tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87114035561370384502024-03-13T09:55:33.609-07:00Ellie AbroadAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-72929183982184376632014-04-03T12:17:00.001-07:002014-04-03T12:17:56.920-07:00Far Far Away on Judea's PlainAlrighty... we've got Turkey down... let's do these last two weeks. It's gonna be long! Sorry.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The cute Ballerina's that we ate dinner with!</span></td></tr>
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So, the day we got home from Turkey coincided with the last day of the Jewish holiday - Purim. Purim is the festival that celebrates Esther and the Jewish people's deliverance. But modern day celebration is very similar to American Halloween. Everyone is dressed up... and people got super into it. I was feeling stir crazy after being sick so I was desperate to get out into the city! A group decided to try and go to Dome of the Rock and since I'd only been once I joined. Sadly, after waiting in line for 30 mins we were turned away... but, since the Western Wall entrance and the Dome of the Rock entrance are right next to each other we decided to take a peak at all the crazy costumes at the Western Wall. And it was well worth our time. There were quite a few Bar Mitzvah's going on. The boys all went to watch and I stood on a chair next to the separation wall and watched what a I could. After we wandered around the Jewish quarter quite a bit, trying to find something to do. We said hi to a man dressed as a box of crayons, he walked a few steps and then turned around and asked us if we had a place to eat Purim dinner. We said no and he invited us to his mother-in-law's house... and of course we said "Yes!" We walked into a nice little apartment overlooking the Western Wall, it was overflowing with people dressed as crayons, ballerina's, and gypsies. We were given delicious cakes and became the center of attention as we asked a million questions about Purim and Jewish customs. I was fascinated as I learned about the care-taking involved in holidays and matchmaking traditions. We finally excused ourselves with promises to come back. But it was an awesome experience!<br />
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That week we also had some amazing forums: one of the world leaders and adviser to the US on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and then one of the leaders of the PLO came and spoke to us. I won't say a whole lot about it besides the fact that it was fascinating! We actually got to go to the separation wall and see the graffiti... I felt like I had been taken back in time and was staring at the Berlin Wall. I don't think I'll ever be able to passively hear about the conflict again.<br />
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Also, we went back to Dome of the Rock... and we got a good lead for getting a pass into the Dome! Keep your fingers crossed!<br />
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That week we also went to Bethlehem. Legit West Bank. It was amazing! We went to the Herodian first, where Herod had his biggest castle/fortress and tomb. It was an interesting tel... plus a cool tunnel which always is a plus!The really fun part though was Herod's "swimming pool". I don't know that it could truly be called a pool, it was more like a small pond, with an island in the middle. Seriously, when full it was probably about 10 feet deep (Brigham, the 6'7" guy on our trip put his arms up and they barely reached the top of the wall!) There was a regal colonnade all around it, and there were itty bitty remnants of the mosaic that must have covered the floor... what a cool sight it would have been back in the day when travelers aproached the (in)famous city and were welcomed with the most magnificent swimming pool they had ever seen! <br />
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Then we went to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. Honestly... it was so Orthodoxed, I didn't expect to really connect with it....and I didn't as we walked into the basilica, watched the priests perform a service, smelled the incense coming from the grotto. But the minute I was down in the Grotto which was the inside of a cave, I was amazed what a peaceful spirit was there. I loved thinking of Mary going through childbirth for the first time, caring for her son, and those special moments and feelings that inevitably follow a newborn. It was actually a very spiritual experience for me and one I will never forget.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3jvrFFsnPFQ/UzrXTui7PVI/AAAAAAAALI8/tUHkjmt2Bxw/s1600/DSCF1500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3jvrFFsnPFQ/UzrXTui7PVI/AAAAAAAALI8/tUHkjmt2Bxw/s1600/DSCF1500.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is the entrance to the Grotto and my class waiting eagerly to enter to see where Christ was (supposedly) born. I imagine the shepherds that night had a similar experience, although maybe not so crowded!</span></td></tr>
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Our last stop in Bethlehem was the Shepherd's fields. Dr. Belnap let us scatter around the field and contemplate what had happened there. It was a fabulous experience for me, reading Luke 2 as the sun set, and I overlooked Bethlehem. It was just about the same time of year too as Christ's birth. I felt as if I was watching a movie from 2000 years ago, I half expected ancient shepherds to bed down just over the hill and after a while, when it was still, dark, and everyone was wrapped up in their contemplation's of the day, a bright light to appear, and then hundreds of souls joining him, unable to contain their joy at the miracle that has occurred a few miles away, filling that lonely hillside with songs and happiness. What a fearful and then thrilling experience those shepherds had! And what a peaceful and loving experience I had in those same fields.<br />
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The next big event we had was a field trip to the Jewish Quarter. I was a little perturbed that we were wasting a field trip going into the Jewish Quarter, a place that I know pretty well, but there were a few sites that were cool: the Burnt House (an excavation that shows the destruction that happened in 70 ad), the remains of the temple wall, the triple gate. But the real excitement came for me later that day when we were given a free day. A bit of background: about a week prior, Dr. Belnap had told me about a secret room in the COHS that he was trying to get into, but with no luck. I had gone with Nate Bridgwater and Joe a few days earlier to try and get in, but they were not up to pursuing it. (Honest, they kept complaining about being tired and wanting to go home). So, with the entire afternoon in front of me, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to try again, but I needed a small group that would be up to spending the time. I found Jon and told him about it and of course he was in, we roped Richie into and set off on our journey. We found out that the room was in the area of the church controlled by the Armenians, so we walked through the Armenian quarter on our way to the church. As luck would have it, we talked to a security guard at the monastery who told us how to find the security guards <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">who would know who to talk to. We sat and
chatted with the security guard, Robert, for about an hour and half way
through, he held up a finger and said, "Let me try and contact Father
Samuel." He spoke rapid fire Armenian on the phone for a few minutes. When
he hung up he said, "Father Samuel will meet you in the Armenian quarter
office in the COHS at 2." We could hardly contain our excitement, we were
getting into the famous room that our professors had never even
accomplished! </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--_We6QYgHnM/Uz2ywEgPTRI/AAAAAAAALNw/QN0lbfZWBjY/s1600/DSCF1568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--_We6QYgHnM/Uz2ywEgPTRI/AAAAAAAALNw/QN0lbfZWBjY/s1600/DSCF1568.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course we headed straight over after we
finished talking with Robert. Before to long, an old man with a long white
beard and a pointy black hooded robe came up, Father Samuel in person! He
exchanged greetings with us and then beckoned a younger priest over, handed him
a ginormous ring of keys, and told us to take us to the "boat room".
We followed him through the church, down the stairs, and through a gate, and
then he was unlocking a door! I was almost giddy, he flipped on some lights and
we went down some stairs and we were standing in the cistern directly under the
church. It was incredible to see one that wasn't completely renovated for
tourists, but still in very very good condition. There were still old pots that
sitting on shelves! After that we moved through to a chapel underneath the
church. It wasn't super interesting, except for the crusader graffiti of a boat
scratched on the wall saying "Lord, we have arrived". We gawked at it
for a little while, then I noticed that there were grates in weird places on
the floor. I tried to shine a light down but couldn't see anything. I asked the
priest what it was and he pointed to some stairs in the shadows. We scrambled
down and voila! We were seeing what the site would have looked like in Christ's
day... nothing more than a stone quarry. This makes perfect sense because
quarries were often turned into cisterns and tombs. Standing there, the church
finally came together for me, and I could see Christ being crucified for me. To
avoid a flood of us swarming the Armenians, us three agreed to only tell
Brother Belnap of our success. That night Richie told Brother Belnap, he said
his face dropped and he looked around for me. I was innocently eating dinner at
a large table. He dragged a chair over, plopped down, and said (shaking his
head), "You got in?!?!" I laughed and said yes. He asked me how and I
told him my story. He was happy for me and throughout the rest of dinner kept
peppering me with questions, and by the end of the night, a handful of people
had heard of our success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I spy an ancient crusader boat graffiti</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The next day we had our Christian Quarter field
trip. I was excited for this 1. because we were going to a bunch of churches
and museums that I had been waiting to see. 2. because Brother Belnap had told
me that this was his favorite field trip... and I obviously had learned to put
a lot of weight into the sites he found important! The trip was awesome! We saw
so many different churches of different faiths and with experts around to help
us understand what we were seeing... it was a wonderful experience. There was a
Roman Catholic church that brought to life what Ancient Roman temples must have
looked like inside, plus very interesting symbolism. An Ethiopian chapel that
had a very interesting priest to explain his beliefs to us. A Russian Orthodox
museum/church that had remains of the original COHS and Logan was around to
explain Russian stuff to me. The room were the Last Supper was supposedly
taken, and I actually can believe this one, and a spunky nun to testify to us
of Christ's knowledge of her. In the Last Supper room, the nun asked us to sing
for her and it was a moving experience. The crowning jewel of the day however,
was the Church of the Holy Seplechure with Brother Belnap brimming with
knowledge of what were looking at. He is so choc full of knowledge, I sometimes
wish I could just follow him around and learn what he knows. When we were in
the Armenian chapel, he passed me the mic and asked me to describe what I had
seen the day before. The secret was out, and I enjoyed some minor celebrity
status for the next few minutes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">After we were done, a group of us decided to do Hezekiah's
Tunnels again... but with only oil lamps. It was a supper hot day so... the
tunnels were very crowded. But it was still a fun experience. Because it was
spur of the moment for me, I was in a skirt and had to go barefoot, but I think
that made it better for me. I could almost imagine that I was a Jew during the
revolt trying to escape or something like that... anyways...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ok, final adventure for this post: the monastery
under the Field of Blood. Remember a few weeks ago when Richie, Eric, Jon and I
went and tried to get into the monastery and instead ended up at a Palestinian
block party? Well, we got the times right this time and made the trek back (and
it is a trek... very steep hills). We had a few more people in the group this
time, but we made it, knocked on the door... and no one answered. We kept
knocking, and ringing the bell. Finally Jon called the number and a round
little nun opened the door and we talked our way in. She pointed us to the
chapel and we went in, looked around, had to use our flashlights the church was
soooo dark. We went up on the roof and saw a bunch of tombs next to the church,
but it was gated off. Jon was feeling lucky so he went down to chat with the
nun and within a few minutes she was unlocking the door and we went to explore
the tombs. These may have been my favorite tombs, even though we couldn't crawl
around in them, these were 1st century tombs in a gardenish setting... aka they
were very very much the way I imagined Christ's tomb. For the most part they
were untouched so it was simple to imagine Mary Magdalene coming to a setting
like this and finding the stone rolled back... I was caught up in recreating it
my mind for quite a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we were done exploring, we walked back up
and this quite, hesitant nun showed us some friendliness and offered us
oranges. We started chatting with her and found out there were 12 nuns living
there and her job was to pick the oranges that they grew in the orchard. Long
story short - she didn't enjoy picking those oranges, and when we offered to do
it for her she literally yelped with excitement! We spent the next hour and a
half climbing the trees, picking bags and bags of oranges, and chatting with
our new friend. When there were no more oranges left on the trees, we carried the
bags to the store room and she offered us some yummy cookie bars. We had to
leave pretty quick afterwards in order to make it home on time, but as we left,
she stood at the window and waved until we were out of site. These sweet woman
seemed so lonely, I'm going to see if we can't get the center involved with the
monastery to send some students to go help her pick her oranges. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">And there are my latest Jerusalem adventures -
next up: Galilee!<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-32127126040246044102014-03-25T13:34:00.000-07:002014-03-25T13:34:00.814-07:00Last bit of Turkey!!!<b>Day 7</b><br />
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Here we go... last bit of the glorious Turkey trip! We started the morning at the Grand Mosque of Bursa. Compared to the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque...it was small potatoes. Beautiful but nothing like the other two. Still, this mosque had 20 domes and a beautiful fountain inside of it, and it was an old old one. Yasmin took us inside and we learned a bit about the Islamic faith and the history behind the mosque. We took a few pictures but we were all anxious to get just outside to the silk market waiting on the other side of the Mosque.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the girls inside the Mosque</td></tr>
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Once we headed to the silk market I was on a mission to find the silk Han where all the silk was made. I looped around the market a bit... found some gorgeous scarfs...but no silk worms. I ran into Garrett and he was down to find the silk worms. We found the Han but it just looked like a square full of shops and a little cafe. A beautiful scarf caught my eye and I asked the shop keeper, a young women in her 20s, about it. She brought us into her shop, and I asked about the silk worms, she lit up and pulled out a box full of the silkworm cocoons and a photo album showing how she made the silk last fall. It was fascinating! We sat and chatted with her for a while, she taught us how to identify silk, and served us some more of that delicious apple tea! Before we left, both Garrett and I had purchased some real silk and she showered us with a few token cocoons.<br />
