alone

http://stephseestheworld.blogspot.co.il/2012/07/informally-talented.html

Check out this post for a fabulous video made by the lovely ladies of Apt. 311.

4th of July in Jerusalem!

The fourth of July was a weird holiday to be away for. At first, I was a little homesick about missing the Eaglewood fireworks and traditions with family and wonderful neighbors. All the students dressed up in the most patriotic things we could find and decided to make a good day out of it! Unfortunately, we had CLASS in the morning. Who does that? They don’t give us Israeli or American holidays off? I’m gonna take my concerns to the boss. After we survived class we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! We went there for a field trip recently, but this time we decided to do it with no lights! It was super scary at first, but really fun! We sang God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and I’m Proud to be an AMERICAN while we walked through the pitch black tunnel. I couldn't even see Analise in front of me, but we talked and sang and it was nice to know she was there! (I could probably use that in a church talk). It was such a blast. 

For dinner, we had an American BBQ! It was so good. Hamburgers, corn on the cob, ice cream, apple pie…so good. We listened to an American playlist while we ate outside. After dinner, we had a center activity where we played games in our family night groups while we listened to more American music. Sister Ludlow made a delicious cake and we sang the Star Spangled Banner and lit sparklers for candles. I’ve honestly never been more proud to be an American. Being away from that lovely country reminds me why I love it so much. I even got a little emotional and nostalgic thinking about how much I really love America. As sad as it will be to leave Jerusalem, I’ll probably recite the pledge and sing some American songs once I land in NYC (in just about one month L). Naturally, every party at the JC turns into a dance party. So we danced the night away and then went outside to catch some fireworks! (fireworks happen in the city just about every night, but we were grateful to see them on the 4^th!).

It was sad missing traditions and just being in America on the fourth. But… I think we found a pretty memorable way to celebrate here in Jerusalem.   

a few quality pictures

just because its finals and i havent been doing anything of interest (sleeping and studying), I figured I would add some old pictures because my mom LOVES pictures. 

me and kenz under the center signing our names! this was before we were bff's.

the roomies at arab night. we are so funny.

me and dev have kinda matching dresses! 

I LOVE DEVERY AMUNDSEN

cherries in turkey

annie is the best part of this pic

john schmidt concert with ian, dwight, dev, me, melinda, and aj

maybe i'll do something fun once i write a final paper and take my last test.

best roomies

There is no question that the girls of Apartment 311 are the best, most beautiful, amazing, kind, generous, and fabulous girls in the center. Not to mention the smartest and most stylish.

1. Lane. The one standing next to me. I feel like Lane is my older sister. She has the best advice, and knows everything about life. She's hilarious, and she loves Futi (her BF almost fiance). She's always up for adventure (I mean she's moving to Italy in January...that screams adventure). She is nice to everyone, so outgoing and so fun. I love LANEY!

2. Annie. Annie loves red white and blue, scarves, naps, writing, laughing, blogging, cats, pictures of cats, apple juice, pb&j, etc. Annie is the best. She's always happy and just seeing her can make your day, it makes mine. I'm developing a nice Chicago accent because of this girl. and, we're living right by each other in the fall.

3. Steph. I met Steph one day in Emilee Crowder's living prophets class. I thought she was way cool, too cool for someone like me. Little did we know we were going to Jerusalem together and that we would be roomies and bff's here. Steph is an incredible photographer. She's always happy, she dances in random places with me, and we stay up late either laughing or deep in conversation.

Basically, these are the best roommates ever. We love hanging out (apparently thats a rarity here. Nobody else loves their roommates as much as we love each other....seriously though).

happy flag day from the jc students! (we love and miss america). 

this week

this week has been crazy and I feel like pictures are the only way to describe it. 

me and chloe at King Herod's winter palace. I wrote a whole three pages on this lovely mound of dirt. 

avery, rachelle, steph, and maddie at Elijah's spring

just hiking through the desert. we sat down in the wilderness and talked about how Christ wandered somewhere around here for forty days. Can you imagine being in this wilderness for that long? I barely survived for an hour.

 Our field trip on Monday was to Jericho. There we saw a lovely tell (mound of dirt), a few ruins of Herod's palace, springs of Elijah, and the wilderness. Brother Ludlow (otherwise known as j-rowdy) told us not to set our expectations too high because there's really nothing there. I can say i've been to the oldest city in the world though...sweeet.

hahaha dwight got a haircut and then the guy started threading his eyebrows. classic.

me and joe at arab night. he's 13 going on 22. too many college girls around here for him. 

roomies at arab night! steph, annie, me, and lane

 arab night was a thrill. The men who recite the quar'an and call to prayer at Al-Aqsa mosque. Al-aqsa is the second? most important place after Mecca in the Islamic religion. I love the sound of that call to prayer and it was SO cool to hear it live, especially by such famous men. Then I had some of the most delicious food the Oasis has ever served.

just learning some arab dances. which of course turned into a real dance party with  dj aj. I feel like everything turns into a dance party around here. Perfect for me. 

me and heather at Gethsemene. 

big group at Gethsemene

 Yesterday for the Sabbath big group of us visited Gethsemene. I was so happy that after a whole month here I FINALLY made it there! It was beautiful but very touristy. We got permission to enter a secret garden across the street next Sabbath! (no tourists and more natural looking olive trees!)


