Back in Jeru!

Back to my home away from home. Still loving Jerusalem although going out has decreased to about once every other day now. A combination of studying, naps, and a stubborn cold have kept me close to the center. It has still been fun though. Last night we had an Arab culture dinner where we had the Qu'ran read to us and a prayer demonstrated to us by a father/son Sheikh. After an authentic meal in a decorated Oasis (cafeteria) we learned a traditional dance. Bless the hearts of the 4 teenagers that taught us in that small hot gym. I think for the most part we all had fun- teachers and faculty family included. Everyone was dressed up in their best "Arab" wear. Lots of Genie pants, fanny pack pants, scarves, and Bedouin were being worn by pretty much everyone. I even got runner-up best "costume" for girls. We took pictures in a specially decorated corner of the Oasis and just had lots of fun pretending we didn't have tons of reading to do- just a typical night at the JC. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my life recently?

pictures to come

ps. if you're more interested in our day to day stuff one of the Professors here has a blog that he updates with much more information and consistency that I do.
Here's the link
http://huntsmansintheholyland.blogspot.com/
There's lots more information about our field trips and the things we're doing here and he has videos/pictures. Enjoy!

Turkey Pictures

First steps in Turkey!!!

mirror pic in the palace turned Topkapi Palace Museum

Lauren (roomie) and I on the boat!

Scared of the fish
I ate some of mine- Jeff not so much

Worlds Best Baklava- According to Fati our amazing tour guide

Obama in Baklava

Pillar picture and Troy (in my beloved genie pants)

sunset on the beach near Troy

Lauren and I at a look out over the Aegean Sea

On the way down from Acropolis
we got a caught in a rain storm

I LOVE RAIN!

Roomie picture at Pamukkale

Kristine and I at Pamukkale

I love Istanbul

LOVE!!!

TURKEY!!!

So we just got back from our first out of country field trip to Turkey! I won't go into detail on everything that we did but I will just say that it was all absolutely amazing and I am officially in love with Turkey- especially Istanbul.

Some of the things we did in no particular order:
*Istanbul (not Constantinople)
*Ferry/boat rides
*Mosques (Hagia Sofia, Blue...)
*Bazaars (grand bazaar is the largest and oldest mall and it is absolutely crazy)
*Ephesus
*Necropolis/Hierapolis/Acropolis (lots of ruins)
*Nicaea
*lots of eating
*swimming
*walks along/dance party/bonfire on the beach
*Museums
*natural hot springs
*biblical sites from Paul's missions

Basically all of it was amazing and it was all an adventure. Our main adventures include: run ins with squatty potties, getting caught in a torrential down pour, and almost dying a couple of times on the bus but for the most part everything went smoothly. Even during our adventures we had a blast. Our hotels were great (some better than others) and the food was almost always edible. My biggest accomplishment- trying fish (twice!), calamari, and other unknown food items.

After 2 plane rides, 5 hotels, hours upon hours of bus rides, 3 boat rides, and lots of walking we made it there and back all in one piece! Way to go team!

Pictures to come!

I'm a terrible blogger...

So in short this week has been amazing! Filled with field trips, adventures in the market, delicious food, and genie pants. Love it!
Our field trips this week were to Jericho and the Garden Tomb- both of which were absolutely incredible!
I have officially decided that I want to come back here. In a perfect world I'd even love to live here for like a couple months. I don't know how I'd do that but it would be amazing. There's just something about this city that I love.
Anyway here's some pictures from Jericho!

Kaitlyn and I on the bus to Jericho

Okay... So I tried to upload other pictures but it wouldn't let me... Karma
Next time!

ps. Tomorrow we leave for TURKEY!!!

catch up time!

So my last post left off with the promise of a field trip to the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall. We went as a group of students as people were welcoming the shabbat. We went to the wall and touched it and watched the Jews pray and dance and sing to bring in the joyous day of the shabbat. It is incredible to see how devoted these people are to God and I can say with complete confidence that the love of God and His spirit is at the Western Wall and is with these people. I think I will leave that experience at that though. The dancing and singing was very fun though. The men's side definitely had way more fun that the women's side though- they were picking each other up and just having a jolly time dancing while on the women's side we were in a circle being lead in mainly prayer/songs and a little bit of dancing in a circle.

On Shabbat we had district conference which was very interesting. There were so many people from all over Israel there- we had to have translators for some Russian and Spanish speaking members. Luckily we had both Spanish and Russian speakers in our group of 82 students- definitely one of those “only at BYU” moments. After the conference a group of us went to the Garden of Gethsemane which was really amazing. They have a private area that they let us into- I think it’s mainly used for a less touristy and more sacred groups.

