tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59823276748266508252024-02-20T12:01:25.073+02:00Passing Time in PalestineUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-12775188992326627002010-12-05T23:48:00.000+02:002010-12-05T23:48:51.999+02:00Little Bit of the Daily Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdWFEjMKF_xlBefforJn0c7rR5SwRbgT7AT8GWqcaL1Yk-Kg4UMrxIXPg0eBndAX2WnoILIH6XJ8wZPPOFjY-3VHu5BX17XFZY-ziQxGDivEtIgJGjm5Fru1oW4P8HpfX6rjrgf9jVyQj/s1600/65+Snapshot_20101005_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdWFEjMKF_xlBefforJn0c7rR5SwRbgT7AT8GWqcaL1Yk-Kg4UMrxIXPg0eBndAX2WnoILIH6XJ8wZPPOFjY-3VHu5BX17XFZY-ziQxGDivEtIgJGjm5Fru1oW4P8HpfX6rjrgf9jVyQj/s320/65+Snapshot_20101005_4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sometimes life is a little rough in class... you have to do what you can in class. Talia Finley, my friend, she enjoys taking videos of our crazy professors and the funny things that we do in class. Sometimes you have to do something different to keep you awake. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCSaxvXVMPJ6z1j3OAX58MwiI0G2XA3N9eSqIRIqHQokSPg0H2TA0ps3yyEys_sDmDELj3vbQy3TLAN-j_4WiUnn5E9v5NtuXlhJGPJnJW8x9TqfEOhkFmUzKJWWNRsAvRbQ39lcaFVcw/s1600/78+Hygiene+kits.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCSaxvXVMPJ6z1j3OAX58MwiI0G2XA3N9eSqIRIqHQokSPg0H2TA0ps3yyEys_sDmDELj3vbQy3TLAN-j_4WiUnn5E9v5NtuXlhJGPJnJW8x9TqfEOhkFmUzKJWWNRsAvRbQ39lcaFVcw/s320/78+Hygiene+kits.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Once a week we have a service project where we put together hygiene kits. We always have a little service playlist and we sometimes have the locals join us. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5iVTjTT5SbfBewbQB-qkI7mN9kSdvBqRUmrLi1zYgFxTYX4G0xpBZ6zlXP4IH0_VcOJ3wzmB3LKrCE8mPFfEbg_0H0yhVgIfRfgLr2FWjo7GSO61YwmTmD4nR1bcatpcic4_rgDLc7fe/s1600/104+Dome+of+the+Rock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5iVTjTT5SbfBewbQB-qkI7mN9kSdvBqRUmrLi1zYgFxTYX4G0xpBZ6zlXP4IH0_VcOJ3wzmB3LKrCE8mPFfEbg_0H0yhVgIfRfgLr2FWjo7GSO61YwmTmD4nR1bcatpcic4_rgDLc7fe/s320/104+Dome+of+the+Rock.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">I will miss going into the city so much. Thank goodness we have an awesome teacher that gave us a big long list of the sites that we should visit, so we got to go out into the city all the time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuXgq35_8UjONG5FQdhTmEpTm_TcsLkZGJxfeQA9zJAvW7h1T3paFrqvcqnyitQJznzbCtbfoODzI2XIefnITShJ-o_0lME8jw7BlyXkRIwGV86Kay40mXuNLotRHm2VUNFNX7Qp7JeIj/s1600/131+DSC05473.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbuXgq35_8UjONG5FQdhTmEpTm_TcsLkZGJxfeQA9zJAvW7h1T3paFrqvcqnyitQJznzbCtbfoODzI2XIefnITShJ-o_0lME8jw7BlyXkRIwGV86Kay40mXuNLotRHm2VUNFNX7Qp7JeIj/s320/131+DSC05473.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is my favorite type of learning. We go to all kinds of museums and get to learn all the things hands on!</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Kc_4O1b9Z0gVRP5aRDxagXuIqIdALvpIrw7-bk7rhHBq6YZflSNTCol0yitWSLWFk7-ZypOr09xykj0b0zNtlXTjj6KhK-_kPqcukmnT_iiSque5faUyXLdmcNNqEcTG4bQHMaaq4w7T/s1600/DSCN1214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Kc_4O1b9Z0gVRP5aRDxagXuIqIdALvpIrw7-bk7rhHBq6YZflSNTCol0yitWSLWFk7-ZypOr09xykj0b0zNtlXTjj6KhK-_kPqcukmnT_iiSque5faUyXLdmcNNqEcTG4bQHMaaq4w7T/s320/DSCN1214.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Also... there is always a dance party on the bus... no matter where we go, and you never know what goes on during a bus dance party.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-17657204932316828142010-12-03T12:58:00.000+02:002010-12-03T12:58:48.992+02:00Olive Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79ydb1XlgQMcrC3fXH2aybCxjriBiV1AafuRK4p6eWKM5nM_PisMF6r3JIMGK3x_u8Scaj1mcutYcfgy_E87mqmP18vhTca9ymRxszKzNpcUq9jTZ4-8eZlvOEAEoBTzCh22y6bdsRFgB/s1600/IMG_1590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj79ydb1XlgQMcrC3fXH2aybCxjriBiV1AafuRK4p6eWKM5nM_PisMF6r3JIMGK3x_u8Scaj1mcutYcfgy_E87mqmP18vhTca9ymRxszKzNpcUq9jTZ4-8eZlvOEAEoBTzCh22y6bdsRFgB/s320/IMG_1590.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">We had the cool chance to get to do the Olive Presses at the center. The JC has a cool Biblical Garden that they have set up with all of the presses and the tress. We all got to go out and pick the olives from the trees and then they had to soak in these baths for about a week.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3ksQKsTYzOB10PL52MZUUrQbvFtqytYWjeNB7KzRNpMKQvYIGhgagNkoEtzFI3v5ZaVXsi4jTVuEv3ktiCd3RKQyrn-CDPaa406G6HX9WvxQleIC33fc7lUsz_8UGnFtpkIqjxQLBQJh/s1600/IMG_1597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3ksQKsTYzOB10PL52MZUUrQbvFtqytYWjeNB7KzRNpMKQvYIGhgagNkoEtzFI3v5ZaVXsi4jTVuEv3ktiCd3RKQyrn-CDPaa406G6HX9WvxQleIC33fc7lUsz_8UGnFtpkIqjxQLBQJh/s320/IMG_1597.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Then there is this huge stone wheel that crushes the olives into this mash. (Wow, I just looked at this photo and I thought it was Talon... creepy... I never thought that we looked alike)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBir5fARAgQLypFbbCTUdDlOuT-v3okXdOqpnPrl6qC-E_eTVbe8RHodIMbAQl0qVfcH0deHnnwdNXJrJseQkfsNuXySl78Drd6Uw1adg83i351Z43Sj1QocMx6BNjIbeJy6MFGLyqk3I/s1600/IMG_1603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBir5fARAgQLypFbbCTUdDlOuT-v3okXdOqpnPrl6qC-E_eTVbe8RHodIMbAQl0qVfcH0deHnnwdNXJrJseQkfsNuXySl78Drd6Uw1adg83i351Z43Sj1QocMx6BNjIbeJy6MFGLyqk3I/s320/IMG_1603.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This last picture shows the last step that is the actual press. It squeezes the juice out of the mash and it drains into the two holes where the oil separates. we each got a little bottle of the oil that we made ourselves. It was pretty cool. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZtdZOxx5VwL910XxCIydyfJfh2aocRc-F5tA72rba7MLf_OnMSss5JdK5lncQgdocQSPMY8PVDiKMPSHptUfW8fawLZ0w6M2Im94tOj9YG4fzhghsj4ZTVNRiztg7Ei4SzvLnqfQcGev/s1600/IMG_1613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHZtdZOxx5VwL910XxCIydyfJfh2aocRc-F5tA72rba7MLf_OnMSss5JdK5lncQgdocQSPMY8PVDiKMPSHptUfW8fawLZ0w6M2Im94tOj9YG4fzhghsj4ZTVNRiztg7Ei4SzvLnqfQcGev/s320/IMG_1613.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-85180870034275905882010-12-02T16:38:00.000+02:002010-12-02T16:38:04.818+02:00Herodian/ Sheperds' Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0XUgaoiyShyt-Ojyf_LINnJxUkMH4nRm4-3v02POOXV0HSjDachvY1XS9jdrMQIaAexQZNdzjSAogYkmPsRdJxQoigS9W1PQyh7RQfEZ8iFL0FYNJ83AdQR7Ffa4-JwKH7H7PDen5MY/s1600/DSC05885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0XUgaoiyShyt-Ojyf_LINnJxUkMH4nRm4-3v02POOXV0HSjDachvY1XS9jdrMQIaAexQZNdzjSAogYkmPsRdJxQoigS9W1PQyh7RQfEZ8iFL0FYNJ83AdQR7Ffa4-JwKH7H7PDen5MY/s320/DSC05885.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>These fields are near the separation wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. These would have been very similar to the fields that the angels appeared to the shepherds in. We had a little Christmas program in November. Not too early, is it?! <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJ0xsCQMgCyCfxl3wnxz8rCwyC8tTeFCxj4yMGkKs32GfLK3rAPRgG6_oUADa7QtFo3G_8r8gsm1yntdSiLTLCi8DlQJMNogAh4DG8HMI2o29yLNI_dr4JPoE8EPK4wdgBR4u_q8Jz0x0/s1600/DSCN4607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJ0xsCQMgCyCfxl3wnxz8rCwyC8tTeFCxj4yMGkKs32GfLK3rAPRgG6_oUADa7QtFo3G_8r8gsm1yntdSiLTLCi8DlQJMNogAh4DG8HMI2o29yLNI_dr4JPoE8EPK4wdgBR4u_q8Jz0x0/s320/DSCN4607.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I thought that this place was so awesome! The Herodian is part of the huge building project that Herod the Great started in Judea. I had no clue that he was one of the greatest builders the world has ever seen. You can see above us these strangely shaped hill. Well, it existed before him, but he took part of the hill that was next to it and built this one even higher so he could have a fortress on top. He also had this huge palace at the base of the hill. We got to go up to the top of the fortress and explore up there. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HW3_XEGAnwqjDj_lT8RM5yJPcaCwlvZ-ZzFjUuySFAOfg8Forg0w8oFs6Cf9QLoFLXpdjGtPdedrkGcp-J9hsekzo9xHz14Xnqpu0cfoIyNzQXfaoZ14iNGMtwRLiSwQ_j-AdEuyDT_w/s1600/DSCN4614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HW3_XEGAnwqjDj_lT8RM5yJPcaCwlvZ-ZzFjUuySFAOfg8Forg0w8oFs6Cf9QLoFLXpdjGtPdedrkGcp-J9hsekzo9xHz14Xnqpu0cfoIyNzQXfaoZ14iNGMtwRLiSwQ_j-AdEuyDT_w/s320/DSCN4614.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view was amazing from up there. You could see all around into the Judean wilderness. In the background you can the Dead Sea. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-4588669595179506802010-12-01T16:18:00.000+02:002010-12-01T16:18:34.643+02:00Eilat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JMkl1mgeCCGxBCYSxVBVXeDbOZSqIhd3qttVfTWCeFP3OgjWc9I9DMrUANUWebET_b2fI0oe_3MIGYhIFwFZTdK30E9nZQ-y6nwVWcpOeee77kLOI8E7fBixCaWxR1yrMY1kADisHMKI/s1600/DSC09198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JMkl1mgeCCGxBCYSxVBVXeDbOZSqIhd3qttVfTWCeFP3OgjWc9I9DMrUANUWebET_b2fI0oe_3MIGYhIFwFZTdK30E9nZQ-y6nwVWcpOeee77kLOI8E7fBixCaWxR1yrMY1kADisHMKI/s320/DSC09198.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>There is this awesome place right on the border of Israel and Egypt called Eilat. It is right on the Red Sea. It is a paradise, so all the students picked a free day and we all took buses down to spend a day in heaven. We rented some snorkeling gear and had a great day<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCEeKHwfipYhv5lQMisil22X4GCTE1OoSrbO7ngYfU_km3Jqp4SYCGnsFEvBnAs4O_A_VP1h8DFimYKxpy8XnrD9Hk4ugYpcgaFEZwB9GQ3bfiyAlT5lqcVP26A0yYARb5-kWrYpgeJkr/s1600/DSCN1199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVCEeKHwfipYhv5lQMisil22X4GCTE1OoSrbO7ngYfU_km3Jqp4SYCGnsFEvBnAs4O_A_VP1h8DFimYKxpy8XnrD9Hk4ugYpcgaFEZwB9GQ3bfiyAlT5lqcVP26A0yYARb5-kWrYpgeJkr/s320/DSCN1199.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>We also had a party bus on the way home. We had another classic bus dance party on the way that was a blast. The ratio doesn't get much better than this!