A night spent in the desert under the stars

My roommate Ashley and I took a trip to the Black and White Desert this weekend and had a fantastic and refreshing time! She was writing a long narrative about it in her blog and I thought it would be interesting (and easier for me hehehe) for you to see the trip from her perspective. So this is a special appearance by my roomate Ashley and the italics are my little comments and additions. Enjoy!

After short introductions, we loaded up in the microbus and headed off to the Western Desert. We passed through Mohandeseen and out into the Giza area. I was so excited when we drove right by the pyramids! It was the closest I’ve been to them yet (Mine as well!). We left around four, so we were still on the road for iftar time. Our driver was counting down the minutes and finally he was able to pull out two water bottles. Then we offered him some dates which he happily accepted.

We passed through two checkpoints, which I was a little nervous about because I didn’t bring my passport, but it was fine. We finally arrived at Bahariya Oasis around 9 pm. Once we arrived at the hotel, “The Golden Valley Hotel” we were given a short tour of the property. The owners are a famous Bedouin tour guide and a microbiologist from Sweden who married him last year… interesting life she lives now! Then they served us a delicious meal and informed us that we would be sleeping out on the dunes that night! We finished eating and then packed into two 4×4s. Our Bedouin guides drove us down a road and then all the sudden pulled a hard right into the dunes. I can’t really describe the joy that I felt when we first hit the sand. It was amazing. We could only see what the headlights illuminated, which wasn’t much. We went over dune after dune and then finally we circled to a stop.

We all jumped out and started running up the closest dune. When we reached the top we looked over and couldn’t see a thing. The headlights from the 4×4s were pointed at the dune so the one side was perfectly illuminated while the other rested in shadow. It was probably the most breathtaking and exiting expeience ever for me! I looked out at the sky and I was amazed to see my shadow in the sky. I can’t describe it very well, and it wouldn’t turn out in pictures, but the air had so much dust and particulate matter in it that it carried the light. Our shadows could be seen in the dust in the air, which was against the backdrop of the sky. We were nervous at first because we couldn’t tell how high the dune was on the other side or if there were scorpions. We finally used our phones to light up the dark side and we didn’t find any scorpions, although we did see a mouse.

Looking up at the sky took my breath away. I have never seen so many stars. The milky way was really bright and could be clearly pointed out. It was so great to get outside of Cairo and see the sky, as well as breathe fresh air!

The guides started setting up our camp while we were exploring the dunes. They had unloaded the 4×4s and set up two walls of material to guard us against the wind. Then they built a fire and pulled mattresses around it. A few minutes later another 4×4 showed up with more Bedouins. We all gathered around the fire and they began to play music for us. One of the guys began making tea for us. He explained that over the next two nights he would make five different teas for us. I was a little nervous about drinking it at first because I thought it might keep me up, but I drank it anyways. It was super sweet and very strong. Then the main Bedouin who was the owner of the company that was giving us the tour began telling us a story in Arabic and then translating it into English. The first one was about a guy that was all into a girl. Who had eyes like gazelles and breasts like pomegranates… weird. It was a little weird. But the second one was a guy who got married and divorced three times. It was a little depressing. But the singing and music was great! They got us all up and dancing and they even taught us a few moves. It was a lot of booty shaking to say the least. Then they served another round of tea, this time mint infused which was really tasty. And eventually we headed towards our mats but Jessy and I stayed up talking till about 2 am.

Finally morning came…at 6:00am when some of my fellow campers decided to get up and watch the sunrise. I woke up and found that the sun was rising right in front of me so I just stayed in my bed and watch it come up over the sand dunes. I got up and sat on top of the sand dune and watched it, it was a very peaceful moment. It was actually quite a bland sunrise, there weren’t any colors, just a bright white orb rising over the sand. We got up again around 8 am and everyone began getting dressed. Our guides were still out cold so we actually woke them up around 9am. They began getting breakfast together and finally put before us a scrumptious spread of bread, foul (bean dish), cheese, jams, orange juice, and coffee. Then we packed up the camp and jumped into the 4×4s. When our guide went to crank our 4×4 though nothing happened. So for the next 30 minutes they were all working on our car trying to get it to start. Finally they jumped it and off we were to the Black desert, which is covered in black iron deposits.

