Fit to Dive
Trip Start
May 09, 2005
1
33
53
Trip End
Aug 01, 2005
Dahab,
Egypt
Thursday, June 30, 2005
I've been just chilling the past few days. Well, actually, melting is more like it. It has officially gotten even more unbearably hot here. I honestly believe that Egyptian DNA has evolved such that these people don't sweat! None of them ever seem to break a sweat at all and I'm over here just dying. There's also been some slight humidity in the air in the evenings as well...but it's bearable because you're in a tropical paradise setting and not in stinky NJ or NY. The weather seems more easy to handle when you are in vacation mode.
Yesterday, I did get to meet two of the holy men from the Coptic Christian church. One was a monk and the other a priest. In this church, the priests are allowed to marry which is something I did not know. The monk wore a black fitted hood on his head that tied under the chin and had white stitching of crosses all over it. The priest wore a knitted black skullcap. Both had full beards and wore flowing black robes with leather crosses around their neck. The greeting was also new for me to see. Anwar bowed to kiss each man's hand and at the last second they jerk their hand away and pull it to their chest. At first, it looks rather rude. But then I made an assessment and had it verified later. They allow for the kiss to take place as they are thought to embody holiness and of course a follower would want to have contact with this. But the pulling away of the hand is like an act of piety, as if to show they are not worthy and are simply just like every other Christian.
Anyways, it was so lovely speaking with them as I had done research on this church just last semester and found the history so fascinating. I may have mentioned it before, but to recap, St. Mark brought Christianity to Alexandria, Egypt around 37 or 40BC. These Christians broke off from the other sects because the Coptics (the word Coptic actually simply means "Egyptian") believe that Jesus is solely divine and NOT both human and divine as other groups believe him to be. I also got to hear some of the Coptic language, which is only used in the Church these days. It's beautiful to hear, especially if you know the history surrounding it. The alphabet has been Romanized but also still maintains 7 hieroglyphic letters/symbols in it. The Coptic language is directly derived from the ancient pharoanic language! To hear such an old language that inspired great history and civilization is just amazing.
Last night Anwar and I had a late dinner in Tota and watched the Argentina/Brazil soccer (football) game. It's always more fun to watch the big rivalry games, I think. Anyways, poor Argentina got their butts wupped (sorry Van).
That's about it. I'm gearing up for what feels to me to be a monumental birthday...why I have no idea. I'm turning 27, but for some reason it feels just...I don't know--big! It may have to do with the fact that I feel I am at a crossroads in my life, having just finished grad school. Sort of like starting a really big new chapter in my life, as if the others have been sub-sections of a previous chapter. So I'm kinda looking forward to it because I'm really stoked (see, you can take a gal out of CA but you can't take CA vocab out of this gal!) to see what lies ahead for me.
Wish me luck on diving and that I don't screw up too badly and get all of the equipment wrong! Does anyone know if it's possible to OD on chicken?! I've noticed that eat chicken at least twice a day or so and am wondering if this can be bad...oh well.
