The Last Week

It's the last week, and I'm pretty sad about it. I knew it would fly by, and it did. We only have four more days until we go home. It's too much to handle for me! I try not to think about it.

We finished finals yesterday. What a relief it was to get those off my chest! Classes are OVER and all we need to do now is go into the city! It feels good to not have to worry about anything. It's also really weird. I'm conditioned to always have SOMETHING to do, and now that I don't have anything I'm at a loss for things to do. It's so much easier to entertain yourself when you're procrastinating something.

We did our first of two Christmas Choir concerts yesterday. We didn't do that well, but hopefully the audience was forgiving about it. One of the students, Katie Graham, played two beautiful harp solos. She's a music major and has been seriously missing the harp, and you could see her just glow as she played it. It was a great thing to see.

After church we went to an olive tree garden just to sit and relax. Neil and Andrew both had the time of their lives playing with the Palestinian kids there. Neil loves kids that age. It's when he's in his element. He was picking them up and throwing them around and chasing them and they LOVED him. Meanwhile a few students were trying to get their quiet study time in...that didn't work so well.

Tomorrow is our last free day before we leave. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll probably going to go to the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of All Nations--the normal stuff. But it's definitely worth one last visit. Honestly, I feel good about what I've done here and there really isn't anything that I am in dire needs of seeing, but I do want to get out and about and just be in the city. Buy a Jerusalem bagel. Talk to the vendors. All of the stuff I love doing in Jerusalem. 

We have two last field trips to go. We're going all over Jerusalem, tracing the last week of the Savior's life. I'm looking forward to it. 

Jordan (Annie)

Jordan in brief: a small, oddly-shaped country dominated by desert landscapes and awesome rocks. And it looks a lot like Nevada and southern Utah. I'll admit that to the world (coughcoughEthancough). But really, it was amazing how similar it sometimes is here to the landscapes back home. It always surprises me.

We started out our lovely trip with a trip to Mount Nebo, which is near where Moses and Elijah were translated. Unfortunately we could not see much, as it was very smoggy, but if we had been able to see we would've seen the Dead Sea, Jericho, and the mountains across the valley in the Holy Land. Then we went to Madaba and saw a mosaic map that is the earliest known depiction of the Holy Land. It was REALLY cool, because looking at the map you were able to see a little bit how the map-makers viewed the Holy Land in regards to what they thought was important, what cities they chose to include and the pictures they depicted. Unfortunately a lot of the map was damaged, so there are big chunks of it missing, but we can see a lot of ancient Israel in the rest. It was really intriguing.

That was it for Day One of our Jordan trip. Day Two was the most FANTASTIC DAY EVER! In other words, Petra! Petra in short is a city built by the Nabateans, a trading tribe in ancient times. Petra is located in red-rock slot canyons in the middle of the Jordanian desert. It looks a lot like St. George. Alison and Ethan would LOVE Petra. It was beautiful. The treasury is the first things you see when you walk out of the canyon. It is amazing, but it doesn't even compare to the massive monastery carved into the stone an hour's hike away. The monastery was amazing! The thing was huge. Definitely worth the hike up there. Next Neil, Shawn, Nicole and I hiked up to the high place, which is where the Nabateans sacrificed people on an altar up there. The altar itself wasn't that special, but the hike up was GORGEOUS! The steps were carved into the mountainside, and every time you turned a corner there was another spectacular view. It felt so good to hike--it's been a while since I have done that! At various points during the day all of us rode camels. Camels are smelly and dirty and covered in flies but it is fun to ride them because you are very high in the air and just lurch around up there while people laugh at you down below. After a solid eight hours of walking and hiking around Petra we headed out of Petra, but I definitely want to come again someday. It was a ton of fun.

In front of the Treasury

First glimpse of the Treasury through the slot canyon.

After Petra we drove up to Amman, the capitol of Jordan. After we got to the hotel Shawn was itching to get out, so he, Neil, our friend Hailey and I all headed out into the city to see if we could meet anybody, and we did! We met a pair of women from the Philippines who are working in Jordan, and they invited us into our home, fed us, and were happy to talk to us! After we visited with them we left and headed down the road, where a Jordanian family was chilling on their porch. Although we don't speak Arabic and they didn't speak English, we started talking with each other and then they invited us into their home as well, where Shawn showed off his surprising charisma and charmed his way into their hearts. Shawn is really funny! We learned a bit of Arabic and Shawn played thumb wars with the grandpa of the family, Ali. By the end of the night the family had decided to adopt Shawn and informed us that we could leave him there and go.


