The big kahuna of trips

In the time we've been in Europe the longest trip we've been on was four days when we went to Croatia for Ryan's birthday and when we traveled with my Mom (I still plan to post about that... hopefully). So I've decided that our trip to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan can rightfully be called the "big kahuna" of trips because we were gone for 11 days. And I just sort of doubt we'll be able to round up that many days off again for another trip, so most likely this trip was our "big" trip while we are here. Oh what a trip it was... would you like to hear about it? Okay, I'm going to do my best to tell you everything while not writing a novel.

June 28th

We went to work on June 28th. As soon as we were done with work we ran some errands, returned to the Abrams to pack, and by 7:15 we were on the road to the airport. We bought our tickets at the beginning of April and I don't think either of us could believe that three months had passed and we were actually leaving on this epic adventure.

We parked the car at a lot that thank goodness was super reasonably priced and they shuttled us directly to where we needed to be to check in. I made it through passport control and security easily and I had no idea what was taking Ryan such a long time at the area they look inside his backpack. Finally he emerged and the hold up was from the woman making him suck every last drop of water out of his camelback, the apparatus that hold water in his backpack with a hose that comes our the pack so he can drink it while walking. She had never seen anything like it and as she pulled it out of his backpack with all the tubing and everything apparently she was giving it quite an odd look. And the two of them had to work together trying to squeeze all the water out of the hose... I guess they are very strict in Germany about no liquids. Anyway that is the only "excitment" from our departure from Germany. Once we were both through we shared a sandwich and a beer before boarding a bus which delivered us to the plane. I wish I could report we got a lot of rest since our flight left Munich at 11:15pm and arrived in Tel Aviv at 4 am (which equates to 3 am our time) but the plan was full of very talkative and wide awake Israelis who apparently were very excited to get home. So sleep was minimal and the flight felt a lot longer than 3.5 hours. But we made it safe and sound and were thankful everything went so smoothly.

June 29th

From the airport we took a train to downtown Tel Aviv. We then walked a couple blocks to the New Central Bus Station and wanted to take the 6:30 bus to Eilat Israel on the southern most tip of the country, which borders Egypt. Unfortunately that bus was already full, so we had to get tickets for the 8 o'clock one. No big deal. While we waited we shared a container of fruit. There are stands all over with lots of fresh fruit cut up that you just tell them what you want in what size of container and then pay based on the size of container. It was so delicious. We also each had a pastry that we bought from a really nice man who randomly used to live in Portland. He ran a restaurant on NW 23rd Ave which is one of Ryan and my favorite places in Portland with a plethora of fabulous restaurants and some of the cutest (and most expensive) boutique shops. It was fun talking to him. He was a big fan of the US. He said that our countries helps Israel A LOT and so most Israelis really love Americans. He also shared his opinion that if Israel wasn't fighting other countries they'd probably just all kill each other. Of course that is just his opinion, but it was interesting to hear him say that.

Our bus was right on time and at first wasn't all that full, but along the way we picked up many people and it ended up packed by the end of our journey. I'm glad we took the bus even though it was about six hours. It gave us the opportunity to see the Negev dessert. The Negev makes up a large part of Israel, but not necessarily and area I planned to explore. Now we can say that we saw it. We stopped for bathroom breaks several times. The first stop Ryan and I shared a icy slushy thing that was mint lemonade with real mint chopped up in it. It was so good. We craved it for the rest of our trip, but sadly never found it again.

We arrived at the Eilat bus station and we fairly hungry, so we each had our first falafel of Israel. It was good, but little did I know then later on I would have the best falafel ever! We took a bus from the central station to the border. We crossed from Eilat, Israel to Taba, Egypt. The crossing process all went smoothly. When we were in Taba right before getting our passports stamped a man approached us and explained that if we planned to go to Cairo (which we did) we needed a different Visa than for the Sinai. I knew this because for just the Sinai penninsula you can get a free Visa, but for the rest of Egypt you must pay $15 for a Visa and you can get this at the airport. Since we were planning to fly from the Sinai to Cairo I thought we could just get it there. Unfortunately we learned here at the border that you can only buy the Visa at the airport if you are flying in from abroad, not a domestic flight. "Luckily" for us this man could arrange for a "travel agent" to cross with us and somehow get us this other Visa that they typically do not give out at this border. I don't really understand how this all worked, but I do know that we had a pay quite a bit on top of the $15 Visa price to get our special stamp that allowed us to travel to Cairo. But we made it through, had our full Egypt Visa and all was well. From there this "travel agent" roped us into taking a cab he arranged for us, but because we weren't willing to pay the price he wanted we shared the cab with another couple and split the price so it wasn't so bad.

The other couple are from Sweden, but have been living in Jerusalem. They have been working with a Christian organization doing something for the Palestinians. The woman will soon be an ordained Lutheran minister. They were super nice and I really enjoyed talking to them. Interestingly also they are from Malmo, Sweden and that is the only place in Sweden Ryan and I have been to. Such a coincidence. We left them at an awesome looking place called Basata. It was a "resort" of sort, but where they'd be sleeping was just huts that here open toward the Sea. They'd be sleeping on mats on the sand I think and eating fresh fish. It sounded divine. Someday I'd love to go back and stay there.

We were headed to Dahab further down the Sinai coast. It was about a two hour drive from the border. On the way we stopped in Nuweiba to try and buy our ferry tickets for Saturday, but there were closed for sales until 8pm and it was about 4pm. We did learn that there would only be a slow ferry on Saturday and from my research that wasn't great news, but it was what it was. So we headed on to Dahab in our cab.

As soon as we arrived in Dahab and checked into our hotel we put on our suits and headed to the water. It felt incredible. And now we could say we've swam in the Red Sea... the very sea the Moses parted for God's people to walk across on dry land to the promised land. Our swim didn't last too long though because we had to get ready for dinner.

There is a website called couchsurfing.org. You can create a profile and search for other people all over the world who are willing to let you stay with them for free wherever you may be traveling. I think it is a really awesome idea (of course while being very careful in who you stay with or who you may allow to stay with you). I thought it would be great to incorporate couch surfing in our trip so I contacted quite a few people. The person in Dahab said he had other people staying with him when we'd be there, but offered to meet us for dinner. So that is what we did.

We met our new friend Nader for dinner at a place he recommended called the Funny Mummy. It was SO good. Ryan and I shared a seafood plater for two and each had fresh squeezed juice. The Funny Mummy, along with many other restaurants in Dahab, are right along the waters edge and the seating is all on the ground on pillows with low tables. This is Bedouin style, which are the indigenous people in the area. Nader is from Cairo, but loved to dive and has moved to Dahab where he works at a dive shop. I've read over and over and from talking to Nader is sounds very true that people will come for a few days to Dahab and end up staying for a week, a month, or even years because it is just so wonderful. Life is very laid back and is is gorgeous. And the waters off the Sinai have some of the best scuba diving in the world. As we chatted with Nader we told him we were planning to climb Mt. Sinai. He told us the monastery at the bottom would be closed the next day and if we wanted to go on the sunrise hike we better do it tonight. He also offered to call a friend who could offer us a better price than what we were going to pay through our hotel. So in a matter of minutes we had arranged to be picked up between 11 and 11:15pm on our first night in Egypt to climb a mountain.

After dinner Nader showed us where a grocery store was to pick up some food for our hike and we thanked him and said good bye. We were so glad though to have had the opportunity to meet him and it was so kind of him to help us arrange our hike. Back at the hotel I worked on booking our flight to Cairo while Ryan just went to his bed and crashed until I had to wake him up.

We slept off and on from Dahab to Mt. Sinai. We were in a van with maybe 8 or so other tourists. We came to the entrance to the National Park and everyone (except Ryan and I) had to buy a park pass for $3. I guess our pass was included in what we paid for the trip or something, but I thought it was really interesting that the pass was in USD and not Egyptian Pounds.

A little further along we stopped on the road and a Bedouin man jumped in our van. He ended up being our guide up the mountain.

