Happy new year and a Happy Sabbath! It has been a good Jewish new year so far! We're having an absolute blast here. Friday, we had class all day and decided to do homework the majority of the day. I got to spend my day outside overlooking the city and reading about Judaism. An experience I will never take for granted. This town is so beautiful, and I can't believe that I actually live here. Just a couple things that I love here: (Disclaimer: this may get boring for some people, but because this will be my journal when I get back I have to remember all the incredible moments that take my breath away)
- The beautiful green grass that is mixed in with little berry plants. I had a "Wow, Heavenly Father is incredible" moment yesterday. I was sitting on the limestone stairs right next to this grass and saw these tiny little berries. They're nothing like i've seen before. It's about the size of my pinky fingernail. It looked like a beautiful ripe strawberry, but with the seeds on the outside. It took my breath away.
- The cats everywhere! There's a ton of momma and baby cats (i'm sure daddy's too) that I just want to snuggle!.. That is if they didn't have flees and diseases.
- The humidity. It really is a serious blessing. I love doing the curly hair every day and just pullin it back in a pony tail!
- The flowers surrounding the center. As soon as we walk out of the center gates there is trash lining the streets and no organized gardens like in Idaho and Utah. We have beautiful roses, and olive trees on our balcony of our room and I get to enjoy they everyday.
- The students. Seriously, what a great bunch to associate with. I learn SO much from them every single day. Heavenly Father has given me opportunities to become friends with people I probably would have never before. One of my friends Matt Hess worked on my computer for no joke, 1 & 1/2 hours trying to see how to blog pictures. He is a computer genius and couldn't figure it out. So the next day I sat next to him in class and he nonchalantly leaned over and said, "hey I figured out how to post pictures on your blog." I just about jumped out of my seat in excitement and listened how he solved it. He said, "You can just give me all your pictures and I can put them on!" "I take pictures every day, you're not going to do that!" "No really, I will." What a serious sweetheart. I could go on for hours about the wonderful people I rub shoulders with.
- The talent of the students. Holy man, I feel a little bit out of place because it seems like EVERYONE knows AT LEAST 5 instruments and are masterful singers. I love it so much because I get to enjoy the beauty they've learned. Last night we heard someone playing the Violin and we meandered over. Our friend Josh just blew our socks off with his talent. Brandt served in Scotland and asked him to play a folk song and he totally knew a couple! Brandt grabbed Megans hand and they danced a couple folk dances that he learned on his mission. Then Brandt took the violin and whipped out this song while Josh is playing the piano. Then we start chatting and I'm just plunking our "Heart and Soul" with Megs and hit a random note and Matt yells out "That's an A." Come to find out he has perfect pitch. I played around with him and he knew EVERY note. I went all over the key board and he knew every one. So cool.
- Cherysh. She loves to sing off tune during the closing hymn and It was bad. mom, you'd be disappointed. We tried so hard to keep it down, but it was just too funny. Then we decided to be on a bowling league together in the winter. and then she just came up to me with a desperate face asking for chocolate and proceeded to tell me, "I bought chocolate yesterday and it was supposed to last me 2 weeks!"
Okay, I really could go on with so many wonderful things, but I have to tell you about Rosh HaShanna! We went to the Western wall yesterday at sundown, which is the start of Sabbath. We got to celebrate with the Jewish community! When we walk up to the wall there are two places to walk up. One on the right for women and one on the left for men. It was a party for the guys. They were singing, dancing, going crazy, and our guy friends got to enjoy! The women i've noticed are always serious. They play such a different role than the men. I heard from our professors that the only time women will let loose with dancing and singing is at a Bar and Bat Mitzvah's when their children become of age. This will be the only day we'll ever be able to go to the eastern city and I loved it.
Today On our walk to the tomb we saw a major building in the old city on fire. We never knew what happened, but I hope everyone was ok! We kept hearing what I thought were gun shots, but gratefully it was just the remaining fireworks from Rosh Hashanna. The Garden Tomb was a lot different than I every imagined. It's beautiful, but nothing like I thought it would be. It may or may not be the place Christ appeared after being resurrected, but it was still a cool experience. It's interesting because it wasn't an overwhelming sensation of the spirit being there. It is something from history, but we didn't feel the spirit like we would attending a temple. It's wonderful to be here, but the experiences I expected to have according to the places Christ have been have been much different.
