Egypt Day 6 & 7: Cairo

Day 6: We arrived in Cairo at noontime and we went to the restaurant and then the hotel.  We did not visit any places of significance today.

Day 7:  I couldn't believe that we were in Egypt for 7 days already.  It felt more like two or three days.  We visited several places to make a great finish to our trip in Egypt.  We visited the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, a sound and light show and we went to the Khan-al-Khalili shopping market. The main reason that I came to Egypt was actually to see the pyramids and the Sphinx.  But after coming, I realized that there was so much more to Egypt that just the pyramids.  But on seeing the pyramids, I was so happy and so amazed at the sheer scale on which these monstrous structures were built.  I expected them to be slightly smaller actually.

At the Sphinx, I found out that it was actually a mistake.  The King who built the middle pyramid wanted a statue of himself there.  So he made the face and the headdress.  After that, he dug into the ground to find more stone but he found that his statue was on a very shallow stone so he gave his statue the body of an animal.

At the Khan-al-Khalili market, we shopped for many small Egyptian items.  It was much cheaper than it was everywhere else.  I bought a scarab and put it on the chain.  The place was crowded but it was still enjoyable.

Finally, at sunset, we went for a sound and light show.  I must be honest and say that I think that is was boring and it was a waste.  It was at the Sphinx with the pyramids in the background.  The show told us the history of the pyramids and the Sphinx.  I already knew 3/4's of the information that they told us.

Overall, I loved Egypt and I wish that this trip had lasted longer.  I am truly lucky to have been a part of this trip.  The best part for me on this trip was seeing on of the man-made modern wonders of the world.  The Pyramids of Giza.  

Egypt Day 5: Luxor

The ship docked in Luxor at about 1:20 this morning.  The sound of the anchor falling woke me up.  Today, we went to to quite a few places around Luxor or Luxour.  The places we visited were: The Valley of the Kings, an alabaster factory and shop, the Al-Deir Al-Bahari temple and the Luxor temple.

In the Valley of the Kings, we visited three tombs.  They were the tombs of King Ramses 1, 3 and 4.  The tomb of Ramses 4 was the biggest tomb in the Valley of the Kings.  The Valley of the Kings has 63 tombs.  The tomb of Ramses 4 was the place of the first ever work strike in history.  Therefore, the tomb is unfinished.  The tomb of Ramses 4 had to diverted as it collided with another tomb there.  The tomb of Ramses 1 was very hot so many didn't go inside.  The hieroglyphics in this tomb were very complex and  beautiful.  The tomb of Ramses 3 was the only one where you could actually see the sarcophagus.  The sarcophagus was made of hard stone and was extremely intricate and tall.  The tombs in the Valley of the Kings were all made by cutting into the limestone.  There was also one other reason that the Valley of the Kings is where it is.  There is a natural pyramid in the limestone mountain so the Egyptians were convinced that this is where god meant for them to put the tombs of the kings.  

In the alabaster factory and shop, we learned how to tell the difference from real alabaster and fake or painted alabaster.  Alabaster is translucent material so the light will be able to pass through a bit.  Painted and fake alabaster is opaque so no light will pass through.  We also learned that hand made alabaster is much lighter than machine made alabaster.  

At the Karnak temple, there are 134 columns or pillars in one small area.  Each pillar is 23 meters high and weighs 230 tonnes.  The temple is for the god Amun Ray.  The temple is also home to the world's largest scarab or good luck beetle.  If you walk around it 3 times, you will be prosperous in everything.  If you walk around it 5 times, you will be prosperous and you will get a new love in life.  It you walk around it 7 times, you will be prosperous, you will get a new love and you will have good luck in pregnancy.  At the Karnak temple, there are 2 standing obelisks but there used to be 3.  One was fallen in the famous 23 b.c. earthquake.

At the Al-Deir Al-Bahari temple, you have to walk up several stairs to get to the actual temple.  There used to be 26 guard statues of which only 6 are still standing.  The backgroind of the temple is really high and beautiful limestone cliffs.  There wasn't much to see here but it was still beautiful.

