So, I realized today while we were out on our fieldtrip, that I'm not going to be able to write about everything here. After writing in my journal, and then various emails that I send out to people, just not going to happen. But the coolest things for sure are going to be here, so don't feel like I'm leaving things out.
I don't know how many people are reading this (I know that my mom isn't :P) but feel free to comment, or make suggestions. Like, if there's something that you want to know about in particular, or something that you'd like to know more about. Just, whatever. That is all.
The first of the coolest things. On Saturday, after dinner, we had some time before sunset, so I got together with 4 guys and 2 other girls to go check out the Western Wall. We had just gotten into the old city when we passed by a school playground with a soccer field. It wasn't a legit field, it was made of concrete, and the goals posts were concrete. But it was pretty large. As we walked by, one of the guys in our group noticed that there were a bunch of young Palestinian boys, like 9-10 years old, who were playing soccer together. One of the boys noticed us, and invited the guys in our group to come play with them. Which they did. It was so much fun to watch, the American college students playing with the Palestinian kids. The two other girls and I were wearing skirts, so we opted to just watch. After they had been playing for a while, a group of Palestinian boys about our age started gathering at the entrance to the soccer field. These older Palestinian guys challeneged our guys to a legit soccer game. They played until we had to leave to get back to the center before it got dark. The end score was tied, but our guys claimed that the Palestinians were going easy on them. While the older guys were playing, all the younger kids came over and were talking to me and the other girls. They took pictures with us, and laughed at our names. It was really fun, and really unexpected, and just all around awsome.
The second of the coolest things. In my Old Testament class last Friday, my teacher had tickets for the Tower of David museum, and encouraged us all to go. I took a ticket, and made plans to go with some people on Sunday. (Remeber, Sunday is like Saturday for us. Church is on Saturday, free day is on Sunday.) We walked up to it, and next thing I know I'm crossing a bridge over a moat built by the Crusaders to enter in the front doors of a legit castle. A CASTLE! It was a castle, in the middle of Jerusalem! It's been around for a crazy long time. It was apparantly first built around 300 BC. Herod added on to it, and the Crusaders used it, and it was even used during the 6 Day War back in 1967. It was being used as a castle in my parent's lifetime. I dunno, I just think that's so crazy. And cool. And it's the first castle I've been able to go to! Just so cool.
Today was our first field trip. To get us aquainted with the area, we drove to various outlooks around the city, pointing out various landmarks, also to help us get ready for our test on the area on Wednesday. Probably my favorite was going to a place my Old Testament teacher called the Bethlehem overlook. Our bus took us to a monastery, and then we climed up the hill behind it to get a panoramic view of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, so there's a concrete wall seperating it from Jerusalem. While looking at the city, we got out our scriptures and read about some of the things that happened in Jerusalem. First, we talked about Rachel's death, and her tomb. Apparantly, when they were making the wall to seperate the West Bank, the Israeli government put Rachel's tomb on the Jerusalem side of the line. There's a synogogue there, and according to my teacher it's a very significant place.
We then talked about Ruth, and her coming to Bethlehem with Naomi from Moab. Moab is in what is now Jordan. It is really neat to be able to know this area, and where things are. The places in the bible aren't just names anymore. I've had to learn where these places are. Mostly because I have a test on it on Wednesday, but still. These are actual places, actual people.
Last, we read in Luke 2. Mind blowing is the only way to describe it. I've read that story so many times throughout my life, to think that I could actually see where it happened...everything is so much more real to me. It's like the stories in the bible have just come to live in front of me. It's indescribable and amazing. Just amazing.
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