Adventures in Dark Tunnels and City Streets

OK, so first things first. General Conference. It was the fourth mass-broadcast that has been done with all the students at the center. The first was our 5am BYU football game. The second was the AMAZING CES devotional by Elder Holland (which Katie and I accidentally missed half of and then rewatched in the Green Room just afterward). The third was the Presidential debates of last week, which were excellent and extremely informative to the Jerusalem Center electorate (and which made me develop some real sympathy for the poor guy behind the desk who's job it is to make the president and opponent shut up). Those broadcasts were all excellent, but Conference was something special. Everyone at the Center was looking forward to it for weeks like small children look forward to Christmas. We counted down the minutes until we could start the broadcasts (at 6-8 and 10-12pm over here). Then it finally came, and in the first five minutes...

Oh. My. Word.

The whole Forum burst into gasps and screams and tears the moment President Monson had the words out. We all kept exchanging blank stares, saying quite plainly "Did you just hear that?!" We've all talked about nothing else for the past three days. Most of the boys are RMs (save one), so its the girls' lives that have suddenly been turned upside down. I've been trying to remind everyone I meet who seems troubled that the decision to serve a misson isn't one that they need to make overnight and that they can take the time to pray about it and let that confirmation come in the Lord's way and time.

The entire conference was just amazing. Many students had their "lightining bolt" answers and promtings, as Katie put it. For others, like myself, the guidance was gentle and came slowly, piece by piece. Some talks felt like they were written for me, but even those who didn't taught me something. I loved that the story of Peter and the Savior on the sea of Gallilee. Even before Elder Holland used that story for His talk it was one of my favorites. I have always been touched by the intimate and tender love the Savior showed to Peter at that time when He didn't know what else to do than to just "go a-fishing" again. I am moved by Peter's love and desire to be with the Savior, so much so that he lept over the side of the boat to be with Him sooner. I read that story by the Garden Tomb and will do so again on the shores of the Sea of Gallilee.

Yesterday we visited the City of David--the location of the original Jerusalem. I went with a group a little early to go to the Western Wall and see the final part of Sukkot, what Ophir calls the "Wacking of the Willows." Everyone gathers at the Western Wall at sunrise and says prayers for bounty and rain, part of which (ceremonially speaking) is to take a willow bough (lulav) and beat it against the ground (note from Ophir: wacking your neighbor is optional). I was not with the group that left at 6am (I love my sleep too much) so I didn't see a lot of the wacking, but I did get the idea. It's so neat to see these things here in the Holy Land. It's been amazing to go out and be a part of the Sukkot celebrations this week.

After the willow wacking we headed to the City of David archaeological park to meet up with our classes. I took a great picture of Katie by the giant David's Harp at the entrace. We saw a somewhat corny but still informative 3D movie about the City of David, from its capture by the Jebusites to its destruction by the Babylonians. After that we went through the sites. We saw another trench site dug out by the irrepressable Kathleen Kenyon (really, this woman is awesome), which included a "step stone structure" that was probably meant to hold the side of the hill in place and keep it from eroding away (it may also be what the Bible calls "millo"). We saw the foundations of what may have been David's palace--or if not that, at the very least a massive government complex. We looked out over the Kidron and Tyropian valleys where they meet at the end of the Southern spur the city is built on.

But by far the coolest thing of all was Hezekiah's tunnel. This is the very tunnel King Hezekiah built back in Biblical times to channel water from the Gihon Spring into the city. It is the engineering marvel of the ancient world. Somehow, with none of the technology we have today, the ancient artisans were able to orchestrate two teams starting at either end of the mountain tunneling toward each other and meeting in the middle. Nobody knows how they did it, but the story of the two groups meeting at last was told in an inscription etched into the wall at the end (which we did not get to see because it has been removed and taken to a museum in Istanbul. We didn't see it there, either). Just as amazing is the fact that today the tunnel is still doing what it was designed to do three thousand years ago. And we walked through the whole thing, singing all the way.

It was great. We all wore watershoes and headlamps and got soaking wet. The tunnel was dark and low, but because I am so short I hardly had to bend at all (hooray for the short genes!). Sister Judd lent me a flashlight, which was marvelous (she also lent me sunscreen earlier--I love having moms around to look after all us crazy kids). As we moved through the cold water and dark stone, a few students started singing Amazing Grace near the back of the line. The music made the tunnel feel eerie, the music ehoeing on the walls making me think of the tunneling teams three millenia ago straining to hear each other's voices. Then somebody else started singing "Eeeeeee, eeeeeee, the Lion sleeps tonight!" which made it less eerie. Sister Judd and I joined in with "As I Went Down to the River to Pray" and "Lead Kindly Light." I did a little of "The Lord is My Light," and towards the end we all did our "We're the Lucky Judd Bus" Cold Play refrain. The music echoed around the tunnel and was as fun to hear as it was to sing. We paused to admire "the seam"--the place where the two teams met--and on a few occasions we turned out our lights and foraged along for a little ways in darkness. It was quite an adventure--I most definitely want to go back.

I managed to Skype my family on Sunday night, which was marvelous. I have missed them so much--it was a great blessing to see their faces and show them the view from the Terrace and assure them that I was well. It was especially good to talk to Daniel, who now has to tackle the question of a mission sooner than expected. Regardless of when he decides to go, it will be awesome to prepare with him this summer.

Today was a free day, and thank Heaven for it. I woke up this morning only to be greeted by a bad anxiety attack. Good morning! What a way to start your day! I walked around outside for a while, sat on the grass, read my conference notes, prayed some, and tried to get my stomach and breathing to settle. Eventually they did, and I was also blessed to have Katie around after breakfast to listen to me talk it out a little and to give me a much-needed hug. My day went uphill from there. I did some homework (though not nearly as much as I should have). I had a picnic lunch with Katie and Jackie (an absolutely amazing Navajo polotician and world-changer to be--and also a great friend) out on the terrace--right by the doors under the eaves because it was starting to rain.

Later on we walked over three miles to the Israel Museum (we have free passes and an ANE assignment there). The walk was great--I got to see a lot of West Jerusalem I have never seen before. The museum was also amazing, though we didn't have nearly enough time. We got to see a display of manuscripts and artifacts found with the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, and also a manuscript of the Old Testament books written not long after the second destruction and thought to be the most accurate copy in the world. We saw a huge replica of what Jerusalem would have looked like during the Second Temple Period (complete with gilded Temple of Herod). We walked through huge rooms of Chalcolithic (copper age), Canaanite, Egyptian, and Israelite artifacts. The bad news--we didn't get through our ANE checklist of things to see. The good news--that means we will just have to come back and see the rest later! Hooray! We walked another over three miles back to the center (stopping off for Mango nectar at the 7-to-11 on the way) and got back just in time to watch the sunset.

So here I am blogging. I still haven't finished my homework, but I am OK with that. FHE was a bunch of fun. There were mashed potatoes at dinner, which made me happy. I wore my retro shirt today because my friend Tom and I promised that we would both wear our retro shirts so we could get a picture (and it was a very good picture if I do say so myself). I discovered that the electronic piano in classroom 2 has an organ setting, so I can now do my organ exercises and have them sound right. I danced the Batchata and Marenge (Latin dances) out on the terrace in the cool night air with one of the guys who was teaching some of the girls as well as his FHE group.

It feels as though my anxieties of the morning have vanished. My home teachers gave me a blessing, so I am feeling spiritually uplifted and strengthened as well. I will be forever grateful for worthy, willing, compassionate home teachers who were willing to put on white shirts and ties and help me feel my Heavenly Father's love. It had a rough start, but it has been an amazing day.

I love you all! Thanks for reading my crazy thoughts and ponderings and adventures. Thanks for all your love and support--I feel it all the time, even here on the other side of the world.

Ma'asalaama! Shalom!

PS--Look at my profile picture there on the right. See that smiling flower? Meet Mr. Sparkle.

Big Events of the Week

Obviously I have not posted in a while, and it is because my life has been crazy this week. I had two midterms, one paper, and more reading than I care to think about. At any rate, blogging was not my top priority. However, if you go back to the first four-ish posts of my Israel adventures, you will see that I have added pictures! Go enjoy!

For the sake of time and coherence I am going to go with a tactic I have used for catching up in my journal--turning the entry into a highlight reel. Here goes!

1) I turned in my third Old Testament response paper on Tuesday. The assignment was to answer some reflective questions about the temple of Solomon. Based on a poem my father sent me earlier that week, I wrote about how in the dedications of both the temple of Solomon and the Kirtland Temple, it seems that it is not only the temple building being dedicated--the saints who will use it are being dedicated as well.

2) I took two exams this week and did excellent on both. The first was for Israel class (Tuesday) the second for Palestine (yesterday). I way over prepared for both, but as a result the actual taking of the exams was a breeze. I got 22/22 on our Israel midterm and 21/20 on Palestine (yay for extra credit!). Studying for the Israel test was easy, as Ophir gave us a study guide. Professor Bashir did not, so I took the liberty of making one myself and emailed it to all my fellow students, along with a note disclosing that this was for their use if they so desired and to ignore it otherwise. They did not ignore it. About twenty minutes after I emailed it I had a dozen people come up to me and thank me profusely for putting it together. I realized exactly how much worth a study guide might be when, just before I decided to email it, this conversation happened:
       Paul: I'm not looking forward to this test. I don't know what to study!
       Me: I actually just finished making a study guide. Do you want it?
       Paul: How many shekels?

3) I only have one music book out here--my Jon Schmidt "Hymns Without Words." I found myself regretting not bringing my Anna Magdalena's Notebook with all my Bach pieces in it. Then I sat down at a piano and realized that I still had two minuets and a chorale memorized. Who needs music books?

