Kids, Camels, & Cairo (Tales of an International Educator Book 2) by Jill Dobbe

Author:Jill Dobbe [Dobbe, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-05-28T21:00:00+00:00

On top of Mt. Sinai

After four grueling hours of walking uphill, and then another four going downhill, I was ecstatic to step onto flat ground again. I could have jumped for joy if only my body wasn’t so sore. We met up with Millie, one of our friends who had taken a camel halfway up the mountain, but never reached the top. On her way back down she got lost taking a different route and I was happy to see her again. After we all commiserated over the agony we had just endured (yes, it was mostly me) we walked over to St. Catherine’s to get a peek at the distant cousin of the Burning Bush. Tourists and devoted pilgrims converged on the small area creating a mass of wall to wall people. The bushy tree sat in a fenced off space and mobs of tourists gazed at it. With the area so congested, none of us could even get close to the bush. Dan, who towered over everyone, stretched his arms and just barely touched the very tips. The devotees who got close to the slim branches attached small pieces of paper with their personal messages and prayers. Bone-weary from my climb, I wasn’t too excited about a bunch of sticks, no matter how old or sacred they were. After getting up at midnight, then climbing up and down a mountain for eight hours, I could barely stand. All I wanted to do was get in the van, drive back to the hotel, and collapse for the rest of my vacation.

But it was not to be.



When we signed up for the climb at the hotel I had insisted we also book a visit to a traditional Bedouin camp (I don’t know what I was thinking). I had originally looked forward to the opportunity of observing Bedouin desert dwellers in their natural habitat. Since it was my idea, I mustered up the little energy I had left and crawled back into the waiting van. Before I even slid the door shut, the driver sped off onto the dirt road. In the middle of nowhere he turned onto a secluded desert path filled with deep potholes. I held on to my seat, bouncing in all directions until the driver stopped in the middle of the desert. The last one to crawl out of the van, I trailed behind the others. A stocky middle-aged Bedouin man wearing a long flowing and impressively white gallibaya walked toward us. His head was swathed in a keffiyeh (kerchief worn as a headdress) and held in place by a black ‘agal-rope,’ a symbol Bedouin men wear to show their manhood.

“Salam Alaikum” (peace be upon you), he yelled to us as we sauntered toward him.

“Alaikum Salam” (and peace be upon you), we mumbled with forced enthusiasm.

Bedouin tribes from the past were nomadic and moved their families to different parts of the desert so their animals could graze near water. The Bedouins we saw in the Sinai tended to stay put, relying on tourist dollars for their income.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.