On a completely different note I would just like to say that I love the people here! There are so many kind people here that make being a student here so much more fun. We constantly have people saying “hello, welcome to Jerusalem” or saying “Mormons welcome here- good prices for Mormons”. We constantly get groups of men talking to us- saying things like “Mormons good girls, nice girls” or saying we’re very beautiful, stuff like that. It took a little getting used to- at first it comes off as kind of creepy because it’s very culturally different than what we’re used to but as long as we’re smart and aware there’s no harm in talking to the people here. And really isn’t that how it is everywhere?

Today (Sunday) a bunch of the students went to Tel Aviv but I decided to stick around the Old City. After doing a bit of reading for school we went and did the Rampart walk which is basically a walk on top of the Old City walls. After the walk we walked around the market and had a small adventure getting to Shabban’s shop making a small detour to the Jewish Quarter. Shabban is the sweetest man maybe of all time. He caters to us Mormons very well- he even has Relief Society magnets and scripture cases. He’s been making all of the girls here rings so I got a ring from him today along with a few other knick knacks. Basically today was just an adventure around the city. We all came home tired but very pleased with our day.

Tomorrow is another field trip- this time to Jericho!

Here's some pictures!

At the Pools of Bethesda

The entrance to the Garden of Gethsemane

Jumping on the Wall of the Damascus Gate

Rampart Walk

Not entirely sure what these purple vegetables are but here's the conversation that occurerd whilst this picture was being taken:

me: I need a picture of this

random man: you need more than a picture you need a taste

me: I don't think so, that color has never entered my body before *run away*

**That conversation was mainly for my family and those of you who truly understand my "fear" of colored food**

I've only been here a week and I'm running out of titles...

This could be a potential problem. I apologize in advance for when my titles start to sound extremely boring or repetitive. So I blogged two days ago but it turns out I jumped the gun a bit because I didn't get a chance to blog about dinner. I think because most of us had been here about a week they figured that we were getting home sick and made chicken and fries! I know, so exciting. But really, I had been missing fries and now I'm really glad I don't have to go all the way to west Jeru to go to McD's to french fries when I fail a test or something. More on the food, and just so you know I'm not only focusing on the familiar foods, we had falafel for lunch yesterday- it was so good! They had giant pita things and falafel balls and fries and hummus. It was really quite delicious.

Classes are getting more interesting every day. I wish I had studied more about history and geography of the area before I had come, I feel like I would be able to understand more about what people are talking about if I had. The center really does provide a way to gain a lot of information/insight into the cultures that are here. It focuses equally on the Palestinian and Jewish (cultural- not so much religion) information. That was actually a standard set for the center when it was first an idea. I think that has really made the center a neutral place and a benefit to the community here. We don't take sides in the conflict but we provide resources to the general public. There are constantly tours going on here and the center even puts on concerts. Last night was a Jazz concert and featured the most amazing musician I have ever heard. He's a 15 year old pianist that has been playing piano by ear since he was 6 months old. I'm not even sure if that's possible. He was the most adorable little pianist I have ever seen! There were tons of people there though just from around the area- some of them come to all of the concerts that the center puts on. The concerts or public events that go on here are never religious because that would be breaking our agreement to be here but creating that bond with the public and having them think of us in a positive way makes it easier for Mormons in general to be here. I have walked past many a shop where the shop owner will yell out "Mormons welcome here! Welcome to Jerusalem" or when I ask the price for something they say "well the Mormon price is $___" The people here are so kind to us and they are very fun to talk to.

Those are just my most recent thoughts on Jerusalem. I'm still loving it here! Every aspect. I'll get more pictures up soon- I promise. We have a field trip to the Western Wall today so that should be really interesting. I'm excited!

Shalom!

Not too much new here in Jerusalem. It's sometimes still a surprise that I'm here. We're closed off enough from the city that it almost feels like we're just at a really cool BYU campus (which we are) but then I go outside of the center and I walk down the hill with cars whizzing by and honking at us and I remember that I'm in one of the most historical cities in the world.

Today I went to the Pools of Bethesda- just a 20 minute walk from the center- and walked around the church and ruins there. The church had amazing acoustics so we started singing "How Great Thou Art". A group of people came into the chapel as we were starting to sing and they started singing as well- at first we thought they were singing a different song but the group leader came up to us and asked us to continue to sing. It turns out that they were a group from Germany and knew the same hymn and were singing it with us in German. It was really an amazing experience- a gathering of believers of Christ. I'm pretty sure they were of another Christian faith but we were gathered together singing for the same purpose. I have to believe that God appreciates the purpose- I know that I definitely felt the spirit more singing in that church than maybe any other experience I have had on this trip so far.

We continue to have classes- so far Hebrew is my favorite- and the easiest. There might be some connection there. I feel like I learn more in Hebrew than I have in my other classes so far though learning a language is more measurable. The way we're being taught is learning a handful of letters a day and the sounds that they make. Then we learn a vowel. Then we put them together to spell words but the words sound out as English words instead of Hebrew words. It makes it all a little more manageable. So far I know about 8 letters and 3 vowels. We are also taught "expressions" or common phrases everyday and how to use them. For example: Shalom! Ma neeshma? is like Hey! What's up? In response you would say Be'seder which means not much.