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGofB-WBi9HS8upXg2UAHK9pSCGOsJSx68fVTcmZUcG20Y8Wki0I0A8h0CzGmosanby-em33hZde6f5U-iJN77SObzrophvo7re_nLmNd08wrMxyZ8IM84VdMHnatV2zRhhMJfuJpJjgtO/s1600/DSCN3597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGofB-WBi9HS8upXg2UAHK9pSCGOsJSx68fVTcmZUcG20Y8Wki0I0A8h0CzGmosanby-em33hZde6f5U-iJN77SObzrophvo7re_nLmNd08wrMxyZ8IM84VdMHnatV2zRhhMJfuJpJjgtO/s320/DSCN3597.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>One of my favorite pictures EVER!!! Classic, getting the dog to carry his own toys to the beach. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQt8s4bFDX0VMDMpSZj9o4JhTptj0PcuXi8kEfPNR0GbMV8n1dzwZK3NJ9pBnICGfyvJQCPM6b9kOJntmy33qu2FElJM06HBU4fzf7yIw0yr6_fiKq2L8dnDuFAQEKRqrwEZO_MgSoGHff/s1600/DSCN3601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQt8s4bFDX0VMDMpSZj9o4JhTptj0PcuXi8kEfPNR0GbMV8n1dzwZK3NJ9pBnICGfyvJQCPM6b9kOJntmy33qu2FElJM06HBU4fzf7yIw0yr6_fiKq2L8dnDuFAQEKRqrwEZO_MgSoGHff/s320/DSCN3601.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Another one of my favorite pictures. We found this stuff in one of the stores. I am sure Perry would appreciate this one. It is called Nuts Protective Oil, we couldn't quite figure out what it meant.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIFzh7T3S6-mVRYbX9YZQYqJgWfLZWQ9deloSrPw-dE_OcPGwbn_oprO_ir5c_-sLhk_M1DmqVwyR93uKRNAFqdUt6iPOc0h1LYc5xpFSW7DIYn-pkXqkvnesThAZuhoQoAPhnmClGJak/s1600/DSCN3607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIFzh7T3S6-mVRYbX9YZQYqJgWfLZWQ9deloSrPw-dE_OcPGwbn_oprO_ir5c_-sLhk_M1DmqVwyR93uKRNAFqdUt6iPOc0h1LYc5xpFSW7DIYn-pkXqkvnesThAZuhoQoAPhnmClGJak/s320/DSCN3607.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Isn't it beautiful?! I could stay here a little longer. Is that an option?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqL-dJuWwsjVUmP7yaLaB0TblHs9rl3Wh09po1R70-W7jboeQhFDRfReqFWygZwmMztfbUNSKw9BeYEs7JrUth0ZNjzyKEv4DzFgsBXOarJcc727CXJ_r8XcO9ogPlFitF6hDKfZYajpL/s1600/PA160171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqL-dJuWwsjVUmP7yaLaB0TblHs9rl3Wh09po1R70-W7jboeQhFDRfReqFWygZwmMztfbUNSKw9BeYEs7JrUth0ZNjzyKEv4DzFgsBXOarJcc727CXJ_r8XcO9ogPlFitF6hDKfZYajpL/s320/PA160171.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-43674925236087248722010-11-26T20:59:00.000+02:002010-11-26T20:59:30.084+02:00Bethlehem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwdCjskSqe57cjfqG3LPDV7mj_n3Cz-LFbqsaGZeDFG5W8GeR58IqfSGfr0O9sYfTh7IHRKweTnW24zPLVhhYnHRGXcZTDZp_GM69DK6uNfsAe5qjznEBP_Pmq7-7NAFBSGrO5vnQ2iqH/s1600/IMG_4314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwdCjskSqe57cjfqG3LPDV7mj_n3Cz-LFbqsaGZeDFG5W8GeR58IqfSGfr0O9sYfTh7IHRKweTnW24zPLVhhYnHRGXcZTDZp_GM69DK6uNfsAe5qjznEBP_Pmq7-7NAFBSGrO5vnQ2iqH/s320/IMG_4314.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Apparently we all got the memo that it was the right day to wear green. Did you?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This was a very interesting day. This was our field trip into Bethlehem. Unfortunately, Bethlehem is on the Palestinian side of the wall that separates the Israelis and the Palestinians. I really loved Bethlehem and wish that we could travel freely into the city, but this was our one chance to go there. </div>It was really neat, but the beginning part of the trip was a little shaky. We went to some little lecture that was super biased about how the Israelis were ruining the Palestinians' lives. It is sort of interesting to hear their perspectives, but I am sick of people playing the victim card in everything. I wish that they could get over their differences, forget the past, and work something out. We did get to go to the Bethlehem University afterwards and socialize with the locals. It was so fun, we actually played some ball with the kids. I think that we made their days, but I know that it was one of my favorite things to do, but it was a blast. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdmm1J7_9rEqCLzFIMiplheaIYj1RV55B85eutlpqGTDeTyDKbyVekwSt2ryBf1mwnS3AeLTUL8zGio2C2jZ9ynpMiCzchHAI9zNzYyyHzgpJQG7LS8ZStzL-1y93Q_YDRwHYeVjJE_Xr/s1600/IMG_4484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdmm1J7_9rEqCLzFIMiplheaIYj1RV55B85eutlpqGTDeTyDKbyVekwSt2ryBf1mwnS3AeLTUL8zGio2C2jZ9ynpMiCzchHAI9zNzYyyHzgpJQG7LS8ZStzL-1y93Q_YDRwHYeVjJE_Xr/s320/IMG_4484.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div>This is us outside of the church in Bethlehem where the traditional site of the birth of Christ is. The lines were ridiculously long. We waited for three hours in the church, but it was so much fun. We just chatted and waited. well worth the wait though. If nothing else, I love visiting other churches and seeing the bits and pieces of history that they have made and are preserving. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWiuWOVotLIH9Je9k5ZLC-ch3PziBDIT29_6KBsPI8vf1Ro3Y3kQLhpkgAswNRXTqcfJ-AmmrY1Xbi7u1Q_nK43HtoENdf9Xb9tqJhz8iGmv1qtSkRvaL5ECWMv3aJy0XjhN343rsOHMP/s1600/IMG_4544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWiuWOVotLIH9Je9k5ZLC-ch3PziBDIT29_6KBsPI8vf1Ro3Y3kQLhpkgAswNRXTqcfJ-AmmrY1Xbi7u1Q_nK43HtoENdf9Xb9tqJhz8iGmv1qtSkRvaL5ECWMv3aJy0XjhN343rsOHMP/s320/IMG_4544.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is the traditional place where the manger may have been.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYd3TeVfA6Ie2RNTm6EzlvT5XK3nvoePfBWXQqOcZBfO1Nge0zwhyphenhyphenk_k6LGFEqeH0tgInCQl8Q5ADUKtOE-IbyNJEwMZ5t4PKJ5sC_2WXpEmQQzlKvgr_olfSog4sPPxoOWTTwGCu_lLy5/s1600/IMG_4423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYd3TeVfA6Ie2RNTm6EzlvT5XK3nvoePfBWXQqOcZBfO1Nge0zwhyphenhyphenk_k6LGFEqeH0tgInCQl8Q5ADUKtOE-IbyNJEwMZ5t4PKJ5sC_2WXpEmQQzlKvgr_olfSog4sPPxoOWTTwGCu_lLy5/s320/IMG_4423.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
After the stops at the different places, we went and ate at this place called the tent. It tasted so good. The sent out these huge platters of food with meat, french fries, etc. We ate like sultans.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0hYsHV3GbBY6ByFZHkRZL2EcP_tMe2CTqJsgpXo9ThbKhawE6wRAwsfVRh3dhvHaedapW5_xlmBDmQc__omt1yh9oW_UWfsLGjY4OrH6vqai1V8lAhUJIg7B66v-p_FhMB5RIXIwvgde/s1600/IMG_4428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx0hYsHV3GbBY6ByFZHkRZL2EcP_tMe2CTqJsgpXo9ThbKhawE6wRAwsfVRh3dhvHaedapW5_xlmBDmQc__omt1yh9oW_UWfsLGjY4OrH6vqai1V8lAhUJIg7B66v-p_FhMB5RIXIwvgde/s320/IMG_4428.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-16766656199827378822010-11-08T16:58:00.000+02:002010-11-08T16:58:23.094+02:00Imitation is the most sincere form of Flattery!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ybrhuSVIcQvgRtA9Lej1Ln8S6KCaHUsTDX76OI_xtfGoxB_h0B0VUnGcFrrIo3VxnHEiliAXbFIS1sLpBgJ8t-iqUZ9EWyTaxESf5DCTPO1snp6t5cR4DjJbxuiVylSZwBHyPcDxS4vx/s1600/IMG_2032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ybrhuSVIcQvgRtA9Lej1Ln8S6KCaHUsTDX76OI_xtfGoxB_h0B0VUnGcFrrIo3VxnHEiliAXbFIS1sLpBgJ8t-iqUZ9EWyTaxESf5DCTPO1snp6t5cR4DjJbxuiVylSZwBHyPcDxS4vx/s320/IMG_2032.jpg" width="180" /></a></div> After one of the worst days of my life, namely finals day for Judaism and Islam, everything was completely redeemed. You know it is a good day when someone dresses up as <u>YOU</u> for Halloween. My two friends, Amy and Lizzy, decided that me and my friend James would be great costumes. So they borrowed what we are best known for. James has this shirt that he made that says, "Don't interrupt, RUDE!" I am known for my jerseys and walking around my blanket wrapped around my shoulders. If that doesn't make you feel good about yourself, I don't know what will.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0ORl7CmNjmB_YLgPNh_oosM56R7U-rV-N8RqJtUYiryGFKTncd47xvEbrNCoU-9w62A9sqlsDjAiyRWHeRlAMHzeUKl2bJzCWc83lTc_ceo6G-mpU-Eyt8WdJCuDPtG_LZ2zXz9OPxQM/s1600/Just+a+Shabbat+Evening+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0ORl7CmNjmB_YLgPNh_oosM56R7U-rV-N8RqJtUYiryGFKTncd47xvEbrNCoU-9w62A9sqlsDjAiyRWHeRlAMHzeUKl2bJzCWc83lTc_ceo6G-mpU-Eyt8WdJCuDPtG_LZ2zXz9OPxQM/s320/Just+a+Shabbat+Evening+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I do have to admit, this Halloween has changed my life. I absolutely hated my last Halloween. I thought it was ridiculous that I had to hide in my own house having to hide from the busloads of kids that are shipped in for trick-or-treating. If it takes an hour to drive one block it is time to re-evaluate the holiday. Really... I don't think that is the way it is supposed to be. But this Halloween... this one was great!!! Like I said, it had been one of the worst days EVER with finals, but as soon as they were over, it was party time. James and I couldn't think of what we could be, but then we had the idea of being zombie missionary companions. Kinda lame, right? WRONG, it actually turned out pretty good with the help of some professional make-up artists. We looked pretty creepy. We started out with good ol' fashion trick-or-treating. All the students got of our professors kids candy so they could come around to the door. We stuck an orange plastic bag to cover the light and put on thriller playing at the door. We definitely had the coolest door at the center. Then we had all kinds of Halloween festivities like fishing pond, face painting, apple bobbing, etc. And to top it all off, we ended with a Halloween dance party and watching Hocus Pocus. Classic Halloween, hopefully next year will be as good... it'll be hard to top! <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbHdJ-1KOf66uHZQUpPYWWC-l34hbK4Y2MXdZKr-Hx5EVIJqkQtOmJphNbGwrQjA_9wr6rxIMqCLhasnqdrwblNCWLxbKwercyX0PL15cbQoUCn6FTGVhWx5e8IPkrARPpq_HFI_pzNHt/s1600/DSCN4652.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQv2LdfFQDa-hNr5HRiMo3nThCo59trHLmJhLP1AnWNZ7sCxNHCY29u18tTeX1qBhieB_Bm7kPwlCZY1dv3Z7hUE3HqvKmir_ne_njFYSzdJGUViWdyzD5WwSt5Pv3T_rQRxPoEsMpu9P/s1600/IMG_2126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQv2LdfFQDa-hNr5HRiMo3nThCo59trHLmJhLP1AnWNZ7sCxNHCY29u18tTeX1qBhieB_Bm7kPwlCZY1dv3Z7hUE3HqvKmir_ne_njFYSzdJGUViWdyzD5WwSt5Pv3T_rQRxPoEsMpu9P/s320/IMG_2126.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizbHdJ-1KOf66uHZQUpPYWWC-l34hbK4Y2MXdZKr-Hx5EVIJqkQtOmJphNbGwrQjA_9wr6rxIMqCLhasnqdrwblNCWLxbKwercyX0PL15cbQoUCn6FTGVhWx5e8IPkrARPpq_HFI_pzNHt/s1600/DSCN4652.