Late Post

Sorry, this was supposed to go up two weeks ago, but our internet was down and then we were gone for 11 days. So, these are the highlights from a fortnight thither.

1. I went to the Shuk for the first time. The Shuk is the open-air market where locals go to buy produce and other miscellanea. I loved it. I bought a warm pita for half a shekel and a scrunchie for a whole shekel. Both were worthwhile investments and both were utilized and retired the same day.
2. I took a New Testament midterm. It was hard, but great. Nothing’s better than studying some synoptic pericopes with a little bit o’ exposition. (Just for you, Lindsay).
3. Orientation for our Galilee trip. I’ll be sans internet for two weeks, so I won’t be updating for a while. But the orientation was excellent, like all of our meetings in the forum.

· Lisa: “Can you say with full confidence that there will be shampoo and conditioner provided?”
Dr. Jackson: “I’ll admit. I’m not a heavy user of those products. But I believe they do have some sort of concoction that acts for all purposes.”

Me: “Nothing beats a good 3 in 1.”

· Lizzy: “And how you have to have three people after dark? That’s just gonna turn into a third wheel situation.”

Hezekiah's Tunnel

This pic is a few weeks old. But I can't get over how bomb Melia's headlamp is. It was just an awesome experience...in an awesome tunnel....with awesome people...and awesome headlamps.

LITERALLY the best dinner of my life

I love that you can eat any meal with any person here and have a great time. Table talk from a particularly enjoyable meal:

Stephanie: "I've been debating on on who I would want as a person to keep in my pocket. Candidates are Adnan Musallam and Craig Roddin.”
Andrew: “Mmm, I can smell the musk.”

Jake: “My heart was literally torn from my chest.”

Stephanie: “Literally? Really? Where is it?"

Jake: “Nothing is worse than a rash.”
Stephanie: “And in the wrong place.”
Andrew: “I got rashes in all the right places.”

Ode to Charles

I know I have a theme going of giving a list of three things, but when it comes to making a list of great things about Charles Wilson, no one on earth could stop at just three.

1. His pondering pose from the synagogue (right)
2. How he brings sophistication to a kippa
3. How he recites the Islamic months (Muharram, Safar, Rabia il-Awal, Rabia il-Thanni)
4. His rapping skills (5 books of Torah)
5. His dancing skills (as a bacterium)
6. “Let’s get wild”. -Charles in Eilat
7. Whistling skills (especially with Sister Killian)
8. How he explains the Arab and Palestinian States of the 1937 partition plan. He knows how to handle a projector.
9. He always shares his peanut candy bar.
10. When he home teaches, he incorporates art and culture into the lesson.
11. "Scrumptulescent!"

Meet Jake

This is my friend who did three things that made him my friend:

1. Grew a mustache just for Egypt.

2. Makes jokes only at the expense of self-deprecation, but never at the expense of anyone else.

3. Posed for this picture.

Walked where Jesus walked (for sure)

Too many great things have happened this week. But here are three of my favorites:

1. We went on a field trip to Herodian Jerusalem which means we did the Burnt House (ruins from the second temple period), Davidson Archaeological Park, and the Wohl Museum. We walked where Jesus walked. Favorite quotes:

· RaeLynn: “I thought I walked where Jesus walked in the Kotel Tunnel. That’s why I stood there.”

· Andrew: “What is this, a Geico commercial?”

2. A small group went to Tel Aviv and played in the Mediterranean Sea. We got gelatos and then walked around the city. I precipitously wanted to become an indelible part of that city (look it up, Catie). Favorite quotes:

· Kylie: “I told my mom I was dating someone on April fool’s and she didn’t believe me.”

· Austin: “We tied at fun to fun.”

3. We went to the separation wall and while crossing the crazy streets of Jerusalem where you must always be on your guard, I didn’t pay attention for one second and almost got hit. Thank goodness my hero/friend, James, was there. I hope he considers this extremely public gratitude adequate recompense.

