Brief Update

Hey folks,

I'm sitting in an internet cafe on at the cabin-style resort where we're staying, outside of Sharm El-Sheikh. It's one of the many contrasts I could give you, but in the interests of time and effort, I'll pass.

I'm sick now, so I missed most of the big temples in Upper Egypt, and I haven't felt hungry for at least 3 days now. But I'm not too bitter about it; to be honest, I'm enjoying some time to myself.

I want to be brief now, though I'll try to post once more before I leave. I'll just give 2 highlights from the past 10 days or so...

1. I gotta say that one of my top highlights has to be the horse-ride I took through the desert among the pyramids. Though I'm not much of a rider (translate: not at all) they sent the horses galloping away. There were 4 of us. I doubt my steed would compare to that of monarchs like yourself, but it felt just like a movie, as I looked to my left, a horse galloping, to my right, two doing the same, and there we were, racing across the desert, as though we were on a mission to save the world. What a rush.

We rode camels at the pyramids too, which everyone at home told me to do. It was good but not as fun as galloping on the horses. The camel is super tall and gets up off the ground in a really funny way and you have to have a driver, which took the fun away because the whole time I was only the camel, the driver, who was a kid not more than 12 (actually he was 12 'cause I asked his age) kept hammering me for money.

As per one special request, I did spit on a camel, though I forgot to put it in your personal email - sorry. But it wasn't as exciting as I thought it might be, because the camel wasn't spitting on anyone, and I didn't want to look like
I was rude to all the people who were the owners and the drivers, so I had to do it discretely.

2. (Notice this is Adam being brief). Christmas dinner at Nabila and Helmi's. As I mentioned somewhere earlier, I've been staying with my family since they arrived. As I also mentioned, it really hasn't felt like Christmas. But on Christmas day, we had supper at my home in Egypt, and it was really, really terrific. It felt even more special given how anti-Christmas it had felt to date. It didn't matter that we only had delivery fish and rice. Michael even stopped by to see everyone off (he'd come with us a couple places and met everyone while they were in Cairo). Anyways it was a great treat.

It's been really great to get individual emails from back home from all of you. Hope things are going okay. I hope you're not sad about the warm weather I hear you're getting.

As I said, I'll post and check emails again before I leave Sharm (the 3rd). Happy New Year./