A Weekend in Asia

So my travels breached a third continent for the summer as I made my way across the Suez Canal and onto the Sinai Peninsula, the border of Asia and Africa, early Thursday morning. Our bus left the dorm around 2am Thursday and took about seven or so hours to get to St. Catherine's which sits in the middle of a large mountain range. I slept for a few hours that night but awoke as the sun was rising over the harsh desert sands and mountains- everything was still as we serpentined through the windy desert roads and into the town of St. Catherine's. We stopped at the Daniela, a tiny little hotel tucked into foreboding rock cliffs, ate breakfast, through our stuff into our rooms, and hopped back on the bus to tour the monastery.

Umm...That's Not on Fire

St. Catherine's Monastery is a 4th cent. Greek Orthodox monastic community set at the base of Mt. Sinai. As we walked in, we were told that the monks may be cranky and not to disturb them too much- I also had to wear a sarong of sorts because I'd forgotten to change from shorts to jeans and apparently Egyptian monks are kind of conservative. As we walked into the tiny walled-in village, I noticed how many people were there, probably bothering the monks and how many had shorts on. Oh well.

The monastery is built on what is believed to be the site of Moses' encounter with the burning bush. The monks have planted the same type of bush on the spot where the original one was. This, my friends, is no tiny shrubbery; it's planted on a wall of sorts and must be about 4x7x4. It was not on fire- nor was God talking from it anymore. While it was impressive to stand in that spot, it was made less so by the small size of the passageway in which it sits and the large amounts of tourists walking about. However, we continued on.

Next, I ducked into the chapel which, despite the same annoying, non-reverent tourists, was more of a contemplative and quiet space. This was enforced by an angry looking monk standing guard at the front. The chapel was small, with delicate and intricate icons on the back wall. From the ceiling hung beautifully gilded lamps and braziers. I sat for a bit and prayed and took in the importance of my surroundings, trying to get out of the tourist mindset, if only for a minute. I walked through the back of the chapel which houses the remains of St. Catherine of Alexandria, who was martyred in the early 4th cent.

After leaving the chapel, I headed up to the museum, which is the second largest repository of Christian religious texts in the world, behind the Vatican. The texts and icons kept in the museum include a letter from the Prophet Muhammad to the Bedouin people of the area, telling them to act peacefully toward the monastery, 6th cent. paintings of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments at Mt. Sinai, and ancient copies of Homer's Odyssey and Illiad. After the museum and roaming about a bit more, we headed back to the Daniela for lunch and naps.

My Bedouin Birthday

So last Thursday I turned 24 (thanks to those who sent me birthday messages- for the rest of you, God has delivered a curse upon you, it will arrive in 5-7 business days). After we all woke up from our naps, we headed to the Daniela for an underwhelming dinner. As the dinner came to a close, I heard a noise coming from the kitchen and turned around to see seven or so of the Bedouin men who work in the hotel coming out with a cake, TGIFriday's style. Apparently, one of my classmates had asked for a candle in a piece of the dessert they had out for us, but they refused and insisted on baking me a Bedouin birthday cake. Also, they must have had drums and tambourines lying around in the kitchen because their Bedouin birthday song included a rhythm section. They brought my cake and everybody stood and clapped to the music as an incredibly sweaty man started dancing and insisted I join in. So my 24th birthday wound up being celebrated with a quickly made cake (complete with bday message), drums and tambourines, Egyptian singing, and me dancing with a man while I wore a chef's hat and wielded a knife someone had given me to cut said cake, at the base of Mt. Sinai in a tiny little hotel. Could have been worse. By the way, pictures and video will begin to surface of this event on facebook. I'll do my best to suppress them, but if you look hard enough, you'll probably be able to spot some.

After the embarrassment that was my Bedouin dancing came to a close, we all went outside and sat. The hotel workers had laid out blankets for us and we sat under the quiet night sky as the stars and moon collaborated with a fire to light up our little area in the middle of the mountains. Our program director, Dr. Freamon, led us in a discussion and people took turns giving their assessment of the future of the program as well as reflecting on their time in Egypt and their ambitions for their careers. We sipped tea and talked and sat until the men at the hotel got bored and insisted they put on a party for us. So once again, out came the drums, out came the tambourines, and out came Hipsy, that was the name I gave to my birthday dance partner who could shake his hips like no man can or ought to ever do. We danced and talked and laughed and shot photos until it started to get late and then we made our way back to our rooms for a couple of hours of sleep.

The Climb

We gathered again on the bus at 2am, ready to take on Sinai. Not really, we were all pretty tired, but excited for our climb. For those of you who don't know, Mt. Sinai is the place where God gave Charleton Heston the 10 Commandments. It's best to summit the mountain at night because of the heat of the Egyptian sun and the fact that the country can't afford shade. Our group started up the mountain with our tour guide, who apparently climbs the things every night and people were annoying as hell with the stupid flashlights. A few of us ventured ahead of the group to avoid these annoying lights and climb like God intended, aided only by the light of the moon (don't worry, it's safe, the moon's pretty bright). Our tiny band hiked and hiked up the rocky sandy mountain, accompanied by my adopted pet, Buddy, a stray dog that apparently just likes hiking mountains.