"I'm just sayin'"

This weeks has featured moments such as:

1. Donating blood. We had a blood drive at the center. I can’t say that I love donating blood, but I also can’t say I didn’t love being fed a chocolate cookie by Dr. Christine like a Roman goddess.

2. Gettin’ Beiber-ed. It started with Whitney and has since escalated. i.e. “There is this boy here that I really like, but he's totally playing hard to get. The other day, I went up to him, and I was like, "I know you love me, I know you care. Just shout whenever, and I'll be there. You are my love, you are heart, and we will never ever ever be apart. And I was like BABY BABY BABY OHHHHHH! LIKE BABY BABY BABY NOOOOOOOO!". Haven't heard back, we'll see.”

3. Girl talk in 311 (like the band). There was a bunch of girls talking about what they like in boys. Katie Backus pipes up and says, “Like, if I wanted to do an experiment with rats and music, he couldn’t be like, ‘No, that’s a waste of money’.” I think that’s fair.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween here at the Center. It was incredible how resourceful and creative everyone was and with only one hour of prep time. Three of my favorite costumes (although they were all pretty awesome):

1. Ancient kings, Sennacherib, Shushak, and Nebuchadnezzer.

2. Robert Buss (and everyone that dressed up as someone else at the center).

3. A banana (most resourceful and creative award goes to Jamie Price, hands down).

Jerusalem's awesome.....maybe we should call her.

Everything in Jerusalem is great...which sometimes amplifies the things that are not so bad to seem worse. So, here is a list of things that are the worst here in Jerusalem.

1. Waking up to an e-mail inbox full of e-mails….from Dr. Chadwick.

2. Filling a pita with peanut butter and finding that there is no more strawberry jam.

3. Waking up the day after Halloween and realizing that there is only one Robert Buss.

'Aliya my Besht jokes happen while I'm studying Judaism.

Here are three things I've learned about Judaism/Israel today:

1. In 1939, the White Papers, written by Great Britain, limited immigration to 15,000 people a year (down from 75,000 a year) to Palestine which is one reason the Holocaust was as terrible as it was.

2. The Jews were once almost temporarily moved to Uganda. It was proposed by Theodore Hertzl in 1903 whose grave we went to last week and whose legacy is immortalized by Brandt Peacock’s adaptation of “Hertzl Good”.

3. The Israeli government is a Parliamentary government. The executive branch is actually a sub-set of the legislature containing ministries (Stephanie: “That’s what we call them in Canada!!”).

Just another Shabbat

We took a taxi to a synagogue and went to a service. Lots of singing and clapping. It was one of my favorite things ever. Plus, I went with awesome people...who are all normally very photogenic.

Bethlehem

Super cool experience and our last venture into the West Bank. The city is surrounded by an enormous cement barrier that gives it the feeling of a prison, but the inside of the city is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. We spend some time just walking around the city, but also:

1. Went to the Church of the Nativity. The oldest continuously functioning Christian church on earth and also the least functioning continuous snooze fest of my life. Admittedly, the church was undergoing some significant reconstruction, but we were in line for two hours for the grotto which I didn’t actually get to see because an old lady with blue eye shadow pushed me out the door. Fortunately, I was listening to Christmas music the whole time, so I still felt the intended spirit.

2. Got to spend some time mingling with the students at Bethlehem University.

Me: “So, what’s it like going to school here?”

Bethlehem University Student: "Good."

James: “Do you know Shakira?”

Bethlehem University Student: “Yes!”

James: “Waka Waka??!!!”

Bethlehem University Student: “Waka Waka!”

3. Enjoyed a spectacular lunch with spectacular people in a tent.

Me: "Isn't it great to escape to the bomb shelter sometimes?"

Andrew: "The real bomb shelter? Or your own personal bomb shelter?"

Dallin, Lindsey, and Blair: “These puns aren’t very tomato. Dangit.” I miss you guys.

Mid-term Finals

This week we finish up three of our classes and start one new one tomorrow. But since I’ve spent the last week buried in homework, I haven’t had a lot of time to get out into the city. So, these are three of my favorite studying moments.

