up and I don't know how long it had been going on before that. My outside thermometer must be off somewhat because it says it is 38.6 degrees outside. The snow is big fat snow flakes and is just now starting to stick to the ground but I can't imagine it is going to last.
What a difference a year makes! Last year the kids were so excited, they got up and watched the snow and hoped for it to stick. This year, I could barely get them to lift their heads off the pillows they were so underwhelmed. It probably has something to do with this being a weekend but I think it is getting old hat. This is about the 3rd time it has snowed this year. It snowed on the day we came back from Egypt as well. We went from 90 degrees in the morning to pulling out our boots in the evening.
I am worried now about the Olympic torch. Although I am sure nothing will stop the torch from actually going through London today, I am not sure how I am going to get there. Public transport here kind of grinds to a halt during snow. They aren't quite sure what to do so they don't. So I may have to cancel that trip. I know at one area they were going to have dancers and such to welcome the torch. I doubt they had a contigency plan for snow.
The Funsucker Family arrives this week from California for a visit. Last year we had the most beautiful weather when they came. This year, who knows? I hope they are paying attention. Well, I have to go find my boots, scarf and mittens. Sigh.
Then this morning, I woke up to this:
Wait, it is April. This isn't supposed to be happening to this California girl. It has been coming down for over an hour this morning since I woke up and I don't know how long it had been going on before that. My outside thermometer must be off somewhat because it says it is 38.6 degrees outside. The snow is big fat snow flakes and is just now starting to stick to the ground but I can't imagine it is going to last.
What a difference a year makes! Last year the kids were so excited, they got up and watched the snow and hoped for it to stick. This year, I could barely get them to lift their heads off the pillows they were so underwhelmed. It probably has something to do with this being a weekend but I think it is getting old hat. This is about the 3rd time it has snowed this year. It snowed on the day we came back from Egypt as well. We went from 90 degrees in the morning to pulling out our boots in the evening.
I am worried now about the Olympic torch. Although I am sure nothing will stop the torch from actually going through London today, I am not sure how I am going to get there. Public transport here kind of grinds to a halt during snow. They aren't quite sure what to do so they don't. So I may have to cancel that trip. I know at one area they were going to have dancers and such to welcome the torch. I doubt they had a contigency plan for snow.
The Funsucker Family arrives this week from California for a visit. Last year we had the most beautiful weather when they came. This year, who knows? I hope they are paying attention. Well, I have to go find my boots, scarf and mittens. Sigh.
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