Leaving Luxor

Though our time in Luxor was only about 72 hours, the information we packed in was enormous. We struggle, as we leave, with just where to pack it knowing that we will not remember everything - that is one of the primary purposes of this blog and why, despite constantly battling with time and energy, we put so much effort into it.

We booked a sleeper train to Cairo, but it did not depart until 10:00PM, so we had time to kill.  Some time was spent getting out tickets figured out because the electronic reservation we had made seemed to have issues on their end - the staff at the hotel seemed to chuckle a bit that I had even tried to book it that way as they didn't know it was possible. One even joked, "we aren't Europe".  Finally with some help from our hotel, Dad ran over to the train station with a translator and got it sorted out.  It was right all along but they never provided us with our cabin or car details and it felt a bit sketchy but in the end was fine.

We then grabbed dinner at a local restaurant of Egyptian food where we had our first taste of camel. It was quite good actually and tasted a bit like pot roast.  From there it was just a matter of trying to keep the children from killing each other (and it was close) as we hunkered down in a very small single room, which the hotel was kind enough to let us keep, as we tried to get some school done. Eventually it was close to time to go and we opted to leave early to avert World War III - it just could not have come fast enough.  Cairo, here we come!

Last dinner in Luxor

Our classroom - can you believe this didn't work well

Early arrival to keep the children alive

Here are a couple of extra odds and ends that we soaked up in our time here:  

• Education - We were told by our guide that many university grads now can't write a good paragraph, and he attributes it to kids having too many choices of other activities & screens to be distracted by & teachers don't have authority/respect to make it worth investing -parents don't accept teachers advice/help.  Additionally, classrooms up north can have up to 120 kids/teacher in a class. Education is free up to 3 years of secondary, which is about 15, but many drop out prior to that.  
• Moses - They are not sure which Pharaoh ruled during Moses' life but Ramses II was possible. Joseph might have lived during Amenhotep III but the best evidence is from a Stila of Israel in a hanging church in Cairo that dates back to the 13th son of Ramses II.  It mentions Israel as not having any seeds (meaning they don't exist or were dispersed) which could point to the son telling about Moses' exodus during Ramses II time.