Thursday, December 17, 2009

!!!!!!EGYPT!!!!!!!!

Our next adventure on this crazy trip brings us to Alexandria... it was about a 3 or 4 hour ride and we had to get up really early!!! On our way down the highway of Egypt a Big truck got into an accident with a little car. We thought we would have had to wait for 4 hours but they got out dumpsters and pushed the rubble to the side of the road and continued with there driving it was crazy! The big truck was carrying water and food and people were getting out taking it! It was so weird and a crazy start to our trip... but we finally made it to Alexandria.
Our first stop was to the Roman theater like the one in Rome but a smaller version of it...
Inside of the theater is remains from Cleopatra's tomb that they recovered from underwater! Josh was so excited!! LOL!
Once you travel down into the theater you see this little side way path that we thought looked amazing!
Random day... inside of the theater I saw this cute girl walking around and said Josh I know her!! Well guess what I was right... she played soccer with me in Southern Virginia University and she is here in Egypt teaching English her name is Becky but it was so weird seeing someone we knew!! What a small world!!!
They think attached to the theater was roman baths... this was one of the many baths that they uncovered is Josh inside or outside the bath tub? He is so funny I LOVE him so much he makes the trip more interesting!
A top view of the Roman Theater. Next stop we went was this underground tomb that was built 5 stories beneath the earth... we couldn't bring any cameras in but it was AMAZING! It had over a hundred tombs and many more were being uncovered!
Next stop was this big thing in the middle of the city... supposedly on top of the column is Alexandria the greats ashes in a vase.
You can see they are still uncovering things.
A young lady praying inside the area during her work. She is very devoted!
The area outside the columns not the most pleasant.
The men are very affectionate towards one another these two were walking in the street arm in arm.
We are getting close to the seaside...
The seaside market. We bought a traditional Egyptian dessert. It was really good. I have no clue what it was called because the guy couldn't speak any English but we enjoyed it.
The water is not a type of water that you want to swim in. These boys were swimming it though!
This area you could take a taxi to the other side of Alexandria. This is a port to pick up one of the taxis that I didn't know about until they came up to me and wanted me to get in and pay them for a ride. The port didn't look like much of a port hence the confusion.
Once again my blonde hair made me stand out! Women were coming up to me saying Beautiful and of course men. This family was following me around. Finally they asked for a picture with them. Josh got the picture with the two girls but the whole family took a picture with me. We didn't get that one because the Father pulled out his video camera too and started taping me which was a little weird.
The other little girl!
Traffic in Alexandria!Crazy... See they don't use the lines! We ended up eating at this fish restaurant and they served us some kind of fish with its eyes and head still on it. Not the best meal in the world but worth two bites!

Finally we stopped at this little beach outside the Alexandria Palace. You can see that the women have all their clothes on when they swim. They had on turtle neck, head piece and all! I would be afraid I would drowned! It was a nice end to our fun day! I Loved Alexandria a lot!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

!!!!!!!EGYPT!!!!!!!

Day Two!!! We wake up bright and early to start our journey today! We both very tired with only about 4 hours of sleep! We start off having a nice breakfeast in the hotel... I had a cooked omelette and they didn't for some reason want to cook Josh's! But he still had a smile on his face!

We head out but first before we do our tour guide had to bribe the security guards to let us park outside of the hotel! Yes you heard me right! Next we start off on our 2 minute crazy drive to the Pyramids!!!
The entrance to the pyramids is highly guarded by police, military police, big guns and gates!
When entering the pyramids you have to get searched through security to see if you are caring anything and have to purchase tickets if you want to go inside one of the pyramids...
Our bus was waiting for us at the other side of security to take us to the parking area... Police officers were on camels back lucky I got this picture without having to pay him for it! The city of Giza in the background!
The parking area in the background is the middle pyramid it looks bigger than the first one but in fact it is actually smaller! We were lucky to enter this pyramid and we actually stood in the center of the pyramid. It was a big empty room but worth to go inside. Once we exited the pyramid we got harassed by all these people selling goods... poor Josh has sucker written on this forehead... he just couldn't say no. After they took 200 Egyptian pounds from him and trying to get us on Camel, side note, when they get you on camel they bring you out to the desert and steal all your money and cameras from you luckily we didn't get pulled onto one... but for Josh he couldn't say no so I had to walk away which helped... they offered Josh 800 camels for me!
Next stop our bus driver drove us on top of this hill so we could see all three pyramids! It was so AWESOME! Very hard to take a picture though because it was very crowded. They said though that business has dropped by 70% since 9/11 could you have imaged what it would have been like with that many more people up there! IMPOSSIBLE!
Next to see the Sphinx... The area we were in is where they would bring the mummy in and remove all the brain and stuff in this temple area and then they would continue there journey to the pyramid!