1. Stephanie: “Before taking this class, I didn’t know the Queen of Sheba was a real person. I thought she was kind of just this made-up personification of uppity-ness. Like, ‘who does she think she is? The Queen of Sheba?!’”

2. James (fighting for a point on a quiz): “But don’t you think level three could have seeped a little bit into level four?”

3. Melia: “That reminds me of this really good Dove chocolate quote...”

Tov, Tov Week

1. Passover. Our Judaism teacher helped us celebrate an early Passover. At this particular Passover, it was emphasized that the telling of the exodus is mostly for the children and so we made it a little more interesting, i.e. ending with a rap with pneumonic numerical symbolism. I didn’t get to look for the Afikomen this year, but I have a feeling I’ll get another chance.

2. Red Sea (Eilat snorkeling). This day was awesome for a lot of reasons:

· I got to wear Lisa’s mu-mu. (It’s getting passed around to every girl at the center. It magically fits us all).

· Taking underwater engagement pics of Andrew and Stephanie. I can’t lie, I’m 10,000% jealous.

· Spending some quality mall time with Johnathon and James. Good good people.

· Touching a gargantuan purple fish.

· Cow Kibbutz. (K-I-B, B-U-T-Z, we’re in a kibbutz and happy are we). And chocolate milk in a bag is the best invention of all time.

· Bus dance party. DJ Melia rocks.

3. Talent Schmalent Show. Easily the best part of my week. I’m not super into talent shows, but somehow, that night will forever be engrained in my mind as one of the funniest nights of my whole life. Thanks to a lot of incredible untalent and our brilliant MCs, Brandt and Andrew.

• Brandt: “Doesn’t that just make you want to start a family?”

Andrew: “Yes, separately.”

• Brandt: “Who’s your favorite rightly guided Caliph?”

Andrew: “I’m a Abu Bakr man, myself.”

Brandt: “But where would we be without 'Uthman b. 'Affan?”

Andrew: “True.”

• Andrew: “C-Bass and Sister Ann “Kickin Bod” Killian.”

Snorkeling in the Red Sea

Justin: "It's like the Passover all over again".

I'll explain the mu-mu later.

3 Highlights of the Week

1. 10/10/10 party at 10:10 with 10 people in the bomb shelter. The bomb shelter was built for dance parties. There’s neon tape lining the walls, black lights, and it’s always cold. At 10:09, we started a countdown to the fateful moment, and then for one full minute, we danced. It was a pretty great minute and now I’m just trying to remind myself to live every moment as if it’s 10/10/10 10:10.

2. Trying to read the Old Testament. This is my first struggle with the ancient text, but fortunately, I’m surrounded by 80 other people going through the same struggle.

Me: “I took an accidental two hour nap today. I was reading in 2 Kings…”

James: “Yep, that’s like Tylenol PM.”

3. Hezekiah’s tunnel and the pool of Siloam. We walked through Hezekiah’s tunnel this week which not only made me feel like Indiana Jones, but also became an epically immortalized experience as we did the Waka Waka in linear formation. Something I learned from the experience was about the man who was born blind who Christ healed. He used dirt and spittle to cover his face and then told him to wash his face at the pool of Siloam. If he had uses fine ointments and herbs, people would have said that he regained sight because of the pure elements on his face. Also, Siloam means “follow” or “disciple”, so he uses this radical illustration to give light and knowledge to the man who was blind so that he could become a disciple for Christ. I love it here!!!!!

Just a quick pic

Me, Melia, Matt, Jocelyn, and Mickell. This is a church in the Christian quarter called the Church of Flagellation. The church was amazing, but the company was even better. Seriously, I love all these people. "Digestive?...anyone? Just me. Cool."

Heard in the Halls

These are three of my favorite not-so-quotable quotes from the JC:

Jake: "Can we watch Lord of the Rings instead of having a midterm?"

