Quick Overview: Luxor/Aswan

Recap of where I've been recently:

- a 12 hour sleeper-car train ride south to Aswan and Luxor, near the bottom of Egypt
- the huge Aswan dam, which made the largest man-made lake, stopped the Nile from flooding, kicked
  native Nubians off their land, and creates a lot of electricity. pros and cons.
- the valley of the Kings (during the New Kingdom, the capital was moved to the south-Thebes-and they  
  discovered that the natural geography looked like pyramids. so they stopped building up and began digging
  into these hills for their tombs). That was a VERY hot day. no shade. chugged bottle water, and couldn't
  see my sweat.
- an unfinished obelisk--those tall pencil-like columns that were inscribed and carved out of one solid piece of granite. This one had a crack in it at one end and now remains forever stuck in rock-purgatory.
- Hatshipsut's temple. The one that is surrounded on three sides by the side of a large cliff. She's impressive mainly because she claimed the pharonic throne and kept it for a while.
- spice shopping in the markets of Aswaun, and a ride on a falooka--the one-sailed boats that carry tourists and have guides that sing for you.

- bus to Luxor, where we saw more temples, most impressively the Luxor Temple at night. The Avenue of the Sphinx was once a long road lined with sphinxes that connected the Karnak temple at one end of the city with the Luxor temple. They are trying to resurrect it.

Currently:
- a few arabic classes squeezed in the middle of our travels. Must admit I'm getting a bit weary of them, if only because I feel like a terrible student. We don't really have that much time or a good place to study with dedication. And, when faced with Arabic, it is just plain overwhelming and intimidating at times. I'll keep trudging through though...

Next stop:
- leave Tues-Thursday for the Sinai penisula. We will hike Mt. Sinai, see St. Catherine's monastery, and get a dip (and perhaps snorkel?) in the Red Sea. woo-hoo!