Catching Up

The Reeds in reeds! 

I've missed quite a few things as time has progressed because I've been so busy, so I'm going to do my best to catch up. Today will be a little bit chaotic as I try to go over everything! But it will be fun, not to worry.

Last Friday we did Arab night! This is the context of the picture of Shawn that Alison put up a few days ago. We did Passover (more to come on that) one night and then we did Arab night about a month later! We got to dress up in all of our Arab attire, which mostly consisted of scarves and genie pants for the women and kafiyas for men. Some of the students actually rented clothes for the night and genuinely looked like Arabs. My friend Rachel Pullan wore a dress and headscarf and everything and when she walked in I was shocked! She could've been one of the women we see on the streets of Jerusalem! It was really cool. We ate traditional Arab dishes, took pictures and learned an Arab dance. But the BEST part was before, where we got to hear the call to prayer by men who recite it from the mosques in Jerusalem! They came to to the center and recited a passage for us, and we had a copy of the passage they were reciting, a transliteration, and a translation so that we actually knew what they were saying (for once). One of the men who came had memorized the Koran by the time he was nine! It's amazing! They also showed us how they pray and answered questions that we had about the call to prayer and Islam in general. That's one of the things I love about Jerusalem--five times a day you hear the call to prayer ring out from at least three different mosques across the city and it is stunning. I'll miss it when I leave the Holy Land.

On Monday we went on a field trip to Neot Kedumin, which is a Biblical landscape reserve where you can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste the Bible (as our tour guide informed us)! Our tour guide was insisted that the Bible cannot be learned in a classroom, but rather outside in the landscape it is set in. While I don't that a Biblical reserve is the only place one can learn about the Bible, it certainly was extremely enlightening about a lot of the cultural and social backgrounds of the Bible. We saw what the landscape most likely looked like throughout the park--hilly, lots of trees, brown grass. Apparently the Holy Land was covered with thick forest originally but was cut down for construction and the like. We were able to "touch" and certainly "smell" the Bible when we herded sheep. We divided into groups and herded them, and my group was a bit pathetic. We couldn't for the life of us get them to move anywhere, and I'm sure everyone watching was laughing their heads off. I was laughing my head off, too, because it was so ridiculous how bad we were at sheep-herding. I suppose we "heard" the Bible with the birds and animals and everything. There were a couple of horses that were wandering around this field, and the guide informed us that the horses had wandered into the reserve within the last month and they didn't know who the horses belonged too. It was amusing because as the horses walked around there was this lone sheep that followed them around and grazed with them. It was their little sheep friend! Then for lunch we made pita bread and lentil soup and herbal tea! I have to admit this was my favorite part. We built a fire and made the dough for the pitas, then cooked them over the fire. I was red-faced within minutes, because it was so hot! As if it's not hot enough already here in the Holy Land (though the weather has cooled off significantly since we've been here). Our pitas didn't look anything like the ones you get at the pita factory but I think they were tastier, which might have had something to do with the fact that we put date honey in ours. Date honey, for the record, is super tasty!  Love that.

We also saw an olive press and the boys showed off their manliness for us:

We also got to see a Torah scroll up close for the first time. Our guides took us to see a scribe who was working on a copy of the Torah and we got to see the process of making one. Writing a Torah takes years so the actual scrolls are really expensive, and they're big! I'm so glad we got to see one!

Now I'm going to go back in time a little bit (a month or so) to the road to from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now, most of us know this road from the Good Samaritan story that Jesus tells in the New Testament. I've heard the story a thousand times, watched the cartoons the Church made about it, and studied it often. But the story came alive when I saw the valley. The landscape was a desert--desolate, rocky, with no plants or trees or anything. And it was hot and when I looked down on the road I could see places where thieves could hide. The road is abandoned now, obviously, as other roads have been built. But I think it would be really cool to do a trek-like trip on it, where we walk from Jerusalem to Jericho just to see what it is like. It's too bad they don't do treks here!

Slowly and steadily I will get caught up! And maybe I'll even get Shawn and Neil to post something on the blog--we can always do with another post on fruit and badgers. Or when Shawn just tells it like it is. One of the things I love about Shawn is his bluntness--well, most of the time anyway.

I hear it snowed back at home in Salt Lake! I love it here, but one of the things I am so excited for is the snow! It doesn't snow in Jerusalem and if it does it lasts a few hours before it's gone. It snowed last year here. What I'm waiting for is rain! We need to harvest the olives! We need a good rainstorm soon!

Neil: Rabies Day 2012

          Each day has the potential to be awesome. So does each dog. I have discovered, however, in my interactions with both dogs and days (including the dog days of summer) that they both have the potential to become infused with infectious enthusiasm--or just an infectious disease.

           Such was today. I first discovered World Rabies Day when a friend of a friend who had a dog bite incident in Honduras—the friend of mine, not her friend who wasn't in Honduras, mind you, and she didn't bite the dog first, it was an old fashioned Western Saloon standoff—this is getting confusing.

