Yad Vashem, Waffles, and Eliat

The worst of finals week is over...so I just whipped out 4 blog posts! Ya! 4! Endure if you can...or at least skim and see the pictures of what I am up to!

A couple of weeks back, our field trip for the week was to the Holocaust Museum. I was pretty excited about it, because although the Holocaust is a rough part of World History, I find it super interesting. I also think it is interesting to be in this part of the world and realize the ways that Israel was personally affected by the Holocaust.

A depiction of the Jews that fought back. 

These represent children killed, whose lives were cut short.

In the room dedication to the child that were killed (which was about 1/4 of all that were killed), we entered a dark room where there were pictures of children and a speaker announced names of children and where they were from. Then there were little lights all over, through mirrors, to represent all of the children killed. It was pretty powerful. I got a little teary eyed.

We then entered the Museum, so no pictures were taken inside. The Museum definitely opens your eyes to the Holocaust and reminded me of how much a tragedy it really was. My favorite part was hearing the testimonials of people that were involved. I could not imagine how horrifying it would be to witness these events, and to see those that I love suffer. I don't understand how people could stoop so low as to treat people as nothing and think they have the right to take away people's lives. The Jews were just treated so awful. I am so glad that this was not my trial in life.

I was also reminded of how much love Heavenly Father has for his children, even when they do such dumb things. It must just break his heart to see His children treat each other this way.

We then went over to Mount Herzl and Ophir gave us a long rundown of the Zionist Movement. I may have fallen asleep during the rundown...I fall asleep easily, it's whatever.

Tuesday was Annie's birthday, so after we class we got a large group together and headed to the Waffle Bar in West Jerusalem. It was so delicious, and definitely not low cal. hahaha. Four of us shared a crepe and a waffle...and not calories were spared in these desserts. The crepe was chocolate, bananas, and marshmallows, and the waffle was chocolate and white chocolate shavings. It was so fun and delicious! Thank you Annie for allowing us to celebrate you and eat delicious food!

That night the youth of our Branch has a Comedy Skit Night. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but it ended up being so funny! They youth were hilarious. The youth that live in the center used our names and teachers in their skits, which made it even funnier. The last skit was "Teacher's Know Best," and it was a parody of "Mother Knows Best" from Tangled. It was hilarious! Love those kids!

Wednesday was a hectic day, filled with a lot of classes, but we had a small field trip to the Separation Wall. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is pretty much just over my head, but the wall made me have sympathy for the poor Palestinians. Pretty much everyone has a different view on things though, so I don't really even know what to think.

Wednesday we also had a forum, so it was a long day of listening to people talk. The forums are generally about the Israel-Palestinian conflict too, so I am just burned out from that topic. 

Thursday and Friday were busy. After class on Friday, we took a trip to the "Arab Costco" and I got a large thing of the delicious sour straws. I may or may not have eaten those too fast...not a good thing to have stashed under my bed.  I attempted to work on my Palestine Paper...but I didn't make much progress on it. That thing definitely got procrastinated.

Sunday we woke up in the early morn and all of us had decided to go to Eliat for the day. It was a four hour bus drive, but we heard people's life stories and it was entertaining. Once in Eliat, we had a reserved beach where we got to snorkel in the Red Sea. How cool is that? The snorkeling was fun...it wasn't quite like snorkeling in Hawaii, but it was still fun. Super salty. We just floated along as we snorkeled. It was fun to just chill on the beach and hang out with everyone, away from the center, and not worry about school for the day. We heard life stories throughout the day and just enjoyed each other's company.

Our super cute water socks.

My attempt at smiling normally. Super cute in our masks!

Just chilling in the Red Sea with Rachelle and Rachel.

Pam and I with our cute matching Target hats. Pam and I have way too many matching clothes!

We stopped for dinner and had delicious ice cream before we headed on our way back to the center! It was fun! One of the great things about being here during summer is how much we embrace these trips to the beach. I wouldn't be quite as willing to swim in the Red Sea during Winter semester. It's a fun time to be here! The beach is always great fun!

Lions and Tiger and Bears...Oh My!

On one of our free Sundays, we decided that we wanted to go to the zoo. Not just any zoo, the Biblical Zoo. It doesn't get much better than that!

So, we got the crew together, ordered a bus, and shuttled over to the zoo!

It was such a fun day...hot, as usual...but fun!! Zoos are always my favorite! It was a fun way to get out of the center and chill with the animals! 

As soon as we walked in, we new it would be a good day. The first thing you see when you walk in is a big pool of water with a little island and bridges. It was so exotic! hahaha. Also, we saw so many adorable groups of children...I could not get over it. 

Look at these girls with their matching hats. So stinking cute!

