My Adventures in Egypt

I have always wanted to go to Egypt, but I never wanted to experience an Egyptian hospital. When we got off the ship I got in a wheel chair and was wheeled with my dad to a car. There, we waited ½ an hour for some other people from another ship and we drove to the hospital. The traffic in Alexandria is awful and it took us a ½ hour to go just a little ways. When we got there they wheeled me into the emergency room. I was separated from other people by a little curtain. The nurses did some tests and gave me some shots. After a bit, I was wheeled into a room with a bed with a machine by it and a stool. I laid down on the bed and a doctor came in and got a small vacuum looking thing from the machine, put some gel on it and rubbed it across my stomach. Apparently, it emits some sound wave that does something so that they can see my guts. The doctor found out that I had two spleens (random I know) and appendicitis. From there I was wheeled up to a “Junior Suite”. We basically laid there for a couple of hours and then the surgeon came in and we went to the surgery room. I laid on the bed and they held a mask thing over my face. I thought “I don't feel tired” and then everything went black.

I woke up in another room and I couldn't focus on anything. I remember people talking and asking me questions, but not much else. I was wheeled into my “Junior Suite” and had a couple hours to wake up. Then a nurse came in and started pumping me full of medicines and fluids. We had nothing to do all day, but watch TV. That is how we found out that Barack Obama won the election. While I was waiting I couldn't drink anything, they had to pump all the water in me. Finally the doctor came in and said that I could have 50 ml (is about 3 table spoons) of water each hour. That night I got to have mint flavored warm water. It was... interesting. My dad asked to make sure it wasn't tea and the doctor said no so I drank about ½ of it. The next day I got to eat Jell-o and it was really good. I never really felt much pain in the hospital except for the five times they gave me shots (2 to check my blood, 3 for IVs) and when the nurses were poking me to see where it hurt.

The day before, my mom had posted a thing on Facebook saying that we needed help in Egypt. Someone from her ward growing up called the district president in Lebanon who called a member of the district presidency in Cairo. He called us and told us that we could stay with him.

When we were released from the hospital we were about to go to the train station when the surgeon came in and asked us what our plans were. We told him and he said that he was going to Cairo to give a lecture and see a patient. He said that he was leaving in a ½ hour and that if we wanted a ride in his car that we could. We went on a highway and every few minutes you would pass a truck full to the top with bananas or tomatoes. Every ½ hour or so there would be a bottle neck in the road, such as some police people or a weapons check. When we were about an hour away we stopped at a grocery store. We were just going down the aisles and the surgeon kept getting things he was telling us if it looks good, get it. I didn't really feel bad making him pay, after all he is a surgeon and probably makes big bucks.

We continued to Cairo and when we got there we drove across a highway. If you looked across the city you could see the silhouettes of the pyramids looming over the city. We met up with the our church friend's personal chauffeur and he drove us to the to the church friend's house. The whole trip took about 6 hours. The church friend, John, was really nice. He let us play his wii (although I never did), use his fridge full of sodas including root beer (there is almost no root beer here so I had some), and peanut butter. They had a thing of peanut butter that was so big it would have cost $50 in La Spezia. That night we went to dinner with them at TGI Fridays. I wasn't that hungry so I got fried mac & cheese. When it came it was little balls of mac & cheese in a breaded thing. I ate some and it was OK so I didn't finish that. That night I slept very well. In Egypt, the traditional sabbath day is Friday. I was planning on going to church, but finally decided on sleeping.

Later in the day we went to the pyramids. I really didn't feel like walking so we bribed the guard at the gate to let us in. We drove up to the view point and got some pictures, the day was clear so we could see other pyramids in the horizon. Then went down by the pyramids to get some more pictures. There were camels and donkeys everywhere, but it wasn't as crowded as usual because it was at the end of the day and it was Friday. Then we went down by the sphinx and got some pictures looking up at the pyramids. There was a Pizza Hut right next to The Sphinx where you could see the pyramids. When we got back to Jon's apartment We watched “The Private Eyes” It was funny, but I tried not to laugh because it hurt my stomach.

The next morning we woke up early and went to the airport. We decided to hire a guy to help us at the airport. We didn't wait in any lines ever. Half of it was because of the helper and half of it was the wheelchair I had. We were through the security in record time and we had about 2 hours to wait for our flight. When it was time I was wheeled onto a platform that raised up to a truck that we got in. It drove to the airplane, raised us up, and dropped us off right at the plane's back door. During the flight I tried to sleep, but it was not comfortable so I just rested my eyes. When we got there we were wheeled to the train station where we caught a train to our apartment. I was happy to be with my family again.

From this experience I have learned many things. The first one is that Muslims are not bad people. Almost all of them are nice people. Saying Muslims are bad is like saying Americans are fat, some are, but most aren't. Another thing I learned is that there are church members all the way around the world that are willing to help you. I am thankful for nice people and hope that they are all the way around the world.

The Pyramids

Pyramids and me

The pyramids and the city

Me in my hospital bed

Me and my appendix

The Sphinx and pyramid