          Scratch that. Take Two. A dear friend of mine was bitten by a dog in Honduras last summer, and she knew I had a thing for rabies, if not the actual virus (The jury is still out on this one.) She told me of a wondrous day where all things Rabies were celebrated. World Rabies Day...the words simply slide off the teeth like infected saliva...If you're still reading, I salute you. Your attention span suggests you don't have it, either. WRD is actually an awareness holiday to let people know about the importance of continuing to vaccinate animals worldwide, as 55,000 fatalities occur every year because of rabies.

        Last year on September 28, I celebrated WRD at BYU in grand fashion, strapping a coonskin cap to my head and taping a sign to my chest that stated “ 'Tis World Rabies Day!” I then proceeded to run around campus all day with the goal to share the joy, sharing actual statistics with people who took me seriously and advising all others to “catch the spirit of the season, not the disease.” Hundreds were educated that day, and I like to think that someone eyed the bushes in their front yard suspiciously that night, convinced a rabid foe lay hungrily wait.

        I thought not any Rabies Day could top that first momentous celebration of life and the prevention of its loss by infected furry friends. I thought wrong.

         5:30 AM I awoke as happy as most people are on Christmas, or as happy as Scrooge is on December 26^th. I stepped outside to exclaim with joy as I saw the Great Rabid Bat in the Sky (brings rabies-themed gifts to all the uninfected good girls and boys, but it's got a low budget and can't usually bring more than dead bugs to people, so next time you find a dead dragonfly on the porch, feel honored) had deigned to visit my doorstep. It was adorned with crepe paper, snarling mammals and a sign that said “Happy World Rabies Day!” I knew it was to be a truly awesome day. A similar sign had been taped up to the banister in the main stairway to share the message with all. Breakfast was good. I was just exclaiming my joy on this lovely holiday to some people at my table when they casually mentioned that maybe Lizzie of our group was rabid, too. I laughed at this seemingly irrelevant comment when suddenly I felt a sharp pressure on my right shoulder and turned to find Lizzie's teeth in retreat from my freshly wounded arm.

          “Bah!” I exclaimed. I then teared up. What a beautiful holiday greeting! I thanked her and Lizzie smiled back. She has beautiful teeth and a great smile. More so when they aren't sunken into my deltoid. I reached out to give her a hug. As she came in, her shoulder came within easy reach of my canines. I instantly seized my chance and bit the unsuspecting Lizzie in one fluid motion. Rabies had struck again.

I set this as the background on the Center computers as a friendly reminder.

         The day continued in glory. Trying to share the love, I changed the background of each of the computers in the lab with the attached picture, once again advising them to “catch the spirit of the season, not the disease.” Shawn took this sublime message to heart and mouth. A shocked gasp and then laughter met Shawn as he walked into Old Testament, jowls covered in rabid foam—er, shaving cream. During the class, our teacher would take a comment or question from Shawn and momentarily lose concentration before returning to the subject at hand.

          When it came time for our next class, Studies of the Ancient Near East, I felt inspired. Shawn, Nicole Hawkes, and I all smeared our jaws with shaving cream to get in the festive mood. When our professor saw we were already entering the advanced stages of the disease, he could only shake his head in disbelief and tell us of the cause of the Egyptian New Kingdom's fall. No, it wasn't rabies.

         In the evening, we had dinner. I watched people flagrantly defy the spirit of the day by feeding stray cats, but my rage was placated by the awesome fried bananas at the salad bar. Later on, we had a “Pin the Eye on the 'Coon” contest (I had an Evil Eye magnet from Turkey) and a tropical fruit party. This, because if I knew I had rabies and only had a little while to eat and live, I'd be eating tropical fruit. We chose persimmons and passionfruit.

          Yet the best part was still to come. Through the wonderful mechanism of social action known as Peer Pressure, four rabid fans of the Day-- Mackenzie, Nicole, Shawn, and I slathered some shaving cream 'round the jaws and set off to visit Lizzie again. We found her cuddling and watching a movie in the theater-like forum, but even PDA couldn't save her now. I set the bite to the arm, and for a moment the day's festivities seemed to be over. BUT THEN--

          Andrew, who is charismatic, hilarious, and tall, sees the deed take place. Without hesitation, he leaps to his feet and sprinted out of the room. At that moment, our predator instincts kick in as our eyes hungrily follow our departing prey. We give chase, howling and snarling as we rushed through the narrow halls leading out of the forum. We were fast, but Andrew was faster. He ran so fast that the girl sitting on the couch outside conveniently “couldn't remember” which way he went. There was no sign of him. How could this happen? Howling with mock rage, we sought him out across the different levels and hiding places of the center, seeking our prey. During the chase, we took a consolation prize—virtually every human being in the center that unluckily stumbled across our path. Surprised and disbelieving, few withstood our pack of frothy jaws for long. It was lucky so many people were in their rooms by this point (Annie included) for we showed little mercy. The entire laundry room fell, as did the stairwells. Nicole and Shawn went for my roommate Jacob, who was having his hair cut at the time. Bad idea—the man's arms were covered with loose hair which went straight into their mouths. Few joined us after they'd been bit. I figured as much, the infection usually took about 9 days to set in.