The Black desert kinda reminded me of Mordor (ok you can laugh but you know you’ve seen that movie and you know exactly what I’m talking about). We pulled up to a very intimidating black mountain and got out of the car. Immediately Craig began bounding up the side of the mountain and climbed all the way up to the plateau. Meanwhile, Kat made sand angels, and Theresa and I climbed half way up the mountain. We snapped tons of pictures, then headed back to the 4×4s, and headed off to one of our guide’s home village. We arrived at his home town and got out to collect dates. All three of our guides were fasting (since its still Ramadan) but were actively collecting things for iftar (breaking of the fast) that evening. Theresa and Jessy helped him make some fresh apricot juice. I helped him break the apricots (different from the one we are familiar with) open, take out the seeds and put it in large water bottles. Which we used as juice later. Im so surprised we didn’t end up dying from the unclean food prep! I love these experiences because although you can only get a small taste of their life it makes me better appreciate different ways of life. I no longer think of Bedouins as a backwards people group that don’t know any better, but people that love the desert and choose a simple way of life. And I can understand why now.After the village we headed over to a natural spring and a rest area.

When we pulled up there were multiple other 4×4 tour groups already there. We walked over to the spring and sat on the edge with our feet in. Both Jessy and I really wanted to get in but had not brought swimsuits. We evaluated our options (and our clothing supply) and decided it was worth it to get in. The water was bright blue with an evident trace of sulfur. There was also a lot of iron in the water and my shirt ended up with some iron stains on it, but it was totally worth the dip.

Afterwards we went into a hut beside the spring and ate lunch. Then we had a two hour break of just resting in the hut. There was a stream that ran through the hut so we could soak our feet in the cool spring water. The reason for the long hiatus was that it was the hottest part of the day and our guides were fasting. At around 3 pm we loaded back into the 4×4s and were off. But we didn’t get far when our driver abruptly pulled over. They got out of the car and began searching through some bushes in a ditch on the side of the dunes. Then he pulled up a round green watermelon and threw it to our other guide. I then motioned for him to throw it to me, which he did and then I gave it to the girls in the car. This was repeated about 15 more times. Someone later asked us whose watermelons those were, to which we realized that we guessed they were just wild, but no one seemed too concerned with that.

We drove on and finally began getting closer to the White Desert. We stopped at “Crystal Mountain’ which was quite different than what I was expecting. For starters it wasn’t really a mountain, I was actually wondering how people even knew it was anything special other than the sign and other tourists stopped there milling around. We got out of the car and began exploring the small geological site. The whole thing was made up of crystals and various minerals. It was pretty but again I had a slightly different idea in mind. We got back in the cars and headed on.

A little bit later, we randomly took a sharp left off the road and we began racing through the dunes. Then all the sudden they starting driving down a really steep dune. I was shocked! They stopped just on the precipice and told us to get out and take pictures. Another 4×4 was coming behind us and our guide yelled “photo the car! Photo the car!” I really enjoyed this expression and so I kept repeating it. Then we got back in the cars and continued straight down the dune. We saw yet another broken down 4×4 and once again our guides jumped out to help. This was yet the third car problem of the weekend!

We encountered our last car problem a few miles later when we suddenly began hearing a hissing noise. Apparently we had a flat tire. I was a little nervous at first because I wasn’t sure we had a spare, but our Bedouin guides know their stuff and came prepared. While they changed the tire we wandered around and explored the beginnings of the White Desert. Finally they yelled “yela, yela!” which means “let’s go, let’s go!” and we jumped back in the 4×4. They were in a hurry to break fast.

