Born in Arizona, Moved to Babylonia

King Tut!
(Can anyone besides Becky Fullmer name that Obscure Pop Culture Reference?)

Today we ventured into downtown Cairo and went to the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. Very cool. Except hot. (No air conditioning.) And also kinda confusing--no real organization and very little labeling (and what labeling there is isn't very helpful). But very cool stuff to look at. If we had hired a guide, I'm sure we would have learned a lot more, but we are quite certain that the kids (read: Sam) would not have had the patience for the extra time that would have taken. It worked out just great though, because we just wandered around, saw what we wanted to see, and then left when we (read: Sam) were done.

Thanks again to our Egyptian ID cards, we were able to get in for free. And even better, we were able to get into the Mummy rooms for free. Mummies = cool (and also a wee bit creepy), paying roughly $35 to see them = not so cool. Ok, maybe I would have paid that, but mostly because the Mummy rooms are air conditioned. My cheapness aside, I'm glad we saw them. It's pretty amazing how well-preserved they are. Jessica said she kept expecting them to sit up. Now that would have been creepy. And also? Awesome.

Today's Quote of the Day (a new game we've been playing; usually it's said by Megan) comes from the first Mummy room we went into. Please enjoy:
Jacob: That guy looks exhausted.
Jessica: Yeah, that's probably because he's dead.

Regardless of my everso charming title to this post, we didn't actually see King Tut. His mummy is in his tomb (can you believe it?) somewhere else. I could tell you where else, but then I'd have to look it up and that would take effort, so you can see why that isn't going to happen. But we did get to see a lot of really cool jewelry and other stuff that came from his tomb. The best thing was his death mask (I think that's what it was; again, really bad labeling). You know, this. That was great.

We couldn't take the cameras into the museum, so all of our pictures are from the outside. And also very self-explanatory.




After we had had our fill of all them antiquities, we had lunch at a great Lebanese restaurant by the embassy. Best. Pitas. Ever. And really great garlic sauce. Meatballs? Disgusting. But now we know not to order those bad boys again.

Probably the most fun I've had since we got here happened tonight. Kevan and I went on a date. Sure, some might more appropriately term it a "Donut Run," but we're sticking to our date theory. We took a taxi over to the other side of the neighborhood (hey, it a big neighborhood, traffic's crazy, and I was worn out from the day; I'll thank you not to judge!), got our donuts (and some for the kids, cuz I'm just that nice)(and I'll thank you to stifle you're laughter while you're at it!), and started meandering home. We were going to catch another taxi, but decided to wander through a few shops first. I've been looking for some baskets (I know! You're just shocked, aren't you?!), and Kevan had seen some outside a shop down a little street off the main road. We found the shop, but the baskets weren't what I was wanting, but they were right next to an antique shop, and the owner wanted us to come see. Kevan started talking to him, both of them mixing English and Arabic, and we ended up staying there for over an hour. He was just the sweetest man. His shop was stuffed to the gills with everything you can imagine, most of it really dirty and disorganized (you can't even get to probably 95% of it), but the stuff I poked through while Mounir (the owner) was showing Kevan the grandfather clocks was really neat. (I found a really beautiful silver teapot I think I'm going to have to go back and get.) (Kevan doesn't know that yet.) After we looked through things, and he showed us some of his favorite pieces, he invited us to sit outside with him and had a man in the next shop over bring us all some cold sodas, and we sat and talked for awhile. He was thrilled that we are American, and he loooved Kevan. He kept saying, "You have great personality!" He couldn't believe that we have 5 kids because, he said, "You are always smiling!" He is 75 and has owned his shop since 1960. He told us stories of different friends he has met through the years, stories of some of his best sales, and taught us both a little Arabic. He said several times how the greatest profit he has made over the years is the relationships he has made. When we left, he kissed Kevan on the cheek, shook both of our hands, and said, "You are my friends." He is a gem. I can't wait until we can go back and see him again. I was going to take his picture, but I forgot that I had taken my camera out of my purse when we were at the museum to be checked with our other cameras, and it was still in Kevan's camera bag. I will be sure to take it next time.