Jstor

Enjoying our lunches and some pastries at a little bakery we have started to frequent in the Jewish Quarter of the old city called Sambooki.  The food is delicious, and it is air conditioned so it’s a win-win.  After we ate we walked around the Old City and bought some souvenirs. My shirt was a real hit with the shopkeepers as we walked around.  Instead of yelling “Lady, come into my shop,” like they usually do, I got a personalized name of ‘strawberry’ (or cherry if their english vocabulary did not include strawberry).  Quite the treat.

The food is so delicious Lindsey couldn’t stop eating long enough to smile for the camera.

We visited a couple museums that had the remains of some very large houses that belonged to wealthy priests of Herod’s temple.  Inside one of the museums they had made a miniature replica of what the house would have looked like in it’s prime.  It is probably one of the best miniature things I have ever seen, and a couple of us girls were loving how tiny and detailed it was. Even though this is a terrible picture that doesn’t even capture how great it was it deserves to be posted.    

The stairs leading up the double archway that was used during the time of Herod’s temple.

The original rim of one of the arches of the triple archway. 

You can see a little bit of all three arches behind us. 

The classic reading while floating in the Dead Sea pose. 

Notice that no one really has their shoulders under the water because it’s pretty much impossible to.  You could go out to the deepest part of the Dead Sea and still look like your standing because no matter what you do, you float. 

The Dead Sea felt like a hot tub, which was not the most refreshing since it was 109 degrees outside.  Despite the heat we all got in and had a great time.  A few people cut their feet on the rocks covered with huge salt crystals you have to walk across to get in the water which caused them a lot of pain in the water so I was glad to have my sandals.  The feeling of floating in the Dead Sea is almost impossible to describe. When you swim on your stomach it feels like you are gliding across the water and your feet keep popping out of the water because they can’t stop floating.  

The water wasn’t the most pleasant so no one stayed in for too long.  We were all light headed and thirsty when we got out and the lone man who was selling popsicles was not a fan of all 80 of us coming to make a purchase at the same time. 

We have now been able to swim in the Red Sea, Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. 

I’m officially ready to come home. 

We’re all dying to see Harry Potter.  The billboards we see left and right are not helping. 

A devotional on top of Mt. Carmel telling the story of Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal. 

Ruins at Ceaserea. 

One of two graves we visited in Haifa, Adolf Haag and John Clark were two missionaries sent to the middle east during the late 1800s and early 1900s who both passed away.  The broken columns on top of their graves symbolize a life cut short.  

Racing in the hippodrome at Ceaserea. 

The aqueduct at Ceaserea. 

Getting ready for church in Tiberias. 

Reminiscing on our primary days singing Scripture Power. 

Swimming in Gan Hashelosha. 

The spings of Gan Hashelosha are part of the spring system where Gideon brought his men to drink and sent home those who lapped up the water like a dog. 

Enjoying the breeze and view from the top of Mt. Arbel

unintentional twins in our pink linen pants and white shirts.

Lots of long bus rides. 

Worshiping the golden calf at Tel Dan. 

For the past 11 days we were lucky enough to live by the Sea of Galilee in bungalows and travel all around to different New Testament sites.  We stayed on a kibbutz called Ein Gev and it was a highlight of the whole program so far. 

Our bungalows from the shore.

The cafeteria was kosher so we enjoyed a dairy meal for breakfast, but for the rest of the meals anything dairy (like ice cream) was oil based. 

Our days in Galilee were jam packed, there are so many significant sites to visit.  We made a trip to Nazareth where we visited a place that recreated what life would have been like during the time of Jesus. 

The church on top of the Mt. of Beatitudes.  The sweetest little nun gave us a tour and taught us about the Sermon on the Mt. 

Capernaum was one of my favorite sites we visited.  We spent a lot of time talking about all of the different miracles performed here and had a great devotional. 

These are the remains of what are traditionally believed to be Peter’s house and you can see the bottom of the church that has been built on top of it. 