The way through the White Desert was lined with bright gleaming white rocks on either side of the trail. We began racing the other car through the desert that was now spotted with large white out cropping of salt deposits. It was amazing to see it at sunset! We saw some other tourists parked and setting up for the night. It was about iftar time so our guides quickly parked, hopped out and began getting things ready for iftar. We had fresh apricot juice Which I helped make! But didn’t like that much hehe, orange juice, water, and our freshly picked watermelon. The guides were really happy to finally drink and eat something!

After iftar they began setting up camp and getting dinner ready. Iftar was just a light meal and they really were going all out for dinner. While they were cooking we sat around and played “never have I ever” and two truths and a lie. Finally dinner was served! It was amazing, complete with BBQ chicken roasted on an open fire, Egyptian rice (which is the best), fresh salad (not American salad, but fresh diced tomatoes, cucumbers, lemon juice and peppers) and then potatoes in tomato sauce. It was one of the best meals I have eaten in Egypt!

The guides saw a desert fox around one of the 4×4s and shined a flashlight on it for us. It was so cute! It had huge ears and was the color of the sand. The guides told us to put our shoes in the car during the night because the foxes might come and steal them. Once dinner was over we gathered around the fire for music and the three other types of tea.

Thereasa, Craig and I decided to stay up and eat the special Ramadan breakfast with our Bedouin guides. So Craig and I stayed up talking while Theresa got some shut eye. But we woke her up for the special breakfast at 2:00 am. I sat down for a special Ramadan breakfast in the middle of the White Desert with a blanket of stars above me and 3 Bedouin men around our table. It was all too beautiful and surreal. They offered me homemade cheese/milk. Not really sure what to make of it. Its freash milk from their cow put in a plastic bottle with salt, shaken up and left to ferment a while. It was liquidy but had curds in it… it was disgusting. I then proceeded to imitate their consumption of the watermelon we had found earlier and ate the entire thing! Outside skin and all, kinda tasted like a cucumber, not bad. And then of course they offered me that apricot juice thing I helped make and as soon as they had left to go tend the fire I happily poured it back into the bottle! It was such a great experience. And then Thereasa and Craig and I went back around the fire (everyone else went to bed earlier) and talked for a couple more hours. I saw multiple shooting stars and had a glorious night sleeping under the stars. And was awoken when the sun rose and started toasting up everyone hehe.

I woke up after sunrise and heard Rebecca and Jamie talking about her missing shoe. They looked around and saw fox tracks. Jamie was upset but resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn’t see her shoe again. Rebecca however thought they should follow the tracks Steve Irwin style and see if he dropped it. I heard them find the shoe and talk about how they could tell it got tired of carrying the shoe (which was a Chaco! those things are pretty heavy for a little fox to carry away!) and it ended up dragging it for a bit. Then it gave up all together and left it in the sand.

Once everyone got up we began getting ready for the last day in the desert. Our guides made another great breakfast and we sat in the shade of the two 4×4s and ate our last meal in the desert. Which Theresa and I fasted because we promised the Bedouins the night before if we ate their special breakfast we wouldn’t eat ours. Good experience. They told us to walk over to “the chicken and the tree” while they tore down the camp. It wasn’t hard to figure out which formation was the chicken and the tree. We all walked over there and began taking pictures. Then all the sudden four more 4×4s started driving over. We all shouted “quick, quick, take pictures, more tourists are coming” and it became a scrabble to get everyone’s individual picture and a group picture!

Then we got another group picture in front of the rabbit. We then went to the “mushroom”. But this point I was kinda tired of getting in and out of the car so I just rolled down the window, pointed and shot a picture. It wasn’t as impressive as I thought the mushroom would be. Then we said goodbye to the open desert and headed back to the highway! It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get back to the Golden Valley Hotel.

