Walk on the Wall, Zedekiahs Cave & Lots of shopping!

TODAY WAS AMAZING!!!! Wow, I love my life. It started out with a run around town with about 25 other people. After we had this amazing oatmeal-fruit-concoction swimming in milk that was to die for. We headed to town to get Shekels and walk on top of the wall. To get ready we dressed like typical tourists and I loved it! I wish so badly these pictures could work for y’all to see, because we looked ridiculous. Fanny Pack, necklace with phone and student I.D., and gallon water bottle strung around our shoulder. We were quite a beautiful 50ish bunch to see. We started out at 8:30 and by the time we were to the Kidron Valley oh, 3 mintues walk down we were already sweaty, and then we had to hike up the massive hill all the way around the wall to the safe entrance to exchange money. I think sweating is just a part of life, and now don’t think it’s disgusting. It’s actually hilarious when all of us are trudging along with dark spots on our shirts the size of China, and our whole face drenched in sweat. It builds character =) We had no idea if we got a good deal or not exchanging money, which is one of the disadvantages of being a “tourist/student”. We’ll learn quickly. Ah, This town is gorgeous. I love it. It’s very filled with trash and weird smells (Michelle, hate to break it to you but I KNOW couldn’t do it here!) but really I love it so much already. There is so so much to see and experience. The culture is like nothing else. The people are so different and amazing. We have to have guys with us at all times, especially today because it’s a holiday in town, and it’s so busy. I was so thoroughly impressed with the guys that were with us. They took such good care of us, making sure we all were always there and constantly watching for pick-pocketers and other strange men. I would not feel safe without them though. The men here… yeah. That’s all. I constantly have to be aware, and not look at any men in the eyes. The guys that are with us which we have about 2.85 girl ratio to every guy, they take such good care of us. I could go on forever about them. So glad they’re here, and are so wonderful!

So we started today with a walk on top of the walled city. It’s was so interesting to see where hundreds and thousands of men fought from. There are open spaces about 4 inches every couple of feet for armies to shoot out arrows back in the day and we got to walk all along it for about 40-50 minutes. At the end of the walk the view was phenomenal. I wish I could post the pictures so so badly. We could see all the domed houses with hundreds of satellites and the bright gold Dome of the Rock in the distance.
Great picture opportunity! It’s so crazy the different lives that people live if you are inside the city vs. out. It was so cool to stand on the wall and look inside feeling like we go back in time and as soon as we took out of the city its modern buildings, and a modern world! Following the walk we went to Zedekiahs cave or Solomon's Quarries which runs about 5 blocks under the city where all the rock for the temple in ancient days was quarried from. I Can’t imagine what hard work it would have been for these people to get the rock out. It was a steep down hill! According to Wikipedia one legend is that “the cave was a hiding place of King Zedekiah (a 6th Century BC Judean king) Zedekiah tried to escape from the troops sent by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem. There was a cave from the palace of Zedekiah to the plain of Jericho and he fled through the cave. God sent a buck running along the surface on top of the cave as Zedekiah was walking down below. The soldiers chased the buck and arrived at the exit of the cave just as Zedekiah was coming out, enabling them to capture and blind him.”
This is kind of cool to relate to the Book Of Mormon with Zedekiah’s son, Mulek escaping and this is the place Zedekiah could hide out.

We spend hours in the Old city on a search for our genie pants! We were in the wrong side of town and looked everywhere. Sweet Mike shopped with about 8 girls looking for these ridiculous pants. He never complained once until Becca had him hold her purse while trying on some pants and he said, “okay I haven’t held a girls purse unless it was my girlfriends. We’re going a little far here!” Then after he apologized for whining. He is a serious sweetheart. He’s just practicing to be a husband one day! I also believe that he really did scare off a couple guys and got a couple hollers from other men such as, “You lucky guy! All these ladies!” goodness gracious…

