Getting a Little Picture Crazy

Keeping up with blogging here is not easy to say the least. But I couldn't just not share how cool this place is, so here it goes- the last week summed up with just a few of the hundreds of pictures I've taken!

Sunday was a busy free day spent in Jerusalem with some great people. We left right after breakfast and headed to the Dome of the Rock in the Old City. It has really limited hours that Christians are allowed to visit and we're not allowed to go inside but I'm so glad I finally got to see it up close!

 

A man showed me a hole in one of the window coverings, and I got a glimpse of the inside! Although you can't see it, the very middle has a rock where supposedly Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac (Ishmael according to Muslims). It is now a mosque under Muslim control because it's also believed to be where Muhammad ascended into heaven. 

 After some shopping and exploring the Old City, a bunch of BYUJ kids met up to do the ramparts walk together. This walk is on a ledge at the top of the wall that surrounds the Old City, and has some awesome views of Jerusalem and glimpses of the daily life of those who live inside of the city. And the wall itself is really cool too.

Lyndee, Lindsey and I went up random stairs, through random doors, and into random buildings in search of a bathroom. We found ourselves in this beautiful little residential area in the Old City at one point.

Ramparts walk

Old City

Recognize that white building in the middle of the hill? That's where I live!

These people are the best!

Monday was a fieldtrip to the Negev Desert. It was surprisingly pretty green this time of year. Our first stop was a Bedouin weaving center, where we observed a woman weaving in the traditional Bedouin way. They are working towards achieving more women's rights through this organization.

Next, we went to a few archaeological sites including Beersheba, where Abraham dug a well and lived for awhile according to the Bible. He actually traveled and lived all over the Negev so it was cool being in his hometown.

Being a girl is THE WORST sometimes (I eventually just used the men's side)

Alright, funny story to go with the bathroom picture. I needed to go pretty bad and I didn't want to wait in this line. The men's bathroom was vacant, so obviously I used it. I guess none of the girls noticed so they didn't warn the group of guys from our group going into the bathroom that there was a girl in it. I didn't want to come out of the stall while they were all using the urinals, so I just waited while overhearing conversations I never wanted to hear. Then after a few minutes one of them was like, hey, isn't there a girl in here? I was super embarrassed as I flushed the toilet and came out of the stall and proceeded to wash my hands with them. Haha it was uncomfortable to say the least.

Tel Beersheba

At Tel Beersheba, there is this huge, ancient underground water cistern that you can descend to here and  walk through.

This ancient underground water storage system was kind of like an underground cave maze. It was COOL.

My roommate sacrificed me on the altar at Tel Beersheba

This wall at Tel Arad is from 3000 BC!

Tuesday and Wednesday were full of classes and stress. However, the saving grace was a short fieldrip to underneath of the BYU Jerusalem Center. Apparently, students used to sneak down there so now they take us there to kill our curiosity and we're not allowed back (I'm pretty jealous because now there's security cameras). I was able to leave my mark on the building, along with all the previous students. It was actually really cool down there.

I went on the under the center fieldtrip with the crazy kids in my Hebrew class.  We also like to sing and dance to the songs we learn in Hebrew class in the hallways of the center and sing them to our Israel teacher (he loves it or at least we think he does).

Thursday was a fieldtrip to Jericho, the oldest and lowest city in the world! We saw some really old ruins (including the first tower ever built), the spring that has kept Jericho alive since about 9000 BC, the mount of temptations where Jesus had His 40 day fast, and the remains of Herod's winter palace which was actually pretty disappointingly small. The Wadi Qilt was the coolest part which is this canyon that runs between Jericho and Jerusalem, and is where the story of the good Samaritan took place and where Jesus walked on his journey to Jerusalem where He was crucified. It was a really cool fieldtrip!

Making the walls of Jericho fall by blowing horns and shouting

Herod's winter palace. I realize that we're blocking it but I promise you're not missing out.

