Galilee

We stayed in a great hotel on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Great food at their breakfast buffet. Great place to swim. Fun times.

Nazareth

We left the western gate of Jerusalem and descended into whatever valley is northwest of Jerusalem. We stopped several times to see tels and old things. We stayed that night in Nazareth at a fabulous Catholic convent. The convent provided clean sleeping conditions and great food. It was a fun place to stay for two nights and to experience the first night of Ramadan (read: with Christians.)

Jerusalem

From the Egyptian border town of Taba, we crossed into Israel early in the morning. We abandoned our Egyptian driver and tour crew and met their Palestinian counterparts on the other side. The border was a typical scene of excessive Israeli scrutiny and many from our group were thoroughly searched.

We drove north along the Israel/Jordan border and the west shore of the Dead Sea. We stopped at Masada and the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls on our way up and into Jerusalem. We approached Jerusalem from the east, passing Jericho and into a tunnel that spat us out on the Mount of Olives with a view of the old city.

We stayed in the BYU Jerusalem Center for about a week. It was great to stay there and consume their abundant food and rest in their comfortable accommodations. Most exciting was the chance to see Cousin Abbie and to spend some fun time with her and her friends. It is nice to be with family on the far side of the world.

The week in Jerusalem was full of trips to important biblical sites and historical structures. If you've heard of it, we probably went there. The highlight for me was Santiago Calatrava’s white Chord Bridge at the western entrance into Jerusalem.

Dahab

Dahab is an Egyptian resort town on the eastern shore of the Sinai. We checked into our resort hotel just north of Dahab and then went up the coast a bit to swim at a famous water hole called Blue Hole. We snorkeled and ate lunch. I sat with Dil as he reviewed my final exam with me. It was frustrating to see the stupid mistakes that I had made, but it was nice to know that I had no need to think about school or grades for the next five months.

We made a trip into Dahab to purchase some provisions for the next day’s journey. The small waterfront community provokes many grand memories.

Mount Sinai

We arrived at St. Katherine’s and began our ascent to the top of Mount Sinai at midday. This trip is customarily made during the middle of the night for the sake of people who want to see the sunrise in the morning. In our case, the heat was intense and the sun was unforgiving. With little shade along the path and constant exposure to the sun, I would later suffer the effects of heat stroke. The views from the top of the mountain are impressive. From there you can see more mountains.

We descended using a different path built of stone steps. We were graced with rain for a few minutes during our descent. This was the first rain we had felt in months and it couldn’t have been more welcome.

My bunk-mate for the entirety of the trip was Andy Bolen. Our different natures compliment each other well, and we have fun with our similarities.

That night, my body effused the heat that I had absorbed during the day. I slept poorly.

Farewell to Cairo

I was plagued by some unknown ailment during my last two weeks in Cairo. For some of the time I was too weak to get out of bed. Others, my symptoms were too nasty to make it feasible. Despite this weakness and some poor attendance towards the end, my grades were not dreadful. In fact, my grades were good. Good grades, everyone.

I left Cairo with the majority of the BYU Arabic students from the summer classes. We all loaded into a bus at Midan Siwaris. My roommates and I were happy to get out of our apartment.

I had the great Mike White as my bus companion from the very beginning. We were always edging for a good seat up front; near the Parkinsons and the Andruses. Mike was an ideal travel companion. Though up front, we were never too far away from Andy Bolen, Will Hussman, and other close friends.

Coming soon: A Eurolog

I plan on posting a record of my travels through Europe. The three months in Cairo from April to August will not be covered by these posts. It should be sufficient to know that I passed my classes. The trip started as soon as I left Cairo with a group of BYU students. The rough plan for this blog is to post daily chronological segments so that whoever is reading this doesn't have to sludge through one large block of text.

This log will surely prove insufficient. There are stories that I am reserving to tell in person. I look forward to that.

Please feel free to skim. And if the reading gets boring, you can always enjoy the picture version of this account here.