The Desert in December

It's been one week since I arrived in Tel Aviv, and at the same time it feels like so much more and so much less. Just yesterday I was studying for exams (shudder), but we've also managed to do so much here in just a short period of time.

Our first day of Cairo was one of rest. We slept in, then walked from Pauline's apartment to the Egyptian museum. The museum can best be described as a giant warehouse of ancient artifacts, unceremoniously placed without labels in tall glass display cabinets. Everything is so nifty, like all of the items found in Tutankhamen's tomb, but you have a hard time appreciating it because the museum doesn't elevate it on a pedastel in a room with a lot of velvet ropes and guided paths.

The next day we woke up early because Pauline put together a great package trip to the white desert. Now that was incredible. Just follow the link, I'll post pictures of us later. Truly like walking on the surface of the moon. No matter that our jeep lost the capacity to start on a sand dune, since there was another jeep that could pull us until the engine jumped. We climbed a black mountain and a crystal mountain before stopping for the night. There, our guides put together a great camp fire dinner and protective shelter so we could sleep under the stars. Unbelievable. And unbelievably cold. But after all, it is still December even in the desert.

And then, on to Alexandria. Just a short trip by train this time. Somewhat of a relief not to be in a car, where the drivers (bus ones included) feel the need to turn off their lights several times as other cars approach at night for no clear reason. The sea is beautiful, and the new library with its nifty interior architecture and spacious desks for reading makes you forget how crowded the streets are outside.

Overall things have been smooth as butter, thanks largely to Pauline's amazing Arabic. She's saved several other tourists from defeat, reinstilled some small faith in the world's view on Americans, and only publicly shamed three people for being inappropriate to us on the streets. Not bad.

Christmas in Palestine

It was supposed to be Christmas in Bethlehem, but since Bethlehem is in the West Bank it really is the same thing. We did make it to Bethlehem but opted not to stay for the outdoor service since it was very crowded and a little cold. We still got to wander around the church and stick my hand in another holy hole. The first time was at where Jesus's cross was supposedly situated. There was no attempt to stop cameras inside the churches, so all of this is well documented by Pauline.

We then went back to Jerusalem to pick up our stuff. Pauline had sweet-talked a hostel she had stayed at previously to let us leave our backpacks there for the day. "No bombs, right?" the owner joked. He had remembered her from before, and wouldn't even let us pay for this service. We had spent the day wandering through the old city, the East side, the West side, and sipping mint tea at the American Colony hotel. The markets are awesome, filled with delicious bread goods and pomegranates the size of your head.

Once we had our bags, we made the trek back through the check point into Ramallah and hopped on another taxi to Birzeit. We stayed at Pauline's friend's apartment, which was across the street from a small Latin Orthodox church. We went to their service at 8:30pm, sang some unfamiliar Christmas carols, and laughed every few seconds as a loud explosion would go off from the back of the church. All the neighborhood kids were lighting noise fireworks in the parking lot. It sounded a bit like the 1812 overture was accompanying the priest.

Christmas morning was just like usual. Since we didn't have presents for our host, we wrapped up some fun household items for him to unwrap in the morning. A tradition in our family. Our tree was a fake potted rose plant that we decorated with some gold bracelets and cut out stars. After breakfast, we stopped by Pauline's host family so they could meet me. I wowed them with my ten words of Arabic Pauline had taught me, and they explained how Pauline was Um Nasser's tenth daughter. Her picture is framed on the window sill. We ate incredible olive oil and I tried pigeon for the first time. We also were sent off with a five pound bag of almonds. The family was incredibly kind, and totally in love with Pauline.

Pauline and I make it to the bus station only to realize there are no tickets left on the last bus to Eilat. Thankfully the bus driver lets us ride anyways, though I lost my seat half way to someone who actually purchased their ticket. Nothing like sitting on the floor with an AK-47 a foot from your face. I suppose that's better than when its barrel was bumping my leg. We had stopped along the way to pick up some members of the IDF who stood in the aisle for part of the ride.

But in the end, we made it to Cairo with no problems, if not with some stiff legs. Markell made it safely, and now the three of us are going to hit the town.

Prague: The 16 Hour Tour

7am - My plane lands. We're actually a bit behind schedule but I don't mind. I'm just happy my Detroit leg had no delays, and really what's there to do in any city on a sunday before 7am? It's still dark out so I'm thinking if I hurry to the city I'll get a nice sunrise..

8am - No sunrise. Just cold, grey clouds in a completely unopened city. But people are starting to emerge and kiosks slowly starting to open. The streets are beautiful cobblestones, many of them pedestrian only, and I wander to the National Museum and all through "stara mesto" which I know means the old part of town because it's the same in Russian. The languages have a lot of overlap which is helpful, and there are also a ton of Russian tourists. But everyone here seems to know ten languages so it's not a problem. Too cold to keep walking, I stop in for a Danish and a cappucino. The Europeans sure do breakfast right.

12am - My left pinky can't move it seems to have frozen inside my glove. But the Prague Castle is having it's changing of the guard. Standard pomp and circumstance, marching, etc., but then a five man band popped out of the second floor archway to provide some music. Very nice touch.

2pm - I hide in another cafe for lunch and warmth. Loved the creamy vegetable soup and the ham with cabbage, can't say I was a fan of the dumplings (slabs of potato and bread). As I start to nod off over my apple strudel (that was drowning in a delicious pool of cream), I decide my best strategy would be to sleep at the airport for a few hours. Pauline is not going to be happy if I show up after two sleepless nights and fall asleep in the manger.

8pm - I discover the Prague airport has internet. And here we are!

Who doesn't love holiday travel?

My friends, it's time for another trip. Not that I've avoided traveling over the last few months, but for some reason domestic trips don't evoke the same allure that international ones do. I promised to post more regularly then failed, but my excuse is that I started blogging for the law school admissions site and double duty is just a bit overwhelming. What I might do is post those entries here as well. So much for hiding my true identity.

The exciting news is that in less than a week I will be departing for my fourth international trip within the year (though not calendar--I came back from South Korea on December 31st last year). My weekend getaway to Doha, Qatar also predates this blog, though on a rainy day those two trips would be worth blogging about. Both quite spontaneous and very spectacular, and, perhaps more unusually, both virtually free. This does make the second consecutive holiday season I will be spending abroad. An interesting pattern, one I'm ambivalent about repeating.

Holiday travel is just plain stressful. For a student, it is usually preceded by finals and/or other stressful end of the semester activities. For a worker in most industries, it means increased traffic and fewer employees to handle it since they're all fighting to take time off. There are long lines, not just at the airport but on the roads due to bad weather and increased shopping. Speaking of the weather, it's usually not very conducive to traveling this time of year either. The foot of snow we got last night here in Michigan is beautiful and makes me prance around like a six year old, but if it happens again this Saturday I'll be singing a different tune. Holiday travel also comes with lots of logistics to handle, anything from packing to buying tickets, or the standard drive to Chicago to wait in line at the Passport agency for extra pages because the Egyptian Consulate won't put a visa on the one blank page you have and you can't buy the visa at the airport because you're flying into Israel and taking the bus through a non-major point of entry. Good times.

But, at the end of the day, I can't wait. My passport came back today, my sister safely made it to Jerusalem, and the weather forecast for Saturday is free and clear. And while I may be out of the country again this holiday season, I'm thankful that this time around I'll be spending it with family. And baby Jesus. And the pyramids.