4) We had another AMAZING forum on Wednesday night--this time from an Arab Muslim Palestinian Israeli (sort that out if you can) who is an international reporter. I crowd in too many details about his address--in essence he told us about how things have gone in Israel since Yasser Araphat and the Oslo Accords. It was not a happy story. During the Q&A at the end, somebody asked him about the two-state solution. He says that Israel is currently under a three-state regime: Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. He also says that the two-state solution might have worked several decades ago, but as far as he can see it won't work now--the Palestinians and Israelis have become too intermixed for a division to take place. One thing that struck me particularly was his description of freedom of speech back here. He said that he works for an Israeli newspaper because he knows they will publish what he writes and that he can therefore speak freely. He feels far safer in Israel than in Gaza or Ramala, where he knows reporters who have had police knocking on their door in the middle of the night to arrest them for writing what they did. He said that if he wrote in Gaza what he usually wrote in Israel, by now he would probably have been hung in a public square. Can you imagine? Hearing things like that makes me infinitely grateful once again that I live in a country where I can speak and write freely without fear.

4) I went out into the city on Thursday afternoon for Sukkot as I had hoped. I went with a group over to West Jerusalem to see what was up. It was awesome. There were Sukkot--booths or tabernacles, as you might say--made of wood and palm thatch and decorated with colorful streamers and garlands everywhere you looked. During Sukkot (the feast of Tabernacles) the Jews "dwell" in these booths--and according to Ophir to "dwell" in a sukkah means to eat there, so every restaurant has a sukkah out front for anybody who wants to eat in there. Sukkot is also a time for Jews to gather to Jerusalem, just like in Biblical times. Today this gathering is celebrated by having the groups and guests march through West Jerusalem in a parade, which we got to see. An endless line of people marched down the street, waving their nation's flags, playing tambourines, and singing praise--there was so much color and music I hardly knew where to look. After that we went to a courtyard we saw during orientation where there are a bunch of colorful cushions to sit on--all made of cement. We took many pictures, including some fun glamour shots, reclining upon them and pretending to look comfortable. I also tasted my first Chala bread--the Jewish braided bread--that afternoon. It was heavenly--light and sweet and soft and perfect. We went on a forced march through East Jerusalem to be back to the center by sunset, then stood on the terrace and watched the clouds over the city turn pink. It was a marvelous day.

5) Thursday night was the center's informal talent show. I am on the talent committee, so I've been looking forward to it for a while. The head of our committee, Michael Stallings, has been making announcements at forum for the past two weeks, calling himself the "Tyrant of Talent" and telling everyone that we, his minions, must sign up for the talent show so that he could look good by proxy through our talents. He was the MC, fittingly enough, and did an awesome job keeping the acts smooth and the audience laughing. There were some great acts. A couple of guys turned on parts of the Star Wars movies with the sound off and inserted all the lines and sound effects themselves while it played. Sarah Townsend played Jon Schmidt's "All of Me" blindfold. One girl brought up ten audience members and impressed us by precisely locating each of their belly buttons through their shirts. I performed, too--storytelling. It was AWESOME. I told my usual crowd pleaser--"The Three Sacks of Truth." I had a scary moment going into the forum and realizing that it was a very big space and I had never practiced in it. It went great, though. I made everyone come sit up close and spun my tale as I always do. They were all enchanted. I even made Katie laugh, which is saying something--she was my guinea pig last year and has probably heard it more than anyone. The kids were absolutely enthralled and laughed hysterically at all the right parts. I've never told it better. I've already had several requests from the parents of those kids and from my fellow students to come and tell bedtime stories. I can't wait--I have more where that came from.

6) Yesterday night I attended synagogue with a group of students and Ophir. Two of Ophir's children came, too--including little Yamima from Passover. We attended a reform Synagogue, which was a little more modern than the orthodox ones. We sang the prayers to the Rabbi beating a rhythm on the table--including a few special prayer for Sukkot. I followed along in the prayer book and sang every prayer, right down to the last "Amein." I sat with Liesel on one side and an elderly Jewish woman on the other, who helped me find my page sometimes when I got lost. She thanked me several times for coming to pray with them and warmly assured me that we were welcome here. Honestly, the synagogue felt a whole lot like a normal LDS ward. I could just picture all of those women sitting beside me in Relief Society. It was wonderful to come and worship with them for the evening.

7) This week's Friday Night Movie was "The Incredibles." I quoted along a lot. "You can't! It's impossible! So quick ask me now before I can become sane..." Or this one: "You tell me where my suit is woman! We are talking about the greater good!" "Greater good?! I am your wife! I'm the greatest good you're ever gonna get!" And also: "We're dead! We survived but we're dead!" It was excellent.

8) I tried out for a volleyball team and signed up for the ping pong tournament (which I lost at). I am also going to teach some sign language to anybody who wants to learn this afternoon. Nobody can accuse me of not being involved around here.

9) Yesterday there was a riot on the temple mount. Muslims threw rocks at provocative radical Jews, whereupon the Israeli police responded with stun grenades and the like. We heard the bangs and saw the grenade smoke from the center. There were some demonstrators near the center later on as well, so we were told not to go out on our balconies and not to do anything stupid like trying to take pictures of the demonstrators. Everyone was kept safe.

10) The restrictions were lifted this morning and we were able to go out. I went with a big group over to the Garden of Gethsemane. Thanks to some smooth talking from Michael and some Italian from Will, we were able to go into the private garden. I walked about for a while and sat beneath the olive trees, thinking and pondering and praying. I also joined a group that was singing hymns. It was a peaceful, beautiful hour we spent there. We went home by way of Orson Hyde Park, which was also beautiful. I am now enjoying the afternoon here at the Center. We are all looking forward immensely to General Conference tonight. I never looked forward to it as a child, but now it's like waiting for Christmas morning. Just a few more hours and we will hear to words of the prophets!

More soon! I love you all! Please comment or email me--I want to hear from you, too! Ma'salaama!

Another tell? Oh, what the... heck.

Sorry--I know that was suggestive, but I just couldn't resist. I want to tell you about this week's field trip to the Shephelah--but first, a few thoughts on field trips in general:

1) Every field trip day is about the same scheduling wise. We get up early, eat breakfast, make a lunch, and be ON THE BUS by 8:00 or get left behind (it has happened--not to me, but still). We then run around all day trying to keep all the sites and digs and historical facts straight.
2) Our lunches are always as follows: Two pita sanwiches, one bag of chips, two pieces of fruit, two cherry tomatoes, half a cucumber, and an Ali Baba chocolate wafer bar (which most of us may or may not be in love with). On free days we are permitted a bit of creativity in that we make our own sanwiches (though this can be dangerous, as peanut butter and nutella are usually available as options).
3) We have sing alongs on every field trip. Brother Judd hands out the lyrics and cranks up the volume and we sing. The songs always have something to do with what we are seeing that day. Sometimes the connection is a good one, like this week's selection "Every Goliath Has It's David." Sometimes it's a little distant--like the Smurf Song on the Negev field trip because it was written by a guy with the psuedonym "Father Abraham." That one wasn't such a big hit--all of us were hot and tired and not really in the mood for little singing smurfs at the time. Most of them are really fun, though, and we all enjoy it.
4) I forgot to tell you about an important member of the Lucky Judd Bus crew--Mr. Sparkle. Mr. Sparkle is a plushy, smiling, two foot tall flower that comes with us every time we go somewhere with lot's of crowds. Brother Judd or somebody else holds him high above our heads so that those near the back can easily see where the group is going. Mr. Sparkle was our constant companion in Turkey, and though the leader usually looked a little riddiculous holding a giant smiley flower over their head, he kept a good many of us from getting lost.
5) After several attempts and trial runs, I have come to a very important conclusion: it is next to impossible to do homework on the bus.

Now for this last week's field trip. We visited the Shephelah (pronounched Shfay-lah, two syllables)--the low hills between the coastal plain and the tall Judean hills in which Jerusalem sits. Some amazing things took place in the Shephelah valleys. Samson took a wife from a town we looked out at--Timnah. We stood on the hilltop at Azekah, a great military city of the Old Testament. There the reenactment committee performed a skit of the Samson story, with Dallin as Samson and Cassie as Delilah, which we all found hillariously appropriate. We walked on the ruins of Lachish, where the Assyrians built a siege ramp up the sides of the city to break in and destroy it before attempting and failing to capture Jerusalem. We there looked at a drawing of an Assyrian frieze that depicted the battle. We also read the ominous words of a soldier in Lachish who wrote that those at Lachish could no longer see the signal flares at Azekah--which meant that Azekah had fallen and the Assyrians would be there in only a few days.

We sang hymns in the Bell Caves--including "Ring Out Wild Bells," which few of us knew but was perfect all the same. The caves were carved by punching a hole in the hard upper surface and carving the bell shape down into the soft limestone beneath. It would have been a breeze--the soft stone literally crumbled into my hands as I brushed them along the walls. We also walked down into deep and surprisingly extensive underground sisterns and systems of rooms. One long chamber contianed nothing but dovecotes to keep messenger pigeons in. Others went on for ages, linking to other rooms with small staircases and tiny doors. I felt like I was in the Cave of Wonders, sans piles of gold and jewels. The caverns were also a blessed respite from the weather--hot and with something like 90% humidity, which was miserable even with the blessing of cloud cover (for which we were all grateful--we hated to imagine what the day would be like without it). The cistern stop also included optional ice cream at the gift shop at the end, which I gratefully took advantage of (chocolate hazelnut ice cream bar with whole hazelnuts in it--AMAZING).

The highlight of the day, however, was the Valley of Elah, where young David defeated the Philistine Goliath. Right there, beneath the ridge where the Israelites' encampment would have been, within sight of Goliath's hometown of Gath, we watched a reenactment skit of the battle. Brother Stratford's son Isaac played David and Brother Judd's daughter Amanda sat on Andrew's shoulders and played Goliath's head (the Israelites cut her off and gave her to King Saul at the end). We were then issued slingshots and spent the next half an hour picking smooth stones from the river bed and slinging them into the field beside us. Lorina got a great picture of me slinging like David himself. Sort of. Not really. The picture was cool, my slinging skills were not. I did alright, though--I actually managed a good twenty feet a couple times. The point was, though, that it's harder than it looks. Mary's conclusion was that in order to slay Goliath by slingshot, David must either have been divinely guided or had way too much time to practice while tending the sheep (I'm inclined to think both). The champion was Andrew--he could shoot his rocks halfway across the field no problem. I kept one of the white stones to remind myself of the day and the story of David.