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After Bursa we drove a couple hours to Nicaea, ring a bell? Where the Nicaean Creed was established and the 7 ecumenical councils happened. It was really interesting to learn about what had happened there. I had never really thought about the Nicaean Creed before, I mean, I knew what it was, but had never thought about what it meant to me as a Mormon. I now have a whole new appreciation for the beliefs of Orthodox Christians. Not to mention the even bigger change the Joseph Smith brought through the first vision. It's incredible!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside the Church which is now a Mosque </td></tr>
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After the church, we went to the site of Constantine's palace. I sat on the beach for a solid hour contemplating and thinking about what had happened there. Honestly this place is perfect for having life revelations!<br />
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Finally it was time to head back to reality... and by that I mean Jerusalem... what a reality to head back to!!! We drove for a couple hours back to Istanbul singing and laughing. We stopped for dinner but I was a little bit car sick so I didn't eat much. Then it was on to the plane. By the time we boarded... I was not feeling well at all. I settled into my seat and had a instant panic attack, I was trapped in the middle of the plane, over the wing, window seat. If I needed to make a dash for the bathrooms I wouldn't make it. So I traded seats with a classmate and sat next to Kari, who after one look at me realized I was not well. She gave me some motion sickness pills and I tried to focus on breathing as we took off. It was rough and I realized that I was going to need a priesthood blessing if I was going to keep my lunch down throughout the flight. I asked Kari to get the attention of the nearest boy from our group. Turns out Jon was right in front of me, which turned out to be a blessing. He took charge, grabbed Jeff and gave me a blessing and throughout the remainder of the flight, every time I needed help he was there. And despite the blessing I faced one of my biggest fears of being sick on a plane. I don't remember much from the next 24 hours, but I was so grateful to have friends who took care of me and let me just sleep and get over the bug I'd got, and once we got back to the center, I slept for the next 22 hours. If I was going to get sick here... that was the day to do it!<br />
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But, the story doesn't end there. I realized when I finally regained consciousness on Monday, that I was signed up to run a half marathon on Friday. This had me super super worried, I was super weak and dehydrated still on Wednesday, even though I'd been able to get up and continue my normal life on Monday. I stressed until Friday morning and then decided, I was just going to run as far as I could. Race day excitement caught on and before I knew it, I was at the start line, Israeli music was blasting, people were cheering and then the gun went off and the mob moved forward pulling me with them. I started running with Matt, but before long he left me, and I was just fine with that, it was a beautiful morning, I was wearing shorts for the first time in months, and I had a great playlist. I was surprised how well I was doing, I ran around the Kinesset, through Beniyuda street and across the Old City before it hit me. A massive shooting pain in my stomach...not my stomach on top of my stomach, 8 km into the race. I panicked! I was running with Tanner Potter and Nate Monson at the time. Both of them stopped and tried to help me, but I waved them on. Either I was going to drop out, or work through this on my own. After about 5 mins, the pain turned into an ache and I kept going. Every time I went down hill it returned, but not nearly the intensity that it had been before. After I passed half way I knew I could finish. And guess what... I did! My time wasn't wonderful, but for not training, having the flu, and some weird stomach pain... I was so proud of myself!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-26874428792338158122014-03-23T12:55:00.001-07:002014-03-23T12:55:37.949-07:00When in Rome... Kindof Here we go again I'm going to try and wrap up the Turkey Trip in one post... wish me luck!<br />
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So Day 3 of the trip started with a solid road trip up the coast of Turkey to Gallipoli/Dardenell Straight and the Aegean Straight. I don't know what I was expecting of a WWI site exactly but it wasn't what we saw. When we drove up it was a beautiful beach with set against scenic mountains, not exactly what you would picture for a WWI massacre scene. Our professors spoke to us for a bit and Yasmin the tour guide gave us a synopsis of the history of the site. Then we were turned loose to walk down the beach to the cemetery. As I walked, I thought of the only connection I had to WWI. When I was in High School, the Senior Committee went through all the yearbooks and I was assigned the years 1914-1924...I spent an afternoon pouring over them, especially the war years. It broke my heart as I saw young boys my own age a hundred years before leave, some of them never to come back. Instead of a graduating class the books had an army. And as I walked along that beach I thought about those boys who left the football team and chemistry class to visit places like the one I was walking on with a gun in their hand and fear in their hearts. It was a tender and spiritual experience. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After Galipolli, we headed to yet another ferry ride!!! I don't think I could ever get tired of ferry rides! This one was so frigid I went looking for shelter almost immediately... and found a wonderful surprise. A man showed us how to feed seagulls from the boat. If we tossed it, well lobbed it into the pack of waiting birds, they would all dive for it and one lucky bird would come up victorious. I shouldn't have been as entertained as I was by this simple game, but Tanner, Ramsey and I spent the entire ride mastering this. Sometimes, it's the really simple things that are the most memorable to me! </div>
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Finally the moment we had all been waiting for... Troy! We went to the dig of that infamous wooden horse. It was so cold I couldn't enjoy it a ton, while walking around it, it honestly felt like just another tel. But it was fun to think of the epic battles that had happened there. </div>
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That night we stayed at quaint little resort right on the Aegean Sea, once we checked in I went straight to the dock. Even though it was fridged cold... I couldn't resist sitting out there watching the sun set. Just before it went down over the mountains, two dolphins started jumping right in front of us. It was honestly magical!</div>
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<b>Day 4</b></div>
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This day was jam packed of ancient Roman cities. First stop was Assos, and my first major exposure to Roman civilization. Fun fact, from this site I could actually see Greece! It was sort of frustrating to be so close and yet so unbelievably far away from another place that I want to go... but it just makes it even more of a priority for my life! Assos was beautiful and something I didn't realize that would be happening on this trip: an actual site where Paul visited! And of course, sorry to be so redundant, but I couldn't get enough of these:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Who would have ever thought I'd get to causally sit on an ancient column top?</td></tr>
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While sitting there, the New Testament started to come together for me. What an experience to sit there where Paul contemplated his work and his testimony. Of course the Temple of Athena was intense, the walls were impressive, but the testimony was amazing!</div>
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After Assos we had a very long bus ride down to Pergamom. When we <i>finally </i>made it to this site, it was a short tram ride to the top of a mountain that sported my favorite Roman city of the trip. I don't know what it was exactly about Pergamom, but it caught my imagination from the very beginning and didn't let me go! There was a breathtaking temple to Athena overlooking the valley, I couldn't get over the massive size of everything! You know you read about how impressive these structures were but nothing can compare with seeing them! </div>
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After spending some quality time at the Temple we headed to a lovely grove of trees that no one seemed to really care about and quite honestly I couldn't understand why we had stopped until Yasmin told us this was the site of the magnificent Alter to Zeus that I had learned about in Mr. Orem's class! That's when I got excited. My imagination started working double time as I rebuilt the Alter on the site in front of me! What I imagined was fantastic, I can only imagine what it would have been like sitting there overlooking the valley... spectacular! One day I'm going to Berlin to see the actual alter and picture it on the site where it came from!</div>
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Finally, we ended at the most spectacular theater I've seen yet! The view was so amazing... I don't know how to even describe it!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This kinda starts to describe what I was looking at sitting on those ancient seats. The mountains reached as far as I could see, the sun was shining and you could just picture the city meeting there for a play or performance. I sat there lost in imagination for a long time...finally it was time to leave...but not before we had some fun taking pictures on the columns. Right before we headed down the mountain, I decided that I needed a memento of Pergamom. I found the perfect ring and now carry a bit of Pergamom with me!</div>
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<b>Day 5</b></div>
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And que another day of intense Roman ruins. We started at the church of John the Beloved...well the ruins of the church of John the Beloved. I was honestly not feeling it at this site. I didn't really know what I was looking at and once I figured it out, well... I honestly didn't know that much about John the Beloved so I just enjoyed the view.... and of course the columns!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">This about sums up my mood that morning... but hey look at those column tops (and I'm sitting on one too!)<br /></td></tr>
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Ok, after that we went to the church we drove around the mountain to Ephesus. Ephesus... wow!!! That was one beautiful city! It was the most complete Roman city I'd seen. I did this site a little bit differently this time though... I unplugged my head set and followed Dr. Belnap around. He pointed out little details that were fascinating: donor tributes, hidden mosaics, and little tricks to recognizing reconstruction. It was fascinating! Finally we made it to the most imposing theater I'd seen yet and there I began to fall in love with the New Testament. Dr. Belnap painted the picture of Paul rushing to the exact theater where I was sitting to save his companions that had started a riot. It was so real to me! I'll let the pictures do the talking of what I saw, but at Ephesus, the scriptures really came to life for me! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">View from the top of the theater. Can't you just picture a mob rushing in here and deliberating on the lives of the Christians?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The library at Ephesus. I was imitating the statue behind me here, but let's be honest, you can't really tell. The architecture was so amazing, I stood there speechless just admiring the craftsmenship</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Gorgeous mosaic floors that were everywhere h</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">This street was lined with statues of important members of the community... so we decided to try it</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Recognize this? It's the picture in the back of the Bible... the theater is in the background. It was so gorgeous!<br /></td></tr>
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Last stop of the day was Priene. I didn't learn a whole lot at Priene, by this point I was kind of burned out from the day. But it was still incredible! It was almost like a column graveyard. This site wasn't like the others, it was peaceful and small. At this site we talked about Paul and what he must have felt through out his mission. I felt such an incredible outpouring of love there. It was a wonderful experience for me!</div>
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We finally loaded the bus... well all but 2 of us. 39 of us sat on the bus for 45 minutes while we looked for the 2. Turns out they had found 2 baby goats up on the site and decided to bring them back to the bus. The bus erupted when they came back... mostly because they made us late to getting back to the hotel, the one hotel with a swimming pool. A few calls were made and we were allowed to go swimming that night! Thank goodness... and the new joke was on the bus was team goat or not!</div>
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<b>Day 6</b></div>
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Ok I'll make today real quick. We started at Sardis. First at the temple which was another one of the 7 churches from Revelations. Then we went to the synagogue and gymnasium. It was fascinating, these old ruins sitting just by the side of the road. We went into the gymnasium and the boys immediately started organizing a football game... with the receivers. Quite honestly, the rest of the day was spent on the bus. So. Much. Bus. Time. It got to the point that the back of the bus developed a "tribe". I honestly felt like we were in 3rd grade again as we split into boys and girls making up rules and dumb signs.... but it made the ride go a lot faster! We finally made it to Bursa just before the market closed. It was long enough for us to look around make a game plan for the next day. </div>
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Alrighty... this is absurdly long, I'll finish the rest of Turkey tomorrow! </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-72937899888917770492014-03-19T14:30:00.001-07:002014-03-19T14:30:13.037-07:00Turkey Time!!<div class="Publishwithline">
Ok, I said no more massive blog posts… but this can not be
helped! I had the most glorious week ever traveling around Turkey! I have
fallen completely and totally in love with the country and it is high on my
list of places to go back to!</div>
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I’ll try and keep it relatively short… but let’s be honest,
it won’t be!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So we left the center at 3 am… yes that’s not a typo, that
was a real time I had to get up and leave! Surprisingly, my roommates were so
excited that we sang and danced starting at 2 am as we finished packing and
getting ready. I absolutely love living with these girls! We loaded the bus and
I was so hyped up and excited that I couldn’t sleep. We got to the airport at 4
and then waited in line FOREVER. Security check after security check, having my
bags searched, scanned, passport check… it felt like it would never end! And,
the wheels on my bag had had it! Logan decided to be a gentleman though and
carried my bag throughout all the lines and I was super grateful and surprised!
Finally… FINALLY… we loaded the plane and we didn’t have a jet way, we loaded
from the run way. It kinda felt like celebrity status walking up those stairs! <o:p></o:p></div>
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As we flew into Turkey, Katie Dahl and I were staring out
the window and it wasn’t until we were almost on the ground that we could see
land. And once we got off… and felt how cold it was, all the coats came on.