Love them all! Juan, Pam, Camila, Lane, Brooke, Me, and Mary Jane. Steph and Annie not pictured. 

Chillin' with the penguins.

I want to say that I wasn't ready for this picture, but apparently I was just real excited about the bird!

The birds were just trying to wash their feathers.

Bears. I have the funniest video of Camila talking to the bears...I wish I could show! She really wanted the bears to give her a kiss!! 

We saw some fun new animals. This bird was pretty interesting and cool!

Just riding the train around the zoo.

There was the coolest mosaic playground! I love me some elephants!

These are for Lauren. They look like little guys though.

The ark! Yes, there was an ark. It was sweet! We are obviously being animals, and Juan is obviously Noah.

We all had a lot of fun at the zoo! We encountered some pretty entertaining animals. The gorillas were hard core putting on a show for us. I was pretty impressed with how well the zoo was kept up.

After we were done at the zoo, we headed over to the nearby mall. We were excited to step foot in a mall, because sometimes the Old City feels likes we are back in time. The mall and zoo were out of the main tourist areas, so not everyone spoke English. Steph and I were searching for the bathroom in the mall, and the girl we were asking only spoke Hebrew, it was one of the few times that I actually felt the separation barrier.

Everyone was pretty excited about H&M. I didn't end up getting anything. The funniest part was that Juan was the only boy, and we weren't sure that he would be up for shopping, but he ended up being the biggest shopper. It was cracking us all up! A guy that will put up with shopping...I guess we will keep him around! hahaha.

Steph, Camila, and I also got treats at the Jewish bakery in the mall...Jewish bakeries seem to be the places to find the best sweets! We were thoroughly satisfied!

It was a great day! I have great friends! :)

Pizza, Cathedral, Absalom's Pillar, and Jon Schmidt

It's a good thing I write my sister emails every week giving her a rundown of the week...or else what I did a few weeks back would be a complete blur.

Pretty much every week since we have been back from Turkey has been crazy. The days are filled with classes and we try to find time to get out of the center and be in the city.  I know that being in the city are the memories that I want to have...but I can't ignore my homework either. It's a hard balance...this whole prioritizing thing is harder than ever.

With that being said...Tuesday and Wednesday the schedule was kind of weird, so I didn't really have that much time to go out. It's so hot outside though, that sometimes I don't have it in me to just go wander in the city.

Thursday we finally had enough time to into the city, so as soon as we got out of class at 11...we were off! We needed to get out! Sometimes we just misses food that we are familiar with and that tastes like home...so we decided to go get pizza in the Old City! We ate pizza where "Jesus ate his first pizza"...or so he tells all the Mormons that walk by. It was delicious! Getting pizza here is such a treat. I guess he gave us a deal because we are Mormon, so we got a delicious pizza and mint lemonade. We sat and ate our pizza at the Armenian Hospice that has nice tables to sit outside and eat in the shade.

Mint Lemonades sound so strange...but they are so refreshing and delicious! 

Then, our goal was to go to the King's Tomb. We weren't really sure where we were supposed to go, so we started heading in the direction that we knew it was...but we had to wander a little bit. We tried to ask people about it, but nobody seemed to know what it was. We eventually found it...and tried to go in, but apparently it was closed. We had heard that if you tell the guy you will pay 10 Shekels that he will let you in...but no such luck. We knew it was hit and miss. Oh well.

We wandered a little bit. We wandered into a Cathedral, which was pretty neat. We listened as a lady played the organ, and were excited to be familiar with some of the songs that she was playing. It was neat because the cathedral had a baptismal font. I thought it was neat that they did baptism by immersion.

Then, we wandered into the YMCA. There wasn't much to see. We looked at the schedule for the Pool out our curiousity. It was interesting to see that there whole pool schedule was divided into Women and Men pool times. Welcome to the Middle East.

Then, we went to Omar's and Jimmy's. They are the wood carvers. I hadn't actually been there yet, so it was fun to see what wood carvings they both had. I can't decide what I actually want to buy...and better yet, how much I am actually willing to spend. You sure can lay down some money at those places! I looked at a really pretty nativity...which was $450. Ya, I don't think I am willing to pay that much for a nativity. We will see...I am indecisive...and buying wood carvings is no different.

I might get this one...

$450. Ya. Not cheap.

We used the hot weather as an opportunity to try out the bus system. We are only allowed to use the 75 bus in East Jerusalem. We paid 5 shekels for the bus to drop us off by the center...and man, it was 5 shekels well spent! Going back to the center includes going down and up the valley...and it's hot. So, an air conditioned vehicle to take us up the hill is a beautiful thing!

