Culture Shock in Egypt!

When Nate and I first moved to Switzerland, we thought we witnessed a great deal of culture shock, but we realized that it was quite minor in comparison to the culture shock we experienced in Egypt. There are so many cultural differences between the US and Egypt that I probably don't have enough room on this blog to list them all, but I will give you the highlights.

Once we stepped off the plane, the first thing we noticed, were all the men carrying around big guns (very nonchalantly at that!) ... Sorry this is not a very good picture, but Nate thought I should be discreet, which was probably a good idea!

There were also lots of gunmen surrounding the airport. This one looks a bit bored...

Since Islam is the predominant religion in Egypt (over 90% are Muslim), there are many mosques... a little different from the many churches you see in the South.

From what I saw, there were no crosswalks in Cairo and the traffic was horrendous, so we had some adventures crossing the road! Here is a guy just strolling along in the middle of traffic like it's nothing...

The view of Cairo and the Nile from our hotel room... look at all the traffic on the bridge. There was constant honking at all times of the day. Good thing our windows were somewhat soundproof!
All the haze and pollution was very beautiful at sunset.

This is what I saw when I opened the menu at our first restaurant. I freaked out a little because I obviously can't read Arabic, but then Nate pointed out the English section to me...

Meet Mike and Kimberly.

If it wasn't for Mike and Kimberly, Nate and I probably would have never taken a trip to Egypt, but since our good friends were already going, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to spend time with them and travel a new part of the world. We had an amazing time together. When you're traveling alone as much as Nate and I are, traveling with friends helps to keep it interesting!

Munich & Chelsea's First Time to Europe

One of my dearest friends, Chelsea, who just so happens to be my brother's long time girlfriend, came to Europe for the first time this summer and I was happy to share in the experience with her. After traveling around and singing in Germany and Austria with her school's choir, I met her in Munich for their last stop. We got to spend the day together in Munich and the next morning, I got to hear one of their performances.

We were so excited to see each other!!

Munich has a huge garden, called the English Garden. It was so beautiful with parks, a lake, and even horse drawn carriages!

We shared ribs for lunch... they were so tasty because I hadn't had ribs since January!

Hanging out in the Munich Square in the evening... they have a beautiful clock tower that was rebuilt to look like the original after it was destroyed during WWII

At night, we got to see a performance of German folk music and dancing... it was very entertaining!

The next morning, Chelsea performed with her choir and after that, we hopped on a train to Basel. Unfortunately, it was so packed that we didn't even have a seat for part of our journey. That had never happened to me before, so I couldn't believe it.... but Chelsea was a trooper and didn't mind. :)
The next two days in Basel, we really enjoyed just hanging out. We walked around the city some, but we spent a lot of time in the apartment doing laundry, cooking, and lots of chatting!

On Chelsea's last day, we went to Colmar... her first time to France. She was very excited!
Jake was excited to check everything out too!And he was very well behaved when we went shopping :)
Chelsea walking down a quaint street...

Last picture we took before heading back to Basel...

The next morning, we all got up early and Chelsea flew back home (I was so sad to see her go) and Nate and I flew to Cairo. Miss you Chel-c!! ;)

Backtracking a bit...

Nate and I have only been home for a few days since the end of May and are exhausted. That's only enough time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack for the next trip. It's been a blessing to travel to so many amazing places, but you can only take so much of living out of a suitcase! So it's nice to be back home and to sleep in our own bed again. Throughout our travels, I only had the internet at ONE hotel, so I'm a little behind on blogging... okay, I'm really behind, but I plan to backtrack and update you on everything!

After Italy, I took the ISB high school tennis team to the national tournament in Leysin and we had a blast. Unfortunately, they didn't win this year, but that gives them motivation to work hard to win it next year!

Having fun in the van on the way to the tournament...
The tournament was in the mountains and the view from my hotel room was not too shabby!The following weekend, we had our first visitors! While I was in Turkey, I met two girls through my friend, Julie, and I invited them to visit me in Switzerland and they did! They are from the States, but working in Turkey for 6 months, so they had to fit it in before their time was up in Europe. Here are some pictures from our time together.
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We showed them around Basel...
Took them to Interlaken...
The Alps...
And I think it tired them out! :)
We had a great time and we look forward to having more visitors!

Quick Update!

I am sitting in a hotel in Prague right now and I am so excited to be able to use a computer while traveling. This is the first place that we have stayed at since traveling in Europe that has a free computer and internet access! The only down side is that it is a Czech computer and the keyboard is quite different. It is taking me a long time to type because some of the letters are switched around and I cannot figure out how to make a smilie face or an apostrophe, but at least it is a computer and I can give you a quick update!