The synagogue at Capernaum. 

One of my favorite mosaics we saw in Tabgha, representing the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.

Eating St. Peter’s fish at a local Galilean restaurant. 

Getting ready to hike to the city of Gomla, you can see the ruins on the hill behind us. These ruins were cool because the synagogue here had never been rebuilt like most of them have.  It was the same synagogue that would have been standing during the time of Christ. 

We had a free afternoon now and then after mornings of class where we enjoyed escaping the incredibly hot and humid weather by hanging out at the beach. 

Sometimes it was too hot to do anything except just sit in the water and try not to get knocked over by the waves.  When the water was calm enough you could stick your hands or feet in and these little swarms of minnow-like fish would come and nibble the dead skin of of them.  It was a little freaky and it tickled so I couldn’t handle it for too long. 

Loving the sea. The water was the perfect temperature and since it wasn’t salty we could handle swimming for long amounts of time a lot better. 

Tonight was our belated celebration of the 4th of July.  We all got as patriotic as our limited wardrobes allowed in honor of the festivities.

I was basically a walking American flag.

The tables from the cafeteria were all set up outside with classic American music blasting from the speakers.  

One of the top three reasons we have been waiting for this night—-HAMBURGERS.  They are right up there with Mexican food as far as things we miss the most that are edible.  The grill was in high demand tonight because we were all so excited for them.  They didn’t taste quite the same as back home, Fenton (the boy with the great hair tan line) says it’s because they are ‘grass fed’ but who knows.  We at them despite their slightly off flavor and loved them.

One of the many activities for the night, 3 legged racing.  Katie and I had a strong powerstance. 

Notice who is winning here….we were champions.

Scarf buddies.

Cutest face paint.

Although my face paint was pretty impressive, there was the major downside of feeling the need to close my eyes for every picture in order for the flag to be complete.

The night ended with some sparklers and everyone getting eaten by swarms of mosquitoes.  The 4th (8th) of July was a success.

Awhile back a I went with a few girls to the Dome of the Rock.  It was a classic Jerusalem bright sunny day, perfect for a trip to the Temple Mount. 

We had to wear scarves around our shoulders because our sleeves weren’t long enough so we were looking our best.

Lauren was a really artistic photographer that day.

Loving the scarves.  Normally we don’t carry scarves with us in the hot weather but we visited a shop where a man named Nacer recognized us as BYU students so he gave us a few for free.    

Today is Friday, everybody’s favorite day for lunch in the Oasis cafeteria.  The chefs here are great, but at the end of every week after eating hot dog chili and dill filled salads, everyone looks forward to Cold Cut Friday. 

We love cold cut Fridays. 

Our all day field trip to Bethlehem started with visiting the ruins of one of Herod’s fortresses.  I have to admit that sometimes all of the ruins we go to start to blend together, but these were actually really cool.  This fortress sits on top of the Herodian, a mountain that Herod added dirt to for the building of the fortress. 

This is a picture of what was once a giant pool.  It was huge with a giant island in the middle and the whole thing was tiled with little one inch by one inch mosaic tiles.  There are still some left inside the pool. 

Manger square in Bethlehem.

The entrance to the Church of the Nativity.

Touching that spot that is traditionally believed to have been where Jesus was born inside of a cave that is inside the Church of the Nativity.

After the church we went to shepherds fields where we had a devotional and sang Christmas songs. 

My roommate Jessica has been pretty sick and every time we enter the room she is laying in a new position trying to get some sleep. It brings a smile to our face every time.

Last Sunday we all woke up at the crack of dawn to load on the buses and make our way down to Eilat, at the very southernmost tip of the country, to go snorkeling.  It was SO beautiful and the water was the clearest I’ve ever seen. I spent most of my time trying to touch all of the brightly colored fish that were swimming around the reef.  Sadly I was never successful. 

Nothing cuter than snorkel gear.