Bargaining was a real treat. I have always felt intimidated in the past because my dad would do it for me, but I think I did pretty well today! My blow dryer blew out first day and I am in desperate need so I asked this kid how much and he said 400 shekels which is about $108 American dollars and I said “WHAT!? No way!” “okay how much for it?” “10 shekels” which is just a couple dollars “okay.” Woohoo! I just struck the best deal in the world! Then his dad came around the corner yelling at him in Hebrew and shooed him away. They want $40 American dollars for a blow dryer! No way Jose. I found one at a different shop for about $15. It was awesome.
We got to visit the Holy Seplicur and learned a lot of history from Mike about it. This is where it is believed that Christ was crucified, laid, and buried according to the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Ethiopian Coptic people. There was a stairway leading down below the ground and we sauntered down while Mike explained that this is where emperor Constantine’s mother, Saint Helen was buried. She is the one responsible for naming the exact places that Christ had these events happen to him. It was incredible to see the people’s utter devotion and worshiping, crying, kissing and brushing scarves over the place where Christ’s body was laid.

 We were all very tired and sweaty heading back to the Jerusalem Center. Such a successful day! We got back drenched and it felt incredible to sit down! Now to buckle down for hours of homework in my amazing genie pants.

First Sabbath

First Sabbath on Saturday I’ve ever had. I like this idea. So tomorrow, Sunday will be just like Saturday and we get to go walk along the Jerusalem wall and meet people and get shekels! I think It’s interesting because the Muslums worship on Friday, Jews worship on Saturday, and Christians worship on Sunday, but because we are in a Palestine area… east Jerusalem we are still part of Israel because we’re on good terms with them which means we follow the Jews and worship on Saturday. So this can get confusing but to clarify Palestinians are a type of Arab people and Palestinians or Arabs are Muslim or Christian. Then Israeli people are Jews… I think I have that straight… Israeli Jews live in the West Jerusalem and the East Jerusalem, or the old city is inhabited by Palestinians. This information is mostly for me because I can’t get it straight. If it weren’t for Schneib (my roommate Jacqueline) I’d be no where!
ANYWAY… Sabbath was amazing. We started out with Choir Practice and we had everyone but about 10 to 15 people. It was so powerful. Our chorister brother Ohman is phenomenal. His skills are absolutely… I don’t even have a word for it because they are so impressive. He plays the organ like he was born to play. He actually told us today that he came her 20 years ago and helped assemble it here. It is probably THE best organ in all of the Middle East. Then we got a new branch president! It was/is our wonderful Choir Director Brother Ohman! Now president Ohman. I’m so excited. He’ll be so so incredible. That man is phenomenal. There is a spirit about him that brings a barrel of sunshine wherever he goes. Older couple missionaries do so so so much good in this world and I don’t think I understood that until now, and I know I’ll learn lots more the more time I associate with them.

Our branch is so wonderful! There are quite a few families that showed up I was very impressed. All of them have husbands that work in the American Consulate. Cool thing is, that gives us amazing opportunities for networking in the future. We talked to a member of the bishopric today and he is going to arrange a seminar to come and visit the Consulate and ask and answer any questions we have. There are two people that go to Hebrew University here, one is getting his doctorate with is wife and kids and the other, Rebecah, is studying Hebrew. This woman is incredible and I’m so excited to get to know her better. She graduated from BYU in Languistics, went on a mission to Hong Kong, came home applied for master programs and on a whim came to JERUSALEM of all places to fulfill her life long dream of learning Hebrew. Not only is she learning it, but she’s in a 6 week intensive language program that covers 1 YEAR worth of information. Cool huh? Oh, and she plays the organ, piano and has a masterful voice she sang soprano, alto, tenor and bass today without the music. She said she’d love to come hang out with us more so we switched information and I can’t wait to get to know her and learn from her. The weirdest thing I think about living here is that we live with our teachers… we see them everywhere we go, we eat with them sometimes, we have church with them, watch movies with their kids and everything. I feel like I should keep a student teacher relationship with them, but its kind of impossible. I think this is all part of a “Zion” community that we’ve heard so much about.

After church my roommates Schneib, Meredith, and Tessa Witt (yes, she’s from high school! And I love love love love love her around) all had roommate bonding time. It was fantastic and much needed. Funny story, my roommate solved any girl problem today.. One of my other roommates had a little freak out about not being able to get married and she said “ok, we’ll get a boys number then we are to live our life, go to grad school, travel the world, etc. and then give them a call once you’re ready to get married! Perfect plan! I quite agree. Wish it were that easy!