July 30th

I guess if I am separating this post by days I have to start a new day since on our drive we did cross from the 29th to the 30th. We finally arrived where we would start our hike. I think it was a couple hours from Dahab all together. So in the dark of night we started our trek slowly up the mountain. Our guide was Musa, which is how they say Moses, so that is interesting since they also call Mt. Sinai Moses' mountain or Mt. Musa. He walked very slow and steady to be sure we all stayed together. Two vans worth of hikers had joined into one group but there were buses full of people all hiking up to see the sunrise. Along the way, the entire way, there were people offering camels for "a good price" they'd say. But I don't think anyone from our group ended up taking a camel up. We were walking up the camel path, but were told we'd come back down 3,000 stairs. We stopped several times to sit down and have buy something to drink if we wanted it. The hike was really not that difficult though because the path winds upward very gradually and none of it is too steep and our pace was really nice and slow. At about 4:30 I think we were almost at the summit. Here there were five shops selling food, drink, souvenirs and renting mats and blankets for the summit which is pretty chilly from the wind in the morning. We waited here for about half and hour and I think most of us fell asleep sitting in one of the shops that Musa led us into. At 5 we all headed up to the summit to ensure we had a great place to watch the sunrise. There really were a ton of people up there. One of my favorite groups were some Asians who were all singing Praise songs and had what I believe was a mini sermon after the sun rose. There was also a huge group of men I think possibly Italian that had some sort of a service on top of the mount. It was chilly up there and finally I understood why they told us to bring warm clothes, which I gladly pulled out and layered up with at this point. About 5:30 the sun started to peak out over the horizon. It was pretty special watching it come up. After it was up we waited an hour to head back down so that the crowd thinned out. At the top there is a mosque and a chapel, so we walked around checking those things out. At 6:30 our group gathered just below the summit at the shops again and we headed down the mountain. We moved much faster on the way down. And there literally were 3,000 stairs that we descended. They were a little awkward though and Ryan and I didn't love how it felt on our knees. Because we were making such great time Musa had us stop and sit for just a little bit were we had a great view down into a valley where St. Catherine's monastery is. After our rest here we finished our descent. At 9 St. Catherine's opened and we went in for just about half and hour. There is hardly anything to see. We saw what they tell everyone is "the burning bush." It was different that I would have expected mostly because it is not on the ground it is a bush you would walk under. Whether or not it is actually the burning bush I don't know. They didn't give me any facts to prove that it was the bush. The cool thing to me was knowing that I was such a holy place and I had climbed the same mountain as Moses. Ryan and I were discussing the fact that God gave Moses the 10 commandments on Mt. Sinai and they were on stone tablets. You'll just have to trust us that you would not want to transport stone tablets back down the mountain. I guarantee next time we read of hear that Bible story it will great a whole new imagery for us. Other than the bush the monastery didn't really have anything. We walked through the sanctuary and that was all there was to see. They had a museum you could pay to go in but we had to interest and limited time. On the way back to Dahab in the van we slept as much as we could, but it was definitely broken sleep.

Oh one other random encounter on our hike was that one of the girls from our van was from Dubois, WY. It is her opinion that Cody, WY is going to be the next Jackson Hole as far as tourist destinations go. Ryan and I think she is crazy and that there is not a place in Wyoming that will ever replace Jackson as a tourist destination. She was sort of off her rocker I think.

Back in Dahab we went to find our about going to the Blue Hole, the best known place for snorkeling in the area. We had told our hotel when we arrived we wanted to do it in the morning and also that we wanted to have their breakfast. But after we arranged our Mt. Sinai trip we told an employee that we wouldn't be there for either, but hoped to go snorkeling when we got back. He said it was all fine. Then when we went to ask about snorkeling that afternoon the woman, who I think was the owner, told us they wouldn't refund what we paid for breakfast because they had gone and bought the food and prepared it and that someone came to pick us up for snorkeling in the morning because they didn't know we had gone to Mt. Sinai. Thankfully she ended up understanding that it was the fault of her employee who did not relay our message and we ended up getting reimbursed for breakfast and also had someone come pick us up right away fro snorkeling. But I wouldn't say she was super accommodating with the whole thing. We sort of had to fight her a bit. Welcome to Egypt I guess. We also asked her to arrange for a taxi to drive us to Sharm el Sheik the following morning at 5 where we were flying from to Cairo.

Our ride to the Blue Hole was in the back of a very beat up jeep. The road sort of disappeared not long into the drive, but yet the driver was steering as if he were following some sort of a path. I guess it is just something locals know about. It was a crazy ride to say the least, all part of the Egyptian experience.

Snorkeling was fun. The Blue Hole is something like 100 meter deep. All around the edge is coral with tons of tropical fish. The view from above would show a deep blue circle with aqua colored water all around it. We just swam around the circle looking at the fish. Ryan had his under water camera and took lots of pictures. They had a dock, that is the same type of material as the Forbes' jetdock and we sat and layed on that for awhile.

When we were done we went to find our driver, but he was gone and his brother was there to take us back. So peculiar how everything works in this country. So we got in the back of the brothers jeep and followed the same path back that was really just dirt, but somehow they seemed to know there the road was supposed to be.

Back at the hotel we each took showers and changed and headed to the water. We walked all over town. There are people selling this EVERYWHERE and they all try to get you to come into their shops. And there are people standing by the sea side restaurants trying to lure you in by offering you deals. The best offer we got (although we didn't eat there) was free welcome drink, free Bedouin tea, free starter, free desert, free hooka, and 30% off your entree. We kept telling them all we weren't ready to eat yet. I did get some pants I really liked and paid 35 Egyptian pounds fro them. That is something between $6 and $7. But you do have to work to get the price something is actually worth because at first he told me the pants cost 150 Egyptian Pounds. That would be about $26. And I know that they wouldn't have sold them to me for what they did if they still weren't making money on them.

The night before we had been given flier about massages. And they were super cheap. So we decided to go back and each have a massage. It was definitely not like any massage I've ever had in the States. The room I went into wasn't all that nice. The table Ryan laid on didn't even have a hole for his face to go into. I thought the massage was pretty good. I appreciated how firm she massaged and worked on knots that I had. But the masseuses phone kept vibrating, she answered it a couple times, and I think she was texting some. Not to mention she came into the room before I was under the towel and left the door open while I was partially undressed until I asked her to close it. When they asked when we each came out of our rooms how it was I told them about her phone and they acted shocked and promised that it would never happen again. I probably wouldn't ever go there again to find out if they work on their professionalism, but for what it cost I guess it was still not an awful deal. And Ryan didn't have any complaints other than the no hole in the table.

After the massage we did go eat. We chose a place that gave us 20% off our entrees, free appetizer, free dessert, and we talked them into free drinks since the place next door offered us all that other free stuff. The food was good and we were way more full than I wanted to be when we got up to leave, but I still liked our meal at the Funny Mummy better the night before.

After dinner we could barely keep our eyes open long enough to get back to the hotel, so our plans to go have a drink at another restaurant on the water or walk around were canceled.

July 1

We got up at 4:45 and were outside at 5 waiting for our cab that the hotel had arranged. We waited, we waited... it did not come. Ryan went and found security and asked them and they ended up calling someone who normally worked during the day. We don't know if the cab was just late or if it didn't get arranged like it was suppose to but it wasn't until 5:45 that the cab showed up. It was about an hour to the airport and our flight left at 7:30. Thankfully we did make it in time. And I think they told the cab they had to rush because the entire drive there was a beeping sound that we decided was the car saying it was going faster than the speed limit, but then the driver just turned music on and up to try and cover it up.

The flight was great because it was just about an hour and if we had taken a bus it would have been 10 hours. So much better to fly. And really not very expensive either. It seems like you can get cheap domestic flights in the middle east. At least the flights we took were.

We arrived in Cairo and right away we had people offering us taxis and even limousine (I don't know if that meant what it does to us). But we said we wanted to take the bus because it was cheap. Thankfully a very nice woman at information gave us just what we needed to find the bus and get downtown. When we got off the bus a nice man helped us get a cab and we got dropped of near where we were staying. Oh yes, and where we were staying in Cairo was with a couple I found on couch surfing, Noelia and Pepe who are Spanish but currently live in Egypt for Noelia's short term job. So after asking several people on the street for directions we found the place. And after trying to look up Arabic in our travel book to communicate with an old woman in the building a couple other people walked by who could translate and we were put in the elevator and sent to the 12th floor to where our hosts lived. Pepe greeted us warmly at the door with a kiss on each cheek European style... I just love doing that. They had a great apartment and it was much larger than I expected, but Pepe said that was the normal size of places in the city. We set down or luggage, had some cold water, chatted briefly, and then Pepe recommended we get going to ensure we could do everything we wanted in our one day in Cairo. So we left and hailed a cab to the Giza pyramids. These are the most famous pyramids that you see in movies... such as Aladdin... with the three big pyramids, a few small, and the famous sphynx.

