King Tut

As many of my long readers know, I spent the Summer of 2008 in The Holy Land. I'm so glad I was there before all the political turmoil in Egypt so I could fulfill one of my life long dreams of going to Egypt. And in going to Egypt I had three major goals:

1. See the pyramids. (Check, Check and Check)

2. Go to Karnak Temple. (Check and Check)

3. Go to the Valley of the Kings

But the Valley doesn't look like anything really. See?

Where are the tombs? How do you know where they are? It just looks like desert! But the tombs are hidden. They're scattered throughout the valley. The walls of most were elaborately painted after they were carved into the mountains. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was really kind of tragic. (Google images.) I did however sneak a quick hand swipe to see what the carved paintings felt like. (Stone.) 

So what's the point of this post today other than showing you how much I love Ancient Egypt? To tell you that today Google is honoring Howard Carter on his 138th birthday. Mr. Carter is the man who discovered King Tut's tomb. The tomb that was really small and disappointing to go into because there was nothing in there besides his mummy, but a few days later when we went to the Cairo Museum and saw that half of a floor of that humongous museum was full of all the treasures found in King Tut's tomb. It was awesome. And that's why it was so great. No other ancient Egyptian leader's tomb ever had anything in them. Blasted grave robbers...

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, the most exciting part of the Valley of the Kings is Tutankhamun's tomb and I'm glad Mr. Carter was born.

Dzień Kobiet

Today is Dzień Kobiet or in English, International Women's Day. Google knows it (it's on their google header for the day:

But did you know it? And I'm assuming like 99.9% of the people who read my blog are women so I'm letting you know. 


I had never heard of Dzień Kobiet until my mission. We went out to eat for lunch and I remember my companion and I were handed flowers. I had no idea why we were given flowers, so I asked and was told it was Women's Day. Then I looked around and saw all the women in the restaurant had flowers. 


Why don't we celebrate this in the US? I think we should. We could all use a little more validation in our lives.


On a more serious note, yesterday at work in honor of today they were showing a film called Pray the Devil Back to Hell. It follows the Liberian Civil War and how instrumental the women of the country were in convincing the men to have peace talks. Many of the women interviewed in the film won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for their non violence. I keep thinking about the film and I highly recommend seeing it if it's ever an option.


Anyway, HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY all! I hope you treat yourself to something nice. New earrings, frozen yogurt, flowers, or all of the above.


POST EDIT: I just finished reading Leymah Gbowee's speech after she won the Nobel Prize. (She was the organizer for the women of the Liberian Civil War.) And it's such a great speech. Read it HERE.