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-52040609989457135562010-10-31T21:19:00.001+02:002010-11-03T15:57:29.589+02:00October 4th... Catch up timeSorry I have been so bad at keeping up on all this stuff. Life has been crazy with all the homework we have had the past couple of weeks, but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!! Hurrah! So, I am going to try to catch you all up on the AWESOME things that we have gotten to do. So, our field trip on the 4th was called the Shphelah Field Trip. One might ask himself, "What in the world is a Shphelah?!" Don't worry, I still ask that question sometimes! And by sometimes, I mean usually always. To the best of my knowledge it is the name for one of the geographical areas of Israel. I can tell you what is in it though. There are 5 hills and cities that were built in order to protect the way up to Jerusalem. If I am wrong, don't correct me, let me be happy in my ignorance. So anyway, we went and visited a bunch of ancient cities and saw a lot of the excavations of the cities, for example Gath. That is the place from which Goliath hales. It was really interesting to see all of them, but sometimes it got really long. Good thing there are 80 of us to keep each other company. I'm not gonna lie, the most interesting part of the trip was watching all the helicopters and jets going. Apparently there were all kinds of military bases around us because all kinds of helicopters were doing touch and goes and there were some jets way up there dog fighting!!!! It was so cool to watch them practicing. I have decided that real life is a little more interesting than trying to guess what the past was like.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ8dstPPGlOqrCSwW8LFkPqKl1tscHftFrd0FGXYuOqXSxTU26JcFSqDbwc1NgrfJyTnXtn4zH7ck6-N0VGIKlFCaiCIgLIosFJsjBiwL68goFR-V-6cHYsrvX1zD9w1dS3qOD4ZPQX1l/s1600/IMG_3566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ8dstPPGlOqrCSwW8LFkPqKl1tscHftFrd0FGXYuOqXSxTU26JcFSqDbwc1NgrfJyTnXtn4zH7ck6-N0VGIKlFCaiCIgLIosFJsjBiwL68goFR-V-6cHYsrvX1zD9w1dS3qOD4ZPQX1l/s320/IMG_3566.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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It was pretty awesome getting to stand in the places where all these stories happened. As a member of the official reenactment committee for the Judd class, I was drafted and cast as the upper half of Goliath in the 5 minute rendition of David and Goliath. It was truly Oscar worthy! We got to play around with some slings and had a 80 person firing line. I am just glad we weren't in real battle because there probably would have been more friendly fire than anything else.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCSQu2Q8nQf4Hp9sdfTEXN235G4-GvSssW7Z9m_EK1WUfCarL6n-Ie-BK0lIu1Z4d3gbSNj46SQDYHmUTpegvinhDmN0EjMOmfsL0c269IeOr79HJ5X5P9i7ngSKgEM4xBMZURiBNWpBT/s1600/DSCN3586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCSQu2Q8nQf4Hp9sdfTEXN235G4-GvSssW7Z9m_EK1WUfCarL6n-Ie-BK0lIu1Z4d3gbSNj46SQDYHmUTpegvinhDmN0EjMOmfsL0c269IeOr79HJ5X5P9i7ngSKgEM4xBMZURiBNWpBT/s320/DSCN3586.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
We also got to go sing in these really cool caves were they mined limestone back in the day that way good acoustics. They are called the bell shaped caves.<br />
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We also visited other cities that had tombs, dove cotes (I guess that is the name for the place where they raise doves?), oil presses, wine presses, etc.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicUUNDjJx2o-RGduUMfxU1P4p_MWeHBmG8va1zcxHORfkvLYXm4e56wVWivHjuJdYcOqKaWoIhi6dcak3Y42mzD7fIQnx6K5Ol9H8TqDGxYhrFQagUnBULDLyRaBfKxNSzgLRDa-dvf2wg/s1600/DSCN2684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicUUNDjJx2o-RGduUMfxU1P4p_MWeHBmG8va1zcxHORfkvLYXm4e56wVWivHjuJdYcOqKaWoIhi6dcak3Y42mzD7fIQnx6K5Ol9H8TqDGxYhrFQagUnBULDLyRaBfKxNSzgLRDa-dvf2wg/s320/DSCN2684.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Probably my favorite place was Lachish. It is one of the cities and we got to see a lot of the walls and stuff from the city, but there were a lot of the stories that we got to hear. It was taken by the Assyrians right before they tried to come to Jerusalem, so we heard the Biblical account as well as the Assyrians and the local story that was written by those being defeated. It was neat. I tried to keep it short because I am sure the longer they are, the less they get read.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-48686949108162703202010-10-10T17:21:00.002+02:002010-10-14T22:34:39.754+02:00New Photo PostI posted pictures just barely with all the Egypt trip, but there were a lot that I wanted to show other than what I talked about. So here are some.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtOYJ7HfNQSG3jMAO-goFWlnmdZ4aNakGPGj1v1UXI3eRqhgI9mrUjPXsVNHOAK4x-Bgj333C5Citeq47MBcwFUqxpnU_Y3GRa2j_Whq9DylIFqHt30dYRM6WOy5COYD06BtNAi4ypcGr/s320/DSC08828.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this a familiar scene to any of you? I don't know what it is, but buses for me mean instant naps.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtOYJ7HfNQSG3jMAO-goFWlnmdZ4aNakGPGj1v1UXI3eRqhgI9mrUjPXsVNHOAK4x-Bgj333C5Citeq47MBcwFUqxpnU_Y3GRa2j_Whq9DylIFqHt30dYRM6WOy5COYD06BtNAi4ypcGr/s1600/DSC08828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbBPYy-ERynjdhBIIaskpVpWI0SyCujabZ6Xnytz88HBPAMzd2wOr4DmeY_Dvys1mg5SauhASvV1fK8GaWDJXwXSad5ZQHDvmb3fO3fM3wjm49hJmP6XGg6hxKc78_KBuAzEgSVkVecMm/s1600/DSC08923.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbBPYy-ERynjdhBIIaskpVpWI0SyCujabZ6Xnytz88HBPAMzd2wOr4DmeY_Dvys1mg5SauhASvV1fK8GaWDJXwXSad5ZQHDvmb3fO3fM3wjm49hJmP6XGg6hxKc78_KBuAzEgSVkVecMm/s320/DSC08923.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjorQnE9y8UjuEi1_EAfjCP9oDGsrk1bvuWhxb8QSwtvha8PIaweT0dOPszZhFU3-HcK_ScjZWl3nLTNE0xPF8wYmvFvLbafFC6y95mCZKhGyV3weqjlUckjLdFrumMDbb1u5XOy94JtfFS/s320/DSC09002.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my proudest moments. We were driving into Cairo and I played this guy on the passenger side in Paper, Rock, Scissors. Yes I did win, but I am more proud of playing it with some random Egyptian while driving down the highway.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtNWo1VTtn-gwTuO9kkX1LRgUnqwcfhy_BsayMjLLRRxtdBDeFXJTgfCW-uT5xKliYWwycDwc6WT6bAxEO9AaOnkyOF7O1G7yCT_yKz7zn8iUyVhOpoXZWfG8aa1UvJn99_6d3KtuE3Dhq/s320/DSC09469.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Oasis is actually our hotel if you believe it or not. Yes... we did live in a bungalow.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, James, and this kid named Jake. These are the pillars in Karnak. There is a room in the temple that has 134 of these pillars. It amazes me that they were able to do such amazing things with man power only.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglQUXquaHx0k1NN6MD6Cu-HRkmr-OSUbfiq16tJr0ofAv3_Miu5eQ8GWHoy_eoTJDyTssUkl9HqJDYeus-WAsY9D9YGnYlCupR6O6td2voT361_Wvqh4nQ9SpSkJ_7e5Ta2q1XCGToZQgA/s320/DSC00348.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In front of the Nile that separates Cairo from Giza.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQGtA0LwaDa_4j4SCG8eO_PUATuuKtLJVJU0nGc3CMNPOV2rTw3yNiz-bfP-jaAOQQvTbSH8ioeAs2k-3Bs98ulzxprkjRBpzhAt3ylNrRrXdbsqVJzrNWhhMBE3p8bzssv9mqn1xGtcO/s320/IMG_1509.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying a delicious meal of french fries and hamburgers at Hard Rock Cafe.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1Zeu58vUv0LC92F2o8l6QQe3PM1peDxaM0-lh7GSvziT3SZPQKvr3NIidbODwQCEIYqXAleZMBNtWy370CdW6cawXwNo4L2I0-D1cI_3y-8Liq8xXMZNoamWLDEiIcXHAu8D3DCsF8dW/s320/DSC04512.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was at the pyramid light show in Giza.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLgqUWFblF7BlPKs2schPKje89InxXjn9lXUmYaoHsKT9tFpJXV37MtA-fYQc5kdihpv53EQx8Swu7lplyLA_BDNWwDyPBNSG8Qdvydib8lX57NAwDHxkV2IVaViXGLkqki_JiZ9NTB2Oh/s320/DSCN0454.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I learned to do this just for the pyramid. I almost look like it... right?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJGgBv9H76yVGdI9M-DODwnRssZDmY9pjfpn93zLay6ClmMW6sovHk6hNF9fgU0uVM3CfREEakDtxuoPOGK2tJ_kM8jZ3SsH_Z5ygsNw2MWDiUtiZ7av43JLXiX4apSQcIikbD-RUGFuc/s320/DSCN2673.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bell shaped caves that are made from quarrying the soft limestone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhMHP9QcR_tHBIzJ3BMlMnoBrKYzvHShWH-wRsDudQQkokFdFFAgqPOZ9befMle-izbosIS2IFWHv1vcrThrMTqlEn-uYC1UUYelqAw67ugUJTypbjK3ihvw2Z1qF7HC8W06JzWDAqmnK/s320/DSCN3584.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch out Goliath, I'm pretty wicked with a sling shot.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1pqnZO8CPiGYifCwnrsULHD2EDflxyfEAvj4iELTQWs6e0cPNS_DlbymDQg9KzGAcvO7MUDqtRMhAOt-IHoXg6WGVj_fj1ENSY9xYg4lxG4IfCLmDl_i27GW9Fj5Xh3jHAIzeLGbs_LQ/s320/IMG_3568.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My professor's daughter Emily. She is the cutest thing ever, besides my own nieces and nephews of course. She sure makes me miss them!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn1pqnZO8CPiGYifCwnrsULHD2EDflxyfEAvj4iELTQWs6e0cPNS_DlbymDQg9KzGAcvO7MUDqtRMhAOt-IHoXg6WGVj_fj1ENSY9xYg4lxG4IfCLmDl_i27GW9Fj5Xh3jHAIzeLGbs_LQ/s1600/IMG_3568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-73681776304956579132010-10-07T20:55:00.003+02:002010-10-07T21:07:49.116+02:00So... I just want you all to meet my new best friend JamesSo, I pretty much die of laughter all day long with my new friend James. Here is just a small taste of an experience with him. Here it goes.<br />
<br />
Well.. it's been almost a week, since I updated, and 2 weeks since I've written. Life has been just splendid. After the huge 8 day vacation of a lifetime, the school work basically hit my like a big dump truck full of homework and studying. If you though that coming to Jerusalem was going to be a vacation for me...well you were wrong.... I have been studying my little tush off lately.. here's a pic...<br />
<img src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:jDcRtc1KZgI3yM:http://www.family-homework-answers.com/images/boy-hw-disorganized2.jpg&t=1" /><br />
<br />
Anyway, school is going ok, not great, not bad.... just ok. Somedays I don't even leave the Jerusalem Center, and I go to bed, and think to myself, 'What did you do today James?', and I answer 'Well, I ate, studied, ate, studied, ate, studied, and now i'm about to sleep.' and then I think to myself... 'WHERE DID I GO WRONG?!?!?!' haha... But its good to learn things.. right?<br />
<br />