Anyway that's my day. Don't hesitate to email me- you can ask questions or just talk to me- I seriously won't mind and I definitely will have time. We're only allowed in West Jerusalem after dark and that's a taxi ride away so I don't really go out after dark.

Classes

So despite the fact that our little study abroad started with a little vacation we did start classes yesterday. For those of you who are wondering/asked me what classes I was taking before these are my classes:

Old Testament (which will switch to New Testament in a few weeks)
Modern Near Eastern Studies- Judaism
Modern Near Eastern Studies- Palestine
Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Hebrew
and a Field Trip class

The classes are randomly spread out throughout the week to accommodate our busy schedule which is kind of nice but also a little confusing. All of the teachers except OT and the Field Trip class are taught by local professors and the reason we have two MNE classes is because it would be unfair to both the professor and the students to hear about both sides of the conflict from a biased teacher- so instead we get a completely genuine and educated opinion from both perspectives and we are encouraged to form our own opinion on the matter but never take sides. All of the teachers are wonderful so far- they're very funny and personable- especially the native teachers.
I can already tell that this semester will be a juggling act but that I will be learning a lot. My Hebrew teacher told us today that by the end of the semester (only 13 classes with her) we will be able to read the 10 Commandments in Hebrew. It will definitely be an interesting semester.

shh... pictures

Okay so technically I don't think we're supposed to post pictures because it takes up too much of the internet but I promised you pictures.

Me and my shawarma
this pretty accurately depicts the girl to guy ratio
(L-R Shannon, Lacey, Me, Daniel)

the streets in the markets- I just liked the flags

view from 7 arches view point- similar to the view from my room

This also means I got up the courage to finally charge my laptop! Yay for foreign electricity!

Jerusalem is...

AMAZING!

I'm seriously obsessed with this city. I'm in love with the view from the center, with the markets, and falling in love every day with the food.

Let us start with the view. I can see the entire city from almost every room that I'm in. The chapel, my room, the classrooms, the cafeteria, and various other balconies. Last night the moon was huge and a burnt orange color. It was beautiful and added to all of the other lights of the city.

The markets are so fun too. We went on a walk yesterday and the entire time we were going through the (very crowded) markets the shop owners would ask us if we were Mormons. I'm not sure if they can tell we're the Mormons because we're a large group of white loud college kids or because we have bright green backpacks for our water- but both are dead give aways as to who we are.

So the food- my personal biggest strugglem, as a lot of you know. You'll all be glad to hear that I'm actually finding myself a fan of the food here. There's a really delicious spread here that's really good on pita. It's basically seasame seed butter but with lots of sugar and probably some honey in it. It kind of tates like a Nature Valley oats and honey bar. They feed us all kinds of food here at the center so we're never bored. Today when we went out to the city we got some shawarma and it was delicious. It's kind of like a gyro but the American version would probably be a burger. It was a pita filled with veal, chicken, and lamb shaved meat and humus and then I added the yogurt sauce which is like a cucumber-y garlic-y sauce that's really delicious. The next thing to try is the local falafel! In short the food is amazing- the brownies are like fudge, the ice cream tastes like marshmallows, and the yogurt tastes like pudding. Thank goodness we walk everywhere.

In other good news: I bought a camera!!! Now I just have to get over my fear of charging my computer and upload them. I may have to go to the Hebrew University next door to do that.

Also please email me! I'm having a wonderful time here but I still love talking to people from home. I will get pictures up ASAP- I realize just reading about Jeru is kind of boring when you can't see it.

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!

I'm in JERU!!!

It only took 5 flights, 1 hotel, 2 shuttles, 1 bus, and who knows how many prayers to get here.

We made it here with only 5 seats lost (and then reclaimed) and only 3 people lost their bags. My excitement may sound somewhat sarcastic but really it is a miracle that we made it. There are still about 30 people trying to get to Jerusalem but they'll all make it in hopefully by Monday.

So information about Jeru- the center is BEAUTIFUL. I probably looked like a five year old in a candy store when I walked in- all wide eyed and mouth open. If I had more energy I would have just ran through onto the patio that looks over the city. Fortunately we had people grab our bags from the bus and dinner was just starting when we got there. We all ate and talked on the patio- the weather here is perfect and watching the sun set whilst listening to call to prayer was amazing. This entire week has been absolutely sureal for so many reasons but finally getting here legitimately feels like a dream. I wish I had pictures to show but unfortunately my camera is... well... possibly broken. Don't worry though I'll either buy a new one or get mine fixed (preferably the later) and I'll get pictures ASAP.

Tomorrow is Sabbath and our orientation walk around the city- I can't wait!

Lots of love from Jeru! (finally!!)