Shabbat was really nice in the Student Village. It started raining really hard right as we were all getting ready to walk to shul for Kabbalat Shabbat. Great for the desert but not so great for desert-dwellers! We went to a Moroccan Shul which was really nice, despite the fact that there wasn't as much singing as I would have liked and instead of being behind a mechitza, the women were really in a separate room with an adjoining window.
Dinner was great. We all ate together in the moadon (community center) and everyone had made a different dish (I brought wine, I think that worked out much better). Before we made the blessings, we read from a sheet detailing different points in Zionist history and sang parts of Zionist songs (Lu Yehi...) and some of the other students were surprised that I was able to sing along. I didn't go to 12 years of Jew school and camp for nothing. I got a chance to meet a lot more of the students here and got into a heated debate about Israeli politics, so my Hebrew must be improving.
After dinner, everyone stayed in the moadon and hung out. Some sang songs (zmirot for Shabbat, Israeli songs and some more traditional Zionist songs) some played games and some just sat around talking. I played shesh-besh (backgammon) with Chen and then a bunch of us got together and played Mafia (apparently it's very popular in Israel!) and I finally got a chance to be the killer. It was lots of fun.
The next day we all got together for lunch. We were going to have it in the moadon, but since it was so nice out, we brought all the table and chairs outside.
After lunch, I was going to go on a hike with Boaz and Omer, but then I found out they were planning a really serious 4-hour hike. I decided to sit it out and instead go on a shorter hike with a few of the other students in our backyard (i.e. the Negev). We walked out over some dunes and saw an amazing view of the wadi (which actually had some water in it due to the rain). On the way back, we saw some Bedouin shepherds on horseback driving their sheep along the hillside with their dogs. That was cool.
When we got back we hung out for a while and then did havdalah all together. I had never heard a Sephardi havdalah before. It was interesting, but I still think havdalah at Bronfman is the best.
Now that Shabbat is over I have to get back to work.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thesis and Building the Village
Yesterday there was a lecture by a former MAPMES student who came in to talk to us about writing a thesis. But I was the only who showed up! So I had a one-on-one with him and got to ask lots of questions and it was good to talk to someone about the whole process. However, he did tell me one thing that is a little discouraging. The whole writing process takes about 6 months full-time! So that means that I would be able to do lots of research and put together my in-depth proposal while studying but I would need a half a year after I finish in order to write the paper. That kind of puts a kink in my plans to finish everything over the summer and start a PhD program in the fall. We'll see what happens.
Last night a bunch of my friends threw a Halloween party at the dorms. It was a lot of fun and since it was at night, I stayed over and came back this morning. When I got to the village, everyone was working and cleaning and building. So I got to work too. Everyone was working. Some people were painting, others were busy laying down planks of wood for a new walkway and I helped build a rock wall that will enclose a garden in front of one of the new houses. It was very cool and while were working it actually rained! When the sherut/van taxi dropped me off this morning, he was surprised, "Wow, this is a giant village. Who built it?" So I said, "We did." Very cool. It's really great that I'll be able to leave my mark on the village.
Right now, I'm about to clean the apartment and Boaz (my roommate) is busy making soup and homemade tahina for our big communal dinner tonight. It smells great. I'm excited.
Last night a bunch of my friends threw a Halloween party at the dorms. It was a lot of fun and since it was at night, I stayed over and came back this morning. When I got to the village, everyone was working and cleaning and building. So I got to work too. Everyone was working. Some people were painting, others were busy laying down planks of wood for a new walkway and I helped build a rock wall that will enclose a garden in front of one of the new houses. It was very cool and while were working it actually rained! When the sherut/van taxi dropped me off this morning, he was surprised, "Wow, this is a giant village. Who built it?" So I said, "We did." Very cool. It's really great that I'll be able to leave my mark on the village.
Right now, I'm about to clean the apartment and Boaz (my roommate) is busy making soup and homemade tahina for our big communal dinner tonight. It smells great. I'm excited.
Monday, October 26, 2009
My Courses
I finally registered for classes today. At BGU the first week is for "shopping" for classes.
I pretty much knew which classes I was going to take already, the only one I wasn't sure about was Arabic. But after sitting in on a few classes, I found one that seems to be just right for me.
These are the courses I'm taking:
Milestones in the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-1949 by Benny Morris (woo!)
