So, I know that I'm really behind on blogging my experiences. The main reason is, that I just don't have time. Between classes, 5 page papers on Sennacherib and Hezekiah, and trying to get everything in that I can before I leave in less than two weeks, blogging has definatly taken a back seat. I promise, however, that I will get caught up...eventually. I might not be before I get back to the States, but it will happen.
So, this blog is about all the awesomeness that happened inbetween Jordan and Galilee. And counting down to the awesomness that was our week in Galilee, because really, what could be more awesome than Galilee?
To start with, Bethlehem. Bethlehem is probably one of my favorite places that I've been to this trip. It's in the West Bank, and the center is very serious about people in the JC, including the faculty, about going. They actually have a seperate branch of the church there. It's kind of lame, the members in Ramallah have to drive three hours to go around Jerusalem to get to the branch in Bethlehem, instead of the 40 minutes or so it would take to get to the Jerusalem branch because of the seperation wall.
Anyway, that day our first stop was the Herodion, one of Herod the Great's palaces, and the place where he was buried. It's really cool, they built a fortress, then covered the sides with dirt to make it look like a volcano, but to provide a good defense. From the top of the Herodion, you could see signal fires from Machaerus (I should have talked about this site in my Jordan post) and also Jerusalem, so it was an important place. They actually discovered Herod's tomb there not too long ago. Like everything else cool, they put it in the Israel Museum.
Side story about the Israel Museum. Basically, anything cool archaeologically speaking found in the last century in this area, since the fall of the Ottoman empire, makes it's way to the Israel museum. Dead sea scrolls, the horned alter from Beersheva, the inscription talking about Pontius Pilate from Ceasaerea, it's all to be found in the Israel Museum. Anything found before the fall of the Ottoman empire is in the Istanbol Archaeological Museum. The Israel Museum is definatly one of my favorite places in Jerusalem, just because it has so much cool stuff! It's basically like the Smithsonians in Washington D.C., but all the museums are in one building. Like they have a huge archaeology section, and then a world archaeology section, an art section, and a section just on Jewish culture. And those were just the exhibits that I was able to see in the two free days that I spent there! To anyone who ever comes here, the Israel Museum is a must see. And plan on plenty of time for it!
From the Herodion, we travelled to Bethlehem. Our first stop was the Church of the Nativity. Apparantly, the church of the Nativity is the oldest church that has been continually a church. Fun fact, about 600 A.D. or so the Persians came through and conquered the Holy Land, and were destroying all the Christian churches that they could. When they came to the Church of the Nativity, however, they didn't destroy it. There were mosaics on the wall depicting the three wise men as Persians, and so the Persians venerated the church as a holy place.
Another fun fact. There is a similar status quo in the Church of the Nativity as there is in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. My teacher showed us a video on youtube of a fight between priests in the church where they started attacking each other with brooms.
We went through the chruch, and through the grotto, and saw the places where the Savior was born, and where he was laid in a manger.
After the Church of the Nativity, we went next door to the Church of St. Catherine, and went to Jerome's grotto. That was the place where the Latin Vulgate version of the bible was written by St. Jerome. We weren't allowed to sing in the Church of the Nativity, but we sang just about every Christmas song in the hymn book in St. Catherine's.
We came out, and had some time to walk around Manger Square. There is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who lives in Bethlehem who makes and sells baby blankets. It wasn't on my list of things to buy, and I never intended to buy one...but then I was there...and they were cute...and it's a Bethlehem baby blanket...so my first baby is going to have a baby blanket from Bethlehem.
After some free time in Manger Square, we visited two different churches commemorating the Shepherd's field, and then we went to a legit shepherd's field, with sheep poop and everything. We sang some hymns, and some people prepared musical numbers for the event. We were given free time after that, just to sit and think and write in our journals and read some scriptures.
And that concludes the Bethlehem experience. The only other really cool thing that happened before going ot Galilee was doing the Via Dolorosa. There are a group of Franciscan priests who lead a group every Friday at 4 to go through all the stations, stopping at each station to talk about it. It was really cool, to actually follow the Via Dolorosa.
Coming up next, Galilee!
Friday, August 2, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
After a very, very stressful week of finals, everyone was more than ready to get away for another out of the center trip, this time to Jordan. I never realized how close it really is, until we drove about half and hour and were at the border. Border crossings are so stressful. I'm always afraid something is going to go wrong, or I'm going to answer a question wrong, and they're going to detain and deport me, or I'll end up in Israeli prison. Luckily though, we all got through safely. There are two guys in our group, one is from El Salvador and the other is from Mexico, they had to drive up to Galilee to go through a different checkpoint. Apparently, El Salvador doesn't really have any relations with Jordan, and they might not have accepted his passport as a result, so the JC administration sent him and the guy from Mexico up to the less strict checkpoint just to be safe. Luckily, they got through without any problems.
Our first day we went to Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Machaerus. Mt. Nebo is where Moses died. Madaba is famous for having a church there with a mosaic map that contained detailed pictures of quite a few cities, and was actually able to lead to several really cool archaeological ruins, such as the Cardo in Jerusalem. The map shows a cardo running from Damascus to Zion's gate in Jerusalem, so some archaeologists just started digging in the area where it would have been and they found it. Pretty cool, right? Machaerus was the site where John the Baptist was executed. During the first Jewish Revolt, it was one of three fortresses that held out after the destruction of Jerusalem. You can still see the partially built Roman siege ramp, and the remains of Roman camps and a siege wall.
All those things were really epic, but the most exciting part of the day was what happened next. After leaving Machaerus, we started on the long drive to Petra. We were only about half an hour or so into our three and a half hour journey when the bus started having trouble making it up the hill. We finally got to the point where the bus started rolling backwards, and so we pulled over to the side of the road. The other bus continued on to Petra while we stayed behind and entertained ourselves while waiting for a new bus to come. We had a grand time, walking along the King's Highway, reenacting the Lion King, and playing after the manner of the adverb. After an hour and a half or so, the new bus came and we were on our way.
As we continued on our journey, our New Testament professor, Brother Judd, said a prayer that we would all be safe (not that the new bus would be ok). He then proceeded to play us the song Horse With No Name, being stuck in the desert in Jordan. A few minutes after the song finished, no more than twenty minutes on the road, the unthinkable happened. Bus number two broke down.
This time, we were stranded in a Beduin community, still in the desert of Jordan. We got off the bus, walked around some, and made our way over to a fence around the archaeological remains of an old caravansarai. We hung out, talking, taking funny pictures, and our tourguide made a fire for us, as it was getting dark and it's cold at night in the desert. As we were sitting around the fire, a couple of guys came up to our tourguide and started talking to him. After a few minutes, we were told the good news. The guys were from the archaeological park with the caravansarai ruins, and they were going to let up walk around the ruins and use their bathrooms while we waited for the bus!
These ruins were one of my favorite things that we got to see. Remember the map I mentioned earlier? The remains of the map aren't very big, and huge chunks are missing. However, at the ruins we visited there were the remains of two rooms in the same church that had the entire mosaic floor intact. After seeing so many mosaic floors in pieces, it was so cool to see one perfectly intact!
