Pictures first...words later.

So...I am back, safe and sound from a now revolting Egypt.  It was exciting, safe and so much fun.  I promise I will actually blog, you know, with the words soon...however, I am a believer in the idea of pictures being worth a thousand words.  (Also, I went to Hebrew University today and was actually able to upload pictures with a normal bandwith)  So for now here are a few pictures with some captions to hopefully give you some insights as to what I have been up to the past week.

So I was taking some nice pictures of me standing there on this wall in front of you know, the pyramids of Giza.  Then I sneezed.  Then I fell.  Then Kelsey snapped this awesome pic as I did.  Can anyone say profile pic?

I hear he's a pretty good kisser, but the fact that Brink would do that right in front of me  is disturbing and slightly rude.



Some times the bus rides seemed really long. (Mark, Jeni and I)



Other times, they were quite nice. (Jeni, Luckiest Guy on the Bus, and Kelsey)

This is a badly remembered quote...but it was something to the effect of "women are troublemakers....build a pyaramid, because time fears them"

Me, Mark, AJ in Luxor...oh and there is a lousy strip mall right across the road from these centuries old structures...no biggie.

Who knew Luxor was such a romantic place? I didn't but I'm glad it is.
(Kelsey and me)

Muhammad and Bob Marley.  He liked Shakira.

Me on the Nile, from what I hear it's pretty big.

Favorite girls ever.  I was on my boat and heard the sweeping melody of "My Heart Will Go On", I look over and see this.  Awesome. (Denise, Kelsey, Jeni, Lauren, Ashley)

If you run around that pillar behind us 7 times you are blessed with luck in finding a wife.  It worked.
(Jeni and me)

She's so happy.

Sharing the successful results with our tour guide Islam who is looking at the scarab, in awe of its power. 

Karnak

Creepers in a crypt like holy of holies.
(KHutch, Jeni, Tessa, Madi, Lauren, Kristen, Brit, Denise)

The Bent Pyramid, one that no BYU JC program has been to before.  Whoever said revolutions and rioting ruins trips was wrong.

Islam, the coolest tour guide ever.  "Do you believe me, yes or not?"
(Me, Islam, Mark, Kelsey)

Freezing on Sinai

Cuddling: Isn't it about...time?
(Cory, Lauren, Me, Jenny, Kristen, Heidi, Jeni, Taylor and Madi)

Coolest people ever.  Coolest view ever.
(AJ, Denise, Mark, Jeni, Me)

Despite what she may say, we are friends.
(Me, Lauren)

Bro and Sis Judd.

Megan, Tessa and Me on the way down.

My Egypt roommate Cory and me at the Red Sea.

Back to Israel where the land floweth with milk, honey, drinkable water and edible vegetables.
(Me, KHutch, Lauren, Denise, Jeni)

Gone fishing....(for Mummies, Rubies and Papyruses...Papyri?.. Pap's of yrus?.. You know what I mean)

So.  The time has come for me to enter the land of the Pharaohs, camels, heat and diarrhea.  Yes folks, tomorrow morning I'm going to Egypt!  I am so unbelievably excited, I've stocked up on sour strips, gummies, and various snacks, yes sir the entire trip sounds like its going to be a blast, 12 hour bus rides included.  We will start the day by driving through Beersheba and then following Lehi and Nephi's path down to the sea.  Cool huh!? We'll end the night by staying at a Kibbutz complete with what Brother Judd has promised will be a spectacular "sand dune experience".  Mysterious, right?!  Then we'll make our way in to Egypt for a week, then finish the trip by following Moses and the Children of Israel's path back up home (I love that I can call Jerusalem home).  Anyways, I really don't want to write too much, considering I haven't even left on this adventure yet.  I wont have access to any of the technologies that I love, so for the next nine days I bid you all........adieu!

Also.  I feel like the blogosphere in the Jerusalem Center is kind of heating up, and a competition is going to be inevitable.  So, if you all wouldn't mind taking a moment and clicking the follow button on my blog (half way down on the right hand side) it will only take a second, and you don't even need to register if you have gmail or twitter or anything like that.  This would seriously help propel my blog forward to number 1.  I've got stiff competition so any help would do.  Also to my friends in Provo, please watch the BYU v. SDSU game for me and cheer hard.  I will probably be hiking underneath a pyramid or something.  Thanks, I love you all....and don't call me Shirley.

Right Up to the Walls of Jericho!

Jericho.  My new camera is doin some sweet things.

So I don’t know if you can guess from the title, but my latest field trip was a doozy.  Thats right folks, I marched right up to the walls of Jericho, and the walls came a tumblin’ down!  Okay well, I kind of took a bus, and the walls actually have been down for quite some time now, but it was still sweet.  When the scriptures say that a certain man went “down to Jericho” they were not kidding, its about 853 feet below sea level, so it was only natural that on our way down we sang “Under the Sea” when we crossed the sea level sign.

