Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Making the best of a bad situation

Overheard in the ER waiting room:
"Could whoever ordered Chinese food please come to triage?"

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Some photos from Egypt

Here are some of our photos from Egypt. If you're on facebook, you may have already seen these and others. But for those of you who aren't (ahem, Paige), here they are.


Here we are on our first day in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramids in Cairo. It was crazy hot when we landed, 40C. Typical for March is between 25-30. The pyramids are right in Cairo, which is strange. In this photo we are standing right across the street from a jewelry shop, a Pizza Hut, and some souvenir stores.


After Cairo, we traveled to the south of Egypt where we took a Nile cruise. I was very surprised by how incredibly beautiful the Nile was. Here's a shot from the boat. We would typically sail in the afternoons and evenings. Most of our sight-seeing took place in the early morning before it got really hot.


Here is the ceiling of the one of the temples we visited. The black marks are from the torches of Christians who hid in the abandoned temples to escape Roman persecution. Unfortunately, they also defaced many of the temples. I was so impressed with how well-preserved the temples were after 4000 years. We don't have any photos but in the Valley of the Kings where the Pharaohs were buried, the paint on the walls is so vibrant it looks as though it was painted yesterday.


We traveled a bit by bus. We usually travelled in convoys and were always accompanied by guards with AK47s. They even checked under our buses with mirrors to check for bombs. Anyway, at one truck stop, there was a Bedouin woman who stood there with a baby goat riding on top of a donkey. I LOVE IT WHEN ANIMALS CATCH A RIDE ON OTHER ANIMALS! When I spotted her, I almost lost it. I think this was the most excited I was all trip. The donkey didn't like me and kept trying to walk away with its goat. The Bedouin woman also had an albino son, which was interesting. I wondered how they kept him from getting sun burnt.


Here we are riding our donkeys into the valley of the Kings. It was a very bumpy ride and as I wrote earlier, mine was crazy and ran off into traffic. It was a lot of fun and I giggled most of the way.


Our really enjoyed the end of our trip when we went to the Red Sea and Sinai peninsula. We did some snorkeling in the Red Sea, which was incredible. I got stung by a jellyfish while we were snorkeling. Kyle valiantly offered to pee on the sting but I declined.

On our last day we woke up at 1am to climb Mt. Sinai. We started from an ancient (but still working) monastery at the base of the mountain and climbed for three hours. The paths were filled with tourists, camels, and chanting pilgrims. We climbed in the dark with the help of Bedouin guides and flashlights. There were tea houses along the path where you could pull over for a cup of tea or a snack. We got to the top while it was still dark and watched an amazing sun rise. It was a fantastic way to end our time in Egypt.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Not feeling so well

Jamie: Oh you're burning up. Can I get you something?

Kyle: No. I want to take a bath. A bath would be soothing.

Jamie: So why don't you? Do you want me to run you a bath?

Kyle: No, I don't like our bath. It's sketchy and dirty.

Jamie: No it's not.

Kyle: It has chips in the porcelain and there's that brown stain...

Jamie (interrupting): Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's dirty.

Kyle: ... and I pee in it.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Home For a Rest

As we touched down into Calgary yesterday afternoon after 46 hours in transit, my heart warmed as I gazed at the Rocky mountains and the city's skyline. As we taxied down the runway, I squeeled with joy when I spotted a gopher skittering around in the grass. That sealed it...for the first time in the seven years I've lived here, Calgary felt like home.

Last night I considered downloading some photos from our new camera so that I could post them on here. But as I toyed with the idea, I was incapacitated by the fear that I would somehow delete all 600 of the photos that Kyle took on our trip. If that happened, Kyle would sneakily sew a kilogram of cocaine into the lining of my jacket, send me on an errand to his mom's elementary school and then call the cops on me. That way, I would never be able to leave the country again.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Egypt

Just wanted to post to say that Kyle and I are still alive and enjoying our trip. Today we are in Luxor and took a donkey ride into the Valley of the Kings to see the tombs of the Pharoahs. It was pretty incredible. The donkey ride was hilarious but my donkey ran into traffic and Kyle' s also tried to get him killed. What Kyle calls his "deft donkey handling skills" spared him from certain doom while I was saved by a motorcyclist's swerving skills.

Tomorrow we set off to the Red Sea to do some snorkeling and then on to climb Mt. Sinai. More later!

 
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