Studying Hard

~ Highlight of the Day: enjoying a good Jerusalem rain ~

Today I 'worked on' my final paper for my Ancient Near East class. And by 'worked on' I mean I applied for a job back at BYU, composed a craigslist post for a friend's friend's contract back in Provo, and played with my professor's children. Now I'm going to sleep so I can spend time in the city tomorrow. . . :) I've got a horrible case of Jerusalem Senioritis. They call it JCLDS here, or Jerusalem Center Last Day Syndrome. I'll keep you updated on the severity of my condition.

 

Today it rained! Everything is so beautiful when it rains. . .

 

The Dead Sea, and Masada, and Other Stuff

~ Highlight of the Day: Floating in the Dead Sea! ~

 

Today was our last bus field trip. Kind of bitter sweet. We're so close to the end. . . Well, here's pictures from the last couple days:

 These are the kumquats from the tree on the 8th floor. . . at least I think they're kumquats :)

 

 This was taken from the top of the YMCA tower in West Jerusalem. I'm not sure what the building is, but it's a cool one! I'm going to miss domed structures when I get back to the States.

These are spices for sale at the souk in West Jerusalem. Part of me wants to get spices, but another *probably wiser* part of me points out I'd probably never figure out how to cook with them. . . 

 

This is the siege ramp that the Romans built when conquering the Zealots at Masada. It's huge, and frankly one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. I still remember building one of these up our swing set one winter after my parents visited Jerusalem and told us all about it :)

This is the zig-zag path leading up to Masada. Thankfully we didn't have time to climb it, and instead we took the tram! Some of us decided to run down it. I was not one of them.

This is me in the Dead Sea! You can look at pictures all you want, but until you're actually in water that's 30% salt, you'll have no idea what it's like. It's the weirdest thing! Kind of gross too - it's almost like the water's thick and grimy, and everything you touch becomes like that.

We drove to En Gedi after swimming in the Dead Sea, which was perfect because we then got a chance to swim in the fresh water spring and rinse off. Water falls are pretty great, even if they are really cold!

We ended our day with Qumran, where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. I think the cave in this picture is cave # 4. . . but I'm not sure. The scrolls were hidden in the caves by Essenes who lived in a settlement at the top (where I'm standing and taking this picture), and were living there at the time of Christ.

 

Well, I've got a paper due tomorrow, and another one on Thursday, not to mention three finals on Thursday and Friday, so I'm going to go study/fight off sleep!

2nd Half of Galilee

~ Highlight of the Day: Realizing I know the Old City enough to find things without a map :) ~

Ok, here are the rest of the Galilee pictures:

This was an old Crusader castle, which was actually newer than a lot of the stuff we usually look at. . . anyway, this picture's cool because there's a lot of green algae in it :)

 This is Benias. . . I think. It's as north as we got - we could see the Israel/Syria boarder. They had some really interesting left over bunkers, and cutouts of army guys.

 This was. . . eh, I forget. But when they talk about motes and beams in Matthew 7:3, this is what the beam is. They used them over door frames and such. . .

 Synagogue floor at Sephoris - it's the zodiac calendar. . . a great example of Greek/Hellenistic influence in early Jewish culture.

 I really like mosaics. A lot.

 This is me, and Neil, and a really old olive tree. I want a really old olive tree in my backyard.

 Crocuses! I love Israeli fall :)

 So while everybody else is checking out churches and rocks, this is what I'm doing.

 This is a really dark picture of Madison, Annie and I in the Bahai headquarters' gardens.

 The rocky coast of Caesarea Maritima

 (Still at Caesarea) this is a section they didn't excavate away to show what they found - it was way cool! The pottery layers are so distinct, and we found all sorts of interesting things among the pottery, like teeth and bones and shells.

 This was a beach made entirely of shells - it's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen! It was so hard to tear myself away. I think if I ever lived next to a beach I'd just have a house full of shells.

 This picture is significant because I recognize it from when my parents came here years ago - I made them a photo book of their trip, and so every now and then I recognize a place and finally have a context for it!

 This was our last time at the Mediterranean Sea. Kind of sad.

 Thanksgiving meal! Marshmallows grilled on a stick are actually worth a try :)

 When we got back from Galilee the 8th level was decorated for Christmas - it was the best welcome home ever :)

 My garden survived for two weeks without me - I was a little worried about it, but now I know it'll last at least through winter semester, and maybe through summer too if future JC students water it!

 

So Friday we went to the Jerusalem Botanic Gardens. It was pretty cool, and I took a lot of pictures of plant tags. . . I'll only post two, how's that? :)

 This is cool because I actually saw these up on Mt. Tabor (where Elijah faced off against the priests of Baal)

 

This is the tree whose leaves smell like lemon. Some day I'm going to have a part of my garden devoted to plants that smell like lemon. It'll be the best thing ever :)

 

 

 

 

Catching Up Pictures

~ Highlight of the Day: Eating kumquats from the 8th floor :) ~

 

Today I was supposed to write a paper comparing primary sources on Sennacherib. Instead I spent the first half of my day planning the second half, during which we ate lunch in west Jerusalem (at an awesome waffle bar where I had shakshuka) and then walked to the Jerusalem Botanic Gardens (which we arrived at at 2:45, and were supposed to close at 3, but didn't seem to have anybody around that cared about our after hours wandering. . . ).