About an hour of exploring the ruins, and using the bathroom, our next bus came. We were promised that this bus was the best and newest bus in their fleet. And it was nice. The best part though, was that we were finally on our way!
We got into our hotel in Petra a little after 11 pm. Our tour guide had worked things out so we had dinner when we got there, so no one went to bed hungry, though we all went to bed pretty quickly.
The next morning we walked from our hotel to Petra, which took about ten minutes. Petra was amazing. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested in travel to the Middle East. The caves are just so cool! I was able to take a quick camel ride for a photo op outside the treasury, which was the tomb featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. By far my favorite part, however, was hiking up the mountain to see the monastary. If you think the treasury was big and ornate, it is nothing compared to the monastary. It is at least twice as huge, and located at the top of the mountain.
A funny thing about Petra, if you take out the ancient tombs carved into the rock, it looks like southern Utah. Just like southern Utah. It's kinda funny, I travelled halfway around the world, and I end up in a place that looks like it could be a few hours south of where I go to school.
Another funny thing about Petra...I got heat exhaustion. Not too bad, but as we were walking back to the buses I was having a really hard time, and Brother Judd went over the symptoms, and I realized that I was in trouble. Luckily, I wasn't too bad, and after an hour I was fine again.
Which is where the unthinkable happens. Yes, you guessed it. The bus broke down again. We were about an hour out from Petra, and were able to make it to a tour bus stop. There, the tour company paid for everyone to get snacks and ice cream. It was pretty great.
That night, I was still not feeling 100%, so I went to bed early. That next morning, we woke up to bus #5. Thankfully, this was our last new bus of the trip.
Our first stop was the Amman citadel, location of the place where Uriah the Hittite lost his life in battle. It was cool, being there. There was also a Muslim palace complex, and an earlier temple to Hercules. Our next stop was the Jabbock River, where Jacob fought with an angel for a blessing.
And then we went to Jerash, which was the coolest place ever. It's the most well preserved Roman city outside of Italy. And it's amazing. A nympaeum, two theaters, a temple to Artemis, a beautiful cardo, a hippodrome, and a gate built by Hadrian, it was amazing! It really felt like I was walking through a legit Roman city, there was so much there preserved. One of my favorite things about Jordan is that they still use the theaters. As in, they've outfitted them with lights, and use them for shows and concerts. You could go watch a concert in a legit Roman theater.
Our last stop of the day was at the Royal Automobile Museum. For me, it was just a bunch of old cars. For the guys though, it was heaven, filled with limited editions and old classics. One car that I thought was pretty cool was one that was built to be both a car and a boat. I was also a fan of the Tron motorcycle.
That evening after dinner, I went out and took a stroll in search of ice cream down Rainbow Street. Yes, that really is it's name, and I have no idea why it was named that. However, they had a lot of ice cream places, so that's the place that we all went. I got Kinder ice cream, and it is the best ice cream that I have ever had. It was amazing.
Along Rainbow street is Iraqi embassy, which is cool because the front of it is painted to look like the Gates of Babylon (as a side note, I saw part of the pictures depicted on the Gates of Babylon in the Istanbol Archaeological Museum). They were quite impressive. I guess that it's not a good idea to take pictures of embassy's, so we would try to take pictures on the sly of the gates.
The next morning we went on a quick jaunt through the archaeological remains of downtown Amman, then drove near the border, where we had a lunch of KFC. It wasn't the best fried chicken in the world, but it was amazing to up poor depraved Americans.
Our last stop before heading back to Israel was Bethany Beyond Jordan, one of the supposed baptismal site of Jesus. It was quite a lovely place, but it was crazy hot and humid. I have never been somewhere as hot and muggy as that was. It was nice to take off our shoes and put our feet in the water. Both the Israeli's and the Jordanians are extremely careful as to who goes to the river crossing there, as it is an international border, so there were people keeping an eye on the tourists from both sides of the river.
From there, it was back to the Jerusalem Center! Because it was the 4th of July, we planned somewhat of a party. Lot's of people dressed up as famous Americans, and we sang some songs and played some tunes. The kitchen staff got in on the fun, and made us hamburgers and hot dogs, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and french fries, with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was magnificent.
And that, my friends, is a much delayed post on my adventures in Jordan. Stay tuned next time for Galille awesomeness!
Our first day we went to Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Machaerus. Mt. Nebo is where Moses died. Madaba is famous for having a church there with a mosaic map that contained detailed pictures of quite a few cities, and was actually able to lead to several really cool archaeological ruins, such as the Cardo in Jerusalem. The map shows a cardo running from Damascus to Zion's gate in Jerusalem, so some archaeologists just started digging in the area where it would have been and they found it. Pretty cool, right? Machaerus was the site where John the Baptist was executed. During the first Jewish Revolt, it was one of three fortresses that held out after the destruction of Jerusalem. You can still see the partially built Roman siege ramp, and the remains of Roman camps and a siege wall.
All those things were really epic, but the most exciting part of the day was what happened next. After leaving Machaerus, we started on the long drive to Petra. We were only about half an hour or so into our three and a half hour journey when the bus started having trouble making it up the hill. We finally got to the point where the bus started rolling backwards, and so we pulled over to the side of the road. The other bus continued on to Petra while we stayed behind and entertained ourselves while waiting for a new bus to come. We had a grand time, walking along the King's Highway, reenacting the Lion King, and playing after the manner of the adverb. After an hour and a half or so, the new bus came and we were on our way.
As we continued on our journey, our New Testament professor, Brother Judd, said a prayer that we would all be safe (not that the new bus would be ok). He then proceeded to play us the song Horse With No Name, being stuck in the desert in Jordan. A few minutes after the song finished, no more than twenty minutes on the road, the unthinkable happened. Bus number two broke down.
This time, we were stranded in a Beduin community, still in the desert of Jordan. We got off the bus, walked around some, and made our way over to a fence around the archaeological remains of an old caravansarai. We hung out, talking, taking funny pictures, and our tourguide made a fire for us, as it was getting dark and it's cold at night in the desert. As we were sitting around the fire, a couple of guys came up to our tourguide and started talking to him. After a few minutes, we were told the good news. The guys were from the archaeological park with the caravansarai ruins, and they were going to let up walk around the ruins and use their bathrooms while we waited for the bus!
These ruins were one of my favorite things that we got to see. Remember the map I mentioned earlier? The remains of the map aren't very big, and huge chunks are missing. However, at the ruins we visited there were the remains of two rooms in the same church that had the entire mosaic floor intact. After seeing so many mosaic floors in pieces, it was so cool to see one perfectly intact!
About an hour of exploring the ruins, and using the bathroom, our next bus came. We were promised that this bus was the best and newest bus in their fleet. And it was nice. The best part though, was that we were finally on our way!
We got into our hotel in Petra a little after 11 pm. Our tour guide had worked things out so we had dinner when we got there, so no one went to bed hungry, though we all went to bed pretty quickly.