After an amazing Mediterranean meal we asked our friendly security guards where a good place to watch the sunset was and they said pointing to a wall about 10 feet away, “3 on this wall, one on that wall and one on top of the security desk!” I love the security guards here. They’re so fun with their broken English. We frolicked to the prayer call tonight, then played an awesome game of 5 crowns on the Oasis balcony! Some groups went to the city today and one poor girl got a bum grab from an Israeli man… I think she’s scarred for life.

I Love HUMMUS!

It's true family.. I do. Just wait one day you'll come over here and try their hummus and it is to DIE FOR. That was one of the happiest parts of my day. Actually eating is pretty much the happiest for everyone because it's incredibly delicious and we don't have to make it haha Everyone okay, mostly the guys talk about whats will we eat next and whens dinner?

The morning started out bright and early with a fantastic run to Hebrew University with Jaquelin and Kim. The JC security guards are so strict on the routes we can take and we found out we can only go about 1 1/2 miles that are the "safe zone". We ran up the hill from the JC and the suns rays blasted us as it was just starting to rise on the horizon. It was absolutely incredible what a different world this side of the Mt. of olives were from 100 ft away. I'll take my camera on our next run and post them. I'm pretty sure these people here NEVER see anyone running outside. Cars would slow down just to stare or honk and believe me, we weren't a pretty sight to see running up a steep hill with long pants and baggy clothes in this humidity. Maybe it was because we weren't covered from head to toe but then again they are Israeli men that tend to stare at American women.
We had our first Old testament class today with Brother Muelstein, He has a doctorate degree in Egyptology and I've heard he's one of the most knowledgeable men in his career. It was so enjoyable. This class won't be easy, but so so much fun. our class has massive windows and overlooks the land of Jerusalem. He'll point things out as we cover certain subject to where they took place throughout the semester, which i find incredible to think I can just look and see to my left where everything happened. Following that class we had Ancient Near Eastern Studies taught by Jefferey Chadwick. What an intelligent man! History is not my cup of tea, especially when he turns off the lights to see the screen, but I know if I will learn a LOT in his class! By about 11 we were done with the day! All of us were so excited to finally go to the Old city on our own until we were told we couldn't. It's the last day of Ramadan, which means busy busy busy and we don't even know how to manuver around= bad combination. Then the west Jerusalem closed all their shops today and Sabbath starts at sundown so we would have to take a Taxi for a couple hours and it wouldn't be worth it. I kinda felt like I was in the Idaho winters again. For the fact that we couldn't do anything or go anywhere but stay inside so we improvised! I got about 8 people to play my most favorite game in the world.... MONOPOLY DEAL! I've converted them and I am so stoked to start tournaments. I think we played that for at LEAST 3 hours on the hard limestone floor. Our gluts were sore and we got invited to watch Mulan 2 with Brother Judd and Brother Muelseins family. It was a blast. They have 11 kids total all under the age of 12. What fun kids. There were only about 4 of us students that joined and luckily I had princess stickers in my purse (thank you janelle!) and they have a bunch of little girls I won them over with them. I still can't believe Mulan and Shang almost broke up because of mooshoo. I'm sorry i just ruined the whole movie for whomever will watch it. We had a delightful dinner with yummyness and funny hilarious amazing people. See my pictures below to meet them.

 We get to go out here anytime every day! Can you believe it? We were all having a scripture study session.
Still can't believe it's real. Also... I look like a missionary

 baskin in the sun! Tessa, Craig, Kim and Joseph

Our tasty lunch with foreign fruit, nutella and HUMMUS!
Cute lisa and I enjoyin our HUMMUS and tuna Jalapajeno (so one of our friends call them) SOOOOO much!

So they have these spreads over here... And they are fantastic. We have tried to figure out what they are and the chocolate colored one is kind of comparable to nutella and the white one is from sesame seeds and honey.. I would have never guessed! Oh, and their break is TO-DIE-FOR. They have huge baskets. I'll take a picture of them so you can just pretend to indulge in them.

Cute Jordan and Ally the couple that are dating and Joseph who sang Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor dream coat for a LONG time today. 

A pomegranate that grew at the center! Whoa!

3 hours of Monopoly deal and we were pooped!

