Midnight: We arrive in a Bedouin town in southern Jordan. We pile out of the bus. We put our backpacks into a pickup truck and we hop into Toyota. Off-roading through the Wadi Rum desert, we scream and hold on for dear life as our driver laughs and presses down on the gas pedal even more, sending sand flying up in our wake as we speed through the desert darkness. Half and hour later, we pile down and are received with a hot Bedouin meal inside a large tent on the sand. Dinner at 1:00 AM, Bedouin style. Chicken, rice, veggies, tea, and these amazing fig cookies send us off to bed. Five girls, three beds (they were a little short in the Bedouin camp), but we're exhausted so it's no problem.
The morning light did NOT wake us up, as Bruce anticipated, so he had to come barging in at 10 AM to get us moving for breakfast in the smokey big tent. I love Bedouin tea. Another off-roading adventure and we pile out for a mountain-top hike. Gorgeous views of the famous Wadi Rum--blue skies with white clouds topping off the reds, oranges and browns of the mountains and desert floor, which is spotted with green shrubbery. The hot sun pounds down on us and we feel on top of the world. Lunch is prepared by our Bedouin guides and eaten atop a flat rock, where we nap in the sun afterwards. Back to the camp, then I find myself climbing another mountain with Chris Lim and Sarah Iskander to see the sunset over the desert. Class meeting, more tea and hookah, then back to that cozy bed.
The adventures really begin the next morning. "Exit Wadi Rum by camel"--that's what our syllabus says. Oh boy. First off, Lim chooses a nice healthy looking camel. The camels are tied in groups of three. There's one more healthy-looking one and one very old, sickly, foaming, biting, gross-looking one. Of course, me and Audrey are fighting over who gets the ugly one...but then I just hopped on the healthy one and cut her off. She gets the sicky!
Later, Audrey is untethered by a Bedouin man and her camel proceeds to go absolutely crazy. It starts running in circles, sitting down and standing back up, trying to throw her off, and then runs straight out into the desert. We're cracking up, but also kind of worried she's going to fall off. She manages to stay on though, and Later, Audrey is untethered by a Bedouin man and her camel proceeds to go absolutely crazy. It starts running in circles, sitting down and standing back up, trying to throw her off, and then runs straight out into the desert. We're cracking up, but also kind of worried she's going to fall off. She manages to stay on though, and gets tied back up to Lim as punishment.
Riding a camel is just what it sounds like: bumpy, slightly uncomfortable, hard to steer, kind of smelly. But boy do you look awesome. Especially our group, in our kafias with the gorgeous desert backdrop. It also goes very slowly. It takes us over two hours to get out of the desert. In that time, I decide that my camel (I named him Buddy) and I were going to try to escape. We untie ourselves from the others and I start digging my heels into his side and clicking my teeth at him like the Bedouin guys are doing. After a while of trying, he finally begins picking up the pace...now he's trotting...then he's running! I'm literally getting air off the saddle, bouncing up and down a good foot or so--there's no stirrups so it's hard to stay in the saddle. As I'm hanging on for dear life, I can't really steer, so Buddy heads off the path and straight into the desert. A small Bedouin man is running after me yelling "La la la!" (which means "no" in Arabic) and "Stop stop!" But I can't stop. It's not till Buddy gets bored and slows down that the man catches me, leads me back to the group and ties me behind Bruce. I'm chained up to the professor for the rest of the journey (which turned out to be fun anyways).
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Thank you, Iskanders!
First of all, this family is awesome. Sarah and her parents are some of the most hospitable people--taking all 20 of us into their apartment for dinner, letting us use the phone to call home and say hi to our moms, and entertaining us the whole evening. It extends even further.
After a trip to a shopping mall in Cairo for gifts (the biggest mall I think I've ever seen), we drove out to the Iskander's beach house on the Red Sea. They put us all up for the night, fed us in the morning, and let us use all their beach toys for our beach day the next day. Super great family. We enjoyed more swimming and beach volleyball (it never gets old) and an amazing seafood lunch. We heard from two of Sarah's uncles, both of whom are pastors, about Islam and Christianity in the Middle East, and about Christian Zionism and the obstacles it presents in the Middle East. Fascinating talks. Josie and Sarah's family made us all dinner again, as we tried to catch her little dog Mocha (who was terrified of all of us).