Blow them ramhorns Joshua cried!

 This was also my first official time in the West Bank, so we had to cross through a type of border crossing thing, it wasn’t that big of a deal.  It was interesting to see the difference between West Bank Palestine and the Israeli state.  I guess the Russian president is coming in a day or so, so there were Palestinian flags and Russian flags lining the streets, trees that looked like they were just barely planted also were featured along the roads.  It was really cool though, to be immersed in that area of the Holy Land... it pretty much dismantled any preconceived notion I had of the West Bank.  

We started at the ancient tel, or mound of dirt and ancient runes.  This is the old city of Jericho, you know, the famous one that came down.  It was so cool to see archaeology actually help support the stories of the bible.  You can literally see the bricks in piles knocked over at the base of the tel that date back to Joshua’s time.  How freakin cool is that!  Also from this place you have a clear shot of the Mount of Temptation, this is the traditional spot where Christ was tempted by Satan to cast himself down.  We then walked across the street to Elisha’s spring.  After Elijah was taken up in the chariot of fire, Elisha was in Jericho.  This is the account.

9¶And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.

20And he said, Bring me a new ^acruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. 

21And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the ^asalt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these ^bwaters; there shall not be from thence any more death or ^cbarren land.

22So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

There are very few place in the Holy Land where you can say, this is exactly where a particular biblical event took place.  This is one of them.  There is only one spring in Jericho, there has always only been one spring in Jericho, and it is beautiful.  

Elisha's Spring, where miracles happen.

After that we took a short drive to Herod’s winter palace.  Apparantly Jerusalem winters are too cold for the king, so he built a complex outside Jericho.  This is where he drowned his nephew in order to secure his status as heir to the throne.  He also died here.  Jerusalem is full of legacies, Herod’s legacy is a bad one, but it lasts and lasts.  The lesson we learned here was that we need to do all we can to be remembered in good ways and for good things.

The Judean Wilderness

Me and Britt, St. George's Monastery 

Then we drove to two overlooks of the Judean desert.  From one we could see St. George’s Monastery, its an awesome building carved into the side of a steep cliff along the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.  The same road Jesus walked.  Here is also where the parable of the good samaritan took place, and you can bet that we read that parable here, and then sang A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.  From the second overlook you could see all the way to Jerusalem and then on the other side, Jericho.  It was surprisingly beautiful for being a barren wilderness.  

When we got home Spencer (not to be confused with Spence), Corey, Kelsey and I went and studied in the Old City at the hospice, it was probably one of the cooler places I have studied.  Definitely beats Level 2 of the HBLL.

A pretty sweet study spot.

On a side note, I’m going to Egypt in five days!  I wonder what my friends in Provo will be doing? ;)   Haha, don’t call me Shirley.

Four Cubes, Cut Into Eight Equal Pieces

I don't know how equal these pieces are.

Today, was pretty awesome.  I love free days.  I slept in until 7:20 this morning, it was so wonderful, and my sluggishness in getting out of bed was probably a good thing, considering that I left the center at 8:30 and was on my feet walking and walking for about eleven hours.  It was good though, I got to go to some sweet caves, a very artistic garden with “four cubes, cut into eight equal pieces” such a descriptive name!  After that we climbed up to the top of YMCA tower to play the carillon bells with President Ohman.  I got to play Nearer My God to Thee for about a million people...not many people can say that now can they!  It was way fun, for the rest of the day we just wandered through West Jerusalem, and went to the mall.  It was so refreshing to have just a regular day out, in a normal and familiar environment.  West Jerusalem is very European, and it was like we were just hanging out for a while.  We ended the night with the spiciest Schawerma I have had so far (don’t give the guy free range in making it the way he likes it) and delicious white chocolate crepes.  Mmm mmm good.

The sign said Zedekiah's tears, that is the reason I have a weird sad face goin on.

We like to jump.

Hunchbacks of the YMCA Belltower.

Parkour! 

Don't call me Shirley!

A Saturday Sabbath

         

Sabbaths here are great.  I suppose that it really started on Friday night, when we all went to the Western Wall to welcome the Sabbath with all of the Jews. It was so incredible, we went up to the wall said a prayer and were just hanging out, when a huge group of Israeli soldiers came buy grabbed us and we joined in dancing and jumping and "singing?".  Definitely one of the coolest, funnest, most interesting cultural things I have ever done.  