That day it did not stop raining. Once. It was freezing cold and miserable. And
do you know what? I loved every minute of it! Istanbul is a gorgeous and
intriguing city. It is split between two continents – Asia and Europe – linked
together by 3 bridges. I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the window, even with
the depressing grey clouds pressing down on us, I kept getting more and more
excited. The sky line was dotted with modern skyscrapers and minarets. The
apartment buildings were colorful and clean. There were beautiful parks and
interesting statues dotting my view. And then the Bosporus. There is something
about water that captivates me, and the fact that as we crossed over this
massive straight with barges and ferries steaming through going from Asia to
Europe… it was indescribable! I felt like I was living a dream (granted part of
it may have been serious sleep deprivation)! I kept thinking how lucky Garrettt
was getting to serve there! Even before we really got to see the city, I
decided at some point in my life I want to try and move there! <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first site we stopped at was non other than the Hagia
Sofia! Now, Mr. Oram did a wonderful job describing this site back in High
School… so wonderful actually that the Hagia Sofia was #2 on my list of things
to see in the world (Nike of Samothrace is #1… but I know I’ll go to France one
day!). I could hardly contain myself as we pulled up. Our tour guide, Yasmin
built up the suspense by not letting us actually go in. We stopped at random
points outside. And guess what… the outside of this magnificent building is
ugly… not just awkward, but it’s a rancid kind of pink color that looks
hodgepodge together and old. </div>
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We finally went into the entry way… I could
hardly handle it… we were so close to seeing that great dome! We stood and
talked for what seemed like eternity about doors and sculpture, and then… it
was time! We walked in and immediately, effortlessly, my eyes were drawn
heavenward. Even if I didn’t know about that dome… there is no way to not be
awed by it. I was only slightly disappointed because it was so cloudy that we
couldn’t get the effect of the sunshine coming in through the transepts. But
the gold, the mosaics, the intense space covered by the dome, the beautiful
carvings and architecture… ahhh I’m doing a terrible job describing just how
much I love this building and how much it moved me. I’ll just leave it at …
it’s incredible!<br />
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Next we went to lunch, I’ll just say this up front now… the
only thing that was delicious in Turkey was the bread. I finally ate normal
portions because I didn’t really enjoy the food. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After lunch we went back to the area of the Hagia Sofia and
to the Istanbul museum. It was kinda cool. The best part of it was the pieces
of the Ishtar gate that were there. While I was staring at these famous gate
pieces, I was fascinated because they are not only beautiful colors, but the
animals are not just painted on, they are sticking out of the tiles… kinda like
a relief, but there were 5 lions all right there, and they were all the same
dimensions. It blew my mind that they could bake those tiles so perfectly to
get these images. It was marvelous! Some other highlights were the Alexander
the Great sarcophagus and all the beautiful Greek/Roman statues there! I’m
obsessed with Roman art and architecture I’ve decided. That my have been why
this trip was so magnificent to me! <o:p></o:p></div>
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That night we checked into the hotel and despite the cold and continual drizzle... a group of us embarked on a journey to walk from Europe to Asia across the Bosporus. We jumped on the metro and successfully maintained the awful reputation of loud obnoxious Americans as a couple of the kids in my group played "bumper hips" off each other in the standing space. But it was all worth it once we got to the end of the line and started walking along the shore of the Bosporus. I'm completely obsessed with it! We walked right up to the old Palace on the shore and it was all lit up and beautiful! There weren't any guards around so I went to get a picture by the gorgeous gates... I wasn't 5 feet away from them when out of nowhere 2 guards came running at me motioning for me to back away... so I didn't get a picture... but it was a crazy experience! We walked all along the river shore trying to make it to the bridge. Sadly... we didn't make it before we had to turn around to make it for curfew. Just before we turned around, the bridge lit up with a fantastic light show. Still though, every experience I had on the Bosporus was magical and potentially romantic... I've decided that I will go back there one day with someone special! </div>
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<b>Day 2</b></div>
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The next morning started bright and early and chillier than the day before! Our first stop was the Hippodrome, it was impressive and incredible to imagine what it would have been like in it's glory days but there were a few other things that really hit me there. 1. Turkey has an unreal amount of BIG stray dogs. After my run in the week before the stray in Jerusalem, I wasn't super excited to get to know these big boys, but our tour guide told us that the government takes care of them, cleans them, feeds them, and sure enough most of them had tracker chips in their ear and were pretty friendly. 2. All the important events in the Ottoman Empire happened within about a 1 square mile radius. </div>
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After the Hippodrome we crossed the street to the Blue Mosque. Now, I've learned quite a bit about the Blue Mosque but my expectations were not as high as the Hagia Sofia. Let me tell you... the Blue Mosque is every bit as spectacular! It's a different kind of spectacular, but breathtaking nonetheless. I couldn't get enough of the intricate tiles and soaring heights! My pictures don't even come close to doing it justice... but it starts to give you a basic idea. </div>
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After the Blue Mosque it was over to the Sultan's Palace which has been turned into a museum. Honestly it was so cold that I don't think I really appreciated it the way it should have been, but I loved it still. The exhibits were not like anything I'd seen before. Elaborate guns, exquisite headpieces, interesting costumes, and the biggest diamond in the world! While walking through the layers of courtyards and series of rooms it was so easy to imagine the charmed life that the Sultan and his court lived. Not only that, but see how the Orientalist ideals that we associate with the Ottoman Empire came to be. I thoroughly enjoyed it! </div>
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Next we went to the Basilica Cisterns. Who knew that I would grow to love ancient water containers so much over here, but they are soooo cool! And this one is, as my Ancient Near Eastern Studies professor put it, "The mother of all cisterns!" And it was! It was exactly like I imagined the underbellies of the Paris Operahosue in Phantom of the Opera. It was surreal! </div>
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But by far the best part of my day came as we loaded for a private cruise on the Bosporus. It was enchanting! Freezing. But enchanting! I stood on the deck and watched the barges go by, Asia on my left and Europe on my right. It was fascinating to see the different kinds of cultures that were so separated by this river. And the houses! Oh my, the houses!!! They were so beautiful and charming. And then the palaces that sparsely dotted the view. Oh it was so perfect! </div>
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After the cruise, we were turned loose on the Grand Bazaar. It was like a giant old city with better stuff! I loved it... spent a bit to much... but it was so fun! And, I'm not half bad at bartering! As we stood in the rain loading the buses to get dinner, Richie told me they were going to see the Whirling Dervishes right now and I could come if I want. No brainier! A group of 7 of us, plus my New Testament professor trekked to the Old Train Station and were not disappointed by the show. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't what we saw. It was a peaceful and mystical experience.</div>
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They were spinning in an effort to become one with God. But the spinning was so controlled even if it was so fast and I honestly am still trying to figure out how they did it! Also... before the show they served us Apple Tea. I'm. Obsessed. It's delicious! I think that we should establish the habit that they have there of serving anyone you sea Apple Tea! </div>
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Finally we walked back to the hotel and dropped into bed exhausted... A perfect two days in Istanbul! The next day we were headed to the coast of the Aegean Sea... but that's a story for another day! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-45132534620753647872014-03-03T09:08:00.000-08:002014-03-03T09:08:03.809-08:00Yet another catch up...It's been almost 3 weeks since I've been able to sit down and even think about what I want to record here. So much is always happening here that spare moments to myself are few and far between. And to be completely honest, I've been caught up in the Divergent trilogy craze. Even half way across the world I can't help myself from devouring those books. Mom, I don't think you'd like them... it's super similar to the Hunger Games story line... it's just a nice break from the Jerusalem Center life here. <div>
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I'm going to go backwards in these past couple weeks to try and get everything in. </div>
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Yesterday 10 of us went up to Haifa, a port town close to Lebanon. I've been spending the past couple weekends with this group because they like doing weekends in small groups, packing lots into one day at the cheapest cost possible, even if that means we walk... a lot! And they like doing things that no one else in the center is doing. Love it! So Haifa, we left at 5:45 am... that was a major struggle for me, 1. Because, while I am a morning person, I hate getting up before 6 and 2. because I was up until around 2 the night before finishing all my homework so I could go. But, let's be honest, I can sleep the rest of my life, and I only get to be here in Israel once! So we ride the train up to Haifa, and when we get there, it's pretty overcast, McKay kept saying that it felt like home (San Francisco). I was a bit worried though, it didn't seem like a morning fog that would burn off... more like a kinda nasty day. McKay and I even made a bet... spoiler alert - I won! </div>
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So we started off the day hiking up to Elijah's caves where Elijah supposedly stayed on his way to destroy the priests of Ba'al. It was kinda a let down... just a small cave with a Jewish synagogue inside (and yes I do realize how snobbish I've become, back at home that would be the highlight of me week to see something like that). After the cave we hiked up to the Monastery on top of the mountain, but since it was Sunday we hit Mass and couldn't go into the Monastery. Funny story... we walked into Mass right as they were beginning communion. A few of our group jumped right into line, and received communion from the priest. Jon and I watched almost in disbelief that they were actually doing it. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously... look how perfect these flower beds are! So BEAUTIFUL!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incredible view of the upper terraces that we had already climbed down. This<br />was about half way through the Garden. </td></tr>
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The highlight of the day for me though was going to the Ba'ai gardens. Ba'ai we learned is a religion very similar to Islam except they don't believe that Muhammed was the last prophet and that there is a chain (though not continuous) of prophets still to come. I'd never heard of another faith that believes in modern day prophets... very interesting! Anyways, these gardens were 18 levels of exquisite manicured lawns and flower beds, with lots of colors, designs and themes. And there was an ornate shrine there to the last prophet that had been on Earth. They were beautiful and the architectures from balconies to the replica Roman temples just added to the peaceful feeling there. Although in all honesty, I still prefer Temple Square! </div>
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After the gardens we went straight to the beach (Mediterranean Sea nbd!) Sadly, my prediction of the weather turned out to be all to accurate. It was freezing! The crazy boys that I was with were determined to go swimming though. So we walked along the beach looking for a lifeguard. Even on a cloudy day, there is not a lot that can walking barefoot in the sand along the beach! And this was super cool for me because tons of huge Jellyfish had washed up on shore. I'm talking massive as in maybe 2 feet across. Even if it was warm, after seeing all those stinging creatures on shore, I'm not sure I could have talked myself into swimming where I knew they were! After a while, we gave up looking for a life guard and a few of us decided to look for a place to have lunch/dinner. Once we were done, it was way to cold and I was so tired... I decided it was time for a nap. Almost the minute I laid down I was out and didn't wake up again until a really cold burst of wind woke me up and I realized just how cold I was. Jon woke up a few minutes later and put his coat on me. I decided to be a girl and let him and honestly I was really thankful for it! Finally, we were all cold and couldn't think of anything else to do so we caught the train home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was some kind of tomb complex/ruined church. Eric went<br />up on the roof and took a picture of us from above!</td></tr>
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On Friday, Jon, Richie, Eric and I went exploring. Jon knew about a monastery that he wanted to explore and I was up for an adventure. We walked through back neighborhoods and up a breathtaking hill just to find that the monastery was only open Tuesdays and Thursdays. Perfect. Thankfully, the monastery is nestled into the hill that has the field of blood (where Judah hung himself) on top. Up we went. I didn't realize that we would be hiking that day so I was in a skirt and sandals. It proved to be a bit difficult but I made it! We crawled into promising holes in the mountain discovering tomb complexes and more than one giant spider.<br />
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While we were up on the hill we heard some kind of crazy party going on at the foot hill. When we were done exploring we decided to walk by to see what it was. We saw from a distance a bunch of men flocking to this tent that had music blasting out of it. The boys all wanted to go check it out, but I didn't see any other women and I got really nervous. Finally we agreed to at least walk across the street to see if we could tell what was going on. When we got there, we realized it was some kind of celebration, and little kids were crawling all over the tent! But I still didn't feel easy about going in. One of the younger guys saw us and motioned us in, we tried to wave him away but he came over and tried to talk to us. Sadly there was a pretty significant language barrier. Richie pulled out his phone and between google translate, hand gestures, and another guy... we figured out that it was something like a 5 year as a neighborhood block party. We had about 15 minutes before we had to head home so we went in for a few minutes. Our friend found us chairs (turns out all the women were sitting in the middle of the tent that's why we could only see men), and pretty quick we had made friends with the little kids who swarmed us, and I chatted as best I could with the women next to me. Speeches were made in Arabic and then a group came out and did a traditional dance. We did Arab dancing at our culture night a few weeks ago, but these kids were fantastic! We were clapping and laughing and I did NOT want to leave! But we finally pulled ourselves away after much hand shaking and waving and started to run home. We got a little bit lost and turned down what we thought was a shortcut road... we were right... except we ran straight into the jaws of a ticked of rabid dog! When the dog started coming after us the boys took off running as fast as they could, remember I'm in a skirt and sandals and it takes about a half a second for me to realize there is no way I can out run it so I freeze. The dog stares me down and bares it's teeth. I tried not to show fear while my mind is racing with ways to get out of this! Eric thankfully came to my rescue, pushed me behind him and I backed away. A local man saw our plight and came and chased the dog away from us. 5:30 hit and we weren't even to the old city so we flagged down a taxi and hopped in. Our driver was a Palestinian refugee. He started telling us his story, and quite honestly... it was fascinating! I feel like I've done a good job getting to know the Jewish culture here but Palestinian culture is a bit harder to get to know. But that night was one of the best experiences I've had with the Arab culture!<br />