The next morning we walked from our hotel to Petra, which took about ten minutes. Petra was amazing. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested in travel to the Middle East. The caves are just so cool! I was able to take a quick camel ride for a photo op outside the treasury, which was the tomb featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. By far my favorite part, however, was hiking up the mountain to see the monastary. If you think the treasury was big and ornate, it is nothing compared to the monastary. It is at least twice as huge, and located at the top of the mountain.
A funny thing about Petra, if you take out the ancient tombs carved into the rock, it looks like southern Utah. Just like southern Utah. It's kinda funny, I travelled halfway around the world, and I end up in a place that looks like it could be a few hours south of where I go to school.
Another funny thing about Petra...I got heat exhaustion. Not too bad, but as we were walking back to the buses I was having a really hard time, and Brother Judd went over the symptoms, and I realized that I was in trouble. Luckily, I wasn't too bad, and after an hour I was fine again.
Which is where the unthinkable happens. Yes, you guessed it. The bus broke down again. We were about an hour out from Petra, and were able to make it to a tour bus stop. There, the tour company paid for everyone to get snacks and ice cream. It was pretty great.
That night, I was still not feeling 100%, so I went to bed early. That next morning, we woke up to bus #5. Thankfully, this was our last new bus of the trip.
Our first stop was the Amman citadel, location of the place where Uriah the Hittite lost his life in battle. It was cool, being there. There was also a Muslim palace complex, and an earlier temple to Hercules. Our next stop was the Jabbock River, where Jacob fought with an angel for a blessing.
And then we went to Jerash, which was the coolest place ever. It's the most well preserved Roman city outside of Italy. And it's amazing. A nympaeum, two theaters, a temple to Artemis, a beautiful cardo, a hippodrome, and a gate built by Hadrian, it was amazing! It really felt like I was walking through a legit Roman city, there was so much there preserved. One of my favorite things about Jordan is that they still use the theaters. As in, they've outfitted them with lights, and use them for shows and concerts. You could go watch a concert in a legit Roman theater.
Our last stop of the day was at the Royal Automobile Museum. For me, it was just a bunch of old cars. For the guys though, it was heaven, filled with limited editions and old classics. One car that I thought was pretty cool was one that was built to be both a car and a boat. I was also a fan of the Tron motorcycle.
That evening after dinner, I went out and took a stroll in search of ice cream down Rainbow Street. Yes, that really is it's name, and I have no idea why it was named that. However, they had a lot of ice cream places, so that's the place that we all went. I got Kinder ice cream, and it is the best ice cream that I have ever had. It was amazing.
Along Rainbow street is Iraqi embassy, which is cool because the front of it is painted to look like the Gates of Babylon (as a side note, I saw part of the pictures depicted on the Gates of Babylon in the Istanbol Archaeological Museum). They were quite impressive. I guess that it's not a good idea to take pictures of embassy's, so we would try to take pictures on the sly of the gates.
The next morning we went on a quick jaunt through the archaeological remains of downtown Amman, then drove near the border, where we had a lunch of KFC. It wasn't the best fried chicken in the world, but it was amazing to up poor depraved Americans.
Our last stop before heading back to Israel was Bethany Beyond Jordan, one of the supposed baptismal site of Jesus. It was quite a lovely place, but it was crazy hot and humid. I have never been somewhere as hot and muggy as that was. It was nice to take off our shoes and put our feet in the water. Both the Israeli's and the Jordanians are extremely careful as to who goes to the river crossing there, as it is an international border, so there were people keeping an eye on the tourists from both sides of the river.
From there, it was back to the Jerusalem Center! Because it was the 4th of July, we planned somewhat of a party. Lot's of people dressed up as famous Americans, and we sang some songs and played some tunes. The kitchen staff got in on the fun, and made us hamburgers and hot dogs, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and french fries, with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. It was magnificent.
And that, my friends, is a much delayed post on my adventures in Jordan. Stay tuned next time for Galille awesomeness!
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Hezekiah's Tunnel, Neot Kedumim, and Seder
Yes, I'm really far behind. What with finals, and then Jordan...sorry all. This post is going to catch up on all the big stuff that happened before Jordan, and then I'll do another on Jordan, and then some things that have happened since coming back from Jordan.
Hezekiah's tunnel is one of the coolest things ever. So, the story is that back in the 7th century or so B.C. the Assyrians were coming. Remember Lachish? Well, every other fortress in the kingdom of Judah was destroyed, except for Jerusalem, and Hezekiah knew that he was next on the list. The spring at that time was outside the city walls, and to protect the water supply they cut a tunnel out under the city to a spot that was inside the city walls. That doesn't sound like too big of a deal, until you factor in that they started from both ends, then met in the middle. They were more or less digging blindly, and happened to meet in the middle. There is an inscription in the tunnel from the diggers, telling how as they got close to meeting they could hear the other team of diggers on the other side of the rock.
So, anchient tunnel under the city...and we got to walk through it. At the highest the water came up to mid thigh on me, but generally is wasn't much above my ankles. It was pitch black, but most people brought flashlights or headlamps, so there was more than enough light to see. A group of people went back the next week to do it again in the dark...I'm not sure quite how they did it. I was generally fine, but some of the taller guys had to stoop the entire time because of the low ceiling. It was a ton of fun.
Neot Kedumim is a biblical preserve located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It's sole purpose is to preserve the land and to keep things the way they would have been in the bible. Basically, it's the coolest place ever.
We had a tour guide, who was more or less a park ranger, who told us a lot of really cool things about the plants and animals that were around. They had a well on site, and the ranger, who's name was Patrick, had two of the JC students reenact the scene where Abraham's servant meets Rebekah at the well.
The coolest part though was herding the sheep. Yes, I helped to herd sheep. We made them go in a group from one end of the yard to the other, then separated them into the goats and the sheep and then attempted to make them do a figure 8. There was a baby lamb there, and a few people had the chance to pick him up and hold him, until he decided that he had enough.
That afternoon, we made fires and learned how to cook pita and lentil soup over a fire. It was super legit. If we never learn how to make any other type of food here, at least we know how to make lentil soup and pitas over a fire.
After lunch, we had the opportunity to meet with a Torah scribe. Many Torah scribes go to school to learn how to write, but the man that we talked to told us that writing the Torah has been a family occupation that has been handed down through the family for over 10 generations. He showed us a Torah from Tunisia that was over 250 years old, and a page from a Torah that is over 300 years old. Torah writing is a serious business. If you mess up writing God's name on a page, you can't just throw it away or burn it because it's the name of God. The only acceptable way of getting rid of it is to bury it, so in the corner in every Jewish cemetery is a plot reserved specifically for burying pages with the name of God on it.
The last really big thing that happened before Jordan, besides finals (which were not fun at all, and therefore will not be discussed here) was our Seder! It isn't Passover, but our Israel teacher came and had a Seder dinner with us anyway. It was really quite fun. I think that we did a slightly sped up version of it, but we still did all the major things. It's interesting to me how easy it is to trace Jewish traditions back to their source. Like the Seder was started as a result of not being able to do sacrifices in the temple after it had been destroyed, but still wanting to celebrate the holiday.