Jericho

Wadi Qilt

Wadi Qilt

Road to Jericho (Wadi Qilt)

Life here is just too busy to spend much time blogging, so it's taken me the little free time I've had in the past two days to get this post done. I think from here on out you're going to get a more brief version of my adventures so I don't fail my classes. I hope all is well in the states for everyone, shalom until next time!

Shabbat Shalom

I just briefly wanted to share my experience at the Wailing Wall on Friday night. The wailing wall, also known as the western wall, is the last thing standing after the destruction of the second temple built by the Jews during the time of Herod the Great in 19 BC and destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans. The Jews to this day have not been able to rebuild their temple on the temple mount, so this wall is the most sacred place on earth to most Jews. On Friday nights, thousands of Jewish people gather at the wall to welcome in the Shabbat (sabbath). I got to experience this firsthand and it was unbelievable! Because it is so sacred, pictures are not allowed so here's some pictures I got from google.

I'm not sure why the men are wearing white in this picture because they weren't when I was there, but I'm sure it has some sort of religious significance. Men are on the left, and women are on the right.

The women go to the right side and the men go to the left. The men in our group had to wear kipas and to be honest I was a little jealous of the men's side because they there was a lot of dancing and singing the BYU guys got to join in on. On both sides, people make their way up to the wall, put their hand on it, recite prayers, read the Torah, and shove prayers written on paper into the cracks of the wall. The women's side is full of a lot more crying (because it is so spiritual) and "wailing" than the men's side but I guess that's just because women are usually more inclined to cry. I was able to make my way up to the wall, place my hand on it, and admire the history and traditions of this Holy Land. Being surrounded by so many devout Jewish women reading sacred scripture and worshiping God left me overwhelmed with appreciation for religious people who have endured so much persecution and oppression throughout so many thousands of years. I was also able to look in on the men's side who were doing the same as the women and watched groups of them singing and dancing in their kipas and top hats in celebration of the Sabbath. There was even some crowd surfing at one point! I've grown a deep respect for the people here because they are so religious- whether they are Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, people here are very dedicated to their religion. I feel like I'm doing a terrible job of portraying how awe-inspiring this experience was, but I guess the only way it can be fully understood is to experience it firsthand.

Jerusafun

 So much happens here so fast... where do I even start? I guess I'll start at Saturday, the Sabbath, when we were finally let out of the center after church! We all walked as a group to the garden tomb, a park in the middle of east Jerusalem that has a tomb that might actually be the tomb where Jesus Christ laid before he was resurrected. Also at this park there is a hill that might be Golgotha, where Christ was crucified. Historians say these places may be the actual location of these incredible events, but that even if they aren't they are a great representation of what these locations would have looked like. A tour guide talked about the history of these locations and we were able to enter the tomb where Christ supposedly laid. We then got to sing hymns about the resurrection and lots of people stopped and listened. It was a cool experience to say the least.

Garden Tomb

A hill that might be Golgotha, where Christ was crucified on the cross

On Sunday, we got a walking tour of the city in order to orient us enough for us to get around the city by ourselves. We then were set free by our professors and were able to explore the city! The city of Jerusalem is AWESOME. Wayyyyy cooler than I had ever even imagined! The old city is lost in time and not ruined by tourists- its full of merchants who are super friendly and locals going about their daily lives. There are lots of old churches and everything is super packed in and you go into a shop you think is tiny and then they'll lead you up hidden stairs and its big and cool on top. I cant even describe to you how cool the city is. The old city is big, in all the time I have here I bet I still won't be able to see all of it. And east Jerualem, where the Palestinians are is really cool too with tons of street vendors. West Jerusalem, where the Jews are, is really nice and reminds me of a California city or something. East Jerusalem is definitely dirtier and there's lots of garbage and we live on a hill in a nicer area just up from east Jerusalem.

Here are some stories:

A group of friends and I were exploring the old city and the merchants are super friendly and some of them are obsessed with the mormons. They know who we are when we walk down the streets and so does like everyone in the city. One of them named Naser was begging us to come into the shop because he had something to show us and he leads a few of us into the back of this little shop and shows us where a ton of these notes left from BYU Jerusalem kids are hanging on the walls. He tells us how much he loves the mormons and is convincing us that we need to come back all the time and buy our scarves from him. Then he turns to me and says "for you, free gift because I like your eyes" and goes and gets a stack of scarves and lets me pick one out. Haha it was so funny and sweet!