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One goal I've made here lately is to expand the circle of people I do things with, so I decided to go to the mall with a bunch of the girls here. So right after lunch I ran upstairs to meet up with them, only to find out they had ditched me. Not gonna lie...I was kind of hurt. But I pushed it off and went to search out a different group to go out with. There was a group going to the Dome of the Rock so I jumped in on that opportunity. We got there just as the temple mount closed to visitors. Lame. But we decided to go explore the sights of the Jewish quarter that many hadn't seen. We kept striking out though. Nea Church - school wasn't out so we couldn't go in, John the Baptist Church - only open MWF, and then we met up with another group. We were to large, so we split up half going shopping and half going to a church that Eric, Matt and I had discovered on a wander/jog through the city. I was with Nate Bridgewater (Mom, he's your friend's nephew), Bob, and Mike. None of them had done much exploring in the Christian quarter, so I lead them up to the roof by the cisterns. They were blown away and we obviously had to stop quite a bit, but I hadn't been there in a while so it was fun. While in the cisterns, Nate started singing. We sang lots of hymns. They asked me to do the alto and I did fine until Mike started singing the melody... a half a step flat, consistantly. Then I lost it, I started giggling and I couldn't sing much after. Nate finished up singing Where Can I Turn for Peace and it was almost haunting hearing it echo around the cistern. <br />
We finished out the day at the Patriarch Chapel - where the second in command to the Pope lives and reigns. It was a beautiful church and the guard seemed to love chatting with us.<br />
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The field trip of the week was a trip to a Biblical lands and plants reserve. It honestly sounded kind of lame to me... and it wasn't my favorite one. But the day had a few highlights - hearding sheep and goats, drawing water from an ancient cistern, and seeing different herbs that are talked about all the time in the Bible. The highlight of the day for me came at the end when we got to try and make lunch - pita bread and lentil stew. I jumped right in! I've missed cooking!! By the end of the afternoon I was half way decent at making Pita bread and I can't wait to try it when I get home!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset over the Sea</td></tr>
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A week ago, my little group went to Tel Aviv. Almost all the center went to En Gedi where we had been the week before (I'll get there... promise). Our bus driver decided to be DJ for us and we had club music at 8 am on the way there. By the time we were dropped off... we were so hyped up, there was no way the day wasn't going to be great! We rented bikes and took off! I was wearing a skirt that day and it made riding a bike fairly tricky, but for the most part, I think I did alright. I kinda felt like I was in the Sound of Music as we rode! We rode up and down the boardwalk along the beach, oh what a perfect day huh? We split up into small groups so everyone got to do what they wanted. I was with Katie Dahl, Jon and Tabor. I honestly can't even remember where we were trying to get to all day, but after we had explored the beach for a couple hours, we rode into the city, turning down roads that looked promising and at one point accidentally turning on to an on-ramp to the highway. Right as we got to the center of the city (really, we were right in the middle park like a block away from town hall), the chain on Tabor's bike broke. As we waited for the replacement to be brought to us, we laid in the sun and chatted for what turned into almost 2 hours. Thankfully they gave us extra time on our rental so it was just an extra hour we gained to explore on the bikes. We went to the mall and I got some much needed items, and we tried to get our way onto the 50th floor to the look out but with no luck. When we left, we passed City Hall that was swarmed with what I'm guessing were refugees looking for settlement. Very interesting to observe. Finally at the end of the day we found a life guard and Jon jumped in the water for a swim, while the rest of us watched the sun set over the Sea. Such a perfect day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The famous dome that encapsulates the supposed Tomb of Christ</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On top of the Church</td></tr>
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I can really only remember one adventure from the week before... and that was finding our way onto the roof of the Church of the Holy Seplechure. One of hte shopkeepers here offered to take us up one afternoon and how can you say no to that chance!?! We wove through Jerusalem and he spoke to the guards, they teased us as we passed - "Only because you are with the best man in Jerusalem!" Once on top of the church the view was breathtaking. We could look down on the courtyard of the church and all the pilgrims that flock there, see the legendary dome up close, and see the formation of the church. I feel so lucky to have all these adventures!<br />
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Ok, last adventure for the day. En Gedi. Wow wow wow!!! It was honestly one of my favorite days besides Petra. This was my first out of Jerusalem adventure without the teachers. I went with a fairly active group so I was ready to spend the day hiking. En Gedi is the oasis right next to the Dead Sea where Jacob hid from Esau. I would hide there too if I had to pick somewhere here to hide. It was beautiful!! So many waterfalls and gorgeous views.... ah I fell in love almost immediately. The other thing we did almost immediately was put the swim suits on so we could wade around the pools! It felt so good to be in something other than baggy shirts and skirts... and to be away from the view of the center! Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the watch they keep on us... but sometimes I wish they would treat us more like the adults we are. Anyways, we had a wonderful time wading and splashing and hiking all over the mountains. We took a trail off the beaten path towards the "caves". At the top of the caves however, we got side tracked by the large pools that slid down into each other. The boys went crazy sliding down the natural water slides into the pools and all of us had fun wading/swimming through the pools.<br />
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Finally when we had hiked all we could (we actually got kicked out cuz the trails were closing), we decided to check out the Dead Sea. We knew we weren't allowed to swim without a life guard... but as luck would have it... the beach we checked out had not one but two life guards! We jumped in faster than you would believe! It was the craziest feeling! You couldn't drown there if you tried! Swimming was the weirdest feeling...the water was almost thick, slimy is the word that comes to mind...just odd. We tested our strength against the salt water for a while - trying to dunk one another, standing vertical in the water and running through it, and finally building a raft of legs and having people climb up on us... finally we had to leave. I can't wait to go back, but I'm going to be a bit smarter next time - not shave and bring soap to rinse off with! Still it was such a wonderful crazy day!!! This group has developed a bit of a trend. We check out a site one week and the next week the rest of center goes there. I love being the pioneers discovering the wonders of Israel.<br />
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Some other highlights of these past 3 weeks that I will just highlight:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elias Kindelberg - a holocaust survivor came and spoke to us. He was such a sweet, and energetic man<br />Even at 97, he wanted us to hear his story and know that the only thing that will change the world<br />is when people are kind and good people to each other. It was such a humbling experience to hear him.<br /><br /><ul>
<li style="text-align: left;">We went to Yad Vashim - the Holocaust museum. It was a very interesting experience for me, and not nearly as hard as I was expecting. Maybe because I had spent all of the previous week dealing with untimely death, but as I walked through, I couldn't help but feel hope. Hope that all those who lost their lives in this horror, will have found peace and rest in accepting the gospel on the other side. Don't get me wrong, I was really horrified by the scenes I saw and testimonies I heard... but that hope was always there</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">We had a Passover dinner. It was quite the experience and a very touching one. I remember reading Number the Stars as a little girl and that was my first exposure to Passover. So many questions were answered and such a cool feeling was there, as our Israel history teacher lead us through the rituals explaining their significance to his people. We ended the night by lifting him on a chair singing and clapping. </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">The drama here at the center is driving me crazy! So many couples! So much tension! </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I was paid one of the nicest compliments I've ever received a few weeks ago by Tanner. One of the guys here assembled a team of us to brainstorm his business idea. We argued and discussed the different angles and at the end, Tanner turned to me and said "You should really consider consulting! You have the right mind for it!" Wow, that was such a compliment!</li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-57975826936325486492014-02-15T09:47:00.002-08:002014-02-15T09:47:57.543-08:00Valentine's Day and suchSo yesterday was the infamous holiday of love. And you want to know something - it was actually a great day! It felt like I was back in elementary school... everyone had "boxes" and people were writing silly poems left and right, at the end of the day I had some fun little surprises. Mom you will be thrilled to find out, I even got a sweet little almost serious valentine. But the real highlight of the day for me was finishing the book Far From the Madding Crowd. It was the perfect way to spend Valentine's, wrapped up in my happy little world filled with the agony of Bathsheba and the solid undying service and love of Gabriel Oaks. Finally seeing them happily married and their happily ever after beginning... mmmm...I thought of all the fictional men I've fallen completely in love with, (I promise this has a connection with Jerusalem.) the different worlds that I've been involved with whether that's Pemberly, Prince Edward Island, or Manderly, and started thinking about my different real worlds. This week all my different worlds seemed to collide.<br />
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My first world was my younger self... Sarah. When I was Sarah, I was painfully shy - especially around boys, very thoughtful and pensive, and I felt things very deeply - especially when it came to those I care about. My second world was my BYU self - motivated, in a constant hurry, and a small tightly knit group of friends. This week I've had lots of contact with my friends back in Provo and it's made me a wee bit homesick for a Sunday afternoon at the Dance's or a 2 am chat with the 22 girls. My third world was my Ragnar self. Through my years at Ragnar, I feel like I've grown from a nervous and unsure girl into a leader and confident business woman. Today at church, Mike Kamanski - one of my old friends from my time in the Ragnar office walked in and we had a fun time reconnecting. We laughed about the office and joked about the quirks of working SWAT and good times from the past.<br />
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Finally, I've had to reconcile these different girls into my Jerusalem self. I'm still not sure what will be the defining quality of my time here in Jerusalem. I've been labeled by quite a few people here as the "adventurer" which is a title I'm happy to claim. At the same time I want to incorporate the imagination of Sarah, the friendship of Provo, and the confidence of Ragnar... Jerusalem has already molded me more into the person that I want to become and I hope that I come out of this experience being much more that person.<br />
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Ok, calendaring time. I'm going to take a cheater route and try and catch up these past 2 weeks through pictures. Excuse the explosion :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went to Jericho, the oldest city (remnants) on Earth. The boys decided to reenact Joshua bringing down the walls. I love this picture as boys with the same priesthood that they had in ancient days circle around the walls that "came tumbling down!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jericho is also right by the Dead Sea... so lowest elevation on Earth. My ears were popping like CRAZY all day!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Larson and I at the overlook to the St. George Monastery. The monastery doesn't have tons of significance to Mormons besides that its super cool cut into the side of a cliff. But the area around it is the Judean wilderness that is mentioned so often in scripture. It is so neat to imagine this area as a literal representation of trials in our life. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring is upon us here. I've started to notice beautiful little dainty wildflowers popping up everywhere. These little poppies are my favorite! </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDafVWbhVPw/Uv-fu-PRFxI/AAAAAAAAHjY/kLKpwNJSTSw/s1600/DSCF0840.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uDafVWbhVPw/Uv-fu-PRFxI/AAAAAAAAHjY/kLKpwNJSTSw/s1600/DSCF0840.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture is looking over to the valley where David slew Goliath. Phil was kind enough to reenact the Giant being slain for my picture :) From the top of this tel... I don't remember the name right now... we used a mirror to send a reflective signal to the other half of our class on a tel (Lachish) a few miles away. We were reenacting the part in the scriptures when someone in Lachish writes a letter saying that they know they are next to be taken because they can no longer see the signal fire from this city. Shoot I wish I could remember the name! But the whole day I felt like we had a Lord of the Rings theme. So this was the part when they light the massive fires to signal war!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was an underground city, this particular cave was where they raised doves. Hundreds of literal pidgeon holes for the birds that were used for food and economy. Here I felt like I was walking the Mines of Moria... and a bit later when we went into the "basement" of one of the houses that turned out to be a giant cistern system. So incredible!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfL7yNq8tmE/Uv-fxxkUoGI/AAAAAAAAHjo/5LzwrmGAAHA/s1600/DSCF0855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TfL7yNq8tmE/Uv-fxxkUoGI/AAAAAAAAHjo/5LzwrmGAAHA/s1600/DSCF0855.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The same underground city had a massive Olive Press. Olive presses have become one of my favorite symbols here.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wrl6elPPl3o/Uv-f0BHuBdI/AAAAAAAAHjw/8nNenXQ9GP4/s1600/DSCF0870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wrl6elPPl3o/Uv-f0BHuBdI/AAAAAAAAHjw/8nNenXQ9GP4/s1600/DSCF0870.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So this is a really bad picture, but we met up with the other class here and sang hymns in the massive cisterns. Lydia my roommate has one of the most melodic voices I've ever heard. I'm so glad I get to have such incredible friends here!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzLZoyWRDtA/Uv-f1bLVHPI/AAAAAAAAHj4/I4X5UtnuEl0/s1600/DSCF0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OzLZoyWRDtA/Uv-f1bLVHPI/AAAAAAAAHj4/I4X5UtnuEl0/s1600/DSCF0875.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ok next day... we went exploring! We discovered some fun points around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This one was probably my favorite: a giant cistern, still full of water under the famous church! Here, pilgrims during the crusader era would restock on water after visiting the sacred space. It's the first cistern I've seen still full of water. We also discovered an old cistern that is off the beaten path there - it looked like something straight out of Harry Potter, full of rubble and completely dark. Jon almost fell in while he was exploring. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QW6PUMffpTE/Uv-f8ggE8AI/AAAAAAAAHkI/IBNUwPGNTkI/s1600/DSCF0879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QW6PUMffpTE/Uv-f8ggE8AI/AAAAAAAAHkI/IBNUwPGNTkI/s1600/DSCF0879.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is Dormition Abbey. This picture can not do it justice. There was also the tomb of David and a possible spot for the Last Supper here. This is by far my favorite church in Jerusalem so far. This is a traditional spot for Mary's burial. But this church is covered in the most magnificent mosaics. My personal favorites were the ones depicting Christ and his lineage - it's the first time faces have looked lifelike in a mosaic to me. And then another one below...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-udoFDRqnGCY/Uv-f6qjjNxI/AAAAAAAAHkA/OVWa3fmEUQ4/s1600/DSCF0887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-udoFDRqnGCY/Uv-f6qjjNxI/AAAAAAAAHkA/OVWa3fmEUQ4/s1600/DSCF0887.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In this regal room where Mary supposedly once lay, is a fantastic mosaic depicting the wonderful women of the Bible: Ruth, Esther, Eve, etc... Anyone who knows my admiration for strong women can see why I loved this mosaic soooooo much!