Day Three, Halloween! We celebrated Halloween a few days before (more on that to come) but that was fine. What we got was much better than candy. We went first to the citadel, which was a city of ruins in the middle of Amman. There was a little museum attached to it that had a lot of really amazing artifacts in it, including a human figurine dating back to 6500 B.C. It is the first known figurine of a human--at least I think that's what Stratford said. Then somebody said, "But Professor Stratford, that's before Adam and Eve!" And Stratford replied, "This was when God was practicing making humans." Then my lovely friend Alyssa said, "Good thing it was practice." SO GOOD! I love everybody here.

Next we went to the Jabbok River, and then Jerash, which is a large ancient Greco-Roman city. It included two theaters, a temple to Artemis, a temple to Zeus, and a lot of columns. It was just like Hercules! Not that I base my real-life experiences off of Disney movies or anything...

Next up was the Royal Automobile Museum, where we saw cars. They were very shiny. I'm not a car person, so I couldn't tell you much more than that. This museum was wasted on me.

This is a Ferrari

That night we went out and met another Philippine woman, and we talked with her and her roommates for a little while and now we are Facebook friends! Who would have ever thought?

Day Four: Last day! So sad. First we saw a Roman theater and Odeon, which basically were a large theater and a small one. Theaters are always fun because of all the exciting acoustic things you can do in them. Next we went to Bethany beyond Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized. We went to a platform on the side of the Jordan River and dipped our feet in. It was incredible to see it, and fortunately we'll see the River Jordan again in a few weeks when we go to Jordan. We had a devotional here and said our last farewell to the beautiful country of Jordan.

We then headed to the border, which ultimately took four hours to get through. This was because we had to sit for hours while they searched every one of our bags. And then they lost one and it took another hour to find it. Finally, at long last, we got home.

 "It was like a mix of every wonderful thing I've ever seen in my life." -Hannah Perry, a student here.

Mackenzie found this spider and put it on Neil's bed. Neil was delighted.

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!

(Annie) The last week in September

This week has been really crazy with school and everything, but we pulled through it! As a brief summary of the week, we went on a field trip on Monday and saw the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (which is referred to in the parable of the Good Samaritan) which is in the middle of a rocky, hot desert. It was just was a desert should be! We also saw Jericho and the excavations there, including a watchtower that is dated to 9000 BC! That's so old! It's a little crazy. 

Thursday we had Passover dinner, which took a long time but was super interesting. We ate parsley with salt water, the parsley representing the harvest and the salt water representing Israel's tears in bondage, unleavened bread, charoset which is dates with nuts, apples, cinammon and  few other things (which I got to help make!) and represents the mortar that the Israelits built with in Israel, and a few other things besides. It was a really cool cultural experience. 

Also, as Neil informed everyone the first week here, Sept 28, yesterday, was World Rabies Day! Surprise! Betcha didn't know that! And let me tell you, we celebrated here. Neil and Shawn put foam on their faces to represent frothing at the mouth and they had a Rabies Day party where they pinned the eye on the 'coon and chased, caught and bit everyone in sight (I was lucky enough to not be bitten. I am still as of yet uncontaminated. Phew.). I did not participate because honestly I don't really feel like Rabies Day is worth celebrating. But that's just me. 

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I got a calling! I am the Valient 10 girls teacher, which sounds very nice but is secretly crazy! Primary is pretty crazy here and it is really a growing experience taking care of everyone. I respect parents so much more now. 

First Week!!! (Annie)

Hey everyone!!! It's so cool that I'm finally in Jerusalem writing to everyone back home! I never thought about actually being in Jerusalem so to be here looking back on the last few days is crazy to me! I hope  everything is going well for everyone in their lives.

                I think I'm still in stun mode from arriving here. It really hasn't sunk in yet that I'm in Jerusalem. Every morning I wake up at around 4:45 to morning prayer and get up around 5:15. Muslims pray five times a day and the mosques have  a call to prayer where somebody recites the Koran through massive speakers. There are three mosques near the Center, so we usually hear the prayers well. I actually really like hearing it, even if it is so early in the morning. I've been trying to adjust my sleeping schedule while I am in my semi-coherent, jet-lagged state to where I get up earlier. My body's whacked out so I'm trying to take advantage of it. But I might have ruined my training because this morning I woke up at five and then fell asleep and slept until EIGHT THIRTY!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!! Tomorrow I will wake up at 5:00 so help me!!!

