ALMOST HOME!!!!

I am home in less than a week! I am really excited but I am going to be sad too! Last night Curt, Connor, and I split off from the group and that was really sad. We spent every day for 6 weeks with these people and it was weird saying goodbye to them. I was really sad especially saying goodbye to my roommate Lauren. She is amazing and I know that we are going to hang out a lot next year. We got picked up from a restaurant in Amman by Abdo and Deryn and then ust came back to their house and hung out and made brownies. It was delicious. 

So...what we have done since I posted last. We went to Petra which was awesome! The ruins were beautiful and it was way cooler than I imagined it was going to be. It really bothered me though that they had nails and stuff stuck into the ruins that were hanging cheap tourist things. I thought that was really disrespectful to have no regard for how amazing these ruins are. It kinda ruined part of it for me. But ya...other than that it was really cool. I bought a new pair of sneakers right before I left for Egypt and had only worn those once so I got super bad blisters but it was totally worth it. I couldn't do the extra hike because of it but thats OK. So ya...thats Petra. There really isn't much more to say. 

We left that evening and drove to the Dead Sea. We were at this resort hotel and that was pretty cool. We were there till yesterday at like 7 so we swam a lot. They had like 5 pools too and we had been swimming in those as well. Swimming in the Dead Sea is the weirdest feeling ever though. It is like learning how to swim again because you can't fully control your body in the water because it is so salty. I was really bad at it and kept floating to the top and spinning around and stuff but then I got a hang of it. They also had free mud that you could rub on yourself. It was really awkward cause there was just a basin that was filled with mud and had a sign on it that said "free mud". I thought it was a weird sign. So we all did that and just hung out and stuff. But towards the end, me and one of ym friends were leaving the sea to go get some lunch and then all these Russian tourists starting covering themselves in mud and then one guy just puts his hands up and starts yelling, "I AM FROM AFRICA!" at the top of his lungs. Then more of them started doing it and peple were taking pictures and stuff. It was so politically incorrect we just started cracking up. Oh Russia...

So we left the Dead Sea and went and had dinner in Amman. Then we got picked up by Abdo and Deryn. And I already talked about that. So this is a short post but I don't really have much to say. I just realized that I will traveling for 36 hours straight by the time I get home. I leave Amman at 2:30 in the morning on the 19th and get into Denver at 11:30 on the 19th. Then I have to drive roughly 4ish hours and when you factor in the 9 hour time difference, I will just be travling forever. I will be excited to sleep and eat American food. And run. I have been wanting to run so bad since I have been here. There is now way to exercise here really cause it is not appropriate in the Middle East to run on the streets and gyms are super duper expensive. So I want to be home but I will miss it here! Ok, well I have to start writing my final reflection. BYE!

XOXO

Katie

Ok I know it has been forever. Sorry. We were in Syria and most websites were censored by the government and the internet was so slow that it wasn't even worth it to try and post.
I guess that I will just do kinda an overall review of Syria. First of all, I love Syria. If it wasn't for the ridiculously oppressive government and lack of human rights and civil liberties, I would totally want to live in Damascus. It was weird though being there and being a young American. All the tourists that go to Syria are really old and they are almost all from Europe. We probably saw like 4 American groups in out entire 6 days in Syria. And people don't like Americans there which was really different cause when we were in Egypt, when people figured out we were Americans they were usually full of happy things, even if they didn't like the US government. People were pretty good about distinguishing between the American people and the government, and that just didn't seem to happen in Syria as much. And there are "I love Syria" and "I love Bashar (Basher?)" hats and stickers everywhere. I almost bought one as a joke but I just couldn't bring myself to do it because I felt like it support the Syrian government too much. I feel a lot more lenient than most people in terms of who the government should negotiate with but I just can't support the Syrian government and how they treat their citizens and people that reside in the country. End of rant.

