Desert Desserts



Me and Emma coping the lose at the Sukkot celebrations

Mostly to get this over with, the BYU vs U of U football game was really good, but kinda bad, and bit ugly.  It was very nostalgic to see ESPN’s pan of the rabid crowd, and I even spotted a few friends of mine.  Though it was a disappointing loss, it was such a fun morning.  I say morning because a few fans woke up at 5:15 am to watch the game live.  We had quite the following around 8:00 am, but the dedicated few stuck it out even in the wee hours of the morning. It was a really fun atmosphere to be here with BYU students who were kind of wishing we were there in the midst of the craziness.  Then BYU lost, and we were all glad we could cope by going out into the city.

                                                                                       Sorry Provo fans. 

In more happy news, I now find myself touting an adorable camel leather backpack.  It’s super chic, and much more fashionable than the gigantically enormous backpacks given us by the program.  I wondered why they gave us such large backpacks, then our textbooks and packet readings were distributed, along with a 2 liter water bottle. Oh, that’s why I could almost fit inside of mine. I often don’t use that backpack because I feel like if I put something in there, I’ll never find it in the dozens of cavernous pouches and pockets.  I also thought that 2 liter water bottle was ridiculously huge, but I have found myself emptying that baby by the end of our field trips in the various arid deserts that are everywhere in Israel. When they say desert, they mean it.

Jewish Quarter-Super cool to pass mosaics like this all the time:) 

 To my horror, my camera battery burnt out.  Super convenient, because we go to cool places basically every day.  Luckily my friends are the best and play awesome photographers.  I was cameraless for 2 whole days, which was a huge bummer.  Props to my parents and my dad’s research skills- My dad referenced me to a place in West Jerusalem and they had one battery left that fit my camera. One left.  I snagged that pricey little purchase and happily captured the Sukkot celebrations on our walk home.  So it ended quite well, especially when you toss in the fact that buying a powdered sugar covered fig cookie also got 3 cute American girls 2 taste tests of a crumbly cinnamon coffee cake and a delicious honey cornbread like sweet.  That man just earned himself 3 very loyal customers for the next 3 months.

Some really cool highlights of the past few days have been to a fascinating visit to the Israeli Museum to see King Herod’s tomb, the Dead Sea Scrolls and a field trip to Jericho.  And by last few days, I mean today and yesterday.  It’s a busy ship here in Jerusalem.  The museum is a must see if you are in the vicinity.  After 5 hours, we didn’t even see the Fauvism/Expressionist wing which was a bummer.  Thank heavens for season passes to art museums, right?  And why not throw in a visit to Jericho while you’re at it.  On the way, be sure to visit King Herod’s Winter Palace and try to replicate how cool this picture is.  Good luck.  My favorite part about Jericho (minus the religious significance, of course) was the spring of living water, which coaxed Heidi and myself to roll up our jeans and take a quick dip while the professors sorted out scheduling. 

Said picture to 'beat", Herod's Winter Palace.  (Try, but you'll fail) (And apologizes for the lack luster quality- we didn't want to totally blind the public with our awesomeness)

So apart from a couple of hiccups this week, everything really ironed out.  I’m lucky that a replaceable camera battery and finding more desserts I love are my biggest concerns here in the Holy Land.  Let’s hope that continues, as midterms are right around the corner.  How bad can they be when you factor in the fact that we go to Turkey as a post midterm celebration? 

Markets: Flea and Farmer's

I've always had a thing for markets.  I remember being a little girl tagging along to go grocery shopping with my mom.  In college, I loved walking to the nearby Farmer's Market to buy my produce, and I absolutely adore going to Salt Lake City's huge market on Saturday mornings in the summer.  It's a cool fascination with the sites, people watching, the crafts...and the variety of pastry that accompany the outdoor market.  Okay, so mostly it's the pastry. To my joyful discovery, this holds true on an international scale.  Sunday brought the fantastic chance to skip off on some homework and take a short bus ride to the Mediterranean coast and spend the day in Tel Aviv.  What a gorgeous coastal city.  A small group of us decided to explore before hitting the waves, which was a fantastic decision.  Old Jaffa houses a really neat bohemian artist district that led to lots cool discoveries in little galleries.  We saw a Yemenite jeweler demonstration and a gallery centered around advertising in Israel to highlight a couple.  I found the French influence in advertising really interesting.  My  Humanities professors would be proud of that little detour I think.

