Second to last night in Cairo

“I let Kathryn take a fat kid picture today. And in my head I was like, ‘That’s a fat kid picture. I’m not gonna tell her.’”

- Allison Ray

“And in the first century, the Jews and the Jesus followers were all in this one group. And the Jews were like, ‘Your messiah sucks. He died. That doesn’t work.’ And the Jesus followers developed into a distinct group and the Romans got that they were different, and the Romans were all angry, and the Jews were all angry, and the Jesus followers were all like, ‘SHIT!’”

-also Allison Ray, in a brief summary of first-century Roman Jerusalem

Went to see the Great Pyramids today, and the Sphinx, and lots of impressive old statues.

Two days ago, I woke up at 1:00am to hike up Mount Sinai. Three hours, and over a mile and a half of intense uphill climbing. The sunrise was beautiful, but obstructed by a little cloud cover. The hike down took about two hours. Then we went to visit St. Katherine’s Monastery and met a cool American monk named Father Justin, and were given special access to the Monastery’s private library. This monastery has the second largest collection of manuscripts and icons in the world – second only to the Vatican.

Father Justin spoke to us for about 20 minutes, and at the end of his talk, I walked away from the group, stared at a bookcase full of some of the oldest known printed books, and cried. I still don’t know why.

I didn’t eat until 1:00pm (after about seven hours of hiking, walking, and jogging, by the end of it all), and didn’t sleep until 1:30, with the help of sleeping pills.

Tomorrow’s the last day. The trip has been such a whirlwind, I don’t think it’s intensity will hit me until much later, when I break down into emotional overload and realize what it is I’ve seen, what it is I’ve said, and who it is I’ve met.

Nearly onwards to Morocco.