        I love waking in the morning, looking at the ancient temple mount from my balcony as I brush my teeth, then making my way to church.  Our branch is small, and the students definitely make up the majority, but it’s wonderful.  I was called to be the primary chorister, and I love it.  These little kids are so funny, at one point today Sister Jackson was holding a picture of Lehi’s dream and she asked the kids, “What tree is this?” Dr. Muhlestein’s daughter, Alexia, raised her hand and said, “It’s either one of two trees.  It’s either the tree that catches on fire and burns, or the tree of yummy fruits.”  Haha.

After church our whole group walked to the Garden Tomb.  I had been there once before, but this time was definitely different.  We had our guided tour, showing us Golgotha and then the tomb itself.  After we had walked through, we met with our classes and had a small devotional.  It was extremely poignant and moving.  We sang a few hymns, and then had a quick testimony meeting, the testimonies given were perfectly timed and perfectly said.  It was noted that, the location of the tomb isn’t important, but the fact that we have a visual representation for such a foundational truth is wonderful.  The important thing to know is that the tomb is empty and that Christ the Lord has risen.  

We came home had a delicious dinner with the spiciest spaghetti I have eaten, mmm, soooo delicious.  Now we are just chilling here with our new family watching a movie (Tangled! Yes that's right!  I will marry Rapunzel one day).  This is the craziest living environment ever, I love it, and don’t call me Shirley.

Madi is here and wants to mentioned.  So here is a mentioning of Madi and all our great memories.

Just around the city street... (sung to the tune of 'Just Around the Riverbend')

This is the view from my bedroom balcony.  For reals.

I can’t believe that I have been here for less than a week.  I feel like I’ve done and seen so much already.  This is a good thing.  Things are starting to feel a little more natural and comfortable.  Today we were wandering around the Old City heading for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and my little group was talking, laughing, and looking in all of the little shops and all of the sudden we were at the church.  If you haven’t been through the streets of the Old City then you probably don’t think that finding a church is a big deal, but to do this without using a map and not really paying attention is kind of awesome.  

The best thing about the Old City is that there is always something new to see or do.  You turn a corner and you are in a place that you’ve never been before.  We randomly wound up in the Armenian quarter today and found this awesome church that was having a service, it was such a beautiful chapel, they had all of the seminary students there singing, incense was burning and the sun beams broke through the stained glass and smoke in distinct beams.  It was seriously so cool.

We ended up having lunch on top of the Austrian hospice which is just in Damascus gate, but you get such an awesome view of the city from the top.  While we were up there the Muslim call to prayer sounded and it was like all parts of the city were just there a part of it all, its really hard to describe, so I apologize if this blog isn’t more exciting than it is, but man I can’t help but feel so incredibly lucky to be part of this program right now.  I have awesome experiences every single day.

Other highlights of the day.  

-Taking awesome sunglass reflection pictures on the temple mount of the Dome of the Rock

-Seeing all the Israeli girl soldiers, pretty attractive for women holding huge automatic rifles

-Laughing my head off in the computer lab at awkwardfamilyphotos.com with Madi

-Hot Chocolate with dinner

-Finally being able to go to bed and say, don't call me Shirley.

Stoned.

I’ve been stoned, and essentially peed on today, and I still love it here.

Well today was our first real day here, and (this may surprise you) I loved it!  We woke up bright and early, party because we had to and partly because my body is still somewhere in England’s time zone.  First item on the agenda today...breakfast!  Okay, so I’ve only been here a few days, but my heck I love the food at the Oasis.  Its delicious, I feel so lucky to get three solid good, tasty, balanced meals every day.  If I weren’t walking everywhere I would definitely be gaining some serious weight.  

Classes officially started today with Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies.  I am so excited for both, Brother Judd my OT professor is amazing, I seriously hang on every word.  We had two hours with him today and it felt like half an hour.  I can’t wait for more.  ANES kind of caught us all by surprise because our schedule said we only had it for an hour, but lo and behold it was two, so it was kind of difficult to pay attention towards the end.  It’s going to be a tough class I think, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.  Main lesson of the day was this.  Israel is not a desert, it is a land that floweth with milk and honey.  This is true, Israel is much greener than I was expecting.

After all of that we decided to go to the city by ourselves for the first time.  Dun, dun, dun!  So we packed up and left at three, because on Friday’s we can’t go to East Jerusalem or the Old City until after 3:00.  (I’m still learning where I can go and when, and how to get to these allowed places without passing through the forbidden areas, but it will come)  So we made our way down the bottom entrance of the center to make our way, and just outside the bottom entrance is a public playground.  There were a few kids playing and they started waving at as, so we being the friendly mormon americans we are supposed to be, waved back.  They then prompted to throw stones at us.  Okay, so they were more like little pebbles, but a stone is a stone...therfore I have been stoned in Jerusalem.  Anyways, we being the friendly mormon americans we are supposed to be, did not stone them back.  We made our way to the Old City and went in Damascus Gate for a while, just looking around.  This was still kind of a test-out-the-waters visit, since we are still very very new, but I think in a week or two we’ll all be very comfortable.  So after a bit of walking around we made our way back to the center.  We were walking down the sidewalk and then we began to wrinkly our noses because there was a very foul odor in the air.  Thats when we saw the running water down the street that was bubbling up from a pothole.  Before we could do anything about our placement, a car comes speeding down the hill, drives right through the puddled running water and sprayed us all with this less-than-pure water.  Needless to say, we got home and showered pretty quickly.  