View of Jerusalem. Dome of the Rock is on the right

                From the center we have breathtaking views of Jerusalem and the Old City. It's easy to find the Old City; all you have to do is look for the Dome of the Rock, which stands out with its shiny golden roof.  We live in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian side of Jerusalem, and we are about a twenty minute walk to the Old City. On Thursday we took a tour around the Old City for the first time. Is it weird that it reminds me of Latin America? There are vendors lining the streets in little shops selling clothes and food and shoes and all of that good stuff. Guys catcall on the street and it smells like Latin America. Maybe a little different, but pretty darn close. It's like déjà vu.  

                The only problem is I CAN'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE!!!!! ARHGWUJHGAE;IOHGVKJ!!!! In East Jerusalem they speak Arabic and in West Jerusalem they speak Hebrew. Fortunately pretty much everyone we need to talk to speaks English, but it is still frustrating to not be able to read the signs or understand people when they're talking to each other. Hopefully I'll get used to it. I guess I'm too used to Latin America, where I basically can understand and speak freely.

                Today is the Sabbath, which is a little weird. In the US the Sabbath is on Sunday, but here it's Saturday. After church we walked to the Garden of Gethsemane. It wasn't really anything like I expected. I guess in my mind I imagined it to be a natural garden with lots of olive trees, quiet and shady and peaceful. But in reality it is a gated off square of land with paths and mostly bare ground, except for about six olive trees. It wasn't bad, necessarily, just different than what I was expecting. It was really cool to be in the place I have read  about in the scriptures. There's a lot of meaning in Gethsemane for me, since my favorite gospel topic is the Atonement.

                In other news, I have a received a very important job here at the Jerusalem Center: I am on the Mail and Linen Committee. This basically means that I have the crucial responsibility of checking off people's names when they drop their linen off to get washed. It also means that I sort the mail. Obviously society would collapse without me. In my opinion it's pretty much the best job ever.

 PS: The reason all of my paragraphs are weird is because my internet is in Hebrew, and so the blog maker is trying to format it in Hebrew, which reads from right to left. I attempted to fix it. Obviously didn't do much. Have fun!

Annie's first email

Mom,

      Hello from Jerusalem! I have been flying since 9 am yesterday so needless to say I am very tired. I think I've gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours but I decided to delay my beautiful time of sleep a little bit to write you a lovely letter!!! Our flight from JFK to Jerusalem was packed with a lot of people, and we flew in a 747, and it's ginormous! It's like hauling a thousand-ton bag of sheep into the sky!!!! We saw a lot of Jews, from the super orthodox to the secular ones. It was very interesting to talk to everyone from Jerusalem to see their view on Israel and us. Israel is amazing and we are kind of weird, basically. And loud. At the end of it Neil, Ashley and I were the last ones on the plane and we wanted to see the second story (which is business class) so we asked if we could go up and they said yes. On the second story the pilots were just chillin and talking to each other and then before I knew it they had pretty much ushered us into the cockpit for pictures! So now we have awesome pictures of us in the cockpit of a ginormojet and it was really fun!!!!

     After we got to Tel Aviv we took a bus to Jerusalem. Isreal looks just like it does in the pictures!!! It is very dry and desert-like, and all the buildings are made from more adobe-like material (although they are still very westernized). It was so exhilarating to turn the corner and see our first glimpse of the Old City and the Dome! It was like the scriptures coming to life! Then we pulled into the Jerusalem Center and all the staff and professors wth their children were there to greet us and show us around. We had an orientation meeting in the chapel, which is beautiful by the way. It has walls that are all almost completely glass so you can see out into the city while the speakers talk. After that we had tours of the center (very brief, but the center isn't very big so I don't think I really need a tour anyway) and then we took our stuff down to our rooms. Afterwards we ate dinner and had our first two classes (where I could barely keep my eyes open. I kept on falling asleep by accident and I didn't realize I was asleep until my head started nodding off and jerked me back awake). Then Ashley decided she REALLY needed to go work out, after being in airports and airplanes for two days, so we went to work out which was nice even if I am exhausted.

    I'm going to go to bed now so I'll finish up whatever else I wanted to say later, probably Saturday. Good luck and thanks for the emails!

-Annie