The end of the evening was a somewhat sober note: I viewed the documentary "Arna's Children"--which was directed by Juliano, the director of Jenin Freedom Theatre recently shot and killed. First of all, it was sad to see because of recent events. And second of all, it followed the theatre kids through the Second Intifada, where most of them died trying to fight the occupation. It was glimpse into the lives of children growing up in occupied refugee camps, and a reminder that there is still much work to be done in Israel.
A five AM wake-up jolted us out of bed the next morning, as we headed onto the bus. Destination: border crossing and ferry to Jordan. Goodbye Egypt, I hope to return someday soon!
After a trip to a shopping mall in Cairo for gifts (the biggest mall I think I've ever seen), we drove out to the Iskander's beach house on the Red Sea. They put us all up for the night, fed us in the morning, and let us use all their beach toys for our beach day the next day. Super great family. We enjoyed more swimming and beach volleyball (it never gets old) and an amazing seafood lunch. We heard from two of Sarah's uncles, both of whom are pastors, about Islam and Christianity in the Middle East, and about Christian Zionism and the obstacles it presents in the Middle East. Fascinating talks. Josie and Sarah's family made us all dinner again, as we tried to catch her little dog Mocha (who was terrified of all of us).
The end of the evening was a somewhat sober note: I viewed the documentary "Arna's Children"--which was directed by Juliano, the director of Jenin Freedom Theatre recently shot and killed. First of all, it was sad to see because of recent events. And second of all, it followed the theatre kids through the Second Intifada, where most of them died trying to fight the occupation. It was glimpse into the lives of children growing up in occupied refugee camps, and a reminder that there is still much work to be done in Israel.
A five AM wake-up jolted us out of bed the next morning, as we headed onto the bus. Destination: border crossing and ferry to Jordan. Goodbye Egypt, I hope to return someday soon!
The Giza Pyramids
Giza is to Cairo as Goleta is to Santa Barbara. According to Westmont's policies, we weren't allowed to enter downtown Cairo because of safety concerns. But Westmont didn't know we could basically see the buildings of downtown Cairo from our location in Giza. Oh well. Giza felt about as safe as LA--which means that you always run the risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there was nothing perpetuating a more violent society here than at big cities at home.
Our morning climb was rewarded with a delicious steak, mashed potatoes, and vegetable dinner and then a treat for our ears: hearing from one of the leaders of the Revolution! We listened to him speak about the planning and motivations for the Egyptian Revolution, which was led by a youth movement. Originally, they had just planned a protest in the streets. But as police violence increased, the revolutionaries realized they should ask for more rights and eventually, the removal of Mubarak as President. The Egyptian Revolution is noteworthy because it took place so fast--Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, and other places are still having street protests but no real results yet. Egypt's massive protests were successful in turing the tide for the Egyptian people. We also heard about how this is a decisive point for Egypt's future--if the wrong people come into power in the upcoming elections, it could be bad. That's why people are hopeful in the youth movement, because the youth tend to be less religiously-motivated and more socially and economically motivated. All in all, it was a fascinating talk.
After a night in the 5-star Grand Pyramids Hotel (I could see the pyramids from my room), and the best breakfast we had had in a long time the next morning, it was off to the Giza Pyramids! A dream come true for most of us, we took a billion photos and marveled at the HUGE size of the pyramids. We got to go inside one of the smaller ones, which was neat (and really stuffy). And we had a great group photo shoot with the three larger Giza pyramids and the city of Cairo in the backdrop. We also visited the Sphynx, which was super interesting. That's where we took our Freebirds photo. Look for us on the wall this summer!
Wrapping up our awesome day in Giza, we headed to the Iskander's apartment for dinner.
Our morning climb was rewarded with a delicious steak, mashed potatoes, and vegetable dinner and then a treat for our ears: hearing from one of the leaders of the Revolution! We listened to him speak about the planning and motivations for the Egyptian Revolution, which was led by a youth movement. Originally, they had just planned a protest in the streets. But as police violence increased, the revolutionaries realized they should ask for more rights and eventually, the removal of Mubarak as President. The Egyptian Revolution is noteworthy because it took place so fast--Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, and other places are still having street protests but no real results yet. Egypt's massive protests were successful in turing the tide for the Egyptian people. We also heard about how this is a decisive point for Egypt's future--if the wrong people come into power in the upcoming elections, it could be bad. That's why people are hopeful in the youth movement, because the youth tend to be less religiously-motivated and more socially and economically motivated. All in all, it was a fascinating talk.