After dinner our movie showcase began, tonights feature was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Complete with a full review by Professor Chadwick, a leading archeologist here in Jerusalem.  “A handsome rogue archaeologist, being the fancy of all the women, saving the world one artifact at a time?  What’s not believable about that?”  It was great, this is seriously going to be the best semester ever.

Where dates grow on trees.

I can’t even begin to describe what is happening right now.  I’m still kind of in awe at where I am and what I get to do for the next few months.  

I’ll start somewhat towards the beginning.  The process of getting to Israel was somewhat long and difficult, it seemed like we were traveling forever.  After four flights and layovers I was thrilled to finally arrive in Tel Aviv.  What was somewhat less thrilling was the fact that I arrived in Tel Aviv with no luggage.  What makes the finding process a little more difficult is that it could be in any of the four major airports that I made my way through to get here.  Here’s to praying that it will come soon, because mooching razors, shampoo, socks, and toothpaste only stays a fun get-to-know-you game for so long.  Luckily, past students have left clothes here to be donated via church humanitarian services so we can use those while we are waiting for our own cloths.  Unluckily, I wear the most impossible sizes, I guess no one who wears a 29/30 wants to donate pants.  

Anyways, the first night we got here we took a tour around the center and tried to get acquainted with this amazing building.  More on that later.  Sister Harris was my tour guide, she and her husband live up in Tiberius and come down for major events, like our arrival.  She is awesome and I was lucky enough to have her give me a tour of the city today.  Later that night we had to stay awake and go meet with our professors and listen to the first school day syllabus talks...let me just say that they could probably make a Survivor challenge modeled after that.  Make the contestants travel for 24 hours, change to opposite time zones and then have them try and stay awake while learning about the syllabus.  Impossible.  To be fair all of the professors that I have met so far are incredible, both academically and personally.  They are all very welcoming and nice.  After that, we went to our rooms to “unpack” its a relatively easy thing to do when you have nothing, so I went to bed.

This morning we woke and ate breakfast (the food is amazing here, I will definitely be able to get used to this gourmet restaurant feeding me breakfast lunch and dinner) then we had some more orientation meetings before we had our first walk to and through the city.  I was amazed at everything around me.  Everything is so close, it looks like a long ways away, but its just a short walk and you are at Damascus gate, ready to get your Israel on.  I would discuss what its like, and I will, but I feel like I should wait until I’m even more acquainted with what its like.  We just did a basic get your bearings type thing.  So more on that later, but the city is incredible, its just old and awesome.  Anyways, I’ll write more later and hopefully at some point I can put up pictures, but class starts tomorrow and so I thought I’d get the intro out there so I can write about the cool stuff later.

I’ll end with a quote and possible new slogan for this program from today’s city walk.  “BYU Jerusalem, where dates grow on trees.”  I think thats probably pretty accurate.  

Anyways, things are going well, and I’m loving it.  You can call me Spence (my mandated Jerusalem nickname) or Spencer, but don’t call me Shirley.

Lasts...

I can always tell when I am excited about something, because I keep thinking about the stupidest ways to count down my departure.  Not only that but the number of days become muddled.  If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have told you a definite 21 days til I leave.  However, now that the time is much shorter, I begin counting down to the day before, or even two days before because the way I figure it, my adventure really begins with orientation which is the day before my flight leaves, or I could convince myself that it begins two days before because thats the last day I have anything planned that I need to do.  Yes, it's irrational, but hey, it is what it is.  Having all that said, three is the atomic number for lithium, notes in a tritone, strikes before you're out, number of little pigs, wisemen, blind mice, and Musketeers, it is the number of children Celine Dion has, and the number of Number 1 albums Carrie Underwood has had so far.  Oh, and its the number of days til I leave for Jerusalem.  Yes, its coming very soon, and I can hardly stand it.  It's at this point that I begin to realize when i've done something for the last time, for example... I have experienced my last trip to cafe rio made my last drive to SLC until I leave to the airport, served my last function at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, filled up on gas for the last time, tomorrow will be my last free Saturday and this coming Sunday will be the last one I worship the Sabbath on.  I can't believe that this time next week I will have been in Jerusalem for a whole two days!!!  Crazy.  Keep following, hopefully the posts will be more exciting in the near future, and don't call me Shirley!