We got into Cairo around iftar time so as we were driving on the highway people were giving out dates to the cars. So we got a couple thrown into our van. Our driver dropped us off in Mohandeseen and Jessy and I quickly said goobye and jumped in a cab. We both reflected on how weird it was to be back in the city, with all the people, the noise and especially the smells. As tired as we were we couldn’t wait to go back! The Bedioun lifestyle is definitely a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of Cairo.

One of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Simply being in the middle of nowhere and to look around me and see the horizon all around and the stars above was breathtaking. Being able to take part in a way of life other than mine was an honor. God's earth is so unique and his creativity continues to amaze me. Why he cares about every corner of the world is beyond me, and I guess thats why he is God. He is great!

Sudanese Refugee School

Yesterday I went to the Sudanese Refugee School for the first time with Melissa. We were late because I got home from school late (traffic) and then we got lost on our way to the school so I felt really bad! We got out of our taxi and walked for about 30 minutes... not really knowing exactly where we were going. But it worked out hehe and its not the more organized school ever so it wasn't a big deal. We had 5 students in the 4th grade class, ranging from 12-18. The 12 year old is by far the smartest! It was really hard to have an age appropriate class when they are all so different.. but we tried. I've heared horror strories of how uncontrolable the kids are, and why it would be so hard to teach there. But I didn't think so at all. The kids are a bit more rowdy and vey stubborn, but nothing that would make me not want to go back. I am glad that the school is there for these children.. where else would they go?

Today I leave for the Black and White Desert! Bahraia Oasis! I am super exited. Its a trip with my school and my roomate Ashley and I are going with 6 others. We will sleep out in the desert under the stars, eat bedouin food, trek around the deserts, visit Cyrstal Mountain, and who knows what else. I am really exited! Another one of my friends was going t go with us, but decided not to after hearing the news about the foreigners getting kidnapped a couple of days ago here in Egypt. They were taken to Sudan and are being held for ransom. I doubt anything like that would happen again, but just pray for the safety of our trip! I think we all would appreciate God's protecton over us.
I'll let you know how the trip goes!

Manal's Near Death Experience on the Metro

So the other night after teaching Manal and Christine English, we caught a taxi to the metro to head down to the arabic church. It was during Iftar (breaking of the fast) and so there weren't a lot of people around. This whole thing happened in a couple of seconds so I dont know if it will make sense.. But I was stepping onto the metro car when the doors starting shuting on me. Stupid me, I thought if I tried to push them open then we wouldnt have to wait for the next metro to come. They were a lot stronger then I thought and kept closing (Its not like they have sensors like in the states..) so Manal tried to help me so I could get out. And so we both stepped back to get out and we would just catch the next metro. But the door's had closed on Manal's foot. And then the metro started moving! And she had her foot in the metro and her body out. So shes trying to hop a long on one foot to catch up, and we are like screaming not knowing what to do! She pulls her foot out, but her shibshib (sandal) was still stuck in the door and she had thrown her two bags inside the metro car. So there we are standing in shock because there are horror stories of the metro dragging people to thier death. And Manal is standing without a shoe on. We burst out laughing! It was the only thing we could do! So we waited for the next metro to come hopped on it, and hoped we would be able to get some sandals from a store nearby when we got off. But illhumdilalla a girl was waiting at the next stop with Manal's bags and shibshib. We thanked her profusely and thanked God for keeping Manal safe. Manal was shaken up pretty bad about the whole thing, so pray for her if you think of it!

