We love Finals...but mostly we love Tel Aviv

After our City of David field trip...the week was not all that exciting. For you see, we aren't just here to have fun...we actually have to take classes and have tests and stuff. Weird. 

So, it was finals week! Woo! Everyone's favorite...

So...our week consisted of two writing exercises, a take home test (hardest take home test of my life), and an in class essay in Old Testament. A final in our Israel class. A final in my Arabic class. A midterm in our Field Trip class. And an essay final for our Palestine class. Fun stuff! 

Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of staying in the center and studying! 

Tuesday night we had a self-defense class. Although I was stressed, I went anyways...and man, I feel like I learned some sweet skills! I actually do feel like I know what to do. Let's just hope I never actually have to use the skills that I learned.

Wednesday night was the funniest though...we only had our field trip midterm on Friday left and people weren't ready to start studying for that...so people were walking around so bored. It was the first time I had felt that I didn't have anything pressing to do...I could do whatever I want. Granted...I should have probably been writing my Palestine essay or my Israel Extra Credit essay or studied for Field Trip...but oh well. We watched a movie, and I didn't even feel the need to simultaneously attempt to study.

Thursday was basically a free day...aka we should have been studying but we chose to have fun. So, we went to the Old City, stopped by Rita's shop. Then we went to the Tower of David Museum, which was cooler than I was expecting. Plus, we didn't have to pay anything, so that's always great. 

Basically the Tower of David Museum has been used for various different things throughout the ages. It wasn't actually constructed by David, which is deceiving. But it was used as a fortress at one point and as a mosque at another point...the uses vary widely. 

Not the typical museum.

The Tower of David is the highest point in the Old City...so it has a sweet look out point.

It was a fun adventure. Then, I came back to this beauty...

My mom is seriously the best! Honestly, clothes and chocolate are all I really wanted! I had secretly been looking at the Loft online...excited about going shopping when I get home and having more variety in clothes...then this beautiful package come! Love my mom!! (2 shirts, a skirt, a dress, and a sweater! Perfection!)

Friday we had our first New Testament class...and Old Testament was making me more excited to study the life of Christ. Plus, Bro. Huntsman just loves Jesus and he is so passionate! It will be a fun term!

Friday we also finished our field trip final...so we were basically done with finals...and we were feeling real good about life! I helped at the humanitarian project. We have an ongoing humanitarian project of making school kits for surrounding schools and cities. It's fun to feel like we are helping the people of Israel. Then that night we went to a synagogue. Going to synagogue was way different than I was expecting! But it was great! I enjoyed it! I love experiencing other religions and being able to see people so faithful in their religions. Being in Jerusalem has definitely helped me gain a greater appreciation for other religions.

I came back to a Justin Bieber dance party. The life at the JC.

Saturday after church I went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Sometimes it seems nice to stay in and not enter the heat...but I don't want to regret not taking advantage of the moments I have to spend in these great spots on the Sabbath. Sometimes I am really good at walking...and my foot kind of slips off the curb and rolls a bit. And sometimes I am kind of embarrassed that I just fell...so I suck it up and keep walking, because I actually do feel fine. Then, I get back to the center and struggle to walk on my ankle...so I get the doctor to wrap my foot and I ice it and I confine myself to bed...because walking is a serious struggle.

But then I wake up and feel so much better! Prayer works...because I was not about to miss a day to the beach! 

Yes. The beach! Since finals were over, we all felt that it was necessary to take a trip to the beach. So, back to Tel Aviv we went!! It was such a fun day! (I realize the word fun is extremely overused in my blog posts...but my word use is limited.) It was even more fun than the time before because I was more comfortable with the people I was with, so we had a blast!

First we headed over to Old Jaffa!

And we headed over to the flee markets. It was fun to just wander and shop a little bit. I surprised myself and got a necklace and a scarf. My necklace is an elephant necklace, I am surprisingly pretty proud of my elephant necklace. They were good purchases.

There was the funniest little store with ceramic statues (I don't know if that is the most accurate description of what they were...but oh well), so Steph, Juan, and I had fun wandering through the store and just laughing at the obscure things they had! There was a hot dog with a face, a pink panther, a giraffe, a monkey astronaut...the possibilities were seriously endless!

Then we were off to...the beach! The moment we had been waiting for! Every time I say "...to the...beach." I think of Mr. Bean's Holiday, but no one ever seems to know my reference or think it is funny...so I just awkwardly laugh to myself. It happens. 

We hung out at the beach most of the day! The water was seriously perfect, so we just hung out in the water for long periods of time. It was so fun and relaxing. I think the moments when I got sunburned were from just floating and chilling in the water. Some how we all ended up in the same spot...so it was fun to be around the whole group that was in Tel Aviv together. 