The 1979 Iranian Revolution: A Thirty-Year Perspective by Haggai Ram
Studying the Modern Middle East: A Historiographic Review by Ursula Wokoeck
In the Shadow of Fear: Freedom of Expression in Intellectual Writing in the Middle
East by Alon Fragman (my Arabic course, cool name right?)
Beginner's French by Igor Dreer
I pretty much knew which classes I was going to take already, the only one I wasn't sure about was Arabic. But after sitting in on a few classes, I found one that seems to be just right for me.
These are the courses I'm taking:
Milestones in the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-1949 by Benny Morris (woo!)
The 1979 Iranian Revolution: A Thirty-Year Perspective by Haggai Ram
Studying the Modern Middle East: A Historiographic Review by Ursula Wokoeck
In the Shadow of Fear: Freedom of Expression in Intellectual Writing in the Middle
East by Alon Fragman (my Arabic course, cool name right?)
Beginner's French by Igor Dreer
Saturday, October 24, 2009
New Photos
First, I'd like to post a better picture of me and Erica from the London Eye.
Well, it's more a better a picture of Erica, I don't look so good in pictures... I should work on that.
I also think it's about time I posted some photos of my new place in Dimona.
Here is my new house:
And here is my backyard:
Pretty awesome, no?
Oh, and these are my neighbors who just walked right in my front door the other day:
I'll be sure to post some photos of my room when it's all set up.
Well, it's more a better a picture of Erica, I don't look so good in pictures... I should work on that.
I also think it's about time I posted some photos of my new place in Dimona.
Here is my new house:
And here is my backyard:
Pretty awesome, no?
Oh, and these are my neighbors who just walked right in my front door the other day:
I'll be sure to post some photos of my room when it's all set up.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A New Post For My New Place
So, it's been a while since I last posted. So here goes a quick summary.
London was awesome. I had a really great time with Erica. We went to the London Eye - the huge Ferris wheel on the Thames (see right) - and saw "We Will Rock You" a musical with all of Queens music. Lots of fun.
I was supposed to fly out Thursday night but when we got to the airport, they asked me if I would agree to be bumped to a flight the following day for 300 pounds. I said I couldn't because it would get in after Shabbat, but Erica quickly asked if I could take a flight Saturday night instead. They said yes and that's the story of how BMI paid me around $20 to fly to London (they paid me more than the flight actually cost!). Hooray for England!
But that meant that I got back to Israel at 4:45 am Sunday morning; which happened to by my first day of class. Not the best idea, but it was totally worth it all things considered.
After finally making it all the way down to Be'er Sheva, I crashed for a wonderful 2 hour nap - my first sleep all night - and then ran to campus for Benny Morris' class: Milestones in the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-1948. Since it was the first class we didn't go over anything so controversial but it was still pretty cool to be there.
Then I had French. Since I'm going to have to learn French or German in a PhD program, I thought I'd get a head start and audit one of them here. So I sat in on the class, taught in Hebrew, and I really liked it. The next day I sat in on a German class and that was good too so I decided I would ask Benny Morris which one he thought would be more useful to me, given the area I want to study. So the next day I started to ask him and before I could even finish he said, "French!" So that sealed it. Auf Wiedersehen.
Back to Sunday. After class, I went over to Andrea's to pack all my stuff up and called a cab to take me to Dimona! Considering the fact that I had barely slept and had only half a falafel for lunch, moving wasn't probably the best thing for me to do. Oh well.
I was told that the student village was only 20-25 minutes from Be'er Sheva. Untrue. It is a good 40 minutes. That was really annoying. But the place is really beautiful and all the people here are really friendly. I think I'm going to like it here.
Later that day (Tuesday) I had my class about the Iranian Revolution. The professor is really animated and you can tell he really likes the subject. Someone asked him if he had ever been to Iran and he got a little annoyed. He said he had a whole trip planned as part of an NGO but then Ahmadinejad stole the election and there was rioting so it was canceled. Maybe we can do a class trip!
After class was over I took our little bus back to Dimona where we all had a big meeting about the village and volunteering. I didn't understand lots of it and it was frustrating because I still don't know most of the people here since I missed orientation while I was in London. But it's still early and I have a whole year to work on my Hebrew and make friends.
And that brings us to today (Wednesday October 21st). Wednesday is a really busy day for me, especially today since I had two Arabic classes to check out, back-to-back from 10-2pm.