This is mostly to make you jealous of two things
1: My sick awesome Genie Pants (See previous post)
2: The gorgeous shot of the Mediterranean.

 Alright, onto the markets.   When I say flea market, expand your mental definition to include a Mediterranean breeze, Turkish rugs, Moroccan furniture and African influenced art.  Along with random street side vendors that sold everything from q-tips to Sherlock Holmes style pipes.  Cool.  The winding myriad of pathways housed stacks of rugs, crisp white linen shirts, glittering necklaces, ancient leather camera cases, dishes, pots, pans and used postcards.  (Is that legal?)  Some storefronts were so jammed packed you couldn't walk inside. It's quite the sensory overload once the food comes into play.  Around the corner, spits of shawarma, rows of baked breads and baklava and slushy pomegranate chillers tempt your palate.  Needless to say, there was quite the sampling.  It's all part of the sensory experience, right?

The hot and sweaty atmosphere paid off when I hit the beach.  I played around in the waves and then just sat and chatted in the shallows after taking a long walk along the beach.  Watching the sunset demanded gelato, and that ended our day in Tel Aviv.  Needless to say, I'll be going back again before this little trip is over.




Highlight of the coolest aspect of the market in my
opinion.

Market number two.  September is a wonderful time to be in Jerusalem for many reasons.  One particular reason is the number of Jewish holidays housed in this month.  Today officially begins the start of Sukkot, just five days after Yom Kippur.  Our Jewish professor suggested all the things we could go see in celebration of the 8 day holiday.  One in particular was to see the temporary huts built in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. Naturally, we had to see that after class on Wednesday.  Some families eat, sleep and drink in their sukkhas for the extent of the holiday.  Obviously some sukkahs are more temporary than others, depending on the use. In West Jerusalem we saw many sukkahs being built, but we found the highlight of the holiday in the market just around the corner from Yafo street.

This has to be one of the coolest markets I've ever been to.  Fish, melons, dozens of types of candies, citron fruits, nut mixes, pastry, cheeses, figs, dates in various states of drying, bouquets of flowers, oranges, sushi, pistachios, cinnamon, dried fruits like mangoes and kiwis, currants, cardamom, saffron provided an myriad of colors and smells to the narrow street. Each vendor had his wares in a gorgeous spread to tempt the crowd of shoppers.  It was very busy, given the eve of the holiday.  This had to be one the coolest things I've seen in Jerusalem to date. The only downfall was that we were unsuccessful in our hunt for (you guessed it) coconut baklava.  I plan on becoming quite the connoisseur before returning to the States.

Like Tel Aviv, this won't be my last visit to that market.  I'm a firm believer that food is a reflection of a culture, and what is a better sampling of that culture than a market?
.

While we didn't find coconut baklava, we did find God.
I think that counts for something. 

Shawarma Beats Studying

From Monday's field trip, looking over the Judaean wilderness.
It's not where I'd like to wander for forty years, but this very well may be the start of my modeling career... 

Don't be fooled. 8 a.m. class is still early, even in Jerusalem.  Classes are in full swing and they don't hold back.  We have class Tuesday through Friday and they keep us busy, busy, busy. The craziest thing is when you realize that everything you are learning about happened about 1-17 miles away from your bedroom. It's pretty cool to read the scriptures and say "Oh yeah, I live on Mt. Scopus.  Neat".  I have the hardest time deciding which is my favorite class, because the faculty is amazing.  Old Testament has the best insights, ancient history with Dr. Seely is great because he knows just about everything, history of Palestine with Dr. Bashir Bashir is hysterical (he sounds exactly like lemur King Julian off of Madagascar) history of Israel with Dr. OphirYarden is so interesting and I can already read Hebrew with Professor Goldman.  It's tons of hard work and reading (okay skimming), but it's an amazing set of classes. It's pretty hard to put your head down and work when everyone is laughing and talking but it's fun that everyone is basically in the same classes.

