A.R.E you Ready?

It's been a pretty long time since I've done anything with this. I apologize. I've been kind of busy at times, but other times I just wasn't thinking about it. Anyway, I've been to Egypt, some interesting places in Bethlehem, and Jordan since I last posted. I'll start with Egypt I suppose.

Over our spring break, I and several friends from JUC went to Egypt. We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat, got a visa at what appeared to be a random guy's porch, and crossed into Taba, Egypt.



We went to Giza. Sphinx and Great Pyramids. Incredible stuff. It was kind of fun to go there. It wasn't my favorite part of the trip (believe it or not), but it was nice to feel like I was fulfilling a childhood dream. Remember how excited you got to learn about the Pyramids when you were little? Remember making those silly cartouches with your name inside? I felt like 7-year old Danny was living vicariously through 21-year-old Daniel.



You can see all three of the Great Pyramids. Lovely.


The Pyramids are very, very large. If you look to the right, you'll see a tiny blue blip. That is my friend, Pang.






Cairo is pretty much the most stressful place I've ever been to. If I had to compare it to a place in the U.S. I would compare it to Times Square NYC... but 3 times busier. Traffic lights are optional, everyone has "exactly what you need" in their shops, and when you blow your nose at the end of the day your tissue is left an ashen gray color. It has a lot of history and some neat things anyway. Plus it's dirt cheap. I got a meal (koshari and it's pretty good) for 3ish pounds (about 5o-60 U.S. cents).


I visited the Hanging Church in the Coptic Quarter of old Cairo. It's a beautiful place. It reminds me of a lot of the Orthodox churches here in Jerusalem.


We took a boat ride on the Nile. There's Muhammad (a guy from our hostel), Bonnie, and Pang enjoying themselves (L to R).









My favorite part of the trip was hiking Mount Sinai to see the sunrise. It is incredible up there. At night, I saw so many stars. I've never seen so many in my life. I was in awe of it. The sight was definitely one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.






P.S. 8000 pride points for someone who can explain the title of my post.

Galilee

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Galilee. Sorry for being so late in this stuff. I've been pretty busy lately. I'll have to do a couple of posts in the next couple of days. Anyway, Galilee was pretty incredible. I got to swim in the Sea of Galilee, climb down the Cliffs of Arbel, and explore Mount Carmel.

Our first stop was to Caesarea. Herod the Great built this crazy place. He couldn't build a port naturally out here, so he made a port a few hundred yards out in the sea. A lot of it is broken down now, but some people still fish on it. Caesarea is picturesque. Lots of Bible stuff happened there, so that makes it interesting as well. I've never seen so many whole seashells either.









Mount Tabor


Sunset over Nazareth.









Burn layer from Joshua's siege on Hazor.

A Canaanite mud brick gate to Tel Dan.

Caesarea-Philipi where Peter is called The Rock (not to be confused with the wrestler and star of the Scorpion King.

Gergesa by the Sea of Galilee. Where Jesus sent Legion into the pigs.

The Cliffs of Arbel.

The Cardo at Scythopolis. Common bathroom in Scythopolis. Marble "toilet seats."



I think those are the highlights. The Galilee was pretty amazing. I really enjoyed it up there. There were a few other things that we did, but this was the important stuff I think.