          We kept searching, but we never did find Andrew. All this time, he had hidden in a room we'd simply overlooked in our frenzy. He had recruited people loyal his cause to hide him. They never did tell us his location, and he was saved from certain infection. Over fifteen minutes he waited in the dark for the chance to escape to his room, which finally presented itself when we overran the laundry room.

        By the time our biting rampage was over, maybe more than fifteen people had “perished,” and we considered that the Ghosts of Rabies Past, Present and Future had been appeased, if such things existed. And so we called it a night, and anxiously began anew the countdown to the next World Rabies Day, just a mere 364 days away.

Shawn: "I've been doing more than homework."

STUFF OVERLOAD! (Annie)

So much goes on here at once that I have a hard time finding time to blog and when I do find time I have a hard time getting through it all! It is a daily challenge for me to describe my daily life here in a coherent way. I will attempt to scratch the surface of what has been going on this last week-ish.

Good news! I can now add the Red Sea as one of the bodies of water I have swam (swum?) in in my lifetime! Not something I really expected to do, but not to worry, I added it to my bucket list just in time to check it off of it. Just like I added "Swim in the Aegean Sea in Turkey whilst watching the sunset" on my list while I was Turkey. I checked that off, in case you were wondering.

Sunday we drove down to Eilat, the southernmost part of Israel, where there is a port to the Red Sea! Also called the Reed Sea, prompting jokes such as "Haha we're adding three more Reeds to the Reed Sea!" Hilarious. The beach where we went was sub-par because most of the beach area was occupied by a reef. However, this reef made for some AMAZING snorkeling, so I have no complaints! The reefs were for the most part colorful and abundant with exotic fishies of all kinds. It was exhilarating to be able to simply stare at the fish without having to worry about looking up to breathe. Sometimes I get a bit lost in the water and  forget that there's another world above me, which is eerie experience. The water was about twenty feet deep and my favorite thing to do was to dive down to the bottom and swim among the reefs and fish. You can almost imagine that you're part of life down there, until you run out of air and have to surface once again. We saw some animals I'm pretty sure I've never seen before (I'd have to check with Neil and Shawn--I think they remember what I've seen better than I do), including a sea snake, a lion fish, and an octopus! Octopi are my favorite animal and so of course I was thrilled to see one. It was blending in with the sea bed when somebody spotted it, and within minutes there were at least twenty of us swimming in circles above it. I dived down and was pointing the octopus out to the people above and I think I disturbed it, and it started to swim away. We watched it as it moved across the reefs, which was really interesting to watch as it would stop every few inches and change color and texture, camouflaging with the reef behind it. Its camouflaging capabilities are one of the many reasons octopi are the best animal.

An interesting side note to our snorkeling in Eilat story: every single person in our group chose to go on this activity, except for one. He said he just didn't feel like going. But after we left he was in increasing pain and by the end of the day he had been taken to the hospital and found out he had appendicitis. We came back and were told that he had had his appendix taken out. What are the chances that the ONE person who didn't go on the trip ended up getting appendicitis! Thank goodness he didn't come with us.

Monday the mood of the group took a more somber turn, as we went to the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum here in Israel. Like many museums, you could spend days there, but we only had time to briefly walk through the museum. It was very sad to see what happened during the Holocaust. Here I amend my post a little bit and am going to quote my Great-Aunt Virginia: "Hank was not, however, a "righteous Gentile"  just his parents...it was his parents that were made honorary citizens of Israel, not Hank and I.  However, Hank and Joyce did receive the certificate making their parents honorary citizens (of Israel).  The two grandchildren of the couple hidden in their home were there when it was presented and it was a out of this world experience for all of us.  Jay, Tara, Rochelle, Kirk and Rik were there with us when it was presented in Los Angeles by the Israeli Consul General." Recently the Israel Government honored Hank and his wife Virginia by making them honorary citizens of Israel and by planting a tree dedicated to them in Yad Vashem. There are thousands of trees in Yad Vashem dedicated to righteous Gentile families, and so it took about a half hour to find their tree (I will have a picture up of it soon, Mom and Alison). Afterwards we went up to Mount Herzl, named after the leader of the Zionist movement Theodor Herzl, and saw the graves of Herzl and various Israeli presidents, prime ministers, and soldiers.

Yesterday we watched a Jewish movie called Sallah Shabeti. It was a comedy and I found hilarious--though perhaps not for the reasons that they meant for it to be funny. We watched it because our teacher figured we would understand more of the jokes now that we've learned about Zionism in class, but I think most of them still flew over our heads. I still thought it was funny though because the main character was so ridiculous. He was this lost, stumbling guy who had moments of cleverness but on the whole just staggered his way through life and made me laugh constantly. I'll put in a plug for the movie here and recommend it to anyone interested. Even if you don't get the jokes.

Tunnels! Synagogues! Olives! General Conference! (Annie)

Hey all! Now that Neil is finished editing my highly biased posts, I will get back to business here and relate what we all have been up to these past few days!