This happened TODAY. I'm so on top of things. 


My alarm went off at 3:45 this morning and I couldn't figure out why. Then I remembered. It's the Jewish holiday Shavout today. A huge group of about 75 students went to the Western Wall to watch them worship. Our Israel teacher got permission for us to go, so we figured it would be cool. Right as the sun came up, all the Jews started praying. It was really neat to see so many people there praying, but I don't think I would get up at 4AM for it again. It was perfect timing though, because then we were first in line to see.....DOME OF THE ROCK!

melissa, me, and analise at the Dome!

not posing at the dome. (we got in trouble for posing). analise, lane, me, bekah, aj, devery.

 The dome has really strange hours and long lines, so it's hard work getting in. We were first in line today and it was great! We were literally the only ones up on the temple mount. I've never seen anything quite like it.

After the dome we ran back to the center to grab breakfast and then went to a Pentecostal church. It's Pentecost today so they had a fun church service full of singing and praising!

After Pentecostal church we went to the Israel museum to finish an assignment for our ANE class. It was cool but we were all so tired so we just checked everything off the list. I definitely plan on going back because they have some real art there!!!!

me and rachel at a replica of the old city at the time of Herod

just an Oldenberg statue. no big deal, just learned about  this in my humanities class! (i was SUPER excited).

at another piece I learned about in Humanities! nobody else shared my excitement.

 Then we decided it would be cool to walk to ben yohouda.

we walked forever and ever and ever and ever. and West Jerusalem was closed for the Jewish holiday. So we walked back to the old city (total of two hours walking), ate pizza, and then went home.

Long day. But i hit four religions. jewish holiday, dome of the rock (islam), pentecostal, and Mormon of course.

Katie Maree Bowen

Happy birthday to the best roommate in the world, Katie Bowen. Katie is turning twenty tomorrow (in jerusalem... haha may 12), so I’ll just say my favorite 20 things about this girl. (in no particular order).

1.      She makes me laugh so hard. We love to play animals and finger tag. We totes abbrev. words and talk like we’re 12 years old.

how could this not make you laugh. 

2.      She loves late night cereal parties. It’s always nice to have a friend while you eat 2AM cereal.

3.      She loves frosty Fridays. We agree that feels better to eat treats with another person.

4.      We think alike. Lots of times we’re thinking the same thing…but neither of us say it. And then we say it, and laugh. Really hard.

styling

5.      We like to tell weird secrets about ourselves late at night.

6.      She is really good at learning cheerleading and dancing moves. She’s patient when I don’t quite grasp basketball.  

haha

see how much she loves cheerleading?

7.      She can do a mean moonwalk.

she's got all the tricks

8.      I think we laughed so hard that we cried at least once a week this year.

9.      She loves when I wear booty shorts to bed…………..

mustache

10.  She’s so funky. You should see her outfits. Not hipster, but funky. Like medium hipster.

11.  She says “medium” and “OM!” with me.

12.  Her laugh, it’s contagious.

13.  She listens to me talk just so that I can work things out in my own head, and sometimes I’m lucky enough to get a hug when I’m sad.

14.  She doesn’t like to snuggle with girls…neither do I. It’s perfect

see us not touching?

15.  She is a genius but she won’t admit it…this girl get’s A’s in calc and linear algebra. (and then changes her major to something else because she isn’t good at math).

she just looks smart.

16.  She likes to walk to school with me.

boise road trip

17.  She responds to my weird text messages, and even writes weird ones back.

18.  She likes to have dance parties with me. Especially during finals week, to Adele.

dance party in the car

19.  She makes a mean barbeque chicken. I moved into our apartment completely unprepared to cook. She taught me!

20.  She puts up with the fact that I can’t make my bed. And that I can’t keep “my room” clean.

21.  I love when she comes home at night so that we can play for a while before bedtime.

22.  She is always in a good mood.

23.  She thinks in triangles and always considers the hypotenuse so that she can get places faster.

24.  She celebrates with me when I’m happy, and be’s sad with me when I’m sad. (see…we talk like children).

25.  She gives the best advice

26.  She takes weird pictures with me

27.  We agree on almost everything. And have at least one deep conversation a day.

28.  With Katie, bedtime is a loose term. We really mean to be in bed by midnight. But then we get talking and lose track of time. Sleep usually happens around 2AM.

29.  She likes late classes too. (10AM class for life).

30.  Katie makes me want to be a better person. I’ve never met anybody quite like her. She loves to help out and make other people happy. She worries about everybody and doesn’t do anything for herself. She is a constant example of a Christlike person. I know that while I’m living with Katie it will be easy to make good choices.

I couldn’t even stop at twenty, there are just too many reasons why I love Katie. This list doesn’t even begin to describe Katie Bowen. I’m grateful everyday for her in my life. I haven’t seen her in three whole weeks and it has been rough.  Happy Birthday Katmar, kt, koripolli, etc. I wish I could be home to celebrate with you!