Well, some things have happened in my life.... let me fill you in...<br />
<br />
1. I GOT A CALLING!!! YES! This is true and rill! I am the Senior Primary choirister! HA! I'm so excited! It's going to be awesome. I already had my first week, which was a disaster, but it can only go up from here. Since when did we add songs I don't know to primary?!?! I've only been gone for what? 10 years? come on people!! Once again.. a pic straight from church.. for you...<br />
<img src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSwLEZhpRyHuovK6twmgfICn6eBH4QLV20YHmCRdqFSNRxTQp8&t=1&usg=__GtWXinIpPxuOTRQSNngjiAFQCqM=" /><br />
<br />
2. I JOINED A VOLLEYBALL TEAM ON MY OWN ACCORD! Yes, you probably can't handle this much earth-shattering news in one day, but I, James Peter Grant, on my own accord decided to join an intra-mural volleyball team that.. HAD A DRAFT!! I KNOW!! Who would've thought... it turns out I'm like REALLY good in Israel, but not so much in America... not quite sure how that works..but that's how it is....so I deal with it. We are 'Team Ace', and it's one of the most fun things I've ever done... everytime I hit the ball I yell 'VARSITY!' just for Brittney....<br />
<img alt="Max Lipsitz Max Lipsitz #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions
hits the ball against Mark Hulse #20 of the Pepperdine Waves in the
second set of their 2008 NCAA National Volleyball Championship Final at
the Bren Events Center on May 3, 2008 in Irvine, California. The Nittany
Lions defeated the Waves 3 sets to 1 to win the final." height="266" src="http://www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Division+Men+Volleyball+Championship+Championship+9zeSvgufTrNl.jpg" width="400" /><br />
yup... that's my block....own it!... just kidding.. i'm basically the guy on the far right.... most of the game... and it turns out dancing is NOT helpful... but don't worry... I was in charge of the VOLLEYBALL PLAYLIST!! HAHAHAHA I knew you'd love that!<br />
<br />
3. I got to see an orchestra from Germany, with a world-renown cellist come here and perform at the Jerusalem Center. It was so cool. Every Sunday night there is a huge concert here, and it is a pretty hot ticket in the classy Jerusalem scene. Well, me, Melia, and Johnathon decided we wanted to see this youth orchestra that was on tour, and they were GREAT!!!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/chft/images/47-03.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
This isn't a pic from our concert, but you get the idea. Also....sitting just 2 seats away from me, next to my Johnathon was this political heckler, that was yelling about political statements in between the 1st and 2nd song, and it was super awkward. After he yelled the crowd start to uproar and getting mad... JUST LIKE IN THE SOUND OF MUSIC....when the Nazi soldier comes out at the concert and says 'They're GONE!'.. ya basically just like that... it was insane.. AND his eyebrows were HUGE!! LIke unto the briar at the base of Sleeping Beauty's tower... HUGE AND GROSS!! I wasn't able to get a pic of him, as I don't have a cell phone to slyly use in a concert setting.. but i DID find a picture of his biological brother online....<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiAKiwq8NdAYIFKzYpb3gg2UcPrcOM-AAuzSSytQN_k0F42XHRtoww2Uj3_RnsuIbNlYT0nfIMz9gC2jXNRZZMMyRikYReenkeoSapfK_uVsjlEt0Pu93CU_P2nfXrPOqC0WAX9zrR9ha/s400/14_Brow_Area_Bushy_Eyebrows.jpg" /><br />
<br />
They basically look like twins... so imagine this guy....add 30 years to his face, dye his hair black, grey, and white, and you get the guy we sat next to... super awkward!!<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway,<br />
things are going well.. I've basically been eating, sleeping, studying, and playing a volleyball game here and there. After finals more fun things will happen... and I will fill you in on some more field trips... enjoy!!!<br />
<br />
Peace and Blessings<br />
<br />
James<br />
<br />
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://taliafinley.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-happens-in-jewish-class.html">What happens in Jewish class</a> </h3><div class="post-header"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64isf4ppiTKbrA3JhVN32r4JyOfLE1lXQD2cxQDKCu97W2wymRca04hzeGD3NncK8xM_fl_WUpRuKaPThiH935BxapcSI3ewwF8BfSkpzzugzM9pRkr4ReY-5LFUrAD764YgbukenYVZz/s1600/JEWRY.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525357815739218290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64isf4ppiTKbrA3JhVN32r4JyOfLE1lXQD2cxQDKCu97W2wymRca04hzeGD3NncK8xM_fl_WUpRuKaPThiH935BxapcSI3ewwF8BfSkpzzugzM9pRkr4ReY-5LFUrAD764YgbukenYVZz/s200/JEWRY.jpg" style="float: left; height: 149px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 112px;" /></a><br />
<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_d6EhQ-SrNrAxeTFEb2WJnlXbgUcdbVzCrPe2NUd5ZNKyee8ZjzG-W_jIkLN-Im4rn_zPMdCSUbyVBy252jisLEfgCQciQdd_HLMl-zS4-V1_TKAKQK51cTKUzhzUQ0xHC0q6_mEA6HYj/s1600/JEW.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525357634182161714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_d6EhQ-SrNrAxeTFEb2WJnlXbgUcdbVzCrPe2NUd5ZNKyee8ZjzG-W_jIkLN-Im4rn_zPMdCSUbyVBy252jisLEfgCQciQdd_HLMl-zS4-V1_TKAKQK51cTKUzhzUQ0xHC0q6_mEA6HYj/s200/JEW.jpg" style="float: left; height: 111px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 170px;" /></a><br />
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<div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 130%;">"Sometimes I don't know if you're talking about</span> <i><b><span style="color: #990000; font-size: 180%;">antique jewelry</span></b></i> <span style="font-size: 130%;">or</span> <b><span style="color: #ff6600;"><i><span style="font-size: 180%;">Jewry of antiquity</span></i>..</span>."</b></div><div></div><div></div><div>--James Peter Grant</div><div><br />
taliafinley.blogspot.com </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>This is a digital version of my friend James, hope you enjoyed!!!<br />
P.S. A special thanks to my friends James and Talia for making these posts that are quality.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-59038517339487204822010-10-07T20:44:00.003+02:002010-10-10T16:19:44.655+02:00Egypt Trip: Saturday and SundaySaturday<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92IuGxlaTyNuilnFNgFxC3_K-gbzCzAEfHcYx2mmfWTPrRD_MjFk71XvTQpm4EUTA2lPGWX7NPug_1ZJn6z3J54lVU2pMHoIxUA8E61o8Pl1ihP5Sqs05HSF3EtykVtA0pFf4u7wBYNhy/s1600/DSC00474.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92IuGxlaTyNuilnFNgFxC3_K-gbzCzAEfHcYx2mmfWTPrRD_MjFk71XvTQpm4EUTA2lPGWX7NPug_1ZJn6z3J54lVU2pMHoIxUA8E61o8Pl1ihP5Sqs05HSF3EtykVtA0pFf4u7wBYNhy/s320/DSC00474.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Mosques<br />
We got to go to some really cool Mosques that morning and our tour guide, Islam, taught a little about Islam, the religion. It was really neat to see how they worship and how devote of people they are. I think we forget too often that there are really devout and good people in every religion, especially non-christian religions. I really love our tour guide. He had some really great sayings that we continually repeat, even 2 weeks after we have been back. Here are a few of them. He called us group Toot, after King Tut (which is how it is really pronounced) Here are a few of them. "Toot, come more closer please, lazy toot, actually believe it or not, deal or no deal, yes or not, you believe zis, facebook is my family..." I miss him already<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhavzofDt7_Kw4gXQfMg_I0d7jiEOyS0znUEdgPPCqs99UlcVW7W3lFH3c9tL7FJhJBrgXQgfRIkkbdOxzJ5sNS31ZuX7WbZ8BQJTiTctEtxxjfslzHIvmdZUxneDtak-Cuhbmox4jMven/s1600/DSC00669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhavzofDt7_Kw4gXQfMg_I0d7jiEOyS0znUEdgPPCqs99UlcVW7W3lFH3c9tL7FJhJBrgXQgfRIkkbdOxzJ5sNS31ZuX7WbZ8BQJTiTctEtxxjfslzHIvmdZUxneDtak-Cuhbmox4jMven/s320/DSC00669.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Oscar Awards<br />
Me and my friend James had been commissioned for our very own production of Aaron and Hur supporting the arms of Moses while the Israelites fought, so we set up a small but quality production. It was great. I think we will get an Oscar for our amazing theatrical skills.<br />
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Sunday<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8cSHrUv5wd3g6NRrokautJdN0IYZyULiUzLCmQFE3cX6hSwKm5jueQpr_vaTsaIp3ZEm7W3JRDzrM6ca3Xf2tphCpjJHMhgcy6Eu7lcq6rN0TzjWqNeYQm70pGsMcfqMFa68tQL-MjYa/s1600/P1000614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8cSHrUv5wd3g6NRrokautJdN0IYZyULiUzLCmQFE3cX6hSwKm5jueQpr_vaTsaIp3ZEm7W3JRDzrM6ca3Xf2tphCpjJHMhgcy6Eu7lcq6rN0TzjWqNeYQm70pGsMcfqMFa68tQL-MjYa/s320/P1000614.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Sinai<br />
We woke up at 2 Sunday morning to hike up to Sinai. Believe it or not, I was not even tired. I love hiking so much!!! I miss it. It was neat heading up the trail in the middle of the night and seeing how many people besides us got up to see the sun rise on Sinai. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxKL4euuh363qTRdAHgCulFWeM0XS2Fllq8W6d2psquXf_0PcKylw4aifuz45xNvpaAq_YShOZzeNXa-lyZcXgKJ4FVH7og5ARVMfGK4vISGQIuicGGhBgXR-djnF1BApIhD_rFpl89Jx/s1600/P1000635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwxKL4euuh363qTRdAHgCulFWeM0XS2Fllq8W6d2psquXf_0PcKylw4aifuz45xNvpaAq_YShOZzeNXa-lyZcXgKJ4FVH7og5ARVMfGK4vISGQIuicGGhBgXR-djnF1BApIhD_rFpl89Jx/s320/P1000635.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Dance Party Bus<br />
We had a very long bus ride back to Jerusalem, so in order to pass the time more quickly we set up a dance party on the bus. It was flaming hot on the bus, but well worth it. I think I have officially danced 10000 times more on this trip than an accumulation of my whole life put together but it was a blast. I can literally say that there is only one mode of transportation that we haven't had a dance party on, and that is an airplane, but we will remedy that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-59459966065392823382010-10-07T20:32:00.004+02:002010-10-10T16:25:55.314+02:00Egypt Trip: Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://egypttourinfo.com/ancient-egypt-mummification_files/BIGmummy-egyptian-museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://egypttourinfo.com/ancient-egypt-mummification_files/BIGmummy-egyptian-museum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Egyptian Museum- Stinking tired but cool<br />