The first one I went to turned out not to be an Arabic class, but a class about Islamic art and architecture taught by a professor who also teaches Arabic. I decided not to leave since the professor was also teaching the other Arabic class I was going to take today. It was really interesting and I understood everything! There were a few words here and there I didn't catch, but other than that I followed the whole class. So that made me feel pretty good.
The after class, the professor told me that the next class was indeed an Arabic class. Phew. So I went to that class and instead of just being a straight-up Arabic Language class, it's called "The Prophet Muhammad between Literature and History." So we learn Arabic by studying the life of Muhammad in Arabic. Very interesting. I'm not sure if it's the right level for me, but it's still cool.
It's a little weird that classes here are all pretty much either 2 or 4 hours long on the schedules, but they all start 15 minutes late and end 15 minutes early. I don't know why they don't just say that on the schedule but it is nice that there is always a good break in between classes. That also means that I had time to eat lunch today! Hooray for Kabobs!
Then it was time for my second French class (the professor said it was fine for me to audit!). I've got to work on my snooty accent. But I was called on to clear up some differences in cognates in English.
After that I had my class on the Historiography of the Middle East. Not the most exciting class, but it has potential.
When I got back to Dimona, I was on a mission to get furniture for my new place. I had mentioned the fact that I needed a few things to some of the students here and they put me in contact with this married couple who own 2 apartments and are selling one and need to get rid of their furniture there. So I walked over to their place, which was only about 5 minutes away and got a big bed and a desk with lots of shelves (thanks BMI)!
While I was there, the wife came home and asked if I wanted something hot to drink. Not wanting to impose, I said no. The look of horror on her face was awful. "Why?! Why won't you drink something?!" I quickly told her I would have some tea. Note to self: don't refuse offers of food and drink from Israelis. When I took a sip, she was so happy. She told me that if I needed anything while I'm here I should call right away, that I was a like a son.
What a great country.
London was awesome. I had a really great time with Erica. We went to the London Eye - the huge Ferris wheel on the Thames (see right) - and saw "We Will Rock You" a musical with all of Queens music. Lots of fun.
I was supposed to fly out Thursday night but when we got to the airport, they asked me if I would agree to be bumped to a flight the following day for 300 pounds. I said I couldn't because it would get in after Shabbat, but Erica quickly asked if I could take a flight Saturday night instead. They said yes and that's the story of how BMI paid me around $20 to fly to London (they paid me more than the flight actually cost!). Hooray for England!
But that meant that I got back to Israel at 4:45 am Sunday morning; which happened to by my first day of class. Not the best idea, but it was totally worth it all things considered.
After finally making it all the way down to Be'er Sheva, I crashed for a wonderful 2 hour nap - my first sleep all night - and then ran to campus for Benny Morris' class: Milestones in the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-1948. Since it was the first class we didn't go over anything so controversial but it was still pretty cool to be there.
Then I had French. Since I'm going to have to learn French or German in a PhD program, I thought I'd get a head start and audit one of them here. So I sat in on the class, taught in Hebrew, and I really liked it. The next day I sat in on a German class and that was good too so I decided I would ask Benny Morris which one he thought would be more useful to me, given the area I want to study. So the next day I started to ask him and before I could even finish he said, "French!" So that sealed it. Auf Wiedersehen.
Back to Sunday. After class, I went over to Andrea's to pack all my stuff up and called a cab to take me to Dimona! Considering the fact that I had barely slept and had only half a falafel for lunch, moving wasn't probably the best thing for me to do. Oh well.
I was told that the student village was only 20-25 minutes from Be'er Sheva. Untrue. It is a good 40 minutes. That was really annoying. But the place is really beautiful and all the people here are really friendly. I think I'm going to like it here.
Later that day (Tuesday) I had my class about the Iranian Revolution. The professor is really animated and you can tell he really likes the subject. Someone asked him if he had ever been to Iran and he got a little annoyed. He said he had a whole trip planned as part of an NGO but then Ahmadinejad stole the election and there was rioting so it was canceled. Maybe we can do a class trip!
After class was over I took our little bus back to Dimona where we all had a big meeting about the village and volunteering. I didn't understand lots of it and it was frustrating because I still don't know most of the people here since I missed orientation while I was in London. But it's still early and I have a whole year to work on my Hebrew and make friends.
And that brings us to today (Wednesday October 21st). Wednesday is a really busy day for me, especially today since I had two Arabic classes to check out, back-to-back from 10-2pm.
