Egypt.  Let me start by saying that #1 on my “top 25 things I want to do before I die list” is to live an obligation free life. I’m holding on to that. Number two is to live in Italy for a couple of months and learn to cook authentic Italian food.  Beyond those, the order of the rest of my list doesn’t really matter.

See the Pyramids

I’ll number them (for the purpose of keeping a list) but life has a way of dictating how things unfold, so I can’t hold on to a specific order. Because maybe #18 will actually fall into place before I have the opportunity to check #7 off of my list.  Who knows?  But, I’m adding #3 to the list, to see the Pyramids and cruise the Nile River.

Why Egypt?

So why Egypt?  My fascination with Egypt started in 1996, the first year I taught sixth grade.  In California, sixth grade social studies is all about ancient civilizations. I loved it!  To get my students to love it as well, we did a lot of hands-on project-based learning.  This was 17 years ago, before the California public school system decided to ……  well, I really shouldn’t go down that road, suffice it to say that in 1996 teaching was vastly different, in a good way.

Tradition

There was a tradition at the school where I taught.  Every year we celebrated Egypt by throwing ourselves an Egyptian Festival.  Everyone, including teachers, came to school dressed in their Egyptian finest.  We feasted on Egyptian food, performed lessons well-learned and just generally had a great day.  Even the youngest kids looked forward to being in sixth grade because of the festival.  It was a big deal. My first year found me a little more than enthusiastic. I went so far as to dye my hair black.  Really fun for the day, but it only took one time for me to learn my lesson and never do it again!

A Plethora of Books

Because I taught sixth grade for a number of years I’m sure you can imagine the plethora (don’t you love that word?) of books about Egypt I collected.  In my time as a teacher I could tell you just about anything you wanted to know when it came to the Egyptian culture, right down to, “How did they get those brains out without opening the skull?” Once I stopped teaching though my vault of Egyptian knowledge was sealed shut.  Sadly, I remember very little.  And now I find myself wanting to see the real deal; to actually visit all of the places I taught my students about.

Something tells me though that a 7-day cruise on the Nile would most likely be a bit on the pricy side; something a pharaoh might afford.  I’m purposely not researching any of that information at this point, I’m still in the dreaming about it stage.  When and if the day comes that we actually visit Egypt, I may have to settle for just sitting at the river’s edge watching the boats sail by and you know what, that will be just fine with me.  I dipped my toes in the mighty Mississippi River once and I was good with that too!

Have you thought about what you want to see/experience before you die?!

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