Cairo is ______.

If I asked you to fill in the blank in that sentence, I could probably guess some of the words or phrases you might choose. Most of you would probably pick something about the pyramids, the pharaohs, Cleopatra, the river Nile, the desert, the enormous size of the city, Moses, the slavery of the Israelites, the Sphinx, etc. etc. etc. You would probably never choose the word that I'm realizing I use most to describe Cairo. In fact, if I asked you to name ten, or even fifty, words that you associate with Cairo, you still probably wouldn't choose this word.

So how would I fill in that sentence? Cairo is cold.

I realize that your first reaction is probably either disbelief or recall that I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather and therefore my opinion doesn't count. But hear me out. I checked the temperatures on weather.com, and the lows have been in the 40s and the highs in the high 50s or low 60s. Now I realize that the U.S. has been suffering from a serious cold front, so that may sound like tropical weather to those of you who are buried under five feet of snow, but at least you have central heating and live in an insulated building. When it's cold in Cairo, cement block walls don't do much to keep out the cold. And when your only sources of heat are the clothes you wear (did I mention I only brought one sweater with me?), the blankets you use to cover yourself (my Brookstone travel blanket isn't nearly as warm or large as I want it to be these days) and the small AC unit in your wall (I am SO thankful that I discovered it can put out warm air), it's hard to ever really get warm.

I'm sure some of you still think I'm ridiculous, but it doesn't matter. Cairo is cold. So what am I most looking forward to bringing back from the U.S. with me after my trip next week? Sweaters, long-sleeve shirts and another jacket!

"All English, all the time"

One of the thirteen television channels I get is a music video station called 'Melody Tunes'. They claim to play only English-language videos and their motto is "all English, all the time" (although I've heard some Spanish while flipping through the channels). Anyway, the commercials they use to advertise the station are so ridiculous I had to look them up and find copies online to share. They all start with a Middle Eastern parody of a famous Western music video and then switch into the actual video and finish with a voice over saying "all English, all the time", in a seriously thick accent.

Who receives the most U.S. aid

A friend just shared an article with me that lists the ten countries that receive the most financial aid from the United States and describes how the money is allocated for the top six recipients. I had never seen this list before and was really surprised by it.

1. Israel - $2.4 billion (virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons - up to 75% made in the U.S. Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years.)

2. Egypt - $1.7 billion ($1.3 billion to buy weapons; $103 million for education; $74 million for health care; $45 million to promote civic participation and human rights.)

3. Pakistan - $798 million ($330 million for security efforts, including military-equipment upgrades and border security; $20 million for infrastructure.)

4. Jordan - $688 million ($326 million to fight terrorism and promote regional stability through equipment upgrades and training; $163 million cash payment to the Jordanian government.)

5. Kenya - $586 million ($501 million to fight HIV/AIDS through drug treatment and abstinence education and to combat malaria; $15 million for agricultural development; $5.4 million for programs that promote government accountability.)

6. South Africa - $574 million ($557 million to fight TB and HIV/AIDS; $3 million for education.)

7. Mexico - $551 million

8. Colombia - $541 million

9. Nigeria - $491 million

10. Sudan - $479 million

Beignets and pyramids

I can definitely say that my new year is off to an excellent start. I started the day with a brunch of homemade beignets, fruit salad and delicious coffee at the home of one of the Navy captains I work with. The food was delicious and it was nice to spend some time with some of my coworkers and their families in a more relaxed environment.

