Pyramids, Tombs, History OH MY! :-)

Surreal.

Just - really even tho we're living here.....I go out to the pyramids and I wanted to pinch myself! IS THIS REAL?! AM I REALLY HERE?? of course the unregulated begging and the garbage tornado's (I mean dust twisters) remind me quickly it's real ;)

Then I get on a camel and away from the pyramids and swaying w/ my camel and feeling the intensity of the sun scorching any moisture from my lips and I know...NO PINCHING NECESSARY...WE'RE REALLY IN EGYPT!

Original hyrogliphics (spell? whatever! I give up trying ha ha ha!).....original inks!!!! Chambers and tombs....dessert where there was once water...desert areas where Moses was...where recorded history began..

just...

people...this is too much to take in AND I LIVE HERE! ha ha ha! It was 30 C today - so what's that....80 F? mostly sunny and H-O-T hot! I know it's hotter over the desert than just off the Nile, but it's impossible to really explain that when you "read" it to know ya...ya know? ;) Then there's the soothing vastness of the desert itself...seeing it stretch to the horizon....yes it made me long for Lake Michigan...but....something....terrifyingly majestic and soothingly simply about the desert stretching to the horizon!

Anas had a good time, he hadn't been out there in years and hadn't seen the solar boat since shortly after it took it's final resting place ;) He did not ride with us, he sat in tranquility he said :-) We were certainly disappointed(butunderstood) his daughter had other plans that came up today. His wife works for diplomats, plans coferences, travel, etc...so she's VERY busy until the summer months when everything around here stops - like US traveling ;) Tho we are planning a week in Alexandria this summer (and winter in Luxor where it is average 46 C in the summer look up THAT in F!)

Joshua **looooooooooooooooooooooved** riding his horse and had NO desire to get on a camel..that HE at 8 yrs old could DRIVE (hee hee) his own horse...he was all over that! Of course, he has no idea they're sickly, hot tired and in no desire to run anywhere anyway! ha!

Jasmine wasn't too keen on the camel either...so she rode w/ a guide and was MOSTLY SMILES!!!!!! the kids REALLY took it all in! I sorta felt like a kid too ;)
Rob wasn't keen on a camel either :-(

But Jasmine's eyes as she saw one stand up and then slowly declare "no, I want a horse" ha ha ha!!

Climbing down into the smaller pyramid was....well..my bp went up pretty good as it's QUITE steep, DIMLY lit (I think Mammoth Cave has more lighting), VERY narrow and you have 1" pcs of wood every 2' to catch your footing...and have you seen the movie "The Mummy?"
"where's our smelly little friend?" and "what is that HORRIBLE smell? Oh!"

Well.....there we together....

but really it was like DUDE.....THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME!

ha ha!

Being in the tombs....seeing their writings, etc....was ASTOUNDING!

WE STOOD WHERE "HISTORY" BEGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is there a descriptive way to tell you how that feels? I have been on the side of the Rocky Mountains on a path where it's so narrow you can't pass!! If you've done anything that exhilerating, you'll know what I'm talking about!

And I was thinking of the Israelites after they left Goshen...and whined about no food or water...and how many people and myself early in Christianity thought they were so shallow......1 hr on the desert and I thought about their reality...and was so humbled by the faith of the few....and just...awed!!!!!!!!!!! not sure that's even coming out right..but there ya have it..my mental and spiritual spew for the day
;)

Melanie - keep forgetting to tell you THIS SUNSCREEN ROCKS!! :-) Melalucca (spell?) is AWESOME! my frends.....GET YOURSELVES SOMETHING SAFER AND THAT WORKS!! :-)

The interesting thing about the camel ride was the inability to "hold yourself up" ilke in stirrups - EEK MY BUM! The funny thing is...EVERYTIME I got on or off (originally, then in the desert, then back there) the animal grunted as tho I was killing it, Joshua wouldlaugh SO hard! "you're TOOOOO big, momma" lolololol

Well, we didn't get any lunch...so we had pizza delivered while the kids split left over Italian Chicken :-)

OH CHICKEN!

