If you ever think you should move to Cairo, Do it.

Life in Egypt is going good. We are leaving tomorrow to hike Sinai and then its off to Jordan to study our brains out for 3 months. Hopefully I’ll learn a lot of Arabic during that time – because being here has made me realize how insufficient mine really is. The internet cafés are super slow here (and we have very limited free time), so I only really upload pics to flickr. I'm one of the people that only really likes to see pictures. So if you’re like me, and want to, all my pics are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35316747@N05/sets/

If your not like me, and like to read words, here’s a few notes from two days of sightseeing:

(Please forgive any egregious spelling errors and any non-sequtor comments. We don't get a lot sleep, and breathe in a lot of smoke.)

LUXOR DAY: Luxor was the bomb! Cairo is so dirty and big and noisy – Luxor is relatively clean and calmer. The Nile actually looks enticing down there. Angie and I even had an “American Night.” We swam and laid out by the pool w/our group, in one piece swimming suits. I only note that because again Europeans are ridiculous – all the men in speedos and all the women in bikinis- regardless of whether they were massively overweight and saggy. We ate at Pizza hut with beef pepperonis (pork is haram and not available anywhere) and then got a pedicure from some Copts. 

 MOSQUE DAY: was somewhat torturous in that we got off the night train from Luxor (on which it is impossible to sleep) at 4:30 am and then proceeded to see roughly a million mosques around Cairo.  It was blazing hot and our 65 year old tour director stops for no man (he reminds me of my Grandpa Hales). It was pretty much the Battan death march. I finally got ahead enough to pull of the side on one street and buy and ice-cream bar from a street vendor. Best 2 pounds (20 cents) I ever spent! We saw all the different periods of architecture (Fatimid, Mamuluk, Ottoman). They have some incredible beautiful buildings, and its mind blowing to think how old they are. I admire the devoutness of many Muslims and there is definitely a spiritual experience to be had in the Mosques.  I’ve seen a lot of men here with bruises on there foreheads. I took me a while to remember from my MESA class that it’s a show of devoutness – that you drop to you knees and bow your head against the floor enough to leave a big mark. The call to prayer can be kinda scary – me and Angie and Lindsey were in kinda scary neighborhood (we got off the Metro at the wrong station) when it went off. It was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. And nearly everyone prayed, not something you seen on the main streets of Cairo. 

From a land were everyone yells and it rains garbage.

Greetings from Luxor! Egypt is pretty amazing, I could go on forever- but I don't have long time at this ghetto Internet cafe. We are in luxor right now which is approximately a million times cleaner and less busy than Cairo. We're going to a temple today and then a faluka ride on the nile - then its another night train back to Cairo. I'd say for sure the coolest things i've done so far are: 1) camel ride by the big pyramids of giza 2) seen the tombs in the valley of the kings 3)but sadly they wont let you take pictures 3) made a fool of myself everytime I try to talk in arabic. If you're bored and want to see some of my pictures go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35316747@N05/sets/72157617327455881/

Hope everyone is doing well!

I made it to EGYPT!

So its 5 am here, haven't slept all night, and I need to be ready to take a night train to luxor in about an hour. I will add more pictures and actually write something as soon as I have internet again. In the mean time, here is a pic I took of an awesome camel, and Angie and I in front of the step pyramid. 

Easter Weekend

Dan and I were able to have a great Easter weekend - Together! I flew to Tucson and Dan met me there. 

I was not sad at all to see the landscape of cold, snow-capped mountains transform into warm, barren cactus filled desert!
We did a lot of shopping at the Mall. I got some clothes for my big trip and Dan is modeling his new scarf. The rental car and its navigation system was awesome by the way - locate nearest ice-cream shop- done!
Me and my new shoes - the last pair at Aldo. It made me feel very victorious. We also saw Adventureland (wouldn't recommend) and ate at a Chinese Bistro (also, wouldn't recommend).
My cousin Jenni was kind enough to host Dan and I at their house for Easter dinner. She is a easter dinner extraordinaire: lamb!, couscous, lots of veggies - and brownies and ice-cream! Daniel gave my Dan lots of great advice, I got to chat with Jenni, and their little guy was entertainment for all!
We capped off our adventure with something we share a great affinity for: Pizza Hut. So ghetto, and so good. It was so nice to see Dan and spend some time together. Now I just have to survive the next week of finals, and then its off to Jordan!

Seriously, more snow?

First off, this snow must stop! "Blizzard Like conditions today?" Not cool. I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago on campus after what I thought was the last big snow storm of the year- so wrong! I'm beyond ready for the aridity of the Middle East. I'd trade my human rights for warmth any day, kidding.
Good News: Dan "phased". Meaning now he has weekend pass privileges. So I booked a non-refundable flight and hotel in Tucson. I'm excited to go see him! As for the picture, I was trying to find a recent picture of us, which was understandably hard, when I came across this gem. Like any self respecting couple with an extensive black wardrobe, too light foundation, cornstarch and red dye, and fangs, we threw together this quality costume 30 minutes before our Ward Halloween party. Sadly, we won no awards.
This weekend I got to go see my friend Brandalee at her cute new house in Layton. Im posting this picture to commemorate that event, and also to encourage her to post things on her blog. Even if those things are just in retaliation for me posting this picture. 
Branda's dog Zoey. I usually hate little dogs, but how cool is this one. She cocks her head to the side like this whenever you say her name, "like what? What do you want?" Cool dog. And I didn't mean for all those pictures to be in black and white, forgot to change my camera settings. 

The Happenings of the week

My friend Kara opened her mission call. Tampa Florida, spanish speaking. GO KARA!


My dad and I ran (well, I jogged) the Spectrum 10k. It was a lot of fun (kind of). Dr. B beat me by a substantial amount of time. I entertain no thoughts of ever out running him in this life, or the next. Anna is absent from the sisterly photo because she was running in a high school track meet. Tiny little freshman Anna is one of the fastest kids on the team. She's amazing!
Dan sent me some lovely flowers, audible: ahhhhh, how cute

So, We're kinda boring

Picture 1) My lovely face after being at the Columbia airport for 10 hours

Picture 2) Dan and his friends that are going to AIT together

Picture 3) Graduation

Picture 4) Dan proving he has friends

It's been awhile... but there hasn't been anything going on! Dan has been at basic and I've just been going to school. But he finally graduated and I got to make a nice little trip to the strange land of South Carolina. It was so good to see each other for a few days. But now he's at Fort Huachuaca in Arizona and our a-traditional marriage continues. Im excited to be leaving to Jordan in April. Hopefully I'll get to go down and visit him at least once before I leave on my grand adventure. Here's some pics from South Carolina. There are none of us together being that I wasn't bright enough to ask someone to take one haha :)