The first one I went to turned out not to be an Arabic class, but a class about Islamic art and architecture taught by a professor who also teaches Arabic. I decided not to leave since the professor was also teaching the other Arabic class I was going to take today. It was really interesting and I understood everything! There were a few words here and there I didn't catch, but other than that I followed the whole class. So that made me feel pretty good.
The after class, the professor told me that the next class was indeed an Arabic class. Phew. So I went to that class and instead of just being a straight-up Arabic Language class, it's called "The Prophet Muhammad between Literature and History." So we learn Arabic by studying the life of Muhammad in Arabic. Very interesting. I'm not sure if it's the right level for me, but it's still cool.
It's a little weird that classes here are all pretty much either 2 or 4 hours long on the schedules, but they all start 15 minutes late and end 15 minutes early. I don't know why they don't just say that on the schedule but it is nice that there is always a good break in between classes. That also means that I had time to eat lunch today! Hooray for Kabobs!
Then it was time for my second French class (the professor said it was fine for me to audit!). I've got to work on my snooty accent. But I was called on to clear up some differences in cognates in English.
After that I had my class on the Historiography of the Middle East. Not the most exciting class, but it has potential.
When I got back to Dimona, I was on a mission to get furniture for my new place. I had mentioned the fact that I needed a few things to some of the students here and they put me in contact with this married couple who own 2 apartments and are selling one and need to get rid of their furniture there. So I walked over to their place, which was only about 5 minutes away and got a big bed and a desk with lots of shelves (thanks BMI)!
While I was there, the wife came home and asked if I wanted something hot to drink. Not wanting to impose, I said no. The look of horror on her face was awful. "Why?! Why won't you drink something?!" I quickly told her I would have some tea. Note to self: don't refuse offers of food and drink from Israelis. When I took a sip, she was so happy. She told me that if I needed anything while I'm here I should call right away, that I was a like a son.
What a great country.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sukkot In Cairo
I don't have enough time right now to give a day-by-day of what has happened since Jordan, so I'm going to write about this weekend first and then go back and write about all the amazing things that have happened in between.
I woke up around 5 pm from a nap (come back later to find out why I was so tired) and had to hurry to get ready for Shabbat. I wanted to buy lots of food for Sukkot, but there aren't any traditional grocery stores like we know, only small shops and street vendors (at least near me). It was becoming increasingly apparent that I would have to be a little flexible with the rules this weekend. Not the best way to start the new year, but not much of a choice.
I got online and asked Sam (little Schechter friend who is now at AUC) about the shul. He gives me directions and then I look in the Lonely Planet book (thanks Flori and Josh) and see that it happens to be about 3 blocks from the hostel. Awesome.
So we rush over to the shul because it got dark increadibly fast. We recognize it because it is the only building that has an entire army battalion guarding it. We ask to go in but it's closed. I think they said that we missed services but we should come back at 9:30 Shabbat morning. I'm really upset, but again, not much I can do about it.
Next on the agenda was Shabbat dinner. Andrea agreed to be the food buyer for the weekend so we walk to a few restaurants and finally find one that has food without meat. We sit upstairs and it was delicious. For some reason I was expecting it to be terrible, but it was actually really good.
After dinner we decided to just walk around downtown Cairo. We got some ice cream. There were two separate lines: one for men and one for women. Interesting. We then walked to the Nile and hung out on the bridge and then went and sat down in a public park. As always everyone stares at the foreigners and quite a few say "Welcome to Egypt" while they walk by. A five year old Egyptian boy came over and gave Andrea a flower and then ran back to his mother. He then came back and gave one to me. So adorable. When I thanked him and asked him his name in Arabic he turned and ran. All in all, it was a really nice night.
We woke up the next morning determined to get to services on time. We ate breakfast quickly and then walked over to the shul. Locked. The guards say they are late and that we should come back in a half hour. We argue with them for a while because we would rather just stay there until they open the doors. Finally someone comes to open the doors.
We go inside and the man asks for 25 pounds from each of us but when I explained we were there to pray not sight see and that it was Shabbat, he let us in for free. It was a beautiful synagogue. Lots of pews, a huge ark and a beautful bimah in the center with a big portait of Ibn Ezra in front.
While it is beautiful, it is also becoming increasingly clear to me that there are not going to be any services there. So I grabbed a siddur (donated by Bar-Ilan University) and started to pray. I just finished Shacharit when a group of American Jews walked in. There were all studying at yeshivas in Israel. We play Jewish geography for a little while and then I said Hallel with on of the guys.