The Sphinx... our guide had told us that his nose was removed because they considered it ideal worshiping for the Christian religion since they don't believe in this they removed his nose and beard to make him look less like a human and more like a God... every tour guide told something different but this one made the most sense but I don't know if it was the Christian's you decide and become your own Egyptologist (if that is a word)
After all that hard work of seeing the pyramids it was time to eat. The food we ate was amazing!!
The women, preparing the food, it was very hot for them I am sure with there long dresses and being covered up to cook the food. Only men served us food though! This was the only time apart from working in the restrooms that we actually saw women working!
All the seats were handmade I think because the one that Josh sat in was really low to the ground! Mine was higher.
The food was so good as you can see by the expression on my face or that I am in a daze because we have gotten no sleep!
The entrance to the restaurant it was between all this rubble and the very very poor area of the city. It was a little bit scary at first you will see by the next picture... which was taken across the street!

This is right outside our room if you look you can see the top of the first pyramid!
After the pyramids we went and saw a laser and light show... it was very 1960's but was so amazing being at the pyramids at night! It was so peaceful amongst the hustle and bustle of the city that was finally waking up! We unfortunatly were growing very tired! I was hoping to see a ghost but didn't spot one sorry! No mummy rising for us that would have made the show very interesting!
Once we were done with the light show we got back to our hotel and had a traditional Egyptian meal! The food was AMAZING!! I have no clue how they stay so skinny with all this food we couldn't eat it all... our meal cost about $10. Can't beat that!! Thus ends day two of our amazing Egyptian experience more to come...

Monday, December 7, 2009

!!!!!EGYPT!!!!!

Josh and I were blessed to be able to explore Egypt!! We had 12 days of fun in Egypt. We started out our trip by walking to the train station in our village it is about a 5 minute walk but felt a little bit longer pushing our luggage along the path. We were so excited though! We rode on the train to the terminal very long but relaxing ride!Our first night we arrived in Cairo airport to take our bus to Giza to stay in a hotel right outside the pyramids for 3 nights. When we arrived to get off our plane many people greeted us at our gate yes our gate not the terminal exit. We had to go through customs of course but as you see security is not an issue I was able to take this picture at the passport check line upon arrival! Crazy huh!?! Just wanted to show the writing... This picture of the bus funny story... but pretty much this whole trip had stories... anyways... As you know I am blonde so I was attracting quite a bit of people because they don't see many blondes. I wanted to take a picture of this bus because I thought the writing was cool. Well this young man thought I wanted a picture of him and came running over to ask if he could get a picture of me and him. I was so scared... Josh had to step in the way and say no she doesn't want to have a picture of you. Lesson number one pictures mean money he was just trying to get a tip from me! Also was very excited I was blonde.

Finally we get to our bus so we could drive to Giza which is about a two hour drive depending on traffic. We arrived in Egypt about 11 at night but that is when the people are awake they stay up all night because it gets so hot during the day they are very lively at night. In the picture you see people just cutting you off and traffic is crazy they have no regards for lines and they will cut across 5 lanes of traffic to take there exit! Also people just walk on the highway!! We saw a lot of accidents in fact on our way to Giza our bus drive ended up hitting a sign and destroying the right half of our bus... another story! Some guy cut him off and he couldn't help but miss a sign and guard rail. Thus begins our first day in Egypt! Many more fun stories to come!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Alconbury

We had our first official game this weekend and I was so excited how they played I had to post!!! This is the half time huddle my girls at that point had 4 goals and the other team had zero!!!
This year my team is rocking it!! I am so proud of them!! Many people came up to me and complimented me on a job well done. We didn't have a very nice head coach last year and it really shows in the way they played. This year they are doing so well!! Many coaches have come up to me and told me that the team is night and day better and are amazing this year!! I am so proud of them!! They really have come together. My varsity team ended up winning 7 to zero with this team!!! That is a picture of me trying to coach!!
Some pictures of them on the field!! The other team was really ruff and kept saying to there coach we can't keep up with them they are just to fast... it's because they run a lot during practice!!
Number 31 is my best player on the team in this picture she took down the girl that was on the ground and ended up taking down this girl too... She is so good!! All my players are amazing but she is great!!! My JV team ended up winning against the team 3 to zero!! Go Lady Lancers!!! Can't wait for the rest of the season!!