Our Israel teacher likes to say that every Jewish holiday has the same theme. "They tried to kill us, they didn't, so let's eat!"
Hezekiah's tunnel is one of the coolest things ever. So, the story is that back in the 7th century or so B.C. the Assyrians were coming. Remember Lachish? Well, every other fortress in the kingdom of Judah was destroyed, except for Jerusalem, and Hezekiah knew that he was next on the list. The spring at that time was outside the city walls, and to protect the water supply they cut a tunnel out under the city to a spot that was inside the city walls. That doesn't sound like too big of a deal, until you factor in that they started from both ends, then met in the middle. They were more or less digging blindly, and happened to meet in the middle. There is an inscription in the tunnel from the diggers, telling how as they got close to meeting they could hear the other team of diggers on the other side of the rock.
So, anchient tunnel under the city...and we got to walk through it. At the highest the water came up to mid thigh on me, but generally is wasn't much above my ankles. It was pitch black, but most people brought flashlights or headlamps, so there was more than enough light to see. A group of people went back the next week to do it again in the dark...I'm not sure quite how they did it. I was generally fine, but some of the taller guys had to stoop the entire time because of the low ceiling. It was a ton of fun.
Neot Kedumim is a biblical preserve located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It's sole purpose is to preserve the land and to keep things the way they would have been in the bible. Basically, it's the coolest place ever.
We had a tour guide, who was more or less a park ranger, who told us a lot of really cool things about the plants and animals that were around. They had a well on site, and the ranger, who's name was Patrick, had two of the JC students reenact the scene where Abraham's servant meets Rebekah at the well.
The coolest part though was herding the sheep. Yes, I helped to herd sheep. We made them go in a group from one end of the yard to the other, then separated them into the goats and the sheep and then attempted to make them do a figure 8. There was a baby lamb there, and a few people had the chance to pick him up and hold him, until he decided that he had enough.
That afternoon, we made fires and learned how to cook pita and lentil soup over a fire. It was super legit. If we never learn how to make any other type of food here, at least we know how to make lentil soup and pitas over a fire.
After lunch, we had the opportunity to meet with a Torah scribe. Many Torah scribes go to school to learn how to write, but the man that we talked to told us that writing the Torah has been a family occupation that has been handed down through the family for over 10 generations. He showed us a Torah from Tunisia that was over 250 years old, and a page from a Torah that is over 300 years old. Torah writing is a serious business. If you mess up writing God's name on a page, you can't just throw it away or burn it because it's the name of God. The only acceptable way of getting rid of it is to bury it, so in the corner in every Jewish cemetery is a plot reserved specifically for burying pages with the name of God on it.
The last really big thing that happened before Jordan, besides finals (which were not fun at all, and therefore will not be discussed here) was our Seder! It isn't Passover, but our Israel teacher came and had a Seder dinner with us anyway. It was really quite fun. I think that we did a slightly sped up version of it, but we still did all the major things. It's interesting to me how easy it is to trace Jewish traditions back to their source. Like the Seder was started as a result of not being able to do sacrifices in the temple after it had been destroyed, but still wanting to celebrate the holiday.
Our Israel teacher likes to say that every Jewish holiday has the same theme. "They tried to kill us, they didn't, so let's eat!"
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Eilat..Another Dream Come True
About three weeks ago, they started sending around the sign-ups. Snorkeling in Eilat. I signed up dutifully, as I had never been snorkeling before, past students have said that it's really great, and we weren't really given the option to say no. It was basically "You don't have to go if you don't want to, but we want everyone to go, so we'll go through every student at least three times to make sure that everyone has signed up...but you don't have to go." Whatever.
The trip was on Sunday. We left at 6:30 in the morning, which was lame, and we got there about 11 am. It was funny, as we were driving, me and a few people on my bus were looking out the bus window, and we realized that the scenery was that of the Judean wilderness. There were camels, and we were surrounded by dry, brown hills. If we had gone around the West Bank, like we normally do, the scenery would have been green, and we would have had green scenery the entire time. It wasn't until we passed Jericho that we realized that yes, we were driving through the West Bank. It was rather exciting, as we had consigned ourselves to never seeing it again.
At some point in our trip, the announcement was made that there would only be enough snorkel sets for half the group to be snorkeling at one time. Therefore, upon reaching Eilat, there was a mad, crazy dash to get ready first to go out in the water. I took too long, so I missed out on the first wave of snorkeling, so I contented myself with swimming in the swimming area. The beach was rocky, which was a but of a turn off, but the water was super clear, and the perfect temperature. It didn't take long to notice the fish that were swimming with us. They didn't pay us any mind, really, they were just swimming around, and away from us if we got too close. In the swimming section of the beach, I saw several fish that looked like Dory from Finding Nemo, a few black and white striped fish, and a straight black fish.
After about 45 minutes I noticed that there were a lot of people who were finished with snorkeling, so I found a mask and headed out. Remember, up to this point, I had never been snorkeling before in my life. I had heard that the Red Sea was really clear, and that it was amazing, but the pieces never really clicked together in my head for some reason until I put my head under the water.
It was a coral reef. I saw a coral reef! Living, thriving, with coral and fish of every shape and size!
Basically, it was the best day ever.
It was so much fun, swimming around and seeing the various types of fish. Big ones as long as my arm, little schools of little silvery fish, bigger schools of striped fish, long thin fish, clown fish, bottom feeders, fish that were hanging around eating the algae off the dock. And corals, every shape, size, color, and pattern! Ah man, I can't even describe how beautiful it all was!
I had two favorite fish. One was longer than my forearm, and had bright green and purple colors. The other was about the size of my hand. It looked like a dirty, reddish brown color, but when the sun hit it just right it shined purple and orange colors. Super pretty. I also enjoyed swimming through the schools of the little silver fish. My favorite coral was one that was grey on the bottom with a periwinkle blue on the tips.
After we were done snorkeling, we had a few hours to just hang out at the beach. During this time, a lion fish decided to swim up next to the dock. If you don't remember what one looks like, I would recommend that you Google it, they're pretty cool looking. And poisonous. Don't worry, none of us really got close, but it hung out next to the dock for about an hour, just swimming increasing and decreasing in depth.
That evening we ate dinner at a kibbutz on the way home. A kibbutz is more or less a socialist commune. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, the Jews who came to the Holy Land decided that they were going to live a socialist lifestyle, to show the world how it is done more or less. Many of the current Israeli towns and villages started out as kibbutz. There aren't as many now, but there are still quite a few around, especially up in the Galilee. Some of them actually do quite well.
Kind of the symbol of the kibbutz is the cow. For some reason, every kibbutz has cows. At the kibbutz that we ate at, there were plastic life-sized statues of cows everywhere. It was kinda fun. And we had ice cream for dinner! They had a ton of cool flavors. I ended up getting Boston cheesecake and hazelnut, which was basically nutella ice cream.
Another four hour bus ride (that I slept through most of) and we were back, tired, exhausted, and sunburned. Despite that, it really was an amazing day.
