(Written: 9-16-08)
It blows my mind how much has happened since I last blogged! Life right now is constantly over-stimulating, which is a challenge. That said, the opportunities I have are truly AmaZing! This blog will hit some of the main points of the last couple weeks or so. (Note: Weekends here for us consist of Friday and Saturday with Sunday acting as out Monday. The country usually only gets Friday off)…
Ok, last Friday I saw the sun rise over Mt. Sinai and saw it set from the Sea of Aquaba (sp?…aka the Red Sea, aka the Sea of Reeds :o)!
Here’s how it went - Last Thursday night we boarded a bus and drove 7 hours through the night to Mt. Sinai where we de-boarded and climbed the mountain in time for sunrise!
Some of you may know I LOVE stars – what a feast for my soul! I have never seen so many stars – Breathtaking! My heart was so Full! I had such a strong desire to praise the Lord and never have I felt at such a loss to do that – I sincerely wish I had memorized a dozen psalms to be able to recite…But even then – who am I when faced with the Majesty of God?? I am so small and so empty…that was abundantly clear… The silence of the night was beautiful. I started playing a game with the Lord of how many shooting stars I could see – I counted 16 although I have a suspicion that I missed a few more….
For a number of reasons (mainly because I wanted to!) I rode a CAMEL up most of the way! A decision I would never regret – it was truly amazing! My first glimpse of a real camel in the Middle East was walking through a pitch black night hoping not to fall when all of a sudden I look up and there emerging from the darkness 4 camels towering over me (generally not hard to do but still impressive!)!!! Thankfully I saw them in time to move out of the way! I loved riding it too! I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not as nice or smooth as a Lexus but I took to it pretty quick, a talent I attribute to the Jemel-ian in me :o)
There comes a point on the Mt. where camels can no longer go and that is The Stairs of Penance. Aka the stairs from hell to get to heaven! Ok that’s a little dramatic but it was ironic going up the stairs of penance – my attitude certainly gave me reason to repent ;o)
I understand and appreciate the experience more in retrospect as I think about it and look at pictures. In the moment it’s incredibly hard to take it in. How do you process something like I am climbing Mt. Sinai?? and watching the sun rise as I look out over a breathtaking Sinai landscape in the morning light with people from all over the world around me singing praises to God … teach me how to fully appreciate that in the moment and I will marvel at your wisdom :o)
After climbing down we traveled a couple of hours to a place called Dahab. SO fun! Imagine something like the mountainous desert landscape of PalmSprings as far as the eye can see and behind you the Red Sea (Sea of Aquaba). Beyond that you can see Saudi Arabia! Basically it’s an understated diamond in the rough – a hippie resort town…Love it! It’s funny how much beach culture is the same…like I said, that first night I watched the sun set from my vantage point in the Sea looking back to the shore where there’s nothing except desert and mountains. Beautiful.
After that some of us walked the “boardwalk” and decided to have some desert at one of the cafes. Ok, these are no ordinary cafes – they were all open air and all right on the Sea. The seating consists of picturesque mounds of pillows rugs and low tables – I loved that aspect! For desert we had warm baklava with ice cream and some other desert consisting of cocoanut, almonds, ice cream, caramel, etc – all baked and warm – SOO good :o) (NOTE: as this may begin to indicate to those worried I might not be eating well – there’s no need to fear! Actually the other night for dinner I ate some Sheesh Kofta – the meat thing formed by squishing around a chop stick – anyway, SOOOOOOO good and it felt like a bit of home :o)
The next day in Dahab we all headed out along the coast in Jeeps (shockless jeeps I might add) and went snorkeling! CRAZY! I must admit since it was my first time that figuring out the whole breathing underwater thing definitely had my gag reflexes in full gear but I eventually got the hang of it and it was so much fun! So much life right below the surface that I never even consider.
To all my sibs: I wished you were there SOOO much! We would have had a blast! We will all come back :o)
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