I survived Egypt . . . barely!

Me sitting on a pyramid at Giza. I actually got to go inside this one.

Camels: big, smelly, hilarious creatures!

James and I "eating" in a tent thing. This is yet another meal in Egypt where more talking, picture taking and goofing around took place than actual eating. I think I almost wasted away.

This is me on a faluka (kind of like a sail boat for about 25 of us) on the Nile. I'm glad I didn't fall in because man is it nasty. The faluka ride was wonderful though, very relaxing.

This is some sweet pillars in the Karnak temple in Luxor, Egypt. I loved the pillar room!

Well there you have it! Some pictures from Egypt. It was a wonderful week there, but it was definitely good to be home again. The JC never looked better. Lets see, quick highlights from the week. We spent one night at a Kibbutz in Israel where they made us dinner and taught us to sing and dance. Every hotel had a pool, so we always spent time there after a hot day seeing the sites. We spent a day in Cairo at Giza looking at the pyramids and riding camels. We also went to Memphis and saw the first step pyramid ever built. The night train to Luxor was...lets just say an experience. The Valley of the Kings where we were able to see King Tuts tomb was pretty cool, as was the museum in Cairo where all of his stuff is. One whole floor of the museum was dedicated to Tut, and he was only a minor King! It makes me wonder what the major Pharaoh's had buried with them. Karnak and Luxor temples were pretty neat, as was my boat ride on the Nile. On the way back to Israel we stopped in the Sinai to hike. We had church late Saturday night and then some people attempted to sleep in the grossest hotel I've ever seen. We got up at 1:00 am so we could hike the mountain and watch the sunrise. I ended up not going to bed at all, but played UNO by the pool until wake up call. The hike was hard, but the sunrise was absolutely worth it. When we finally pulled into the Jerusalem Center at about 10:00 Sunday night I felt at home! I love Jerusalem and its clean water and cooler air.

One word pretty much sums up Egypt: sketchy. The food was the same at every meal and always a bit sketchy. The city was dirty and merchants pushy and demanding. The looks we girls constantly had from local guys, sketchy. Transportation, sketchy.

Funny moments from Egypt:

I almost got sold for several hundred camels to some random shopkeeper.

The horse/donkey drawn carts being driven down the freeway. Sometimes the people driving them would stop to sell right there on the side of the road.

Our tour guide saying "BYU bus one we are here" more than a million times each day in his classic Egyptian accent.

Our horse cart tipping over right in front of our eyes, but somehow we still got in.

Taxi drivers that only take us to their friend's shops, even if we don't want to go shopping.

The fact the Egypt as a whole smells (and tastes?) like camels.

I used so many different kinds of transportation on this trip: bus, taxi, walking, horse carriage, faluka, plane, swimming, train, camels.

Its so hard to decide what to tell you all about, but I hope this at least helps. I am having a wonderful time here. I went to Tel Aviv yesterday with a group of about twenty. We hung out at the beach the whole day, playing in the warm Mediterranean water, eating American style hamburgers, and watching the sun set in splendor. Today we took a class field trip and went spelunking! I was totally squished in the caves, but it was wonderful! Yesterday was the one month mark for me. I still wake up every morning amazed I am here. Everyone is constantly happy and smiling because we are each living our dreams in one way or another. I have learned more in the past month than I have in a very long time. Not just historical and cultural things either, but about myself, other people, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am constantly learning, and I only hope I will be able to remember it forever!

Update........and pictures!

(Jerusalem! I love this city! this pictures is taken from the east looking west at the temple mount. You can see the old city wall in the foreground, and the newer city of jerusalem in the back.)

(this is a sideways picture of me eating my first felafel!)

Hello again, and sorry for the long wait on pictures. I hadn't uploaded any pictures until today, as seeing as I'm leaving for Egypt tomorrow, I could use the memory space. I've done so many cool and exciting things in the past two weeks. I've been to the western wall to welcome in Shabbat with the Jews, walked through an ultra orthodox Jewish neighborhood, and attempted many times to get onto the Temple mount. I've eaten felafel (very delicious), found an amazing pizza place with a hiliarious owner, and discovered good Israeli ice cream, which I didn't think existed. I've learned the streets of the old city well enough that I can go pretty much anywhere and make it back home, walked along the old city wall, and learned which way is north without the use of Utah mountains! (I figured this would be a nearly impossible feat, so I'm surprised I mastered it this early in the trip) I've started learning Arabic, and I can now carry on a simple conversation with the local shop keepers. I've made friends with Abdul, who owns Lana's, the little shop down the street that we always buy junk and snacks at on our way home from the old city. I try to go out into the city at least every other day, and I'm still caught up in my school work! This place is amazing! Never have I felt unsafe or in danger.....well, I guess only when I'm riding in a taxi bus, but thats not really too life threatening...