Maybe I'll choose Dr. Seely as my favorite professor for today.  We went on a field trip last Monday to several viewpoints that allowed us to see Jerusalem from many different angles.  We got chatting, and he discovered that I was a Humanities major which opened up a whole discussion on the fascinating culture that I'll be able to study while I am here.  Today in lecture, he mentioned how proud he was of Humanities majors because we are able to think and analyze all the bits of information we are learning from each class and integrate them into a cohesive analysis.  Woot. Go Humanities majors.  I mostly follow all the professors around on our field trips because they are geniuses.  We stopped off at the Church of Ascension and analyzed all the iconography of the chapel.  It's so much cooler to do that in person.  My favorite part of the whole day was when we sang "Nearer My God To Thee" inside.  The acoustics were incredible and it was such a touching experience.

 Everyday is pretty overwhelming like that. I feel like such a well rounded person studying here (maybe it's the Humanities major...) but it is really amazing.  Everything is just so much fun, from Old Testament, writing papers and munching on pita.  Today we spent about 2 hours putting together school kits for a Hebrew school, and though it was long and hot, it was all smiles and laughs the whole time.  I love it.




Sketchy Costco trip...I think it's supposed to be "Extra", not Exit. 

 However fun classes are, it's sweet freedom when we can escape to the city.  Highlights have included a sketchy trip to the Arab Costco for some much needed chocolate bars, haggling the price down on some sick awesome genie pants and tasting each vendor's pistachio baklava to determine who has the best.  (It's a rough job, I know) The food at the center is quite overwhelming.  Lunch and dinner are these amazing sauces over couscous, hummus, dates, dried apricots, traditional side dishes and lots and lots of pita. (Hence the scale on the 5th floor...)My favorite addition is the hot chocolate machine. The nights get chilly out here and most everyone grabs a jacket and sips cocoa on the balcony while we watch the sunset and listen to the Muslim Call to Prayer. (This gorgeous chant plays 5 times a day-while beautiful always, the 4 p.m. call is much more pleasant to listen to than the 4 a.m. call in my opinion...I'm no morning person.) Last night's outing was hard to top.  We shopped in East Jerusalem (maybe for baklava, maybe not. You'll never know) then crossed to the west side. (East Jerusalem is banned after dark, for safety reasons).  West Jerusalem is really modern and the place to be at night.  The street performers are awesome as is the street food.  Shawarma with spicy hummus, pickles, chips (french fries) and cucumber was the entree which only got better when we found a gelato place right around the corner.  The food at the center is good, but it does lack gelato.  I'll just have to skip out to West Jerusalem more regularly.


This is West Jerusalem and it has these bikes that
when you pedal, they play music, beat a drum, light
up a lamp, etc.  We drew quite the crowd.

Each weekend is like a three day holiday because we have Sabbath on Saturday, Sunday is a free day, and Mondays are field trip days.  That, along with the baklava, is something I can definitely get used to.

