As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I am learning Hebrew! I really like it so far. Learning ancient languages is always pretty cool. Well this past weekend was pretty great, as usual. I think I like this whole having the Sabbath on Saturday and then a free day on Sunday thing. It's working out quite well for me. On Sunday a group of us headed over to the King's tomb, which was pretty cool. This is a picture of me and my new friend Loie (rhymes with Joy) entering into the ancient palace like tomb. It was HUGE. And pretty cool. One thing that I love about Israel in contrast to America- you can really enjoy history up close and personal. If this place were in America, there would be a ton of security guards and "do not touch" signs. Here there was one random guy that wasn't even really watching us and we could climb all over everything and do pretty much whatever we pleased. The legend is that King David was buried here, but it is pretty much certainly not true. But still cool to think about. But most of the sites are similar to this in the sense that we can walk and touch everything, unlike anything historical in America. Oh and anything old in America is like 200 years old and we aren't allowed to touch it while everything here is THOUSANDS of years old and we are allowed to climb on it. Interesting, right? I'm also loving the large lack of tourists here. There are a few here in there, but in general, there aren't too many. Nothing like Europe, which I really like. It is a much better experience when there isn't a ton of people there, over crowding it and ruining the whole thing.
Anyway- after the King's tomb, we headed back over to the Old City for more exploring and site seeing. We mainly explored the Jewish quarter this time around, which was super neat. There were a ton of sites that were absolutely beautiful and told the story of the wars fought for independence and such. The people in the Jewish quarter are also very nice and friendly- even if they are constantly reminding you that Jerusalem is their city. And hey I'm not one to argue- as long as they let me visit! This is a picture of me standing on one of the ancient streets from the second temple period. All original stone and columns. This was originally a market place. A bunch of shops would have been behind me. I'm living and breathing history people! Pretty appropriate since I'm a history major and all, right?
As we continued exploring we eventually happened upon the Western Wall- which was sooo cool. Below is a picture of me in front of it. The wall is sectioned off for men and women and all of the Jews are extremely reverent and pray while touching it or read scriptures. It is quite cool. I have really come to appreciate how devoted the Jewish people here are. It is definitely something I can learn from. The dome of the rock is directly behind the wall- and I can't wait to go see it up close! It is only open at weird times though, so I didn't get a chance to go on Sunday. Also- if you can't tell the weather cleared up and it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day. I swear the sky is bluer here. 
After the western wall, we continued exploring and made our way to West Jerusalem. I haven't included any pictures from that adventure because I have to pick and choose which pictures I want to upload or else this post would be just tooooo long. We went to the YMCA, Herod's family tomb, some gardens, and the Kind David hotel, where we met a nice man who told us a ton more places to go on our next free day. Let's just say that we did a TON of walking that day. We walked from 9 AM until sundown- so intense! We got back to the center just in time to watch the sunset over the old city, which was absolutely gorgeous. Pictures do not do it justice- but I tried to capture it none the less. The next day was Monday- and that meant field trip day! We got to go to Jericho- which is in the west bank. It was one of the two times that we are able to go into the west bank this semester. And it was awesome!! I wish I could go there at other times, but oh well... We started out our day (which was gorgeous by the way) at Herod's winter palace. Here is me in front of one of the still standing walls. It was pretty cool- you could still see where all of the other rooms were. It didn't photograph well, but just know that it was cool. You could see different rooms, pools, and baths. It was quite the luxurious palace! Or at least I can imagine that it was.
After that we headed down to tel-es sultan, which is a tel (go look up what that is if you don't know) that is the ancient city of Jericho. You basically climb up the tel- which is a huge mound of dirt and then look at the different things that archaeologists have excavated. It doesn't seem like much, but the oldest man made things to ever be discovered are there. So that's pretty cool. This is a picture of me and Amy on top of the tel. Once again, a hard thing to photograph.