I really wish I had been at full strength this day, but the train ride and lack of sleep took it out of me. This place was sooooo INCREDIBLE, but I would have enjoyed it so much more had a been fully awake. We got into Cairo at 4 in the morning and started our day as soon as we got of the train. By far, my favorite part was seeing the mummies. It was so cool seeing the mummies of the people that we had been learning about. These bodies are 3000 years old! I never want to be that old.<br />
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Church-<br />
We had our own little church service in one of the conference rooms off of the lobby. We were all in our normal clothes except for those that were participating in the administration of the sacrament. It was a unique experience that I don't think I will have again to take a meeting with you on a trip.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/28/shd_icehotel_wideweb__430x286,0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/28/shd_icehotel_wideweb__430x286,0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Dirty Sheet-<br />
That night, we got a call from "room service" that told us they made a mistake and made our beds without changing the sheets from the last customers. They asked us to take the sheets to the front desk so that we could exchange them. Apparently I am really stupid or was extremely tired, because I completely bought into it. I hung up the phone and then got thinking about it. Why in the world should I have to take the sheets to the desk. So I call them up and ask them if they will come change the sheets for us. So a couple of minutes later a man comes to make our beds, but when he comes in he sees that the beds were already made and it really confused him. He didn't speak english so well so he left without doing anything because he thought we wanted him to make the bed instead of change the sheets. We get a call again from the "front desk" saying that we haven't taken the sheets to the front desk. By this time, I was pretty frustrated that a 4 star hotel had made a mistake and was going to make us bring the sheets. I don't remember exactly how it played out, but we finally figured out that it was people from the program. Well, I'm an idiot! But, apparently housekeeping didn't get the memo because another man showed up at our door saying "make bed, make bed." What I don't get is that they send another person that DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH! We tried to explain to him what happened and finally told him that everything is ok and that he didn't need to do anything. I was... punked!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-77365354120490984852010-10-07T20:13:00.001+02:002010-10-10T16:36:23.961+02:00Egypt Trip: Thursday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjj-bDTElWD5ueLVqPJZvTMHDTmY-clhpb6xChiH8GrhInxt5ih-sHFFSTZS8PMgKHqWJDchY08kirZQ5oYFJia0k5AwHTuZ3uOHuXJcBWcvSt_GHiNRXJ1hAVEvaC9Gld_cnSmbtHqjw/s1600/DSC00030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjj-bDTElWD5ueLVqPJZvTMHDTmY-clhpb6xChiH8GrhInxt5ih-sHFFSTZS8PMgKHqWJDchY08kirZQ5oYFJia0k5AwHTuZ3uOHuXJcBWcvSt_GHiNRXJ1hAVEvaC9Gld_cnSmbtHqjw/s320/DSC00030.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Motorboat dance party- <br />
We had to take another boat down the river, and when I say we had to, I mean we got to because it was so fun! As we motored down the river, one of the doctors that is with our group suggested a dance party on the boat. So, how could we decline, we moved the table out of the center, we cranked up the music and had a dance party on the Nile. Unfortunately, we were asked by the administration not to do it again, but it was fun while it lasted.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9HwtEhmTTEuX51B7_s9bQUeKDMs7AuLsM5VUwhhQgeXBtcvm5evY2D_ogNOLV0_Kl4bSM06DhldC8C2A4DrAldmbzez2j1h7R2Ngu9kFw46V7vMI66k9itSBSnbfx1GGMaXWTnrbuYpL/s1600/DSC00176.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr9HwtEhmTTEuX51B7_s9bQUeKDMs7AuLsM5VUwhhQgeXBtcvm5evY2D_ogNOLV0_Kl4bSM06DhldC8C2A4DrAldmbzez2j1h7R2Ngu9kFw46V7vMI66k9itSBSnbfx1GGMaXWTnrbuYpL/s320/DSC00176.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Karnak- AWESOME!!!!<br />
I would have to say that that this has been my favorite experience of the whole trip. I didn't even know about these temples before I came here. It is AMAZING!!! These temples are so impressive. I would say that they were even more impressive than the ancient buildings and monuments in Rome. These buildings were built over 3500 years ago!!! And they are still standing. I can't even imagine what kind of building processes they went through to raise these columns and obelisks. It is just incredible. The other cool thing is that there were amazing hieroglyphics in the temples. There were really neat things that could draw parallels to the temple. I don't necessarily believe that it came from the temple or that it was a corrupted version of the gospel, but it was still cool seeing those parallels. I could spend days there. We then took these little carraige things to the next AWESOME temple.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwuDSFnrSIT9ZvGaHJp-cdC8oUQ6m1ducBm6imI6Bne8e_VO_6TsnrU9RQVlxxZmaxzXDQFOCpknwZK9fYoZxAFGbnlR8E1JwDqmhSixMG5WGnKxH9XkGO1Dwf_BRpfmrNjm7pwWIcRxt/s1600/DSC00200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwuDSFnrSIT9ZvGaHJp-cdC8oUQ6m1ducBm6imI6Bne8e_VO_6TsnrU9RQVlxxZmaxzXDQFOCpknwZK9fYoZxAFGbnlR8E1JwDqmhSixMG5WGnKxH9XkGO1Dwf_BRpfmrNjm7pwWIcRxt/s320/DSC00200.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Temple Luxor-<br />
Pretty much the same things. What amazes me is that these two temples, over two miles apart, back in the day, it was connected my a road that was lined with statues of sphinx. I just can't wrap my head around all that manual labor. I was born in the right century.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFzWejoyLaESpi-8708SQxH3CCFpeQ8AwTKzIE2gLU_ng2w6k5s4TjYsrQRGwOlv92b9uZJEUWoFbOouEz-ek4hZllAeMMDE9G4paO6SLvl0_xqdrbhRG7_hmRpXdMxyXPTkfGv0LKLdG/s1600/DSC04965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFFzWejoyLaESpi-8708SQxH3CCFpeQ8AwTKzIE2gLU_ng2w6k5s4TjYsrQRGwOlv92b9uZJEUWoFbOouEz-ek4hZllAeMMDE9G4paO6SLvl0_xqdrbhRG7_hmRpXdMxyXPTkfGv0LKLdG/s320/DSC04965.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Train<br />
That night we had an overnight train ride from Luxor to Cairo. It was fun, but man I paid for it the next day. I was completely exhausted, all I wanted to do was get some real sleep.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-61019285372230668162010-10-07T19:46:00.002+02:002010-10-10T16:43:39.760+02:00Egypt Trip: Wednesday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/Seti-tomb-picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/Seti-tomb-picture.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Valley of the Kings- <br />
Valley of the Kings was by far one of my favorite things of the Egypt trip. In the latter dynasties of Egypt, the Pharaohs didn't have enough money to build pyramids like they used to, which really means they didn't have enough slaves, so they went to these mountains and instead of building pyramids they carved out chambers from the rocks and had tombs in the rocks. This is where they found King Tut. The crazy thing is that King Tut's treasures represent something like 60% of all the treasures from Egypt, but it is one of the smallest of the tombs and one of the smallest treasures of the Pharaohs. The only reason we have it is because he was so unknown that the grave robbers didn't find his tomb because another Pharaoh covered the entrance to his tomb when they were carving his out. My question is, who in the world has all this treasure in their attack? If it is in yours, let me know because I'll take some of that money. Anyway, we got to walk through all the tombs of all the Pharaohs that we have been learning about. It was really cool because we walked through the tombs of the Pharaohs that were in the Bible. There was this one tomb, Tutmoses III, that was a boiling hot sauna. I have never sweet so much in my life and it was instant. You know it is blasted hot when you walk out into over 100 degree weather and it feels cool! It was so awesome though, I would go back in a heartbeat. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2IkQxs_rNxuJbAIypL3iovdf34_L1UY_5xoX2WYW4SAfD2mv4868GMFR9NGZY46YQidV5RhgSZRXEoNDRljAIP6cBb3n1n1pY5bB174jBWzwMxVu7U2Bhu4BgcI1Fg5Dc_MiZtfALHR1/s1600/DSC09600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2IkQxs_rNxuJbAIypL3iovdf34_L1UY_5xoX2WYW4SAfD2mv4868GMFR9NGZY46YQidV5RhgSZRXEoNDRljAIP6cBb3n1n1pY5bB174jBWzwMxVu7U2Bhu4BgcI1Fg5Dc_MiZtfALHR1/s320/DSC09600.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Hatshepsut-<br />
This was a really sweet temple that was near the valley of the kings. There is not much to explain about the temple. Pictures do much better, but while we were there we danced the Waka Waka again. Unfortunately I am too lazy to type out the story so I took this from my friend Tessa's blog. And she says (with minor changes) Shakira can heal the world. Our class has made a goal to do the Waka Waka dance at every location possible. We’re all convinced that this song not only has immense healing powers, but also will stand the test of time, thus we are all willing to make this our legacy. Unfortunately, we didn’t always know which sites were totally appropriate for “waka”ing. Turns out, Temple of Hatshepsut wasn’t one of them. We wired our radios to play it in everyone’s headsets and did our thing. The security guards didn’t like it very much, so they came running down the stairs to talk to our guide and confiscate the footage and take him to the police. Our wonderful guide, Islam, politely declined the guards and agreed to show the police the footage and insisted that it was harmless. As he put it, they were moving in rhythm together. But, it’s pretty rare that people accept the excuse of “we’re just stupid Americans who love to dance”. Islam, accompanied by the security guard, took the video to the police. He stopped, looked and Islam, and said, “That…is….awesome”. As my friend Brandt says, “Waka waka healed that security guards heart”. It was epic. You can be expecting a Waka Waka video montage sometime in the near future.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitq5NQUF98FVn1nAyGXRl0UoAhVNLo7eW-tVXo7xRVtFCw_AeQLt_wZ4mn_jZyhzYjKB0yQF8Y-BJ78OiWfs0dXB7TpPyA3e4Id6xewBO5mQ_yUkPrr0lNZStsJ3bH6NAAn6yhL6bbuz9u/s1600/DSC09281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitq5NQUF98FVn1nAyGXRl0UoAhVNLo7eW-tVXo7xRVtFCw_AeQLt_wZ4mn_jZyhzYjKB0yQF8Y-BJ78OiWfs0dXB7TpPyA3e4Id6xewBO5mQ_yUkPrr0lNZStsJ3bH6NAAn6yhL6bbuz9u/s320/DSC09281.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