The Luxor Temple was right across from where our boat was docked.  The temple has two sitting guards and six standing guards.  The Luxor temple used to have 2 obelisks but only one is still standing.  This temple is quite small compared to some of the others we had seen but it was equally magnificent.

 

Egypt Day 3 & 4: Temples Along the Cruise

On the fourth day of the trip, we visited two temples.  They were the Kom-ombo temple and the Edfu temple. In the morning, I was woken by the noise of an anchor being pulled up.  I got ready and went to the lobby.  We went to Kom-ombo temple.  The temple was for the god Horus or the falcon god.  The Egyptians worshiped whatever the feared and whatever the loved or were thankful to.  Therefore, the Egyptians don't worship the actual falcon but they believe that god has put there features on to a falcon.  Then we went back to the ship and we had breakfast.

We had some free time and we went to the Edfu temple.  At Edfu, again it was the temple of the god Horus.  It was the  first place that archeologists found "recipes" for making the perfume the way that the ancient Egyptians did.  The Edfu temple is the also is home to the worlds largest drama drawn in history.  The drama is of Horus, son of Osiris, avenging his father's death by killing Seth.

 

 

Egypt Day 2: Aswan

In Aswan, we visited several places.  We went to the unfinished obelisk, the High Dam of Aswan and the Philae temple.  The trip has improved significantly for only one reason, the cruise ship is extremely luxurious and spacious.  The food is also good and there is vegetarian food. We arrived in Aswan at about 10:45 in the morning.  That is nearly three hours after the scheduled arrival time.  As soon as we got out of the train, the heat started to melt us.  We got on to our busses and we went to see the unfinished obelisk. 

The unfinished obelisk is in a place called the Aswan quarry where stone for other obelisks were also taken.  The unfinished obelisk in perfectly straight and flat except at the apex.  It is also very smooth except at the crack which goes down the middle of the obelisk.  The reason that the obelisks and the pyramids are shaped the way they are is based on this legend:  Every year, the Nile would flood and the only part of Egypt that did not get flooded would be the tops of the mountains.  Therefore, the Egyptians believe that the mountain is the source and the creator of life for all of Egypt.  

The High Dam of Aswan is literally the High Dam of Aswan.  The Dam is 111 m tall and is 3.8 km long.  The width at the base of the foundation of the dam is 980 m and the width of the road at the top of the dam is 40 m.  So if you were to look at the cross-section of the dam, it would be in the shape of a pyramid.  It was the largest dam in the world until a few years ago and it is still the main source of clean electricity for Egypt.  The project started in 1957 but Egypt didn't have enough money to fund the project.  Therefore, the government of Egypt went to America for help.  The American's agreed to fund Egypt on one condition.  America could put military bases through out Egypt.  At that time, Egypt was just pulling out from British rule and therefore declined America funding them.  Next, the government went to the World Bank.  America was the main member of the World Bank so because Egypt refused America, so did the World Bank.  Then, several countries gave money to Egypt to build the High Dam.   We took the bus to a small port on the Nile and we got on to a boat to go to Philae temple.  The temple was the temple of the god Isis.  Isis was the wife of Osiris.  Osiris was the god of the fertile green land.  The younger brother of Osiris was the god of the useless desert land.  So naturally, the younger brother was jealous of the older brother.   Seth, the younger brother, plotted to kill Osiris and he killed him.  Then Seth cut up the body of Osiris into 41 pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt.  Isis went out to find them.  She found all pieces and she mummified the body.   She is therefore called the faithful wife.  The whole temple is dedicated to her.  The temple is huge and beautiful.

Egypt Day 1: Cairo

All of the following is what I wrote in my diary while I was in Egypt.  I hope that you enjoy!

It was a long and busy day today.  It was all chaos and mayhem.  In fact, it started in the Cairo airport as soon as we arrived! 

We had met with a lady named Lopa in Bombay and she was a type of tour organizer for our group.  So naturally, we expected her to know the basic "rules and regulations" for Cairo.  But when we tried to get our visas on arrival in Cairo, she did not have the correct type of money.  You could only use proper money, not traveller checks.   But finally, we got our visa's and we proceeded out of the airport.  It was the first time I had seen Africa let alone Egypt.  All my thoughts about Egypt up until that point were that it was old yet modern all at the same time.  And I was right!