The past couple days have been busy and packed with homework. I turned in one paper, did very well on one midterm, and studied for yet another for Friday. Speaking of academics, I have news to share. I completely ACED my Old Testament Midterm! I got my score back last week. The class average was an 85%. My score... drumroll please...99%! I could hardly believe my eyes. Before the curve it was 95%, so I only got two or three questions wrong. Hallelujah and thank heaven!

That's all for now--I'll write more tomorrow. I haven't got out into the city the past couple days, so I am very ready to book it out of here first thing tomorrow afternoon. The festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) is going on this week, so I am eager to get into West Jerusalem to buy Chala bread and see festivities (especially the sukkot on people's lawns and balconies). More adventures to come!

Over the Weekend

Friday was classes until afternoon, and I decided not to go out that afternoon. Instead I did some studying out on the terrace, catching up on my Old Testament reading for earlier that day, which I hadn't read a word of. Why? Because my Palestine paper--the one I was so jubilant about finishing early--by Thursday night had disappeared into the depths of the JC Lab hard drive. It's my fault--I was stupid and didn't back it up to my email--but I was still terribly disappointed about it. I had worked really hard to make it good analysis, and although it was an easy paper it would be hard to replicate in one night. Katie came into the bedroom to find me on my laptop in a state of some distress. I soon became the recipent of the Katie Graham Prescription for Less Stress and Happier Living--smiles, encouraging words, a rub on the back, and a chocolate cookie. Mary came in and between the two of them I started feeling better very soon. I have an awesome apartment. We just started a quote wall--I'll have to share a few of the good ones sometime.

Well, I did finish it and turn it in. Friday was a little miserable here and there in such a way that made me very grateful indeed to have a supply of ibuprophen. My mother and aunts will get it, nobody else needs to worry about it. I felt better by later that afternoon, though, and was perfectly well to go to the Friday night movie--"Samson and Delilah," by the same director as did "The Ten Commandments." I stayed for Brother Schade's marvelous introduction (including a synopsis that turned out to be comprised of the chapter headings for Judges 13-16) and the first few minutes. I then bounched back and forth between movies. I watched some of Harry Potter 7 with Carrie Judd and David Schade until it was their bedtime, caught the latter half of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (which I really want to watch again), then came back to Samson and Delilah in time for Delilah's betrayal and the toppling of the temple, which was all I really wanted to see anyway. It was big and colorful and dramatic, but still amusing by virtue of its being as big and colorful and dramatic as other movies of its day.

Sabbath was wonderful. I didn't touch my homework all day. After church I went with Katie and some others to the Garden Tomb. We walked about as a group for a while, then went off separate to read and pray and think. I sat on a bench beneath a tree and listened to another group singing. I hadn't brought my scriptures or journal, but I did think and ponder some. Nobody knows whether the tomb there is the one Jesus Christ was laid in, but in the end I guess I don't care. I come anyway because it's a wonderful place to think about what was done for me by the Savior--which is the most important thing in the end. After the other group left I decided I ought to sing myself--though whether by prompting or by sponteneigity I'm not sure. I'm inclined to think the former, though, for the notes came easily and I wasn't nervous at all. I sang "I Stand All Amazed" all on my own. I felt very much at peace afterward. I went to see the tomb again and took a couple pictures.

When the group I came with left, I joined another so I could stay a little longer. Some of my best friends were part of it--Sarah and Liz Donakey (a pair of sisters), Aleisha Goff (one of the happiest people I know) and Jacob Crowther (a most wonderful young man and a great friend). When I came up to them Sarah embraced me and asked me how I was and Liz told me that I looked wonderful today--both sisters managing to make my day with in two minutes of each other. Katie joined as well and we all sang another couple hymns--"I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and "In Humility Our Savior" (the latter at my request). Liz and I talked humanities most of the way home--she's a humanities major and I've been to Italy, so we get on well. A beautiful afternoon in one of the most beautiful places I know with some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. I don't see how it could be any better.

Today I went to the Haram esh-shariif--The Dome of the Rock--for the first time. [Note: This post is post-dated because the internet wasn't functioning well when I tried to put this up. I went to the Dome yesterday]. It's far more beautiful close up than far away. We made it past the security checkpoint just in time. They closed the gates at 10am, and we got there at 9:56. We only got to spend about ten minutes on the temple mount, but it was enough (we can't go into the mosque or the shrine, so walking around is about as good as it gets). The outside of the dome is covered in the most beautiful blue and green tiles and the some of the earliest known written passages from the Quran in the script around the sides. I took pictures of the group and of me and of Katie (Katie particularly, as her camera charger is broken and she has been unable to find another as yet among the group--I've been trying to make a concentrated effort to help her get whatever shots she wants in the meantime). We also met a whole heard of beautiful little Arab girls who seemed to really enjoy talking to us and who were very excited to speak Arabic with me and Katie. I also helped a little boy drag a rug up the steps to the main platform with which he was struggling. The temple mount platform is huge--I can hardly imagine the size of the temple that once stood there. I intend to return again before too long--it was a great time.

After that I joined a part of our group that was going to Dormition Abbey--where tradition supposes Mary fell into an eternal sleep and was taken up into Heaven. The traditional upper room of the last supper was there, too. We sang there--"I Stand All Amazed"--and of course after only a few measures a whole huge Asian tour group came in. We kept singing, though, and some of them filmed us on our iPads. A few of them thanked us later. We listened to the tour guide for a few minutes (I translated little bits into ASL just for my own practice) before going to see the chapel of Dormition Abbey and the crypt of Mary. It was all beautiful and covered in stunning mosaics. We did not sing there, as we were unsure whether it would be welcome.

We finished off the day with a stop by a delightful bakery in the Jewish quarter, where I bought some wonderful fresh white bread that served as my lunch. We got home in time to do some homework. I tried to study some Israel history for Ophir's midterm on Tuesday with Mary and Katie, but I ended up feeling stressed about it all the same, which didn't make the study session as pleasant as it might have been for me or for them. Fortunately I have forgiving roommates.

I have continued to put off my homework all evening, even though I really should be doing it. All the girls in the center had a girls night by the shekel shack where we painted nails and braided hair and talked about first kisses and awkward first date stories. I paid a few sheks for a glass of milk and oreos--which was worth every agarot. I've been updating these posts while I watched "The Sound of Music" with those same friends who made my day so pleasant at the Garden Tomb. It's getting late, but we are going to forage ahead and watch the whole thing. I will probably regret it at 6am tomorrow morning, but for now it is worth it. It's always worth it to spend time with such wonderful friends.

More tomorrow--love you all! Keep commenting when you have a minute--I love hearing from you all. :)

PS: Amanda, I have just sent off a letter to you. It may not be to you for a couple weeks, but it is on it will be on its way from Israel via email by tomorrow. Love you!

Yom Kippur One Day, Passover The Next

That's how Ophir said it in class. "Time flies, doesn't it? Yom Kippur tomorrow and Passover the day after that--usually there's six months in there!"

Our outside time on Yom Kippur was restricted, as every Jewish establishment and then some would be closed as all the Jews spent the day at home or in the synagogue in fasting and prayer. The Old City was still open to us, though, and I went there. All seemed pretty quiet to me, but I was aware of what was happening in other places around the city. It was a day of reverence.

The next day I had another turn at the Red Cresent hospital. It wasn't as thrilling an experience as the first time, but still great. The first nurse we worked with started showing us how to take vital signs and check the tension in a woman's uterus. We then informed her that we weren't medical students, and then we ended up doing other things. I worked in the normal nursery with Lorina for a while. Those dark little Arab babies are so cute. I even got to see one have his first bath. He wasn't too happy about it, but I was.

We had passover the next evening. I was signed up to be a narrator and to sing two of the prayers with groups. I was also twenty minutes late. There I was, doing my hair and putting on my nice clothes and thinking myself to be making great time, when Sister Bench (housing couple sister) poked her head into my apartment and said "Are you coming to the Sedar?" "Of course. Five-thirty," I said, glancing at my clock (5:20). "No, five o'clock!" she says. "Hurry!" So I raced up four flights of stairs to the oasis and bashfully slid into my place at the head table--though I don't think anybody really noticed. The Sedar proper was only just barely starting, so the timing was alright. I sang both of my numbers--the four questions (before which we were totally shown up by Ophir's eight year old daughter, who sang the first verse in flawless Hebrew into the mic before we went up) and Y'vareh et Bet Y'israel, a blessing of rejoicing. I also read part of the Haggadah about the greatness of God and His blessings. Let down of the evening: when the time came for the bitter herbs came, I was totally prepped for pure, undiluted horseradish like I endured at BYU--but it turned out to be romaine lettuce, which doesn't have quite the same effect. Highlights of the evening: First, the dessert for the meal was a chocolate covered bannana with ice cream--AMAZING. Also, a group at the end sang my favorite Passover song--"Who Knows One"--as a rap. It was awesome.

The whole program was marvelous, and I even got to enjoy Charoset that I helped to make. Ophir made it a great experience, and his little daughter was great, too. When he told us he needed to keep the afikomen safe for after desert, she said loudly, "He won't keep it safe! He's going to hide it!" And we pretended we hadn't heard. When, after dinner, Ophir informed us that the afikomen had "disappeared," she said again, "No, he hid it!" Than ran off to help everyone hunt for it. Alex found it and split the candy prize with the little kids. It was a wonderful evening.

I will do more in the next post, just for the sake of keeping things coherent. More soon!

Joshua Fit the Battle...

...of Jericho! Jericho! Jerichoooooooo... Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came a-tumbling down!

Guess where we went for our fieldtrip this Monday? Hmmm, let's think...