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1YpKFAb8Rk/Uv-gChGUqyI/AAAAAAAAHkQ/wzV4FRuUrNM/s1600/DSCF0892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1YpKFAb8Rk/Uv-gChGUqyI/AAAAAAAAHkQ/wzV4FRuUrNM/s1600/DSCF0892.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free Sunday: we decided to visit the Tower of David Museum. mistake. I was not in a mood to stare at ancient artifacts behind glass that day. Apparently not many people were. Haley (red skirt) started making up stories for everything we saw and telling us them in a British accent. Honestly the coolest part of the museum was the view behind us in this picture. My personal highlight of the museum, was as we were looking at ancient Canaanite artifacts specifically a fertility goddess. A Jewish school group came in, and a teacher hurriedly rushed over and put a poster of a mosaic over the glass with a quick apology to us and motioned to the young boys. It was a sweet gesture and one that struck me as kind of funny. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3kefWDWiBxU/Uv-gGd288HI/AAAAAAAAHkY/HcAmZ3_LxRQ/s1600/DSCF0896.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3kefWDWiBxU/Uv-gGd288HI/AAAAAAAAHkY/HcAmZ3_LxRQ/s1600/DSCF0896.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the museum we walked back through the tomb of David and Last Supper area and made it to the grave of Oskar Schindler. I've don't know the story of Schindler, but Logan gave us what I felt was a decent summary. And Haley (what this picture is showing) whipped out a guide book (for real this time) and told us a bit about it. A few days earlier we'd been exploring this cemetery and been kicked out by an official. But not before I'd noticed some cool looking tombs. We had a huge group come back with us this time, so Matt and I decided to try and sneak away to get a quick peak at them. We had to climb down this overgrown staircase that was crumbling, and had actually just discovered a full skeleton of a goat maybe... when the others saw us. They watched from above as we picked our way over big holes. I got nervous because of all the bones and holes and stinging nettle so I made Matt go look in the well that we were trying to get to. He started FREAKING out "There skeletons down here! Tons of bones and lots of skulls!!!" Well that got all the boys attention and before you knew it they were down there exploring. I got uncomfortable because I felt like we were trespassing on some mass grave, especially when they started looking for a way into it. So I went and explored the rest of the cemetery. I discovered a couple other skeletons laying undisturbed in their catacombs.<br /><br />We split off from the mass group just after that... and discovered my new favorite dessert. Lava cakes. I've already gone back for seconds! They are delicious!!! After the Lava cakes we walked along the colonnade under the old city that was at the level of Christ's city. While we were down there, some jokster set off firecrackers. The initial explosion noise sounded like gunfire and everyone in the street ducked into cover. My heart was racing, but the boys with us assured us after a few seconds that it was only fireworks and thankfully they were right! </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This week we finally talked our way into seeing the Tomb of the Kings. It was a huge underground tomb system. It honestly could have held about 100 bodies. We spent an easy 2 hours climbing through the tunnels and exploring the little caves. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was one of the tunnels we crawled through. The longer I'm here and the more I discover, the more I love this city, the history it holds and the people who live here.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">
One thing that we did that I couldn't take a picture of was go to a Jewish synagogue. I love going to other faith's worship services, finding out what other's believe. This service was by far my favorite other faith that I've been to. The people were so open and friendly. The singing was beautiful and devout. Half way through the service I closed my eyes and imagined that I was back in the time of Moses with the children of Israel singing praises to Jehovah. It was so simple. I even made a friend there! I got her number and we're planning to have lunch this next week! I can't wait!!</div>
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Alright, I think I'm pretty much caught up. Tomorrow we are headed to the Holocaust Memorial. Pray I have the strength for that!! </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-16390512805062869882014-02-12T13:35:00.002-08:002014-02-12T13:35:59.685-08:00Jordan Part 2I'll try and consolidate this post to highlights only. Jordan was just such an incredible experience!!!<br />
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First of all, I've had a lot of questions about my last post. My friend passed away a few hours after I posted that. Ashleigh was an incredible example to me of what true charity, patience, and love is. We had planned to be roommates this summer after I got back and before we both started our careers. I can not possibly imagine what her family is going through. I know that this experience has taken a toll on me and I am so far removed from it here and surrounded by constant reminders of Christ and his atonement. I consider myself so blessed as I deal with the sadness of losing a good friend, removed from the support group that has formed in Provo, to know that Christ came and willing laid down his life so that we can have not only an existence after this mortal journey, but a life surrounded by loved ones. I know that our Father wouldn't have called her home so suddenly if she hadn't completed her mission here. I had the opportunity to visit the pool of Siloam right after I found out. Christ healed the blind man here, and it was so poignant to me as I sat there how in control Christ and our Father are. Ashleigh could have been healed, I'm sure of it. But I'm also sure that it wasn't the Lord's will and I'm going to trust in that knowledge. <br />
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Ok Petra = mind blowing. Camels = wicked cool! Ellie = exhausted!<br />
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The day after Petra found us in Amman, the capital of Jordan. We got an incredibly early start to go see the sights around town. First stop - the citadel of Amman, basically the old city. When we got there, I honestly had no idea what I was looking at: a couple cool ruins, some big signs in Arabic, some touristy walkways. We meandered through with Eeah pointing out highlights. Finally we turned a corner and I was looking at a real Roman temple... well what was left of it. There was nothing that could have prepared me for the magnitude of the temple. I'm such a sucker for ancient beauty. The Temple of Hercules. I couldn't get enough... but believe it or not, that was only small potatoes compared to what was to come the rest of the day!<br />
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I think the next place we went was the Jordanian Museum. Honestly, so much has happened since the trip, it's a bit blurry. At the museum we were greeted by the curator and set free to explore. It was very similar to the Israel museum, on a much smaller scale. And lots of pottery... it makes me sad that ancient pottery is literally becoming an everyday phenomenon to me. But it's true... one of my professors said the sights literally bleed pottery and he couldn't be more right!<br />
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Next up - Jerash - the oldest, best preserved Roman city. Words can not describe the feelings I got there! At first it seemed like every other Tel, plus a cool gate. Our guides decided to pit the two buses against one another, and I was elected (despite my aggressive protesting that I have no speed, just distance in my short lil' legs) to run a race against the other bus. Thankfully, there were 2 of us representing and the other girl pulled through for our bus! After the racing we went to the amphitheater. Wow. That's all I can say! There were bagpipers playing the tune of Praise to the Man as we walked in, and pretty soon our group had taken over the stage. Heather sang, and then a couple groups sang, and then the bag pipes started again... and soon we were dancing all around the stage! I danced and sang in a Roman Amphitheater!! I'm pretty sure that life does not get more surreal than that! The rest of exploring Jerash was incredible... I don't have time or attention span to get it all in. But just imagine a city the size of 2 BYU campuses probably, covered in columns, elaborate carvings, and the ghosts of the people who inhabited the streets lurking around the corners.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PzEFw6jARnQ/UvvhdYZixqI/AAAAAAAAHiU/W4aONyQvZIk/s1600/DSCF0797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PzEFw6jARnQ/UvvhdYZixqI/AAAAAAAAHiU/W4aONyQvZIk/s1600/DSCF0797.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was in the colonnade circle... just like in Hercules! </td></tr>
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Finally we went to the Automobile museum documenting the lives of the royalty of Jordan. It was fine. I don't really get old cars... I felt like I was looking at models of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first half. But I did get this picture for Dad.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1oYCQ71mpNY/UvvhYJT537I/AAAAAAAAHiI/gszc__ISyw8/s1600/DSCF0803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1oYCQ71mpNY/UvvhYJT537I/AAAAAAAAHiI/gszc__ISyw8/s1600/DSCF0803.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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You probably can't tell what I'm pointing to... it's an Indian Motorcycle... exactly like the one in the World's Fastest Indian. I appreciated it in your behalf! <div>
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Next day real quick. We went to a mosque... I can't remember which one, but they had made special arrangements for us to take a tour. Eeah was so wonderful at explaining what happens and the Muslim view of different things, I think my entire group was in reverence of the thoughts of mosques. Plus, we got/had to dress like Muslims out of respect. That was quite the experience! I'm never complaining about Mormon modesty again!!!</div>
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Then we went to the River Jordan where Christ was baptized. I won't spend a ton of time describing it, it was an incredibly spiritual experience for me! But as we were reading the account in the scriptures, just as we were talking about the Holy Ghost, sitting on the banks of the river, a flock of doves flew overhead. What a neat experience. I'm sure they are kept there for the tourists... but it was a wonderful effect and one I will never forget! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y8EjuNLa3Xk/UvvhcnRufEI/AAAAAAAAHiQ/VtFIcrqED7Y/s1600/DSCF0826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y8EjuNLa3Xk/UvvhcnRufEI/AAAAAAAAHiQ/VtFIcrqED7Y/s1600/DSCF0826.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I took a bit of a dip in the River :)</td></tr>
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<br />Ok, there are the very briefest of highlights from the Jordan Trip. It was an incredible experience and I am honestly in love with that country!! I'm beginning to think I would not mind spending a few years in this region on a work assignment. I might have to work towards that!<br /><div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture should have been in my last post... but I was on a public computer. These are my adorable roommates - Lydia and Kimberly! I've only known them a month and they have become some of my closest friends here!!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-41407346071618917192014-02-09T09:07:00.001-08:002014-02-09T09:07:13.224-08:00Faith...Today has been rough.<br />
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I woke up to the news that one of my best friends back at home had been in a serious accident and was in the trauma care unit.<br />
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I had no way to reach anyone and find out how serious.<br />
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As I waited for updates all day I was shocked at the peace I felt. It's been a while since I've dealt with a situation like this, and never from a distance where I am so completely helpless.<br />
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I visited lots and lots and lots of graves today. I couldn't help but think: What a blessing that I know about the plan of salvation. What a blessing to have the faith that we will live again. What a blessing to know that this life is not the end and families can be together forever.<br />
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Ashleigh is an amazing example of faith and a righteous woman. I have faith that whatever happens will be the Lord's will and be alright in the end. I'm so thankful that I can be here, where the atonment happened and know that we will live again!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-62736867748332979482014-02-04T09:28:00.000-08:002014-02-04T09:28:17.840-08:00FatherI'm taking a minor detour from writting down my activities to just write out what's been on my mind lately. Specifically Fathers. Specifically mine.<div>
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While here in the Holy Land I've been focusing on strengthening my relationship with my Heavenly Father. It's been a challenging experience to say the least. It is easy for me to relate to Christ here as I see where he walked, taught, lived, and died. Heavenly Father is much more ambigous and almost totally dependant on me to form the relationship. That's alright, something that you work for is much more rewarding than something that is given to you.</div>
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However, as I've pondered qualities of Heavenly Father and the role of fathers, I'm more and more grateful for the father I've been given in this life. My dad is my hero. I've yet to meet a man who is harder worker than my dad (which has made dating incredibly difficult because no one quite measures up!). My dad is a big prankster and tease which has helped me not take myself to seriously. My dad is supportive of not only my dreams and goals, but of all his children and his wife. I treasure the memories of I have of long evenings of pitching and batting cages, bike rides, jump over, and apple fights. I can never thank my dad enough for coaching me not only in softball, but in tough life lessons. </div>
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Dad, I want you to know I love you and miss you. I'm so grateful for all you do for me! Thank you for giving me an example of qualities that our Heavenly Father has. You are the best!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-5832068273011675102014-02-03T11:07:00.002-08:002014-02-03T11:07:34.618-08:00PETRAfied<div class="MsoNormal">
Cue ridiculously long blog post round duos!<o:p></o:p></div>
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This last week we had our first overnight field trip. Where
you may ask? Jordan. Don’t worry… I wasn’t overly thrilled about going either.
I mean…cool, another Middle Eastern country, slightly different culture,
probably some cool piles of rocks. But do we really need to spend 4 days doing
just that? I could not have been more wrong!!</div>
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First of all, we left ridiculously early, on our giant tour
bus to make it to the border before anyone else did. When they said border
crossing, I’m thinking something similar to the U.S. –Canada border. In set up
I wasn’t that far off, they look very similar, except this border has mines in
the no man’s land and they actually take the passport checking very seriously
complete with scanning of our luggage and mirrors under the bus. We waited at
the border for about 3.5 hours. I’m not gonna lie… I got a wee bit cranky.
Finally the ordeal was done, we were all cleared and we were on our way to an
adventure!<o:p></o:p></div>
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First stop: Mount Nebo, where Moses looked and saw the
promise land and then was translated. I wish I would have realized that we were
going there so I could have studied about it a bit more. Unfortunanetly, I was
so cold and hungry that I don’t think I really got the full experience (plus it
was super hazy so I couldn’t really see anything off the top of the mountain).
But still, I got the same kind of feeling that I get when I go to the Manti
Temple. A prophet of old stood here! Walked here! Spoke to God here! Plus, my
mental picture of the Bible is coming together a lot smoother now. When I read
about places on my own now I can actually visualize them and picture what’s
going on. Awesome!<o:p></o:p></div>
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After Mt. Nebo, we went to see the Madaba Map. I was pretty
excited for this one! Not a day goes by here that I don’t think about what an
excellent teacher Mr. Oram was and I’m so grateful for his passion for art and
being able to transfer it to me. I can’t imagine what this trip would be like
without it. Soooo…. Mr. Oram had talked with us quite a bit about this map, in
reality, it was not as vivid as I expected. But that could not diminish how fascinating
wit was, how mind blowing the details, and the fact that thousands of footsteps
of old had brought pilgrims to that exact spot on their route to Jerusalem.
