Flagship Family Thanksgiving

Since we were all getting a little homesick and were going to be in Egypt for Thanksgiving, we decided to have a family style dinner together where everyone cooked something. The boys managed to find a huge, 27 lb turkey that barely fit in our oven. What came wrapped up with the Turkey? Oh yea- the head. Apparently you get the head and all when you buy a turkey in Egypt. I made an apple crumble dish that was a cross between apple sauce and apple pie filling. We had the most ghetto pumpkin pie ever which my roommate Hannah made. We're not even sure we used a pumpkin, but it was some sort of gourd. We had to evaporate our own milk, build a steamer out of multiple pots and pans, make the crust, and then the only container we had to cook it in was a frying pan. It actually turned out super delicious!

We had salads, hummus, mashed potatoes, yams, veggies, pie, torte, potato salad, etc. Everything was super delicious.

During the cooking and dinner I was trying to watch the UM v. OSU game online, but because of the slow internet, I could only watch the ESPN gamecast. Of course I was super bummed when we lost. Sigh. Maybe next year.

Siwa round 2 (a little late)

Ahlan!
Ok, so it's been a while. I apologize. Things were a little crazy in the last few weeks leading up to Christmas break and I was waiting to grab a video, to be included in this post, from Rob. I was also waiting to get home for Christmas because the Internet is much faster and I can upload videos a lot quicker! I also grabbed a bunch of pictures from Rob since I didn't bring my camera to Siwa because it is not sand proof and as you can imagine, there is a lot of sand. So all of the pictures in this post are courtesy of Rob. Thanks!
Siwa was awesome the second time around!! We did lots of the same things, including the safari, sand boarding and sleeping in the desert. But I'll give you the comprehensive run down. This time, I went to Siwa with the people in my program plus Scott and Elizabeth, my awesome roommates from Western Michigan, plus a few Egyptian guys from the men's dorms that I don't know. So we arrived late as usual. It seems our tours can't actually get anywhere on time. We arrived and dropped our stuff of in the hotel and grabbed a quick dinner.Afterwards, a small group of us took a trip to a hot spring for a late night dip. The weather was a little chilly, and it was nice to climb into the warm spring. It was so warm in fact, that you could only stay in for a little while before you felt like you needed to get out and roll around in the cool sand! The stars and moon were out in full force and the view was breathtaking. After swimming for a while, we decided to head back. Unfortunately the truck we were in got stuck in the sand. We tried everything to get it out. We pushed. We dug. We frolicked. Actually, Jake frolicked and it wasn't all that helpful, but it was fun to watch. I wish there was a video of that. Finally, our Bedouin guide and driver called for backup and another truck came and pulled us out. We went back to the hotel, slept for a few hours, and were up bright and early thanks to a very vocal goose next to the hotel (seriously, it sounded like a donkey) and ready for our safari day.
On the safari, we rode around the desert in jeeps, cruising over the dunes like a roller coaster. We stopped and sandboarded again. I had one of the longest runs, thanks to my previous snowboarding experience. We ate lunch by a gorgeous salt lake and made our way to another hot spring. Unfortunately, the jeep I was in broke down on the way to the spring and we were stopped for a while while the Bedouins fixed it. We had a desert dance off with music playing from the jeep and Rob wandered off and came back with the bone of a camel thigh that had been bleached white by the sun. We finally got the jeep going again and made it to the hot spring in time to watch the sunset. Then we made our way over to camp for the night.
At camp, the Bedouins cooked an amazing dinner on the camp fire and we once again had a dance off. I think the Bedouins won though, there dancing was pretty awesome. We even got them to brake it down to some modern hip hop! The weather was pretty chilly, so we all bundled up. You wouldn't believe how cold it gets in the desert! I had on two pairs of pants and something like 5 shirts. We spent the rest of the evening sitting by the camp fire or wandering around a little. Again, I don't have words to describe the view. The moon was much fuller than when we were in Siwa over the summer, so the stars weren't as bright, but it was still beautiful!
So of us decided we should use the buddy system in case we wandered off. I was buddies with Tom and every time we did a buddy check, we used our secret sign- which was to Moo.

That way we would know where the other person was. It sounds strange, but let me tell you, if you are in the desert for long enough- the desert madness sets it. It's a fact. Once it sets it, you just start getting silly.
We finally all fell asleep, except I found it difficult to really get comfortable- you wouldn't believe how hard sand can be! I only slept a few hours. I got up in time to climb to the top of a large dune and watch the sun rise.
Once we were all awake, we packed up and headed back to the hotel. Those who hadn't been to Siwa took the donkey cart tour around town. Those of us that had gone in the summer stayed at the hotel and napped. We woke up in time to meet up with the touring group for lunch by the Cleopatra spring. After that we made our way back to the hotel, where there was a Bedouin music and dance show. We sat by the fire and talked and ate some dinner and watched the show. Later, we took a second trip to the hot spring for a late night dip.
We managed to have car trouble again on the way home from the hot spring, our truck running out of gas before we reached town. Luckily, our driver called someone else to come pick us up and take us back. The next morning, we got up early and ate breakfast and ran into town to buy some dates. I bought chocolate and almond dates which were delicious! I also found an awesome green scarf. We then piled back onto the bus and made our way back to Alexandria.
Siwa the second time around was very different, with a new, larger group of people and a few different activities, but still just as fun as the first time. It remains one of my favorite places in Egypt!