Oops

So I thought that my last post had posted, but apparently it didn't.

I was in Egypt for the past week and I just got back tonight.

So sorry for dropping off the face of the planet. I'll update with a longer post when I'm not going off of 2 hours of sleep.

Ciao!

Pictures!!!

So... I don't feel like writing much so I'll placate you with pictures!

This is part of my view from the center

These are my awesomely cool friends Greta, Aubrey, Mike and Erin :)

Jesse with the Israeli Guards in the Old City

A bunch of us went and did the ramparts walk

This picture of Jake makes me laugh :)

Brother and Sister Klomp!! :D

Cool view of Augusta Victoria

I'm pretty sure that Dean Ford has this picture in his office at Emory

The Church of St. Mary's

My beautiful picture of the Dome of the Rock. Yay!!! :)

Ok, well have a good one!

Jerusalem explored

So I've had my first real trip into the city on my own. Well, in a group, but without teachers.

It was so much fun!!!

First we did a walk of the walls and we started at Jaffa Gate and from there we went around the south western quarter of the wall. It was so awesome. It was a little bit daunting because of the height and the sketchy stairs, but other than that it was cool to explore. It was especially fun to explore the little rooms and tunnels that were hidden within the wall. It gave us a nice view of the city and we got a breathtaking view of the countryside. I've gotten quite a few of those lately.

After walking the wall, Mike, Greta, Erin, Aubrey and I went to the Western/Wailing Wall with a few others. It was quite the experience. While I don't hold the wall in the same reverence as much of the people there, there was definitely a tangible feeling of sanctity and reverence for the place. The noises and craziness of the city just kinda faded away into a peaceful quiet. It was very nice to be able to have that experience. You could really tell that people have some incredible experiences at that place.

After that my group headed into the city a little bit and went down a quiet looking street to eat lunch. We sat down and were eating in that nice quiet place when all of a sudden a local kid comes up and starts kicking at Mike. It was so funny! He couldn't have been more than 5 years old. That was quite an experience. He finally went away, but the whole experience was bizarre.

After winding our way through the Christian quarter, back to the Western Wall to see if the Dome of the Rock was open (it wasn't) we then went back through the Jewish quarter and Muslim quarters to the Armenian and Christian quarters again. It was really fun to go through the city and see some of the stuff that was available. I got the Lion King in arabic!! :)

After walking back from there a few of us went exploring around Hebrew University, which was frustrating but educational. The campus is gorgeous albeit confusing/built like a fortress.

Pretty much after that we were fairly tired so we just did some homework and called it an early night.

But then monday we went on our first field trip. We went to Nabi Samwil, a cool spot north of the city and Augusta Victoria Lutheran Church. We also went to Mar Elyias Monastery which was located just a hilltop away from Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank and is one of the two places we'll be going there on this trip. But it was definitely cool to look out over the hills which haven't changed for thousands of years.

Monday night and all of today have been spent in getting better acquainted with classes and doing homework. I'm going to really enjoy my Hebrew class. The teacher is very nice.

It's starting to warm up here finally. I've been freezing for the past week. It's been hard to tell since I'm about 10 shades darker than when I left Utah. But there has been relatively little cloud cover, and I have been outside more in the past week than I normally am. Ha, maybe I'll come back looking like a native!

I'm planning on eventually visiting Mary Magdalene's tomb and head over to West Jerusalem. But we'll see how homework goes. It's really piled on for the next two months. But I leave for Egypt the week after next!!! I'm so excited!!!

And I get to see Professor Shalom Goldman from Emory tomorrow. That's going to be so much fun. :))))

Life is just moving along. I'm trying my best to get the most out of this experience. This is quite an interesting place.

Europe! I mean... Jerusalem!

Ok, so before I forget any of it, Europe looks AMAZING.

Transatlantic flights suck. Like, they are truly horrendous. It's really quite tempting to look and see how much extra it costs for first class for one of these flights. Especially since I will be making this exact flight over and over and over again in my future. Blech. Awful.

So I'm a light sleeper and the plane was no exception. I slept on and off the entire night. I think at most I slept like an hour or maybe two at a time. But I was lucky enough to sit next to Jared Colton so we already knew each other and didn't have to waste our time with small talk and passed out as soon as we got on the plane. I was rather amused, he was completely out before the plane even took off.

So after my longest stint of at least trying to sleep, I gave up and look out the window. A. it's daytime. Woo! B. We're passing over the French Alps. Umm... Gorgeous!!! We flew across France and over the city of Nice. I really want to visit there now. And if France wasn't gorgeous enough, Italy was magnificent. I've always wanted to go to Italy, but after seeing it from the sky, I most definitely want to visit it now. It was cool to see Rome, if only from a distance. Unfortunately I was so excited from seeing Italy that I passed out in the time from Italy all the way over Greece. :(

But it's ok. I find the middle east a small consolation prize for missing out on seeing Greece.

We got to know the center and it's absolutely beautiful. The center is so peaceful and serene. That plus the architecture and the interior are very well put together.

Yesterday was a nice get to know the faculty type of day. It was also a preview of the center and get us a little bit oriented with the place and the location. After running us constantly until 9 pm, they let us go and we all left. I got ready for bed and crashed promptly at 10 pm.

I woke up this morning to a nice dark room and while I was wondering the time, I hear something. It was the call to prayer. I had heard it once before when I had been unpacking yesterday, but waking up to it was amazing. There's something incredible about being in a half dream state and then hear something that lyrical and beautiful the first thing in the morning. I could definitely get used to this. And it was so beautiful. The muezzin had a lovely voice and he smoothly recited the adhan and then went on to recite some verses from the Qur'an. I roll over to check my watch... and it's 4:30 in the morning. Eew.

However, after laying in bed for another hour, I gave up and got ready. I haven't gotten up that early since seminary. That's just inhuman. However, I have jetlag to blame. So my day started and I realized that when I got up that a. I'm in Jerusalem and b. the city is gorgeous at sunrise.

I get going and we go and have a little bit of orientation before we go and have a tour of the city. The next four hours were spent winding our way across the city and around it. It was amazing being able to be in the city and I could actually understand people!!! I've been so distanced from arabic for the past few months that being around it again has been refreshing. Also I absolutely love my professor for Old Testament. His name is Brother Emmett and he's going to be my professor for Middle Eastern Geography in the fall. He is so much fun! He was my guide for the Jerusalem tour and it was pretty fun. He showed us some of his favorite places to go and he also showed us how to get around the different quarters.

We've spent the rest of the day just chilling and we also have some more orientation and getting to know one another. Today is also when I need to do some homework because tomorrow is my first day of class!!

It's all going so fast already. I can't believe that this is my 2nd day here. !الحمدلله

Goodbye United States!!

Well, today marks my first foray into the Middle East.

...

Hooray!

I'll write something when I actual do something and stop bouncing around from being so excited about Jerusalem.

Next stop, El-Khuds!!! (القدس)