I tried out my new words on Anas....one is "inaccurate" - Belody is a TYPE of Chicken that does not get hormones, etc.....more organic chicken. HA HA! good thing I tried it on him ;)

It is almost 5, we're WIPED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but cannot muster the energy to attend church - blushing. I really don't have it in me to go/do anything more than sit on this sofa w/ Rob's small plane 'puter! Those who know me well will know I'm tired..not only did we get pizza....I'M MAKING THE KIDS STARE AT A MOVIE! lol

**oh oh - I put in more Pharaonic Village pics, I think many of you missed them ;)
and it's ok if you can't keep up I CAN BARELY KEEP UP! ha!

Salaam wih Mahselehmah
Peace and good bye!

you can say peace for hello or good bye technically here ;)

Here's a gob of photos!!

I really wish that photos could grasp the enormity of the solar boat, the hole, the limestone ONE PC stones of the "boat ceiling" in it's "tomb" or the silliness of our shoe slippers in the boat museum. Joshua, sigh......we almost couldn't spend the day.....he was CLIMBING the pyramid.....those who know us you can hear this right? Me using an annoyed, panicked voice..

JOSHUA, WHAT ARE YOU DOOOOOOING? GET DOWN HERE?

this is GREAT,LOOK AT ME!

Jooooooooshuaaaaaa! GEEEEEEEEEEEEET DOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? I'm so high up now, I can't even really hear you! HEY, LOOK HOW HIGH THE TRASH TORNADO IS OVER THERE!

Joshua, I MEAN IT! GET DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN!

(of course he keeps going....and then....falls..........luckily the slabs are "deep" enough he only falls off one and scrapes himself up on the one he lands on...and at THIS point)

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET of a high pitched whistle...and a military guy running for us and pointing

IS THERE DUCT TAPE IN EGYPT????

I whacked Joshua in the butt right there and scolded him as i knew the guy would like this....he said "good, madam, you ok now" whew!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

but...I am sure all but Gma is laughing now ;) Gma, you're not laughing are you???

I learned a couple weeks ago - if they see the parents are handling it...they move on ;) And yes..it was a Joshua situation that taught me this....PRAY FOR OUR SAFETY!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Tho it was Jasmine that got wild dogs to come after us...THAT IS NOT A FUN STORY!!!!! :-( The kids have learned a lot of hard things the hard way here...tho that's the way we remember BEST, righ? so...like 3 dogs won't run after us while the kids run and I take them on barking and making myself bgger than life....they've learned not to eyeball and growl at the packs of wild dogs now RIIIIIIIIIIGHT?

you see, we live beside one another and never pay no nevermind.........then my daughter in a snotty mood takes her mood out ON A PACK OF WILD DOGS?! AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

TALK ABOUT FLARE FOR THE MELLOWDRAMA! HA HA HA!!! I do suspect both my children got this very naturally...if not by genes, then by teaching.

ps - the pics outside that one of the guides took - they are NOT blurry..it's SAND WIPPING ACROSS THE DESERT! oh boy...you girls whining in Mich about snow...imagine SAND whipping ;) nah...can't be compared...at least it's "black cat laying in the sun" hot ;)




"The Mummy" movies - in case youre curious...they're speaking Classic Arabic. We do not speak it here ;) Egyptian Arabic IS different, sorry you can't learn from it! ha! Besides, word placement, sentence structure is ENTIRELY different from English..

"do you want something to eat?"
is literally
you eat something, yes?

"where is ninth street"
is literally
street nine where?

explaining a bit about the ones above..me..just completely amazed we were AT THE PYRAMIDS!
Then the kids and I as far as they allow climbing up the big 'un.
Then Jasmine on the "stairwell" down.

Joshua is standing to show you a general size of one block!!!!!




while the next one loads, interesting tidbit of living here...while you all spring ahead....apparently we don't spring ahead until April here?! what day...dunno! hope they tell us before we have to do it!! ha!






So the 3 big ones are dad, son, grandson. The smaller ones that are in shambles were for the wives. The other areas were for the workers...100,000 people worked on the big one!!!!!
We went down about 50 yards into the smaller tomb.

And just down like 5 steps to the engineer's tomb with the heroglyphics, statues, etc.

























tomorrow I'll post pics from our drive!