The thing that surprised me the most was how you never leave the city before arriving at the pyramids. I tried to take pictures to capture the fact that the only thin dividing the ancient from the present was a fence. Also the Sphinx is much much smaller than I expected it to be. My thoughts of it probably came from Aladdin and Jasmin flying by on their magic carpet. I need to re watch the movie now that I've been to Giza.

So while we were in our cab (it is about 20-30 minutes from the city to the pyramids) a guy from the street came and jumped in with us. He was nice, spoke English, liked Americans (as everyone said they did). He said he wanted to help us see the pyramids like and Egyptian not a tourist and had the taxi take us to an area away from the main entrance. Ryan was expecting it to be expensive to see the pyramids, I never thought about it and sort of thought it was just in the middle of the dessert and it would be free other than transportation to get there. Wrong! So this new "friend" of ours who makes falafel for a living and is married with a 8 month old son took us to a man who arranged tours of the historical site. If we went in on our own we would have to buy separate tickets for whatever we wanted to do from basic entry to going in the pyramids, into the sphinx, walk up the pyramid... I don't even know what all. After sitting in this man's shop for quite awhile we agreed on a price (in USD) that we were willing to pay and it would include a guide, riding on camels, seeing all the pyramids, sphinx, going into the sphinx, and falafel lunch at the end. After we were squared away our random "friend" from the taxi said good bye and got back in the cab to go home to his family. I still am sort of confused on the whole thing.

So as soon as we were up on our camels (and being on a camel as it stands up and sits down is very odd) we were told we can tip our guide at the end based on how we like the trip. Okay whatever we though. We'll give him something. We like tips so we like to tip people when we think it is appropriate.

We entered the site and rode up to a spot where we took lots of pictures with the pyramids including ones with it looked like we were holding them or sitting on them and just crazy things like that. I was a little frustrated here because I tried to ask questions and our guide wasn't understanding and kept answering by saying things he'd already told us. Ryan and I kept trying to rephrase our questions and he just didn't get it so eventually we gave up.

We rode closer to the pyramids. On the way we stopped, the guide who was riding with Ryan got off and went over and broke us off pieces of stone that were left over from the construction of one of the pyramids. I am guessing you aren't supposed to do that, but then again I feel like Egypt is based on doing things you aren't supposed to do. I'm pretty sure the tickets we got in with get reused day in and day out and our guide paid off security as we rode by for I don't know what. Egypt is a pretty corrupt place and definitely felt like a third world country, something I wasn't really expecting. We rode down through some tombs or something. It is where all the pyramid builders lived but then they all get buried there too because the Kings wanted everything just as it was when they were alive so that when they came back it was all the same. Their beliefs are very interesting. And then we ended up at the Sphinx. Our guide couldn't enter with us but we went in and got some good close up pictures. We opted not to take any of the funny shots kissing the sphinx or picking it's nonexistent nose, things like that. After we were done we walked back to our guide and mounted our camels again for our guide to walk us out. Before we left the gate he stopped and said maybe if we wanted to give him a tip we would want to do it now before we were around people. Whatever I though, okay. Ryan and I had thought we'd give him 50 Egyptian pound, roughly $10 for our 2 hour tour. But then he said to us that normally people give 125 pounds EACH. If we gave a total of 250 pounds that would have been nearly $50. But because he made me feel bad for only giving 50 I gave 70. He looked at it and asked if this was just for me and I said it was for both us us. They in a disgusted voice he said this is like $10. So I informed him it was more than that and he muttered something like it was maybe $12. I couldn't believe the ungratefulness. On this trip everywhere but particularily in Egypt I got so fed up with people seeing us and knowing we must be either Europeans or Americans and therefore we must be rich. First of all I am far from rich, second of all $12 is more than I make in and hour at work, third you should be grateful not tell me how much to tip you and definitely not make me feel bad for not giving more, and lastly I don' care how much the pounds equate to in USD because news flash we weren't in the US so it really doesn't matter how much I'm giving the guy in USD. If you can't tell I'm still fired up about the whole thing. I just couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. If I had it to do over again I think I'd pretend I was going to give him more and ask for what I have him back and then once I had my money back tell him that if he couldn't be grateful he wasn't getting anything. Then we could see if he started singing a different tune. Goodness!

After all that we exited the site and went back to the shop where we first started. We went inside expecting our lunch but it wasn't there yet. Then our guide said for us to come next door for another part of our tour. It was another shop where they had us sit down and started what we knew was a sales pitch for Egyptian oils. According to them all perfume companies first came to them for their scents, but now they are all mass produced with an alcohol base. But you could virtually tell them any name brand scent you want and they can mix it with their oils which are all natural and have no alcohol. They were really pushing the lotus flower oil which is some type of a cure all. Rub it on your stomach if you are nauseous or your head if it hurts or behind your ears for stress or anything under the sun. Then he asked what we wanted to smell and we said we didn't know because we were definitely not interested. He gathered our disinterest I guess and said okay lets go back to the other place and you can see papyrus. This was where we started and I was expecting another spiel on the papyrus paintings but thankfully our lunch arrived and they left us in the back to eat. And they never tried to sell us anything more probably because they realized we weren't going to buy anything. Oh and I wasn't really a fan of the falafel, it was fine, but nothing special, in fact probably at the bottom of the totem pole of falfels that I have had. There were also pitas with what seemed like refried beans in them but it is something that is called fool. It was... fine as well.

We were planning on taking the bus to the Egyptian museum, but a man came and told us we better take a cab because traffic would be very bad at this time of day and we might not make it to the museum in time. So whether or not that was totally accurate we did take a taxi because the thing is with Egypt is that for the two of us to go the 20-30 minutes from Giza to downtown Cairo it was 35 pounds, just over $6... so when we were talking about saving money it wouldn't have been anything extreme.

Installment #2

We arrived at the museum bought our tickets and went in. When you enter you have to put your bag through a security belt and walk through a metal detector yourself. We got very accustomed to these type of scenarios on our trip. You are also not allowed to bring cameras into the museum. They have a place you have to check them into by the front gate and then they search your bag for them to be sure you don't have them.

Once we cleared all the checks I had to go to the bathroom. Ryan and I had been warned by a friend who traveled to Egypt that many bathrooms charge you for toilet paper, so we carried it with us all the time. This bathroom had some guys standing outside so I showed them I had paper and he told me it still cost 1 pound, so I gave it to him. When I came out of the bathroom Ryan asked why I paid the guy and I said I had to. He then pointed to a sign that said tipping was prohibited. Ryan had seen me pay and went to ask they guy why he made me pay because of what the sign said. He told Ryan I wanted to. BS I wanted to. First he took advantage of me and then he lied to Ryan. I don't often see Ryan get angry about anything, but oh my gosh he was mad at this time. He held himself back from going back and giving the guy a piece of his mind. One pound is probably about 15 cents so that isn't what mattered it was the principle. I share this story because this is what Egypt is like. And this is what made us grow so tired of Egypt, but mostly just Cairo because we didn't necessarily feel taken advantage of in Dahab... or at least to the same extent.

After the bathroom situation we started to explore the museum. Nothing is in the pyramids, it has all been removed and is now in this museum. We probably spent at least 2 hours in the museum and after awhile we realized we were seeing a lot of the same things. We saw SO much jewelry and even thousands of individual beads. There were coffins made out of stone and pottery and statues. It was cooler to see it all at first, but after awhile we were just tired and had to sit down a couple times just to let our feet have a break. My favorite part of the museum though was the room that was separate from the rest of the museum designated for Tutankhamen. Partially I liked it because I've heard the most about this king. Partially I liked it because there was a good assortment of things to look at. And partially I liked it because the room had air conditioning. The only things that weren't there were King Tuts mummy and maybe one or two other key things which they've left in his tomb which is south down the Nile in Luxor. IF I ever go back to Egypt I'd like to visit Luxor.