- The beautiful green grass that is mixed in with little berry plants. I had a "Wow, Heavenly Father is incredible" moment yesterday. I was sitting on the limestone stairs right next to this grass and saw these tiny little berries. They're nothing like i've seen before. It's about the size of my pinky fingernail. It looked like a beautiful ripe strawberry, but with the seeds on the outside. It took my breath away.
- The cats everywhere! There's a ton of momma and baby cats (i'm sure daddy's too) that I just want to snuggle!.. That is if they didn't have flees and diseases.
- The humidity. It really is a serious blessing. I love doing the curly hair every day and just pullin it back in a pony tail!
- The flowers surrounding the center. As soon as we walk out of the center gates there is trash lining the streets and no organized gardens like in Idaho and Utah. We have beautiful roses, and olive trees on our balcony of our room and I get to enjoy they everyday.
- The students. Seriously, what a great bunch to associate with. I learn SO much from them every single day. Heavenly Father has given me opportunities to become friends with people I probably would have never before. One of my friends Matt Hess worked on my computer for no joke, 1 & 1/2 hours trying to see how to blog pictures. He is a computer genius and couldn't figure it out. So the next day I sat next to him in class and he nonchalantly leaned over and said, "hey I figured out how to post pictures on your blog." I just about jumped out of my seat in excitement and listened how he solved it. He said, "You can just give me all your pictures and I can put them on!" "I take pictures every day, you're not going to do that!" "No really, I will." What a serious sweetheart. I could go on for hours about the wonderful people I rub shoulders with.
- The talent of the students. Holy man, I feel a little bit out of place because it seems like EVERYONE knows AT LEAST 5 instruments and are masterful singers. I love it so much because I get to enjoy the beauty they've learned. Last night we heard someone playing the Violin and we meandered over. Our friend Josh just blew our socks off with his talent. Brandt served in Scotland and asked him to play a folk song and he totally knew a couple! Brandt grabbed Megans hand and they danced a couple folk dances that he learned on his mission. Then Brandt took the violin and whipped out this song while Josh is playing the piano. Then we start chatting and I'm just plunking our "Heart and Soul" with Megs and hit a random note and Matt yells out "That's an A." Come to find out he has perfect pitch. I played around with him and he knew EVERY note. I went all over the key board and he knew every one. So cool.
- Cherysh. She loves to sing off tune during the closing hymn and It was bad. mom, you'd be disappointed. We tried so hard to keep it down, but it was just too funny. Then we decided to be on a bowling league together in the winter. and then she just came up to me with a desperate face asking for chocolate and proceeded to tell me, "I bought chocolate yesterday and it was supposed to last me 2 weeks!"
Okay, I really could go on with so many wonderful things, but I have to tell you about Rosh HaShanna! We went to the Western wall yesterday at sundown, which is the start of Sabbath. We got to celebrate with the Jewish community! When we walk up to the wall there are two places to walk up. One on the right for women and one on the left for men. It was a party for the guys. They were singing, dancing, going crazy, and our guy friends got to enjoy! The women i've noticed are always serious. They play such a different role than the men. I heard from our professors that the only time women will let loose with dancing and singing is at a Bar and Bat Mitzvah's when their children become of age. This will be the only day we'll ever be able to go to the eastern city and I loved it.
Look at that delicious gummy toothbrush and cute girl!
Jacqueline and Tessa just being happy and showing off Jeru style... jeanie pants!
It's a learning experience. I'm excited.
So, I have a question...do you like your life? It's so obvious. j/k I LOVE how you love your life. I am soooo happy you are keeping this journal. I just read your day to Reed, Melis and Dad. We all wish we could warp over there to see your life. Can Matt really add your photos? That would be cooler than cool. Thanks Matt. You are certainly among the talented. It takes one to know one. Glad you've got an amazing voice AND an amazing love of people. I love you.
ReplyDelete