After a lazy brunch, I joined a few people for a trip to Giza, an area on the outskirts of Cairo, most famous for the Giza Plateau, which is home to some of the most famous sites of ancient Egypt - the Great Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza. I always imagined the pyramids being out in the middle of the desert somewhere and was shocked to realize that they are actually just on the edge of the city. If I hadn't been with one of my coworkers who has a car, I could have gotten to them easily by taking the metro to a stop nearby and then taking a taxi for the remaining distance.
Still, the pyramids were impressive. The first pyramid we saw was the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that still exists! The Great Pyramid is also known as the Pyramid of Khufu and was built over a twenty-year period that finished around 2560 B.C. At the time of construction, it is believed that the pyramid was 145.6 meters tall, though due to erosion, today it is "only" 138.8 meters. It's really hard to maintain any perspective of the size of the pyramids when you're standing right next to them; it's just hard to tell exactly how big they are. But once I walked up to the Great Pyramid, I realized that each row of block was at least five feet tall!
We walked up to the entrance to the Great Pyramid not expecting to be allowed to enter since none of us had purchased the specific tickets that allow you to go inside. But after a little convincing and the flashing of a few diplomatic IDs, we were allowed inside anyway. When we first entered, there was plenty of room. The passageway was maybe ten feet tall and a few feet wide so it was easy to walk through comfortably. It wasn't long, though, before we reached a spot where everything changed. The path dropped to a height of about four feet, shrank to a narrow width and switched to an incline that varied between forty-five and sixty degrees! It was definitely not easy to make it through and at a few points I was nervous my claustrophobia might kick in. But I stayed calm and just when we started to discuss how sore our legs and backs would be the next day, we made it to the King's Chamber, in the center of the pyramid. The room was a decent size with a large sarcophagus carved out of a single piece of granite. It was pretty incredible to be standing inside the very center of such an ancient and incredible structure!
After we had finished inside the Great Pyramid, we walked around to a small museum that houses the Sun Boat. The Sun Boat was discovered in 1954 in a pit carved out of bedrock at the base of the Great Pyramid. The boat itself is one of the oldest, largest and most well-preserved vessels that has been discovered. It is made out of cedar planking and is 43.6 meters long (half the length of a football field!). When it was discovered, it was in over 1,200 pieces, but it is still believed that it would actually sail if it were placed in water today. The purpose of the ship is not known. It is the type of ship that would have been used to carry resurrected kings with the sun god across the heavens, but there are signs that the ship was actually used in water. Because of this, some believe that it was used as a funeral barge to carry the king's embalmed body from Memphis to Giza, while others believe it was used as a pilgrimage ship that the king used to visit holy places. Whatever its purpose, the ship is an impressive display, both for its original construction and its painstaking restoration from over 1,200 pieces into a single vessel.
Next to the Great Pyramid and the Sun Boat is the Pyramid of Khafre, Khufu's son. The pyramid is the second largest pyramid at Giza, with an original height of 143.5 meters.
In front of the Pyramid of Khafre sits the Great Sphinx. The Sphinx is the body of a lion with a human head. Although still quite large, with a length of 73.5 meters and a height of 20 meters, I was surprised at how small the Sphinx looks compared to the pyramids. Although the Great Spinx is one of the world's largest and oldest statues, facts including who was the model for the face, when it was built and by whom it was built are still heavily debated.
If today is any indication of the year to come, it's going to be a good one!

Reflecting on 2008

Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing some reflecting on the past year. Although there were times when it felt like the days of 2008 were dragging by at a snail's pace, I'm having a hard time believing how quickly the year passed.

2008 was certainly a year that was full of difficult challenges and incredible stress. I will not deny that for a second. I don't know that I have ever had a year in which I have spent so much time stressing and worrying about work, injustice, family, relationships, poverty, my future, faith, etc. etc. etc. It was not an easy year.

But it was not a bad year by any stretch of the imagination. Although 2008 had its difficulties, it was also a year filled with good times, with great fun, with amazing adventure, with incredible friendships, with tons of ridiculousness and laughter, with unbelievable experiences, with an abundance of travel and with just enough hope for the future. This year I was blessed to be able to visit, experience and get to know some of the most incredible places, sites and things in the world. And I was able to do so with some of the most incredible people I know. Here's a brief recap:

I celebrated the arrival of 2008 at a Clemson football game. I wandered the streets of Amsterdam at daybreak. I paddled a dugout canoe across Lake Bunyoni in southern Uganda. I experienced my first earthquake on the shores of Lake Kivu in Kibuye, Rwanda. I went on safari and saw some of the most beautiful landscapes and incredible animals I've ever seen in Tanzania. I visited the endangered mountain gorillas on the volcanoes of northwest Rwanda. I camped in the middle of a Rwandan national park. I mourned the anniversary of the 1994 genocide alongside the entire population of Rwanda. I made matzoh and celebrated my first Passover Seder. I celebrated my birthday in typical Mexican style (quite a feat in the middle of Rwanda!). I spent three months living and working in Zambia. I was soaked by the spray from Victoria Falls. I flew in a microlight aircraft over the Zambezi river. I set foot in Zimbabwe. I rode an elephant. I was reminded that southern Africa is home to the most incredible sunsets in the world. I held wild chimpanzees. I had my first abstract accepted to an international conference. I attended an international film festival. I relaxed on the white sands and snorkled in the blue waters of Zanzibar. I climbed an active volcano during a pause in the guerilla war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I experienced a hurricane in Houston, Texas. I spoke to high school students in South Carolina about Rwanda and about genocide. I moved to Egypt to work for the U.S. Navy. I rode a camel across the Sinai penninsula to camp on the shore of the Red Sea. I traveled to a tiny country most people have never heard of called Djibouti. I floated in the Dead Sea and waded in the Sea of Galilee. I visited some of the most important sites of early Christianity. I celebrated my first Christmas away from home.

By no means do I say these things to be a braggart. Even though I've thought through the things on this list over and over and over again, I am still in complete awe that I was able to do even one of those things, let alone all of them. I had no idea what the year would hold at this time last year.

It leaves me wondering what incredible adventures lie ahead in 2009.