(Super cute water picture on Steph's blog...here. Steph is a photography major...so she has skills.)

It is so fun to be here during the summer because we get to enjoy the beach more! Other semesters it is too cold to enjoy the beach and the water...but we live for it, because it is toasty! I just took a nice nap on the beach, enjoyed being in the water, and learning even more about people's lives! 

We then wandered to Tel Aviv's shuk. My sunglasses had gotten broken in my backpack, so I purchased some new sunglasses, and Brooke and I shared a delicious...sandwich? Ya, it was like a schwarma sandwich. It was delicious! 

We played on some of the exercise equipment along the beach. Posed by this weird...mouth? sculpture. And went on the swings...where I my bum may of may not have slipped off the swing...leaving me frantically trying to slide my bum back on to the swing...and endlessly relieved that I hadn't changed out of my swimsuit. Poor Juan would have gotten more of a show...and I would have been mortified. But instead there were just A LOT of laughs!

I thought this was the coolest. All the Muslim woman in their clothes in the water. So interesting.

It was a fun day at the beach! All smiles, all around!!

We got back to the Center with some time to pack our bags and prepare ourselves for our next adventure to Jordan!

From Argentina to Jerusalem

Today, I got an email from my sister.

You see. My sister is on a mission in Argentina, and getting emails from her each week is such a treat.

As I looked at the pictures that she sent in her email, I started cracking up...

This is the treat I found.

Naturally a donkey picture is pretty funny.

But it was even funnier because of this....

Yes. We both have pictures of us pointing to donkeys.

She has never seen my picture before, so she wasn't trying to mimic me.

They both just happened.

One in Argentina...the other in Jerusalem.

It blew my mind.

Apparently Van Wagenen girls enjoy donkeys...I'm not sure what that says about us...but it's funny.

There is a possibility that we also have matching skirts and shoes.  The shoes I was aware of when I bought them.  The skirt I was not aware of.  Our family friend, Jen, sent it to her on her mission, and I just bought mine in preparation for Jerusalem.  Accidental twinsies.

One day I was even wearing the shoes and skirt and my friend told me that I looked like a missionary.  Conveniently my sister has the same outfit...so it was fitting. My sister is a super cute sister missionary, so I am perfectly fine being called a missionary.

Weird. It's like we are sisters or something! :)

(Don't worry. This is not the only outfit I own. It just so happens to be the outfit present in both of these pictures...and in my blog picture...it's whatever. If she had been wearing that skirt in the donkey picture...it would have just been icing on the cake!!)

Love and miss this girl! She comes home a week after I do...craziness!!

City of David

I feel like I say this about a lot of the field trips...but the field trip to the City of David was definitely a winner! And you are about to find out why...

We walked over to the City of David in the early morn...stopping for a little devotional on the way in the Orsen Hyde Memorial Park. But as soon as we arrived...I just knew I was going to love the City of David.

Ok. So mostly we were excited about Hezekiah's tunnel that was part of the day's agenda. But before we could go to the tunnel, we had a few other things on our day's agenda.

We watched a 3-D movie that gave us a brief rundown on the history of the City of David, which we mostly already knew from our classes...but it was still a fun movie. Basically, King David conquered the Canaanite city of Jebus and he made it the capital where he and Solomon ruled.  Over the years though, the city of Jerusalem grew to the northwest (the Temple Mount is to the north), and the City of David remained an important section of the city until the Babylonian destruction.

There is a brief rundown for you.

We then walked around the excavations that they have made. One excavation is believed to be David's Palace. We don't know how accurate that is...but it sounds cool. It is really easy to see how David would have looked down onto Bathsheba because the City is right next to the valley, and the palace is at one of the highest points of the City of David.

We then made our way to the tunnel...woohoo! We were pumped! Many had their head lamps ready to go...I didn't have one, but it was fine because so many others were providing light.

The tunnel was engineered by Hezekiah in 700 BC to safeguard Jerusalem's water supply in preparation for the Assyrian seige. So, the tunnel connects the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam.

Without light though...it is pitch black. At certain points people decided to turn off their lights and it was almost freaky how dark it was. But the water felt so good. It was so surreal that I was finally in Hezekiah's tunnel. This was something that I had been excited about for a long time, so it was hard for my to realize that I was here...walking through the water that was past my knees.

I was obviously really happy.

Look how high it was. Also, try not to be completely jealous of my aqua socks. I actually love those guys. They have done me good.

This is where the tunnel pops you out.

We are being fountains. Obviously.