That same church also had the Madonna with the Blue Hand. I can’t remember
exactly why that icon was so important…but I remember learning about it and so
naturally I was excited to see it! After a quick stop at a local restaurant, we
drove down to Petra.</div>
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Side note, on the drive, Tanner Potter sat next to me. I haven’t
really talked to him at all that much, but that ride we got to know each other
pretty well. I found a kindred soul in regards to books!!! And fun fact: he is
a Davis Dart and part of the original Da Boys group… pre cursor to The Stoop…. Hmmmmmmmm….</div>
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Ok, we get to Petra and the welcoming committee is literally
in the drive waiting for us, in full uniform playing the bagpipes, drums, and
singing/chanting with swords drawn. What the heck!! I felt like royalty! After
they ushered us through the gauntlet there was mango juice and bread with oil
and thyme for us to snack on while we enjoyed the music. I’m pretty sure that
will never ever happen for me again! I just soaked it all up and couldn’t get
over the fact that it was happening to me!! After were checked in(and had an
incredible Bedouin dinner), most of our group headed down to Petra to do a
candlelight tour. There is something so incredibly magical about red rock at
night! The whole time we were there, I kept thinking about working down in Zion
and the nights when we’d all go rappelling Jolly’s by moonlight. That summer
was the best decision I’ve ever made… maybe that’s what I’ll do again this
summer… hmmmmm…<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyways, we walked through the canyon following a little
trail of tea lights. The stars were breathtaking! I’ve missed seeing stars
regularly here. There is so much light pollution that only a few show up, but
out in small town Petra down in the canyon, they were almost as bright as at
the ranch! And I saw all of Orion for the first time, instead of just his belt!
Wahoo! Walking through the canyon with Brooke and Larson, (the guy who reminds
me of Landon), I honestly felt like I was right back in Southern Utah, except
every once and a while the trail changed into an ancient Roman road lit by
hundreds of little candles. We kept chatting and laughing, when all of a sudden
we turned a corner and we’re staring at the Treasury of Petra, one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world. And do you know what, it’s even more
awe-inspiring than I ever imagined! I think all 3 of us stopped mid-sentence and
just stared in amazement as we approached this magnificent tomb. As the mouth
of the canyon opened up, there were hundreds of candles lighting up the Treasury.
We sat down to just appreciate the majesty infront of us, and some local men
started playing the flute and some Middle Eastern guitar/cello thing. It was…
eerie, and magical, and time-transcendent (is that even a word?). Even with the
freezing cold wind chilling my fingers one by one, I couldn’t get enough!
Finally, I dragged myself away…with the promise I could come back the next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We stared bright and early the next morning. Our tour guide,
Eeah, walked us through Petra by daylight. It was fascinating! He described the
aqueducts that they had carved out of the sandstone, pointed out the camels
carved into the walls, and explained the hundreds of caves/tombs that we would
be seeing that day. Finally, we rounded the corner and I knew we would be
seeing the incredible treasury tomb in a matter of seconds by daylight. Eeah
told us to make lines, hold hands, and keep our eyes down. When I finally
looked up again, the Treasury was in front of me, regal and imposing. After a
few minutes there, they cut us loose to go explore. Petra is huge! I could have
spent days and days there…probably even weeks! Everything was so ancient, and
some places we climbed into, I felt like I was the first person to be there in
centuries! Ok, I know that that’s ridiculous…
but it was so easy to imagine! <o:p></o:p></div>
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We took off with a small quick group to try and move quickly
to see as much as possible with our short time. Hannah led the way followed by
Brooke and I, then Larson, Andrew, and Mike tagging along. We booked it up the
tallest mountain to get to the High Place first. Over 800 stairs. Ouch! We climbed
them all in about 15 mins, and made it to the high place to enjoy the view for
a while. What I wasn’t expecting though, was at the top there was a full on
alter. Eeah had told us that they believe that Moses stayed some time there and
there is a tomb for Aaron, Moses’s brother at the top of a mountain a few
mountains away. Anyways, the high place alter was the first alter I’d seen
complete. And it was huge! Even if none of the Old Testament prophets used it, I
loved the visualization I got from that mountain top. We could see everything
around us for miles and were so close to the sky, it wasn’t easy to get there,
but worth the hike, and I could see perfectly how it would be laid out… I could
almost see the smoke rising from the alter.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm pretty sure I'm bringing the fanny pack back ;)</td></tr>
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Heading down, we saw a cool lookout
and of course had to check it out…. And discovered a back way down. A few other
groups saw us head down that way and followed us, but our pace was a bit to
quick for them. The way down was littered with tombs and caves. And about half
way down there was a Bedouin woman playing a haunting tune on a flute. She
pulled us to the edge of the cliff and pointed out sacred sights. Kinda cool! We
crawled into graves and explored the nooks and cranny’s of pitch black
caves(thanks for making me take a flashlight Dad!) and got to know a French couple
that was playing leapfrog with us down the trail. Once we got to the bottom,
there was a herd of donkey’s just chilling there, so we chased them around a
bit and all I could think of was that stupid mule Elmer that I learned to
barrel race on and how similar these dumb donkeys were too him. Right after the
donkeys, we stumbled across some adorable children who were racing their
homemade toys (a wheel from a stroller cut off and stuck onto a stick). They
were running back and forth with bare feet over sharp little rocks. It broke my
heart! When they saw us, they started yelling “Hello Mis-ter! Hello Mis-te-er!”
They tried to become our guides through the caves. We’d been told not to
indulge them because they should be in school, but we played with them a little
bit, they couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7! Andrew even got them to race
back and forth with him a few times. And
after we left, they followed us for about 15 mins chattering in broken English.
They were so adorable, I wish I could have taken every one of them with me! <o:p></o:p></div>
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When we came to the road to the Monastery, we parted ways
with the little kids and as we came around the corner, we spotted Nate Monson,
Freddy and Nicholette. And from yards away we heard Nate yell “Stop the
Donkey!!! Stop the Donkey!!!” we could not stop laughing! We had specifically
been told no donkey rides… so to hear him freak out over the donkey moving a
few steps was priceless! <o:p></o:p></div>
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We booked it up to the Monastery, about halfway up the steep
stairs I’m thinking… “There is no way that this is worth it! My legs are
killing me!” But guess what?! It was so worth it! We caught up to a couple
other groups on the way up, and by the time we all reached the top (a wicked
800ish stairs later), out of breath and sweaty, the view was unreal! A massive
tomb carved right out of the rock. Now, we’d been seeing quite a few of these
all day, but this one was the most imposing one I’d seen so far. We had 45 mins
to kill up there before lunch, so quite a few pictures were taken. About 30 of
us climbed inside of the tomb and before you knew it, Prince of Egypt was being
sung and we were dancing and forming circles… the little local boys were
sitting on the death bed laughing at us. They must have thought we were
completely crazy! We hiked around a little bit more, a few of the guys disappeared
and pretty soon they were yelling at us from the top of the tomb. They had
found a back way up and clambered up to it. Larson, Brooke, and I started to
follow in their footsteps but before we could go very far a ranger chased us
down and shooed us out. Turns out there is a no climbing sign that was facing
the complete wrong way so obviously we didn’t see it…<o:p></o:p></div>
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On the way down from the monastery, starving as we were… I
had to stop and look at jewelry. All morning long the necklaces had been
catching my eye. They weren’t the generic (I can’t believe I’m using that term
to describe anything here, but it’s the only word that is coming to mind right
now) one’s that I’ve been seeing in the old city. Some of them were genuinely
unique and somewhat specific to the area. About half way down, I spotted one I
hadn’t seen yet, picked it up, and well had to have it. I’m so proud of my
bartering skills lately. I paid exactly what I wanted for it, and I love it! <o:p></o:p></div>
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After lunch we decided to go try and find the museum that
held the Elephant capitals from the amphitheater columns. We got pointed to a
structure at the top of a mountain. Up we went… even more stairs… honestly, the
south stairs at BYU seem like a breeze after this trip! Turns out we were given
wrong directions, but there was a small trail around the back that we took, and
after we turned the corner, there was a sign telling us we were on our way to
see the crusader fortress. Awesome! We found it pretty easily, and for the
first time since early that morning we weren’t surrounded by tons of
shopkeepers and tourists… just us and a little man with a coffee shop. These
tombs had some wicked graves in them, that looked like people were actually
buried there instead of excavated. Obviously lots of pictures were taken, and
then we realized we were running out of time. We raced back down to see the
Roman Amphitheater and Palace Tombs. The amphitheater was cool, very similar to
other one’s we’d seen. But, possibly the funniest moment of the trip happened
here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There was a little boy trying to sell us postcards, and he would
not leave us(and by us I mean mostly Elizabeth) alone. Every time we got rid of
him, he came back about 30 seconds later. Finally, Elizabeth ran out of excuses
so she told the little boy to try Mike, because he had all the money. The boy
ran over to Mike and started pestering him (what we didn’t know at the time,
was that Mike had been telling the little boy the exact same lie about
Elizabeth.) Mike tries to joke about us with the little boy, but he got right
in his face, so Mike started backing up. Right into a big hole that led to the
cisterns. I watched as Mike teetered on the edge of this hole, windmill arms
and everything, then fell (I swear the whole thing was in slow motion) right
into this hole, completely disappearing. My first thought was “Mike may have
just died!” Elizabeth and I ran over, followed closely by Larson and Brooke
from another direction. Mike was trying to stand up at the bottom of about an 8
foot drop with 2 good size ledges sticking out of the sides. We were really
worried at first when he said he wasn’t ok. But he climbed out of the hole just
fine and clarified that he had hit his tailbone pretty hard. </div>
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He started walking
around trying to walk it off and another group came up and asked what had
happened. As I started to describe it, it hit me just how hilarious the
situation was… honestly it was like something straight out of a movie, and the
fact that Mike genuinely was alright. I started giggling… I swear I tried to
hold it in. But then Mike said something about how it was karma cuz he’d been
sending little kids at us all day, and the whole situation was comical… and I
lost it. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw up! I had to leave
and pull myself together. Even today, a week later, I can’t think about it
without a smile. Mike is okay, he even started running with us again a few days
ago, and he thinks the best part of the story now is how hard I was laughing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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After Mike’s dive, we really had to hustle to get to the
Palace. We hiked up, poked our heads in stood in amazement, and I may have
recounted the falling story to Matt and Mckay who we ran into there. We split
up pretty fast though, Mike, Elizabeth, Brooke and I wanted to ride camels and
the others wanted to explore a bit more. We hadn’t even made it down the hill,
before a man offered us a camel ride. I put my bargaining skills to work again
and got us a ride back to the Treasury for 5 dinars each. (I’m actually
ridiculously proud of that one!) Brooke and I had to double up, but I didn’t
even mind! It was a truly unique experience, and terrifying when the camel
stood up and sat back down. Surprisingly we got a lot of comments as we were
riding back (“Oh, camels make the ladies sexy!” “Hey you two in the middle
there, you sexy!” “Middle two lesbians?”) Yikes!! I didn’t realize camels were
an attraction factor.</div>
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Mike thought it was hysterical and I can’t really blame
him for anything after my reaction to his fall. We made it back to the treasury
where a lot of our group were hiring camels for pictures. (Can I just add, they
paid more to take a picture on the camel, then we paid to ride and take a
picture… booyah!) A couple of the guys decided to put 4 on a camel… it ended
almost in disaster with Larson making a full 360 around the camel’s neck and
the camel nipping at him and snorting like crazy. It was a perfect way to end
our day in Petra!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Alrighty… this post is already way to long. Kudos to you if
you made it all the way through! Promise, the rest of this trip won’t be so
lengthy (hopefully!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ellie<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-49183344349455927902014-01-30T09:36:00.002-08:002014-01-30T10:11:31.882-08:00Just an update...Hello hello!<br />
<br />
Well, this is the first break I've had yet, no pressing homework, I'm not allowed in the city before 3 on Fridays and I got a nap in (I've never been so completely and totally exhausted ever in my entire life, but I just can't seem to sleep because there is always so much I want to do!)...so I'll try and catch up the past few days!<br />
<br />
I'm all caught up to Tuesday... Wednesday we were slammed with classes again. Seriously, I'm thinking they might be trying to kill us these first couple weeks. Classes are normally in 2 hour blocks, intensive learning and dark rooms. All of us are super sleep deprived... it's rough! But we had a little bit of a break Wednesday afternoon and a few of us decided to head into the old city to explore a bit, when I say a few I mean like 14. We hadn't even made it 50 feet out of the gate when some kids asked us to come play darts with them. Since I had no agenda of things to do and see that day, I joined the group that went to play with them, Eric, Scott, and Kari. We played with them for a while... my dart playing skills are just sad to say the least. But it was fun and I love interacting with the people here.<br />
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Afterwards, we caught up to the other group and Kari decided to go with them to Omar's shop. Since I still haven't decided if I want the piece he has on hold for me, I opted out, and Eric, Scott and I went exploring. We didn't find much of anything thrilling, a cool shop, some candy, a neat ally. We were walking past the fountain by the church of the Holy Sepulchre and I saw a young guy with an awesome bird. I complemented him on it and he asked me if I would like to hold it. I asked if it was free and he said for me... yes! I held this neat little bird and it immediately pooped on my finger! Sick nasty! But I still needed the picture with it so I dealt with it.<br />
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Ok ok ok ... I wrote that first part almost a week ago. And I haven't had a single spare moment since then... so I'll finish up to last Monday and then I'll start working on another post to try and capture this amazing week!<br />
