Deaf Anthology #59: "Travelogues"

Joan: "More tavelogues, this one from the Middle East."
Several Deaf Gallaudet alumni recently tour travel to the Middle East. In Egypt, we visited the Pyramids. The Sphinx guarded the area. Hank Young was our interpreter. One night we were on the Nile cruise and were entertained by a belly-dancer. We took a drive out to Alexandria. We took an overnight train to Luxor to visit the Valley of the Kings where King Tut was buried. On the overnight train, my roommate was missing, thought he was being held by terrorists, but found him in the bar drinking all night because he couldn't remember which room he was suppose to be sleeping in. Whenever you purchased something, you never get change. Water isn't safe to drink, so we have to buy bottled water. Gas in Egypt is only 56 cents a gallon (litre conversion). I collect a Pepsi bottle from Egypt and a Coke bottle from Israel. We visited Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt, and weren't unable to find Elvis. Went up in the Cairo Tower to view the city, the largest in Africa. As foreigners we can gambling at the hotel, Muslims themselves don't. We saw how they make paper from papyrus. We Deaf were the only tourists at the Sheraton Islamia hotel near the Suez canal, as it was mostly occupied by United Nations peacekeepers.

We then motorcoach over the Sinai desert toward Israel, you can see the landscape littered with destroyed tanks alongside the highway from previous wars between the two countries. Israel is like the Wild West as their soldiers carry submarine guns all the time everywhere. In Jerusalem, we visited the Biblical places where Jesus once walked. Hank, I, and the guide ate at the Argentina steakhouse that night. We floated on the Dead Sea (my knee in pains). Also took a cable car up to Masada where the Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to the Romans. Can watch American programs on television that are captioned in both Hebrew and Arabic (There is an interpreter on Jordanian news broadcast). In Joffa, watch the Israeli Experience, a multi-media presentation on the way to Tel Aviv. I don't feel comfortable on the beach when they play paddle ball, seem to be popular.

The Israeli Deaf invited us to their reception. I did not that the Deaf organization received funds from the United States in 1956. We enjoy ourselves despite State Dept. Advisory on violence in the West Bank and the Gaza. Security is very tight at the border (which open after the Camp David Accords) and the airport. Time consuming as they must match your boarding pass with your luggage.

John: "The tour guide warned us about pickpockets in the bazaars on the West Bank, a Palestinian tries to steal a wallet from a Deaf Gallaudet Chemistry professor, but we caught him in the act, and they left us alone after that incident."

Jason: "Otherwise, they could have stolen all the notepads that some Deaf carry in their rear pockets."

Jeffrey: "Heard that one avoid Arab peddlers and vendors by pointing to another Deaf making a money sign, so he was not bothered the whole trip, but the other guy was pissed off."

John: "That guy was a smart-ass!" (1989)

Revised 5/12/08

This is Smokey, stay tuned for the next episode of Deaf Anthology. Good Night, Deaf America!