They wanted to go and grab some tea, so we decided to go with them and then come back later so I could finish. But on the way we ran into Robb, Hannah and Mario on the street. What are the odds? They got in the night before and were on their way to our hostel to check in. So Andrea went with the group and I brought our friends to the hostel since it was so close.
The three of them had planned on getting a room for all three of them by saying that Mario and Hannah were married. Sadly, they are not the best actors. Sorry guys. Eventually they settle for the dorms which are fine and ask if they can put their stuff in our room. I say sure but then the guy behind the counter says that I'm supposed to check out. What?
Apparently our room had been booked for Saturday night and we hadn't paid for that night yet either. So I had to move our stuff to the new room and pay for another night. Not exactly what I had in mind when I told myself I'd be flexible. But, at least I'm not a slave here, thank God.
We then met back up with Andrea and the group and headed over to the Khan al-Khalili bazaar. I figured, just because I can't buy anything, doesn't mean I can't use my Arabic to help my friends get better deals. It was a lot of fun and I'll be sure to come back after the Yom Tov is over so I can grab a few things.
After a full day in the bazaar, we walked over to the front gate where we heard there was going to be some Sufi dancing. We waited in line for about an hour and a half, but it was competely worth it. It was about 90 minutes long and everything was great; the spinning, the music, the costumes, the drums (although my ears were ringing a little afterward). Admittedly, what we say probably wasn't the most authentic thing in the world. I mean, if the entire idea of Sufism is Fana or the anihilation of the ego or the self, I don't really see how putting one's Self on stage can be part of that. But, authentic or not, it was a great show and it was free. A winning combination.
We headed back downtown and decided to end the night with some tea and shisha. We sat at a corner cafe, relaxed, somed some hookah and joked around with the owners for a whlie. Then it was time for bed.
I woke up late the next morning, had some breakfast and then walked to the shul so I could repent a little for all the shabbos "bending" I had done. We get there and it's closed because it's Sunday. Wonderful. I talk with the main guard and convince him to let me pray in the big open courtyard in the back. So I had to go back and get my siddur, but then I finally got to pray at the Shul. Shacharit, Musaf, Minchah, the whole shabang. It was great; I got to pray and Andrea got to read a whole lot about Luxor. I mean a lot, I took my time.
We then walked down towards the Abdeen Palace. It was huge and beautiful. My favorite thing though I think was seeing a scale model of a memorial for the Egyptian Liberation of the Sinai in 1973. Interesting retelling of history, especially since Israel still held the Sinai at the end of the war and actually was in control of more land than at the beginning. But to each his own I suppose. It was also nice seeing that the Israeli foreign ministry donated an ancient spearhead from the time of the Judean Kingdom (6th-8th Century BCE) to the government along with silver olive branches.
We then rushed to find some lunch and found a nice corner cafe that had backgammon. We got some falafel and bean sandwiches and played for a while. Andrea beat me. Then I let one of the men who was there play for a while. The whole cafe was watching. Andrea ended up losing, but she put up a good fight. She tried to buy the board, but they wouldn't budge. Oh well. We were told to come back Tuesday morning to play again. We'll see.
Now we're getting our stuff together to head down to Luxor. I'm very excited.
I woke up around 5 pm from a nap (come back later to find out why I was so tired) and had to hurry to get ready for Shabbat. I wanted to buy lots of food for Sukkot, but there aren't any traditional grocery stores like we know, only small shops and street vendors (at least near me). It was becoming increasingly apparent that I would have to be a little flexible with the rules this weekend. Not the best way to start the new year, but not much of a choice.
I got online and asked Sam (little Schechter friend who is now at AUC) about the shul. He gives me directions and then I look in the Lonely Planet book (thanks Flori and Josh) and see that it happens to be about 3 blocks from the hostel. Awesome.
So we rush over to the shul because it got dark increadibly fast. We recognize it because it is the only building that has an entire army battalion guarding it. We ask to go in but it's closed. I think they said that we missed services but we should come back at 9:30 Shabbat morning. I'm really upset, but again, not much I can do about it.
Next on the agenda was Shabbat dinner. Andrea agreed to be the food buyer for the weekend so we walk to a few restaurants and finally find one that has food without meat. We sit upstairs and it was delicious. For some reason I was expecting it to be terrible, but it was actually really good.
