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!

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.

(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.