Everyone: "Yeah, yeah, let's take a vote. Let's do this democratically."

Jake: "We want a king! We want a king! We want a king!"

James: "Waka Waka healed the world. Can we just let it heal us?"

Jake: "You know who Jason Bourne's dad is?"

Me: "No."

Jake: "Chuck Norris. You know who Chuck Norris's dad is?"

Me: "No."

Jake: "Indiana Jones. You know who Indiana Jones's dad is?"

Me: "Chuck Norris?"

Jake: "That's amazing and it works."

Sometimes, Judaism class is rough, until your teacher says this...

Q: How many ultra orthodox Jews does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Change?!!!

Ah salaam!

My friend Muhammad used to say, "Ah salaam!" in moments of deep distress. I've been saying it all week. My Hebrew teacher was walking around the classroom as we were doing drills with our partner and she stopped at my desk right as I got stuck on a word. I looked up and I could tell she was waiting for me to answer and I just said, "I'm really stressed right now!". She felt bad, but I felt worse. Midterms are hard everywhere. So, to ease the pain, I'm blogging.

1. Shephela! Turns out, they’re not as cool as their name (But still very cool). We spent an entire day wandering through four of the five cities of the Philistines. We went to Gath to see where Dr. Chadwick excavates and then returned and learned the “Shephela Song” sung to the tune of “My Boyfriends Back”. That song is the most memorable part of the Shephela experience.

Quote of the day: “You sound like you’re singing a hymn, SPICE IT UP!!” –James

2. Lesson 1: “Digestives” (the cookies) are amazing. Lesson 2: Don’t eat 8 in one day.

3. The Jews have more history than I thought. Like WAY more. Like, over 200 pages more than I ever could have even made up about a religion is all factual Jewish history. I love what we’ve been learning, though. Yesterday, we talked about how if you are not Jewish and you observe the Sabbath following all the same laws the Rabbis do, it’s as if you are stealing. If the laws don’t apply to you, you shouldn’t practice them. It’s all pretty fascinating. I love it here.

Sukkot!

1. A couple nights ago, Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli-Arab journalist, speak at one of our forums. I learned more about the Middle East in 60 minutes than I have in all my years of Wikipedia research. But, I think what I really learned from the whole lecture was that media can hardly ever be trusted. The real conflict starts with a hidden agenda, when one man says, “I want this story, not that one”. That’s when activists raise their heads and decide to do something. Be careful about what you say and even more careful about what you read.

2. In Old Testament, we’ve been talking about the story of Saul. Saul did a good thing with good intentions, but not according to the Lord’s timing. Then we talked about how Uzzah was killed for steadying the ark. I know the Bible sometimes illustrates using extremes, but I think I’m going to work on staying out of those tricky gray areas…just in case.

3. The last day of Sukkot, Hoshanna Rabba, was a couple days ago. It’s been so fun going out to the Jewish quarter of the Old City for the past week. I went out Monday morning and saw two bar mitzvahs at the western wall. I love how 13-year-old boys are the same everywhere you go. Part of the tradition of a bar mitzvah is to throw candy at the boy being celebrated, but it was great to watch some of the priests to try and get them to stop once they started the Torah reading portion. The whole Sukkot festival is fascinating. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Native American traditions. They have a harvest, a feast, and then a dance in celebration for God. I love that gratitude is the core of all the Jewish Festivals. Anyway, sorry these posts are sporadic at best, but I’m telling you, with three different religions fighting for the spotlight, the fun doesn't stop.

P.S. Ryan Hill, for our Jerusalem Center Branch Choir Christmas Concert, I’ve requested the song, “Gesu Bambino”, only because I have such incredible memories of that performance. Although it will be tough to outdo the Edgemont 14^th ward rendition, it’s worth the risk.

Just a few more pics.

Me and m' girl Melia.
Me and Stephanie on Sinai. Before the sunrise....so we may as well be in our hotel room...and maybe we are.
This was supposed to be a cool picture of me getting on an airplane, but to take all the coolness out of it, let me explain: This airplane had stairs coming straight out of it! I felt like a movie star getting on and off. Even with the fanny pack.