The trip was on Sunday. We left at 6:30 in the morning, which was lame, and we got there about 11 am. It was funny, as we were driving, me and a few people on my bus were looking out the bus window, and we realized that the scenery was that of the Judean wilderness. There were camels, and we were surrounded by dry, brown hills. If we had gone around the West Bank, like we normally do, the scenery would have been green, and we would have had green scenery the entire time. It wasn't until we passed Jericho that we realized that yes, we were driving through the West Bank. It was rather exciting, as we had consigned ourselves to never seeing it again.
At some point in our trip, the announcement was made that there would only be enough snorkel sets for half the group to be snorkeling at one time. Therefore, upon reaching Eilat, there was a mad, crazy dash to get ready first to go out in the water. I took too long, so I missed out on the first wave of snorkeling, so I contented myself with swimming in the swimming area. The beach was rocky, which was a but of a turn off, but the water was super clear, and the perfect temperature. It didn't take long to notice the fish that were swimming with us. They didn't pay us any mind, really, they were just swimming around, and away from us if we got too close. In the swimming section of the beach, I saw several fish that looked like Dory from Finding Nemo, a few black and white striped fish, and a straight black fish.
After about 45 minutes I noticed that there were a lot of people who were finished with snorkeling, so I found a mask and headed out. Remember, up to this point, I had never been snorkeling before in my life. I had heard that the Red Sea was really clear, and that it was amazing, but the pieces never really clicked together in my head for some reason until I put my head under the water.
It was a coral reef. I saw a coral reef! Living, thriving, with coral and fish of every shape and size!
Basically, it was the best day ever.
It was so much fun, swimming around and seeing the various types of fish. Big ones as long as my arm, little schools of little silvery fish, bigger schools of striped fish, long thin fish, clown fish, bottom feeders, fish that were hanging around eating the algae off the dock. And corals, every shape, size, color, and pattern! Ah man, I can't even describe how beautiful it all was!
I had two favorite fish. One was longer than my forearm, and had bright green and purple colors. The other was about the size of my hand. It looked like a dirty, reddish brown color, but when the sun hit it just right it shined purple and orange colors. Super pretty. I also enjoyed swimming through the schools of the little silver fish. My favorite coral was one that was grey on the bottom with a periwinkle blue on the tips.
After we were done snorkeling, we had a few hours to just hang out at the beach. During this time, a lion fish decided to swim up next to the dock. If you don't remember what one looks like, I would recommend that you Google it, they're pretty cool looking. And poisonous. Don't worry, none of us really got close, but it hung out next to the dock for about an hour, just swimming increasing and decreasing in depth.
That evening we ate dinner at a kibbutz on the way home. A kibbutz is more or less a socialist commune. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, the Jews who came to the Holy Land decided that they were going to live a socialist lifestyle, to show the world how it is done more or less. Many of the current Israeli towns and villages started out as kibbutz. There aren't as many now, but there are still quite a few around, especially up in the Galilee. Some of them actually do quite well.
Kind of the symbol of the kibbutz is the cow. For some reason, every kibbutz has cows. At the kibbutz that we ate at, there were plastic life-sized statues of cows everywhere. It was kinda fun. And we had ice cream for dinner! They had a ton of cool flavors. I ended up getting Boston cheesecake and hazelnut, which was basically nutella ice cream.
Another four hour bus ride (that I slept through most of) and we were back, tired, exhausted, and sunburned. Despite that, it really was an amazing day.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
When lizards attack...
This week, we got lucky enough to have two field trips! Our first was on Sunday, and honestly, it was the one place that I wished that I could have avoided my whole trip here. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. I'm not going to talk about it here, frankly because I don't want to, except to talk about something that our Judaism teacher explained to us. After WWII, no one really talked about the Holocaust. Survivors in Israel didn't let people know that they were survivors, unless they had taken part in one of the uprisings that happened. The general sentiment in Israel was that the people in Holocaust should have fought back, rebelled against the Nazi's, and that the people who did fight back were heroes. Everyone else who survived went along with what was happening. They didn't fight back, and because of this, the sentiment was almost like they had brought what happened upon themselves. It took a long time for that idea to change. The change came when the Israeli wrestling team was kidnapped from the Olympic village in the 70's and killed. The wrestlers didn't fight back the whole time that they were in captivity, and these were wrestlers, athletes who were trained to fight. Understanding this background, it's easy to see places in Yad Vashem where the idea of glorifying those who fought back was very much in existence.
Monday was our free day because of the field trip the previous day. I went to the Dome of the Rock again, finally got the chance to go through all of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then the Rockefeller museum. The museum had a lot of interesting things it it, from a statue of Ramses III, to neolithic toddler bones, to wood work taken from the al-Aqsa mosque after it was renovated.
Two random notes. First, back in Turkey, every public restroom we went to had at least one, generally several squat toilets in addition to Western sit on the seat toilets. Several times we would be waiting in line at rest stops for the Western toilets, and the Turkish women would wonder why we weren't just going to the squat toilets. I hadn't seen a squat toilet here in Turkey, until Monday, when I found one in the Rockefeller museum. My second random thought is for anyone who has seen the TV show Doctor Who. It's a really, really, bad idea to come to a town that has a lot of statues, and while you're looking at a random statue think to yourself "Hey, that looks like it could be a Weeping Angel." Because when you see it once, you see it everywhere. And then you don't sleep at night.
This week in Jerusalem is the Festival of Lights. We're not allowed to go into the old city or East Jerusalem after dark, period, but we begged the right people who begged the right people and we got permission for a one time trip to see the festival. It was for sure one of my favorite things that we've done. The city was just a party. Several people I was with compared it to Disneyland at night. They had three different paths, all starting at Joffa gate. The first went through the Jewish and Armenian quarters to end at the Kotel. The second went through Christian quarter and ended in the Jewish Quarter. The third went down through the Muslim quarter through Damascus gate and then back up to Joffa gate. My favorite lights displays were a pyramid made out of one liter Coke bottles that were filled with water and these flying white manatee things outside of the Joffa gate.
This is where we get to the part of the story that explains the title of the blog. The scene was Monday night in my apartment. My one roommate Maddie was already asleep, and another, Reba, was in bed reading her scriptures. I was getting ready for bed. I walked into the bathroom, and saw something move. It was big, and it was white. My first thought was "Oh crap, it's a big white spider." After a second, I realized that it was actually a white lizard about six inches long. I started yelling "There's a lizard, there's a lizard! Get it!" as it ran out of the bathroom. Reba made a move for it, but it ran under the closet, and we couldn't get it out. we didn't see him all day Tuesday, but that evening I saw his tail as he ran under my bed. A girl named Victoria came and helped me lift up my bed, but he was gone again. I keep hoping that somehow he has been able to find his way out, we've left the door open enough, but I'm preparing myself to find his body in a few weeks.
Tuesday night we went to the UEFA under 21 soccer championship game between Israel and England. Israel won, 1-0. Watching the game, I didn't expect Israel to win. They just didn't seem as cohesive and together as England did. But hey, I'm no soccer critic. It was interesting, instead of vendors walking around selling cotton candy or popcorn, they sell watermelon.