This mirror is covered in notes written by former BYUJ students, and this is a picture of the scarf Naser wrapped around me for a gift.

The best part of the day we were exploring the city was when I was with a few people and we looked in these gates inside the old city and there was a group of Palestinian boys playing soccer on this dilapidated cement field. My friend Kara ran out into the field, asked if we could play, dribbled the ball down and made a goal. The kids thought it was so funny and welcomed us to come play. It was super fun and I totally fell HARD on the pavement at one point haha. All the kids were concerned and stopped but I was totally fine. Palestinians are SO nice. They loved playing soccer with us, and it was so fun! They didn't speak english so listening to them yell stuff in arabic was kind of funny but some of the guys were older and could speak some. They invited us back to play more soccer with them because they had some much fun!

Playing soccer with cute Palestinian kids

This sweet little man saw me with my camera and really wanted me to take a picture with him

My first day in the old city was awesome, and it made me really excited for all the time I'll be able to spend there this semester. On Monday we went on a fieldtrip to all sorts of overlooks of the city of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other biblical towns. It was really cool and we learned a lot.

You can see my school just to the right of the middle of this photo with the arches

Bethlehem overlook

Overlook of the city

The next few days were packed with studying for a test I had this morning, then after the test I went out and explored Jerusalem again with some friends. This time we ate schwarmas, stocked up on candy from shops in the old city, and met a few more hilarious shopkeepers.

Old city

Mitchell + candy

Lunch in the old city. Love my friends!

Life in Jerusalem is great and SO busy. The schoolwork is hard but I'm learning a ton. I've made some awesome friends and am looking forward to many more adventures with them!

View off the balcony of my school one night. The fireworks were for a wedding.

Jet Lag, First Impressions, & Snow

Almost had a panic attack when I got onto blogger and everything was in Hebrew! Fixed it, looks like I'll be able to blog! I've been in Jerusalem for about three days now I think, but it seems like it's been way longer! The flights here were LONG to put it simply. The worst part is that I could NOT sleep the entire way... so in addition to barely getting any sleep the two nights before I left, I was awake for the whole 24+ hours of travel time, and when we got in it was only 2 in the afternoon local time!

A good thing about not being able to sleep on the plane though is that me and my friend Chloe decided to wander the airplane when most people on the plane were asleep and made friends with an Israeli Jew and an Israeli flight attendant. We talked to each of them for about half an hour and were able to catch a pretty good glimpse of how amazing and devoutly religious the locals are here. Actually, they both lived in New York but had strong ties to the Holy Land and had both lived here. The first, a middle-aged man, was flying in for a wedding and was telling us about how he has 8 children, his views of how sacred the Holy Land is, and about how his favorite place in Jerusalem is the wailing wall because to him it is so deeply spiritual and in his beliefs, all the prayers from the entire world are gathered at the wailing wall and sent up to Heaven. He had the deepest respect of Mormons and was really excited for the experiences we were going to have going to the Holy Land. The flight attendant was a younger man born and raised in Jerusalem who had attended Hebrew University. He told us about how he met his wife- an american who was on a study abroad for a year in Jerusalem. He was convinced we were both going to fall in love with local Jewish boys while on our study abroad. He even gave us a private tour of the upstairs of the airplane which was cool. I also got to talk to the guy sitting next to me who was just a little older than me and he was telling me about how he had been out of the Israeli army for a year now and just getting back from touring the United States. He went to way more states in the US than I have ever been to- some of them completely random like New Mexico and even Utah. He said his favorite place he went was Boston. What was interesting about the conversation I had with him is that he didn't see why we were going to Jerusalem- he said he didn't really like Jerusalem because he thought it was too hostile. He said he was from the Tel Aviv area and told me I had to go visit it which I am definitely planning on doing. I guess it was just really interesting to me to see how different the views of Israelis are concerning the Holy Land- and I know this was only just a small glimpse of all the views I will be able to observe while I am here.