Well, I guess this whole pictures thing isn't working out as well as I would like. I will try to put pictures on again when I get back from Egypt and have more time. But until then, I hope you enjoy dreaming about the Holy city as much as I will, because I'm going to miss it this coming week!

and so it begins...

Well my friends, I have arrived safely in the Holy Land! The one hassle I had was the airport loosing one of my bags in Tel Aviv. Don't worry though, it was returned to me today, thank goodness. I wouldn't have had any of my school books if I never got it back. On the upside, because my bag was lost I got left at the airport with four other JC students, so we got a personal ride to the Center. Our driver was Oie, a member of the security staff at the JC and my new hero. He is 26 and has been working at the JC for three years. He loves basketball and American music, and has a wonderful sense of humor. Well, these first couple of days have been amazing! The plane ride was crazy long, and to this point on my adventure I have had a grand total of 7 hours of sleep since I woke up on Tuesday. Who needs sleep anyway?... Yesterday was hours of orientation and trying to get settled into our new home. Home! I live here! The JC is so much more beautiful than any pictures I had seen. I have a room on the third floor with three great girls, Holly, Maryanne, and Sarah. We have a balcony almost as big as our whole room that looks out over east Jerusalem and the Old City. It is a beautiful and humbling site to stand there and look out at the city. We also have a pomegranate tree growing out there. Our teachers are nice and seem like they will be rather interesting, though class doesn't start until tomorrow (Friday). All of the staff (except for three teachers and a few service couples) here are local Israeli's or Palestinians. They are Jewish, Muslim and Christian and all get along and work together in harmony. The JC is the only integrated work force in Jerusalem, a haven of peace in a world of turmoil. Today we took a walk through Jerusalem, which was wonderful! As we walked, we saw so many amazing things: Orsen Hyde park, the garden tomb, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, The Dome of the Rock, the Hebrew University, Ben Yehuda street, churches on every corner from every different denomination on the planet, Herod's gate, walked through Damascus and Jaffa gates, money changers, multiple museums, merchants galor, and many many different people. Some how the merchants new we were coming and would run out to the street with their cards for us. One told us to come to his shop only if we were true Mormons, not Jack-Mormons. One gave us a free lamp like the ones the ten virgins may have carried. Omar (who remembers everyone he ever sells to and loves the JC students) talked with us for quite some time. Back at home we had lunch which was delicious. I think they are trying to fatten us up over here because the food is great and there is so much of it! I also think the staff just don't want us eating outside of the JC, otherwise we might get sick. Well, I better end here because my computer is about to die. Plus, I have breakfast at 6:30 and class at 7:30. From the few days I've been here I can tell this is a land I am not going to easily part with. I love everything about it already. They constant light breeze, the smells on the street, the beauty everywhere. Even the people feel like long lost friends. I can't wait to study more about this Holy Land where so many wonderful things have happened. As I learn, I'll try to let you learn with me, because this experience I'm having is something I want to share with the world.

What does it mean!

Several people have asked me what the title of my blog means, so I guess I will attempt to expalin the hilarity of my discovering it. I was rummaging through the dictionary in search of a "K" word to go with my name, and in a stroke of luck I came across kibosh, which means nonsense. oh perfect! I thought, nonsense by Kerri! I knew thats exactly what my posts would be, so I had to use it. Just as I was about to shut good old webster, my eye caught the word right below kibosh. I read, kibbutz: an Israeli farming community. I burst out laughing. Can life get better? I submit that it can not!* I couldn't have picked a better title if I was pulling words out of thin air, which I've been reminded, it seems like I did. Anyway, so there you have it, "nonsense from an Israeli farming community." * special thanks to Brian Regan for letting me quote him all the time...

Hello? Is this thing on?

As a first time blogger, I suppose I'm excited enough to post for no good reason other than to make sure this works, which of course it does. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to deal with my uncontrollable excitement. This blog is soon to be my main means of communication with the world outside of the middle east. I'm ultra excited to go to Jerusalem on study abroad in about six weeks. I can't believe my dreams of traveling are finally coming true! In a few short weeks I'll be walking down hundred year old streets and seeing places I've only read about. I can only imagine what I will learn both in and out of class. But, until then, you and I will be left to our dreams of an ancient land and an opportunity almost too good to be true.