This last Friday I got to go to a synagogue with a group of students and our Israel teacher! I love going to the services of other religions, so I was really excited about it. We went to a Reform Jewish service. For those of you who aren't experts on Jews (I certainly wasn't before I came here), Reform Jews are the Jews who are more flexible with their worship and willing to adjust Jewish life to modern times. As a result their services were a little different than traditional Judaism, but still very interesting. The majority of the service was spent singing the Torah, we stood and faced the Temple Mount at a few points, and we got to see a lot of the native Jews. It was very interesting, especially since as students we don't get to see that particular side of the Jews very often. We see them on the streets and we talk to them, but we don't get to see them at home during the Sabbath or during their worship. So this was a great experience. I'm considering going to West Jerusalem again sometime on my own just to see a different congregation (is that what you call it?) and everything.

On Sunday we went on a field trip to the City of David, which is the part of Jerusalem that was set up by David (as the title implies) when he became king. It's just below the Temple Mount on the hill. We watched a video that I enjoyed because it showed what the hills of this area probably looked like before Jerusalem covered it, which is a bit crazy to see when I've lived here for a while and gotten used to how it is now. We saw what is suspected to be the foundations of David's palace and a few other buildings in the area. The best part, of course, was Hezekiah's tunnel. Back in the days of David when Jerusalem was being threatened by exterior powers David decided that it would be great to have a water source for the city that the enemies couldn't get to and poison. So he commissioned this tunnel deep in the hill, which I'm sure worked great back then. Now I think they keep it running for tourist entertainment purposes, and no wonder because it is awesome! There is water running through it and you basically walk inside this cramped tunnel for a half hour or so. IT WAS SO FUN!!!! I am definitely going to go back and do it again. It was dark and cool, which is nice in the heat of the day, and the fact that you're sloshing through water makes it even better! One of the guys in our group, Quin, laid down in the water so he was wet from head to toe. Neil was practically bent over halfway for most of the time because apparently people were shorter back then and they built it for their height. A few times we turned off our lights and walked in the dark. It was a BLAST.

General Conference was crazy! When President Monson announced the change in missionary ages at least a dozen girls dissolved into tears on the spot. Everyone wants to go on a mission! This last weekend was definitely historic. It's all very bewildering, in a good way.

Tuesday was Ashley's birthday! We didn't do much other than go to the Old City and have pizza. But we did put a candle in the pizza and sang happy birthday! And she got a brownie. So having a birthday was worth it.

This week we were supposed to pick the olives off the trees on our porches, which we eventually press into olive oil and get to take home, but we need a big rainstorm first. The rain washes all the yucky stuff off of the olives, so right now I'm dying for rain! Not only would it wash off the olives, but I also love the rain! It makes me think of the rain in Utah, which is very rare as well. One thing I can say for Utah rain--it doesn't rain hard or for long, but when it does rain it smells amazing.

Just a note: the date today is 10-11-12. Pretty cool.

Oct. 8 - Shawn

... On Monday we went to the Shephelah. We went to where David slew Goliath and slung stones from slings. We saw some cool chalk quarries. We went to Lachish and saw the siege ramp the Assyrian built in order to destroy take it over which they did. The Assyrians weren't too nice to their enemies. Today I went out with my Siblings. We went to tomb in a guys backyard and then went to the small Mosque close to the Jerusalem center. The Imam, or guy in charge of the Mosque was super nice and helpful. We watched them do their prayers. He talked about Islam. Here in the Jerusalem center we live in a secluded American bubble, so it was nice to get out and see what people do across the street. 

Commentary on "Hi I'm a blog post by Anniekins!" (Neil)

It's time to restore some balance to Annie's clearly fictionalized accounts of the very first week or so.. She doesn't even know half of the stories. I mean, she knows the half that everyone would describe as "important," like her posts where she's like "Hey everyone, we visited some world famous location and it was so awesome! Let me tell you about it in excellent detail so if anyone else writes about it, particularly one of my brothers, their account will seem inferior and you will stop acknowledging them as family before long and I can have their possessions when they are gone!" Sly try, Annie, but as you should well know I won't give up my lucky machete and my favorite gym sock quite so easily.

Thus, I will mainly be adding commentary on things that already done been mentioned here in the blog and then writing about others that are more of my own stuff. There will be verbose descriptions, you have been forewarned.

Nabi Samwil overlook field trip: Annie forgot to mention that there were fig trees at this place. I picked a few and ate them while we were listening to the teacher talk about the site. They were way better than the several pounds of fresh figs I had purchased inside one of the city gates the day before--which all began spoiling overnight--which didn't stop me from eating almost all of them--which brings me to another point--fresh figs aren't very good.  The people inside by the spot that is traditionally regarded as the prophet Samuel's cenotaph (empty grave) was really nice to see. The people watching over it were very kind.