Friday we didn't have a whole lot of time, since we can't even go out until 3 (that's the rules of Fridays). But we were determined to do something, so 6 of us headed over to Absalom's Pillar, which is near the Garden of Gethsemane. I am really not sure what the significance of Absalom's Pillar is...I should probably figure that out, but either way...it was cool! I liked it. I love that there is stuff to see around every corner in Jerusalem.

We then went to the church that they say Mary Magdalene is buried in. I feel like so many churches claim those type of things, but whatever. It was rather dark but it was cool to see.

We stopped by 7 to Eleven on our way home, and found out that they had popsicles for 1 Shekel...HELLO! That is music to my ears. That is going to be my new favorite thing. It was completely worth the 1 Shekel. (1 Shekel is like $0.28...way cheap!)

I am on the compassionate service committee in my ward...and Saturday we instigated a new program for compassionate service. We are doing Secret Sisters in my Relief Society...it brings me back to good ol' Girl's Camp days. We assigned everyone a sister and it basically gives everyone an opportunity to give little treats, notes, or service to their sister. It is a fun way to serve another sister.

Jon Schmidt was on a tour in the Holy Land...so Saturday night we went to the Augusta Victoria Church...and he performed us! It was so great! He is such an amazing pianist! If you haven't heard his music...look it up on YouTube! He made me wish I could play the piano!

It's so crazy the kind of places that we go to from one day to the next...every week brings new adventures!

Shuffling to the Shephelah

A few weeks back, our Monday field trip was to the Shephelah. What is the Shephelah you make ask? Well, that is a good question. Because I don't know what to say...I have recruited my good friends of Wikipedia to inform us on the subject...

The Shephelah, "Judean foothills", is a lowland in south-central Israel stretching over 10-15 km between Mount Hebron and the coastal plain. The Shephelah was one of the regions allotted to the biblical Tribe of Judah. Today the Shephelah is largely rural with many farms.

There you have it folks. Wikipedia just took the words right out of my mouth...aka it was almost 3 weeks ago, and I couldn't really tell you.

This was a fun field trip. We went to a lot of sites...but boy, oh boy. It was HOT!! Welcome to summer in Israel. Welcome to seeing each hot and sweaty ALL THE TIME! Yep. 

The first stop was a look out spot, looking over the Sorek Valley...we knew from the first stop that it was going to be a sweaty day.

The second stop was Azekak, which is best associated with the story of David and Goliat. There we looked over the valley the Elah Valley, where David slew Goliath. Here our class read the story of David and Goliath and we had our own, acted out rendition of the story. It was quite humorous. I would upload a video, but our internet will not let us...so you'll just have to imagine it. It was good! 

We then ventured down to the Elah Valley and were given a sling and instructed to find 5 stones.

Bro. Harper gave us a few pointers, but then we were let loose and given our chance to see if we would have been able to withstand Goliath. It was pretty entertaining. We had to be conscious of our surroundings, because sometimes those stones tended to go in the wrong direction. I would have made a terrible David. I am pretty sure I could have thrown my rocks farther than my sling was taking them. I had a good laugh about my lack of skills...but it's ok, because we were all pretty bad.

We were in love with the wheat field that surrounded us. We could help but think of the scriptures, 

D&C 33:7 " Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, that the field is white already to harvest; wherefore, thrust in your sickles, and reap with all your might, mind, and strength."

I love that looking at this field just made me think of missionary work, and therefore think of my sister. Missionary work is the greatest!

These girls are my favorite! Somehow we always end up together. Imagine that? 

The next stop was the Tel Lachish. We love Tels around these parts.  This Tel provides evidence of Joshua and the Israelite conquest. The room we are standing in below was were the Lachish Letters were found, letters that prefaced the arrival of the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar. Ya, I know...you are super interested.

One of the coolest sights we were taken to during the day, was an underground pigeon...nest? Sure, that sounds good. Anyways, it caught me off guard, but it was pretty sweet. I guess they use the birds for their feces...or they would sell them to make money. The thought of a million birds flying around here is terrifying. It's understandable why they had so many things underground though, because summers are just plain hot around these parts.

Apparently I like to squat in small places.

Olive press.

At one spot we went into a cistern. (We also really love cisterns.) But it was so fun because instead of just talking about the cistern, we sang in it. It was great. Two small groups had prepared songs, then we sang together. I realized how much I love the song, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." It's a favorite.

Searchin' out the caves!

We also went to Bell Caves. The caves were super cool, but once again, the acoustics were great, so we sang a bunch of hymns. I'm not a great singer, but I love that we go to sights together and sing. I was reminded of how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many amazing people that have such strong testimonies of the gospel. I really do love the people in this program. We are a little JC family.

Once again...it was a winner of a field trip!