Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Over and Out, October

Gethsemane with my girls
        I am always surprised as I think about my weeks here in Jerusalem.  All the sudden, we are nearing the 2 month mark.  Slow down pretty please.  Time passes so slowly, yet suddenly zooms by.  October is nearly over.  When in the world did that happen?  It helps that we are insanely busy-this week had to be some sort of record.  We had a ‘recovery’ day after our trip to Turkey. 

I put this in quotes because a free day means that us students pack it full of crazy activities.  We ran into the city and hit the ground following Turkey running.  Despite the stress of classes and midterms, we accomplished a lot this week.  It’s so strange to think about what I did on Tuesday, and say “Oh yeah, that’s when we picked olives to make our own olive oil.” “No, Wednesday was when we went to the Pool of Siloam”. "Okay, was in the Jewish or Armenian Quarter?"   It’s just weird to say.  Surreal almost. We had 5 or 6 field trips this past 2 weeks which may have topped some of the things that I put down on my bucket list.  Monday was difficult, but worthwhile.  Professor Yardin walked us through the Holocaust museum, which is always a thought provoking experience. The quotes and testimonies really hit me hard and wiped me out-it was an emotional day.  


Olive Picking, like a boss
          Wednesday we hiked through knee high freezing cold water down the narrow shaft of Hezekiah’s tunnel, headlamps and all.  That was an interesting experience-I tried not to think about the thousands of pounds of solid rock over my head.  The tunnel took about 25 minutes to walk through, splashing through the darkness, ducking my head and twisting around a couple tight corners.  It was a very cool experience.  And by cool I mean awesome. Also something worth noting was our olive picking afternoon on Thursday.  Students grabbed buckets and bags and headed off into the grounds of the Jerusalem Center to the olive trees on the property.  Ladders and lots of olive throwing fights led to a fun afternoon but not exactly the yield we wanted.  Haha professors had to supplement, but we had lots of fun.  That following Monday we mashed the olives in our very own olive crusher, stone, wheel thingy and pressed it in two different olive presses.  That was a neat experience-I’ll never flippantly toss olive oil in a pan, being involved in the process made me realize how difficult a procedure it was. 


          Maybe call it the halfway point, but this week was a little bit of a process in it of itself.  Possibly it is because we had sometime to reflect on the intensive refining process that is to make olive oil.  It was a surprisingly easy analogy to life in some ways.  It’s harder than I thought to be away from my solid support system at a pivotal point in your life.  Penciling in a time to call or skype is rough, “hi family, can I maybe schedule a time to discuss my life with you?”  Though difficult, it has allowed me to rely on myself a bit more and grit my teeth against that sometimes disassociating feeling between my life in Jerusalem and Provo.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Twenty One in Turkey

  Midterms should always be rewarded with a week long escapade in Turkey.  That's a fantastic stress reliever, though doesn't motivate homework that is due before our adventure in Turkey.  All that reading went out the window, because I was boarding a plane no matter what I read.  Or didn't read....Anywhoo, everyday was very much action packed.  Also, I counted this trip as a kind of birthday present to myself, as I turned 21 the day before departure.

21 Baby (Not 12, Hebrew reads right to left...
Bask in my culturalness)
We sure got our money's worth on this little trip.  We had a guide to instruct us along with our knowledgeable professors.  My favorite part about Turkey was the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Wait, the private sunset Bosphorus cruise. Okay, scratch that-seeing the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque in person instead of in a textbook. Maybe seeing Troy was pretty neat too. Or eating Dundrum (chewy, sticky marshmallow ice cream) outside of the Pergamum.  Also, the genuine fake watches in Ephesus.  There were several surprising observations on this trip to Turkey that were revealed.  One major one was the fact that I still have friends despite the long bus rides in which I fell asleep and various classmates encountered the "Emily is not a morning person" phase.  So that was cool.  Lucky for me, this was an 'out of country' field trip so we were allowed to listen to our ipods.  Thank heavens.  Bus time resulted in many hilarious stories, and also gave a sharp insight to a lot of people.  At one stretch, we played "iPod Idol" where students willing volunteered to blast their iPod headphones and sing into the bus's microphone, for the 'enjoyment' of all the other riders.  Also, some girls wanted to make things interesting and painted some sleeping boys' nails black.  It was fantastically funny. We must have supported the local population of tiny Turkey towns on the money we spent on these delicious chocolate filled shortbread cookies and coke. And Magnum bars.  Us kids love those Magnum ice cream bars.
Istanbul Glamour Shot
  Onto more important details-I found the best baklava.  I did it.  In the Hamdi Restaurant in Istanbul, we found it.  I haven't yet been able to eat the pistachio baklava in the Old City, but I'll probably succumb.  But man, oh man, it felt good to find that little gem.  I highly recommend all the bazaars in Turkey.  My favorite parts was the food-surprise surprise.  I found these delightful dried figs and this amazing apple tea I had sampled earlier in the week.  Unfortunately for my family, the figs did not make to Jerusalem. They taste like fig newtons, but 200 grams is 2 dollars.  Sweet.  The mosques I think were my favorite part about Turkey.  I loved all the tiles in the Blue Mosque, and just seeing the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque right across from each other was pretty cool.

