Egypt and the Peloponnese

Since I have already been here a month quite a bit has happened. My last post only explained less than half of what has been going on here so that is why I am already posting again about everything. Two weeks into the semester we made our first trip which was to Egypt. It turned out to be one of the best weeks of my life. Egypt itself was of course incredible but I think the best part of our trip actually had nothing to do with the things we saw. Our tour guide on our trip is part of what made this week one of the best weeks of my life. His name is Osman. In Egypt the main religion is Islam. Osman has been touched year after year every time he is with the Harding groups. He has an amazing family and they all have wonderful hearts. He is struggling so much with what to do because if he and his family became Christians they would have to leave his home country. I can't imagine having to struggle with something like that. Every day he wanted us to sing to him all day long. He really touched us just as much or more than we touched him. We were all crying on the last day when we had to say bye to him. In the midst of all this though the history and the culture was still such an experience. The first 2 days we were in Cairo. When we first got there I kept getting Arabian Nights stuck in my head from Aladdin because that is what it made me think of. I am weird I know but I can accept that. The biggest things we saw here were the Pyramids at Giza and the Egyptian Museum. It was really cool getting to see the pyramids because we have seen pictures and heard about them our entire lives and there we were standing right in front of them. We even got to go down in one of them. I have now been inside a pyramid in Egypt. It is pretty cool being able to say that I'm not gonna lie. The museum was cool because the main thing we saw was the mask of King Tut and everything else that was in his tomb. Getting to see the authentic mask and seeing all these things that decorated his tomb just makes so many things become more real to me. That night we went on our first train ride. It was an over night sleeper train to Aswan. The first thing we did was go see one of the many temples we were going to see the rest of the week. We saw a lot of temples and they all kind of ran together but they really were all pretty amazing. It was interesting seeing all these Pagan temples dedicated to all their gods and kings. That day we also got to go to the Nubian village and ride camels along the river. It was a lot of fun even though we didn't smell to pretty afterwards. We slept on our cruise ship that night and we sailed off the next day after going to Abu Simbel which is another temple. It is said that if there were to be an 8th wonder of the world this would probably be it. It is dedicated to Ramses II who was the most popular Ramses of the ancient times. We cruised down the Nile for 3 days stopping in places like Komombo and Edfu then we ended up in Luxor. On the cruise ship we had to really fun nights. The 2nd night we got to dress up nice for the Captain's dinner and got to hang out with everyone for a while and the last night we got to dress up like Egyptians and take pictures and eat a nice dinner. Luxor was by far my favorite place. It was known as the Luxurious City...hence the name Luxor. Here we saw two temples but the second one was my favorite thing of the whole trip. It was the Temple of Luxor and it was the place where Moses probably went to school. We went at night and it was so beautiful all lit up. The best part of it was sitting where Moses would have set and singing and feeling people come up behind us and listen to us. We were in a Pagan temple and an Islamic country and we were singing praises to god. It was an amazing experience. We took the night train back to Cairo that night and spent the next 2 nights there before going back. The last two days we went to Memphis, Saqqara and Goshen. Memphis was the first capital of Egypt and we saw the step pyramid in Saqqara. Goshen was also one of my favorite places because it was the land where the Israelites built there house and put blood over there doors during the passover. It is also where they left Egypt during the exodus. It was just so amazing being able to actually see and be at the places I have read about since I was a little kid. We also got to go to Sinai for a little while just to say we have been there. Again this week was one of the best weeks of my life and now I realize why God brought me here this semester. My eyes are being opened to a new world and history and the bible are coming alive to me now instead of just being stuff I read in a book. After we got back from Egypt we had a few more days of school and a couple of off days where we just hung out and relaxed. Going into Athens to eat at Sabbas, (the best gyro place around) or going to the beach, or eating at Tony's (a great gyro place with some good company) across the street are all becoming routine now. It becomes more and more like home here every day. We left a few days ago to go to the Peloponnese. It was only a 3 day trip so it flew by. It was a good trip but it was pretty tiring. We went to Corinth and Epidaurus the first day. In Corinth we went to the ancient agora and climbed the Acro-Corinth. In the ancient agora we saw the ruins of the city and we saw the bema which is where speeches were given and one of the few places we know for certain that Paul actually stood. (Acts 18) Climbing the Acro-Corinth was a bit of a challenge but once we got to the top we ate lunch with an amazing view of the Peloponnese on one side and Athens on the other side across the isthmus and the canal. It wasn't the clearest day ever but it was still a beautiful sight. We then went to Epidaurus where we saw some more ruins and then went to the theater there. The theater is one of the best preserved theaters and has perfect acoustics. It was incredible standing at the bottom singing and hearing our voices project to the top. It was even more incredible standing at the top being able to hear a whisper from the very bottom. The next day we went to Nafplio and got to go up in a castle. The castle was huge and it was fun to just walk around and explore. You could look out into the Aegean Sea and could see two more castles. We climbed the 857 steps down the castle and then went to Mycenae. In Mycenae we got to see the ruins of the Mycenaean Civilization which consisted of the Megadon, Lion's Gate, cistern, Grave Circle A, and the tomb where Agammemnon was possibly buried. We then drove the four hours to Olympia where we stayed the night at a pretty cool Swiss looking hotel. The next day was the last and best part of the trip for me. For those who know me know I love any and all sports. We got to see the first Olympic stadium. Olympia is where the first Olympic games were held. Being able to say I have run in the first Olympic stadium is a pretty cool thing for me. We went to another museum and saw decorations from the Temple of Zeus and other things from Olympia. We had a 5 hour ride back that afternoon to Porto Rafti. Today was our first full day back in the Artemis and it has been a good one. Sleeping in and relaxing not having to do much (besides studying a little) has been a great thing today. Now I have to face reality once again and start preparing for classes in the morning and tests the rest of the week and next week. Things here are amazing and I am loving every minute of it. Once again I thank God so much for this amazing opportunity and I again thank everyone for their support and their prayers.