Not Your Typical First Day of School

Shalom! I have made it safe and sound to the Holy Land.  After a prayerful morning, I received my passport from the safety deposit box and was on my way to the airport. Thank goodness I'm not 'the girl who didn't bring her passport', though I've accrued some other nicknames already. (Anecdote: These scrawny cats lounge around the outdoor patio in Jerusalem and another student thinks I'm some crazy cat lady because I am rather attached to a smallish kitten.  Nice impression, Em). That aside, my anxiety of meeting people was vanquished rather quickly. Everyone is friendly and eager to ask the general questions of "Hi, what's your name? Where are you from? What are you studying?" I have lots of basic acquaintances, 80 to be exact.  From SLC to JFK to TLV was loooooong.  I slept a ton, but even those blow up neck pillows (ridiculously fashionable, I know) aren't meant for 8 hour stretches. But then we were in Israel! There were lots of little hints that helped the shocking transition from the US to the Holy Land.  It was Jewish New Year when we arrived to we received an apple and some honey as a gift to welcome in the holiday.  Each airline announcement was made in English, then in Hebrew and there were quite a few people dressed in religious garb on the flight.  Very cool.  You also can't stand up the last 30 minutes of the flight to Israel due to Israeli law.  Kinda scary, but cool too.

We met our faculty at the customs gate and were loaded onto buses to drive to Jerusalem. Though jetlagged and exhausted, the first glimpse of the Dome of the Rock was something I'll never forget.  We drove up the winding pathway, following the freeway signs that read "Center"and "Mormon University" in English, Hebrew and Arabic. It's quite amazing to see. (That's how everyone knows the gorgeous building at the top of the hill)  The Jerusalem Center is incredibly beautiful. The architecture fits to well into the layout of the Old City, which can be seen through the massive windows and arches that make up the center.  It's incredibly hard to focus when every where you look you can see Harod's Gate, or the Dome of the Rock.  Each bedroom as a balcony where you can see the whole city, since the Center is up on Mt. Scopus.  It's surreal to even say that, but even more amazing to actually see it, let alone live there. I've slept rather well here, though I have woken up each morning at 4 am to the Muslim Call to Prayer. It's one of the most beautiful things I've heard, and don't mind it one bit. I just go back to sleep after listening.  I usually go out on my outdoor patio and listen while the city is sleeping, while looking at the olive and pomegranate trees that are right on my porch.



First day of School picture overlooking the Old City

There is so much to tell, even though I've only been here a few days. The food is incredible here-and from a culinary minded person, it's as exciting as the city itself.  I'm motivated to try all the selections, but terrified of those "pita pounds".  There is a scale on the 5th floor and our orientation packet said something along the lines of "Don't bring Jerusalem home with you! The Jerusalem Center houses both a gym and a scale for your use".  Yikes.  I'm using that scale once...Before I fly home to make sure my luggage (not me) is not overweight. Only 3 days in has been an overload of information.  Yesterday we took a camera-less walking tour of the Old City just to orient ourselves.  The city is beautiful and busting-there are tons of vendors with rich carpets, painted tiles, religious souvenirs, pomegranate juices, incense and the bustle of people.  It fits in well with what I thought Jerusalem would be like. We had bodyguards from the Center at check points in the city which was very helpful with my group of 8 got stuck in the middle of a massive pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It took us over an hour to walk just a couple blocks down the crowded bazaar.  Everyone was singing, burning incense and carrying basil (which was supposedly found on Christ's tomb).  It was such an amazing experience and involved all of my senses which solidified so much detail.  It's crazy to talk about something so incredible as a part of everyday life.  Today (Friday) was the first day of class and can I tell you how cool it was to study the Old Testament and the geography of a place when it is literally a stone's throw away?  It was rather difficult to focus because being in a classroom is torture when you could be wandering the city. But this is an academic experience, not a vacation. (We are told that about 13 times a day)

That is only a teeny view into the packed few days here in Jerusalem.  I was waiting for a moment where I would be hit hard that I'm living in the Holy Land, but I feel this feeling of acceptance.  I feel very comfortable here, despite the tight security and political sensitivity we are constantly discussing.  There have been some challenges, but they don't really concern me and I think it's because of where I am. I mean, why else would I not be upset that my straightener isn't working?

There is going to be lots more to come, count on that.  Tomorrow is Sabbath, and we have a free day on Sunday and a field trip on Monday.  That's sure to produce some pretty cool stories and photos, right?