After I'd dragged us through the whole museum... I made Ryan at least walk into every area with me even just because I figure we'll never be there again although I don't think b the end either of us did much looking around.... we headed outside to look for a bank to exchange some more dollars for pounds. Unfortunately all the banks were closed. We have also NEVER been able to withdraw money from ANY of EITHER of our credit or debit card accounts from an ATM. I think we must be ignorant as to something because I can't imagine as to why this never works. As we were walking down the main road a man stopped us to tell us the Egyptian museum was across the street. I think he thought we were looking for it, but we thanked him and said we had already been there. Then he asked what we were looking for and we said a place to exchange money. He said all the banks were closed, but he knew a place that did it on the black market and said to follow him. As we followed Ryan kept asking what their exchange rate was, but all that the man was talking about was someone he knew in the States or how much he liked Americans. Blah blah blah they all say the same thing. Eventually we reached his shop and went in. He sat us down and asked if we wanted tea or coke. We tried to refuse, but he insisted it was Egyptian hospitality. I didn't know if it was rude to refuse so I said tea and Ryan said coke just because he wanted something cold. So the man disappeared to get it and another man... older than dirt I think... started telling us about his oils. He rubbed the lotus oil on our hands and started talking about other oils that cure all kinds of things. He asked Ryan if he was interested in an oil that was an aphrodisiac and asked me if I wanted an oil that would promote fertility. The answer to both of those was a big fat NO! We just wanted to exchange money. He started telling us prices. One gram was 2 pounds. Ryan asked how much a gram was and the man said it was about one drop. What? We told him over and over we didn't want any oils. He kept showing us bottles smaller and smaller and even offered to sell us half of the smallest bottle. It would make a great gift. Something special from Egypt. NO! We didn't want it! Finally Ryan said we just want to exchange money and asked what the rate was. He said 5 pounds per dollar. That was horrible. The bank gives 5.68 pounds per dollar. Finally we had to rudely just walk out. It was ridiculous.

We kept walking down the street and were drawn into another shop. They were offering 5.5 pounds per dollar and again it wasn't worth it to us no matter how few pounds we had left. After we walked out of that store another man stopped us. He told us he had a brother who lived in Germany. He used to live in the US and he partied there when he was our age. On and on he went. Nice enough, very chatty. Then he started talking about wanting us to take his business card. We thought okay fine. So we went into the shop... mistake. Then he wanted to get us drinks... "Egyptian hospitality." Here we go again. His friend, colleague, brother, I don't know who made papyrus and painted on it was in the shop. We were surrounded by art. He started talking to us about the art and then handed us an order form. We said we weren't interested, gave back the form, but they weren't ready for us to leave yet. I don't even want to know how long we ended up staying in there. The man who drew us into the shop started talking about how much his brother sells these for in Germany but he wouldn't tell us the numbers he punched them into a calculator and showed us. We didn't care how much people paid in Germany. Then he said we could have one for free, but we weren't willing to take a painting for free. After awhile I did say there were a couple I liked so they took them off the wall and started wrapping them up and says prices for them in dollars. I'll jump to the end of this story and tell you I did end up taking the two paintings of King Tut home. But instead of paying the exorbitant amount he first said I paid $30 US for both paintings. Ryan and I have been acquiring art in various cities we've visited and this is the cheapest we've gotten a painting for, so I think it was worth it. And that is how I started to bargain. I decided what it was worth to me and I didn't pay any more, but I also didn't try to get things for next to nothing if I actually wanted it and it was worth something like $15 to me. So we know have two papyrus paintings. And right before we left we go the useful tip that in the Hilton hotel right across from the Nile they had a 24 hour currency exchange bank. So we headed there to exchange enough money for all our transportation the rest of the time we'd be in Egypt. Even entering the hotel we had to go through security. And the Hilton gave us the exchange rate we deserved.

From the Hilton we walked to the Nile. As we walked along the river the sun was setting and it was pretty cool to see. We walked across the bridge that took us to the area we were staying, but then we didn't know how to get the rest of the way so we hailed a cab. At first he said it would cost 20 pounds when I knew the ride would be about a minute and we shouldn't pay more than 5. So after walking away and saying we weren't interested he called us back and accepted our 5 pounds. Sure enough a minute later he dropped us off and we found our way into Noelia and Pepe's. This was our first time meeting Noelia and she was so nice and so pretty. They are a fantastic couple. We sat and talked for a couple hours in their living room. Then at about 10 they were heading to a friend's house for dinner and invited us along. Although Ryan was already falling asleep we decided to go. Their friend lived only a few blocks away. There were four other Spaniards I think, one guy from Mexico and later their friend from Italy showed up who was preparing the meal. We sat and chatted for a long time at their friends house. Sometimes they would all be speaking Spanish and I had no idea what was going on but I didn't care. It sounded cool and I just thought the whole experience of being there was awesome. It took awhile for the Italian guy to get there and then he still had to make the sauce for the pasta so it wasn't until midnight we sat down to eat. Ryan had been sleeping sitting next to me on the couch for awhile in the living room. So after we ate we didn't wait long to leave. The spaghetti was really really good though. Noelia and Pepe gave us their house key so we could go back without them and go to sleep.. so nice and really trusting of them... I guess we made an okay first impression. :)

July 2nd

Ryan passed out right away when we got back... no surprise. I stayed up a bit to check email and other travel info for our trip. I woke him up just enough to ask if he had set an alarm and he hadn't, so I set his iPod to go off at 5am so we could catch a cab to the airport. When the alarm went off only a few hours later Ryan started freaking out and I had NO idea why. Our flight left at 7:15 and we had plenty of time, but we hurried out of the house and to the main street nearby. The first cab was way to expensive but it didn't take long to agree on a price with the second driver we talked to. I think we both slept off and on while we rode to the airport.

At the airport we hurried through security and then Ryan said something about it being 6:45. I couldn't believe it took that long to get to the airport. And then everything clicked for me. Ryan hadn't set his iPod to Egypt time which is one hour ahead of Germany time. So when I set the alarm for 5 it didn't go off until 6 Egypt time. And Ryan saw that on his watch and freaked out but I had no idea why he was freaking out.

We sort of cut in front of the long line and quickly found out that we had missed the cut off time for checking in for our flight. We were sent to speak with someone further along the counter. He too told us we would not be able to leave at 7:15 but said we could get on the 8am flight. This was the closest I was to getting really upset on our whole trip because I knew that by not being on the first flight we wouldn't make the bus from Sharm to Nuweiba where we needed to catch the ferry to Jordan. But Ryan calmed me down and we decided it could be a lot worse and went to wait at our gate.

Next came the pain in the butt part of trying to bargain for a taxi to Nuweiba which is about 2 hours north. It took awhile but we got a cab for 250... more than we wanted to pay but I don't know if we could have gotten it for less. The bus would have cost 20 or 25 I think per person, so the cab was a lot more but again we are talking pounds. So 250 is $44 and I don't think there is anywhere in the states you could get a private taxi for that much for a 2 hour drive.

Installment #3

When we arrived in Nuweiba we didn't have enough Egyptian pounds to pay the driver, but on Ryan's iPod he has an application that converts different currencies so we knew exactly how many dollars it would take on top of our pounds to be the amount we had agreed upon. And yet when we gave him the dollars he was insisting we give him more. Then eventually he started saying "backsheesh" which somehow Ryan knew meant tip and we were telling him no we were not giving him "backsheesh" we paid him what we agreed upon which we knew was more than the normal fare for Egypt because everything in Egypt is dirt cheap and gas cost the equivalent of 68 cents per gallon. Eventually we realized we would never get anywhere with this man who barely spoke a word of English if even a word so we just walked away and he got back in his car and drove away. At least that was the last Egyptian taxi driver we had to deal with.

We bought our tickets, in US dollars by the way, and we did have to buy them for the slow ferry because they said that was all that was running. Then we walked to where we thought we'd be boarding the boat. We went through security and then walked into a warehouseish building that turned out to be a passport control point we had to go through. We waited in line for a long time and then the passport checker guys got up and left. It was time for midday prayer and so they all just left. That is an interesting part of being in a Muslim country. And we heard the call to prayer 5 times a day including the one sometime around 4 or 5 in the morning. But when the guys left all the locals got out of line, so we moved right to the front for whenever they came back. A man came up in line behind us who was obviously a tourist just like us, so I explained to him what was going on. His name is Mark, he is from Madison Wisconsin, he works for General Mills, and he became our friend and travel buddy. There was also another tourist name Raea who is half Swedish, half Jordanian, lives in Sweden, has been in Egypt for at least a month, and his headed to Jordan for awhile where her family still has a flat. It was nice to see these people, especially after I realized I was the only female in the place. I was the minority of minorities sort of since everyone was either Egyptian or Jordanian and all men.

