Sick in the Holy Land

I don't know if I already wrote about this but we went on an awesome field trip last Monday to a lot of different sites to learn about the geography of Jerusalem and its surrounding areas. I took a ton of pictures that I will put up later but this is a picture of the chapel in the Augusta Victoria Lutheran Church of the Ascension that is just near us on the Mt. of Olives.

Of course, I would get sick the first week here...

After a few days of allergies, I caught what I thought was a cold. It ends up that I have pneumonia but I was put on some antibiotics really quickly and am in the process of recovering. Unfortunately this means that I haven't been able to do a lot of exploring in the city in quite a few days which, in turn, means that I have very little to write about.

Today is the Sabbath and last night we went as a group to the Western Wall to welcome in the Sabbath at sundown. I have never seen a group of people so happy to welcome in the Sabbath day. While many were praying up near the wall, others were singing and dancing in circles with their arms around each other. There were so many military men/women, each on their respective side joining in the festivities. The women's side is about 1/3 the size of the men's side, both were equally crowded.

Because I was sick I got to ride with security over there instead of walking. The drivers are crazy here! I have been in one taxi and a few buses/vans but we were cruisin! And they use the horn like it's goin out of style!

I found out today that our branch consists of a lot of members who live in the West Bank and can't make it through the Separation Wall to come to church with us. This is such a foreign concept to me, oppression and constraints on travel and worship. We can't talk to anyone about the church and this is supposedly the only church building where visitors aren't welcome.

Nyquil PM is my new best friend. Pita bread with the sweet sesame butter spread that they have in the Oasis here is my new favorite food....yes, this beat out my love of ice cream, as crazy as that seems.

We leave for Turkey in one week!!!!! Bon Voyage my friends

First Night On The Town

No pics today sorry, my camera battery is dead but I did have my first night out on the town! We shopped for a few hours in the afternoon in the Old City (I bought some sweet pants, genie pants I think they are called?) and then walked down Jaffa Rd. to West Jerusalem. I love this part of the city, its so open and clean. After perusing the different falafel shops for what looked like the best food for the best price, we ate dinner together outside by the top of Ben Yehuda St. by the City Tower. The weather was perfect tonight and I really felt like I got to experience more of the city and its culture. We got gelato afterwards at Chocolate by the Bald Man, it was delicious as always. It was fine that I didn't have my camera because Adam was with us and he is all over the taking pictures thing and a total people person, he talked to so many people just passing on the street. Our group started out huge, like 13 or 14 but by the time we got taxis back to the center we had 7. I have quite a bit of reading to do for tomorrow but I can't wait for the Independence Day Celebrations next week!

Best Birthday Ever!

            Although there are many people I miss back in the states(and Canada), this has been one of the best birthdays I've ever had!! I aced my first quiz in my 8:00 Old Testament class, I managed to stay awake and focused on the front row of my Ancient Near Eastern Studies class (which is 2 hours long!), was sung to twice at breakfast and lunch time by the whole group in the Oasis and just returned from a great afternoon in the city with Jess and Julie. I'm on the Out of Center-In Jerusalem activities committee and we had a meeting today. We are arranging transportation for the students back from the Israeli Independence Day Celebration in East Jerusalem.

           Today, in the city, I saw huge headless bodies of raw animal meat hanging in the street (in one of the pictures above), right next to a shop selling weird lingerie and huge underwear and another selling all sorts of fish. I feel like it is a competition between many of the shops to see who can sell the largest assortment of goods. In many there is barely room to walk. One of the pictures on here is of some cauliflower that was highlighter pink! Off the beaten path a bit, we stumbled upon a camel leather goods shop and fell in love with the sandals and backpacks =) He said he would give us a good deal ;) of course he would, that's what everyone says! At the end of the semester, if I have enough money left...I'm buying that backpack or a pair of sandals. We also saw these blue and white dishes that were beautiful and not too expensive, I love blue and white dishes!

            So, as a wrap up for the birthday, my first day of classes went well. There was a funny man outside of Alladin's talking to me about poison (cigarettes) and jack-mormons/jack-muslims ha ha ha and a little boy who gave us directions and then followed us begging for money until jess gave him some. I took tons of pictures in the Old City because I've never been anywhere like this before and who knows if I ever will be again. Maybe if I go on a mission to a third world country....? You never know =)

Sincerely,

Newly 20 and Loving It!