Colossus of Memnon- Pearl of Great Price<br />
We got to see the place where the facsimiles and the mummies that the church bought that are now the facsimiles and the Pearl of Great Price for us now. You never really think about things like that, that it came from some physical place<br />
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Falukah/ Camels- Little kid dancing, driving<br />
We took this thing called a Falukah which is like a really weird sailboat, to the other side of the Nile to go get on some camels. As we were riding down the Nile, the captains of the falukah put on some music. We had this really funny native kid that was helping him out on the boat that we got up to do a dance for us on a boat. We then hoped on some camels and had a 40 camel caravan winding through the countryside of Luxor. It was fun getting to see the country in Egypt and the little village areas. I was a little disappointed because I thought that we were going to get to ride them ourselves, but the people led us the whole time. I really wanted to have a camel race, but what can you do?<br />
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Suuq- Most fun night ever, confidence boost<br />
That night we went to the Suuq, which is the market. It has been one of the most fun nights that I have had since I have been here in the Middle East. I thought that the people hassled you in the Old City in Jerusalem, but I was wrong. I have never seen people try to sell so diligently, and their tactics are quite funny. I have never had so many compliments that are not true but happy to take them. I was with a group of four girls. As we walked through the streets all the shop owners kept yelling out, "Lucky man, four wives, I give you 40 camels for one of them." I didn't think the price was quite right, but when I was offered a Ferrari and a helicopter, I was completely willing, but the girls just liked me too much to give me up ;) j/k Anyway, some of my other favorite compliments were, "4 wives? Strong man!" or "Diligent man". It was fun, but I probably needed the opposite of a confidence boost, maybe a humbling experience, but I'm not complaining!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-70322834467501678162010-10-01T07:58:00.001+02:002010-10-10T17:03:43.539+02:00Egypt trip in sections.What a glorious trip!!!! So we have been gone for a week in the land of milk and honey! Well... the second land because we all know that America is the first, but Egypt was pretty dang fun. There are just too many stories to tell. Probably some of the most fun I have had in my whole life. It all started last sunday morning. Let me just tell you now that we have the coolest group of kids EVER!!! Every where we go is a party. I haven't had time to do all the blogging and I was planning on posting it all at once, but it is taking so long, so I will do it in selections.<br />
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Tel Bersheva- <br />
So, before this Egypt trip, the word Tel was like nails on a chalkboard for me. Apparently a Tel is the remains of a town on top of a town on top of a town on top of another. So, they really weren't that interesting before. I was really excited for Jericho, but then we got to the Tel and I wasn't very excited because there really wasn't that much to see. Turns out that Tel Bersheva is way sweet. My favorite part was the wells that they had there. There was a way deep well that you could throw rocks down and then hear it a couple seconds later. And then there was a cistern that you could go down into. And then there were the bricks that you could still see the hay that they put in them from over 5000 years ago. It was way cool.<br />
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Tel Arad-<br />
I wasn't very pumped for this one either but it turned out to be really cool too. It has an ancient Israeli Temple there that we got to look at. I guess back in the day, the temple in Jerusalem had satellite temple that were away from Jerusalem, so we got to see the layout of the temple and got to go into the Holy of Holies. It was actually really interesting.<br />
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Kibbutz Keturah-<br />
The first night we stayed in a Kibbutz, which is similar to the New Order where it is a self-sufficient community where everything is shared between the people. So that night we lived amongst them and had a great local meal of hamburgers and fries! It was way fun being there because, if you didn't realize, it is so stinking HOT here. That night we got to cool off in the pool and swim. It was a blast.<br />
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Desert Dune Experience- <br />
So we went to these way cool sand dunes just out in the middle of the boonies. I use to think that New Mexico was barren, but seeing some of these places makes me realize that we live in a lush oasis compared to these places. I didn't realize that there were real places on earth that truly had no form of life there. So we played on the sand dunes for a bit, had a wrestling match, you know, the usual. I tried wrestling this kid that does Judo, he kicked my bum in like two seconds every time. This one time he got me in this choke hold that cuts of the circulation to the head, so I started blacking out, but knowing me, I hate saying uncle so I just sat there until I couldn't see anymore, and apparently he realized what this did, cause he stopped, when I couldn't do anything. Never passed out, but I never realized that you could start blacking out that quick. You learn something new everyday. After that, we had a chance to just go sit on our own and ponder for a bit. That has been one of my favorite things that we have done. I always like to be doing something and it just eats away at me if I know that something is going on anywhere and I am not a part of it, but just sitting down and thinking was so nice. <br />
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Swimming- <br />
There is nothing better than cleaning the sand from your crevices than going swimming. They set up a little BBQ by the pool at the Kibbutz that we stayed at and got to swim that night. What cracks me up is that no matter how old you are, there is always segregation of the guys and the girls. It reminded me of Middle School. All the girls were in their little huddles together talking and the guys were chasing them around. We had the biggest chicken fight war that I have ever seen. It was a blast. Great end to a good day.<br />
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Headsets and friends-<br />
We have these little headset transmitters that let us here the teachers/tou guides wherever we go, but the whole trip my buddy James' headset was broken, so we used a splitter the whole time, so pretty much we were connected at the hip the whole time. James and I pretty much do everything together and it is really funny cause people will come up to us and ask how long we have known each other because everyone think that we have been friends for forever. I think that they are just jealous of how fun we are ;b <br />
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Monday<br />
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Border Crossing- <br />
Busses are probably one of the most fun things that we do. We have had some pretty epic times on the busses, but there is nothing worse than a sweltering bus, which someone defines every single bus that we have been on, but let's be honest, it has never stopped us from having fun on the busses. One of my favorite things is playing paper, rock scissors with people that are on the other bus as we are driving. One of my proudest moments was playing Paper, Rock, Scissors with an Egyptian in this little blue truck as we were driving into Cairo. As we drove in to Cairo, we saw this sign for an Andrea Bocelli concert. I wanted to go so bad. They set up a stage for him right in front of the Sphinx, so James and I were going to put down the money and by tickets. How sweet would it have been to have my first concert be at the sphinx with Andrea Bocelli! Turns out that we were in Luxor the night of the concert, so we didn't get to go, but one can dream, right?!<br />
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Pyramid Light Show- <br />
When I hear the words "Pyramid Light Show" I think of sweet lights, some fireworks, some awesome music. I am not complaining, but I am just going to say that the light show was way cooler in my head than the actual light show. But I did take an engaged girl on a date to them, so I pretty much dominated. It was our second date, no big deal. Her fiance will never be able to compete with a date to the Pyramids, but I guess he will just have to deal with it. <br />
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Tuesday<br />
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Giza Pyramids- <br />
I don't know if you guys realized, but the pyramids are the BOMB!!! I had no clue they were SO HUGE!!!! It is probably some of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. I knew that they were big, but I don't think that I could have imagined them being that big for having been built 5000 years ago. It is incredible! I wish we could have spent more time there, but we got to go see different look out points and see all kinds of Pyramids. I had no clue that Egypt had so many pyramids. Did you know that egypt has something like 130 pyramids, because I didn't! Obviously the ones at Giza are the coolest, but there was one lookout where we could see 15 pyramids at a 360 degree view.<br />
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Waka Waka- <br />