We stopped intermittently at little coffee-shacks set up along the path and rested. Despite the fact that it was night in the desert, it was still pretty warm out and my backpack made me lose about six pounds of sweat. The climb wasn't terribly difficult, but hard enough and continued for about 2.5-3 hours at a pretty steady incline. Finally, when we felt like we should really be at the top, we hit the hard part. You'd think stairs would be easier than hiking rocks- or so thought the monks who carved the stairs into the last 1,000m of the mountain. They were wrong. Sure it may be easy for the Bedouin guys who hike up and down the mountain every day to get to work in their little coffeeshops, but let me tell you, those stairs sucked! I literally thought I was going to pass out at some point, or maybe my legs would just give out and I'd tumbled to my blissful death. Luckily, I'm friggin' awesome and made it to the top of the mountain at about 4:50am, where I found a nice flat surface amongst the chapel ruins and promptly laid down.


I sat with my friends Sarah, Lena and Brian at the top of the Mt. Sinai, none of us really saying much, looking out over the vast mountain range as the sun came up. I was exhausted and thought about living there so I wouldn't have to walk back down, but there was just a serenity there. As the stars and the moon gave way to lighter hues of blue and the mountains turned from dark silhouettes to burly brown rocks below, a stillness existed that only nature can create. I understood then how so many years ago, after fleeing slavery and wandering the desert, one could see God on the top of this peak. It was a fleeting glimpse of perfection.

The Rest of the Day

Walking down mountains is the unfortunate and stupid side effect to walking up them. Sarah, my partner in crime here in Egypt (don't get any ideas, folks, she's happily engaged), and I trudged back down the stairs and the sandy path as we dodged lazy people on camels and the gross mines camels leave behind.



We talked and complained about this and that and the heat and what not and finally found ourselves at the bottom of the mountain again. We hopped on the bus exhausted and ready to get to Sharm. After breakfast and a much needed shower, everyone got on the bus and made the 1.5hr or so trip to Sharm el Sheikh and the beautiful Sofitel Hotel.

Any Egyptian will tell you that Sharm is not Egypt; it's a European resort town that just happens to be within the Egyptian borders. Upon arrival at the Sofitel, we realized how true this was. Arab decoration adorn beautifully bright white buildings overlooking the Red Sea where sandy beaches spotted with pink flowers buttress clear blue water. The whole town is a bit extravagant and overdone, but at such a low price (by Western standards) it's hard to pass up. When we got in, I headed straight to the beach and swam along the the reefs where exotic fish darted along, one of which bit my shin. I sported my SPF 60 forcefield and was able to skirt around a sunburn- take that, the sun!

That night a few of us found a tiny little restaurant with seating on the roof. We walked upstairs and found tables surrounded by pillows on the ground. Little lights guided the path through the dining area and the rooftop overlooked the city lights and sea below. It was pretty nice.

Darling It's Betta, Down Where It's Wetta...

On Saturday morning a group of us gathered early after an amazing Sofitel breakfast feast. We met with a Brit, a German and an Italian and went out for a day of boating, snorkeling and scuba diving. They took us out on the Red Sea to a place called Ras Katy and anchored the boat near the reef. We were instructed on how to use scuba gear and took turns with the diving instructors under water for 30 min. increments each. While we waited our turn, everyone else snorkeled around the reef which was absolutely amazing. The marine life at the reef and the reefs themselves are known worldwide as some of the best things to see as a diver. We were lucky enough to be able to go with instructors who stayed with us the whole time so we didn't need to go through certification. We spent the day swimming and eating and just having a good time. It was a terrific way to relax and enjoy the sea.

That night we all gathered for dinner at the hotel's Indian restaurant. While the food was good, the service was horrendous and we wound up waiting hours for our meals. However, we got to talk more and just enjoy the company of our classmates. This group is a lot of fun and everyone seems to be able to get along and have good, fun, interesting conversation with each other. I'm amazed by the caliber of person that the program has drawn and how dedicated each one is to knowledge, service and bettering themselves personally. I'm sure every one of them will be successful both in their careers and their lives in the future. Later that night we just kind of walked around and had a drink or two. It had been a long day on the high seas.

Sunday morning my roommate John and I awoke at 9:58am when the maid came in. By 10:02 we were out the door, worried we'd miss the gigantic breakfast buffet. We didn't. We tore that buffet up! After breakfast I went and swam in the pool for a while and sat around. I also paid a male classmate a considerable amount of Egyptian Pounds to join the women in the water aerobics class in the pool. It was money well spent- top 4 funniest things in Egypt, ever. We sadly packed and made our way back on the bus for the 9 hr. ride back to Cairo. No one wanted to leave the shining Western beacon that is Sharm for the dirty loudness that is Cairo. By the time we got home we were all exhausted. I passed out pretty quickly after I got in and responded to the myriad birthday messages on facebook. I woke up unenergized for my last week of classes. Here we go...!