This picture is at the same site. It is a tourist site because Jericho is "The oldest city of the world." Main story of Jericho is when Joshua marched the children of Israel into Jericho, they marched around the walls seven times, and then blew their trumpets and all of the walls came crumbling down. Much of the archaeology here was done in order to prove or disprove this story. The findings are inconclusive. Meaning that some people say they can prove that it happened while others say that it didn't happen. So who knows. This is me and Loie in front of the sign. The spring of Elisha is also there- which I didn't include pictures of. But it was cool. This city is extremely green because of the water source and is full of palm trees and lots of agriculture.
We then traveled into the middel of the Judean Wilderness, pictured below. And it was absolutely gorgeous. Who knew that a desert could be so beautiful?We climbed to the very top of a mountain and simply looked out onto the wilderness. This is the same wilderness that Jesus was tempted in and that Lehi and his family would have travelled through. We were at an area called the Mount of Temptations in fact. There are sandy mountains as far as the eye can see. It is literally just a bunch of nothingness. And it is wonderful. We all sat and talked for a bit and then just sat and pondered and looked out. From this mountain you can see from one side of Israel to the other, showing how small the country really is. It was the most peaceful place I have ever been. And perhaps one of the coolest. The story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness really took on a new meaning. I can't imagine journeying throughout this wilderness for 4o days. That would have been so crazy. But I can totally see why Jesus would have come here to become closer to God. Because there is nothing BUT God out here. And it is awesome.
Here's a quick pick of me overlooking the vast desert. You can't really see it in the pictures, but I am looking at Jerusalem in the far distance. So yeah- this has been my favorite field trip so far. But there are many more to come, so I'm sure that will change. We are headed to Jordan next week!
So that was my weekend. Now it's back to the grind with classes and the dreaded homework. In fact, I should go do more homework right now... So email me with any questions! Or just comment on the blog and I will answer them as well. Love and miss you all!
After that we headed down to tel-es sultan, which is a tel (go look up what that is if you don't know) that is the ancient city of Jericho. You basically climb up the tel- which is a huge mound of dirt and then look at the different things that archaeologists have excavated. It doesn't seem like much, but the oldest man made things to ever be discovered are there. So that's pretty cool. This is a picture of me and Amy on top of the tel. Once again, a hard thing to photograph.
This picture is at the same site. It is a tourist site because Jericho is "The oldest city of the world." Main story of Jericho is when Joshua marched the children of Israel into Jericho, they marched around the walls seven times, and then blew their trumpets and all of the walls came crumbling down. Much of the archaeology here was done in order to prove or disprove this story. The findings are inconclusive. Meaning that some people say they can prove that it happened while others say that it didn't happen. So who knows. This is me and Loie in front of the sign. The spring of Elisha is also there- which I didn't include pictures of. But it was cool. This city is extremely green because of the water source and is full of palm trees and lots of agriculture. 
We then traveled into the middel of the Judean Wilderness, pictured below. And it was absolutely gorgeous. Who knew that a desert could be so beautiful?We climbed to the very top of a mountain and simply looked out onto the wilderness. This is the same wilderness that Jesus was tempted in and that Lehi and his family would have travelled through. We were at an area called the Mount of Temptations in fact. There are sandy mountains as far as the eye can see. It is literally just a bunch of nothingness. And it is wonderful. We all sat and talked for a bit and then just sat and pondered and looked out. From this mountain you can see from one side of Israel to the other, showing how small the country really is. It was the most peaceful place I have ever been. And perhaps one of the coolest. The story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness really took on a new meaning. I can't imagine journeying throughout this wilderness for 4o days. That would have been so crazy. But I can totally see why Jesus would have come here to become closer to God. Because there is nothing BUT God out here. And it is awesome. 
Here's a quick pick of me overlooking the vast desert. You can't really see it in the pictures, but I am looking at Jerusalem in the far distance. So yeah- this has been my favorite field trip so far. But there are many more to come, so I'm sure that will change. We are headed to Jordan next week!
So that was my weekend. Now it's back to the grind with classes and the dreaded homework. In fact, I should go do more homework right now... So email me with any questions! Or just comment on the blog and I will answer them as well. Love and miss you all!
1 comment:
it all looks amazing, Grace!
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