On our way to and from the game, we talked with a couple of Israeli soldiers who were riding the same public transportation as we were. They explained a lot to us about the army, and how it works. The one guy had been at a checkpoint, but was recently switched to Jerusalem. The other was new to the army. He was from Beth-Shemish, and rode a bus into Jerusalem every day. He was also a student at a Yishiva, and was in a program to only be in the army for a year and a half so that he could return to studying the Torah.
Last night (caught up, finally!) our forum speaker was a man who was a Holocaust survivor. He lived through 9 different concentration camps. Because he could work, he was somewhat useful, and was lucky enough to make it through the random killings. He was the only member of his family to survive. After the war, he went to Guatemala because he had an uncle living there, so he spoke Spanish. It was good that we had so many RM's in our group that speak Spanish, they translated for him for the rest of us. It was really good to hear him, and his story. Even after all that had happened, he didn't let things get him down. He got married, had a family, and is now 95 year old. He does yoga for exercise. He's an amazing person.
Monday was our free day because of the field trip the previous day. I went to the Dome of the Rock again, finally got the chance to go through all of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and then the Rockefeller museum. The museum had a lot of interesting things it it, from a statue of Ramses III, to neolithic toddler bones, to wood work taken from the al-Aqsa mosque after it was renovated.
Two random notes. First, back in Turkey, every public restroom we went to had at least one, generally several squat toilets in addition to Western sit on the seat toilets. Several times we would be waiting in line at rest stops for the Western toilets, and the Turkish women would wonder why we weren't just going to the squat toilets. I hadn't seen a squat toilet here in Turkey, until Monday, when I found one in the Rockefeller museum. My second random thought is for anyone who has seen the TV show Doctor Who. It's a really, really, bad idea to come to a town that has a lot of statues, and while you're looking at a random statue think to yourself "Hey, that looks like it could be a Weeping Angel." Because when you see it once, you see it everywhere. And then you don't sleep at night.
This week in Jerusalem is the Festival of Lights. We're not allowed to go into the old city or East Jerusalem after dark, period, but we begged the right people who begged the right people and we got permission for a one time trip to see the festival. It was for sure one of my favorite things that we've done. The city was just a party. Several people I was with compared it to Disneyland at night. They had three different paths, all starting at Joffa gate. The first went through the Jewish and Armenian quarters to end at the Kotel. The second went through Christian quarter and ended in the Jewish Quarter. The third went down through the Muslim quarter through Damascus gate and then back up to Joffa gate. My favorite lights displays were a pyramid made out of one liter Coke bottles that were filled with water and these flying white manatee things outside of the Joffa gate.
This is where we get to the part of the story that explains the title of the blog. The scene was Monday night in my apartment. My one roommate Maddie was already asleep, and another, Reba, was in bed reading her scriptures. I was getting ready for bed. I walked into the bathroom, and saw something move. It was big, and it was white. My first thought was "Oh crap, it's a big white spider." After a second, I realized that it was actually a white lizard about six inches long. I started yelling "There's a lizard, there's a lizard! Get it!" as it ran out of the bathroom. Reba made a move for it, but it ran under the closet, and we couldn't get it out. we didn't see him all day Tuesday, but that evening I saw his tail as he ran under my bed. A girl named Victoria came and helped me lift up my bed, but he was gone again. I keep hoping that somehow he has been able to find his way out, we've left the door open enough, but I'm preparing myself to find his body in a few weeks.
Tuesday night we went to the UEFA under 21 soccer championship game between Israel and England. Israel won, 1-0. Watching the game, I didn't expect Israel to win. They just didn't seem as cohesive and together as England did. But hey, I'm no soccer critic. It was interesting, instead of vendors walking around selling cotton candy or popcorn, they sell watermelon.
On our way to and from the game, we talked with a couple of Israeli soldiers who were riding the same public transportation as we were. They explained a lot to us about the army, and how it works. The one guy had been at a checkpoint, but was recently switched to Jerusalem. The other was new to the army. He was from Beth-Shemish, and rode a bus into Jerusalem every day. He was also a student at a Yishiva, and was in a program to only be in the army for a year and a half so that he could return to studying the Torah.
Last night (caught up, finally!) our forum speaker was a man who was a Holocaust survivor. He lived through 9 different concentration camps. Because he could work, he was somewhat useful, and was lucky enough to make it through the random killings. He was the only member of his family to survive. After the war, he went to Guatemala because he had an uncle living there, so he spoke Spanish. It was good that we had so many RM's in our group that speak Spanish, they translated for him for the rest of us. It was really good to hear him, and his story. Even after all that had happened, he didn't let things get him down. He got married, had a family, and is now 95 year old. He does yoga for exercise. He's an amazing person.
"Ugh, not another dirt mound to climb!"
I know, I know, I haven't posted...in a week and a half, I guess. It's been crazy, with something going on every day. This post will focus on last week, then I'll do a second post on what's been going on this week.
The quote that is the title of this blog post is from my Old Testament, displaying the attitude that we were encouraged not to have as we went on our Shephelah field trip last Monday. The Shephelah is a region located between the Judean hills and the coastal plain, and is characterized by soft limestone, and several river valleys. It's a really fun word to say, and my ANES professor likes to throw is out wherever he can, so we like to joke about the "Soft limestone of the Shephelah." It's also a really easy word to substitute into songs. I know that it looks a little hard to pronounce, you say it sh-fey-lah.
Anyway, the reason my teacher had to remind us to have good attitudes was because it was all day, in the sun, climbing up and down tells, basically being as miserable as possible while seeing some really cool things.
The Shephelah, as my Old Testament teacher called it, is Samson and Delilah country. We went to Beth-Shemish, which is where Samson is from. There wasn't a lot there...yea. A couple of church ruins. The valley was full of fields, so it gave a really good visual for the destruction that Samson would have caused when he lit the foxes on fire and had them run through the fields.
Our second stop was to a fortress called Azekah. It was way up on the top of a mountain. My Old Testament teacher read to us a passage describing how the king of Assyria the first time they came through wasn't able to get his siege engines up to Azekah because the hill was so steep. We didn't have to walk up all the way...but we what we did, it was steep. Azekah looks over the Elah valley, which is the place where David slew Goliath.
Our next stop was Maresha. We went first to a place called the Bell Caves. There were chalk deposits under the ground (chalk is a form of limestone, which is found in the Shephelah), and so the people who lived there would dig down and then around to get the chalk out to make plaster, basically making a bell-shaped hole in the ground. We walked through several of them, and we sang a hymn in the biggest one. So cool.
After the caves was the underground city of Maresha. The people would carve caves out of the soft limestone of the Shephelah, and they lived there! Olive oil, we learned, needs to be kept into the dark, or else it spoils really fast, so a cave is the perfect place to have an olive oil press. Or an olive oil factory. We walked through what would have been a home there...or more like a neighborhood. I couldn't imagine living there, but hey, worked for someone, right?