When the guys came back we all made it through security and then entered a really bad waiting area. I knew we should expect to wait a long time. We heard that the boat often didn't leave until hours past the scheduled time of 3. The benches were some of the worst constructed and most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on. But we sat and we sat and we sat. And I talked and I talked and I talked... or so Mark thought anyway. :) At one point he turned to Ryan and asked if I ever stop. But for everyone who has spent much time around Ryan they know he doesn't say a whole lot. So when I get around new people I like to engage in conversation. Later in the afternoon a tour group full of Australians, a couple American and maybe a couple European showed up and I sat and talked with a nice woman named Kelly for awhile because she has recently become very interested in nutrition and tried to avoid animal products just like me. Then she and I had a whole lot of questions for Mark about General Mills. Over all from what Mark says I would not classify GM as the devil of food companies, they are making strides to be environmentally, socially, and health conscious which was good to hear. But personally I think they still have a ways to go. Just like virtually ever food company. But GM is definitely better than some.

There isn't a ton to tell about this day because all we did was sit.. and talk... and sit... and sit and sit and sit. There was also only a squatty potty in the ground (the style of the East) and it was the grossest bathroom I'd ever seen so I did everything I could not to eat or drink and have to use it, but eventually I just had to go. Thankfully we had toilet paper because they did not. And to go I have to take everything off because otherwise I know from experience I will pee all over my clothes. Yuck I'm glad that experience is over.

Oh yes I almost forgot this part. We found out from the tour group that they bought tickets for the fast ferry. The ferry we were told would not run on Saturday. So we asked someone and found out that for $10 more we could wait for the fast boat. Everything I read said the fast boat was SO MUCH better. So we decided to wait. The slow boat finally came and boarded which took hours. And we kept waiting... and waiting... and waiting.

I think around 10pm we walked outside to get on a bus to take us a 30 second drive to the ferry. I was shocked that it was actually a really nice boat with really nice seats. It was much nicer than the ferries I am used to that run in the San Juans at home. We arrived in Aqaba about midnight, which brings us to the next day.

July 3rd

Mark was planning to go to Petra just like Ryan and I, so we asked if he wanted to share a taxi with us. We wanted to get to Petra that night instead of staying in Aqaba so we could explore early in the morning. I'd read that early is better before all the tour groups come.

The first man who offered us a taxi was standing inside the gate. We don't know how he got there but when we rounded the corner there were a crazy number of yelling men trying to get our attention for a ride. So instead of entering that mess I turned to this first man and asked how much to Petra. The amount he said was 30 Jordanian Dinar less than the experienced tour guide thought we'd get it for that I asked on the boat. So we said take us to Petra. I think it was a huge blessing that situation went the way it did.

Before we left Aqaba Mark told our driver, Ali, that if he needed coffee he'd buy it for him since it was so late at night. But I guess Ali took that to mean we wanted coffee. So he drove us to a place and bought us all drinks (Ryan and I had tea). Then we drove the 2 hours to Petra. There was one point that there was a detour and Ali somehow got the police to let us through. It was because of a rock slide that had not been cleaned up, but there was enough room to get one car around it. I think he saved us a lot of time by this. Ali also asked if we had a place to stay. We didn't have a reservation, but had a name of a place and new they let people sleep on the roof for a really cheap price so that was our plan. He didn't think it would be open though. When we arrived to Petra he just took us to a hotel that had beds on the roof and was open. He was the best cam driver I've ever had in my whole life. We paid 5 JD which is about $7 each for our mattress on the roof. I was expecting an open air roof, but it was actually full enclosed. The three of us got ready for bed and went to sleep fast since it was after 2am.

Petra opened at 6 in the morning, but Ryan and I wanted a little more sleep so instead of getting there right at 6 we woke up at 6. We paid the 2 JD for breakfast which was pita bread, hummus, jam, and coffee. It was delicious.

Mark got up to and decided he would come to Petra early with us. It was probably a 15 minute walk down the hill from Wadi Musa to the gate of Petra. For people who do not know what Petra is I can't give you a good explanation. A long time ago during the time of Jesus a civilization started building their town into the sandstone. Then as time went on things started getting really elaborate and some of it is left for us to see today. And it wasn't discovered until 1812 by a man from Switzerland. Like I said I can't say a lot about it, but it is really cool and I'd recommend you look it up on the internet. BBC says it is one of the 40 places to see before you die. And it has been added to the list of the 7 NEW wonders of the world.

We arrived about 7. You walk in and the first thing you come to a canyon, I guess I would call it. It is really cool.. and really tall (coming from the girl who has never been to the Grand Canyon keep in mind). And my favorite part was that down at wait level they carved into the stone canals of sort of collect and carry rain water.

When you emerge from the canyon you are facing the Treasury. This is the number one thing to see in Petra. It was so beautiful, so elaborate, and just blows your mind to think of people carving this out of the sand stone and actually using it as a part of their everyday life. We took lots of pictures of it, but I actually like the pictures we took on our way back out better because then the entire thing was in the sun instead of partially in the shade when we first saw it.

We continued on and were hounded by little boys to buy necklaces. I bought one and I actually like it, so that is okay. We saw more tombs than I can count. We saw an amphitheater. We hiked up a bit at got to go inside some of the bigger tombs (I think they were tombs). Mark wanted a necklace and a woman up here was selling them. He wanted one with all smaller beads though not the large ones that seemed prevalent... he wanted something suitable for a man. So the woman said she'd make him one and we could come back. He did pay a pretty penny for it but that was nice of her. We kept walking and saw a old street (we had to use our imagination) with columns lining it. We did not go all the way up to the Monastery which is the 2nd must see sit of Petra. It is a long walk or you can pay for a donkey or camel, but we didn't want to. Petra is in Indiana Jones if any of you have seen that. I have not. I guess the Monastery is in the movie. On our way back out we went to get Mark's necklace and she had made three for him to choose from. We all agreed we liked a certain one best and it was really cool. The woman insisted she wanted me to be in a picture too that he asked to take with her.. it was funny but maybe it was because I was wearing my necklace too even though I didn't buy it from her.

We probably left the gate of Petra at 11:15 and it must have been at least 120 degrees. I wanted to tell everyone just coming in to turn around and come back the next morning. I cannot tell you how glad I was we got up to go early.

We got back to the hotel. I got on the internet quickly and Ryan and Mark went upstairs to shower... I'm actually not sure if they did. Our taxi driver had told us the night before he could take us back. He stayed the night at a friend's house. So he arrived around 12 and probably about 12:20 we left Wadi Musa bound for the Aqaba border where we were going to cross into Israel. On the way we once again stopped for drinks and Ali bought them along with a cookie-cracker thing for each of us. What a nice guy.

We had to cross one check point where they searched our bags and then let Ali drive us a little further to the next point where we officially left Jordan. We gave him literally all the Dinar we had between the three of us which was more than the amount he said he'd drive us for. Mark asked if that was okay and he said whatever we wished. But we sort of sensed that he was hoping for a better tip I think. He was a great driver. So Mark pulled out some Euros he had and handed that to him and he seemed very happy with that. I thought it was such a drastic change to hear Ali say "whatever you wish" compared to all the people in Egypt more of less spitting at what we gave them, telling us it was nothing, and almost demanding more. I don't mind tipping someone who is humble like Ali.

Walking out of Jordan was no problem and walking into Israel wasn't too bad. In Israel there were three stations we had to pass. First was the passport check where they thoroughly examined our passports and us. Second we sent our things through a belt and then they searched them all. Third we went up to a window with our passport for our stamp and the woman grilled us with questions. And last we showed a man we had been to all three stations.

From there we got a taxi. Ryan and I were going to the airport because we decided to fly to Tel Aviv instead of take the bus like the way down. When we first got off our flight from Munich and were waiting for the train to go to the bus station we'd met a nice couple returning from a trip to Paris. They told us about an airline that had really cheap flight to and from Tel Aviv and Eilat. I'd been trying to book online, but it was not letting me input my information, so we were arriving very early at the airport to buy our tickets. Mark on the other hand needed to just go from this border to the border with Egypt, the one we'd crossed a few days before, because on Monday (it was Saturday) he had a flight home out of Cairo.