We then went to stairs that had been recently excavated that lead to the Temple Mount for the Pool of Siloam. There is only a portion of them excavated. But it was surreal when my teacher told us that Christ would have definitely walked on these steps from the Pool of Siloam. For how much uncertainty everyone normally has about these sites and whether or not Christ was really there...that was amazing to hear.

We sat by the Pool of Siloam for a minute while our teacher talked to us. I love going to the sites that are Christ related.

 John 9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

It was a good day! It was our last field trip with Bro. Harper, which was sad, but we were getting more and more excited to study the New Testament and the life of Christ.

Old City, Seder Meal, and YMCA!!

The week of June 12th wasn't the most exciting week in terms of sight seeing. Some weeks I have to remember that I am a student and tests and assignments all catch up to me. Ok, I am always aware that I am a student, but this week was full of tests...so it was even more so.

Tuesday we had a lot of time in class and the rest of the time studying. As part of one of our assignments for our Israel class we were assigned to watch a movie that night called Sallah Shabati. At first I was pretty bitter about having to watch it the night before our ANE (Ancient Near Eastern Studies) test...and it wasn't a movie that we could just listen to, because it was in Hebrew, so we had to read subtitles. But then we started watching it and I was cracking up. It was a like a Hebrew/Jewish version of Mr. Bean. It was dumb and strange, yet I was cracking up. But then I was up super late attempting to be ready for my ANE test.

Wednesday, we took our test...and I was determined to go out into the city. After spending a whole day in the center...I always feel the need to get out and into the city...even if we don't do anything big. So, I recruited Karen, Alvin, Alyssa, and Joe Ludlow to venture out into the city with me. We just went to shops...and I got a fun leather bag that was matching Alyssa and a bunch of other girls in the center. The boys got some fun t-shirts. And we made a stop to the Bakery in the Jewish Quarters...which is way too delicious for my own good. 

Thursday was once again spent doing homework, studying, and going to classes. But in the midst of our studying...Camila and Juan took a necessary study break...which consisted of Salsa dancing. I loved watching them...so in their element. Before I knew it Juan was gesturing towards me...I warned him that I was no salsa dancer...but it ended up being a lot of fun. Mary Jane and I whipped out our newly found Salsa moves. 

My favorite Colombians.

That night we had a Seder (Passover) Meal. It was really interesting. I didn't know that we were going to have one, since it isn't really passover...but I had always wanted to be a part of one. It was so interesting. Our Israel teacher, Ophir, led it. It was interesting to do the rituals that they do every passover. I loved it. I love that in their story of the passover, they put the focus on God instead of Moses. The Jews really are such faithful people. I love these moments that help me gain an even greater appreciation for other religions.

Thursday night was one of those nights that we just wanted to watch a movie...so I attempted to "study" while watching Footloose. Oddly I had never seen Footloose...so it was kind of funny, but I enjoyed it.

Friday's we aren't allowed to leave the center until 3...but we had class for 6 hours...so that tends to not be a problem. We had heard that there was a concert thing going on in the park and it was free, so we decided that we better check it out. It was fun to see what kinds of things people our age do for fun...but there was a lot of smoking and drinking, so we didn't end up staying for very long. I loved people watching and realizing that teenagers and young adults are the same all around the world.

We then headed to the Shuk. The Shuk is like a little market...mostly with food, in West Jerusalem. Well, there is a beautiful thing about going to the Shuk on a Friday night. Saturday is the Sabbath, so the people are all trying to get rid of their food...aka everything is way cheap. It is a beautiful thing! And since we tend to be pretty hungry on the Sabbath, we were all over getting cheap food.

Friday night, they had hired a man to teach us Israeli dancing. It was so fun! We did fun Israeli folk dancing. I loved it! We had such a good time, smiling and singing and dancing.

Saturday after church, I really wanted to go to the Garden Tomb...but most people were going to Gethsemane. So, I kind of had to recruit people...but 3 of us made our way to the Garden Tomb. As soon as I sat down in the Gardens, I realized that my legs were just wet under my skirt...ya, it was that hot and I was that sweaty. But it was so nice to just sit in the Garden Tomb and write in my journal and turn my thoughts towards my Savior.

One of the things that my mom had told me that she loved about the Garden Tomb when she came, was all the people that come from all around the world, but they come to worship. I love it! I loved watching a group from Europe sing and take communion. These people love their Savior, and I love seeing so many good, religious people in the world.

That Saturday had been District Conference...so that night we had a fireside with the Area Seventy that was with us. He gave such a great fireside.

Sunday we had plans to go to the YMCA and ring the bells with the Squires. The YMCA building was beautiful. We climbed to the top of the tower and overlooked the city. It was such a pretty view.