Blue mosque-Also all my really cool friends
The really neat thing about the mosques was how it captured the slice of the Muslim culture.  I loved putting on the headscarf and taking off my shoes to walk around on the padded carpets.  The bazaars were so cool-we found the silk market of the Bursa Bazaar and had a mad dash through the crowded aisles in order to make the bus on time-running through the bazaar last minute is up there on the list of “coolest things I’ve done”.  

I have been a bit melancholy about missing fall in Utah because it is my favorite season.  I adore my wardrobe, the weather, the food (that’s a surprise) and the general atmosphere.  But to my surprise, Turkey reminded so much of a solid Utahn autumn, but so much cooler.  The leaves were just about to change, and the weather was cool, but the afternoons were warm when the sun hit your face.  Dark evenings city streets were lit up with pinpricks of cigarettes smoked by the little red and white striped stands of men roasting chestnuts. It was a bit sad to leave Turkey, I had become quite attached to both the big cities, the little European/Asian influenced towns and looking at the window on long bus rides, rocking out to some pretty chill music.  Our flight landed pretty late, and after a stressful time crunch through security and an hour delay, we got into the Jerusalem Center around 2 am.  It was a strange sensation to walk through the Tel Aviv airport thinking, “It’s good to be home”
.  

Friday, October 4, 2013

Weekend Bucketlists



Looks like Italy, no?
So, before mentioned and beloved Dr. Seely issued a challenge in lecture last week.  When talking about Egypt, he said one day you will go and purchase an extra ticket in a museum in Cairo and see the pharaoh that talked to Moses.  He said you will go in the dimly lit, climate controlled room and stare into the face of Ramses the II.  It was brief moment, and it soon was followed by lists and lists of facts that were rattled off at an alarming speed.  And right then and there, I began my bucket list.  A real one, written down with all the times I want to accomplish, places I want to see, and things I want to do.  I started writing down various desired accomplishments and countries yet to visit when I realized that I have already done some bucket worthy things. Quite a few, actually. It was a surprising moment. Thanks mom and dad for the headstart.

Playing the Bells with Brealynn :) 

            The past week has been stressful with midterms, but I’ve had this bucket list mentality in mind.  Almost every day here is a bucket list moment.  Several things checked off on my list were accomplished this week.  Saturday for Sabbath, I played an arrangement of “I Believe in Christ” with the whole Jerusalem skyline behind me. When will I get a chance like that again? I went with 5 other students to the YMCA Bell Tower in West Jerusalem Sunday morning to play the bells for all of Jerusalem to hear.  We rung the hour at 11:00 and 12:00, but got to play other songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Follow the Prophet” in between the hour. For Jerusalem!  After, we wandered around the city, found a gorgeous apartment neighborhood, explored Zedekiah’s cave, and found a small turtle outside the city walls.  We named him Burt.   (Okay so finding a turtle wasn’t exactly Bucket Listed, but I may put a category called “saving lives” and count Burt as a list item) On another note, I am now Instagram famous.  Remember my challenge to beat a photo at Herod’s palace?  (See previous post) It was chosen as the BYU Study Abroad Instagam picture of the week.  No big deal.


Goliath Slinging!
Bell Caves-Huge!
             Monday, field trip day, crossed off several items.  We visited six sites, which was a long but rewarding day.  I loved all the caves we explored (This week was really cave heavy for some reason. That was a bizarre thing to say) mostly because they are awesome and it’s still really hot in the afternoon. One cave housed an ancient oil press, while another had a maze of water holding cisterns.  We went to the Bell Caves which were awesome.  That place is enormous.  Enormous. It originally was a quarry which turned it into this fantastically acoustic underground cathedral. Probably the best part about that day was when we went to Tel Ahzekah and the valley that it looks over.  Professors distributed us each a sling and sent us on our way to find 5 smooth stones and let us loose, standing back a ways. We got to practice our slingshot skills where David slew Goliath.  It’s a pretty cool thing to say that I could have killed Goliath with a sling. That I almost could have killed Goliath. That I may have been able to give Goliath a concussion.  That I could have possibly, maybe, given Goliath a smallish bruise.  Those slings are harder than they look to operate.

            The rest of the week was spent pouring over books and doodle ridden notebooks which was stressful and exhausting.  It was a very long week, but I tried to keep my bucket list mentality.  It helps that we leave for a post midterm week long excursion in Turkey.  And hey, it’ll be pretty cool to turn twenty one in Turkey. That is bucket list worthy.