Shakira did this song and dance for the world cup called Waka Waka. This song is single handedly healing the world. So, in honor of coming to Africa (the song is about Africa) we all learned the dance and video taped them. Remember how I hate dancing, well... this is way fun. We broadcast the music through the transmitters and we all have out headphones in and we dance together. It is a blast and the funny thing is that everyone stops what they are doing to watch us and video tape us, especially the Asians. As my good friend James put it, "For the first time in centuries, the Pyramids have competition." So our plan is to video tape it in all these really cool places of us doing it and we are going to make a compilation of all the places that we have done it, put it on you tube, get popular, get on the some celebrity talk show thing, and then film a version of it with Shakira herself, because she is going to love it so much.<br />
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Sphinx- <br />
It was pretty cool to see the sphinx, but there really isn't that much to say about it. I did man handle the thing and take it for a rodeo ride, but that is all in a days work.<br />
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Papyrus- <br />
We went to this papyrus factory in Cairo where they showed us how they make papyrus and then they have all kinds of replicas that they have done of ancient papyri. It was really cool. I ended up buying one of the judgment that the Egyptians believed in. It is pretty darn cool. It is going to go real well in my old world style office/ sweet hand built library.<br />
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Memphis- <br />
Memphis is one of the old Capitals of the Egyptian kingdom back in the day. It was really cool to see some of the statues that have been preserved. Especially to see the famous one that they have of Ramses II. I just can't believe how long ago this civilization was and that the stuff they did still remains and how good they did for it being so long ago.<br />
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Flight- We then took a flight to Luxor from Cairo. I was completely exhausted after fulfilling some life dreams, so I was head bobbing until the stewardess came around and brought me some guava juice. As soon as I downed that stuff, I was ready to go. Talk about a quick pick me up. I guess I just needed some more blood sugar.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-90596617958623602502010-09-13T16:51:00.001+02:002010-09-14T11:45:25.023+02:00Pics Galore!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRdM1OsvgYXcMS_zzM5k_r93LXQg0fcICDcP0QVOddTYS1BFnEd7q0t9BulpX9kxJrblt8qZeDoATeY6bZFPJ0Y5_aXTzEV0R0fT0oDMvJbo4QMWr9bhJw4B4pEG3GTvNsR6Ud_PMj_j-U/s400/IMG_8209.JPG" width="400" /></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9iCrYNK0LlJJTIXIPBFAgVreQoW4Jl8uJ1cxD6d7qSC3mLMFZmlPbpR9U9NpYLBlQdSIGdSOgXgAWKv8CItS7RW7r1UpW1K_UiJbV6mk2Bh0SAsNo1DhnNsi0wpKZV_G1ZXB0zQoyp4Y/s400/Jerusalem+199.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zedekiah's Cave. They took the stone from here to build the walls of Jerusalem. It went for forever, I can't believe that people had to carry stone that far!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrudF1QTbGnkx-sCjWMmp1KO5K3nhCTGNMMGNoyiKNMSEtZ0Ii0R7mX5ZtyO0cOqF8fVONyL6M34xJhyhmablBG1HfD3QP3aQPgSly3Rm5jP535iK7Q9IWITOv_fZVuLBjmHd8tPsETt2z/s400/DSCN0302.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tombs of David's sons. It is so cool that there are all kinds of historical things all throughout the city. This is 2 minutes from the Jerusalem Center.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVgvt8YvA8xZbXCuKd7HW3jfw4Tizbx9aquZwTS2aT6_Fk4qu4rj7sHqvkuxGTkvHQUkhXSuhAUWpT3JWceJijCUFb_3G4ywc4H0J2BMpzTKuxxGdTT1bVGnVsSc_iNvJ7M-EpZb4whq6/s400/DSCN0334.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Went to Tel Aviv to the beach. One of the best days so far. I haven't been to the beach in years! And yes, I am a pregnant mermaid.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSj625nd-aNsmWspqo6bB7Sjm6GSKvMGCleXeizemRbxe3iHhV-kL8wjVAxttUjC1TVtJeQNosX2_t5QqyhxpaQEpEAkh9QR3h20gB5cbtlHy82yDtx8adkrh0pD_SdEaRY6QaBjGstdm/s400/DSCN0307.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love how easy it is to make friends. Best social experience of my life so far!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAibUms9I6wSr7Icx-VwZVNBAQIhHtJnKzPtctp2tNmB7H5DjNgh7gfnougVwgDAsquUQiBteYSmrVvoRD-sEXcnanUVtBIt9UVoEgLl7ntKc7l5qlOv0AK2jdg8-YIRCkCW0X2OXKAFp/s400/DSCN0315.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went and spent the opening of Shabbat at the Western Wall. It was not at all what I expected. They were dancing and singing and praying and reading, and 100 other things. I though they just came and cried and prayed there.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4j4fb7MX_nTzPFFX5aFOOdSbOfxwC-3v4tQwK9gR4lIGlt3X_zroJev0ui8tagHcJ4Tnmn-rMcE1xDcdreeMVCzl5Wyxet6sVPPePSPb-_lqUBoDHIFsPYhXUhGOx_abeE-wdGLPt4N1/s400/DSCN0358.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Takin' down the walls of Jericho.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGP2JOmToLslKNxDOgwj3dCZnhIIc5jIOMYR9anFJQmgno1Hn3qmVBS1MIeyWUL1kAwAuJZHxbpptAQRBszpnPZ49GdLNkvDHc78qlTTaX2znm9ZtdHYnqnrtOD8wwwpyMmTffVAXmSr4/s320/DSCN0364.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oldest city OF the world. I love oddly translated signs!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6XVmHD_2kdr66iclrwmV0sT3fS4eso02CZd4fYljqJozq6AzP8TduIIf7Q8d2qRMOkfPNkVhjOuXoGPwYPlyvry5axARNUHGvjlE4lfevzpVy3WFCJ93LlcHEXLLLMbRiKfgg1cgFmpl/s400/DSCN0367.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We stopped to look at the tree that the man climbed up into to see Christ... but it really isn't the tree because they don't live that long. I don't think that the girls were as excited as we were.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZHxylNye3dY_5-z9SJjgo6ye7MMAhKQbGhl6fkmttayeXTPHtpEOqnOzjKwQ1lazc6bJIa4Et5Vr20svPrWhSDw39bfSgjQTOAyVyFT2ZtWsxpjSHr1N8WjW123U3TysujJhgk-yNmiv/s1600/DSCN0377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZHxylNye3dY_5-z9SJjgo6ye7MMAhKQbGhl6fkmttayeXTPHtpEOqnOzjKwQ1lazc6bJIa4Et5Vr20svPrWhSDw39bfSgjQTOAyVyFT2ZtWsxpjSHr1N8WjW123U3TysujJhgk-yNmiv/s400/DSCN0377.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing the Good Samaritan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistor25zikecx__UydZ5AyXdsdI3x2rFhMJM-gsCVUSqhzYzlj9z_pbuCsUEEemlUhQSHxrfz9RA1IP177PMvHB-jxM6UBZQPeq3lVisiAKbcgyOQuxVLoDe5uam_FmxqiOXsAp1FgfH1Z/s400/DSCN0378.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is overlooking the road to Jericho</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ns2r81Xd9oIpzpgg7u7EsmjwXK-zm_xPEZ68H1Sya9DGd0XRAgWq_u1BFb3RgsVkXGICHn4xF7z9J0WaEp7I510sAUYa501oc72moZJ2Ri0GYhdczxSzM1uZUm3aKBOoEVCyUCmap2io/s400/IMG_8192.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="267" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aren't we studs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOroXN9jo5MkDqH-qkIVjGvg8kvGDtNEinupwi3cZXihpimShKWtRLEWt11kGWmSfplJwPV39IcqRV6TS_CoHjxtH0Idyne66tcyFfKoZBMoa8CBgj2cCHJSavhCCFKeQbSFAmFQolo9jj/s400/IMG_8272.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm so glad we live in real homes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FyMERyFsee5qavehOJ1oMDDFiZsg1zvBhehw3opj2KVFqQUUtLjlkafpKZvPo6UyKA_TyWmMZhZMIdFoVUhBbmD6H87BmPx2pT4xyQIoCwsoB8ZSYJq55sYK59xwnbsN2X5zhzgqOgDl/s400/DSCN1910.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I hate leg sweat.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9iCrYNK0LlJJTIXIPBFAgVreQoW4Jl8uJ1cxD6d7qSC3mLMFZmlPbpR9U9NpYLBlQdSIGdSOgXgAWKv8CItS7RW7r1UpW1K_UiJbV6mk2Bh0SAsNo1DhnNsi0wpKZV_G1ZXB0zQoyp4Y/s1600/Jerusalem+199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrudF1QTbGnkx-sCjWMmp1KO5K3nhCTGNMMGNoyiKNMSEtZ0Ii0R7mX5ZtyO0cOqF8fVONyL6M34xJhyhmablBG1HfD3QP3aQPgSly3Rm5jP535iK7Q9IWITOv_fZVuLBjmHd8tPsETt2z/s1600/DSCN0302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRVgvt8YvA8xZbXCuKd7HW3jfw4Tizbx9aquZwTS2aT6_Fk4qu4rj7sHqvkuxGTkvHQUkhXSuhAUWpT3JWceJijCUFb_3G4ywc4H0J2BMpzTKuxxGdTT1bVGnVsSc_iNvJ7M-EpZb4whq6/s1600/DSCN0334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSj625nd-aNsmWspqo6bB7Sjm6GSKvMGCleXeizemRbxe3iHhV-kL8wjVAxttUjC1TVtJeQNosX2_t5QqyhxpaQEpEAkh9QR3h20gB5cbtlHy82yDtx8adkrh0pD_SdEaRY6QaBjGstdm/s1600/DSCN0307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAibUms9I6wSr7Icx-VwZVNBAQIhHtJnKzPtctp2tNmB7H5DjNgh7gfnougVwgDAsquUQiBteYSmrVvoRD-sEXcnanUVtBIt9UVoEgLl7ntKc7l5qlOv0AK2jdg8-YIRCkCW0X2OXKAFp/s1600/DSCN0315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-4j4fb7MX_nTzPFFX5aFOOdSbOfxwC-3v4tQwK9gR4lIGlt3X_zroJev0ui8tagHcJ4Tnmn-rMcE1xDcdreeMVCzl5Wyxet6sVPPePSPb-_lqUBoDHIFsPYhXUhGOx_abeE-wdGLPt4N1/s1600/DSCN0358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOGP2JOmToLslKNxDOgwj3dCZnhIIc5jIOMYR9anFJQmgno1Hn3qmVBS1MIeyWUL1kAwAuJZHxbpptAQRBszpnPZ49GdLNkvDHc78qlTTaX2znm9ZtdHYnqnrtOD8wwwpyMmTffVAXmSr4/s1600/DSCN0364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV6XVmHD_2kdr66iclrwmV0sT3fS4eso02CZd4fYljqJozq6AzP8TduIIf7Q8d2qRMOkfPNkVhjOuXoGPwYPlyvry5axARNUHGvjlE4lfevzpVy3WFCJ93LlcHEXLLLMbRiKfgg1cgFmpl/s1600/DSCN0367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEistor25zikecx__UydZ5AyXdsdI3x2rFhMJM-gsCVUSqhzYzlj9z_pbuCsUEEemlUhQSHxrfz9RA1IP177PMvHB-jxM6UBZQPeq3lVisiAKbcgyOQuxVLoDe5uam_FmxqiOXsAp1FgfH1Z/s1600/DSCN0378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjRTkxWkJgxV9AfnKIWCtxhvXUU14CTkBgAnuPXcoixXDAU_yHlj1wOLTbvTfK3uyG1vjXhAuGGH1S6Z7jcZnYjGASJcgKnvXtOaS6VhxVZnSCbECWLymuUW_XwHRCrEHxP47axUU969X/s1600/DSCN0379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQN2wwPTTmlp-utJK1s-zrABIvzLLLN2GQ7ySFvL4-6PbOKDKDHeTQ4mB3DfaCwbaK5IwKNJ8WcGNsmXaqkAGCaJXZNd9e0Di6ga5yJuXBOZywtz2KBAhpT-fvNY2O7stDaS9sZxc2TqWP/s1600/DSCN1928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRdM1OsvgYXcMS_zzM5k_r93LXQg0fcICDcP0QVOddTYS1BFnEd7q0t9BulpX9kxJrblt8qZeDoATeY6bZFPJ0Y5_aXTzEV0R0fT0oDMvJbo4QMWr9bhJw4B4pEG3GTvNsR6Ud_PMj_j-U/s1600/IMG_8209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIINWZTrlq2BnrFLXYJ0QyKt6qxivIfsqBM5C7bJgOxpD0Y2sFzpb8iOVCqaB7RIvtGyF4N_6cqpNsg-42-ot4S5PQy1zGfmpY8ItrmL0HQ4g1mohaL7FDyUcEa4QSp_fRmGWLNTWsyY08/s1600/IMG_8216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Ns2r81Xd9oIpzpgg7u7EsmjwXK-zm_xPEZ68H1Sya9DGd0XRAgWq_u1BFb3RgsVkXGICHn4xF7z9J0WaEp7I510sAUYa501oc72moZJ2Ri0GYhdczxSzM1uZUm3aKBOoEVCyUCmap2io/s1600/IMG_8192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOroXN9jo5MkDqH-qkIVjGvg8kvGDtNEinupwi3cZXihpimShKWtRLEWt11kGWmSfplJwPV39IcqRV6TS_CoHjxtH0Idyne66tcyFfKoZBMoa8CBgj2cCHJSavhCCFKeQbSFAmFQolo9jj/s1600/IMG_8272.