 

After thoroughly enjoying some excellent plant identification (did you know there is a Eucalyptus tree that smells like lemons?!) we caught a taxi to the Western Wall and observed the Friday evening prayers. I love just taking in the level of devotion these women and men have for their faith. They are a beautiful people, with beautiful traditions.

 

Now that I've seen the Jerusalem Botanic Gardens I think I've seen everything in the city that I really feel is absolutely. I'm still going to sight see these last two weeks (we only have two weeks left. . . how did that happen?!), but I won't be stressed by feeling like I'm going to miss something if I slow down and enjoy things.

 

on top of Mt. Arbel on the first day in Galilee

 

native Sea Squill just coming up - you find this stuff everywhere

 

I love outside. . . why do we ever go inside? :)

 

Me on the Sea of Galilee!

 

 Me (and really cool people) re-enacting our epic battle

with a crocodile while rafting down the river Jordan

 

Our field trip to a first century synagogue.

I can't remember the name of the place. . . it meant camel though.

 

Liesl, me, and Kayla at the really old synagogue, soaking wet because of the rain.

 

We saw some sights close to the Golan Heights, and apparently there are a few left over mine fields here and there. . . anybody else thinking 'Finding Nemo'? :)

 

There was an optional hike that some of took. It ended up being a 'how far can you walk with mud and rocks in your sandals' kind of hike, but it was way worth it!

 

There was a way cool waterfall on this hike, that I didn't swim in, even though it was way tempting, because that would have made the 40 minute hike out not so fun.

 

We went to church at the Tiberias Branch house on the sabbath.

It thundered and stormed through the first 15 minutes, and then suddenly cleared up.

I heard from other students there was a rainbow, but I didn't see it.

The view was still amazing though.

 

Madison and I at the Church of Transfiguration on top of Mt. Tabor.

 

Megiddo, with palm trees and awesome clouds.

 

Well, with that I'm going to save the rest for later, since it's nearly midnight here and I've still got a primary lesson to read through!

 

 

Home Again!

~ Highlight of the Day: Coming home to two letters and a Thanksgiving dinner ~

Well, we're back in Jerusalem! It's been a long week of field trips, and it's going to be nice to just take a break tomorrow. I've only got two more weeks here though, so I'm going to try and do as much as I can with the time I have. Finals are going to be hard, but I'll be done with those in a week, and then it'll just be field trips from then on out.

 

We saw Caesarea Maritima today, and checked out the top of Mt. Carmel (where Elijah confronted the priests of Baal). It was pretty cool - I'm going to miss being close to large bodies of water. . .  

 

Thanksgiving dinner was great - we had turkey, and sweet potatoes, and stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and ice cream. I must admit, I'm missing pie dearly. . . so I think I'll just have to compensate by making them occasionally (by occasionally I mean constantly. . . :) throughout the year. Pumpkin pie is first on the list. To be honest, the thing I miss most about food at home is normal chocolate chip cookies. I just want something homemade and sweet. It's a good thing I'm coming home to Christmas cookie season! 

 

Well, now that I have a consistent internet connection I'm going to figure out this picture thing. . . but not tonight, because I've got two letters to read :)

Armageddon!

~ Highlight of the Day: Having fish nibble at my feet in a natural spring ~

Today I visited the Tell Megiddo, and took three whole steps on the slack line. I also successfully submitted an application for a Landscaping scholarship. I feel accomplished :) 

Halfway Through Galilee

~ Highlight of the Day: finding a pamphlet of Israeli trees in the gift shop, and a Mexican coin stuck to my camera (sometimes I put plants in my bag. . . and sometimes I forget about them and they get messy/sticky. . .) ~

Well, I've survived three hours of class today, and I've only got two more to go. Then it's field trips from here on out (until we get back to Jerusalem and have our 2nd finals week of the semester . . . ).

Life in Galilee is pretty amazing. It rained on Friday (I love rain!) while we were hiking to a first century synagogue, and then it was super muddy for our hike later that day to a waterfall. . . but other than that it's been wonderfully sunny during the day and beautifully cool at night. Last night was a little chilly. . . but I needed to be inside doing a New Testament assignment anyway :)

We've been visiting a lot of churches, and looking at a lot of rocks (carefully placed, really really old rocks), and swimming in a lot of significant waters. We visited the place where the Galilee empties into the Jordan River yesterday and found the account of Jesus' baptism in Hawaiian Pidgin. . . I'll post that as soon as I get pictures working again. . .

Thanksgiving was pretty great - I had fish and pizza at a restaurant on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, and then had ice cream in Tiberias. A few friends and I did whip up a pie from what we could find in the near by convenience store. . . we had to get pretty creative about it. . . but it was better than nothing! I think we're getting a Thanksgiving meal when we get back to the center next week, but who knows what that'll entail!

I was going to post a bunch of pictures of Galilee. . . because I have a ton, and they're beautiful, but apparently there's a 1GB limit of free space for google stuff. . . I'm not sure. I'll have to figure it out and see what I can do about it. My computer skills are only so so. . .