Back from Jordan!

~ Highlight of the Day: Hearing from Josh (fellow Longwood Gardens intern) that they all survived the hurricane, and even had hurricane parties :) I must admit I had been a little worried ~

 

I'm back from Jordan!

And in one piece, though this day was a little rough. I ate something yesterday that I shouldn't have (Don't ask me what I ate. . . but it obviously didn't agree well with me), and I've been sick ever since. So I'm ready to sleep a solid 8 or 10 hours tonight. Maybe then I can handle some breakfast in the morning. . .

 

On a happier note, I had the best Halloween ever!

I watched Halloween themed episodes of Whinny the Pooh in Arabic :)

 

 I'm off to bed - I'll post pictures tomorrow. . . hopefully!

 

 

Halloween Sunday

~ Highlight of the Day: Dressing up as a bedbug for Halloween :) ~

 

Best 'goodnight' saying ever:

 

Good night,

Sleep tight,
Don't let the bedbugs bite.

 

But if they do

Let them chew

'Cause they gotta eat too!

 

Also great - Halloween parties where all you have to dress up with is what you brought halfway across the world in your suitcase . . . or whatever your classmates brought in their suitcases :)

 

Never has dressing up like a classmate been soooooo funny. The thing is, we all only have about ten outfits, and so we all know exactly what everyone else wears. So wearing someone elses stuff and throwing around a few of their funny idiosyncrasies instantly gets you the perfect costume.

 

Unfortunately none of you will think any of them are funny. Sorry :)

 

Well, I'm off to Jordan tomorrow, and I really doubt I'll stumble across any convenient internet, so check back in around Friday and I'll have a Jordan post worth four days.

Friday

~ Highlight of the Day: catching a baby gecko, and naming him George ~

There will be pictures of George later. Just like there will be a video of the talent show, and maybe me chugging water. . .

 

Only one more final to go!

 

and an extra credit essay.

 

and a huge report on Madaba. . .

Thursday

~ Highlight of the Day: finding a 'Wildflowers of Israel' book (even if it was published in the 70's) in the library while looking for sources on Madaba ~

 

Well, only two more finals to take - Palestine (which is a paper. . . ugh) and the Field Trip test (which is supposed to be hard, but at least it's not a paper :)

 

I'd rather not talk about finals though. I'm thoroughly sick of them. Let's talk about more exciting things, like my class schedule for Winter Semester!

I'm now signed up for:

 

Soil Science

Bidding and Estimating

Environmental Biology

History and Culture of Medicinal Plants

Mission Prep

Weights

& 

Martial Arts

 

I'm kind of really excited for martial arts. . . can't lie. I'm also willing to drop it if it's going to be way harder than I'm imagining. . . And I'm really really excited to be taking plant classes again. You have no idea how much I miss them. . . all I want is to memorize a few hundred annuals and perennials. . . :)

 

 

Wednesday

~ Highlight of the Day: Getting 100% on my Arabic final! Yes! ~

 

We were scheduled to take our Old Testament final this morning at 8am. After a very high stress evening, our professors were inspired to postpone the test till tomorrow morning.

 

It's like getting a snow day. In Jerusalem.

So now I'm studying (well, blogging currently. . . but I will be studying. . . ) for Old Testament all night long, and studying for the Field Trip final as soon as I finish OT tomorrow. Don't ask me when I'm writing my three papers. . . I have no idea.

 

 

So what seems like ages ago I was out in the city, passing the Western Wall to head up to a gate where we could access the rampart walk, when I passed this:

 

 

Guys. Someday I will own one of these. Same color and everything. Just you wait and see!

 

 

This is a sycamore fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) , like the one Zacchaeus climbs to see the Savior in the New Testament. Apparently the fruit is edible. . . but when I opened it up it looked buggy. So I didn't eat it. I'm not much inclined toward bugs. But it looked exactly like a tiny fig, so I'm assuming it tasted somewhere along those lines.

 

 

And this is Plumbago europaea. . . related to the plumbago I worked with all summer!

 

Well, as much as I love blogging about motorcycles and plants, I need to pass Old Testament, so I'm off to study. . . wish me luck!

 

Tuesday

~ Highlight of the Day: Sleeping in. By far the best part of my day. ~

Whoooo! One final down, five more to go! The stress is starting to set in, so this'll be short and to the point.

 

First - studying for free response questions and multiple choice questions are two very very different things. My score on the Israel final this morning is an excellent testament to that.

 

Second - meals should be enjoyed, slowly and guilt free. There is no sense in ruining lunch by eating it in ten minutes and trying to go over Old Testament facts in my head while doing so.

 

We leave for Jordan in a week! Let's hope I last that long. . . :)

 

* Fun Fact: Hanukkah does not mean 'lights' or 'festival of lights' or anything to do with light. (That's the part I remembered while taking my test today). It actually means 'dedication' or 'rededication'

 (I could not seem to recall that unfortunately. . . :)

Monday

~ Highlight of the Day: getting my ballot in the mail. I'ma gonna vote ~

Today we went on a field trip. It was the BEST FIELDTRIP EVER! We herded sheep and looked at plants. Lots of plants :) Oh! And we made pita bread, and red lentil porridge, and popped wheat, and herbal tea, and zatar. Homemade pita is easy to make, and is soooo good. It's just flour, water, salt, and oil, and then you cook them on this cool upside down wok. And the red porridge is just onions, lentils, oil, water, salt, cumin, and paprika. Zatar is simply ground up hyssop.

Look! An unbaked pita!

 

This is Hyssop.

 

By the way, this is what I'm making this Christmas break. . . I made a ukulele last year, and this year I'm going to make a classical mosaic rosette. Super simple, super easy :)

 

 A voting ballot! Yeaaaaaaaa!

(I'll feel differently about this in a day or so when I'm paying to get the thing back to the US. . . :)