The building itself was not in good shape--the top of it is a mosque, the bottom a synagogue, but as Palestinian access has been restricted it has fallen into disrepair and it has been claimed by a sinister force I have faced before. I refer to the second most evil of global avian hegemons(we learned this word in class and I am not sure what it means. Either cultural monarchy or artichokes), the Pigeon King/Evil Pigeon Overlord. His forces once took me captive in Paraguay. If you don't remember how that went down, check it out here:http://elderreedinparaguay.blogspot.co.il/2009/06/pigeon-city-and-its-utter-destruction.html   The number one bird threats from humanity is, of course, Perky Bird the Cockatiel. I won't get started on that now, I hate crying bitter tears of bitterness when I think about it. 

Bethelehem overlook--
It was cool to look out and see Bethlehem. By the way, the hymn "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plain" isn't quite accurate. It's all a bunch of steep hills and valleys. That's OK, though. And I was, in fact, attacked by  a dust devil. I and the professors were all just minding our own business when one of the members of our group pointed north and screamed. I looked and had difficulty figuring out exactly what I was seeing before it was upon us. Dust, leaves and insects blasted through the air for all of two seconds before it had passed us. I spun and saw the dust devil stopped behind me, seemingly taunting me and inviting me to battle it as its smoky form coalesced into tangible existence. I have been chasing after these things for years, and I wasted no time in throwing myself into it and using the first thing that came to my head (literally) as a weapon. I thrust my trusty black sombrero into its core. It spasmed violently and then exploded, its defeated remnants floating away harmlessly. Unfortunately,  the entire other class looking on from a distance didn't see this battle in such an epic fashion as I remember it.  Their teacher merely paused, told his class to turn around and  jokingly said "Looks like that group has made the Lord angry." The aftermath wasn't so bad, besides the grit in our hair, the burrs attached to our bodies and the spider we picked off one of the girls.

Tel Aviv--Surfing was a lot of fun. I even got up once, which was harder than last time I went since the board was quite a bit smaller. There were some big waves where I wiped out. Now I know  what the rinse and spin cycle of a washing machine feels like. The rest of the city was interesting, we found a quirky market where a lady was selling what was surely one of the first telephones ever manufactured, and others selling things like fryer baskets. Definitely not the tourist part of the city. There were a lot of strange animal murals everywhere. There were three bears, a creepy rabbit painted on a dumpster, and a two headed rabbit that looked like it was investing in the oil business or something.

Weird happenings besides the dust devil---I accidentally nearly ingested a bee during lunch. It let me know with a subtle "HEY BUDDY I"M WALKIN' HERE" sting to my lip. It was a small bee and a small sting. It was almost kind of lemony.

 I was buying fruit in a market when a massive package of diapers fell past my head. The guy yelled sorry from the rafters above, and I was like "No worries, bro. Not like they were loaded!"

Barfing-- it is kinda like Annie told it. I was talking to some girls about eating bugs and the time I regretted not eating a cicada in Paraguay (a story for another time) and I talked about some roasted coconut grubs I had eaten in Paraguay. I was saying how it was a lot like bacon, and then she said how we could market the stuff--get little yellow tubs of it labeled "I Can't Believe It's Not Bacon!" As she said this, I was drinking water and I laughed. I choked on the water, spat a bunch on the floor, laughed and choked more--which activated my seldom-used gag reflex. It's been about six years since the last incident, folks, but I knew what I felt. I surged to my feet and looked for a trash can--nothing! I burst out of the room, and ran into the computer lab. Nothing! I glanced at the nearby drinking fountain, shook my head, and knew it was already too late. I quickly pulled up my orange button-down shirt to my forehead and let fly. WHOOOOSH! As soon as my airway was clear, I couldn't help but laugh maniacally at the clearly hilarious situation. I began walking down the stairs to my room so I could get rid of--I looked at it. Funny, I didn't remember eating chicken salad with carrots. Anyways, at this time Annie's account does in fact suffice."On his way down some girls were like hey Neil what's in your shirt and he was like you don't want to know and they were like um actually yes we do and he was like no really you don't and they were like YES WE DO and he was like FINE and then they got a peek and skiddaddled really fast. And then Neil took a shower. The end."

And that's the end of this. For now.

Homework and Jerusalem Center life (Ashley)

Yesterday was a significant day in my life. For the First Time Ever,
I’m pretty sure, I awoke up early in the morning without an alarm!!!!!
That’s right! I have been awaking at 5:15 so I can get a workout out
in before classes and stuff. For some reason, yesterday morning my
alarm didn’t go off. But it didn’t matter! I woke up anyway! For
anyone who knows how difficult mornings are for me, you know that is
saying something

Yesterday we had the “informal talent show.” Wow, it was the greatest
talent show I have even been to. There was a ton of variety and a ton
of talent. You know when you go to talent shows how there are usually
one or two or three acts that usually steal the show? In this talent
show, each act would have stolen the show in any other show. It was
great. There was a lot of support for each person who performed. It
was really awesome. Many performers mentioned they had never felt
such support from the audience before. It was really fun to be a part
of.