Yep, even after our crazy trip and sleepless weekend, Monday was field trip day again. Fortunately it was only a half day, so it wasn't too long and we were able to get some things done in the afternoon as well. I was woken up at 3:40 in the morning by burning abdominal pain, such that I could barely walk to the bathroom sink for a cup of water. I took some omeprezol and sat awake for nearly half an hour, listening to the call to prayer (again) and praying that I would be able to sleep. The pain did go away and I was fine for the rest of the night. I didn't feel great the next morning--I've had off and on pain and nausea since then, actually--but I've seen much worse on the illness front, so I packed up my backpack and hauled off on the field trip. Needless to say, though, I was glad it was a half day only.

Jericho wasn't much to look at if you didn't know what you were seeing--but we did, so it was awesome. We saw Kathleen Kenyon's excavation trench, some stratification layers, and the remains of the oldest known structure in the world--an 11,000 year old watchtower. We saw the fallen remains of an ancient wall and discussed how this may be the walls of Jericho that were brought down by the Israelites. It's a good example of how your own beliefs or agendas can warp your perspective. Kathleen Kenyon (who was against Biblical interpretation of archaeology) excavated the wall and determined that because this was a Middle Bronze Age wall and the Israelite period was Late Bronze Age, the Israelite conquest as written in the Bible could not have happened because the city would not have had a wall at that time. An Israeli archaeologiest read her findings and retaliated with what I think was a very good point: assuming that the walls had been maitanenced and cared for, is it not possible that the Jericho of the Israelites was a Late Bronze city surrounded by a Middle Bronze wall? Of course it's possible--and there is evidence for this view. Late Bronze Age pottery has been found beneath the Middle Bronze wall--so either the Jericho Canaanites stuck some pottery up there while building a subway, as Dr. Stratford put it, or somebody had to have dropped a Late Bronze pot on that spot before the wall fell. Interesting, isn't it?

After that we visited a few other sites. We took pictures with a tree that was not the one Zacchaeus climbed in the New Testament but sure looked like it. We saw the waters of Elisha's spring--still sweet and still giving water to Jericho up until this very day. We stood on a hill and looked down at the remains of Herod's winter palace. Our talk there made the scriptures about him make so much more sense. We learned that because he was not a locally born or even remotely loved leader (as well as a few foreign attacks in the neigborhood) Herod became extremely paranoid about attack and assasination. This paranoia is evidenced by the fact that he had five different palaces (maybe more) to escape to in a pinch, such as Herodion and Masada, and also that he had a distrubing habit of killing friends and family who he thought might be a threat. Little wonder it is, then, that when the Magi show up asking "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?" Herod gets nervous. As far as Herod is concerned, he is the king of the Jews--so what is all this about a new one? You see what I mean--knowing more about Herod makes his actions make more sense to me.

We finished the field trip with a brief hike over a ridge overlooking a canyon, along the bottom of which runs the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The parable of the Good Samaritan was set along that road, and several events and miracles--my personal favorite being the healing of the blind man Bartamaeus--happened there as well. The hike was very hot and very fast, and I nearly slid halfway down the hill on the lose rocks. I ended up towards the rear of the line pretty quickly, grumbling a little listening to Brother Judd shouting "Hurry up, Guppies!" from the front and Brother Stratford calling out "Left! Left! Left-right-a-left!" from the back. We made it though--and hurried home for lunch and homework. Fun, right?

I spent all Tuesday afternoon catching up on homework, including finishing a paper that isn't due until tomorrow morning. Victory!!! I even had time that evening to watched "Amazing Grace" with Katie and a few others (though most of the "others" had trickled off to bed by the time it was over). I finally got out into the city on Wednesday afternoon. A got a bigger size in the scripture case I wanted (my investment to encourage the preservation of my quad) and made a second visit to the Holy Seplechure. We also made a detour to the cistern under the chapel and sang there, which had a very cool echo effect and apparently could be heard in the chapel above.

I just want to mention that it is a great blessing sometimes to receive kindness from a stranger. When we were waiting in line to see the seplechure I went off to sit down a moment because I was not feeling well then. I was also stressing about things that were very important to me yesterday but really aren't now--but the end result was that I was a little upset and may or may not have been trying not to cry (she shamefully confesses). I walked around a little to clear my head. There is a small alcove around the back of the seplechure that has a paiting of Mary and the baby Jesus in it, as well as a beautifully draped altar and candles. I stood outside looking at the painting, still not feeling myself and tearing up a little. There was a priest standing watch in the mini-chapel who saw me watching. He beckoned me inside with a kind smile. I came, and he asked me if I was Russian (not sure why--maybe to see if I was with one of the massive tour groups miling around), to which I replied that I was English. He apparently didn't speak much English, but he looked at me kindly, then bent down and lifted one of the draperies to show reveal a small square of the stones of the Holy Seplechure that most people where going to see from the front on the other side. I bent down and touched the secret stones, then rose, thanked the priest, and quietly stepped out to make way for some people who were waiting outside. The prist probably thought I was another worshiper there, maybe crying because I was remembering the Savior's death and sacrifice--or maybe he just wanted to cheer me. I don't know. Whatever the case I was so grateful to him for noticing that one sightseer of the many hundreds there that day was a little sad and took the time to show me kindness and to give me a beautiful gift--a quiet moment with the Seplechure. It was a sweet and quiet instance of Christian charity at its best--showing love and kindness not just for those you know and love, but also for a stranger.

Sorry--that was a little long winded. My apologies.

I will write more tomorrow about today--including my second week at Red Cresent and the Passover sedar we enjoyed tonight. For now, though, it is late and I am very much not done with my homework--so I must away. I love you all!

Treasures of Turkey

So I said more on souveniers later--and here it is. This is my list of treasures I have brought back from Turkey:

1 pair of Sultan pants (variation on genie pants, but better quality and ultimately more comfortable)
1 present for Lydia (can't disclose, as she might read this)
1 present for Nathan (ditto)
1 Fez
2 pairs of earrings (about $2 each--a steal)
2 hand painted bowls (one for me and one for my mom)
1 box of Turkish Delight and one or two other treats
1 little wooden horse to remember Troy by
1 fridge magnet (also Troy)
1 bracelet
2 something beautiful (again I can't say because I know who reads this blog)

And here for your information are my Souvenier Stats:

Total number of non-food items: 13
Items for my own use and pleasure: 8
Items intended for other people: 5
Items I feel good about buying: 11
Items I regret: 2
Items for self that I absolutely adore: 5

Number of items costing $10 or less: 12
Of those above, number costing $5 or less: 8

Total cost of treasures for this trip: approx. $65.00, give or take a few.

So yes, there you have it. I spent more than I tended to, but on the whole I felt good about my purchases. I sort of regretted my Troy purchases later, but together they cost about ten dollars, so it's not to costly a regret. I'm super excited about the gifts I found for others, and I'm really in love with my sultan pants and my bracelet, which is made up of jade-looking beads, a couple little charms, and a bead with the Turkish evil eye symbol on it (I wanted something with the evil eye that was subtle, and there it was--much more discreet than the giant multi-eyed door ornaments I saw everywhere). I also felt that, being longer in Jerusalem, my normal rate of expendenture would not be so high--just a few sheks for a felafel or mango juice from time to time. I can afford that, I think.

Ma'asalaama--more catch up soon!

Turkey Days 5&6: The Catch-up Episode

This is the part where I apologize for sending this along so late--but life has been busy. You shall see presently.

The next day was a day of VERY much driving--about eight hours worth total. Yep, that's right. Eight. Hours. It didn't end up being as bad as I thought, though. After the first three hours we stopped off in Thyatira, which was the home town of none other than Paul's convert Lydia (I took pictures for you, sis). We sat on the antiquities on the little city block of remains and talked rather quickly about women in the scriptures because it was starting to drizzle. [Side note: Our administrator Brother Jackson's general rule is NO CLIMBING ON THE ANTIQUITIES. And we don't climb on the antiqities--we just sit on them for devotional from time to time]. After Thyatira we went to the best restaurant we've eaten at so far--a charming little family-run place in a pretty spot a mile or two out towards the country. The food was amazing--and we could see the women cooking and frying it up in the next room. It was the first real home-cooked food most of us have had in a long while, and we were so grateful for every bite. I also got a good laugh afterwards. I was talking to Katie afterwards when Mary came up and told Katie her skirt was cute. Katie got halfway through "Thanks, I like your--" when Mary burst out with "DON'T GIVE IT BACK!" I almost died laughing. Mary hit Katie's "boomerang compliment" tendency right on the head. It was beautiful.

Anyway--we had another five hour drive ahead to Bursa that none of us was was really looking forward to. It ended up being pleasant, though. We sang our "Istanbul was Constantinople" song and recorded it. The recording featured hand motions, some rather exciting dancing, and a great fez-wearing flute soloist bit. I'll have to show you later--it was fabulous. After that we sang "Shoo Turkey Shoo," and then one of the guys brought his iPod to the front and put his Disney collection on shuffle for everyone to sing to. We did Lion King, Hercules, Mulan, The Little Mermaid (I signed "Kiss the Girl) and a guy-girl duet of "A Whole New World." By then the drive was more than half over--and with a good book and even better company, it was over in a snap.

Our only stop in Bursa was at a beautiful early-Ottoman mosque. We removed our shoes and (girls only) covered our hair, and wandered around inside seeing the interior--the big, bold Arabic script on the walls, the designs in place of wood and carvings (because the Ottomans were poor then and couldn't afford wood and mosaics) and--best of all--a beautiful wooden pulput held together by the puzzle-like fit of the individual pieces, without a single nail in the whole structure. It was a very different place from the Blue Mosque, but it was still very beautiful in its simple, elegent way.

