Home? Stretch

Hey Folks,

I'm on the home stretch now, only 24 hours before my flight takes off from Ben Guiron Airport in Israel to return me to life in Cairo. This should be interesting, considering that I now have spent more time traveling away from Cairo than actually living there.

I am on my own now, because my mom and I had to fly home separately given our different destinations. I dropped her off at the airport. So it's a little interesting. But definately okay. I know the area 'cause we've walked it a lot in the week or so we've stayed here, and it's truly nice just to have time without demands.

So we rented a car yesterday, from here in Jerusalem. And I drove. It was a new, exciting experience, I gotta say. The traffic here isn't at all like Cairo, thankfully, though the roads through Jerusalem are orgranized rather poorly. Think Millwoods, tossed like a salad, expanded 3 or 4 times, and then haphazardly jumbled onto a bunch of hills. But fortunately we didn't drive too much in Jerusalem, and I made it out of and into the city, so we're okay. Indeed, yesterday we drove to Tiberius, on the Sea of Galilee. We just found a place to stay, then went to the hot springs at Hammet Gader. It was okay, but really crowded and not quite as nice as we might have liked.

So here's a run down of the places I travelled to with my family...

Egypt
Dec 20-25: Cairo
Dec 26-29: Aswan, Nile cruise to Luxor
Dec 29-Jan 3: Sharm el-Sheikh
Jan 4: Mount Sinai

Jordan
Jan 4: Aquaba
Jan 5: Wadi Rum
Jan 6: Wadi Musa and Petra
Jan 7: Amman and Dead Sea

Israel:
Jan 8-15: Jerusalem
Jan 11: Nazareth, Capernaum, Jordan River
Jan 13: Tiberiu

I have been asked to give my one favorite moment, so here is the answer I gave, though I didn't think too hard about it. No point in changing my mind now, though it's a tough question 'cause the trip was so different in differnt places. But here's the answer...

It would be riding in the back of a truck thru the Desert in Wadi Rum, Jordan, while discussing psychology and its implications with my Aunt and Uncle, 2 of their kids, and my dad's cousin. It was nice out, we're ripping through open desert in between large red rock mountains, we were talking about a personal interest and important social concerns and it was with my family. What else could you ask for?

K so I still have so much to tell, but I don't know when I will. Maybe tomorrow, since I have a lot of time before I drive to the airport.

BTW some of you have noted that I sounded a little blue in my last post. And it's true, there've definately been moments where I was a bit bummed since getting to Jerusalem. But all and all, it's been really good, I think I've leanred a lot and had fun and, and, and...

Peace.