We then got to take turns ringing the bells. But it's not really just ringing, you play songs. Well, in my head...I was like, everyone can do it...so I can do it. Oh. My. Gosh. It was terrifying. Let me just tell you...I am not musically talented. Therefore, I am not so great at reading music. I don't play musical instruments. I was freaking out, but the Squires didn't have time to full on help me...so before I knew it I was playing for all of Jerusalem to hear. Ya...not one of my best moments. But for those in my group that had musical abilities...it was great.

Note to self: improve musical abilities before attempting to play bells for all of Jerusalem.

But...it was fun to see my friends have fun and to just enjoy my friend's company. I love these guys! Plus, the YMCA was beautiful and great!

The group with the Squires.

It's fun to stay at the YMCA!

After the bells some of the group met up with people at the Waffle Bar. Although the Waffle Bar is extremely delicious...it is also kind of pricey...and definitely not low in cal. So, a few of us opted out and went to see Jimmy's Olive Wood instead. I didn't get anything, but some of my friends figured out what they wanted, so that was good.

On the long trek back...we felt that a one shekel popsicle was necessary...and it sure was!!

It was a fun Sunday! But a week of finals was staring us in the face...ready or not...here we come!

Neot Kedumim

I'm a little bit less than a month behind on this blog, but around these parts, new and exciting things are happening everyday! And I want to remember it all! So, prepare for a long overdue blog overload.

On June 11th (ya, I'm that behind), our field trip was to Neot Kedumim.  It was a reserve that the Jews have made to help people better understand Israel in the bible.  It was fun because it was a more interactive field trip. 

A cute little Jewish girl was our tour guide for the day. She took us around and explained to us the plants and animals in the bible. She also explained to us different aspects of the land that helped us better understand the bible.

We then headed over to the animals and we learned about shepherds and the significance of sheep and shepherds in the bible.

We then went out and we were challenged to get the sheep from one point to another, with one person being the shepherd. We had to nudge some of them along, but once one of them went, they all followed. It was so entertaining and fun. 

One of the things that I love is that sheep know their shepherd and they follow him. Seeing the interaction that they have with each other and with their shepherd allowed me to connect even more with Christ being my Shepherd.

Next we got more of a rundown on the plants on the land. We got to ground up Hyssop, which is the low bush that Moses instructed Israelites to dip in blood, and use for the passover. It was interesting to learn about the plant and realize that there really in symbolism in the plant that they used.

I'm not a huge fan of the taste, but some people love it on pitas or bread.

One of my favorite parts of the field trip was when we got to make Pitas! Homemade pitas...hello! Delicious! It kind of felt like we were at girls camp or something, because we made the dough and then went and put our pita over the fire. Our guide had some delicious date honey that we put on our pitas. It was wonderful! 

There was also lentil soup made...but sadly I went to the bathroom and I came back to an empty pot. I'm sure it was delicious though. It was fun to just hang out and have a little biblical meal! 

I love these people!

Best part of this picture = Natalie creeping in the background. Win!

We then walked around more as she showed us the different plants and fruits that define the land. I can't remember them all...but they consist of grapes, fig, wheat, pomegranate, and olive. I believe that is all...I guess you won't know any different...so yep. That's it.

I picked a fig. It was kind of bland.

We learned about threshing floors, and of course we saw another olive press, and a well that had nice cold water.

We ended the day with a cute little ropes course thing. The best part was probably when we timed Bro. Ludlow going around it. I love our teachers! They are the best! We have such a different relationship with them than we have with teachers in Provo.

The last stop of the field trip was a little presentation by a Torah scribe. I felt bad because we were all exhausted...so my eyes could not stop open...the heat had wiped us out. But it was super interesting.

Herding sheep and making pita...that is bound to be a good day!

That night we had gotten special permission to see the lights in the Old City. You see...we aren't normally allowed in East Jerusalem after dark. But I think because we went in a large group and because there were a lot of people and lights...they made a special exception.

It was way fun! It was fun to be out and about on a summer night. It felt like a real summer night. Plus, the lights were colorful and fun!

Colorful benches that make us all look like creepers. Jon (far left) definitely wins the creeper award.

This looks like a creepy family portrait. I'm really good at being creepy...it's whatever.

Polygamist engagement picture? Sure.

All through the Old City, there were lights...it felt like a mixture of Christmas and maybe Halloween...and sometimes Disneyland. All the areas along the path had different light themes.

We had fun taking pictures, being "rebellious" and being out at night, and then dancing a light under that colorful dome. So much fun!

It was definitely one of those days, that I would just stop and look around and smile. It's moments like these that I just wish I could have captured. Because life is so good!