Our final day was headed back to Istanbul. We spent the morning on the shores of the lake at Nicea, talking about what the Nicean Creed affirmed and what we know as Latter-day Saints about the nature of our God. Apparently a few years back four of the teachers (including Brother Jackson and Brother Judd) unoficially reconvened the council of Nicea in a restaurant across the street. They dissolved the decisions of all past councils and adopted the Articles of Faith as its new creeds. They also dedicated the preaching of the gospel on the other side to those who were present at those original councils should they have not received it yet. It may have been unauthorized, but I thought it was fitting and proper all the same. We sang "Josph Smith's First Prayer" as we looked out over the shining blue water and bright sunshine and green hills... It was such an incredibly beautiful place. I don't approve of a lot of things Constantine did (see Nico Revolt, for example) but I have to hand it to him--when it came to his summer home, he had excellent taste. We finished off with a class picture on the very spot where his palace used to stand.

We jumped a ferry over the bay and drove back into Istanbul, singing the Istanbul song one more time on the way. Brother Judd also played us a series of turkey-related songs (turkey as in Thanksgiving, not the country)--such as "Except for the Turkey," "Frank the Christmas Turkey," and even one called "Turkey Burps." Brother Judd's daughter Carrie (she and her sister Megan went with us this trip and we adore them both) called out from the back that she hadn't said yes to any of these selections. Yasemin gently reminded us that the name Turkey has nothing to do with the bird, but should actually be pronouced "Turkiye," meaning the land of the Turks.

Back in Istanbul we visited the Hagia Sophia--which I think all of us were looking forward to immensely. It was extremely different from both the Blue Mosque and the Grand Mosque in Bursa, but still beautiful in its way. We saw tons of gorgeous mosaics, intricately carved porphory collumns, brightly colored walls and ceilings (lots of yellow going on) and a whole lot of crumbling plaster. The Hagia Sophia (sometimes pronounced Aya Sophia) was originally a Christian church. When the Ottomans took over they liked it, so they plastered over all the human figures in the mosaics, turned the crosses into lines and arrows, and called it a mosque. In subsequent mosques they would also copy the Hagia Sophia's dome pattern (one big one, lots of smaller ones) and the style of lights (chandeliers suspended close to the ground--ten feet up or so). Now it's a museum and the plastered mosaics are being uncovered for everyone to admire.

After Hagia Sophia I made a brief visit with a few others to the tombs of the sultans, which were big green house-shaped structures with a sultan's turban on the top--a small one for a normal male family member and a big tall one for the sultan himself (all except for the women's tombs, which were turbanless). There were some lovely Nicean tiles on the wall as well, but on the whole most of the tombs looked a lot alike--so before long we departed and turned to shopping.

I had wanted to visit the Grand Bazar again, but for the sake of time we ended up turning to a little street Bazar just shy of the Blue Mosque. We had a great time wandering among the shops, somtimes purchasing and sometimes just trying to communicate to the persistent shopkeepers that we really were just looking. I found a few treasures--but more on that presently. Thereafter we met up the busses again and went to a seafood place for dinner, where we were served (no surprises) fish--but with heads, eyes, bones, and tails still attached. I didn't mind it too much (I did worse at Chinque Terre) but Mary, who does not like seafood, was not hitting the ceiling over it. She did eat most of it though, and enjoyed it more than she thought.

Then it was off to the airport. We bid a fond farewell to Yasemin and left her with a whole bunch of grateful notes from everyone in our group. We went through some more extremely long lines and sat at the gate for over an hour. I talked with my friend Aliesha and another girl (McKenzie) about my hopes and dreams and worries about serving a mission. Aliesha is an RM herself, so she was great to talk to--her advice was essentially to just not think about all of that right now and enjoy Israel while I have it. McKenzie was also great--she is a font of wisdom and good quotes ("Life by the yard is hard, life by the inch is a sinch"). I also joined a group watching Tangled on somebody's iPad. We eventually took off at 12:55, flew for two hours (with a midnight breakfast served somewhere in there) and touched down at 1:55 (daylight savings--gain an hour). The security people at Ben Gurion decided to ask us all those questions we had been preped for at orientation not when we first got there (as we had thought they would), but at two o'clock in the morning, when nobody could form coherent sentences to save their life. We finally got back to the center at 3:45, getting in bed just in time to hear the morning call to prayer go out. Mary and Annie and Katie and I were all happy to be in the same room together again, and celebrated by promptly crashing into bed and sleeping until ten the next morning.

More in the next post. Ciao!

Turkey Day 4: Diana and St. Johns

I know these posts are going up fast and furious—I haven’t had WiFi all trip. I know they are long and packed with detail, but for the most part this blog is doubling as my journal so the details are important. Thanks for bearing with me. Over and out.

We started the day looking at the red brick ruins of the church of St. John. It is meant to commemorate the area (Ephesus) where John the Beloved is said to have died. Modern revelation tells us that John did not in fact die at all, but was translated—but the Catholic church leaders who built St. John’s didn’t know that. It was a good specimen of a ruin for the most part—we even saw an old circular baptismal font sunk into the floor, probably used for sprinkling but deep enough to stand in, reminiscent of the immersion fonts we use in temples. We had a devotional nearby overlooking the spot that once was graced by the magnificent Temple of Artemis, one of the wonders of the ancient world. All that remains is a single column (much was destroyed and what was intact was used to build St. John’s). We talked about how worldly things are not lasting—the things that “moth and dust doth corrupt,” and so forth. I know it was a pagan institution, but I wish I could have seen the temple of Artemis in its splendor. It must have been breathtaking.

I also got to visit Ephesus today. It’s amazing to think that Paul once walked the same streets we walked and preached to the people who lived in those houses. There were a lot of beautiful restorations, including a bath house (where, yes, we all got out pictures of the ancient Ephesian potties) and an immense library. Only the façade of the library was reconstructed, but was glorious. Of course I’m a sucker for the library, even when there are no books in it.

The best part of Ephesus was the theatre. It was immense—the same seating capacity as the Marriot center. We sat inside and read the story of Paul’s companions being hauled to the theatre by the mob incited by the Diana shrine makers. At the appropriate part we all shouted at the tops of our lungs “GREAT IS DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS! GREAT IS DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS! GREAT IS DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS!” The acoustics in there were incredible, truly. The scriptural account says that Alexander (one of Paul’s companions) raised his hand to make his defense but when the people saw that he was a Jew they drowned him out with their cries. I can imagine how scary and overwhelming it would be to have the entire theatre shouting and screaming overhead with him and the others in the middle of it all, and for several hours. I can also see why they couldn’t do anything about it. Nobody would have been able to get a word in edgewise, let alone a whole defense, over all the commotion. It was so neat to be there, though. Most of the sights we visit are on a basis of something happening nearby or somewhere in that vicinity—but Ephesus has only one theatre, so without question that was the very place where Paul and his companions were assailed by the mob. And I was there, shouting like the mob and reading scriptures and singing hymns of praise. How amazing.

We were able to get back to the hotel at a decent time that afternoon, and we all mutually put on our suits and retreated to the pool for a dip. The Ephesus Princess is a resort-type hotel on the Aegean, so I could have gone to the beach—but I felt I had got in my fair share of saltwater at the last hotel, so freshwater pool it was. Because we were hotel guests, we could go over to the drink bar and ask for any drink we wanted for free. I was leaning toward my old favorite fallback—pina colada—but finally decided to be an adventurer and try something new. I ordered a Cinderella—peach juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, and something else (not sure what—club soda maybe, but no alcohol for sure). It was very sweet and very cold and absolutely delicious. I played Marco Polo and underwater tag with some friends, then joined up with a group practicing synchronized swimming. We had a go at lifting up one of the guys between us—Andrew, who is pretty bit—and actually managed it, but after that ordeal they decided to try with me instead. So I got hoisted by a dozen pairs of hands and just spread my arms and look pretty. We did some other moves as well, and ended up doing a whole routine which included a Neverland Crocodile sequence (if you feel you were missing out, don’t worry—somebody filmed it). Another group that had been practicing in the indoor pool did a routine as well that was a lot better organized than ours. I think I sense a competition in the making when the Jordan and Galilee field trips come around.

After another lovely dinner and beautiful sunset we all turned in. I stayed up and worked on these posts and did some reading and made some phone calls to get someone up to fix our toilet (long story) before turning in. My roommate, Lindsey, is sort of quiet but is a fantastic person—I’m so glad I have had a chance to get to know here.

TTFN! Ta ta for now!

Turkey Day 3: A Day of Hilltops

We boarded the bus after another early morning and hasty breakfast (I fully confess to smuggling another piece of white bread from the breakfast room—I didn’t have time to eat everything I had). The guy that sat next to me suggested we read through our assigned scriptures for the day—and we did, all the way through the Ephesus section (which was huge) for over an hour.

After a not-too-long a drive we came to Assos. The morning was still crisp and cool as we ascended into the village. We had to hike up a long, steep cobblestoned street. I was panting and sweating and my legs were burning by the time we hit the summit—but the instant we crested the hill it was all worth it. We could see for miles in every direction—out over the green hills and fields and woods one way, and far over the glistening Aegean sea and coastline in the other. We sat among the ruins of a temple of Athena and read about the journeys of Paul in Assos and Troas. We took pictures overlooking the sea in the early morning sunlight. The air was cool and sweet, and the view was possibly the most breathtaking landscape I have ever seen. I took pictures, but they can’t possibly do it justice.

We drove for many hours, with a brief break for lunch. I felt a little nauseated after lunch, but Will (one of our two bus docs) gave me a couple of tums tablets and I felt much better. I passed the time by catching up on my homework, reading my murder mystery, watching a little of Narnia (the first one) on my laptop, and played Never Have I Ever and debated the merits of various Disney princes with the folks sitting nearby. I also slept some. It’s way too easy to do that on the bus. We also did an introduction session, in which everyone came up to the mic to say a few things about themselves and take questions. I said that I did theatre and spoke Shakespearean and was promptly cheered and shouted into reciting a sonnet. I loved every second.