After a night in the 5-star Grand Pyramids Hotel (I could see the pyramids from my room), and the best breakfast we had had in a long time the next morning, it was off to the Giza Pyramids! A dream come true for most of us, we took a billion photos and marveled at the HUGE size of the pyramids. We got to go inside one of the smaller ones, which was neat (and really stuffy). And we had a great group photo shoot with the three larger Giza pyramids and the city of Cairo in the backdrop. We also visited the Sphynx, which was super interesting. That's where we took our Freebirds photo. Look for us on the wall this summer!
Wrapping up our awesome day in Giza, we headed to the Iskander's apartment for dinner.
Egypt: We made it!
After months of debating whether or not Westmont would let us go to Egpyt because of the Revolution and perceived violence, we were ecstatic when we went through that border crosser. We finally made it! Driving through the Saini to Dahab, we got our first glimpses of Sarah's country--bright blue Red Sea on one side, huge rocky reddish brown mountains jutting up on the other. Once we arrived in Dahab, a small beachy resort town, we had an awesome Middle Eastern style dinner, on rugs on the floor perched on the edge of the sea. Our Octopus Hotel in Dahab left some things to be desired...like maybe no cockroaches next time, or air conditioning that doesn't sound like a Storm Trooper invading our room, or fresh water instead of salt water for the sink and showers. But nothing could bring us down, we were in Egypt!
Our first day was another amazing beach day at a nearby resort. Swimming, beach volleyball, I even tried wake-boarding...the weather was hot and the water was perfect and clear. It was like a vacation in Hawaii, except everything was cheaper and you said "shokran" instead of "mahalo" to thank people. We stayed all day on the beach and then headed back to our rooms for about three hours of sleep.
12:30 GET UP! It's time to hike Mount Saini! Onto the bus, trying to fall back asleep, then off the bus again and into the cold. It's 3:00 AM, time to start the hike. We follow our Bedouin guide, stumbling in the dark up, up, up. Scrambling over loose rocks and sliding on sand, trudging past huge black rocks--oh wait, those are sleeping camels. Higher and higher we go, and finally at about 4:15 we reach the last section of the climb: the dreaded stairs. Flashbacks of the difficult Masada climb whip through my brain as me and Reyn push ourselves up 700-something stairs, not letting each other fall behind. Around 5:00, totally out of breath and swearing to tell Coach Larralde about this when he claims I didn't work out on my semester abroad, we are rewarded with a gorgeous view of the sunrise and surrounding mountaintops and valleys. Group photo time. We read about Moses and the Ten Commandments, given atop this holy mountain thousands of years ago, drinking Bedouin tea and trying not to freeze in the cool morning sun. Another hour or so of stairs down the mountain, and we reach St. Catherine's monestary, a historic old place where we eat breakfast. Then it's a six-hour bus ride to Cairo--I mean Giza.
Our first day was another amazing beach day at a nearby resort. Swimming, beach volleyball, I even tried wake-boarding...the weather was hot and the water was perfect and clear. It was like a vacation in Hawaii, except everything was cheaper and you said "shokran" instead of "mahalo" to thank people. We stayed all day on the beach and then headed back to our rooms for about three hours of sleep.
12:30 GET UP! It's time to hike Mount Saini! Onto the bus, trying to fall back asleep, then off the bus again and into the cold. It's 3:00 AM, time to start the hike. We follow our Bedouin guide, stumbling in the dark up, up, up. Scrambling over loose rocks and sliding on sand, trudging past huge black rocks--oh wait, those are sleeping camels. Higher and higher we go, and finally at about 4:15 we reach the last section of the climb: the dreaded stairs. Flashbacks of the difficult Masada climb whip through my brain as me and Reyn push ourselves up 700-something stairs, not letting each other fall behind. Around 5:00, totally out of breath and swearing to tell Coach Larralde about this when he claims I didn't work out on my semester abroad, we are rewarded with a gorgeous view of the sunrise and surrounding mountaintops and valleys. Group photo time. We read about Moses and the Ten Commandments, given atop this holy mountain thousands of years ago, drinking Bedouin tea and trying not to freeze in the cool morning sun. Another hour or so of stairs down the mountain, and we reach St. Catherine's monestary, a historic old place where we eat breakfast. Then it's a six-hour bus ride to Cairo--I mean Giza.
