Near Death Experience + Don't Read 2nd paragraph if you get grossed out

Don't ask me why I am giving this its own entry, but I forgot to include this in my other Egypt blogs. There are so many things I left out that you will have to hear about when I get home (lucky you!) but I can't forget to tell you that I almost died. At 21, that's kind of a big deal. So-- don't ever fly EgyptAir if you can help it. I seriously think they like raffle off piloting rights to the winner. We have many intelligent boys on our trip who explained our near-death in that "it was a very windy day and the pilot over-compensated for it." If that makes sense to you, great. If it doesn't: we started swaying back and forth and hit the ground way before we were supposed to. It was this blurry, rocky, scary scene of people holding on to each other and screaming. I, as with every emotion I feel, began to cry uncontrollably. It was a mixture of relief, sheer terror, and embarrassment that I thought I was actually going to die before I got to ride a camel. The stewardesses and pilot had the nerve to wish us a "good day" as we stepped off the plane. Oh my goodness. It is times like that that I step back and thank God for one more day-- and the sense of humor to look back and laugh at how tight I held on to Lacey and that Brian captured my face on videotape.

Almost equally as scary is the train station bathrooms. Mr. Myhan told us that their bathrooms were gross, but I was picturing Junior Foods at 2 a.m. gross. WRONG. I'm talkin' hole in the ground where many have been before you. (And have left their mark. And I'm NOT talking grafitti!) You take a deep breath, laugh and squat. You try to get done before the roaches get you and you pretend the tiny hole is a basketball goal and you shoot the toilet paper to score. (I scored..thanks Coach Moon!) More? You PAY for this. That's right. You actually get euro out of your pocket to have the most humiliating experience of your life. One of the toilets was wonderfully decorated if you get my drift. I literally think that someone made this their mission. There is no way in this world you could naturally achieve such grotesque grandeur.

I'm sure I will be adding random tidbits like this as they reappear in my mind. :-) Not necessarily to gross you out, but just so that I will remember them.