That One Time I Lived On A Kibbutz

Mt. of Beatitudes

I never thought I would enjoy the kibbutz life so much…But part of that could be that I wasn’t on the working end of things, just the lounging aspect of the kibbutz life.  Though my Provo apartment had nearly twice the shower space, the view from my little porch beat any view from any window in Provo.  Our journey in Galilee was crammed with a myriad of holy sites, classes studying the New Testament, Hanukkah donuts, swimming in the sea of Galilee, hammock time, bonfires, lots of churches and quite a few sessions of quiet reflection time on the shore of the sea.  The atmosphere there harbors a peaceful study, and I liked to take advantage of that.  Jerusalem is its own entity and provokes a different kind of peace, but Galilee was very centered on the quiet whisperings of a coastal breeze.  I think my favorite moments were swinging in the hammock gazing up at the stars between the leaves of a palm tree, or a walk on the beach I took late at night as it started to pour. 

  As I mentioned, we visited about a dozen churches in just under two weeks.  That’s a lot of churches to keep track of, but each of them commemorated such a sacred occasion in the mortal life of Jesus Christ.  The first day we went to Nazareth and saw all the mosaics that dozens of country’s donated to show their depiction of Christ.  The contrast between Italy’s portrayal of Mary and the Christ Child 


How's the snow, Utah? 

compared to India’s made for an interesting walk.  Trips later that week whizzed us through sites such as the Mt. of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Beitsaida, Tiberias, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Carmel, and then up to coast to explore Akko, Haifa and Caesarea Philippi.  Top that off with classes and papers and you can understand while the slow pace of going down to the beach for a snooze or some personal study sounded like heaven.  My apartment was only a few steps away from the shores of the Galilee and I went to the beach every day in between classes.   I even will be taking a little bit of a tan home as a souvenir from Galilee.  

One afternoon, we were set loose
to explore the Crusader Castle,
Nimrod.  We had way too much fun.

The room to spread out on the property was a welcome relief from the sometimes crowded Jerusalem Center.  Evenings were very unstructured, and allowed lots of time to slip away with a book, lounge on the beach watching the stars, or grabbing a hammock after watching the Hanukkah candles being lit.  The whole experience was rather surreal, and put me a little out of my element.  Maybe that was the kosher rules of the kibbutz.  That frothy pink frozen stuff was not ice cream. The very enjoyable aspect of all this coastal beach time was the occasional glance at Utah’s weather-cold and snowy.  I tried not to rub it in too much when our day trip to Haifa ended at the seashell-instead-of-sand beaches at Caesarea Philippi.  The Mediterranean aspect of Israel was a side I really loved seeing.  My friend Brooke and I decided that the coast should definitely be an aspect of each winter season.  Homemade ice cream on the ancient port of Akko beats scraping ice off my car.  

 I suppose I did get a taste of winter one morning when the mist and rain was so thick that we skipped one of our outlook sites because we couldn’t see a thing.  Luckily it cleared up and we could view the grounds at Haifa.  I enjoyed my little snippet of a California Christmas and enjoyed the sunshine for the rest of the the day.  A long bus home with headphones and napping got us to Jerusalem.  I woke up in time to see the Dome of the Rock lit up and to see the Jerusalem Center shining on Mt. Scopus.  It felt good to be home, but I can also feel that I’m ready to be almost home, home.  Flying into the Salt Lake Terminal will be great, even if there’s snow.

Gastronomy Therapy

Support local businesses-buying mint lemonade
in the Jewish Quarter

Often times my level of happiness is directly tied to my stomach.  Okay, so most times. When in the Old City, a good day ends with a treat.  Rest stops involve a treat.  Study breaks involve a treat.  A long chat with friends is finished with a treat. Staying awake in class is because of a treat. Get the drift?  Finals week, presented this connection in a frightening way.  I usually chalk up my interest in the ‘local cuisine’ to my plan of attending culinary school.  Hey, I feel like you can taste a culture, so why not explore every little street side bakery?  But mostly it’s because when my stomach is happy, I am happy.  That being said, my stress levels had reached an all time high.  Finals are a whirlwind of crunch times and cramming. Wait, we actually talked about all this on the study guide?  Fun times.  Sunday was a “reading day” but when in Jerusalem, that meant free day.




The previous mentioned Pistachio Baklava. 



November/December brought good tidings of
Hanukkah Donuts...just look at them.

 We sauntered down the hill to the Old City and went through the Temple Institute which was fascinating.  I munched on my sack lunch while we deliberated our plans through the Armenian Quarter.  If I had to pick a favorite quarter, that would be it.  It is very Europeanesque and just gorgeous.  The little pottery stores are charming and there are (surprise) some really cool looking restaurants that will need to be sampled.  I’m going to culinary school, remember? 

 So, as we decided that it was time to start heading back to the Center for an evening pouring over doodle ridden notes and textbooks, we stumbled upon heaven.  In the Jewish Quarter.  A red awning framed bakery.  I lost all sense of control and sampled more than a few of what was offered among the glimmering rows of pastries and cookies.  I left nearly 15 US dollars poorer. That’s not shekels, people.  US Dollars.  On sweets.  The damage wasn’t too bad until I decided to sample this chocolate cookie before leaving.  Hands down, the most delicious thing I have tasted in Israel.  It may rival any sweet I’ve previously had. 

 These cookies are round, about the size of my palm…which is now a universal unit of measurement if you didn’t know.  A rich chocolate color, with a slight swirly pattern on the top. They had been just taken out of the oven and the slightly firm exterior broke marvelously to reveal a warm, gooey, lava cake, chewy dark chocolate center.  Woah. Unfortunately up to this point, baked goods have been a bit lack luster, with a few exceptions.  (See previous posts) It being finals week, I justified gathering 4 more of these cookies.  I had to restrain myself to not get 12, and to not eat them on the mile walk home.  I was honest with myself and admitted that my level of contented bliss on our stroll home was directly tied to that cookie. I have been using that self-control to painfully ration myself to one cookie a day. Let’s not take bets on whether that was accomplished or not.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes.  The only good way to cope
with finals.  Or life.  Or stress. Or Wednesdays.  Or any
other sort of emotion. (I realllly like food. And pictures of food)

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.

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. 

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?