The last month has been a whirlwind. We have had lots of visitors... two girls from Turkey, one of my best friends and brothers girlfriend, Chelsea, and another dear friend, Paige, who is now studying in Switzerland and will come back to visit for a little while before going back to the States. Not to mention, we had our little trip to Egypt, which we were able to share with two great friends, Kimberly and Mike. And after we were back a few days, my parents arrived! We then went to Monaco to see my dads side of the family and had a blast. It was Nates first time and he loved it. We got back Thursday night and then left for Prague yesterday morning for what seemed like the longest road trip ever. What was supposed to be a 6 hour trip, turned into over 10 hours!! But now we are happy to be here, in the city where my dad grew up. It is Nates first time, so I am excited to show him everything here. During the week, we will be meeting up with a team from the States and going to a town in the Czech Republic for a mission trip... we will be teaching English in the morning and then doing sports clinics the latter part of the day. Please pray for the weather, the team, and that God would speak to the hearts of Czech people. Check back in a little over a week for more details and pictures from all that happened over the last month!

Vernazza and The Cinque Terre

We couldn't have planned the last part of our trip any better. We spent our last two nights in The Cinque Terre, which translates to the five lands or villages. These small villages are built on top of the rocky cliffs on the Mediterranean and are within walking distance of each other. We had never even heard of The Cinque Terre before reading about it in our guidebook, but the author raves about it, so we decided to make it a part of our itinerary. We stayed in the town of Vernazza and it was absolutely picturesque. After settling in our little hotel (which we had to climb over 100 steps to get to!) we climbed more stairs to see of view of the town.

Our hotel had a little terrace with stunning views. We came here to relax every chance we could!

After having a good seafood dinner, we sat on the beach to watch the sunset. This might possibly be the best sunset we've ever seen. It was really this beautiful... I didn't edit it at all!
The next morning, we woke up to great weather for our Cinque Terre hike. Nate just loves to fit in hikes on any vacation we take :)
But before hiking, I got to sit on the terrace for a little bit...
The never-ending stairs at the beginning of the hike...

But just about instant gratification with this view of Vernazza:Looking back... you can see how far we've come
We can see the next town!
The water was really beautiful... but a little too cold to swim in!
Once we reached the next town, it was the last of the 5 towns, so we took a boat to the other end to hike back from there. The boat ride was so much fun because we could see the towns from a different angle.Hiking along more dramatic cliffs... these hikes weren't near as difficult as the first one
This is the last village we saw before going back to ours. Absolutely beautiful...

Now, THIS is a vacation:

Vernazza at night

Our last sunset in Italy... we hope you enjoyed sharing in our Italy experience!

There's No Place Like Venice

Venice... the city of canals, bridges, and romance. For me, it is one of the most fascinating cities in the world. It is so neat that the whole city is built on water. I try to imagine what it is like for those who grow up here... not ever seeing cars or dirt unless they venture outside the city!

When Nate and I arrived, we took a boat ride down the Grand Canal.

When we finally found our hotel, we were so excited to see that we had a canal view!

After quickly freshening up, we headed out to explore the city. Nate and I once stayed at The Venetian hotel in Vegas, which we thought at the time was a nice imitation of Venice, but the real thing is a million times better!

The ever-famous gondolas:

I fell in love with just about every little canal I saw!

The Grand Canal

Another view of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge

Nate on the Rialto

After a tasty Italian dinner, we went to St. Mark's Square to listen to classical music and watch the tourists look silly while they dance.

Okay, okay... we decided to join in the fun and dance too!

Our hotel breakfast was nothing to write home about, but the canal view was beautiful and the coffee was as good as Starbucks!

Another view from our room. We could see St. Mark's bell tower!

The canal alongside our hotel (the dark red building) was very popular for gondola rides. There are seven in this picture! It was so peaceful to hear them go by when we were in our room and sometime they would sing beautifully!

St. Mark's Bell Tower & Basilica

The inside of the Basilica was absolutely beautiful. The decorations on the ceiling and all around us were made from the tiniest mosaics I'd ever seen. The 12 disciples at Pentecost are depicted here in the dome.
When most people think of St. Mark's square, they think of pigeons. We weren't planning on feeding them, but it looked like a lot of fun, so we thought, why not? You're probably thinking... gross... but don't worry, we washed our hands immediately! The second Nate got out some crackers, the birds came flying in.

Nate, getting attacked! When the pigeons started flapping their wings, they were hitting him in the face.. it was hilarious!

The pigeons were so nice to me at first...

But then they tried to attack me too! It was too late though... I didn't have anymore food, so they figured it out, but it took them awhile. I don't think they're the brightest animal.

The rest of the day, Nate and I continued to wander around Venice and danced in the square at night again. It was so relaxing not to have to rush around and see the sights. Just sitting and dangling our feet over a canal was a good "sight" for us. Here are two more pretty and peaceful canals...

Farewell Venice... next and last destination: the coast of Cinque Terre... coming very soon!