So we got in the cab and said to the airport first. He wasn't a great cab driver. He would not tell us what it should cost for getting all the way to the border. He said he'd driven it before, but couldn't remember how much it could cost. He wouldn't even give us a ball park. We needed to know because we were exchanging New Israel Shekel for Euros with Mark so he could pay the driver without having to exchange money and we already had shekels from when we first arrived. The driver also wouldn't give us control of the windows. Weird. So when we got the the airport Mark got out too because he said he didn't want to ride with this guy anymore and he'd get a new cab. Also when we all got out the driver started hitting buttons and said he charged for each of our bags on top of the distance. Ugh.

We all got out and went into the airport. I went up to the ticket counter to esquire about our flight. Unfortunately because it was the day off the good price was no longer available. It was $96 per ticket instead of $60. I told her I tried to book online and it wouldn't let me. She said I should have called. I said I didn't have a phone. She said I should have asked to use my hotels phone. I didn't say anymore but I was thinking that I didn't really think anywhere in Egypt or Jordan would let me borrow their phone to call Israel. But I did find out that we could fly earlier that we were planning to leave for the same price and we could fly to a small airport int he city of Tel Aviv instead of the International airport we flew into that was further outside the city.

I took all this information back to Ryan. Then Mark said to leave my bag with Ryan and follow him. I didn't know why. I thought maybe he wanted to go argue with the woman about the price. As we walked toward the counter he said, "wait we'll need Ryan's passport too" so we went and got Ryan and all our stuff. Mark walked us to the ticket counter and said he was paying for our flight. We both tried to refuse. This was much much too generous. But he insisted and told us that he is used to getting what he wants. :) And he did it. He bought our tickets. What a blessing. And oh how generous a gift. My goodness. I don't think he will ever know how much we appreciated his gift. He said he wanted to thank us for traveling with him. There was no need for this, but it was very nice. And we gave him what should have been enough shekels to pay his cab to get to the border. After the tickets were bought we exchanged contact information and said our good byes.

From there we had to go to a security check before they actually handed us our tickets. First a guy took our passports and asked us a few questions. Then he walked away and a woman came back. She started grilling us with questions. And when they look at your passport they really really analyze it. And then they analyze you. And because I smile in my passport photo they asked me to smile. And you stare into their eyes and it feels like they are trying to see into your soul. Then that woman walked away and came back with another woman. She was the security supervisor. She wanted to know why someone that we'd only known for 24 hours bought our tickets. She didn't like my response that he was a very nice man. And what I said sometimes people who have more money than other people in American like to share it and do nice things for other people her response was, "I've been to America and met rich people who never bought me anything." What should I say... sorry... or well maybe if you didn't seem so harsh they would. Anyway it was a lot of questions. They wanted to know our relationship. How long we'd been dating. If we lived together. How often we see each other. Where we going in Israel... not a rough idea... exactly what we planned to see. EVENTUALLY it ended and they sent us to have our bags searched. They used a wand and rubbed it all over the inside and outside of our things and then rubbed it on a machine checking for residue from explosives I think. And when that ended we were allowed to get our tickets. We went through the metal detectors and such and proceeded to our gate. After a brief stop to buy a sandwich and a drink to share.

The flight went off without a hitch and in less than an hour we were on the ground in Tel Aviv. We collected our bags and found the bus stop. Because it was Saturday it was Shabbat. Now we had to get used to being in a primarily Jewish country with their culture. So a nice girl at the same stop told us we should take the mini bus because very few of the city buses run on Shabbat. So we got on with her and got off when the driver told us to and waited for another mini bus as we'd been instructed. A mini buss is like a large van and is sort of a mix between a bus and a taxi that might be around the price of a bus or a little more but sometimes gets you places faster. We ended up taking them a fair number of places in Israel. They will wait to fill the bus before leaving. We took them on some of our longer drives. So we eventually made it to the main bus station which was where we wanted to go because that was where I had as a starting point for my walking directions to our hostel. We again didn't have a reservation, but I saw online they had space. My friend Ari, from home, was in town and I checked her hostel but it didn't show availability but this place looked alright so off we walked.

It probably took 20 or 30 minutes to get there and they did have room. Randomly another girl in the room was from SeaTac. She said Seattle and I was said I was from Washington too so where was she really from. I'm used to people saying Seattle but really meaning a whole bunch of surrounding town that I know of but most people don't. She goes to Harvard in Boston, which is sort of funny because Ryan's cousin Christian goes to college in Boston and is from Seattle and they are both the same age. Just a connection I made.

We showered and did a little stuff online and then went down stairs the the restaurant that was part of our hostel. It was Indian. We just didn't want to search for anything else. I'd say the food was mediocre, but we were hungry and at the end of eating we were very full so the food did what we needed it to for the night. Eva the SeaTac girl and another guy from Holland in our room and a couple others were all watching the World Cup game at a bar on the roof and invited us to come up but Ryan and I were so exhausted we just couldn't muster the energy. We just went to bed looking forward to a chill day on Sunday hanging out with Ari.

Safe and sound

Ryan and I are back in Garmisch safe and sound after a fabulous 11 days away. I have so much to share I know if will take awhile to get it all on the blog, but I'll do my best to start at least something tomorrow. For now I am exhausted and it is almost one in the morning, which is two in the morning in Israel. And gosh darn it I have to get up and go to work in the morning. Whatever happened to summer vacation with no work and all play? Well I guess back then I didn't have the funds to take 11 day trips to the middle east. To work it is... :)

So much praise

We are safe and sound having a great time. Our travels were great and we have met some really cool people who are helpful and all happen to be Christians. We have been praising God all day for his provisions. We are leaving at eleven tonight to climb mt Sinai and watch the sunrise. I promise we are being very careful and cautious but it feels good knowing God has an obvious presence with us and our travels. So as we continue to pray we have so much praise and thanksgiving.
Love you all
Em and ry

Itinerary

Hello to all my diligent blog followers... or maybe some who are just happen to check in but don't actually read this whole thing. I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I have so much I want to share about the awesome time Ryan and I had when my Mom was here to visit. The reason I have not been blogging is because I've been so busy getting things worked out for our trip to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. For anyone curious I thought I'd put up the itinerary Ryan and I have put together. It may be tweaked a bit while we are there, but this will be the gist of our travels.

Monday June 28th: depart Munich airport at 11:15pm
Tuesday June 29th: arrive Tel Aviv airport at 4am (so early I know)
take a bus to the southern most part of Israel, Eilat
take a bus across the Israeli/Egyptian border at Taba
taxi from Taba to Dahab hopefully arriving around 2 or 3
we are meeting someone from couchsurfing.org for dinner and then to
watch the world cup game Spain vs. Portugal
Wednesday June 30th: find out way to the "Blue Hole" for a morning of snorkeling
explore the market in the afternoon
leave at some crazy hour to go hike up Mt. Sinai to be able to
watch the sunrise
Thursday July 1st: come down Mt. Sinai to explore St. Catherine's monastery and see
the supposed bush that burned in the Bible
travel to Sharm el Sheikh to fly to Cairo
try to see the pyramids sphynx and visit the egyptian museum
Friday July 2nd: fly back to Sharm el Sheik in the morning
take a bus to Nuweiba and take the ferry across to Aqaba, Jordan
bus or taxi to Wadi Musa
Saturday July 3rd: Explore Petra
Leave in the evening to bus to Amman
Sunday July 4th: Happy 4th of July!!!!! Michelle's fav holiday :)
Probably there will not be a bus running Saturday because of the Sabbath so we'll have to wait to cross into Israel until this day
Hopefully we will meet up with a friend of mine from home that has
been on a archeological dig for the last month in Israel and she
leave early on Monday
Monday July 5th: Everything from this point on a much looser because we can easily bus anywhere during the day in Northern Israel. I'm thinking Jerusalem though because there is so much I want to see there. Mt. of Olives, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Dead Sea are all near by
Tuesday July 6th: Head toward the Sea of Galilee
Wednesday July 7th: Happy Birthday Michelle!
Head west to Haifa see Baha'i Gardens
Ceasarea aqueducts
Thursday July 8th: head to Tel Aviv/ Jaffa area
Friday July 9th: our last day to squeeze in anything we haven't done yet
depart Tel Aviv airport at 6:45 pm
arrive Munich airport at 9:55pm
HOPEFULLY be back to Garmisch getting into bed at roughly midnight
for a good night's rest before work the next day

We would appreciate as much prayer as people are willing to offer for safe travels with no lost luggage, or issues with customs or immigration etc. Good connections with transportation and finding our way around, and that we have a really stupendous time!