After dinner we decided to just walk around downtown Cairo. We got some ice cream. There were two separate lines: one for men and one for women. Interesting. We then walked to the Nile and hung out on the bridge and then went and sat down in a public park. As always everyone stares at the foreigners and quite a few say "Welcome to Egypt" while they walk by. A five year old Egyptian boy came over and gave Andrea a flower and then ran back to his mother. He then came back and gave one to me. So adorable. When I thanked him and asked him his name in Arabic he turned and ran. All in all, it was a really nice night.
We woke up the next morning determined to get to services on time. We ate breakfast quickly and then walked over to the shul. Locked. The guards say they are late and that we should come back in a half hour. We argue with them for a while because we would rather just stay there until they open the doors. Finally someone comes to open the doors.
We go inside and the man asks for 25 pounds from each of us but when I explained we were there to pray not sight see and that it was Shabbat, he let us in for free. It was a beautiful synagogue. Lots of pews, a huge ark and a beautful bimah in the center with a big portait of Ibn Ezra in front.
While it is beautiful, it is also becoming increasingly clear to me that there are not going to be any services there. So I grabbed a siddur (donated by Bar-Ilan University) and started to pray. I just finished Shacharit when a group of American Jews walked in. There were all studying at yeshivas in Israel. We play Jewish geography for a little while and then I said Hallel with on of the guys.
They wanted to go and grab some tea, so we decided to go with them and then come back later so I could finish. But on the way we ran into Robb, Hannah and Mario on the street. What are the odds? They got in the night before and were on their way to our hostel to check in. So Andrea went with the group and I brought our friends to the hostel since it was so close.
The three of them had planned on getting a room for all three of them by saying that Mario and Hannah were married. Sadly, they are not the best actors. Sorry guys. Eventually they settle for the dorms which are fine and ask if they can put their stuff in our room. I say sure but then the guy behind the counter says that I'm supposed to check out. What?
Apparently our room had been booked for Saturday night and we hadn't paid for that night yet either. So I had to move our stuff to the new room and pay for another night. Not exactly what I had in mind when I told myself I'd be flexible. But, at least I'm not a slave here, thank God.
We then met back up with Andrea and the group and headed over to the Khan al-Khalili bazaar. I figured, just because I can't buy anything, doesn't mean I can't use my Arabic to help my friends get better deals. It was a lot of fun and I'll be sure to come back after the Yom Tov is over so I can grab a few things.
After a full day in the bazaar, we walked over to the front gate where we heard there was going to be some Sufi dancing. We waited in line for about an hour and a half, but it was competely worth it. It was about 90 minutes long and everything was great; the spinning, the music, the costumes, the drums (although my ears were ringing a little afterward). Admittedly, what we say probably wasn't the most authentic thing in the world. I mean, if the entire idea of Sufism is Fana or the anihilation of the ego or the self, I don't really see how putting one's Self on stage can be part of that. But, authentic or not, it was a great show and it was free. A winning combination.
We headed back downtown and decided to end the night with some tea and shisha. We sat at a corner cafe, relaxed, somed some hookah and joked around with the owners for a whlie. Then it was time for bed.
I woke up late the next morning, had some breakfast and then walked to the shul so I could repent a little for all the shabbos "bending" I had done. We get there and it's closed because it's Sunday. Wonderful. I talk with the main guard and convince him to let me pray in the big open courtyard in the back. So I had to go back and get my siddur, but then I finally got to pray at the Shul. Shacharit, Musaf, Minchah, the whole shabang. It was great; I got to pray and Andrea got to read a whole lot about Luxor. I mean a lot, I took my time.
We then walked down towards the Abdeen Palace. It was huge and beautiful. My favorite thing though I think was seeing a scale model of a memorial for the Egyptian Liberation of the Sinai in 1973. Interesting retelling of history, especially since Israel still held the Sinai at the end of the war and actually was in control of more land than at the beginning. But to each his own I suppose. It was also nice seeing that the Israeli foreign ministry donated an ancient spearhead from the time of the Judean Kingdom (6th-8th Century BCE) to the government along with silver olive branches.
We then rushed to find some lunch and found a nice corner cafe that had backgammon. We got some falafel and bean sandwiches and played for a while. Andrea beat me. Then I let one of the men who was there play for a while. The whole cafe was watching. Andrea ended up losing, but she put up a good fight. She tried to buy the board, but they wouldn't budge. Oh well. We were told to come back Tuesday morning to play again. We'll see.
Now we're getting our stuff together to head down to Luxor. I'm very excited.
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