Mummies!!!

I know I only have one picture of this day, but that is seriously all I took this day. If you could have seen how gross we all were you would thank me. After being woken up at 5 am on the train to eat breakfast (which I did not touch) and get get off the train at 6, we went back to our hotel in Cairo to eat a real breakfast, attempt to clean up in the hotel restroom bathrooms, and have sacrament meeting. We weren't allowed to check into our rooms until much later, so it was going to be another day without a shower. Although it was Friday and none of us had church clothes, we were able to shut ourselves in one of the hotel's dining rooms and have sacrament meeting. For Islam, the holy day is Friday, and since were were in a Islamic nation, we held our holy day on Friday as well. At first it was hard not to laugh as I looked around the room at the scraggly bunch we were, and when our doctor/branch President got up in his t-shirt with Egypt embroidered across the front. But when there is a spirit of sacredness and respect, the spirit is present. Several of the students had been asked to prepare talks ahead of time, and we had an excellent sacrament meeting. I think that this is the first time I have had something other than sliced bread for the sacrament. We had pitas. Some of the cooks and servers peeked their heads in and watched with curios eyes as this loud group of haggered American tourists came together to worship for an hour. It really was a fun and neat experience. After sacrament, we loaded back into the buses and went to Egyptian Museum. There were so many amazing things to see in the museum, but because of poor management and the way it is run, it is difficult to really enjoy and see it all. The building is dark and definitely not air conditioned. Tourists are packed into every available space. There are not many labels on any of the artifacts, so you really have no idea what you are looking at. We did have a tour guide taking us around and showing us some of the most important things, but my headset broke when we got there so I couldn't hear her. We were allowed to wander around on our own after our tour guide was finished talking, and most of us payed extra to go into the mummy rooms. I believe there were somewhere around 22 mummies. This was definitely my favorite part of the museum. All the Pharaohs we had been talking, learning, and even joking about in our free time (yes, we are that nerdy here and it is okay) were right there before me. One of the most surprising things was how nice their teeth were! I wish we would have been allowed to take pictures so I could show you. After the museum, we went to the Cairo Bazaar to do some more shopping. I didn't know it was possible, but I did not want to shop. I don't think any of us did. We were gross, timred, and hungry. Most of the shops were closed anyway because we got there just as the prayer service in the mosque just outside of the shopping area was beginning. I did find a ton of Egyptian turquios that I fell in love with. Everytime anyone sees turquios now, they come find me and show me. They have tons in Egypt! Next on the to do list was eat at the hard Rock Cafe. I was looking forward to a good ol' burger and fries for days! Unfortunately, we got the wrong waiter. He couldn't get our drink orders straight, and even though our teachers had called ahead of time and arranged for each of us to have burgeres, our waiter somehow forgot my table and never brought us food. We kept waiting and waiting, and pretty soon I looked around and noticed everyone else was done with their food and I hadn't gotten mine yet. Then the music got real loud and all the waiters came out and started dancing for us. I was NOT a happy camper. One of the boys at my table tryed to tell another waiter, but he was too busy dancing to care. We had to go tell one of our professors and he had to get the manager before we were given the time of day. I decided to suck it up and join in the dancing until my food came. I tryed to shoot the dirtiest looks I could when our waiter came to tell us they were making our burgers, but everyone else at my table was so nice about it I felt bad. After lunch, we were finally allowed to go back to the hotel and check in. As soon as we could, we all got in our swimsuits and jumped in the pool. It was so hilarious to watch all of the other tourists watch us. One man could not stop laughing at our game of Marco-Polo. Before long, the boys were contructing human towers in the pool. My first thought was, "They are going to make us stop soon. This is such a liability hazzard." And then I remembered... we were in Egypt! All the tourists had their video cameras and phones out taking pictures and video. Somehow, with the combined power of boys and girls, a group of students built a tower five people tall. We were all screaming and cheering while everyone by the poolside laughed and watched the crazy Americans. I am sure we were a sight to see. When the pool closed, we all went back and showered and decided we were all going to dress up in our newly purchased Egyptian clothing for dinner. At dinner we had a blast taking pictures as we walked in, and pretending we would actually wear these clothes again after that night. Some of us girls even did the dramatic eye make up and tryed to look like the Egyptian beauty Queen Nephertiti. Too abd everybody doesn't know I really am Nephertiti...reincarnated.