Last night

Taught the girls yesterday and then went to the prayer meeting at the arab church again. On the way to the office the taxi I was in came to a complete stop. It had died... so the guy goes to the trunk and fiddles around, comes back and starts his engines by tapping and twisting wires together, pushes on the pedals fora couple of minutes, and off we go! Taxis are by far sometimes the most interesting part of the day! I was so exhausted from school and riding in the metro for a total of like 3 hours and then teaching that I think that I acutally might have dozed off during one of the prayers. Oops! But worship and praying with other people there was really good. I enjoyed it a lot. I went out to eat a late dinner in Shoubra with Azza, Manal (girls i teach english too), Henna (thier sister), Moody (works at the office), Biha, and Romany (Guys from the church). Azza and Manal really have a special place in my heart and they've already made a difference in my life. I am only hoping to do the same in thiers. I feel like I am doing something good and pleasing to God when I am with them. I don't know if that makes sense... but I cant really explain it. God is soo Great and the trust that my friends have in him encourages me daily. the only bad thing is that I feel sooo tall when Im around the girls because they are like 4' 11'' and come up right above my elbow!
We went out to eat at a little egyptian restaurant and I got some chicken (I kind of thought I was getting something else but thats okay!). I started using my fork and knife and Biha looked at me and told me to please use my hands because I was in Egypt now! So I laughed and grabbed the pita bread and dug in :)
Tomorrow Im meeting with a girl that has been sitting in on my arabic class to become a teacher to do some language exchange. I teach her english, she teaches me arabic.
Pray!
Please pray for Biha's leg.. as it was injured a couple years back, doctors are too expensive, and we're praying for healing.

Night of Church and Football

I attended a large arab church last week with some of my friends and the girls I teach english to (Azza, Manal, Christine, and Mirian). They had a guest worship leader that was amazing! Maher Fayiz, he has a little band and plays the aoud. So it beautiful arabic music praising the Lord. It was beautiful and a pleasure to worship God in arabic. My roomates and I went again last night and tonight there will be a prayer meeting I will attend, inshallah (God willing). Afterwards, We went out around downtown with some of our egyptian friends. We walked around (its the "in" thing to do!) and then found a little coffee shop because there was a football match being played. Biha', one of the guys with us, is an avid fan of zamalek (one of the teams) and it was hilarious to watch how into the game he was. There was also a young police officer watching the game as well and he seriously looked like he was about to cry the whole game unless zamalek scored, then he would jump out of his seat screaming and clapping his hands. I loved being there to experience it hehe. I wish everyone could be here to experience and get to know the Egyptian people... Im falling in love with them :)

School, Ramadan, and our new Habibti

I've finished the first week of my arabic school! Its gone by really well so far. I have 3 other girls in my class, 2 are from the states and one is from Japan. So its been interesting seeing how we all deal with the language differently. I have a great teacher, Sharif, and he really makes the class enjoyable. So far its been mostly review for me.. doing the alphabet and pronunciation and such. But Ive been trying to take advantage of the extra time to learn new vocab. I so enjoy learning Arabic. I never thought I would take such an interest in it, but my end goal is to really master this language. I don't know how long it will take me.. but one day!! 

I am sorry I havent been updating as often as I would like. We are trying to get internet in our apartment, but since its Ramadan no one really likes to get anything done. So the only time I can get online is when I have extra time here at the Wommack's house. Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) has been interesting here so far. All the work days are cut in half. If you walk outside when the sun is setting its a ghost town (well compared to how many people are usually out and about) because everyone is sitting down waiting for the call to prayer to go off so they can break fast and party all night :) 

You will pass restaurants and everyone is just sitting thier waiting for the mosque to go off so they can dig in, its pretty amusing. We've been refraining from drinking and chewing gum in public (and of course eating) so we don't offend anyone. But today on the metro my egyptian christian friend offered me gum and i totally forgot about ramadan and started chewing.. and then i was mortified thinking eveyone would think i was a horrible stupid american, but she assured me it was ok... and no one was looking at me like I should drop dead, so I think I'll be okay. They have great little foods and deserts during Ramadan that they done serve any other time of the year so I've quite enjoyed it so far. Although some people do seem a little more crankier hehe.

So I have to run because we have to go catch a taxi home and get some sleep. But we have rescued a little kitty from the street and are determined to keep it! Her name is Habibti, which means my love in arabic. Shes so cute and tiny! We tried rescuing a different kitten earlier, but ended up having to put it to sleep because it was too diseased. So we don't want to be the reason another cat dies! Anyways I got to go. 

God Bless!!