After a little over four hours we hit Pergamum. We rode a gondola to get to the top (and were SO grateful that we didn’t have to walk). The city was situated on a cliff, high above the valley floor. We took pictures in there—soon to come, I hope. We visited the ruins of the Temple of Trajan that had once stood on this spot (Roman Emperor Cult HQ was here). The standing columns were at least fifty feet high, and the scroll work on the tops was incredible. There were so many intricate carvings and huge marble works. I can’t imagine what that place might have looked like in its full glory. I can only think that the mere mortals who visited would not have been able to help feeling the awe of being among the Gods.

After the temple we sat in the theatre for our devotional—the steepest one in the ancient world. We talked about John the revelator’s words to Pergamum (one of the seven churches in Revelation). The theatre was open to a stunning view of the valley floor and a beautifully cool breeze. After our devotional, I went down to the theatre stage. One of the girls further up told me to do some Shakespeare, so I broke out my dramatic monologue from A Winter’s Tale. I actually remembered all of it, much to my own surprise, and did pretty well for having practiced it so little. Apparently Ashley filmed it. I’m a little scared to watch, but I’m kind of glad she did—I couldn’t ask for a better setting.

Oh, I almost forgot—I have big news! You’ll never believe it, but we have an engagement here on our trip. Not just a couple (though those have been cropping up)—no, this is a full-out proposal. Dallin and Cassie met at the airport the day we left and are going to be married a week and a half after we get back (their parents are doing some of the planning while we’re here). Dallin was asked in his getting-to-know-you time if he liked long walks on the beach (he had taken one with Cassie the night before). He said that he did, and that last night’s was especially nice and that she said yes. Brother Judd and half the bus looked absolutely flabbergasted. Brother Judd slowly stood up, took the mic, and said “What was the question?” He called Cassie up and made Dallin reenact the whole thing for us. We were all surprised, but they are great people and a great couple and we are all thrilled for them. I think they’ll be very happy together.

We retired to our hotel—the Ephesus Princess—for dinner. It was an amazing buffet, complete with intricately carved melons.

More tomorrow! Ciao, everybody--and Teshekular for reading these long posts. :)

Turkey Day 2: War and Peace

We departed Istanbul at 7am, which meant another very early morning for me. I’m getting a little tired of the 6am wakeup calls—but I grin and bear it and remember that I am in Turkey and having an amazing adventure and will furthermore have several hours on the bus in which to sleep.

We drove an awfully long way that morning—and that was all we did. We stopped once for a break, but other than that we drove straight through almost four hours to our restaurant. I dined with Brother and Sister Schade and their son Adam. They asked me a lot about myself, which was kind of fun—I being on the Lucky Judd Bus I hadn’t yet been able to get to know the Schades at all.

After lunch we drove to Gallipoli. We had watched a movie about it earlier the previous week (and again on the bus, actually—oi). The show starred a young Mel Gibson and was very sad and very heart wrenching—but that didn’t inform me much about the battle—so what I know I learned from our guide or read for myself. The Turkish shore there was the sight of a huge battle during World War 1. The allies decided to make an attempt at taking the straights Turkey controlled, thereby opening up the waterways to provide support to Russia. I believe the end goal was to take Istanbul and knock Turkey out of the war. The attack was poorly planned and poorly executed. Ships that were sent in to bombard the coast were hit with Turkish guns and undersea mines (though why the British thought an entirely sea-based attack on the cliffs would really produce a surrender is beyond me). A land attack was attempted with forces almost entirely comprised of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, a long with some French. Once again, stupid problems and poor execution ruled the day. Turkish automatic guns rained down bullets on the allied men, taking them in droves. The casualties were not only on the allied part, however—the total deaths numbered around 250,000 on both sides. The general who had originally executed this whole thing was retired and a new one was brought in. After three weeks in Turkey, the new officer proclaimed that the best thing that could be done for the Turkey campaign was the evacuate. They did. There was no resistance from the Turks. Some say it was because the decoys the Allies were using—clothed dummies strapped to animals who walked among the trenches, simulating life—were effective. Others say that the Turkish force understood that its work was defense and respectfully backed away from further bloodshed. No one knows.

We visited a memorial to the fallen of Gallipoli there on the shore. We also visited a grave yard where some of them were buried. I walked among the little white tomb stones and read every name. Some of the tombs were inscribed with phrases: “Nearer my God to thee,” “Dearly loved, sadly missed,” “God stands in every shadow,” “Abide with me,” “For King and Country,” etc. One in particular stopped me in my tracks. The tomb looked like any other, but with three remarkable words: “Lest we forget.” That stunned me. Having learned all I had about the battle, it seemed crazy to me that anyone should forget the brave lives that had been laid down in this place. After reading each name on the graves, I followed the Jewish tradition and left a small stone on the steps of the big memorial marker at the far end of the cemetery. I said a prayer, too—and looking at that little stone I promised myself that I would not forget.

I am so glad we spent so much time there as we did—it was amazing. I look forward someday to talking with my father’s Australian friends about Gallipoli. The memory of that battle has great meaning to the Australian people—and now I can say that it does for me, too.

We took a ferry across the straight and headed to Troy. Troy is another tel and is mostly in ruin, but it was amazing. Yasemin had told us that because the city was incomplete and ruined it might take a little imagination to picture what the city had been like. Fortunately, the excavation was also a very good one—I needed a lot more creativity when we visited Tel Dan. Besides that, though, imagination has simply never been a problem for me. The Iliad came to life as we walked among the ruins in the golden afternoon sunlight, seeing the gates, ramps, ramparts, and walls that once were part of the ancient city. As we walked between the double walls I could picture the exhausted Trojans resting upon their shields within the city, and from the top of the hill I could almost see the Greek bulwarks and encampments on the seaward side of the lush plains. Everywhere I looked was another little piece of the ancient Greek legends I love. I had brought several pages of the Illiad with me and happily read them there—recounting the advance of Achilles and the flight of Hector to the city walls until their final confrontation, and all right in view of those very walls.

I even got a picture inside the giant wooden horse replica. I got a miniature model for myself—cheap, yes, but I wanted something to remember by. It was the most magical place—one of many I will keep in my heart for the hard days when I need to escape my studies and stress for a while. On those days I will stop what I am doing, close my eyes, and suddenly find myself once again among the golden sunlight and quiet ruins of Troy.

We stayed at beautiful season hotel that night right on the Aegean Sea. We swam in the ocean, where had hands-up-stands-up contests and chicken fights, took a cool video of some of the girls doing an Ariel-style wet hair flipping line, and where I teased and splashed Katie some because she had pretty much got all wet but wouldn’t go under—she, the one who was doing all the swimming and wave jumping at Tel Aviv (I’m usually on the other end of the teasing, so I take my ammo where I can get it). A few people also got stuck by sea urchins, it would seem. We played a few rounds of sharks and minnows in the pool before dinner. Over dinner we watched the sun set over the Aegean, and afterwards some of us went down to the beach to talk and enjoy the sand and surf. A dance party had been planned for 9:30 by the pool which I wasn’t sure about (we were told not to dance when others were around and not to attract attention to ourselves). Just after the music started, one of the tour guides brought out two big beautiful birthday cakes for the three people who are having birthdays while we’re in Turkey (Callahan, Lauren, and Ellen). So we had a birthday party right there on the ocean, with cake and music and dancing and great friends. I cannot picture a better party.

Bye, everyone! More soon!

It's Turkey Time!

That's right! I am writing to you from a beautiful little hotel right on the coast of the Agean Sea in the beautiful (and surprisingly large) country of Turkey.

We have a theme song--"Istanbul Was Constantinople" by They Might Be Giants. Check it out sometime--I'd include the link if I could, but I can't access the youtube video. So you'll just have to find it yourself. We have been singing this song since our orientation meeting this last week--it's great.

Today half the center got up at five in the morning to watch the BYU Cougars play the Utah Utes. I was not one of those people--sorry cougars, I value my sleep too much. I came up at 7:30 sporting cougar blue and watched the last two quarters, just enough time to watch us lose. Sad day.

We departed the Center at 10:30 and got to Ben Gurion Airport by 11:30 or so, where we proceeded to wait in lines and scan baggage and check luggage and hand around passports for three hours. It was very long, needless to say, but I had to good fortune to be standing by Katie and Mary, which made things far more bearable. We got to our gate at 2:30 or so to wait for a 3:30 flight. We spent the time finishing our lunches and playing Bananagrams, at which I got particularly good--especially when playing it solitaire. The flight was pleasant--the seats were nice and the Turkish Air people actually fed us (chicken and potato salad and warm roll and chocolate apricot torte--yummy, especially for airplane food). We had been told beforehand to ask for Vishne to drink--a Turkish cherry juice our teacher's hailed as the nectar of the gods. We even memorized the Turkish way to ask: "Vishne, Lutfen--Teshekular!" Except that by the time they got to me there was no vishne left. Or maybe they stopped giving it to us when everybody asked for it. Darn.

Two hours later we came into Istanbul and sadly parted from the Schade class. We met our local guide--Yasemin (ya-sa-min), who showed us the walls of ancient Constantinople as we went. We retired to our hotel very tired from the long day.

The next day was day one in Istanbul. We started off at the Hippodrome--the horse racing track. It used to be a huge arena with a circular track in the middle that looped around a line of monuments and collumns in the middle called the Spina. It was built back when the city was neither Istanbul nor Constantinople but Byzantium. It was the central area for gatherings in Byzantine times and under Emperor Constantine (who made it bigger and better, as with many projects he attempted) and was rumored to hold 10,000 people. All that is left now are three monuments from the Spina--an obelisk from the Temple at Karnak in Egypt with many carvings (some of which on the base show how it was found and moved there), a bronze swirling collumn called the Serpent Collumn (allegedly made from the melted shields of defeated Persians), and the Wall Obelisk that is now just stone but was once plated with gold.

Next stop was the Sultanahmed Mosque--what you might know as the Blue Mosque. We removed our shoes, the ladies covered our hair, we put in our headsets so Yasemin could talk to us, and walked in. I was blown away. The place is massive, with something like twenty domes on the top. The walls inside are said to have been decorated with 50,000 tiles--and I believe it. Rich reds and bright blues form mosaics on every surface, and it's hard to see where the swirling designs end and the Arabic calligraphy begins. It was breathtaking. Nothing I say will do it justice--you'll just have to see the pictures.