Pictures!

Sunrise at Sinai with the best JC roommates ever (minus Meredith). Seriously, these girls are golden.
Muhammad Ali Mosque. Nope, not that one, I asked. But one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen.
So many hands, so few honey bunches. Airport in Luxor.
Missed the "kissing the sphinx" memo. Yum.
Inside the water system at Tel Sheva.

I'm at Hebrew U, so I'm just postin' pics.

Me and Lisa pullin' a Troy and Gabriella at the Khafre Pyramid.
I'm not Charlize Theron, but they still let me use their bathroom...for a dollar.
Kibbutz Ketura! Home of the first ever semi-annual underwater cheer-off.

Welcome to Africa

The Land of a Thousand...Minuets? Minets? Minerets!

1. Shakira can heal the world. Our class has made a goal to do the Waka Waka dance at every location possible. We’re all convinced that this song not only has immense healing powers, but also will stand the test of time, thus we are all willing to make this our legacy. Unfortunately, we didn’t always know which sites were totally appropriate for “waka”ing. Turns out, Temple of Hatshepsut wasn’t one of them. We wired our radios to play it in everyone’s headsets and did our thing. The security guards didn’t like it very much, so they came running down the stairs to talk to our guide and confiscate the footage. Our wonderful guide, Islam, politely agreed to show them the footage and insisted that it was harmless. But, it’s pretty rare that people accept the excuse of “we’re just stupid Americans who love to dance”. Islam took the video to the security guard to show him and the guard just stared. He stopped, looked and Islam, and said, “That…is….awesome”. As my friend Brandt says, “Waka waka healed that security guards heart”. It was epic. You can be expecting a Waka Waka video montage sometime in the near future.

2. Merchants of Egypt are relentless. Not only are they the worst hasslers of the Middle East, but they NEVER miss an opportunity. I was under the impression that the hike up to Sinai would be relatively peaceful. Just me and the mountain. Not only were there shops every few hundred yards, but an entire Bedouin Shopping Mall rested conveniently at the top. Not at all what I expected, but still a marvelous experience.

3. Fanny packs are awesome. Guess who didn’t get anything stolen for a whole week? This moi. I also learned a little about the bartering world. Rule number 1, “If they don’t give you a price that is less than a third of the original price, just waka wak away”.

Also we herded sheep

Grinding Hyssop!

We had this on our first day in the city, but today, we got to make it! We even fired our own pitas to eat it with. We also learned about all the symbolism of Hyssop in the Bible. It's one of the more humble plants having such small leaves, thus it's often used to show mercy. Neat stuff.

The view from my balcony!

I cheated and put up a picture. It's even more beautiful at sunset.

Shabbat Shalom!

1. My friend Stephanie is brilliant. She says everything I’m always trying to say. Today, we talked about how people put so much emphasis on things that can be measured. We like to define ourselves in a very “letter of the law” sense and we lose sight of what “goodness” really is. That becomes increasingly apparent when I meet so many good people that don’t have the same beliefs that I do.

2. God is merciful. Yesterday we went to the Western Wall. It’s was the second day of Rosh Hashanah and so there were thousands of people there. It was also the Sabbath, so the rules were especially foreign to us. We couldn’t bring cameras, we couldn’t write anything down, and our dress had to be very conservative. I went and touched the wall. I squeezed through the crowds to touch a wall that, truthfully, I didn’t understand was I was touching for. The woman next to me was weeping and rocking back and forth chanting scriptures for over an hour. I heard so much desperation in her cries. I realized that people everywhere are just as helpless and pathetic as I am in searching for God. To her, God was in that wall. I realized that just because this woman is a Jew doesn’t mean that she won’t know her God when she meets him. Jerusalem is awesome.