Finishing up Israel
Well there's been a bit of a break in the blogging here for me, sorry guys! We had a pretty packed last few weeks, combined with very few opportunities for Internet. Now I'll play catch-up to keep you all in the know about where I've been recently.
After the Jesus Trail ended, we explored Capernaum and its surrounding areas. We visited the Church of the Beatitudes, on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is thought to have preached his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. This church visit was quite eye-opening for me, because after seeing the inside our group met outside in the gardens to read the Sermon on the Mount. It was ridiculously windy and bright, I could barely read the words on my Bible or hear Bruce reading a few feet away. After a three-day hike through the land Jesus would have walked, this hit home. These experiences were showing me the humanity of Christ--he had to walk through mud and probably got splinters, he maybe even had to shout and lose his voice to preach on this mountaintop so people could hear him over the wind.
After leaving the Galilee area, we made our way up through the north of Israel to the Golan Heights, a plateau area at the center of Israel and Syria's border disputes. Israel has claimed control of the Golan, and uses it as highly militarized area to keep the border secure. Thus, many Arab Israelis have been forcefully evacuated from this area as well, contributing to the refugee problem. Currently, about 20,000 Israelis and 20,000 Druze live in the Golan. (The Druze are a splinter sect of Islam, but they are loyal to Israel so allowed to remain in their homes).
The Golan was gorgeous! We hiked through some old Roman ruins, temples and waterfalls--all surrounded by bright green plants and trees. Though my blistered feet didn't really want to do more hiking.
After the Golan we headed back down towards Jerusalem again, stopping at Acco (a town on the coast with remains of Herod's manmade harbor), and Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was an experience all its own--it was basically Israel's Santa Monica, with beaches and shopping and rollerblading and sushi. We had a much-needed free day and spent it playing volleyball and swimming at one of the beaches. Relaxing in a city like this, it was easy to see how some Israelis are so ignorant about the conflict--they just don't know or care what human rights are being obstructed a few hours away because they're living normal lives in a very Westernized city. The "burden of knowledge" (as Chris Lim puts it) expands to more than just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict though. How can I criticize ignorant Israelis when I might not know all about human trafficking in LA or something similar to that? I'm putting huge responsibility on myself now, to be aware of what goes on beneath the radar around me and act on it. "Once you see, you can't un-see."
To bookend our month in Israel and Palestine, we ended up back in Jerusalem. This time staying in a French convent on Via Dolarosa, we were awarded gorgeous nighttime views of the Dome of the Rock from our roof. We spent the last four days in this amazing city seeing the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and the Israel Museum. We also had our Palm Sunday here, observing a procession through the Old City streets of pilgrims and tourists from around the world. And we got to spend some time also in West Jerusalem and Jaffa St, where we actually had an assignment to interview Jews. We asked them questions about Israel, security, Palestinians, etc. The most interesting responses I got from my street interviews were to these questions:
*What do the Palestinians want from Israel?
--Five of my six interviews had the exact same answer: "They want to kill us."
*What is Israel's biggest threat?
--Some said the Arabs, others said the disunity of the Israeli people and the government's selfish nature
*Should the Palestinians get their own state?
--Most said no, one said "Sure, but not here. They have 22 other Arab states to go to and we only have 1 Jewish state." And one older gentleman said, "Yes, why not?" as if that was the most obvious answer to this question.
To end our time in Israel, we drove south through the Negev to the bottom of Israel, where we had a day tour learning about the Bedouin. Another problem all their own, the Bedouin are Israel's pastoral native population, traveling around the desert with herds in specific tribes. The Israeli government has tried to settle them into towns, most of which are ill-equipped and poverty-ridden. Some Bedouin have made their own villages, however the government refuses to recognize these are they are cut off from service like water, electricity, and schools. Of course, Israeli towns right next door receive all these services. We had lunch in an unrecognized Bedouin village, and talked with the locals about their situation. It was a sad story, but just another side of things gone wrong in Israel.