We boarded the bus to go to the hotel.  I am guessing that I wasn't the only one who had high expectations for the hotel on hearing the groan of dismay when we came into sight of the hotel.  The hotel's website and the teacher's description of the hotel Europa made it sound okay but it did not live up to a single one of its expectations.  The only good thing about the hotel was that some of the rooms were air conditioned.  So we ate breakfast and then went up to our rooms.  We then were all talking together for about three hours.

Finally, at 12:45, we went to the Cairo Museum.  The museum was all about mummies and the King Tutankamon.  The tour guide made it slightly boring and he must've liked King Tutankamon because we spent over half the time learning about him.  He only reigned for six years and died before he turned twenty.  His is famous only because of the exquisite and elegant treasures found in his tomb.  It contained all of his possessions so he must have been a spoiled king to have all of those magnificent items in his tomb.  

We then boarded the bus again to a restaurant where we ate our lunch.  After we ate we went to a perfume factory down the road from the restaurant.  At the factory, they made all of there perfumes without any alcohol or water and they made it purely from naturally available items.  We were given an opportunity to purchase any and I bought a small amount of the best fragrance.  Egyptians are very good perfume makers for one main reason.  The heat there.  In ancient Egypt, the people didn't want to sweat out a bad smell so the put a mountain of the perfume on their head and they sweated out a good smell instead.  The perfumes that were found in King Tutankamon's tomb was still strong as ever nearly 2000+ years later.  

From the perfume factory, we went to the train station.  We only had to wait ten minutes before our train came.  We all had first class cabins for two people each.  It was extremely comfortable and the and the food was good.

 

At that point of time, I thought that this trip was horrible but it could be better if there were shorter days and less heat.

Moved to India

This is my first post after moving to Bangalore! We were in a hotel for a while but we have been in our house for a little over a week. I like the house. It is definitely bigger that our apartment in Tokyo. We live in a housing complex so their is an amazing clubhouse not too far from our Villa. It has four swimming pools, two tennis courts, a squash court, about three restaurants, a gym, a games room with ping-pong tables, and pool tables (or whatever they are called), and last but not least, a hotel with a lot of rooms. I haven't used the pools yet because I don't have a swimming trunk with me. It will be coming in the sea shipment though. I have gone for one tennis lesson but I have missed the other ones. I really didn't miss them because I never officially signed up for it. I have eaten at the restaurant a lot and I am starting to get tired of it. Their is a store right inside the complex and it is not just a grocery store but there is also a Baskin Robbins, a fresh fruit juice store, a vegetable store and that's all I know of. It is really amazing. I met some kids who live across the road from me. I played with them for most of the afternoon yesterday. We played for a long time with my Vortex which is a toy that I have and if you throw it, it makes a whistling noise. It was really fun throwing it around.
Now about Tokyo. I really miss it. I really want to visit now itself. I miss being able to go to my friends house. I miss my friends. I miss my apartment. I miss everything in Tokyo. Also my teachers, my friends from Boy Scouts. I really miss it. But I felt the same way about Delhi when I left Delhi for Tokyo. I also miss the subway. I miss the heated Toto Washlet toilet seats. I still haven't started school so I am bored although will go to see my family in Kerala tomorrow. I can't wait because my great grand-aunt who is really old is there. I'm gonna go to my friends across the streets house and see if they want to play with my Vortex.