Well, we made it through our papers and tests this week. I was really
excited to get out in the city after our 6 hours of classes today, but
after Friday prayers at the mosques there were some disturbances near
temple mount so they decided to keep us in. These disturbances stem
from frustrations and tensions created by the Jewish holiday Sukkot
(Feast of the Tabernacles) that has been going on this week. People
have gotten frustrated with the road closures, increased traffic, and
celebrations. Added to that, there is a radical group who has tried
for the last 20 years to place the corner stone for the 3rd Jewish
temple on Temple Mount- harem es-sharif. Police monitor for them and
they haven’t succeeded but it increases to people’s tensions. Those
monitoring the situation are quite hopeful that it’ll pass over and
we’ll be fine to get out tomorrow. I have realized through these 2
days they have kept us in, the day most likely for that to happen is
Friday. That is the day the Muslim world gathers in the mosques for
prayers and thus chances increase that emotions will ignite.

I got into the city yesterday or the day before, I’m loosing track of
time. We explore West Jerusalem, the Jewish dominated section of the
city, and visited an ultra-orthodox neighborhood. These guys are the
ones who wear black pants, dress shirt, kippah, and peyote curls at
all times. They also wear really large, furry hats. That’s the men.
The women wear long-sleaved shirts and skirts at least to the ankle
with thick tights. A bit like a very frumpy sister missionary. I
guess this branch of Judaism could be related to the Amish. As I was
wandering around, we stumbled upon a little shop with handmade crafts.
This shop provides meaningful work for elderly Jewish refugees. It
was a pretty neat place.

Two days ago, we squished a showing of the Presidential Debate between
classes. I don’t pretend to be any reputable critic but it seemed to
me that Governor Romney made a good showing. I was also pleased that
there didn’t seem to be much mudslinging. I think a watched a portion
of a presidential debate when I was 18 but couldn’t stand to listen
for very long because of the mudslinging.

Tomorrow morning I am going to wake up at 4:00 so I can watch the
BYU/USU football game. This will be the first one I will be able to
watch all of it. I’m excited and hoping for a great game.

Have a told you what my chore is at the JC? I work at the Shekel
Shack, which is the student snack bar. We use the proceeds to create
and purchase t-shirts for the group. I wasn’t super excited at the
first, especially because two of the guys in my group created this
whole business model which I thought was totally going over the top.
Now though, I’m impressed with their efforts. One of their ideas was
to create Gold Member accounts where people could put their purchases
on a tab and pay that off at the end of the week. Kids have found
that super convenient and in my opinion has increased the business of
the shack. It is good for business; I’m not sure its benefits for
those looking to save money or avoid the snacks My part of it is to
pick up supplies (sometimes) and man the shack for a couple of hours
in the evening, about once a week. I call it Shekel Shack Slavery bc
most of the other chores people have last about 15 minutes a week.
But it’s OK. I like it because it gives me opportunity to interact
with other people. And I try to remember that when I don’t want to do
it;)
Well, that’s about all. Tonight I am watching Kung Fu Panda I and II
with the 17 year old daughter of one of the faculty members. I hope I
don’t fall asleep because that is a definite possibility! Have a
great Friday!

Bacon is everyone's best friend except for pigs. (Neil)

We haven't eaten any bacon. We are friends to AAAALLLL nature.

The Good Samaritan and Jericho

A recent week was quite interesting,quite interesting indeed. We kicked off Monday by hopping on the delightful contraption known as the bus and blasting off east into the Judean Wilderness in the West Bank.

A note about the climate here: The prevailing winds come from the west to the east, much like in Salt Lake City. As the humid ocean air travels inland from the Mediterranean, it is forced upward by the rising hills leading up to Jerusalem. The easternmost portion of Jerusalem—and the highest in elevation—lies along the north-south ridge that contains both the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus, where the Jerusalem center is located. Once the cooling air passes this ridge, a great deal of water has already been lost. The air that finally descends into the Judean Wilderness where the Dead Sea resides is parched and brings little water.

             The hills we traveled through, therefore, are much like you would imagine them. Brown, dry, and apparently lifeless. Upon closer examination, it can be seen that many dried plants coat the ground, their spines and prickles almost daring someone to approach them barefoot. Streambeds and dried out river gulches cut through the rocky landscape every so often, carving out rills, valleys and canyons in the harsh topography. We visited one of the largest of these, Wadi (River) Qilt. Steep slopes and cliffs slide into its depths, reminiscent of the Virgin River canyons in the Nevada-Utah area, but with less water at the bottom. There, the dry streambed rests, but with date palms and incongruous greenery hinting at hidden moisture beneath the surface. The dried-out beds of the wadis have long formed natural highways through the desert, and continue to be used as such today. Wadi Qilt was historically used as the road in between Jerusalem and the low-lying city of Jericho, and was the setting for the parable of the Good Samaritan. Not much wider than a slot canyon in places, any traveler through here would have had little option but to get through as quickly as possible. It is full, however, of rocky outcrops, caves, and even ancient aqueducts that provide ample places for would-be ambushers to hide.

I would go on, but I think you get the idea. Here, more than anywhere else, the story of the Good Samaritan came alive.