Trying to get up the slippery stairs was difficult. I’m pretty sure this wave was a lot bigger than it looks here.

Paragliders (or were they hang-gliders?) were everywhere.  

After snorkeling, we ate at a nearby kibbutz.  It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here mostly because they had hot dogs! 

Our day in Eilat went by way too fast and we were back on the bus for the 5 hour ride back to Jerusalem in no time.  

This past week we were loaded into two giant buses and made our way to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  After spending about 3 hours between the Israel and Jordan border, we began our 4 day journey. 

Stop number one was Mt. Nebo where we looked over what was the areas known in the Old Testament as Ammon, Moab, and Edom. 

We visited Machaerus which is where John the Baptist was a prisoner and eventually beheaded.  It was quite a hike to reach the it but there was a great view of the Dead Sea.  

Class picture at Machaerus. 

Lauren and me standing in front of Herod’s temple ruins in Machaerus where John the Baptist would have been.

Day two was the biggest day of the trip.  We spent all day in the hot sun of Petra.  It was one of the hottest places I have ever been, but with some of the most beautiful ruins I have ever seen. 

The only way to enter the city is through The Siq which is a fairly thin canyon.  All along the way there were tombs along the side carved into the rocks.  

Enjoying the shade in The Siq.

As your near the end of The Siq you can see the Treasury peeking through the canyon.  It is an amazing sight. 

Our first view of the treasury was stunning and got everyone excited to spend the day exploring the rest of the ancient city. 

There was a lot of humming of the Indiana Jones theme song at the treasury due to the fact that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed there.

We had recently watched the movie in Jerusalem so it was fresh on our minds.

There were plenty of camels and donkeys around Petra.  I was loving this man leading his little herd (is it herd with donkeys and camels?) while talking on his cell phone. 

There was no shortage of tombs carved into the rock.

We hiked up to the Monestary, which was no easy task.  By the time we had started hiking it was about 10:30 a.m. and the we were practically melting.  We soaked in every inch of shade we could find along the way and after about 40 minutes we made it to the Monestary.  

We celebrated some tombs with a classic silhouette jumping shot.

I loved every second of my very short camel ride.

The gentle giants.

Emily, Katie and me loving the camels.

Tomb of the Kings in Petra.

A classic Jordanian military man.

We found some great little souvenirs at the desert shops.  They were as excited as ever to spend as much money as possible on their trinkets.  My friend Jessica complimented one of the young ladies selling jewelry on her shirt to which the girl responded, “you want it?” ready to take it off and sell it.  We were careful with what kind of compliments we gave for the rest of the trip. 

Day three came and we were all a little burnt out.  Spending all day in sweltering sunlight hiking turns out to be pretty draining.  We spent a few hours at the ruins of Jerash.  Mostly we just splashed each other with our water bottles to keep cool and stayed in the shade as much as possible.  

We had no strength to pose nicely for pictures.

Apparently this is the off season for tourism in Jordan so the shopkeepers were pretty desperate for our business.  There were some awkward moments with men angrily whipping each other with scarves to try to get us to buy from them, but we did end up getting some good deals so it all worked out.

We enjoyed some free time in Amman that night exploring the city.

Neon colored chicks on the streets of Amman.  

On day four we visited the theater of Amman.  The security guards of the theater all gathered around to watch the performances of the students who took advantage of the great acoustics by singing songs.  They probably thought we were crazy but we had a good time.

The final stop of the day was the Jordan River. 

Our teachers gave us a great devotional and we all had the chance to get our feet wet in the river.  It was a lot muddier than I expected but the water felt great in the heat.

We loaded back on the bus nice and wet and made our way back to the boarder.  After another multiple hour border experience we arrived back at the Jerusalem Center. We had been advised against eating fruits and vegetables while in Jordan to keep us from getting sick by accidentally ingesting the water, so the salad bar at dinner when we were back home was completely cleaned out.  It was great to be back in the cleanliness of the center after a lot of hot days and long bus rides.