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So the bird poops on my finger, picture, and then we start talking. Turns out he was a Bedouin man who owned his own shop. We started chatting because we had just visited a Bedouin camp. He asked us to come to his shop to show us some of his Bedouin heritage things. We had about 20 mins before we had to start heading back so why not? We go into his shop which is just like every other little tourist shop in the old city, but he pulls out a picture book from behind the counter and starts showing us his family. Then he points to a picture of his mother or grandmother wearing this beautiful cross stitch dress. Then he points to the dress hanging on the wall of the stairs ( I hadn't even noticed the stairs before.) Right then a little boy arrives with some herbal tea that he's brought us. Our teachers had explained how hospitality is valued very highly in Bedouin society and their trademark is sharing tea. So I took it, but I also remembered how my parents had taught me never to accept a drink that something could be put in... so I just pretended to sip it. Meanwhile, Eric downs the whole thing, Scott did the same as me. Once we have the tea he tells us that he has some antiques upstairs in his workshop. I got kinda a fishy feeling about this so I had one of the boys go first and another one behind me as he lead us upstairs. But he was telling the truth, there was a beautiful workshop upstairs, draped floor to ceiling in elaborate fabrics with intense metal decorations everywhere. It honestly looked like something straight out of the movies, a Middle Eastern sitting room. In the fireplace there were jars and jars of spices, when I asked him about it, he says "My brother, he is crazy! He is a chef!" I'll believe that now. In the center of the room there was a round table covered in bowls of beads of all kinds of colors and sizes and materials. He has us all sit down on cushions and turns to me and says "I want to make you a present, and earring!" Well... I'm not about to say no to free jewelry, so we sat there and watched as he made me a beautiful earring. He says the stone he put on there is coral... sure why not... even if it's not... it's beautiful! He hands it to me and says, "I will only give you one because I want you to come back then I'll give you the other!" I don't know if he means buy the other or he'll really give me the other, I don't even care! It's a cool story behind the earring :) I haven't had time to go back and get it because I don't want to go back there without 2 biggish guys at least. This guy is just a bit to friendly, but I am definitely going back! By the time we finally got out of there we had 13 mins to get back to the center. It normally takes me about 18 mins from the Northeast gate back to the center if I'm walking at a good pace. We were at the West gate (Jaffa)... it was a very quick run/walk we did back to the center and guess what, we only made it back 5 mins late!<br />
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Thursday, I had another quick break after classes, so we decided to go to the old city again. Brother Belnap heard us talking about a place to find and he told us about the oldest church in Jerusalem that supposedly has the skull of John the Baptist. So off we went, sadly we didn't find it in time before we had to race back to the center to make it in time for class.<br />
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Friday, Mckay wanted to get ready for Jordan by going to Shaban's and trading our Shekals for Dinars. Apparently, everyone else in the center had the same idea. We got there and about 5 mins later another 20 people showed up. The little shop was so full that Shaban had us all sit down and gave us mango juice and pita bread with thyme. And of course lots of the girls bought scarfs and the boys looked at kipas (sp?), we had to leave pretty quick though... we only had about an hour and half to play in the old city before dark so 20 mins there and then 30 mins in Shabans... we had to leave pretty quick to make it back to the center. Mckay, Matt and I were walking down the street from Shabans when we saw an open door. You know what that means - go in! It was a green door, made for midgets-I had to bend down to go through. It opened up to a small courtyard with a little church in the middle. On the door of the church there was a sign - John the Baptists Relic church! We found it! Without even trying! I was thrilled! Sadly it was closed, it's only open at random 1 hour increments during the week. But, I know where it is now and I'm going back!!<br />
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Friday night was movie night, Lawrence of Arabia, there was no way I could sit through a 3 hour movie in the uncomfortable chairs in the forum, so I went and joined a group playing games. Scategories, catch phrase, and then I suggested Rook. There was one other girl here who knew how to play, so we taught two others and started a game. Soon more and more people joined in and pretty soon we had lots of rook games going, and guess what, people loved it! Not only loved it, there is talk of a Rook tournament going down! Best day ever! I haven't really played Rook since Freshman year, I'm loving it!<br />
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Saturday, church was amazing! I feel like I'm on a constant spiritual high here! After church, a small group of us walked down to the Garden of Gethsemane. It wasn't quite what I expected. It was noisy and cold and very manicured. But I found a quite corner, pulled out my scriptures and had a wonderful experience. I am still in awe that I can just walk to the Garden tomb or the Garden of Gethsemane whenever I want to, ponder on what happened there, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world all the time!<br />
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Sunday was something else. Most of the people here decided to go on a little excursion to see some caves about an hour away from the city. I looked them up and honestly... it just looked like Timp, plus, I'm not a huge fan of caves, they make me a wee bit nervous. So I opted out and signed up instead to play the carol-on bells that morning. So after breakfast, Hannah, Brooke, John, and I hiked over to the YMCA just outside of the the old city. When we got there, Stephen, Brett, and Kari had decided last minute to do it and hitched a ride with the Carlsons. We got to chime the hour and then we started playing the bells. Like actual huge bells ringing out over the city! It was such a nerve racking and amazing experience. I got to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow and then Hannah and I played Sunrise, Sunset. Every time I hear Viva la Vida now I'm going to think of that experience "I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing, Roman Calvary choirs are singing!" I rang those Jerusalem bells!!! Afterwards, we took the most awkward picture of my life in front of the building... ask me about it when I get home!<br />
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Afterwards we went over to the Israel Museum. Brooke and I had already been there, but let's be honest... I was so enthralled the first time I didn't mind going back and looking at things at my own pace. The highlight of my museum experience this time was not the artifacts. Brett and I were wandering through and we started chatting about these giant lion gates that were in the middle of the floor. Pretty soon, without thinking, we were chatting and leaning on the ancient lions. Before you knew it, the alarm started beeping and the guard was coming towards us yelling in Arabic or Hebrew, I don't know which. Brett had blocked me from his view so he only yelled at him thankfully, I couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure those weren't the real things... they were in the middle of the floor and the last time I was there the tour guide touched them...but still, leaning on them was probably not the best thing. Still... it was a hilarious experience.<br />
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After the museum, we split up. Hannah, Stephen, Kari, John and I decided to stay in West Jerusalem and see what the night life was like. We're not allowed out in East Jerusalem (where the center is) or the Old City after dark. Since we were already in West Jerusalem it only seemed natural to stay out. We wandered over to the German Colony (and when I say wandered, I mean asked directions from multiple people and turned around a couple times), on the way over, Stephen and I got in an argument over who sings Livin' on a Prayer. He called multiple people to settle this, but since Brett is the gospel truth according to Stephen, he was the official tie breaker. At first he sided with Stephen saying it was Journey, but a few mins later he called back to side with me... Bon Jovi! So now he owes me a waffle, or crepe, and I have the satisfaction of knowing my Bon Jovi! The German Colony was alright... just a little street full of fun little restaurants and a crazy looking movie theater. I don't know that I'll go back, but I'm sure glad I went to see it at least once. We grabbed a taxi ride home and Stephen and John worked to lower the rate by auctioning off kisses from us 3 girls. Thankfully the driver wouldn't go for it and we made it home with out to much of a problem!<br />
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Alrighty this post is way past long enough, and I have homework, so until next time! Goodnight!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-27067412140863956492014-01-21T12:03:00.000-08:002014-01-21T12:03:09.618-08:00Homeward Bound... and a wee bit homesickNo, I'm not coming home... I'm talking Biblical home here. But before I catch up for the past couple days, I thought Mom and Dad would appreciate the fact that I got a little bit homesick yesterday. We went on an awesome field trip yesterday - details to follow - but the hour long drive there, the land around looked just like the Ranch and I got a little bit nostalgic. Then, later that day when I opened up my Picasa to organize my pictures for the day, it automatically opened up to the pictures I scanned for your Christmas present a few years ago. So I spent a few mins perusing pictures of Mom and Dad's wedding and early days on Beverly Street. I hope everyone is well at home... I miss you all! Its all I can do not to buy a ton of presents for everyone here!! I've already got about 5 million things I want to get for you girls... Ben is proving difficult... but my eyes are peeled for something perfect!<br />
<br />
Ok... now the Homeward Bound bit. One of my first nights here, I was accompanying a friend, Heather (she has an absolutely amazing voice!!!!) and she asked me to play the old folk song Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel remade it later) that Grandpa Williams used to have me play for him. I haven't accompanied anyone in that song since he passed away and as I was playing it for her I could feel him very close! Our field trip yesterday was to the Negev... the dry flatlands almost desert that the people of the Exodus wandered around for 40 years. On our way there, Brother Woods sang a few lines of Homeward Bound to us, making the connection that we are going back to the home that was promised to Abraham and how we are entitled to the promises he made. Brother Woods reminds me a lot of Grandpa Williams too... the veil felt very thin at times during the day.<br />
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We visited the Bedouin Women - nomadic people who still live a very simplistic... although more modernized... lifestyle. They showed us how make yarn, dye it, and weave these beautiful, elaborate materials. It was so primitive but so beautiful! In a few years when I have a bit more spending money, I'm going to order some of the pillow cases they made.<br />
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Next we went to Tel-Beersheva, a town that is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, because all 3 of the patriarchs were known to have lived there at one time or another. Every place I go, I'm learning so so so much, there is no way I can write it all down! But at Tel-Beersheva we focused on the significance of Alters in temples.... mostly because they found a 4 horned alter there. Wow! The thing that struck me at this site was the view that I was looking at was the same one that Abraham looked at as he left to sacrifice Isaac, the same one Isaac looked at as a young boy, and the same one that Jacob looked at some point in his life. As I stood in the streets of the city and tried to imagine what it would have looked like back then, the feelings that these great prophets and fathers and sons had to have been experiencing as they stood there (or somewhere really close!!) it made the scriptures so much more real! After wards we went into these amazing cisterns way under the city. I couldn't believe that these man made caverns were made so anciently ago... it gives me chills thinking about it!<br />
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My favorite site of the day though was Tel-Arad. Arad is mentioned in the scriptures as well as the Canaanite city that prevented the Israelites from entering into Canaan. Again, standing on top of the hill looking over the land that Children of Israel would have been camped in, I could just visualize a young women back then, standing somewhere nearby where I was and seeing this massive group of people approaching her home city. It is so easy to empathize with Biblical characters being here in this land and understanding how things are here... I can't even describe it! What fear must have been in her heart and the hearts of the leaders of Arad seeing the Exodus, how discouraging must it have been for the Israelites coming from the lush area of the Nile to be camped here in a relatively ugly place (I thought it was beautiful, but I can see how some might find it harsh and unappealing like it's described in the O.T.). But perhaps the coolest moment came for me when we looked over the layout of a complete Israelite temple that had been excavated from the site. I've seen drawings of what it was supposed to look like before, but it became so real to me. Honestly, I've always pictured a huge area making up the temple, but it was fairly small. About the size of the kitchen, dinning, and living room in my parents house. But I could feel the history as I looked at the rocks comprising the walls. I can't wait to go through our temple and compare the Israelite temples to what I learn there! I can tell I've got SO MUCH TO LEARN still! It's exciting!<br />
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Sunday I finally went to the Dome of the Rock! I remember learning about it back in High School. My teacher did such a good job explaining it and impressing into us the importance of the sight... I remember turning to Steph and we promised each other we'd go there. I got to chat with her for a few minutes yesterday and she was so excited that I'd been there! I can't wait for her to get home and we can share all the amazing experiences we've had abroad now! Anyways... the Dome of the Rock... it was even better than I had originally imagined! The tile is exquisite and the buildings surrounding it are gorgeous ruins of Roman looking architecture...except for the Mosque of course! I'm going to have to go back 4 or 5 times at least while I'm here to even start to take it all in.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you turned around from where the above picture was taken this is what was behind you. From left to right: Matt, Me, Kimberly, Chris</td></tr>
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After the Dome, Matt, Dillon, Kimberly (my amazing roommate!), Christopher, and I all set out to explore the Old City. We decided to try and find the 4 synagogues. But, somehow we ended up in the Christian quarter... I led us down a few random allies and up a few random stair cases and before I knew it we had found our way into a courtyard that I"m pretty sure was on the roof of a radiating chapel to the Church of the Holy Seplechure. Just as we came out on the roof... the bells started chiming. It sounded just like the Sound of Music. I would love to live in a city where real bells chime on the hour, there is something so majestic and peaceful about it. Next we found our way onto the rooftop of a couple houses that had an amazing view of the Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Seplechure and a mosque I think... Anyways, it was smack dab in the middle of the Christian, Armenian, and Jewish quarters... I'm pretty sure. It was such a cool view we decided to have lunch there. Right as we sat down, the Muslim call for prayer starting going off right above us, then about a minute later the church bells from the church of the Holy Seplechure started chiming. It was a very confusing and at the same time beautiful. I hope I can find my way back there sometime!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rooftop in the middle of the City with me in the middle!</td></tr>
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After the rooftops we climbed down and went exploring under the city, we went to Zedekiah's Caves, where the stone for the first temple was quarried. They were cool... but honestly the coolest thing for me was the fact that we were under such a bustling city!<br />
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Finally, the best part of the day was at the end... we visited Omar's Olive wood carving shop. They are exquisite! I'm wrestling with whether or not to buy this beautiful statue of Christ pulling Peter out of the water. It's expensive! After Omar's, we went exploring a bit more and finally found one of the synagogues we'd started out looking for. But then we discovered a breathtaking overlook of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. We dubbed it our new lunch place and had a very hard time pulling ourselves away from the spectacular view, the somewhat peaceful atmosphere and the benches that were great for our sore feet!<br />
