tradition!

The Ludlow family made a goal to watch the sunset every night until we all go home :( So I decided to do it with them. It's one of the greatest things ever. Some fabulous pictures of the events are on:

theaveragejoeinjerusalem.blogspot.com

tel-aviv today and jordan tomorrow!!!!

i love my life

I love my life. Plain and simple. This past week has been crazy. We’ve had field trips, adventures, and a little bit too much studying. It was finals week here, so a lot of days were spent inside the center studying. It’s hard to study when Jerusalem is right outside your window. Now, finals are finished (except one paper….) and the stress level in the center is a lot lower. I think we tend to make each other more stressed out than is really necessary. Some finals were failed, others we’re barely passed…but they’re over and we’re happy. Now we only have two classes for the rest of the time here, so we are going to live it up every minute. The best part about finals week was getting a little too silly and also having a lot of deep conversations.

On Monday we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! It was definitely my favorite field trip so far. We saw some ruins around the City of David and then got ready for the tunnel! We saw a movie in 3D and it was super cool because I already learned a lot about the reasons for the tunnel so I felt way smart. Then we went underground and walked in some freezing cold water (FELT SO GOOD!). We turned off our headlamps and tried to go without light, but we kept bumping into the walls and each other and it was so great. At the end of the tunnel we got out to the Pools of Siloam. This was the place that Christ healed the blind man. On our way out we walked up another tunnel (without water), which had some original steps that Christ would have walked on. I walked where Jesus walked!

On Tuesday I took and failed an Israel test. YAY! and studied forever and ever for old testament. Wednesday I took an old testament test. Thursday...I can't remember what I did, probably studied. and on Friday I took another test. 

Tel-Aviv tomorrow and Jordan on Monday!!!!! 

me and the roomies missing annie :( in front of al-aqsa mosque!

me, nate, and maddie gettin ready for hezekiah's tunnel!

maddie, beccca and me rocking the head lamps inside Hezekiah's

maddie, nate, and me at the pools of siloam!

these pants and this fence are my favorite colors.

welcome to my world. this is right inside Damascus gate. I walk this everyday! love love love it.

weekend

tonight I loved doing my homework while sitting on the balcony. I got to watch the sunset, read the old testament, and listen to Muslim call to prayer...all at the same time! I'm just realizing how lucky I am to be here. (even when doing homework is a pain). I know my time here is going to fly so I have to make the best of every minute.

This weekend was incredible! On Friday night we went to the Western Wall for the welcoming of the Jewish Sabbath day. I think it was my favorite thing I've done so far. There were girls who had to be much younger than me reading their Torah, rocking back and forth, crying, singing, praising, and dancing. Up close to the wall, the feeling was very quiet and spiritual. Once we moved away from the wall we got to sing and dance with the school girls. I applied my new Hebrew knowledge and sang some praises with them!
Shabbat shalom and shalom alechem!! i'm so cultured. I can't really describe the way I felt at the wall. I've been learning a lot about Jewish culture and religion in my Israel class. Their beliefs are so foreign to me and there is so much I don't understand. I'm excited to continue learning about it and cannot wait to go back to the Western Wall on a Friday night later on in the semester.

For Sunday free day a big group of us went to Tel Aviv! It was so nice to get out of the center and do something super fun for the day. We explored a little farmers market where we got smoothies, lemonades, and other tasty treats. Then we went to the BEACH. We stayed there for a lot of hours just hanging out and getting some much needed sun on our pasty white legs.

me, kenz, and heather

We found a really cute place for dinner. The owner didn't speak any English so another customer had to help us know what to order. They had the best pita bread I've ever tasted in my life. The hummus was..not so great.  

in love with tel aviv already

kenz, me, heather, and devery

 needless to say I will definitely be going back to tel aviv soon.

Yesterday was our first real field trip. I can't even remember where we went because i'm pretty sure we went everywhere. We saw the well that Abraham dug, and I even wrote somewhere in my scriptures...."I am looking at a place where God once appeared." pretty great. We also went to the burial sight of Ben Gurion, the founder of Israel. From that sight we overlooked the "Wilderness of Zin." Then...we went on a great hike...through the wilderness of Zin. We literally climbed a rock wall the size of those canyon walls at lake powell. Hiking is not my thing. But, it was really interesting to picture those poor Israelites wandering in that same wilderness for 40 years! It was SO HOT, and I was only there for like two hours. It was also interesting to imagine that a wilderness that looked very similar to that was what Lehi and his family traveled through while they were journeying to the promised land. Maybe its just me but I always pictured trees. (no trees). We went to another site also but I can't remember what it was called or why its significant.

just in the cavity of a rock

scaling a mountain

we climbed that whole wall behind us. 

shout out to Camila...faithful blog follower. hey girl.

one more fav pic of tel aviv. me and kenz