3. A discussion in my Modern Near Eastern Studies Judaism class taught by the brilliant Orthodox Jew and Boston-ite Ophir Yarden made for some exciting table talk. A classmate of mine noted that after the temple was destroyed on Mt. Moriah, the Rabbis didn’t try to rebuild the temple anywhere else. They believed they could only build on Mt. Moriah because it was chosen by God. But, the power to perform the ordinances was taken away from them and, thus, they didn’t know how they could build another temple where they could perform the same ordinances. Now, if you look at Joseph Smith, when he was forced to leave Ohio, he was able to build a temple somewhere else because he had the power and was ordained of God to perform those sacred ordinances anywhere. I mean, we can’t talk about any of this in class, but it always leads to our most interesting dinner discussions.

Shana Tova!

So I recognize this blog is a total snooze-fest without any pictures. So, I’m going to try and condense my experiences into three different things I learned for every post. Here goes.

1. Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the two-day Jewish New Year because they just can’t fit that much celebration into one day. And as Dr. Chadwick said, “Tonight is the craziest night of the year and they probably have you scheduled to be in some forum…I would never do that to you guys.” We do have a forum, but fortunately, the forum is optional. I think we’ll all being celebrating tonight. It is also the last day of the Islamic Ramadan. The streets are absolutely wild. For Ramadan, the prayer in the morning is especially long. Like, 15 minutes of Surah Al-Fatihah blasted at 4 in the morning. Sometimes it doesn’t surprise me at all that no two religions can make peace here because so many of religious traditions are so intrusive. But that’s also what makes Jerusalem the miraculous mosaic of culture that it is. It just comes at a price.

2. Jerusalem Pomegranates in September are divine.

3. The secret to Jerusalem at night is Ben-Yehuda Street. As soon as the sun goes down, they turn on all the lights, blast the music, and everything comes to life. It’s just nuts down there.

I don’t have a chance to post every day, but whatever isn’t written here is recorded in pictures and likely far more interesting.

Sabah Ilxer!

Alright, now that I’ve been here for a total of three days, I’m feeling like quite the savvy traveler. I already know how to say good morning in Hebrew, politely decline an Olive Wood carving, and enjoy the simple pleasure of not knowing the contents of a stuffed pepper. Yesterday, we toured Jerusalem. We first spent a few hours in the Old City. They warned us about some of the risks of being Americans (assault, being robbed, looking stupid), so we were all emotionally prepared to be a little harassed by the locals. Apart from being incredible sneaky, they are also incredible charming. With pick-up lines like, “you have beautiful blue eyes” and “your hair looks very soft”, it was difficult to resist, but I think I’ll make it home without an Arab husband.

For the last two days, I’ve woken up at 4 in the morning. 30% because of jetlag and 70% because of the megaphone outside of our window that plays the call to prayer. Everything here is beautiful. I mean, no picture I’ve seen of Jerusalem has done it any justice. Especially with Ramadan ending this week, by sundown, the city is glowing with strings of lights and the sound of people celebrating in the streets is captivating. So far, I’ve eaten every meal and done all my reading assignments outside looking over the city. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of looking out and seeing golden domes, limestone arches, the bustle of people, and brightly colored linens hanging over every balcony. I want to live here forever. Ilhamdulilah!

Welcome to Jerusalem

Today is officially my first day in the Holy Land. Everything here is perfect. This truly is a mini Zion. I get along so well with everyone here, the teachers and staff are so friendly, but most of all, the city is spectacular. When I walked into the building, I thought, “this is the most beautiful building I’ve ever been in…and I get to live here”. I can’t wait to do everything here. Before the orientation meeting, Brother Ohman was playing the organ, and as he was playing, the blinds in the auditorium open to reveal the nightscape of Jerusalem. It is truly the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. And being in the center is like living in a museum. It’s better than I ever could have anticipated. I’m trying to absorb all the sights and sounds. One of the first things we heard when we got here was the call to prayer. Then we heard the cannon which invited everyone to eat (iftar) since it was sundown. We all just stood on our balconies and watched all the Christmas lights light up all the balconies in the city. It is simply spectacular.