Travel, teaching, and time: March 2017

The "eye of Horus" brand on this camel's cheek is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, power and good health.

I started a blog post last summer that I called K-W-L, but decided against publishing it. If you are an educator, you have probably guessed my plan for that blog.

For those who need more of an explanation, K-W-L is a technique to get people to think about what they Know or think they Know about a subject.(K) Then, you discuss what they Want to know. (W) After the lesson, you then talk about what they have Learned. (L)

In my original post, my list of what I KNEW or thought I KNEW was limited to thoughts on moving and the information I thought I knew about the school I would soon join in Egypt.

If, instead, I had thought about what I knew about Egypt more specifically, I think I was like many people - what I knew of Egypt mostly had to do with 3 big pyramids, the River Nile, and some Indiana Jones movies. Yep, pretty pathetic.

In fact, I knew so little about Egypt, it is embarrassing. Soon after we arrived, a couple of colleagues told me they were attending a concert in a temple in Luxor. I had no idea where Luxor was, nor did I know what he meant by "temple". I had seen temples in Japan, but knew they didn't have temples like that here in Egypt. At the time, I really thought there was some old Jewish or Christian Temple along the Nile that was being opened up for a rock concert!

I also thought that the pyramids were way out in the desert and contained the beautiful hieroglyphics that I saw in movies.

When I look back at my ignorance about Egypt, I have to laugh.

On my recent 4-day weekend, it suddenly hit me that I really have learned a lot about a lot of things this year - more than I would have ever imagined. I am being stretched professionally in so many ways that sometimes I find it hard to keep up and sometimes I feel inadequate. I now have a better idea of currency exchange and what it means when a country "floats" their money in terms of inflation. I am beginning to understand more about the region, some of the history, and some of the similarities and differences between regions. I have also met so many interesting and adventurous people who have shown me that there are many ways to live your life, at any age.

However, the purpose of this post is to reflect on what I have learned so far about ancient Egypt and to share some of our photos. We (Gary and me, along with Cassandra and Blake) have just returned from a 4-day weekend to Luxor and Cairo. Over Christmas, Christopher and Lauren were here, too, along with Cassandra - so we decided to spend the holiday break mostly in Aswan and Luxor exploring temples and tombs and ancient villages.

At Abu Simbal with our guide Hend

First, I would tell anyone who wants to come to Egypt - USE A GUIDE! This is where we give a shout-out to our two wonderful guides - Hend Magdy and Ahmed. If you want to learn about what you are seeing by someone who is very knowledgeable - hire a guide. Perhaps just as importantly, if you wish to avoid the hassle and hustle - and you WILL get hustled by very slick vendors nearly everywhere - hire a guide. If you want to get better prices on hotels, flights, tours, drivers - hire a guide. You will be amazed at how little it costs to hire a guide, and how much better your experience will be. If you need contact information for a good guide, please ask!

On the Nile in Luxor with our guide Ahmed

Lesson #1 - We got hustled on our very first trip into Cairo back in August - before we knew the importance of HIRING A GUIDE! Before our first trip to Cairo to see the pyramids, we had been told that the pyramids are actually located just on the outskirts of Egypt's largest city, Cairo. In addition, a driver can drive you right up to the parking lot at the base of the pyramids and you can walk around yourself. We thought we did the right thing and set up a driver ahead of time who was to meet us at our hotel at 8 in the morning and drive us right to the pyramid parking lot. We had left information with the hotel concierge about who we were and that we were expecting our driver. Our first mistake. The hotel concierge lined up one of the hotel drivers to meet us just a few minutes early and act like he was our driver and he had been waiting and we needed to hurry and get in the car with him. He then took us on some back roads to a place where there were some camels and horses to ride to the pyramids. He told us that they had changed the rules and no cars were allowed close to the pyramids anymore. We were in an area where we could not see any parking lot - only the top of the pyramids. We were then pressured to have tea, smell all kinds of essential oils they were trying to sell, and buy 1-2 hour camel rides to the pyramids for $150 USD rather than the 200 Egyptian pounds such a trip should have cost! (about $15 USD) This, of course, was in addition to the money we had already paid our driver - who conveniently left us there as soon as we got out of the car! The camel guide then also harassed us terribly for more money all along some back way in to the pyramids. Once we got to the pyramids, we realized there were none of the hieroglyphics or secret chambers that we had imagined - and, while huge and truly a wonder - we were a bit underwhelmed. It was truly a horrible experience that we never care to repeat. We have now been back to the pyramids two times WITH A GUIDE and it has been a much more positive and educational experience. We now know that the GIZA pyramids may be the most famous, but they are certainly not the oldest or only pyramids in Egypt. We also know that they were not built by slaves, but rather the engineers and laborers who worked on these huge tombs were honored to do so (and were thus given a higher place in society) Have I made my point about HIRING A GUIDE?? Don't think your experience will be okay without a local guide because you think I have now know told you one of their tricks and you will therefore know how to avoid the hustle - you won't - you can't outsmart over a hundred years of learning the art of the hustle.....