             Jericho was pretty cool as well. It has been identified as one of the oldest cities in the world, and if the information has been assessed right it is some 9,000 years old—kids, that's almost as old as Rosie O' Donnell! Or Rosie O'Donnell jokes, for that matter. On the way back, we saw a bunch of date palm plantations. I'll take some pictures in a few weeks whilst we pickle in the Dead Sea.

Turkey (Annie)

I'm back from Turkey, and it was fantastic! I've never imagined that I would end up visiting Turkey, of all places, but now that I have been there I am very grateful to have had the opportunity. Turkey, like any country, has rich traditions, history, and culture and it was wonderful to get a glimpse of that.

Monday, and every day for that matter, was busy We went to the Topkapi Palace first, which is where where the Sultan used to live. Now it's a museum, and we got to see the Sultan's clothes and various religious relics, such as bits of Muhammed's hair and Moses's staff.

 Next was the Basicila Cistern, which is a massive cistern built in ancient times to hold millions of gallons of water. It was damp and dark and quite a contrast from the heat and bustle of the street above.

Later we saw the Hippodrome, which is similar to a race track. There wasn't really anything left of it. Finally, we went to the Blue Mosque, which was the crowning event of the day for me. It is beautiful! They decorated it with beautiful blue mosaics (hence the nickname Blue Mosque) and Arabic calligraphy.

Afterwards we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is a massive structure housing hundreds of little shops all selling pretty much the same thing. This is where I finally got to try Turkish Delight! It was so good!

Also, we found this ice cream that Neil was determined to get, and we were PUMPED. It's chewy! That's right. This is after we found it:

That evening we on a boat ride down the Bosphorous strait, which separates the Asian and the European sides of the Istanbul from each other. We got to see a lot of Istanbul and it was really great to see it from a boat rather than a bus. Neil, Shawn and I all wore the fezzes that Shawn bought for us and we were, and I quote here, "so cute!" I'm sure Neil and Shawn really appreciated that.

Tuesday we drove to the Galipoli Battlefield Memorial, which is where thousands of New Zealand and Australian soldiers died trying to take Istanbul in the First World War. It was a sobering moment. It was a little sad to see the graves lined up side by side on an otherwise picturesque beach. The Turkish government honored them there, and it was comforting to see that they cared for the men's lives even though they were fighting on the other side.

We then took a ferry ride across the Dradanelles which was really cool, since the bus drove right on to the boat. I'd never been on a bus on a boat before. I guess I can check that off my bucket list :)

To top off the day we went to Troy, which was essentially a mass of ruins that were built on other ruins that might have been built on the original Troy. It was much smaller than I anticipated, probably because most of the ruins have not been dug up. We saw the city and the big Trojan Horse that they had there, which was actually the one used in the movie.

 It was also here in Troy that we started our tradition of sprinting back to the bus from the site so that they wouldn't leave us, which they threatened to do on a number of occasions. Neil and Shawn loved to push it to the last minute. It was nice to get our blood pumping between the long bus rides. I'm sure we were also entertaining watching us from the bus.

On Wednesday we went to Assos, which is this little city up in the mountains of Turkey. It is one of the places Paul visited when he was preaching. We bought a scarf from this adorable old lady. Assos was really nice because there weren't any tourists and it was a cute little town in the mountains with cobblestone roads and houses. Also, a monumental event occurred here that will forever live in my memory: we saw our first ever Turkey in Turkey...it was awesome.

Later we went to the Pergamom acropolis, where we crawled over the massive ruins there. The theater there is the steepest I saw in Turkey, and it would've been a great view in ancient times when it was used. Peramum is on top of hill and you have an amazing view of the surrounding territory.

Later we went to Ephesus, which is a famous tourist site and city from the New Testament. There we saw the enormous stadium, the reconstructed library facade, and a ton of cats.

The next few places look pretty similar, so I'm going to skip over the specifics of Sardis, Miletus, Thyatira and Iznik to go straight to the best one: the Hagia Sofia.

This is a catholic church turned mosque turned museum. As a result, it has an interesting mix of a lot of different cultures. There were originally mosaics of Christian scenes all across the walls. When the Ottoman empire conquered Constantineople (and named it Istanbul) they covered the Christian art with plaster, which ironically enough preserved it rather than destroyed it, and replaced it with Islamic art. So today we see Islamic art along with some of the mosaics where the plaster has been cleared away. It's really amazing.

So that sums up my trip to Turkey (finally)! It was a BLAST, and I got to be very close with the people in my group. Enjoy!

Sedar, Shephelah, and life at the JC (Ashley)

Hello!

I have written some more things that I have been doing. I hope you enjoy!:)

I’m still working to get the 2nd half of our Turkey trip down. It

might take until the weekend to do but I’ll definitely be able to do

it on Saturday. I hope though, that this email will compensate for

the lack of completion about that trip.

Last week, on Thursday, we had Sedar dinner (Passover.) We had our

Jewish Israeli teacher play host in our cafeteria (The Oasis.) He

brought his little daughter who was adorable; there is a part for the

youngest child to ask in Hebrew “what is the meaning of this night?”

