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.   

זמן בבלוג אמיתי.

Every semester the students go to the Princess Basma school just up the street from the center to paint a mural. It was really cool walking around the building to see what the other semesters have done, and then we got started on our own! A smaller group of us went with Sister Harper to restore an old painting while the rest of the group started sketching our mural.  

we should have taken a before/after picture. compared to how it looked before, this painting  looks dang good. 

I’m starting to get really sentimental about this place because I only have about five weeks left.  Two of those weeks will be spent up north in Galilee so my time in the Old City and West Jerusalem is SO LIMITED! I’m really trying to take advantage of any spare moment I have to just be in the city. I should be there right now. Now that we are only taking two classes, we are free pretty much every afternoon to do whatever we want! On Sunday we decided to spend all day in the old city shopping. We've all put it off until the end so that the sneaky shopkeepers didn’t try to rip us off, but now we have a lot to do! 

eating tasty hummus at Shabban's! dwight, rachel, tacy, shelly, karen, shabban,  meg, susan, dev, and analise

this is me and achmed. he's great. he thinks i'm from canada because i wore a canada sticker on july 1. (we have some canada loving canadians in the center).

just a note from rachel bennett :)

my city.

היילי אליזבת' גרדנר

i like it so much.

all of the students at the shepherds field in Bethlehem!

jordan in pictures

what could be better than going to jordan with 78 friends? nothing. except maybe going to turkey with 78 friends.....

maddie, me, and melinda on Mt. Nebo where Moses saw the promised land!

me and lane at Machaerus where John the baptist was beheaded....so naturally i'm beheading lane. 

first look at the monastery! steph took better pics for me. 

dirty feet!

why did we go to an automobile museum? 

ice cream on top on the hotel roof in amman! shhh

jordan river!

for mom and dad

I'm busy writing some papers, finishing up classes, and getting caught up after a great week in Jordan! I'll just add a few pictures so that mom and dad can know that I really did go to Jordan. 

me, nat, and analise in front of the Monastery at Petra! They let us wear shorts only to Petra and it was the greatest day ever. Thank you mom for thinking to buy those trusty jean shorts. 

steph, laney, and me in the Jordan river!


After a fun week, it's VERY nice to be back home for awhile! 2 weeks until Galilee. Is it just me or is this summer FLYING?

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.