My Journey to Egypt

I never had a bucket list.  Four years ago I just assumed I would continue teaching music in Baxter, Iowa, until I retired to "Grandmaland" and that would be how my life would unroll.  I have since learned to never assume anything and because life doesn't necessarily play out in the way you would imagine.  "Life happens" as they say, and there you are one day, broken and bewildered because you have no idea why you were singled out to have your life turn upside down.  Thankfully, I was not alone.  God was right there at my side and incredibly I came to realize that His plans are far better than I could ever dream on my own. So here I am four years into my journey in this amazing part of the world they call the Middle East.  I teach music to our tiny little three year olds up through grade four.  The teaching part isn't all that different (other than the fact that until I came here I had never taught below Kindergarten level) but the day to day life took a little getting used to and that is a whole other blog!  But one of the perks of life in this part world is being able to travel.

I didn't necessarily regard traveling as a perk.  Traveling was pretty terrifying at first. I could barely make out the information on my first plane ticket. The thought of having to navigate O'Hare on my own was bad enough. When I realized I would have to find this train that would transport me to a different gate, I almost had a panic attack.  People back in Iowa think I'm so adventurous.  It really wasn't that so much as the fact that I had no other skills other than teaching music.  As far as I could make out, it seemed like Kuwait was the only place on the planet that was hiring middle aged women to teach elementary music and I wasn't ready to start living out of my car!  So I was on my way to a different world.  

My first year I didn't travel at all until I was on my way home after that first school year.  I met my daughter in Portugal, a place she had visited when she was in college, and she and I shared a magical week in Lisbon. I spent both Christmas and spring break in my tiny apartment in Kuwait.  I couldn't imagine actually traveling on my own.  Since that first year I have grown to like traveling, but I don't really love it.  It's great once I get to my destination, but the whole process of booking tickets and hotel rooms and navigating strange airports I find pretty stressful.  But it's getting easier and now I find myself actually contemplating where I will travel next.  A person can sit and stare at four walls for only so long before you begin to think there are better ways to spend your time. So here I am, four years later writing a blog about a solo trip to Egypt.  So come along for the ride!

According to Wikipedia, The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is thought to be built for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khafre.  The most widely held theory states that the Sphinx was built to serve the cult of the dead king and the sun god, Re.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities 

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo houses the most valuable collection of its kind.  The museum was founded by Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in 1858 and moved to its present site in 1902.  It houses over 120,000 items in the museum including some 1700 items from the tomb of Tutankhamen.

The Gold Mask of Tutankhamen.  I didn't want to take my eyes off of it.

Tourists are not permitted to photograph the mask.  I heard an American walk up to a guard and offer him 150 USD to take a picture.  The answer was a firm NO!  I downloaded this picture from Wikipedia. This mask weighs 24 pounds.

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Canopic jars used for the burial of internal organs of the deceased.  Each was protected by one of the four sons of Horas whose heads are seen on the lids of the jars.

Statuette of a nobleman, his wife and son.

Statue of King Chephren, the builder of the second pyramid.

They have so many mummies in this museum that they have to stack them on top of each other!

A gold chariot belonging to Tutankhamen.  One of many chariots found in his tomb.

This is King Seqenere.  He was not having a good day!  He was about 40 years old when he died of dramatic battle wounds while fighting to liberate Egypt from foreign invaders.

This is the head of the statue of Kaaper, the chief lector priest in charge of reciting prayers for the deceased in temples and and funerary chapels.  My guide told me an interesting story regarding the discovery of this statue.  Apparently, one of the workers peered through a window in the door of the room where this statue was placed.  It looked so lifelike that the worker ran all the way back to his village to get help because he was convinced that there was a man locked in the room.  The statue is indeed a masterpiece.  The eyes that are so lifelike are inlaid with rock crystal and Quartz.

It has been a challenge to decide which of my many, many pictures to select for this blog.  I love museums, in fact, I returned a second day because we got there too late to see the mummy room and I wasn't about to leave Egypt until I laid my eyes on a real bonafied Egyptian mummy!

More on my trip in a couple of weeks!