The whole thing was really cool. I was in a quartet of girls who sang

one of the traditional Passover songs, Dayenu. The theme of the song

was that no matter what God did or didn’t do to get the Children of

Israel out of Egypt it would have sufficed. The final song of the

evening was set to a rap. Yes, a rap, and it was my teacher’s idea.

A group of students wrote it and it was awesome! I’ll need to share

it with you when I next see you.

Today we went on a field trip to the Shephelah (Shfee-la.) Jerusalem

is situated in the highlands. Tel-Aviv, where the airport is, is

situated on the coast. In between are the Shephelah, the midlands.

Between the midland hills are 5 major Valleys and the defense cities

at the different ends of these valleys are the sites for many of the

conflicts between the Philistines and the Children of Israel around

1000 BC. Remember Samson and his whole story, it took place in the

first of these valleys, Aijalon. And don’t forget David and Goliath.

That battle took place in the valley of Elah, I believe. So we went

to these places and looked at old stone foundations that had been

there since the time of these stories.

This week is looking rough. Doesn’t it feel like I always say that?

But, it is, 2 midterms and 1 paper. I’m in a rut of school apathy. I

have a test tomorrow but haven’t brought myself to study, I’m writing

this instead!:) I will though, I like learning. I have to keep that

in my mind and flee from those “freaker outers” who breed stress.

We still interact with the families living at the center. The Center

is small for almost 100 people to be living here and we see the kids

running around almost every day. Today the kids didn’t have school

because of the Sukot Holiday and so our teachers brought their kids on

the field trip with them. It was fun. And the kids were really good

and didn’t take away from the experience, just added to it.

I have now read about 500 pages of the Old Testament. I am glad I

have been able to read it; I have a better connection between stories

that I have known for so long. I understand better how things fall

into place. And it has been great being able to be and see where

these things took place. That aspect adds another dimension to

understanding. Take today for example: The books 1 Samuel -2 Kings

refer to a lot of battles between the Philistines and the Israelites.

Normally I just think, “Great, more fighting.” But getting a feel for

the geography and these valleys just seemed to increase the context

for the battles. The Philistines have a military city on one end of

the valley and the Israelite on another. In order to get to the

heart of Israel, Jerusalem, the Philistines had to conquer these

cities. I have also realized how much focus the Old Testament places

on families; I had never realized or thought about that before. One

of the main themes I have been picking up is Israel starts to get into

trouble when they enter into marriage covenants with people of other

nationalities. The trouble here isn’t one of national discrimination,

it is that they weren’t marrying people of their own faith, they

weren’t receiving the sealing ordinance. And this caused a lot of

trouble. Gradually, gradually false gods and idol worship began to

enter into the lives of the Children of Israelites and they gradually

start to peel away from the precepts of the Gospel.

Yesterday I went to the Biblical Zoo. I quite enjoyed it! There were

lots of people and we planned to be there for 3 hours. I liked to

read the random facts about animals. You want to know a couple of

things I learned? First, naked mole rats looks like baby gerbils,

they are blind because they live underground where no light reaches

and thus have no need to see, they orient themselves in their tunnels

by the earth’s magnetic forces, and they have lips behind their teeth

so they don’t get dirt in their throats. Second, kangaroos are kooky.

I got to see a mother ‘roo with a cute Joey poking his head out of

her pouch. Marsupials, like kangaroos, are strange and I think, I read

unique to Australia. The gestational period of a joey is only about

33 days and when it is born, it weighs about 1 gram. Then it remains

in the pouch, attached at the mothers nipple where it receives

nourishment, for a way long time, I’m remembering a year and a half,

I’ll have to double check that, but crazy!

Do you want to hear my finest moment since I have been here? It was

last week at FHE. I was asked to give the spiritual thought. If you

remember, we had just had the 2 members of the seventy speak to us

during sacrament meeting. One of them talked about receiving answers

to prayer. I decided to talk about recognizing the spirit and

different ways he communicates with us as a continuation from his

ideas. I started out with an attention grabbing activity: listing as

many flavors of ice cream in 30 seconds. And we shared them. Then,

to link that to the idea I was getting at, I said, “Answers don’t come

in just vanilla” and explained that there are many ways we can feel

the spirit, many flavors of the spirit. I shared 3 short experiences

that highlighted this idea from my life and shared the scripture from

2 Nephi 31 that says the Lord speaks to man according to that man’s

understanding. Then, we took one minute to write down the “flavors of

the spirit” we had recognized in our lives and gave a chance for

anyone who wished, to share. What was so great about this moment? It

was seeing the looks in my FHE group’s eyes, seeing as they,

essentially, went through the emotions of the thought. The funny

parts, the poignant parts, the serious parts and how it fit so well

with their way of thinking and the way they grasp concepts. It was

just good. I don’t know how to describe it and I was trying not to

just use the cop-out “the spirit was there” and I don’t want to seem

cocky or anything because it was good. It just felt good. So, there

ya have it, my finest moment. Almost like you were there, right?!;)

Well, I really should go study now. Have a wonderful day!

Ashley