We love you all!!!!

The right way

I don't know if this applies to every situation, but in the situation I have just been involved with I do believe there was a right way and a wrong way to deal with it. I do not think I would feel like writing this post if I felt the situation was dealt with in the right way.

My roommate, Sarah, is moving out of our room.... as I am writing this. But she never told me that she was moving out. The person she is moving in with is my "friend" Laura. Laura has been living with my friend Reneé. Laura just told Reneé that she was moving out yesterday morning. And when Reneé asked "when?" Laura's response was, "tomorrow."

Maybe two or a little more weeks ago I saw my friend Ben in the hallway whose job is sort of to be the RA of the Abrams where we all live. He needed to replace light bulbs in our room and Sarah had put the work request in. When Ben saw me he asked something to the effect of, "Does Sarah still live in your room?" I didn't hear him perfectly and was so taken aback by the question that after a pause to absorb what I thought I had just heard I answered "yes, she is in the kitchen right now." Then I went to Ryan's room and told him what I thought I'd heard.

I wish now that I had just asked her right then if she was planning to move out. I did not though because I gave her the benefit of the doubt and figured that if she had something to tell me she would. After all, she comments all the time about how mature she is for being 20 years old. And I also wasn't 100% sure what Ben said, so maybe I just misheard and nothing was up at all.

Then.... last Sunday after work Ryan told me that it had been confirmed that Sarah did put in for a room change with Laura (this was the first I'd heard about Laura moving in with her). After Ryan said goodnight to me on Saturday he was headed to his room when someone we know said he should stop by their room to hangout with everyone in there. So he stopped and they were talking and then someone who was quite drunk (side note: people are drunk all the time here and I just wish they'd all get over it and realize they could have a lot more memorable fun if they didn't drink so much) said that Laura (who was in the room) requested to change rooms to live with Sarah. Then Laura immediately jumped all over Sam for giving away the secret because Ryan was in the room. So then Same explained it was nothing against me. So Sunday after work when Ryan told me was when this whole thing was confirmed and I was VERY upset by it. I am not upset that Sarah is moving out or that she is moving in with Laura. They are friends. Their lifestyles probably go hand-in-hand a lot better than Sarah's and mine do, I have no trouble seeing that. And I have never thought Sarah and I were anywhere near best friends. But I thought we were friends and I thought we were both mature adults. As and adult I would have expected her to tell me she was planning on moving out.

I didn't have it in me the night I found out about the situation to say anything to her and after work the next day Ryan and I headed to Munich to pick up my Mom. But when I got back I had every intention to addressing this with her and also letting her and Laura know that if they did not tell Reneé about this then I was going to.

On Saturday night when we got back from Prague Ryan came over to my room after being in his for a little while to report that Sarah and Laura would be moving in together on Monday. Sarah had been in Nuremburg for a huge concert event from Thursday and didn't get back until today, Monday. Laura was in Ryan's room asking his roommate for advice on how to tell Reneé she was moving out. And that is how Ryan found out they got a room and were moving out in two days.

If anyone is thinking, "so how did Sarah end up telling you that she was moving out?" I was thinking the same thing, "how will she end up telling me?" Well the answer is, she didn't! I ran home after work today to find the door open and Sarah and was in the midst of packing and moving with someone else. Without hardly looking up she said, "so we got our room." I can only assume by this point she had heard from other people that I knew about the move. So I told her, "you never told me you were moving." And her reasoning for that was that it would have made things awkward. Awkward for her maybe, but I know the person I am and I would have been like, "okay, thanks for the heads up." As the mature adult that I believe I have become I really think that telling me would have been the better way to handle the situation. Because by trying to make things less awkward my feelings were hurt and Reneé's feelings were hurt. It is like finding out that a rumor has been spread about you. Pretty much everyone we associate with at work and other people that don't even know us knew about this whole thing and were keeping it a secret. And I found out through other people and Reneé feelings like she was just the last to know out of everybody, which she was. So I told Sarah that I didn't think she handled it in the right manner and that neither Reneé or I appreciated finding out last and through other people knowing how many people knew about this. Then she made some comment about JUST finding out they got the room last Thursday and Renée and I were both on trips and gone. So I pointed out that it didn't matter when they found out they got a room because the request was put in a long long time ago. I didn't yell or curse or say anything rude, but I also didn't brush it off like it was no big deal and it didn't bother me. I feel like this is a situation that Sarah and Laura should learn from and know that it could have and should have been dealt with differently.

I am so sorry to anyone I may have hurt in my past by acting in a way similar to this. By withholding information to try and prevent something from being awkward FOR ME. When the right thing to do is to be upfront with someone to try and prevent their feelings from being hurt.

What do you all think? Was there a right and a wrong way to handle this situation? If I am totally off base please feel free to let me know. And thank you to anyone who actually decided to read this post. It is a very different kind of post for me, but I felt like writing this down and sharing it because you never know when you might need a reminder to look out for people's feelings.

On the bright side my Mom is here and we are having a great time! She has had a bed to sleep on the last couple nights with Sarah being gone and now she'll have a bed for the rest of her stay because Sarah is gone for good.

Now I just have a pray the next roommate I get, whenever that may be, will be someone I mesh with and isn't a crazy drunk who has boys stay the night... because let me tell you I won't have a problem sharing my opinion that that is not okay!

P.S. Michelle hurry up and get over here and you can have a bed to yourself and we can be roomies for a month!!!! :)

Kotor and Budva, Montenegro Day 4

Our last day of Ryan's Birthday trip week we went on another excursion, this time to Montenegro. It was the same set up as before where we met our tour guides near the bus stop in Lapad and as it turned out we had the exact same woman as our guide.

Montenegro is south of Dubrovnik and driving along the coast we saw some spectacular views looking back at the town and Lokrum Island. We made one stop along the drive once we crossed the boarder for a bathroom break at a gas station and then one more stop at a roadside pull off to snap a few photos and then back into the van we went. Just past our photo stop we saw these two islands in my photo below. One is natural and one is man made, the only artificial island in the Adriatic Sea. I would have guessed the island that only seems big enough for the mosque on it was the man made one, but it is actually the one to the right that I now realize is not in this shot. I promise there is an island to the right that is man made but is mostly covered in vegetation opposed to the one that is in the photo with the Mosque on it.

The first place we visited was Kotor. It seemed like a small town but they have a lot of tourists because they have a port that many cruise ships dock at. Back in the day Venice would attack them a lot and ruled the city for awhile, but they have a unique thing going for them and that is the Bay of Kotor that the town is located on. It is situated in a way that is very protected from the ocean and the water stays calm when the ocean is stormy, so many boats come in there for shelter. This bay is a form of defense for them because the inlet to get into the bay is less than a mile long which makes it easy to protect and defend from intruders.

Kotor is a walled city like Dubrovnik, but their walls go way up the hill. We didn't walk these but I'd imagine they would be quite a hike. Because the old town is at the base of a huge hill people would often try to invade from over the hill, which is why the wall ran up to high. In the picture below you can see the wall on the hill and the church on the hill is a tourist attraction because it is said that if you climb up to it you will become more fertile... I DID NOT climb up to it.

We had a local guide meet us for a short tour just as we did in Mostar except this tour really was short. It was of the old town and the town isn't very big so we were definitely done by the half hour mark. Ryan and I were hungry and had seen a restaurant on the tour we headed back to. We each ordered a pizza and since it was less expensive to get a bottle of wine than two glasses we just got a bottle. The wine, which I have a picture of below is called Vranac. Ironically I have had this wine once before when Ryan found it in a check out room at work. I really liked it which made me want to try this one, but low and behold it turned out to be the EXACT same Vranac. I even have the empty bottle here in my room to verify that it is the same wine. So at least I knew I liked it. But since we didn't have very long to stay in Kotor before we had to be back at the Van we drank the wine much faster than we would normally and ended up getting just a little tipsy off of it. We also ordered a crepe, that turned out to be the best crepe either of us have ever had. But they weren't bringing the crepe out so Ryan went to pay and ask to get it to go. Another 5 minutes later it was brought out on a plate. With it being so delicious, the fact I always eat faster than I should, the fact we needed to leave, and the fact I was a little tipsy I bit my tongue super hard and made it bleed, which was no fun. Then we rushed back to the van and although we arrived right on time we were the last one which made the guide laugh after we were the late one two days prior on our other trip. Ooops! But I think the run to the van helped with the tipsy feeling and I was good to go other than the fact my tongue hurt really bad.