Exactly One Month

Sorry about not posting at the time I promised. I had to do a lot of homework on the weekends so I couldn't post. Well anyway, you know how I said that I was really excited to see Avi and have that session with him? Well I shouldn't have been. It was really boring and long. Everybody just asked questions and he answered them for one hour straight! But, the advantage is that I got out of science class so that I could be with Avi. I was out for almost the whole entire class. That part was fun. Here is something that might be a bit gruesome to some people. I went on this boy scout camp out and we were doing three activities. They were how to properly get a bear bag up in a tree, water purification and, lashings. I did water purification, then bear bag, then lashings. Well, I didn't complete lashings. While we were starting, I was asked to cut some wood to make it the same height. I had gotten a new pocket knife with a massive blade. I had just gotten it two days prior to that Saturday and so I forgot to put the lock on the blade. While I was cutting, the back of the blade hit the wood and the blade folded in on my fingernail. There was a lot of blood and it dripped everywhere and even on to my jeans. I had to have first aid done on me and I almost
fainted from blood loss. I was really stunned. I had a big gauze around my finger for a really long time. Until we got back home to be precise. I just got back from a one hour bike ride. It was really fun. I went many different routes and some I haven't even been to before. I say that because I was with my friend who lives in our apartment complex. She didn't want to ride anymore by the time we came back. Ok guys, I hope I can post soon! BYE!

Where have I been?

Sorry about not posting in a year now. I forgot completely that I had this blog even. Anyway, I like school and life. I am in 6th grade now and I think that middle school ROCKS!!! Even though this year I could choose only from band and choir, I still think that both rule. I signed up for both of them so I didn't get a Resource Center where you spend one period (49 minutes) just sitting down and doing homework. Only one other kid in the whole of 6th grade went for both band and choir like I did. Most boys though, asked for a free in the place of a Resource Center. I would have liked a Resource Center or a free but I can't do anything now. The only way that I could get one of the two, would be to drop band or choir. I wouldn't like to do that now because I enjoyed the classes so much. Right now in P.E. we are doing swimming. I don't particularly like swimming but even so, I try to enjoy. The teacher gets really angry at you if you forget you swim suit on that day because there are only seven classes total so if you miss one, you are missing a lot. There is a kid to has had a cold for all the classes so far (I think that is three now) so he might have to make up for all the lessons during lunch. The author Avi, is coming to school the week of March 19. You could sign up for some personal attention on your writing. I signed up to get in and because he would not be able to help all the kids who asked to do it, our teacher, Mr. Gibson, had to pull the names out of a hat and I got in! So I will be able to get personal attention from the author. He writes the best books and is an award winning author. I can't wait for that week to come. It will be the coolest. I will post then. BYE!

Chipped Tooth

More than two weeks ago, I chipped my tooth. I chipped it by helping the class right next to our room take up their lunch bin. A girl from that class was kicking the lunch pail and a boy from their class was lifting it high so that the girl could not kick it. He lifted it sooo high and the lunch pail hit my tooth really hard. The reason that my mouth was open was because I was inhaling air through it. For about fifteen seconds, I couldn't move. I had seen something fall on to the ground. When I got my senses back, I brought the pail ( which was still in the air) down. I saw that the plastic was not damaged and suddenly, my hand went up to my mouth and where the pail had hit my mouth, it was very sharp. I stooped down and found the part of the tooth that had come off. There was a big crowd around me to see what was going to happen. I elbowed someone because he did not move when I was trying to get to the nurse's office. When I did get to thew nurse's office, they immediatly put some water in a cup and they told me to hold the water in my mouth. If it stung, then they siad that it would be a big, big, big, big problem. Luckily for me, it did not sting so it was still a problem but it would not be as big. They called my mom and told her what had happened. I still was shocked. I was so shocked that when I held up the mirror on my own, it shook like crazy. The phone cord also shook a lot when I talked to my mom to tell her about what had happened in my own words. The nurse siad that the onky solution was to go to the dentist and they would tell you what they could do. When my mother and I went to the dentist's office, they said that they would have to put a plastic cap over that area. They also said that they might have to do a root canal when I am eighteen or so. I hate the sounds of doing a root canal. The tooth hurts sometimes but not much. Only when the dentist said the things that I could not do, I realized that this would effect me that rest of my life. I cannot rip pizza anymore, I cannot rip bread, and I cannot rip french bread either. Post soon!!!!!!!!!