The Tel Aviv airport was a little intimidating because of customs but we all made it through onto our buses and met our religion professors. We then loaded everything onto the buses and took off from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem! The ride was so exciting for us because we were FINALLY in the country we've all been dreaming about for almost the past six months. And to make it a little more exciting, it was pouring rain! The towns here are really interesting because they are so densely packed with tall buildings but are surrounded just by open countryside, and all the buildings are the exact same stucco color. We passed through part of the West Bank, notoriously dangerous, and had to pass through checkpoints entering and leaving. At the checkpoint leaving the West Bank, an Israeli guard got on the bus with a huge gun. Luckily, they decided it wasn't worth their time to inspect the bus because that would have taken a long time with all our luggage.

Israeli checkpoint

Separation wall (and rain)

We then continued to drive towards Jerusalem (it's about an hour long drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem) and we saw parts of the wall of separation which was cool. As we got closer to Jerusalem, the rain started to turn into snow! Snow here is really rare so it's unusual that we got to see it on our first day. After getting our first glimpses of the city of Jerusalem and taking a thousand pictures that didn't really work out because of the rain and snow, we finally reached our new home, the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies! We were all SO excited to finally be here!

Our first, long awaited walk into our new home!

We then walked into the main auditorium and met our faculty and got welcomed into this great city with the most incredible view of all of Jerusalem. The rest of the night was kind of a blur due to lack of sleep. I remember a tour of the building, dinner in the Oasis, going to classes to meet our professors briefly, and unpacking. The Oasis (our cafeteria) is awesome- it's like the Cannon Center but with better food! Also we get to try lots of different local kinds of foods (some much better than others). I woke up the next morning at 3am due to jet lag and couldn't fall back asleep. Once it got light, I got to see something extremely rare off the balcony of my room- the city of Jerusalem covered in snow! I guess it hasn't snowed this much here in about 20 years so I definitely got to start this trip with a bang!

I'm not lying when I say that I took this from my balcony! This is the Dome of the Rock and Old Jerusalem  covered in snow.

The last two days were packed with orientations, meeting new friends, classes, studying (we already have a big test next Wednesday), and exploring the awesome Jerusalem center. However, we are not allowed to leave the building just yet so sometimes it doesn't really feel like we're actually here in Jerusalem. Yesterday in Old Testament class we were talking about the story of Nephi from the Book of Mormon killing Laban and our professor asked us where the story took place. We all mumbled "Jerusalem"- the answer we've known most of our lives and then all the sudden it hit all of us that right outside of our classroom window we have the most incredible view of the city where this story actually happened. It was a crazy and surreal realization for all of us. I hope this kind of amazement and awe that I am in the same place where all of these incredible stories from the scriptures takes place sticks with me this entire semester.

Kara, me, & Chloe on our snowy first morning

So right now it is acually 5:30 am local time... My jet lag is still really bad. I haven't slept in past 3:30 am yet! Last night I did something really bad and gave in to my afternoon tiredness. I fell asleep at about 4 in the afternoon and didn't wake up until 2 am... sleeping right through dinner haha. Now I'm wide awake and it's 5:30 in the morning (and I'm starving), but I got to skype with my parents about an hour ago so that's good! But if anyone knows me really well, 5:30 am is NOT my time of day EVER, so I'm kind of enjoying being a morning person for once in my life haha. Today is the Sabbath (on Saturday here) and after church we are going to the Garden Tomb where it is believed to be the location where Jesus was resurrected. I'm really excited to go see this special place and am excited that it is just a short walk from where I live so I get to go there often. Tomorrow we finally get to go see the city of Jerusalem! I realize this blog post is really long so good job for reading this far. It looks like I will be way too busy for them to be this long in the future. I'm really excited to be here in Jerusalem, and especially excited to go out into the city I'm looking out at right now from my new home!