Anyways, we went to a bunch of historical sites, they were cool but it wasn't really that exciting and I don't think that it is worth blogging about. I have some really cool pictures though and I will be putting them on facebook tonight so check them out. One of the most amazing things that we did was go to Golan Heights, the area that is in dispute with Israel and the technical basis of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was weird being there. I feel like I have never been to a more modernly significant site in my life. This is basically the place that is fueling all tension between the Arab world, Israel, and the Western World. It was crazy observing that first hand and hearing both sides propoganda. So we were taken on a tour of the area by the public affairs minister of the town, Konicha, although I absolutely murdered the spelling of that. He got on our tour bus and narrated the entire trip through the rubble that they have preserved almost perfectly since the 70's when Israel evacuated this certain part. All the buildings had been completely destroyed, either by major explosives or simple gunshot. It looks like a war zone.

So technically that is what it was, but it definitely brought up a lot of feelings towards the whole ordeal for me. I usually avoid talking about politics on here but I just really feel like I need to say how it made me feel. So sorry if you disagree. First of all, I have usually taken the side of the Arabs on this side of the conflict. I understand what Israel has gone through but they aren't the underdogs anymore. They are technologically more advanced than any country in the Middle East and their military rivals any military in the world, including the US, and I don't say that lightly. So Israel, get over it. You kicked all of the Middle East's butts in the 1967 war and they know that you are better. Stop trying to just prove you are better. Despite this, I have felt that the Arab countries haven't had enough stable leaders to be able to handle this right. I think I can say with some certainty that no country in the ME has a stable enough leader to actually look at this problem in a factual manner and take away the deep seeded feelings of hatred that are embedded into the Arab community. Many of these countries can't even guarantee basic rights to their citizens, forget about treating their enemies like people. Ya, ya, say whatever you want but I found the best quote to describe how I feel about how stupid both sides are being about this situation, "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." So why can't we just negotiate!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So I feel like I have talked about the faults of both sides, but those were my preconceived notions about the whole issue. When we got to Golan Heights and were looking at the building, it made me lose sympathy for the Arab side of the argument. Go ahead, get angry. But I just kept thinking about how they were taking on such a victim mentality. It has been almost 40 years since this area was destroyed. PICK YOURSELVES UP! I know that it is to remind people of what happened, but by acting so helpless, it made me angry. You are letting them get the better of you if you don't recover. Rebuild, make a memorial. Keep a few of the buildings but not an entirely demolished town. It was so ridiculous and made me really mad. Playing up being a victim, in my opinion, doesn't solve the problem. Walking around all "woe is me" does not make me feel bad for you. You had the opportunity to recover, and you chose not to. I know it is harsh but I got really mad driving around this place.


Afterwards, we talked as a group about what we saw. My opinion was completely different from almost everyone on the trip. Oh well. I still feel very strongly this way. I know that I don't fully understand the situation, and I don't think that any westerner can but I feel like I am making this opinion fairly well educated. Ok. That is truly the end of my rant about the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

So...the rest of Syria. The shopping in old damascus was awesome. I got a lot of presents there. The people were way nicer than in Cairo. I really really really like Damascus. So...we went to a few more historical sites. They weren't really that exciting but we had a hilarious guide who told the most un-PC jokes ever. I would say he was racist but he insulted everygroup you could imagine equally so I'm not sure that is fair to call him. It was an odd experience to say the least.


That was basically all of Syria. Now we are in Jordan and we got to Amman, the capital, yesterday. BEST THING EVER!!!!!!! The world cup started and I got to see my friends from school!!!!!! One of our really good friends from school lives in Jordan and my roommate for next year is living with him family so I got to see both of them!!!! We watched the world cup and jsut hung out! I totally needed it, I was for sure starting to get a little homesick. Oh exciting news too!!! We got our housing for next year and I am with my 3 best friends and our best guy friends are living on the floor below us! And we are in leased housing, so that means that we are technically on Northeastern property, but it is just basically an apartment and only like 6 groups of NU students live there. It is gunna be great!!!! So that has nothing to do with my trip but too bad. I was really excited. So we saw them yesterday and spent the nights at Abdo's house. Sorry, we refers to my friends Curt, Miguel, and Lauren. And Abdo is the one who lives in Jordan and Deryn is my roommate for next year. The whole group leaves on Tuesday but Curt and I stay here till Friday night to hang out with Abdo and Deryn.

