From April 18th to April 21st

New words:

Shokrun - Thank You

Iwa - Yes

La - No

Ahlan - hello

Aamil - how are you?

Msaelkha - Good morning

We have stayed in the land of the great Sphinx - Cairo, Egypt!

Here is what we did…

On April eighteenth, we flew into Cairo, Egypt. As soon as we walked into our hotel room, we saw that we had a beautiful view of three of the biggest pyramids in Egypt; the pyramids of Giza! We also saw an arrow on the ceiling. It points to the east, so that when Muslim people pray, they know where to face. The Muslim people pray five times a day and they are reminded to when a speaker comes on and begins chanting in Arabic. On the first and the second day we relaxed by the pool, to rest from our long flight.

On day three we went inside the tallest pyramid of Giza with another boy (Ben) and his grandmother (Judy). When we first walked inside it was somewhat spacious, but eventually the tunnels became so low and narrow that even Ian had to crouch! It was even a little scary and it made my heart race! We found out when we got out, that the climb is 300 yards up to the tomb!

After that we went over and rode camels in the desert (more about camels at Sharm El Sheikh). Next, we went to the solar boat museum. This museum contained the boat that was buried with King Khufo (we got some great pictures of that so check out the photo section when you have a chance). They buried boats with Pharaohs so that they could sail/fly across the heavens. After half an hour at the solar boat museum, we went to Memphis and saw a statue of Ramses the great (II) and other peaces of astounding Egyptian art.

The next location was a papyrus store. At the store, we learned how to make papyrus and we bought a few paintings.

Lastly, we went to the school of carpet making where the salesman almost talked my mom into buying a rug. We also learned how to string a rug by hand.

Before bed we went and had had dinner in town.

Our last full day in Cairo, we went down to the museum of Egypt and saw treasures from King Tut Ankh Amen's tomb plus two rooms full of Royal mummies, it was very interesting. We also found out that king Tut did not die from a blow to the head, but rather a cut on the knee, which lead to infection (they found this out just last year during an MRI scan of Tut's body)!

One more thing we learned is that the final judgment is when Anubis places the dead Pharaoh's heart on a scale and weighs it. If it weighs more than a feather it is full of sin and they are sent to hell, but if it is lighter than a feather it is an innocent heart and the person is sent to paradise. Check in when you can!

RS