Egypt Part 2

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Egypt week 2


At Sunshine this week we made turtles with those maize ‘’wot-zits’’ that the kids kept asking ‘’chipsies?’’ so we had to make it very clear that we couldn’t eat them! You sticks them together with water so you can build them up or stick them to paper, great fun! We also made seahorses with tissue paper, and starfish with sequins, and we were supposed to make shells but the kids were playing up so we ended up playing with balloons instead; chaos but great fun! And our sea scene was finished so after some final touches we took photos of all the kids in front of it, they loved it! Our next project was about trainsport, we got out the paints and they painted some cars; made a train, one carriage each stuck with different shapes; stuck a load of stickers onto paper squares and then made them into airplanes, which they loved throwing around, counting in English each time; and made colourful boats with little shapes of foam paper stuck on them. We did other activities as well, like we made dolls faces and they stuck on long wool hair and a stick so they could use them as masks, and we made crowns stuck with pompoms, which they loved wearing!

On the Monday Alice and I moved out of one hotel and into another. We loved our new room and spent the afternoon chilling out there and eating food in our favourite restaurant, which just happened to be the same place as our hotel. The hotel had a Bedouin lounge upstairs so we spent the evening there drinking mint tea and watching the view. The next afternoon we went to see the mummification museum. We walked there in the sweltering heat only to discover it was closed until 4. So we went shopping instead, in a cute little shop owned by an Australian woman. By this time we were knackered so went for a sleep, then back to the museum in the evening. The museum is tiny and expensive for what it is, but it was nicely done and we were the only people in there! The next afternoon we went to a hotel across the road to use their pool, it was much quieter and cooler than last time we went, very relaxing!


Weekend 2


Friday we decided to do absolutely nothing but relax, so we called on our friend Chris and he took us across to the West Bank to a hotel with a gorgeous swimming pool. It was so relaxing, we stayed for hours, swimming, reading, eating, and chatting to a woman who works for the charity Animal Care in Egypt (ACE) and we decided to go and visit at some point. We went back to the hotel for dinner and to bed early for a trip out the next day. We decided to go to see some sights on the West Bank. The first stop was the Ramesseum- we were the only people there, it was so peaceful and beautiful, its one of my favourite temples. Then we went to the Valley of the Nobles where we got conned by an annoying ‘’guide’’ who led us the wrong way on purpose and demanded a load of money. But the tombs were beautiful, the ones we saw were Khonsu, Userhet and Benia, they were small but very intricate. Then we headed home because Alice was feeling a bit ill. She was in a pretty bad way when we got home so we called the Doctor- Enter Dr. Mohammed Jafar and his trusty sidekick Dr. Hatem. They were right characters- very funny! Dr. Mohammed gave Alice a liquid infusion and then came back later on to give her another one. He then put the whole lot, needles and all, in our hotel room bin! Obviously we didn’t do much else that day other than resting up.


Week 3


We made paper mache hot air balloons at Sunshine, it went ok but the kids got bored pretty quickly! We finished it off the next day, and then the kids painted them, one blue, one green and one red. The children’s home had run out of water a couple of times that week so the kids were really late for class. One day we drew around the kids’ hands and they stuck it with stickers, painted them and cut them out, we arranged them on the window to make a palm tree made of palms! Our friend who is a Sunshine director in England asked us to make some pictures for an exhibition that was going on in the UK. She wanted scenes of Egypt to put up, so today we made camels, they looked great! And we did some leaf rubbings of some leaves we found outside, and we took photos of the children with their work. One morning we had a crazy but fun time doing loads of different activities to make a Nile scene. We painted white paper blue to make the Nile and glittered it; drew around the children’s hands and painted them red to make the sun; made trees and painted green leaves on them; made flowers to go on the window display in the classroom- very constructive day! One day some Slovenian people in our hotel were asking the manager about charities to go and see, so we took them to Sunshine for a visit. We had a good chat with them in the evening too, they were really lovely people.

Sunday evening we went to see Dr. Mohammed for a check up for Alice, and it ended up with us being put on a felucca, with Mohammed and Hatem, and told that we would go to banana island for a drink first. Ok, strange doctors appointment. We got eaten alive by mosquitos- I had 50 bites on one foot, we saw the new hotel rooms on the island – beautiful but I do not recommended it if mosquitos like you – we drank some lemon juice and then got a taxi back to their doctors clinic. There we seemed to alternate between patients and friends, one minute Dr. Mohammed asking Alice intricate details about her bowel movements, the next minute them asking us if we want to go on the roof and look at the view. It was quite a strange experience! We managed to make our escape by asking them back to our hotel for dinner, then going to bed early. Bless them, they were nice men but kind of scary!

One evening we went back to our original hotel to see Chris and Paola and Karim, where they set up a home cinema for us and we watched Die Hard and had a chat. One afternoon we went to an interesting swimming pool where they play really cheesy music and the water tasted weird. They had really good non-alcoholic cocktails though, and a great view over Luxor at sunset. We went to visit ACE, which a charity that looks after working animals in Luxor, it is a hospital for injured or diseased horses, donkeys, camels etc, a home for dogs and cats, and a lovely peaceful place to look around. They had some fantastic animals with fun nick-names – Nelson the one-eyed cat, Van Gogh the one-eared Donkey, Goliath the massive donkey, Freddie the cutest little bow-legged donkey. The lady we met at the pool, Sheela, showed us around the place, she is a fantastic guide who gives each of the animals their own little personalities, like the dog with three legs who falls over when he pees, bless!


Weekend 3


We got up early and headed off to the West Bank to see some more sights. We had the same driver as the last time, Abdullah. First stop was Dier el-Bahri ‘’hot chicken soup’’ – Hatshepsut’s temple. It was boiling and packed with tourists but it will always be a favourite. Next stop was Seti I temple, small and quiet compared with Dier el-Bahri, although we were followed around the whole place by one of the men on the gate, who didn’t say a word but just dogged us the whole way. The temple was cute though and full of trees, an avenue of trees leading up to the entrance. Then we went to Howard Carter’s house, a great little museum with a film showing a hologram of Carter telling us all about his life’s work and discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb. Very nicely done- and free! We got home about 11 and had a milkshake, had lunch at Jamboree restaurant and went to chill out at Emilio’s pool. We went out with Chris and Karim to eat some chicken in the evening- so good!

Today we hired a car to take us to two temples 3 hours from Luxor- Adbydos and Dendera. It was a lovely journey although I slept most of it! Abydos is huge and feels very spiritual, beams of light shine through holes in the ceiling adding to the atmosphere. Just outside is the Ramses II temple, a 10 minute walk from the main temple. It is all outside, very few rooves, and the colours are amazing for being in direct sunlight all the time! Dendera is lovely to explore, he birthing temple by the main entrance, the amazingly beautiful hypostyle hall, the roof with the Nut goddesses stretching across the ceiling like the sky stretching across the earth, the crypt we didn’t go inside because there were two men stood at the entrance who were obviously not going to let us out without backsheesh! We had a great day!

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