Numazu

The Numazu exchange between Katoh Gakuen and ASIJ was so fun. Katoh Gakuen is almost 31/2 hours away. They came all that way to spend four hours together. They were spent like this. All the kids from ASIJ was partnered up with someone from Katoh Gakuen. We did many activities like origami, sports activities, calligraphy, and keychains. ASIJ hosted the sports activities with the parachutes, four corners, and weatherman. We also hosted the making of the keychains. Katoh Gakuen did the calligraphy and the origami. The calligraphy was the writing of our names in Katakana. We made origami cranes.
With the parachute, we played games such as Igloo, Climbing Mt. Fuji, and Ostrich... We spent five minutes playing each game. In Igloo, we lift the parachute as high as possible and bring it down with lots of force and you go inside it and sit on you part of the parachute. It looks like an igloo then. In Climbing Mt. Fuji, you do the same as Igloo only you stay outside and put your knees on the edge of the parachute and our P.E. teacher would call out a color and if you were that color, you would scramble to the center of the parachute. In Ostrich..., you do the same as Igloo but you lay on your stomach and only put your neck inside the parachute. On the inside, it looks like we are a bunch of ostriches.
Before we made the keychains, we made the origami boxes to hold the beads. Our buddies had to do the same one as the we did. I chose the ladybug. I was the only ladybug in the classroom. My buddy and I made the keychain with team effort. I showed him one and he did almost the rest on his own! He was very good with crafts.
In the calligraphy, our buddy would show us how to write our name in Katakana once and then I had to copy it until I got it right. Had to try at least twenty times before I got my name in Katakana perfect for the first time. It was very hard. But I spoke too soon.
The making of the origami cranes was an impossible catastrophe for my crane. My buddy undid my crane and went up to the point where I messed up andhe showed how to do it from there on. It was still very hard to make it. I think my buddy wanted to move on to the next origami piece. I was really strugling but i do not think he was wrong to think of it that way because the second origami piece was a piece of cake!
That was the best school day ever! My buddy left early but I was really sad I had to goodbye. At least I got his email address!!
I hope Ican do my next post in under two weeks.

Singapore over the Winter Break

I went to Singapore over the winter break coming back from Madras ( Chennai). We went from the airport ( where something very important happened) to Little India to Chinatown to a boatride in some place called Singapore Boat Quay and back to the airport.
At the airport, we first took a shower then we went and we got tickets for the bus to the city. When we were walking to the bus, one of my teeth fell out!! I said to my parents, I ooth ell out. I said that a hundred times before they noticed me. It was bleeding for a bit and then it stopped.
In Little India, we saw a lot of jewellry shops with lots of gold. There was one electronic shop called the Mustafa Centre. They had cool electronics there. Then suddenly, I started sneezing and I said to my father," If my tooth hadn't fell out then, it would have fallen out now!!!" It was fun.
Then we took a taxi to Chinatown. It was very hot and they had very cool and sweet coconut water and we bought four of them. They were tasty. The people selling them said they were from Thailand. I didn't really care that much. All I wanted was the fresh cocnut water!!!!! We walked around a bit. We looked at how cool things there were. I loved it there to.
Then we walked to the Singapore Boat Quay. We walked for about fifteen minutes. Finally, we reached the Quay. We bought tickets at one stand. There, we waited and we waited and the boat did not come so we got our money back and we went to the next stand. There, boats came every five minutes. We took the fourty-five minute boat ride ticket. But, when we at around thirty-five minutes, it started to rain so we got off somewhere else and when the rain stopped, we walked to the Suntec City and we broswed there for a bit and we went to the place where we could get on our bus. We aited for five to ten minutes and the bus came. We hopped on and went back to the airport. We took another shower for free and we went back to our terminal. We went around and found our gate. Then we boarded and we took off at 11:30 PM Singapore time! When we reached our home in Tokyo, it was around 2:00 PM.
Day-before yesterday morning, I lost another tooth! I got five hundred yen for that.
Today, I had a play date with one of my classmates. He came at 9:00 AM. We had so much fun today. We played with my new soccer ball I got for my birthday as an early present from my parents. We played with my new ball most of the time. We also watched part of two movies, bought hot chocolate at the shop called Cafe de Espresso, and we listened to Dhoom, and we tryed to decide which was better: an apple iMac with Intel Core Duo or a MacBook with Intel Core Duo. We finally decided on an iMac 20 inch. We had fun together. He left at 4:30 PM.
Post in a bit.