Day 3

Today is Saturday, observed here as the Sabbath day. Church was great and the gorgeous view behind the pulpit of Jerusalem was a bit distracting. I love how during orientation one of the mothers asked if it would ever rain and if so, would we need rain jackets. Our guide laughed at her and said it would never rain and we wouldn't need to worry about that...it has rain 4 times since we arrived on Thursday night..ha ha fancy that Mr. It Won't Rain.

 The Oasis (cafeteria here at the center) serves the most delicious meals!! We have a couple here that are both doctors and they warned us the first day to weigh ourselves...many students gain weight while here (now I see why). I weighed myself the first night I got to the center to see if I gained/lost any while here. I assume that I will gain weight because at school, I rarely eat balanced meals, if I even get myself 3 meals a day. This structured, healthy food schedule is a wonderful thing! The walking tour that we took was wonderful and I'm excited to explore more on my own. We saw the old city and entered through Damascus Gate into the Islamic Quarter and it was very quiet because many were worshiping as it was Friday (their holy day). We soon crossed into the Christian quarter and explored the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a church built over the location believed to be the place where Jesus was buried. Also, inside there are stairs leading up to where they believe Calvary (the mount where Christ was crucified) was. There is displayed a large stone slab many believe they laid Christ's body on after taking him from the cross. Many pilgrims in the church knelt by this stone and touched it, laid cloth on it to bring home as a symbol to remember Christ's suffering and their visit to the Holy Land.

 After leaving the old city through the Jewish quarter and Jaffa Gate, we explored West Jerusalem (the Jewish part of the city). After walking around the square containing the Mayor's office and seeing the hundreds of bullet holes in the side of the building, we continued on to Zion's square. The feeling in this part of the city was light and fun, many were dining at outdoor cafes, talking and laughing. A group of students (from Hebrew University I think?) were playing music and singing in Zion Square and the bottom of Ben Yehuda street. As we looked at the shops and stand along Ben Yehuda, I of course couldn't pass up the delicious gelato. So, my first purchase in the Holy Land was ice cream, doesn't surprise me =)

After the tour we went back to the center, had lunch and continued with our orientation activities. I slept through dinner last night and was really hungry this morning when we finally ate breakfast at 8 am. Tomorrow is my birthday, even though it doesn't seem like it because I already celebrated with my family. Our first day of classes is tomorrow! I'm still not sure how to end these things?? Blogging is still new to me...ha ha

With love from Israel,

Lauren

Day 1

The view from my bedroom makes it all worth it. This was my first international travel experience and it wasn't what I expected it to be. All of our layovers were timed perfectly so we never had to run but had just enough time to relax a bit between flights, but it was still a lot of travelling. We left SLC airport at 10:45 am on Wed. morning and arrived in Phoenix at 11:30 am. After that we left for Philadelphia at noon and arrived at 4 and a half hours later (I slept like almost the entire flight!) and an hour later we started boarding the flight from Philly to Tel Aviv. This was the longest flight I've ever been on! We flew for almost 11 hours through the night, I slept for maybe 4 or 5 of those and watched 2 movies, Adam and Unstoppable. But….it felt a little more real when we got into the terminal in Israel and all of the signs are in Hebrew, Arabic and then English. My bags took forever to come out and I was scared that they were lost but they showed up after all. After clearing customs and security, we gathered on the buses, only to be informed that 16 fellow students were still stranded in the JFK airport and had slept there overnight. I'm so glad we made it safe!

The bus ride from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was scenic and enjoyable. In 45 minutes we climbed almost 3000 ft up into the high hills where Jerusalem is located. Once in the city we had to climb once again up the road to Mt. Scopus where the Center is. From across the city, our first glances of The Dome of the Rock, The Jerusalem Center and the Old City were inspiring. I felt like such a nerdy tourist snapping pictures left and right but I am just so happy to be here.

The Center itself is a sprawling 8 stories sloping down the side of Mt. Scopus, overlooking the Old City and Jerusalem. I don't know what I expected but never did I expect this. As I lay in my freshly made bed, I can see the lights of the city and the Dome of the Rock…from my bed! The patio doors in our room open up to a large patio where I'm sure we will spend lots of time, the weather here is so awesome!!

We have already heard the Muslim Call to Prayer twice, toured the Center, meet our teachers, eaten the delicious food from the Oasis and unpacked. As we all try to recover from jetlag, we will sleep tonight and take a 7 mile walking tour around the city tomorrow. It almost still doesn't feel real but I'm sure as we become familiar with the city tomorrow the reality will set in. Till then,

Lauren