Our last stop was a place called Lachish. The story of Lachish is begins with King Hezekiah not paying the Assyrians tribute. Sennacherib was a new king, and wanted to show everyone who was really in charge, which meant death and destruction for the Kingdom of Judah. My Old Testament teacher read to us a excerpt from an ostracon from Lachish talking about how one by one, the signal fires from other fortresses in the region, including Azekah, which wasn't able to be beaten by King Nebuchadnezzar, went out, meaning that they had been destroyed by the Assyrians, and that they would be coming to Lachish next. There is an Assyrian relief featuring the siege of Lachish that my ANES teacher showed us a copy of. To get their siege weapons to the city wall, the Assyrians build a ramp up the side of the hill. The defenders of Lachish would have known what they were doing, and would have tried everything to try and stop it, but in the end, there was nothing they could do. Lachish fell, leaving only Jerusalem to withstand the Assyrians.
On our way home, we stopped in the valley of Elah. My Old Testament professor kindly provided us with slings and then gave us the opportunity to sling stones at a rock wall in the same valley where David slew Goliath. Pretty legit.
Probably the other coolest thing that happened last week was our forum address. It was by a journalist who has lived in Israel for the last 25 years. He talked about the discrepancies between what we read about in the news and what life is actually like here. One of the problems he talked about was what he called celebrity journalism, where the news networks use a person to cover a story who is well-known, a familiar face or name, instead of the local person who the viewers or readers have never heard of before. He shared with us one story about how when Yasser Arafat died, he went to the city of Ramallah to see what was happening. While he was there, he saw an American news network...I think it was CNN... get ready to start a live news story. At the last minute, a well-known reporter from the United States who had just flown in jumped out of a car, run up, and kick out the local reporter. The girl who kicked out the local reporter had no idea what she was talking about and got all of her information wrong, all of which the local person would have been able to talk about perfectly. He told us this story to emphasize his point that the news networks can be more obsessed with getting the news out with a familiar face than with getting the story out right.
His next big point was about how journalists want to seem like this is a war zone, and how they are always in danger of some sort, because it makes them look cooler. There are tensions and demonstrations here, but things generally don't get really out of hand. Journalist however like to show the worst of it. And it's easy to find the bad things. Our speaker talked about how he once brought a reporter who was new to the country to Ramallah right after Palestine was recognized by the U.N. The whole city was basically a big party, everyone was just having a great time. Our speaker left the newbie and came back to Jerusalem. The next day, he saw that the story that the newbie had posted was him by a checkpoint where there had been a "demonstration," which was nothing more than some kids throwing rocks at soldiers, instead of talking about the party in Ramallah.
Basically, the moral of his story is to take every news story, especially the ones that you read about here, with a grain of salt.
The quote that is the title of this blog post is from my Old Testament, displaying the attitude that we were encouraged not to have as we went on our Shephelah field trip last Monday. The Shephelah is a region located between the Judean hills and the coastal plain, and is characterized by soft limestone, and several river valleys. It's a really fun word to say, and my ANES professor likes to throw is out wherever he can, so we like to joke about the "Soft limestone of the Shephelah." It's also a really easy word to substitute into songs. I know that it looks a little hard to pronounce, you say it sh-fey-lah.
Anyway, the reason my teacher had to remind us to have good attitudes was because it was all day, in the sun, climbing up and down tells, basically being as miserable as possible while seeing some really cool things.
The Shephelah, as my Old Testament teacher called it, is Samson and Delilah country. We went to Beth-Shemish, which is where Samson is from. There wasn't a lot there...yea. A couple of church ruins. The valley was full of fields, so it gave a really good visual for the destruction that Samson would have caused when he lit the foxes on fire and had them run through the fields.
Our second stop was to a fortress called Azekah. It was way up on the top of a mountain. My Old Testament teacher read to us a passage describing how the king of Assyria the first time they came through wasn't able to get his siege engines up to Azekah because the hill was so steep. We didn't have to walk up all the way...but we what we did, it was steep. Azekah looks over the Elah valley, which is the place where David slew Goliath.
Our next stop was Maresha. We went first to a place called the Bell Caves. There were chalk deposits under the ground (chalk is a form of limestone, which is found in the Shephelah), and so the people who lived there would dig down and then around to get the chalk out to make plaster, basically making a bell-shaped hole in the ground. We walked through several of them, and we sang a hymn in the biggest one. So cool.
After the caves was the underground city of Maresha. The people would carve caves out of the soft limestone of the Shephelah, and they lived there! Olive oil, we learned, needs to be kept into the dark, or else it spoils really fast, so a cave is the perfect place to have an olive oil press. Or an olive oil factory. We walked through what would have been a home there...or more like a neighborhood. I couldn't imagine living there, but hey, worked for someone, right?
Our last stop was a place called Lachish. The story of Lachish is begins with King Hezekiah not paying the Assyrians tribute. Sennacherib was a new king, and wanted to show everyone who was really in charge, which meant death and destruction for the Kingdom of Judah. My Old Testament teacher read to us a excerpt from an ostracon from Lachish talking about how one by one, the signal fires from other fortresses in the region, including Azekah, which wasn't able to be beaten by King Nebuchadnezzar, went out, meaning that they had been destroyed by the Assyrians, and that they would be coming to Lachish next. There is an Assyrian relief featuring the siege of Lachish that my ANES teacher showed us a copy of. To get their siege weapons to the city wall, the Assyrians build a ramp up the side of the hill. The defenders of Lachish would have known what they were doing, and would have tried everything to try and stop it, but in the end, there was nothing they could do. Lachish fell, leaving only Jerusalem to withstand the Assyrians.
On our way home, we stopped in the valley of Elah. My Old Testament professor kindly provided us with slings and then gave us the opportunity to sling stones at a rock wall in the same valley where David slew Goliath. Pretty legit.
Probably the other coolest thing that happened last week was our forum address. It was by a journalist who has lived in Israel for the last 25 years. He talked about the discrepancies between what we read about in the news and what life is actually like here. One of the problems he talked about was what he called celebrity journalism, where the news networks use a person to cover a story who is well-known, a familiar face or name, instead of the local person who the viewers or readers have never heard of before. He shared with us one story about how when Yasser Arafat died, he went to the city of Ramallah to see what was happening. While he was there, he saw an American news network...I think it was CNN... get ready to start a live news story. At the last minute, a well-known reporter from the United States who had just flown in jumped out of a car, run up, and kick out the local reporter. The girl who kicked out the local reporter had no idea what she was talking about and got all of her information wrong, all of which the local person would have been able to talk about perfectly. He told us this story to emphasize his point that the news networks can be more obsessed with getting the news out with a familiar face than with getting the story out right.
His next big point was about how journalists want to seem like this is a war zone, and how they are always in danger of some sort, because it makes them look cooler. There are tensions and demonstrations here, but things generally don't get really out of hand. Journalist however like to show the worst of it. And it's easy to find the bad things. Our speaker talked about how he once brought a reporter who was new to the country to Ramallah right after Palestine was recognized by the U.N. The whole city was basically a big party, everyone was just having a great time. Our speaker left the newbie and came back to Jerusalem. The next day, he saw that the story that the newbie had posted was him by a checkpoint where there had been a "demonstration," which was nothing more than some kids throwing rocks at soldiers, instead of talking about the party in Ramallah.