Actual view from the pyramids

Lesson #2 - While everyone who comes to Egypt thinks they must see the 3 big pyramids and go to the Cairo Museum, don't fall for it. Yes, the pictures you can take with the pyramids are really fun and iconic. Yes, the museum is worth a visit at some point - but the museum really won't make a lot of sense until you go to Upper Egypt (which happens to mean up-river, so the SOUTHERN part of Egypt) - namely, Luxor and Aswan. If you can only go to one place, choose Luxor. However, both places are situated along the Nile and are beautiful, fairly quiet small cities. There are many things you can see at both places. If you want to SEE the beautiful, colorful hieroglyphics, you need to see the tombs, located on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor in the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, or Valley of the Nobles. However, as a burial site, photographs are not allowed.

Just outside the Valley of the Queens

If you want to be able to take pictures of the hieroglyphics to share with your friends in your own blog or on social media - you need to visit the temples. Because temples are exposed to the air and the weather, most are no longer very colorful, but still impressive. However, we learned on this trip that there are some temples who still have astonishing color - but in order to reach them, we had to drive 3 hours one-way out into the desert from Luxor.

Only example of this type of decorative carving and painting that we saw. Normally all carvings tell a story

Always the pharaoh is making an offering to the god

WHY PYRAMIDS? - The ancient Egyptians believed in ETERNAL LIFE and the RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. They believed this because each day they watched the sun rise in the East (they believed it was being pushed by a huge Scarab, or Dung-Beetle) and set (or "die") in the west, but the next day it would be resurrected again. They also saw the Earth dry up, then the Nile would flood, and the plants would grow once again. Because of these things, they believed that life must be like other natural events, so they took great pains to preserve their body after death (mummification). At first, they would bury their bodies in shallow graves, but the jackals would dig them up and eat them. They needed to cover the bodies with something so the jackals would not destroy the body, so they watched the sunbeams shine on Earth and noticed that they formed a pyramid shape. This was then how they decided to cover the bodies with the shape of a pyramid.

Enjoying lunch at the famous Mena House. That afternoon, we leanred Will Smith (Fresh Prince) had enjoyed breakfast at the Mena House that morning and then toured the pyramids.

However, the pyramids were an easy target for tomb raiders, so eventually the Pharaohs decided they should find a secret place to be buried. On the west bank they found a mountain that appeared to be in the shape of a natural pyramid, so they started getting buried in this valley where it would be much more difficult for tomb raiders to find their treasures that were buried with them so that they would have their things in the after-life.

This is the entrance to a tomb in the Worker's Village

On our sleeper train to Luxor

For several thousand years, in all parts of Egypt, temples were built to the various gods of the ancient Egyptians. All of the temples are completely filled with hieroglyphics which tell the story of the pharaoh and his (or her) relationship to each of the gods as well as important events in that pharaoh's life that tell the people how powerful their King is. Consider the temples an autobiography or a diary about the pharaoh's life given to the people so they can all read what a great pharaoh they have and how they must worship the gods and the pharaoh as one of the gods. Despite the thousands of years, the gods are all drawn very similar in each of the temples, and the worship stories are nearly identical. (Giving offerings to the gods of food and essential oils) Even the temples are laid out in a very similar style.

If it hasn't been destroyed, temples start with Pilons in the front This is Luxor Temple

Archaeologists and conservationists were everywhere

Temples are like pyramids on their sides - highest ceilings are at the front, and then they taper down towards the back where only the high priest was allowed with the gold statue of the god to which the temple was devoted