So.....right now we are in Petra and are going to tour the ruins tomorrow. It should be really fun and beautiful so I will let you know how it goes. Thats really about it. Sorry this was so long but there was a lot to catch up on!!!


XOXOXOXO
Katie

Sorry for being so boring!!!

This last week here in Egypt has not been so exciting. Lo siento. I don't know how to apologize in Arabic. So the last day I posted was Tuesday. Wednesday, we had our final which I got 18 1/2 out of 20!!!! WOOOO HOOOO! I think that is the only decent grade I have ever received in an Arabic class ever. If you can't tell yet, I am not always a fan of this crazy language. So I guess that is kind exciting for me, but probably not for you, most people wouldn't really actually care about that. So after that, we went out for one of our friend's birthday. It was really fun; we did a felucca ride again and had an impromptu dance party and then just went around the city. I would post pictures but I didn't have my camera that night. 

Thursday, was the Arabic hafla! Hafla means party in Arabic!!! I mean, it was kinda a lame party though. We had this guy who lectured us for an hour about Egyptian culture, and he was so biased I could hardly listen to him! He was incredibly well educated, but someone asked him a question about the situation with Israel and he gave the most one-sided, unopenminded (is that a word?), answer and it made me really mad. But I don't want to get into politics in this blog. Too serious and I am just too tired to do the topic any justice, especially since I have been so lax about reading the news lately. After the halfa, I slept. I was very tired. I woke up for a little bit, did some work. And then slept again. My life is really enthralling, right?!

Friday, today, although it is technically Saturday but whatever. For all of you in the US, it is still Friday. It was a free day so that was cool. SHOUTOUT!!!!! Happy birthday mom! I love you and hope your birthday was awesome even though your immediate family was in Denver, DC, and Egypt!!!! We will celebrate when I get back and I got you an even cooler present than the one i already showed you. Anyways, so for the free day, most of the people went to sakarra and another pyramid somewhere. I didn't want to go though cause I wanted to sleep in. I swear, I think I need more sleep than a newborn baby now. I am so exhausted all the time and all I want to do is sleep. I have been planning my schedule so it is conducive to my nap times. Maybe I have a problem. Whatever. I love sleeping way more than I did in high school, or even real life for that matter. Egypt just isn't real life. It just doesn't count. Anyways, when everyone got back from Sakarra, me and my roommate Lauren went to the Khan al-Khalili. It is the most epic tourist market ever. But we both really needed to go because neither of us had relaly bought anything yet. We are good shoppers though and we can bargain like nobody's business. I got something that was originally 250 Egyptian Pounds down to 50. And many other things like that. The only problem is you have to deal with them hitting on you which is really annoying. By this point thought, both of us are very good at fending them off. We have learned the right things to say to make them stop, well most of the men anyways. I got some really awesome stuff, although it hardly fits in my bag. We'll see how that goes. 

Ya.....so thats really it. It hasn't been too exciting. We leave for Syria tomorrow at 10 AM. I'm not sure how the internet is going to work out there so we will see. I still hope that our visas work and they let us into the country. So that is really it....Ma salaama! (Peace be with you, or something to that affect. It technically means with peace.)

XOXOXOXO

Katie

P.S. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense. I am REALLY tired and might have to pull an all-nighter to finish a paper tonight. 

Nothing....

So I did nothing yesterday or today cause I have been sick. I have basically just studied and tried not to get sick. So....ya. And my bank accounts aren't working so that is really annoying. But I am still being positive! So here are some pictures to make up for it. 

Me at the pyramids, pretty self explanatory. 

This is why people need to learn English. So they can go live on a farm and wear overalls. 

              

Shakir's Arabic class has to represent!!!

Lo-Co modeling our new ways to wear a head scarf

We are pretty high fashion, I know.