another sneak peak

I hope to get some more posts up this weekend detailing my amazing trip 800 miles south to Aswan (that's about 15 hours by train). We also stopped in Luxor for two days, which is about 600 miles south of Cairo. One of the many highlights of the trip was the time I spent on Elephantine Island amongst these precious kids. They speak Arabic, but are ethnically Nubian. This picture was taken by my friend Sean in a little scarf shop. They weave these scarves with a big old-fashioned loom. The scarf I'm wearing in the picture was purchased here. It's the only thing I've purchased so far in Egypt (besides food and school supplies etc.) I couldn't resist, just because of how much I loved it there. I never want to forget it. 

real live mummies.

This is my 100th post on my blog. 

In other news... I've been enjoying some incredible things here in Egypt. 

I went to the Egyptian Museum finally a couple weeks ago. It’s something anyone visiting Egypt should do. I came last time I was here and I remember being bothered that we had to listen to a tour guide for most of our time there. This time was different. It was much more relaxed, but just as impressive. This place is huge. It’s a bit overwhelming too, since many things are unlabeled, labeled in Arabic, or just labeled poorly. You kind of have to know what you’re looking for.  Last time I came to this museum I remember being in awe at some of the things I was seeing and wishing so badly that I could show my friends and family.

Cameras aren’t allowed inside, but this time I was sneaky and used my phone. There was no flash, so no worries, I wasn’t destroying anything. Although, I am slightly curious… does a camera with no flash still do damage? A man I was talking to was adamant that it still ruins things. He couldn’t explain how. He just said “because of the UV rays” which made little sense to me… 

Anyway, here are my forbidden pictures. Enjoy. It was risky. I did this for you guys. 

ancient fabric (plaid?) 

the dome just inside the museum

the exterior

the museum is huge and is just lined with cabinets like this

mummy - kind of byzantine-ish

and the exposed mummies...

statues of akhenaten

more ancient textiles... i'm a sucker for this stuff

That's only a fraction of the wonders this place holds. And this is only a fraction of the fun I've been having! Up next... pictures from Luxor, Aswan and the Suez Canal... in that order.

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stay tuned...

I've been very busy. I have so many things to post, and I promise I will soon! Until then... here's a little sneak peak at what's to come.

Yes... this IS the infamous gold mask of King Tutankhamen (Tut). 

(The picture's not very good because pictures are forbidden in this museum... but that never stops Bethany... as a result of my determination to photograph things that aren't to be photographed, you will soon see some very cool pictures of mummies!)

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Also, please note, I used my phone to take these pictures, which has no way of damaging anything, as it has no flash or whatever else it is about cameras that harms old things.

my hair.

Well, it's slowly fading... into a weird copper-ish tone. I don't know how I feel about it. It's hard to see the true color in these pictures, but in the sunlight, it's definitely different. 

The roots are also coming in nicely... as was strangely and awkwardly pointed out to me by a guy at my school... "Hey, look at that! You're roots are coming in!" 

Yes. Thank you. 

The last time I died my hair (and the only other time besides this time) I used the same color, and it took about 5 months to fade out... but it faded to my natural color exactly. That was, however, in the winter. This time, my hair is exposed to a lot of sun every day. It's fading quicker and the hair that's growing in is growing in very sun-bleached. I feel like I'm going grey.

I'll be honest, I was sort of just hoping that my hair would grow in dark... Yeah... not likely. Can't wait to see what it'll look like in two months! 

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PS - one of our rules here is that we aren't allowed to wear our hair down in public. I'm soooo sick of it.

Oh, and thank you again to Brooklyn who dyed my hair for me (twice). I'm very grateful for the lack of attention I get here compared to last time when I came as a blond. It's brilliant.