After Kotor we went to visit the town of Budva. We were going to drive past it to go to an Island were lots of super rich people go to stay and have done so for decades. Doris Day used to spend significant vacation time there. And as the stories go these celebrities would pay oodles of money to the resort owner and then whoever was paying the most would get the best vacation spot which is totally private with huge walls right on the end of the island (there is a big bridge connecting this island to the mainland). And then the other people would get other places that I'm sure are nicer than anything I've ever stayed at or ever will and they all had varied heights of walls and it was sort of a status thing that you knew the higher the wall the richer and more famous the person was. But due to construction or rocks on the road or something like that we couldn't get all the way there, so all I have is the picture below.

In Budva we ended up having more time than in Kotor, but since they didn't tell us that and we'd already eaten we just wandered around. We went into the old town which was also walled. The picture below is of a church and palm trees.

This picture is on the walls. We didn't see an official entrance but there was a turnstall that was unmanned so we just hopped over it and walked a little ways to enjoy the view and then turned around and went out the same way.

This is one of the many huge yachts we saw. Apparently lots of rich Russians are buying property and maybe boats and creating resorts and what not trying to draw tourists and rich people.

We left the old town and went to sit by the water before it was time to be back at the van. There was a bench we found on the beach next to this really cool boat that I think just sits on the sand all the time. And then we got so hot because the sun had come out so we went into the water up to our knees and it felt so good. I wished I had my suit for a swim.

We got back to the van before it was time to go and we were not the last ones this time. :) We enjoyed the drive back to Dubrovnik and sadly this was our last night. So before we left we went to have tropical drinks at a Cabana on the Lapad beach and enjoy the cool night air. This time though we decided to borrow the elevator of the hotel built into the hill so we avoided those crazy steep stairs we climbed all week.

The next morning some guy who I'd never seen before but was driving the same car the hostel owner drove, so I guess he was affiliated, picked us up and took us to the airport. We were sad to go and I know we'd both love to go back someday if we get the chance. And the most important thing to me... Ryan had a really wonderful and special 24th birthday week.

Back in Dubrovnik Day 3

Friday was May 7th, Ryan's birthday. I told him that we would do WHATEVER he wanted today. Being the smart young man that he is the night before he looked at the weather forecast for the rest of our trip. He saw that the weather looked the most promising on his birthday. A wonderful gift for him. So he decided he wanted to stay in Dubrovnik rather than go on another excursion.

We got up in the morning and had cereal for breakfast at our hostel. Going grocery shopping was a great idea. And then headed down to walk around the Lapad Peninsula on the walking path. It was beautiful. The entire walk was right along the water and with the sun out the water shimmered like sapphires. All along the path were random stairs down to rocks that had been cemented over in spots to create flat places to lay our a towel. A couple rocks had ladders from the water to crawl out of the water after a swim. I sort of liked it because it would be hard to get a spot packed with people like beaches typically get. I would imagine in the summer you just need to show up super early to claim your spot.

The picture below is the pools at a nice hotel along the peninsula. They were laying a new deck down that looked very nice. We weren't sure if the pools were open for swimming, but we did discuss poaching them (going swimming even though we weren't guests). They also had a roped off area in the sea in from of the pools for swimming.

Our goal on the walk, besides just having a pleasant morning stroll, was to find the Copacabana Beach. Although the Barry Manilow song was probably written about one of the other few Copacabanas in the world we still thought it would be cool to say we'd been to this one. When we reached the end of the walk I guess we were at the Copacabana. It was just a rocky beach in front of a big nice hotel, which I think is the only all inclusive option in Dubrovnik. We didn't feel inclined to stay for long, so we headed back. The picture below is from the Copacabana.

After we got back to the pedestrian street in Lapad we decided that we had to go swimming before we left. At this point of the day we weren't sure what the weather was about to do, but we didn't care. We were not leaving Dubrovnik without swimming in the Adriatic. So we went to the beach there at the end of the street and walked a ways down it. Stripped down to our bathing suites under our clothes (we were prepared) and waded in. And the dove the rest of the way under. Ryan was a little bit of a baby and thought it was colder than it was. I thought it was refreshing. But we didn't stay long and as soon as we got out and dried off it started to rain. Although that was short lived too.

From there we walked to the other end of the pedestrian street to the bus stop and waited for quite some time to get the bus to the Old Town. Once in town we went to lunch at a Kebab place. Ryan thought his kebab was good, but not his favorite. I had a salmon sandwich. They called it smoked salmon, but to me what it was was lox and it was good. Then we went and each got a gelato cone before heading to walk around the city walls. The walls around the old town are about a mile long and give you and incredible view of everything. They better with the amount the charge you to do it. But we were up their for at least an hour I'd say so we took our time to get our money's worth.
This picture is from standing on the wall.

Here is Ryan looking cute on the wall!

These were the first ruins I saw in Dubrovnik from the war in the 90's. They had a diagram of the old town showing buildings that were hit or completely demolished. Very few buildings survived, which showed up how much has been built and renovated in the last couple decades. But this picture gives a little perspective of what the entire city would look like had they not gone to work rebuilding.

In the upper left corner of this picture is The Fort of St. Lawrence where we went later in the day. You get to go for free if you pay to walk the wall. All that is really there is a good view, but it was worth the climb up to it for that.

Another shot from the wall looking over the rooftops out to the Adriactic.

This was toward the end of our walk around the walls. We look down below to a courtyard area and see this gilateen. Now what in the world was this doing here?

This picture shows the old old roof tiles that have been places on top of new ones. Dubrovnik is very proud of who they are and have been for centuries. So many people removed their roof tiles before buildings were destroyed in the war and when things were rebuilt put the old tiles on top of new ones to give the same look and feel the city used to have pre war. Of course not every building has the old tiles, which makes the city very unique to have such variation in their roofs that I've never seen anywhere else.

By the time we finished walking the walls out gelato was long gone and we were very hot. The day blessed us with incredible weather and being up high on those walls with nothing covering us made us realize the only thing left to do was go for a swim. We saw a little swimming symbol right on the other side of St. Lawrence Fort, so we headed in that direction.
It took some work, but we found the cove and it was wonderful. It was also very dirty and there was a ton of liter, but we loved it. And since the locals all still think that it is too early to swim we had the place to ourselves. There was a little bit of a beach there, but we laid our towels out on the cement at the far end of the cove with a perfect place to jump into the water and some old cement stairs to help us climb back out. Both Ryan and I tell people that this was our favorite part of the whole trip. The water felt great, the sun was out, what more could we have asked for? Well now that I think of it a pina colada or maybe a strawberry daiquiri could have hit the spot, but at the time our set up was ideal.
Here is a picture of Ryan jumping in the water to show you just how much fun we had. Click on the picture to make it bigger if you can't see the excitement in his face. :)

We finally decided it was time to pack up, which was to the benefit of another couple who had just showed up and immediately took our prime spot as soon as we left. We found our way to The Fort of St. Lawrence after this and my next picture was taken from there. The view is really cool because you can see the walls and the old town. The view from the walls was great too, but it was nice to see what you were standing on from this vantage point. Like I said though all that St. Lawrence had to offer was the view, so after we snapped our pictures we headed back down.

We went to the tourist information center in the old town to ask for a dinner recommendation. There was one place we new the location of in Lapad, so we thought we'd go there. When we got back to Lapad we first went to our hostel owner's house to sign up for the excursion to Montenegro the next day, then we each showered and changed and headed back down the hill to the restaurant.

As it turned out it wasn't our favorite restaurant. Although I did have a very good octopus salad. We came here because the seafood was fresh and I do believe that it was, but I think both our meals included too many large shrimps that where still in their shell bodies and we just aren't fans of having to figure out how to get the meat out. But the view was perfect. We sat outside right on the waters edge hearing the waves lap against the rocks and seeing the lights come on as the evening grew darker. That was our favorite part of dinner.

So at the end of the day I think Ryan would tell you all he had a great birthday. And that was what mattered to me.