Al-Eid, part 3

Thursday was another day of monasteries, which I could detail but I will instead bullet-point:

--1.25 hour bus ride turned into almost 3 hours of bumping through dirt road villages and then miles of the empty Western Desert
--monastery for St. Samuel, the monk we all had first thought was winking in his icon pictures... turns out he only had one eye because of being tortured for his faith... oops.
--another unexpected hike up some stairs to a mountain cave, not so high this time-- but, this time we were battling a sandstorm.  Half the stairs were covered completely by blown sand, and I climbed with fingers plugging my ears.
--got harrassed all day by a busload of kids on a fieldtrip, plus some desert-monastery-visiting shebaab.  Just when you think you're in a safe zone... think again.
--on the way "home" through the desert, we find our bus stopping in a village, and all of the occupants piling out (the others being an assortment of Copts from the Beni-Suef area).  Turns out we were stopping to visit the home of a woman who had a miraculous childbirth.  She was told by several doctors that she was barren; went home and cried in front of a picture of the Coptic Pope, and then had a vision of him (the Pope) telling her she would become pregnant with a daughter in 12 days.  She didn't believe it so she asked for a sign, and he said an oil would come from his picture on the wall.  Sure enough it started to produce oil, and still does to this day.  The small room was full of Christians coming to receive some of the oil as well as a blessing from the 9-year-old miracle daughter, Maryam.  I got some of the oil, though I'm not sure I understand what we are to do with it. 
--on this same stop I also saw my first hoopoe, a mystery bird I found in the Arabic animal coloring book I bought in Cairo.  I knew how to say hoopoe in English and Arabic thanks to the coloring book, but I sure didn't know what color to color it... until NOW!
--we pooped out before the last 2 churches/monasteries on the agenda, and jumped ship to find our own microbus back to Beni Suef.  Made it back in time to meet Ben and John (two of the others from our GC group) at the train station, because they had planned a last-minute visit from their village 3 hours south.  Ended another long day with crepes, a Beni Suef specialty, at a cafe along the Nile.


Today: Friday.  Asmaa, another friend from my English classes, picked me up this morning to go to her house and bake cookies.  She really wanted to learn some American recipes, and I am getting homesick for my own family foods, so I was happy to oblige.  :)  Asmaa is the oldest of three sisters, all of which are near my age, so I had a fun time hanging out with them all day.  We made gingerbread cookies, a classic favorite from my grandmother, and they turned out wonderfully--much better than the chocolate chip cookies I made for Ehab and Jackleen a few days ago!  (among other complications I ran into, most importantly: there is no acceptable substitute here for semi-sweet chocolate chips.)
After baking the cookies we spent about 3 hours teaching each other cooking words in our respective native languages. Chop, blend, pour, sift...  I may never get to use these Arabic words much, but it was a really good time!

And now, I will take myself to bed so I can get up and work on my research project all day tomorrow...