So pretty much these are my two favoritest people. Megan Gygi and Brandt. Let me just tell you a bit about Brandt. When you're around him it is absolutely impossible not to be laughing so hard your stomach hurts. The best commedian I think i've ever met. Tonight he told us about the "Hug Theory" 1. the hand shake 2. the side hug 3. the pat on the back 4. the seat belt 5. girl under guy hug and 6. best hug when girl hugs on top. haha he made this hilarious and i so wish i could have recorded it for all to see. Also they really like Mousse for dessert... every night. It's great for me because i don't eat it! But a weird weird taste. So today and he kept calling it "Camel milk of love" I seriously wish you could meet this kid. He and a kid named Dave play off each other and just make you almost wet your pants from laughing.

Enjoying the very last night of Ramadan, the prayer calls happening at this point and waiting for the fireworks. Tonight we're having our first dance and i'm... excited? People that know me, know i really can't dance so we'll probably just end up playing games! We have to turn in early tonight though. It's the Sabbath tomorrow... on a Saturday! This will get some serious getting used to, but it will be totally worth it. I'm so excited. I love you all, and wish so badly you could be here to experience it!

 Walkin up to the dome theater! This is the main entry way of the Jerusalem center

First Visit To The Old City!

Today started out extremely early with the prayer call at 3:20 then again at 3:55. It's beautiful, but a very different kind of beautiful. It's always a man chanting and its in a lot of minor keys. I still have to figure out if there is some order to the notes, but I will be grateful for when Ramadan is over so we won't be awakened too early. After the prayer call it was day time for my body so I hopped up and got ready! My blow dryer blew up and scared the heck out of me but the women over here have you use blow dryers right? I'll grab one tomorrow. Following that I was early for breakfast and sat on the Oasis(our cafeteria) balcony reading the scriptures and watching the sunrise. It was an amazing experience... there were roosters crowing all over the valley, something was magical about it. The air was heavy with humidity and it was so peaceful watching the billowing clouds and the sun peaking through it.

Following breakfast we got instruction, got in groups of seven and walked to the Old City for the first time today... Wow, so different than what I ever imagined. It's beautiful. The walk there was a fight for your life. The traffic here is CRAZY! There are "speed limits" but no one keeps them and we're on a hill so buses and cars zoomin' by while we make the trek through narrow streets. We got to the walled city and it was HUGE! There are certain places we aren't allowed in and we were warned again and again by Brother Jackson to be weary of the pick- pocketers and they were everywhere! Those little bandits are not getting any of my belonging! Brother Jackson is over the students here and we were so blessed to have him as our guide! He lead us to so so many cool streets, Roman catholic Hostle/worship area. We could walk up to the roof and over look the whole town. It was breath taking. We'll go up there again and i'll post pictures. As we looked over the town we could see the three places that the Christian, Jewish, and Muslims believe to be the most holy place in the world... all within a block! It was amazing.
Then we continued to the place where it is believed that Christ was crucified, was whipped and where his body was laid. Brother Jackson told us that for us, such as the sacred grove, we like to keep things like they were back when the event happened, but these people like to build big churches over the area to honor the event. It was a good explanation to me because if not I may have been offended for the elegance and manner they portrayed this sacred event, but it makes sense. It was interesting though because three different religions; the Greek orthodox, Ethiopian, and Roman Catholics all are fighting over this room that they believe he was crucified and can't get along so this middle area they have three different parts to the church for every religious group. The middle building was falling apart, but they can't agree on who to fix it so they just braced it with metal rods. We could even hear the wood creaking standing there. Outside on the roof top the Ethiopian.. forgive me i can't remember what they are called, but they built their "memorial" right of top of the roof! There was a tree there that was believed by these people where the ram was found in the thicket for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac. We wondered through the cities that were filled with vendors and eventually to the West side of Jerusalem.
It was a night and day change. It's as if we fast forwarded into time thousands of years. It's much more modern and they have more money.. I'll explain one time why when i fully understand it. It was a busy, exhausting day, but completely worth it. I can't wait until this city will be like the back of my hand!
We came back and had more orientation and get to know you games. What a blast. I love the people here. They're so wonderful. We made bets on who is going to get married after the program and i'm excited to see what happens.
I have lots of homework to do before 5 tomorrow morning so i better say "Shalom!"