Our next stop was the Topkapi Palace, where the Sultans lived. We walked through a gate that looked sort of like the one at Disney Land and through the inner courtyards of the complex. We saw the Imperial Council chamber--including the side room for the secretaries and the window into which the Sultan could peek from time to time and see that everything was running smoothly, just to keep the council on their toes. We saw beautifully decorated chambers filled with mosaics and carvings and even gold. During our free time we wandered through rooms that displayed the oppulent wealth of the Sultans--a gilded baby cradle, gold bindings for the Quran, ruby and emerald encrusted everything, and even the 86 carrat Spoonmakers Diamond (allegedly found uncut in a garbage heap and sold for three spoons--so there you go). We also saw some of the old Holy Relics--such as Joseph's turban, Moses' staff, David's sword, a couple of John the Baptist's bones, and some beard pieces from the Prophet Mohammad. Are they real? Anybody's guess--but in my estimation Mose's staff looked quite new.

We did lunch, where we were joyfully reunited with the prodigal Schade class (you know we are all getting close when we rejoice after being parted for one morning. I'm not sure what we're going to do at the end of the semester). We then visited the Grand Bazaar, where I really didn't buy anything (the little things I did get today I got elsewhere--more on souveniers to come) but did enjoy walking around and seeing all the bright, beautiful wares each shopkeeper had on display.

The day was capped by a boat cruise around the Marmarra Sea, all the way to the mouth of the bay to the Black Sea. It took about two hours and we enjoyed every minute--even the crazy pictures we have with the boys looking grea tand the girls with their hair blowing all over their faces. We enjoyed the cool breeze and the beatuiful sunsest and the sights along the shore and being in one company again. It was marvelous.

That's all for now! 

And Six Hours of Classes Later...

Yep, that's right. Count 'em. Two hours of Old Testament, two hours of Ancient Near East, and two hours of Palestine. Six. Hours. But now it is over, and I am feeling so liberated I could sing. this next week is our trip to Turkey--which means that I don't have to sit through another class period for over a week. Hallelujah!

Of course, the six hours did end with the announcement that the Old City and East Jerusalem are off limits because of clashes and demonstrations (no thank you to the makers of the insulting movie about Islaam--nothing but trouble). That plus the fact that tomorrow is Shabat, which means that East Jerusalem is about to close down... well, I guess I'm staying in today. So here I am a-blogging, and soon I will go downstairs and listen to Katie play her harp. Maybe I will also work out in the gymn or walk around the grounds or take a nap. I definitely want to read some more Israeli folk tales--I want to pick one to tell for the next talent show. I think it will be a very good day after all.

It has been already, in spite of the long class periods. My day was jump-started when I woke up and realized that my clock said 7:05 (breakfast starts at 7). Whoops. My dad says that when your body really needs sleep it takes it--so I guess my early mornings finally caught up with me, at least for an extra forty-five minutes. My only consolation was that when I woke up Katie was still asleep in the bed next to me, so we could enjoy our frantic race for clothes and makeup and toothbrushes together. Classes went alright, and then lunch was very pleasant. Now the afternoon will be pleasant too--not what I had expected, but good all the same.

I forgot to tell you one of my upsides from yesterday. I had got home from the city, read Old Testament like crazy for an hour, and was then tired and more than a little stressed (I hereby confess that I did not finish my reading for today in any of my classes. I am at peace with it, though--I ended up being better prepared than I thought I would be). I made myself decent and came up to the Oasis towards the end of the dinner hour to find Brother Bench (part of our housing service couple) waiting there for me with a letter from my wonderful cousin Amanda. She had written me a cheerful letter in her usual beautiful handwriting and shipped it with three stamps from her home in Washington DC. She told me a little about how things were stateside and inquired about my welfare among other things (such as whether I had yet seen any camels. And the answer is yes, I have). It made my day. It got a pretty good reaction from my roommates as well ("Look at that writing--it's a font!"). Thanks, Amanda.

I can't tell you all how much I love it here. The windows are filled with light and the halls are filled with music. As I write this, I am listening to one of the students playing a beautiful contemporary piece on the piano in one of the nearby classrooms. During out-of-class hours, there is nearly always somebody playing the piano or singing songs, and I have jumped in on several occasions to join in the songs or just to enjoy the beauty someone else can create. Katie is playing with the ward choir in the morning (an obligatto of her own composition while the choir sings "Come Thou Fount). I can't wait to hear it. The celtic harp is different from the concert grand I'm used to (spoiled a little? Yes.), but it's enough to make me remember how much I have missed hearing Katie play.

Tonight is another Friday night movie--Gallipoli. We get to visit Gallipoli while in Turkey, so we are watching the film before we go so we will appreciate what we are seeing when we get there. I know a lot less about WWI than I would like, so I am really looking forward to it. When my family went to Gettysburg I was very grateful that we had watched the film beforehand. I know that the real battle didn't have a dramatic score in the background, but it gave me a feel for the background and overall scope of the battle,and thus a greater appreciation for it when I got there. I think Gallipoli will be a similar experience. It will be a great film and a great experience to stand on the shores and pay my respects to the fallen of both sides.

And really, no matter what movie it is, the Friday night movie is a good time. I am looking forward very much to spending a night lounging in the forum with friends for a good time and a good show. My friend Eleisha and I are planning to show up sporting our genie pants. I can't wait.

Yom Tov! (Good Day!)

'Til tomorrow...

At the Red Cresent Hospital

Today was amazing.

Of course, there were the downsides. I got lost in Jerusalem with my group because I thought I knew where I was going and actually didn't. I missed lunch (more on why later). I have more reading to do than I will ever be able to get though. And I managed to prove several times over that despite my dance and theatrical training, grace a virtue I have yet to fully possess.

But now for the amazing upsides--the parts that made every down moment worth it.

Today I volunteered for two hours at the Red Cresent Women's Hospital, just down the street from the center. I was signed up to be a nurse's aid. There were four of us doing the same thing--Ellen, Annie (my roommate) and Abi. I had been led to believe that would involve something secretarial, but those rumors were very much untrue. We were split up into different wards--Ellen in Labor and Delivery, Annie in Post-natal, and Abi in Surgery. I was put straight into the neonatal unit--a small room not much bigger than my bedroom at home, lined with normal basinets on one side and pre-me incubators on the others. I couldn't do a whole lot, as BYU liability concerns prevented me from touching anything that lives and breathes while within the confines of the hospital. In other words, I couldn't hold the babies when they cried--all I could do was rock their basinets back and forth until the supervising nurse could take care of them. I found other ways to satisfy my yearning maternal instincts. When the little ones fussed I pushed their basinets back and forth, singing softy and crooning gently in Arabic: "Marhaba, binti! Inti kuwaisa, nam..." Or, on English, "Hello, my girl... you're alright, yes you are..." etc. Three out of four neonatal babies (all girls) were one half of a set of twins (the other halves being big enough to go home). Two little girls lay in the incubators. One was four weeks early and so small I was afraid that a touch might break her frail little form. None of the babies had names--and they wouldn't get one until their family took them home. I gave them my own so I could remember them all.

On the whole I rocked and consoled and chatted around with the nurses and tried to feel useful for the first hour. My time was cut short when a particularly bossy nurse bustled in and informed me that I couldn't be in here with the premature babies and would have to leave right now. So I left right then. Another of the four nurse's assistant girls had drifted in a while before and she left with me. Ellen and I found Annie standing around in the hallway feeling useless and we all migrated downstairs together.

While downstairs the other girls were put to work making beds and carrying some things to the food prep area. Meanwhile, I took vital stats. I put on blood pressure cuffs and pulse moniters and gave the women thermometers to hold in their mouths. The nurse in charge of me did the actual recording, but I got to interact with the patients some. I was so glad to know Arabic--I carried on some small conversations with the ladies, who seemed very pleased to be able to speak with me in their own language.

Part way between one patient and another, my nurse came in to inform me that the doctor in charge of us all had invited me to come join Abi in the Surgical ward to stand in on a C-section. I consented at once. I was taken to a room where I took off my clothes and dressed in green scrubs and a hairnet and mask. I was admitted to the surgery room and stood along the wall with Abi. I came in while they were working on starting the epidural. It took a few tries to get it in. The poor woman looked like she was in pain--one nurse was there just to give her someone to hold and be with to make the pain easier to stand. They got it started in a few minutes and began the procedure. I won't go into detail for the sake of those who would rather not know what goes on while they are under anesthetics. Each time an incision was made, I had to remind myself that the woman couldn't feel anything--but I still winced to think how much she would feel it later. The nurses and surgeons were quick and efficient, however--they got into the uterus with no trouble and carefully removed the breeched baby. It was a little girls with a whole lot of hair--and we got to be there to hear her first cry. We left as they were suturing things up again. As we went into the changing room and removed our masks, the same look of amazement showed on Abby's face as must have been on mine. It was an unbelievable experience--I don't think either of us will ever forget it. I feel very fortunate indeed.

That afternoon I went into the city to change out some shekels for dollars (which I will then change into lira when we get to Turkey). We went into the old city and I bought my first-every schwarma. It cost me 17 NIS (New Israeli Shekels--that's the full name), but it was worth every last one. I think I have a new favorite food--right up there with gelato and my mom's white chicken chilli. I'm in love.

One thing I forgot to mention. September 11th was this week--two days ago, in fact. I forgot altogether until Israel class that morning, when one of the girls asked Professor Yardin if we could have a moment of silence out of respect for the day. He agreed at once, and we did so. I thought of my family's trip to the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York. It was a beautiful place. I sang Amazing Grace by one of the pools and wept a little as I remembered the terror of the day--I was only in fourth grade at the time, but I will never forget the way I felt watching the footage of the planes colliding with the towers over and over again on the news. The memorial was so peaceful, though--and I was grateful to know that there was a place here to remember something better than fear. At the end of our moment of silence, Professor Yardin reverently gave us a Jewish saying that I think summed up the day perfectly: "May the names of all those who perished be a blessing to those who love them." May it be so indeed.