Basically, the moral of his story is to take every news story, especially the ones that you read about here, with a grain of salt.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
The Fear of Missing Out
There's a acronym that's been thrown around at the center. It's FOMO, which stands for Fear Of Missing Out. We've already been here an entire month, and we've got 2 and a half month left. When we first got here, we were like "Oh, we can come back, we still have 3 and a half month." But way too quickly the time has passed, and seeing as how this could be our only time in Jerusalem, there is a lot of stuff that we need to see. Today, I went to the Temple Mount, the Pools of Bethesda, St. Anne's church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Tower of David museum.
There are several entrances to the Temple Mount, but only one of them is for non-Muslims. To get to it, you have to walk all the way around to the Western Wall, then climb up a wooden ramp that is completely enclosed to get to the top of the wall. The Temple Mount is a lot bigger than one would imagine. It's huge! We didn't get too close to the al-Aqsa mosque, but we went right up to the Dome of the Rock and touched it. It really is a beautiful building. The entire middle is covered in tiles, including the gutters. And of course, that golden dome, shining in the sun.
Something that amuses me is the Western tourists who come to these places entirely unprepared as to the the strictness of them. When we were at the Temple Mount, a man put his arm around a woman to take a picture with her, and several people started yelling at them to stop touching. My favorite is that while generally the girls will think to cover up, guys don't always. They think that they'll be ok to go to some places in shorts. Except it isn't ok. So to be able to go to the sites, they go and buy a headscarf and tie it into a skirt because their legs need to be covered. Not going to lie, it totally makes my day to see a guy in a headscarf skirt. They look so uncomfortable!
Our next stop was the Pools of Bethesda and St Anne's Church. There really wasn't a lot to see with the pools. The ruins of several old churches, a cistern with monster spiders in it (I saw one as big as my palm, stretched out. I was so out of there!), and one pool that had been excavated and still had water in it. It was still cool though. St Anne's Church was amazing. It's an old church, very beautiful, and the acoustics in it are amazing. The priest who was there was cool with us singing, and so we sang several hymns. The notes just reverberated around the room. I really hope that I have the chance to go back and to sing there again.
Our next planned stop was the Tower of David museum (remember the castle museum I talked about earlier?), and on the way we passed right by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. One of the guys I was with, Tyler, hadn't been there yet, so we stopped for a few minutes so that he could have the chance to go inside. We didn't really stop and look at anything, just did a quick walk-around, but on our way out, we ran into a former Jerusalem center student from last year there with his little brother. Apparently, they're backpacking across...I'm not sure exactly where, this isn't a great place to be alone and American. But they were near the area, and decided to stop in Jerusalem. It was funny, the former student recognized us as Jerusalem Center students, then we saw their BYU backpacks. Just one of those crazy random happenstances.
Tower of David, as it was before, is AMAZING! It just makes my day, going to a castle. This time, we got an audio tour, and so we got a lot more information out about things. When we were about halfway done, two different schools came and were getting tours of the museum. Lot's of crazy, yelling children isn't good for an audio tour. But it was kinda fun too. For several of the rooms they had museum staff dress up in character and explain things to the kids. There was one guy dressed up like a Crusader. He spoke Hebrew with a French accent, and would hide and jump out and scare the kids. There was this one girl, he scared her so bad she started crying. It was really great.
To end our long, action packed day, we had to go to West Jerusalem and get some ice cream. Ice cream is a ton more expensive here than back home, but that could also have to do with being in a tourist area. Oh well. It was really good. I got pistachio and strawberry with white chocolate. A quick word on pistachios, they're in everything here! Well, deserts at least. Pistacio in chocolate bars instead of almonds. Pistachio ice cream. Pistachio baklava. Chocolate covered pistachios. Pistachios are sold on the street by vendors. I love pistachios...but why are they everywhere?
There are several entrances to the Temple Mount, but only one of them is for non-Muslims. To get to it, you have to walk all the way around to the Western Wall, then climb up a wooden ramp that is completely enclosed to get to the top of the wall. The Temple Mount is a lot bigger than one would imagine. It's huge! We didn't get too close to the al-Aqsa mosque, but we went right up to the Dome of the Rock and touched it. It really is a beautiful building. The entire middle is covered in tiles, including the gutters. And of course, that golden dome, shining in the sun.
Something that amuses me is the Western tourists who come to these places entirely unprepared as to the the strictness of them. When we were at the Temple Mount, a man put his arm around a woman to take a picture with her, and several people started yelling at them to stop touching. My favorite is that while generally the girls will think to cover up, guys don't always. They think that they'll be ok to go to some places in shorts. Except it isn't ok. So to be able to go to the sites, they go and buy a headscarf and tie it into a skirt because their legs need to be covered. Not going to lie, it totally makes my day to see a guy in a headscarf skirt. They look so uncomfortable!
Our next stop was the Pools of Bethesda and St Anne's Church. There really wasn't a lot to see with the pools. The ruins of several old churches, a cistern with monster spiders in it (I saw one as big as my palm, stretched out. I was so out of there!), and one pool that had been excavated and still had water in it. It was still cool though. St Anne's Church was amazing. It's an old church, very beautiful, and the acoustics in it are amazing. The priest who was there was cool with us singing, and so we sang several hymns. The notes just reverberated around the room. I really hope that I have the chance to go back and to sing there again.
Our next planned stop was the Tower of David museum (remember the castle museum I talked about earlier?), and on the way we passed right by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. One of the guys I was with, Tyler, hadn't been there yet, so we stopped for a few minutes so that he could have the chance to go inside. We didn't really stop and look at anything, just did a quick walk-around, but on our way out, we ran into a former Jerusalem center student from last year there with his little brother. Apparently, they're backpacking across...I'm not sure exactly where, this isn't a great place to be alone and American. But they were near the area, and decided to stop in Jerusalem. It was funny, the former student recognized us as Jerusalem Center students, then we saw their BYU backpacks. Just one of those crazy random happenstances.
Tower of David, as it was before, is AMAZING! It just makes my day, going to a castle. This time, we got an audio tour, and so we got a lot more information out about things. When we were about halfway done, two different schools came and were getting tours of the museum. Lot's of crazy, yelling children isn't good for an audio tour. But it was kinda fun too. For several of the rooms they had museum staff dress up in character and explain things to the kids. There was one guy dressed up like a Crusader. He spoke Hebrew with a French accent, and would hide and jump out and scare the kids. There was this one girl, he scared her so bad she started crying. It was really great.
To end our long, action packed day, we had to go to West Jerusalem and get some ice cream. Ice cream is a ton more expensive here than back home, but that could also have to do with being in a tourist area. Oh well. It was really good. I got pistachio and strawberry with white chocolate. A quick word on pistachios, they're in everything here! Well, deserts at least. Pistacio in chocolate bars instead of almonds. Pistachio ice cream. Pistachio baklava. Chocolate covered pistachios. Pistachios are sold on the street by vendors. I love pistachios...but why are they everywhere?
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