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We found another rampart walk and started going around it, but ran out of time. Fun story - We were getting pictures and I was supermanning out of a rampart window to get a cool pic. I couldn't get very far out though. Matt thought he'd be nice and hold onto my legs so I could lean out further, well he lifted me up when he grabbed my legs and I thought I was getting thrown over the wall. Terrifying. The boys I was with all found it incredibly funny however. We had to race back to the center to make it in before sundown, but we made it in time for a gorgeous sunset and a big list of things to do next Sunday!<br />
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Today, the only thing I have to report is that I made it through all my classes (6 hours worth) without falling asleep and I got a bit of a tan (as much as I tan) as I studied/napped on my balcony today. Sunny 72 degrees today... sorry for all y'all back in Utah!<br />
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Well, goodnight from Jerusalem! As always, love you all!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-33459618862867126042014-01-18T08:53:00.000-08:002014-01-18T08:53:00.413-08:00On Top of the WorldI'm not in a super creative or writing mood right now... but I know I need to record as much as I can before I forget to much!<div>
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So here's a list of what's been on my mind and what I've been up to</div>
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1. I've been here a little over a week and my testimony has grown more in one crazy week than it has in probably the last two years. It's impossible for it not to grow as I'm learning more and more about the Old Testament and especially about Abraham I'm in awe of the amazing things that took place here! </div>
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2. The impossible has happened... It think I'm finally finding my way around the Old City! I've only gotten lost twice the last time I went there! Some cool things I've found and discovered:</div>
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I held a Parrot named Rose</div>
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I found the prison and tomb that held Barabbas supposedly</div>
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I tried Falafal and Schwarma... mmmmmmm sooo good</div>
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I visited the Church of the Holy Seplechure</div>
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And I finally got up the courage to buy/barter a bag that I really needed</div>
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3. I found Kristalyn and Landon's dopplegangers - except Landon's is blonde</div>
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4. I lead a Zumba class... it was terrifying but once we started I had so much fun... and I had multiple boys come up to me the next day and tell me how sore they were from it! Score!</div>
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5. Last night we got to go into the Old Ctiy after dark and participate in the welcoming of the Sabbath with the Jews at the Western Wall. It was an unforgettable experience! We could hear the crowd singing before we were even inside the city. It was slightly overwhelming walking into such an enclosed space and having so many people, like thousands of people, all there worshiping and singing and dancing. But the really incredible thing was how inviting they were and how much they wanted us to celebrate with them. I joined many dance circles just like in Fiddler on the Roof, and rubbed shoulders with many women who were praying earnestly. What wonderful people this world is full of! When we were at the Wall, I couldn't help but think of how much the gospel would bless these people's lives! How badly I wanted them to know what they were missing, to share with them the fact that there is a temple, multiple temples on the Earth today, and that they can speak to God anywhere not just at the wall. Sadly I'm not even allowed to hint at my faith, but I know that one day these amazing people will be given the opportunity to hear this gospel, even if it's not in this life.</div>
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6. After coming back from the Wall, we decided to have our own dance party. No lie, it was the funnest dance I've ever been to and I can NOT wait for the next one!!!</div>
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7. On Thursday we went and walked the rampart wall. We spent hours climbing all over the ancient stones and looking down on the old city of Jerusalem! It was breathtaking and such a neat experience to look down into the people's lives!</div>
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Well, there's a quick overview for me! Hope everyone is well back at home!!</div>
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Ellie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-51431849100540595032014-01-13T12:02:00.000-08:002014-01-14T12:03:34.711-08:00Like Woah...HO. LY. COW.<br />
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What is this place? I've already fallen completely in love with the old city, made friends with some of the local vendors, tried some crazy new foods, and made life long friends. And it's only been 5 days! Let me try and scratch the surface of my past two days but there is no possible way I can capture all of the experiences and feelings that I'm having! Sorry for anyone who is reading this... but I'm using this blog as a way to remember each and every day so I am going to try and detail out as much as I can remember.<br />
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Yesterday. Best. DAY. EVER. I know that I will probably say that multiple times on this blog because it seems that each new experience is simply building on another. Since Saturday is our Sabbath, Sunday is our free day. Before we came here, Mckay Schoffield and I decided we would run in the mornings, problem is, we have very restricted running routes (as in one 4 mile loop) and we can only be outside when it's light out, soooo that means that yesterday was the very first time we could actually go for a run. We left at 6:30 and within 5 mins we were completely lost, thankfully we were lost on Hebrew University campus and not some "bad" neighborhood. Once we got back on course we discovered some hidden nuggets. An incredible overlook into West Bank, an ancient tomb site ruins, a cemetery, and of course the fact that we were running in Jerusalem was a fact we couldn't get over. When we rounded the corner to head back up the (ridiculously steep and never ending long) hill to get back tot he JC, the sun came up. The windows of Jerusalem reflected back the red light combined with the reflection from the Dome of the Rock, it looked like the city was on fire. It was breathtaking. Sadly, I couldn't get a picture of it.<br />
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When we got back it was a quick turn around and about half the group headed to the Israeli Museum, it was kinda overcast and a bit chilly so perfect day right? I don't know what I was expecting there, but it certainly wasn't anything like I imagined. When we got there it was massive group think and no one was doing anything, so Matt C (I have no idea how to spell his last name), Mckay, Abrianna (my roommate who I thought I would need lots of patience to learn to love, but I already do love her! Small miracles!!!) Josh Johnson, and Ricky just started walking. And guess what, it worked, we found where we needed to go, and not only that... when we got back and compared notes... we'd by far and large had the best experience. We found the giant replica of Jerusalem in the second Temple period and had a fun time trying to identify where we were and watching the "giant ravens" ravage Jaffa gate. Next we were awed by the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. How had I never really heard anything about them? What a mind blowing discovery!!! And I got to see those relics and look at a few of the fragments. Can you imagine discovering, handling and translating those? Wow! Simply unbelievable!! Next we went to the archeology wing, Mckay stopped to ask directions and found out that there was a tour leaving in 5 mins and that the Botticelli accession piece was still on location even though the exhibit was closed. Sooo we ran for the tour! Iris, our tour guide took a minute for introductions and when she found out we were from the "Mormon University" with a purpose (checklist) to our visit, she decided to give us the real deal. 2 HOURS later, we had been given an inclusive tour complete with minor explanations of Jewish tradition and history. I couldn't believe everything I was seeing. I honestly teared up when I saw the Goddess of Willendorf, the bust of Alexander the Great, original Corinthian column tops, to name a few. Plus there were unbelievable things that I'd never heard of, a Jewish prayer scroll engraved in Silver found in a collapsed tomb (the Jews on our tour were much more impressed then us Mormons... I'll have to research more what that is), Sarcophagi from ancient Egypt, relics from what I'm going to believe was ancient Sodom and Gomorrah (gold idols that had been burned during the time period of the Patriarchs... I mean come on!). When we finally finished our tour we were completely exhausted, but I HAD to see that Botticelli. Mckay was the only other person who even knew what it was and he was dying to get to the old city... but everyone else was curious, so we trekked back the length of the museum and found the guard. ( The exhibit officially closed on Saturday) I approached and asked if the piece had been moved yet and if we could possibly see it. She finally relented and we were ushered past the gates to our own private viewing of Botticelli's Ascension! I didn't even try and hide the tears this time. Me, Mckay and Abrianna took pictures and then we took a moment to just appreciate it. Matt started asking me questions and by the time I was done... well he <b>needed</b> a picture to! Which really got me to thinking... I think I picked the wrong major. I mean I like my major, but in all honest - I <b>LOVE</b> art history! These past couple days that is becoming more and more apparent with each Basilicas, each relic, each corbeled vaulted arch I see. When I get back, I'm going to start looking for graduate schools to study art history in. So Mom you will be glad to know I've set a goal to get a 4.0 this semester!<br />
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When we finally left the museum we decided to try our luck at walking to the old city to find the Western Wall. This turned out to be very adventurous full of back allies and <i>endless </i>stairs<br />
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and even a random parking garage that Google maps lead us through out we came to the Lion's gate and proceeded to get hopelessly lost in the never ending maze that is Old Jerusalem. Vendor's called out to us, little kids raced around our legs, exotic scarfs and smells caught my attention (as well as my camera lens). Finally, we needed help so Mckay asked some little kid to point us in the right direction and he grabbed his hand and lead us to his shop. (Turns out his shop was right by the Western Wall). After some serious haggling we got out of the shop and never made it to the Western Wall... we all needed hair coverings and none of us had them. And since the sun was going down we decided to try and head back to the center. Buuuut we got side tracked with some interesting pilgrim chapels, and a monastery, and maybe a couple of shops. By the time we finally started up the hill to the center we were practically running to make it back in time. But it was so worth it!<br />
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This morning we got started bright and early to go on a field trip to the different lookouts around Jerusalem. I think I finally can find my way around, well atleast know where North is! Some of the spots didn't really do much for me... I mean they were cool, but it almost felt like the same view. But when we got to the overlook into Bethlehem and we were looking at the fields where the Shepherds literally were the night Christ was born... I felt it! It was awe inspiring and I felt like I could see those shepherds and feel their fear in seeing angels descending on them. I can't wait until we actually go to Bethlehem!<br />
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Finally... tonight we were playing Sardines as an FHE family around the center. I was loosing... badly... so I started checking obscure places and lo and behold the Chamber of Secrets appeared. I did some preliminary investigating with Hannah who was looking with me. Once we found our family we dragged them back and we climbed through until we found the book. Just then, we heard the security guard. Literally trapped. Well, the pulled us all out and took us to the office. Wrote our names down and we knew we were in trouble. So we went to find Brother Witchurch and tell him before the guards could. We tried so hard to keep a straight face, but someone would start giggling, then we all would. It was hopeless. Thankfully, he found it amusing as well, but warned us there would be problems if we went down there again...<br />
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Alright. There's my past two days. It doesn't do them even a little bit of justice, but I'm exhausted and bed is calling my name. So goodnight from the Holy Land!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-47971983520391335232014-01-10T05:15:00.002-08:002014-01-10T05:16:25.450-08:00Thoughts from a sleep deprived girlWe made it! After about 18 hours in airplanes and airports I didn't think we would, but some how miraculously we pulled through the night on the plane and by the next afternoon I saw my first glimpse of the Holy Land.<br />
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** side note - I got made fun of because I couldn't tell if the little thing below us from the plane were boats or other planes... I have since decided they were other planes. And this is my first experience with jet lag... woof! That's all.<br />
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First of all, my group is amazing! I already can tell I'm going to make life long friends here. AND my roommates are amazing! Talk about a blessing!!! AND classes started today and I can't remember the last time I was so enthralled through lectures, but honestly they are incredible! I can't believe how darn lucky I am to be here!<br />
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Yesterday we got a tour of the city - old and new. There is sooooo much exploring I want to do! So many more things I want all of a sudden now that I know they exist! Rings and anklets, Jeanie pants and scarfs, statues and pottery...but most of all, experiences I want to have. One of the coolest things I've already experienced is the smells here. Anyone who knows me knows that smell is by far my strongest sense. That was the first thing I noticed when I got off the plane - how heavy the air smelled, and when I got to the Jerusalem center I noticed how dirty the air smelled, but in the Old City, it smells amazing! There is a line in A Little Princesses where Sara tries to describe how India smells - she says, " The air is full of spices!" That is exactly what the Old City smells like. So many exotic spices and incense... I couldn't recognize even half of them, but they don't clash! They complement each other and make an entrancing experience.<br />
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Another mesmerizing experience I've had and continue having is listening to the calls to prayer. My first night here, I was woken up at 4:45 am when the call went off. I just laid in bed and listened to the talented caller over the loud speakers. The first call was simple, almost Gregorian Chant like in sound, but the second call that went off an hour and a half later was almost harmonizing in sound. As I laid there it hit me. I'm in the Holy Land. Where Christ lived, walked, and performed miracles. I'm in a place revered by religions all across the world! I'm in a place that has seen so many cultures and peoples, (the Orient!!) and more tragedy than I can ever comprehend. And for 4 amazing months, I get to be a part of this!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8711403556137038450.post-83062832775738563812014-01-02T13:25:00.001-08:002014-01-02T13:32:52.625-08:00Here we goIn 4 days (...ONLY 4 DAYS!!) I will be embarking on the biggest adventure of my life so far - BYU's Jerusalem Center! Words can not express how excited, terrified, grateful, and anxious I am for this chance I get to see the world! (At least a little bit of it!)<br />
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I'm going to be using this blog as a travel journal/way to stay in touch with people/picture sharing place. So if you want to stay updated on these crazy next 4 months of my life... this is the place :)</div>
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Shalom</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17383205811078384552noreply@blogger.com0