Ma'asalama and Shalom!

Rachel

Genie Pants and Jerusalem Sing-Along

So, good news. I actually did ace my Ancient Near East exam--or pretty close, anyway. I did not expect to do as well as 93%, but there you go. A minus for me! I did study very hard for the exam, and I also think I got lucky in my wrong guesses--I know I got more than two questions wrong, so the two that Dr. Stratford threw out must have been some of the ones I missed. Three cheers for dumb luck and flash cards!

Also, there was the song. I finally have it here for you. If you want the full experience, go to iTunes or Youtube and look up "Hercules I Won't Say I'm in Love" (with our without caps) and read these words while the song plays. I think the last verse may have an extra line or two, but bear with us--we started running out of room around the Nicean Creed and had to make up the slack.

That's Ancient Near East History
by Mary Bennion, Katie Graham, Annie Lieshman, and Rachel Pullan

Abraham came in 2000
1200 Moses came round and
Temple built nation united
But in 922 they're divided

Who can find the ten tribes? Lost in 722
612 Bab takes Nineveh; Lehi knows just what to do
South is in a fix, Neb takes Jeru in 586 (oh-oh-oh)

Cyrus, don't mind. Jews return 539
Temple re-seen in 517
They swoon, they sigh at the temple so high

du du, du du, la la la

Alexander dies 3-2-3,
Israel under Ptolemy
1-9-8 Seleucids not Heaven,
Fighting Maccabees 1-6-7

63 Pompeii, Herod dies in 4 BC
Christ til 34, come on you knew that one before
Jews revolt 70, Romans crust the city
(They burn it-to the-ground!) ohh oh oh

Revolt, take 2 in 132
Renamed Aelia in the Bar-Kochba
Byzantine, Constantine, the Nicean Creed-arriiiiiiive 3-2-5!
5 double 0 and the Talmud’s a go
Muhammad’s through in 632
638 Dome of Rock, isn’t it great
10-99 Crusaders just in time
1-1-8-7 Saladin wins Hattin

1-4-5-3.....Fall of ConsTANtin....(ople, ople) to ottomans. (Ahhhhh).

Sorry the text is so small--it couldn't be helped. There you go, anyway--the Orientation Test Timeline Song of Wonder. There actually were a few questions I used this on. One was "What was the result of Seleucid opression that took place in 167 BC?" I almost laughed aloud when I saw the question, because I knew that at that moment all four of us were mentally singing "Fighting Maccabees 1-6-7!!!" And I was right--I asked later. Go Fighting Maccabees!

We have many songs here at the Jerusalem Center. We sing hymns at a lot of the sights we visit. My Old Testament teacher, Brother Judd, has us do sing-alongs in the bus for every field trip (current favorites include a reggae number called "Jerusalem" and "Walkin' in Jerusalem Just Like John." Sometimes the singing just happens. For example, last week we went in for a spur-of-the-moment round of "Give Said the Little Stream" at a marker for a Herodian aqueduct channel, so the song has morphed since into "Give Said the Aqueduct." My current favorite is the one we sang on this week's field trip (sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"):

Take me down to the Dead Sea
Take me down in a bus
Down to the bottom-est place around
Saltiest water and saltiest ground
And I'll trace the footsteps of Lehi
I'll walk his wilderness way
And with water! Sunscreen! Nephi and Sam
See the Dead Sea today!

Don't you just love it? I do. We'll sing it again when we visit the Dead Sea for real in November.

In other news, I made some purchases yesterday. I tried to stay in and study, but after a few hours of Judaism and Christianity and Zoroasterism (for reals) I was so tired of it all that when Katie said she was going to the city I about begged her to take me along. We got some shekels at Aladdin's (pronounced Ala-deen, not like the Disney character), visited Omar's olive wood place (more on olive wood on another day) and went to Shaban's place in the Christian Quarter. At Shaban's I made my current favorite purchase of the trip.

Genie pants. Oh, yes, it's for real--and they are the most comfortable things ever. The ones I bought have a yellow and pink floral pattern with a gold ribbon strip down the side and make me feel like I jumped out of the Arabian Nights. I will post pictures soon so you can see the awesomeness.

More tomorrow! Ma'asalaama and Shalom!

Weekend of Wonder (Somthing Like That)

I hope you all appreciate these little posts. It's not easy to get them out there--especially when all of my blogger tabs are in Hebrew.

I realized (thanks to my Aunite) that I posted about the district conference but not about the rest of my weekend--and much has happened since district conference as well. So here goes!

Friday night was our first Jerusalem Center movie night. This week's film--Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. We had a lovely introduction by movie critic Dr. Professor Indiana Henry Jones Stratford (aka my Ancient Near East teacher Professor Stratford--also known as Invictus--wearing a brown suit and bow tie with the "dry boring lecture" light turned on over the podium). He told us all the must-knows of the movie. The following were some of my favorites:

1) Harrison Ford shoots the guy with the big sword because he was too sick to care about doing the whip slinging thing any more.
2) The only member of the cast who did not get sick was the director, Steven Spielberg, allegedly because he ate only the food he brought with him--namely, canned spaghetti-os.
3) There was glass between Harrison and the spitting cobra.
4) A fly does crawl into the German commander's mouth--it's not a film flaw.

So yes. We watched the whole movie in the forum, laughing even when we weren't supposed to and trying with mixed success to get comfortable in the not-so-cushy auditorium style seats. It was great.

I skip over the Sabbath because you heard enough about that in the last two posts. It was amazing--that's all there is to say.

Sunday--our free day--was a real adventure. Sixty or so of us paid 80 skeks--about 20 American dollars--to hire up some busses and go spend a day on the beach at Tel Aviv. It was wonderful. The sun was shining, the water was pleasantly cool... Everyone was doing something different. A few frisbee games started up throughout the day (some of which I took part in). A few people did some creative people burying (we had a mermaid and a munchkin happen, and I was halfway to becoming an octopus before other things got in the way--like the tide). In the sand sculpture department, a few girls even built a sand-castle model of the Jerusalem Center. The boys and the girls took turns making human pyramids (the boys' was taller and cooler by far). We got some great pictures, one of which was the first roommate shot we've had since Orientation--though we definitely want to do another one when our hair is less salty. There was a lot of swimming and wave jumping, and even a little surfing. My whole system got a little clogged with saltwater--but hey, it's the Mediterranean, I'm not complaining. When we got tired of the beach we went walking around the open air market near the beach. I bartered for a skirt, myself--I worked the guy down to twenty shekels from the original forty. More aptly he worked himself down while I just acted reluctant--but it was very effective all the same. We ended the day with gelato and one last go in the sea. It was a marvelous day.

Today was Field Trip day once again. Our first stop was a facility where Bedouin women create income for themselves by weaving. They showed us how the process works, from carding and spinning to the actually weaving. During the demonstration, a sweet girl no older than any of us passed out glass cups of something warm and pleasant. I think it was real Chai tea, in which case I accidentally broke the word of wisdom--but I know that none of us were going to turn down their hospitality. Making tea for eighty people on not much budget is nothing to turn up your nose at. Besides, the tea was sweet and refreshing, so it did us some good--I think we were all tired. It really is a great project. The goal is to empower these women who otherwise don't have much place in the household or the working world and to educate the women and their children. The way Fahima, our guide, said it was that the women here were working to give something better to their daughters. That's a worthy cause if ever I heard one. I bought a little woven ornament (I didn't have many shekels on me). It's not much, and it only cost about six dollars--but it will be a reminder to me about those amazing women and how hard they work to give their daughters a life worth living.

Stop number two was our first ever tel--Tel Sheva. A tell is a mound where cities and communities have built on top of each other for a long time. It makes a hill, which is great for defensibility and is generally a prime spot for future cities. Tell Sheva is the place where Beer Sheba used to be. We walked around the place and saw a text book "Better Homes and Gardens" example of an Israeli living compound, a satelite temple complex (possibly apostate), a huge storage chamber, and an underground water system. Granted, most of it (except the water system) was just the remains of walls--but it was cool none the same. Most of what we saw had been replicated for the sake of educated tourists like us who wanted to see what it was like--right down to the filled-in casemate wall. Even if some of the walls weren't part of the original dig, it was nice to have our first tel be one where we could easily imagine where the ancient city once stood.

We went to one other Tell--Tell Arad. It was less distinct, but we did see some more houses and even a twin temple complex. It was hotter than hades out there, but we got by--mostly thanks to shady hats, lots of sunscreen (some of us had burned at the beach already), and by drinking water like camels. I think the neatest part was the see the wilderness of the Negev having so recently read about Hagar's banishment from Abraham's home. I can't imagine what that would have felt like--wandering with next to no water and a small child to care for. God sent her the blessing of a well--and I don't think I ever realized what a great blessing that was until today.

Today was also my first look at the Dead Sea. We will come back here in a few months to swim, but today was a first glance. We sang "Under the Sea" as we descended below sea level. I love Brother Judd--every field trip he gives us papers with song lyrics on them so we can have a sing-along. We are the "Lucky Judd Bus"--and it is definitely the place to be.

The menu for dinner today said only two words: American dinner. I've been curious all day about what that might mean. The answer--Israeli attempts at hamburgers and french fries and chicken nuggets (shaped like stars and hearts and flowers, no less). My assesment is that the cooks made a valiant attempt and I love them for being willing to go all-out USA for us for a night--but nothing can take the place of a good In-N-Out burger in my heart.

That's all for today! Ma'assalama!

Love,
Rachel

Highlight of My Life!

OK, let's be honest--almost everything I am doing in Israel is a highlight of my life. But this one was special.

I just played the Jerusalem Center organ. Myself. With pedals and everything.

Granted, it was only Sweet Hour of Prayer in good old C Major, but I did it--one of the top hopes and dreams on my Israel bucket list.

Play one of the most beautiful organs in the world--check.