Our bus driver dropped us off, we put on our bulging backpacks yet again, and trudged out into the Eilat border crossing between Israel and Egypt, ready for the next adventure!
After the Jesus Trail ended, we explored Capernaum and its surrounding areas. We visited the Church of the Beatitudes, on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is thought to have preached his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. This church visit was quite eye-opening for me, because after seeing the inside our group met outside in the gardens to read the Sermon on the Mount. It was ridiculously windy and bright, I could barely read the words on my Bible or hear Bruce reading a few feet away. After a three-day hike through the land Jesus would have walked, this hit home. These experiences were showing me the humanity of Christ--he had to walk through mud and probably got splinters, he maybe even had to shout and lose his voice to preach on this mountaintop so people could hear him over the wind.
After leaving the Galilee area, we made our way up through the north of Israel to the Golan Heights, a plateau area at the center of Israel and Syria's border disputes. Israel has claimed control of the Golan, and uses it as highly militarized area to keep the border secure. Thus, many Arab Israelis have been forcefully evacuated from this area as well, contributing to the refugee problem. Currently, about 20,000 Israelis and 20,000 Druze live in the Golan. (The Druze are a splinter sect of Islam, but they are loyal to Israel so allowed to remain in their homes).
The Golan was gorgeous! We hiked through some old Roman ruins, temples and waterfalls--all surrounded by bright green plants and trees. Though my blistered feet didn't really want to do more hiking.
After the Golan we headed back down towards Jerusalem again, stopping at Acco (a town on the coast with remains of Herod's manmade harbor), and Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was an experience all its own--it was basically Israel's Santa Monica, with beaches and shopping and rollerblading and sushi. We had a much-needed free day and spent it playing volleyball and swimming at one of the beaches. Relaxing in a city like this, it was easy to see how some Israelis are so ignorant about the conflict--they just don't know or care what human rights are being obstructed a few hours away because they're living normal lives in a very Westernized city. The "burden of knowledge" (as Chris Lim puts it) expands to more than just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict though. How can I criticize ignorant Israelis when I might not know all about human trafficking in LA or something similar to that? I'm putting huge responsibility on myself now, to be aware of what goes on beneath the radar around me and act on it. "Once you see, you can't un-see."
To bookend our month in Israel and Palestine, we ended up back in Jerusalem. This time staying in a French convent on Via Dolarosa, we were awarded gorgeous nighttime views of the Dome of the Rock from our roof. We spent the last four days in this amazing city seeing the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane, and the Israel Museum. We also had our Palm Sunday here, observing a procession through the Old City streets of pilgrims and tourists from around the world. And we got to spend some time also in West Jerusalem and Jaffa St, where we actually had an assignment to interview Jews. We asked them questions about Israel, security, Palestinians, etc. The most interesting responses I got from my street interviews were to these questions:
*What do the Palestinians want from Israel?
--Five of my six interviews had the exact same answer: "They want to kill us."
*What is Israel's biggest threat?
--Some said the Arabs, others said the disunity of the Israeli people and the government's selfish nature
*Should the Palestinians get their own state?
--Most said no, one said "Sure, but not here. They have 22 other Arab states to go to and we only have 1 Jewish state." And one older gentleman said, "Yes, why not?" as if that was the most obvious answer to this question.
To end our time in Israel, we drove south through the Negev to the bottom of Israel, where we had a day tour learning about the Bedouin. Another problem all their own, the Bedouin are Israel's pastoral native population, traveling around the desert with herds in specific tribes. The Israeli government has tried to settle them into towns, most of which are ill-equipped and poverty-ridden. Some Bedouin have made their own villages, however the government refuses to recognize these are they are cut off from service like water, electricity, and schools. Of course, Israeli towns right next door receive all these services. We had lunch in an unrecognized Bedouin village, and talked with the locals about their situation. It was a sad story, but just another side of things gone wrong in Israel.
Our bus driver dropped us off, we put on our bulging backpacks yet again, and trudged out into the Eilat border crossing between Israel and Egypt, ready for the next adventure!
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