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4FyMERyFsee5qavehOJ1oMDDFiZsg1zvBhehw3opj2KVFqQUUtLjlkafpKZvPo6UyKA_TyWmMZhZMIdFoVUhBbmD6H87BmPx2pT4xyQIoCwsoB8ZSYJq55sYK59xwnbsN2X5zhzgqOgDl/s1600/DSCN1910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>So, the internet is so slow at the Jerusalem Center, so a group of us decided to go to the University next to us that is quicker, so I figure now or never to upload some pictures.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-1074890775003341182010-09-11T20:24:00.000+03:002010-09-11T20:24:15.095+03:00When in Rome... JerusalemI got to go to this really sweet party thing the other night. So, according to the Jews, it was just the beginning of a new year, something like 5211 or something like that and they are starting a new year and they have a holiday called Rosh Hashanah. So apparently a couple of my friends got invited to go to this Jewish Rabbi's house (as if there were any other kind of Rabbi). Somehow I was lucky enough to get invited to go with them. So about 8:30 we took off from the JC and went to this guy's house. It was so cool to see the difference in traditions and religions. There were probably 60 or 70 of us crammed into this room with a bunch of dinner tables. We all sat and chatted, and they had a bunch of traditional foods and said a bunch of prayers and got drunk, but it was a really cool experience to get to go into the home of a native family and see how they live.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-30141174047888611102010-09-08T19:20:00.000+03:002010-09-08T19:20:26.437+03:00Field Trips!!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLI2UP_d0vTsOoSN9z8MnKM7eCE2sAhRM_xirvFaU_filTbKVLyOgVIEhb23jzOmxx65tFDlmttx1V4CMT4u95Vp_fh5Ie1Qzsec2QxNNU8C93rAH5zV9oWGZ3io096alCDMDUGKQaWm9/s1600/DSCN0176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLI2UP_d0vTsOoSN9z8MnKM7eCE2sAhRM_xirvFaU_filTbKVLyOgVIEhb23jzOmxx65tFDlmttx1V4CMT4u95Vp_fh5Ie1Qzsec2QxNNU8C93rAH5zV9oWGZ3io096alCDMDUGKQaWm9/s400/DSCN0176.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I remember those stories that Mikael and Nathan told about the priests fighting over cleaning the steps. This reminded me of it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWN79VrsbHoGA5MLzE8rg1ZGP8ijGbLEmc-cTF3kN7QCat2p_wHmRvavCjiOIq81wvlpLe4661cSjVLeiXlofky0XaaX28x6g3W7eY-KCsCGdSZ_AOKVctZSrQDitxoICQNR80-8ZADGF/s1600/DSCN0185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWN79VrsbHoGA5MLzE8rg1ZGP8ijGbLEmc-cTF3kN7QCat2p_wHmRvavCjiOIq81wvlpLe4661cSjVLeiXlofky0XaaX28x6g3W7eY-KCsCGdSZ_AOKVctZSrQDitxoICQNR80-8ZADGF/s400/DSCN0185.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love watching the priests.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9fe7z9loscCvClrHf071SYxIba7qs0rbpobdLLet1oEdk9Ht-fj7xIYvu3HKDiQBG7MmzF6BsfXrLP8hqq5HFEiqgZrZUDh5qKJmF8KmrGSkJcLJhKaRzM1WPkJYUI0skBbKWbgAv0WF/s1600/DSCN0124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM9fe7z9loscCvClrHf071SYxIba7qs0rbpobdLLet1oEdk9Ht-fj7xIYvu3HKDiQBG7MmzF6BsfXrLP8hqq5HFEiqgZrZUDh5qKJmF8KmrGSkJcLJhKaRzM1WPkJYUI0skBbKWbgAv0WF/s400/DSCN0124.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerusalem is soooo beautiful. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd18cYV_dxVsvUo9SWXrNAyQYR1uU0Z65u3gP-z6CL7bY3Xkar8kvI9fByanxNF7PkoQrUjqkAhrdq1F6t0SXeQd2A7gY5CTcxdz9R6lNHDdovpdltNQGaDFll72RaRyzV-kxpprMRigBD/s1600/DSCN0284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd18cYV_dxVsvUo9SWXrNAyQYR1uU0Z65u3gP-z6CL7bY3Xkar8kvI9fByanxNF7PkoQrUjqkAhrdq1F6t0SXeQd2A7gY5CTcxdz9R6lNHDdovpdltNQGaDFll72RaRyzV-kxpprMRigBD/s400/DSCN0284.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is looking from Nabi Samwel, which is the place where Samuel was buried... but not. They found his real burial place, but for some reason Muslims and Jews come to worship at the tomb. I don't get it, but it sure is a great view.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4g7GxS1JJVUQhQaXUTI0EGBjrxA4cURQRDcFCeXIA0ogzjJJ1xLcrvYE0agBFvsjMHnqJSt-Os5aeHqcHaUBDykmVa4SzNQ_fF9u0izbr7n1fNmEl5LAM9KgxC-p2rY-y7XFQD22T09Y/s1600/DSCN0275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4g7GxS1JJVUQhQaXUTI0EGBjrxA4cURQRDcFCeXIA0ogzjJJ1xLcrvYE0agBFvsjMHnqJSt-Os5aeHqcHaUBDykmVa4SzNQ_fF9u0izbr7n1fNmEl5LAM9KgxC-p2rY-y7XFQD22T09Y/s400/DSCN0275.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My two buddies, Katie-boy and James!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCekKgxO_sN2bafK4YqvNV-wjZfubSHqs8lHUG7DUqzKfRwufltoTQ5v0mLGYF1E9KpAuMDkgOIp6mpzBckgNCQ7gjw4r0CSROMPJnJQ2JkSQFxdd73zW6ZnoG6t-e-ep2Gzx8DjrRm5w/s1600/DSCN0293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCekKgxO_sN2bafK4YqvNV-wjZfubSHqs8lHUG7DUqzKfRwufltoTQ5v0mLGYF1E9KpAuMDkgOIp6mpzBckgNCQ7gjw4r0CSROMPJnJQ2JkSQFxdd73zW6ZnoG6t-e-ep2Gzx8DjrRm5w/s400/DSCN0293.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is in front of Gibeon where the sun stood still to let the Jews kick the Hitites bootie.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>You know that you are going to have a GREAT semester when one of your classes is called field trips!!! I have a new suggestion for the Jerusalem program. Not that I don't love the classes, but they should get rid of some of them and we should just do field trips the whole time. Or maybe we could just have lectures on the buses as we travel from place to place the whole time. But you take what you can get ;) Our class consisted of driving around Jerusalem and they taught us about the geography of the city and we read some of the bible stories in the places that it actually happened! It is so awesome!!! Our teacher is a genius too, which makes it all the better. He was showing us all the little things that you would never find out with a normal tour guide. Where else do you get 4 guys with a P.H.D. in Egyptology, the Bible, Hebrew, and Near Eastern studies! Talk about ideal tour guides! It amazes me all these stories that I knew (and so many that I didn't) happened in the very place that I am looking at. Before it was point "a" to point "b", data entering the head, but now I will look at those stories and see Abraham snaking across the ridges of the hills, the armies marching from miles away coming to attack the city and the streets where miracles were preformed. Wow!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-63521063546261507292010-09-08T15:55:00.002+03:002010-09-08T15:55:33.903+03:00Freeday... officially my new favorite day of the week.First two free days!!! I love the town! It has been so fun getting to explore the city. I feel like I am on a mission again, but I get to do all the fun things that I always wished we could have done. On Sunday we went out after church and tried to visit a couple of the churches. I was so excited to go to the Church of the Ascension, which is a Russian church. I was so excited to go talk to some Russian people, but it turns out that they were these two dudes sitting at the entrance of the church making you pay to go in. So we bumped out of there and went down to one of the many of the Gardens of Gethsemane. It was really neat, but I am excited to go to some of the other ones because it didn’t really feel that special. We had to hurry back for dinner because we were all dying. Remind me not to go out in the blazing heat in the middle of the day on a fast Sunday. Woops. We went out again later that day and explored the city some. Pretty much we walked real slow and talked the whole way, but it was a lot of fun. It has been a blast though getting to know everyone. We were talking about it the other night. There is no other social environment like what we are in right now. It is so rare to become so close to so many people in such a short period of time. It is pretty cool! I have made a lot of good friends.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-34538937265583887722010-09-05T22:08:00.000+03:002010-09-05T22:08:13.806+03:00First/Second day on the town<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvAnUmyb62Nw83z8mZJ6E4sQ0z9DxQh9Wg_LYJJBXInFDi79YmAknQqkjudO1DMk0qSKq-IcpUynBS4tkc7zY0mQburQTBMVkbzxVU-dGNpxzX6V05s4mDDwM-bFBdhL-9HoHXtToAzrX/s1600/DSCN0247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEvAnUmyb62Nw83z8mZJ6E4sQ0z9DxQh9Wg_LYJJBXInFDi79YmAknQqkjudO1DMk0qSKq-IcpUynBS4tkc7zY0mQburQTBMVkbzxVU-dGNpxzX6V05s4mDDwM-bFBdhL-9HoHXtToAzrX/s320/DSCN0247.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zedekiah's Cave, way sweet. This is where the quarry for Salomon's Temple.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMIO4KVFPr7uNUTNp7jScIUgX-OT9vGGL3bX6s9vYdXoAROzqawf7UgNuESAmzZ1UY_qMtKtUf41J8HSXuzNdETUAiMoUtHsS121JmDzNt33eIMdlWapp1n6LjjiM73e_0ZMKBAo_WlYw/s1600/DSCN0243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMIO4KVFPr7uNUTNp7jScIUgX-OT9vGGL3bX6s9vYdXoAROzqawf7UgNuESAmzZ1UY_qMtKtUf41J8HSXuzNdETUAiMoUtHsS121JmDzNt33eIMdlWapp1n6LjjiM73e_0ZMKBAo_WlYw/s320/DSCN0243.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have always wanted to preach to a whole congregation, this was my shot at the Lutherans.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPJ3qAP1YXdoiZZ51ZLC1H7TU7uaT1XsyfNqzhQ0Qsh4udMhyphenhyphencXxx1qt44ncCBTbotACFHc0FaAS921zugsPFD2luvrrKK7wCj7QkaAVdK0p1J6YAAxufPQECNn9ssgK8XUQQrMFLAPMfW/s1600/DSCN0223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPJ3qAP1YXdoiZZ51ZLC1H7TU7uaT1XsyfNqzhQ0Qsh4udMhyphenhyphencXxx1qt44ncCBTbotACFHc0FaAS921zugsPFD2luvrrKK7wCj7QkaAVdK0p1J6YAAxufPQECNn9ssgK8XUQQrMFLAPMfW/s320/DSCN0223.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently this is the center of the world, but you know what is even better?! Me being in the center of 4 girls ;b haha</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-sTWVxxd9_O1eF5FO6HprSzYUwe1U1IIWsEw1uTdk_LGAS1RKxT-Nrr8DrXIHJY3lbvIa_qUai5BA9BqXWgxIk4d2etvb-PEm0mhg3hQiXDK_dmV6YxFR6rjIaGQT4JMg1SoOcVBUDM0/s1600/DSCN0221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-sTWVxxd9_O1eF5FO6HprSzYUwe1U1IIWsEw1uTdk_LGAS1RKxT-Nrr8DrXIHJY3lbvIa_qUai5BA9BqXWgxIk4d2etvb-PEm0mhg3hQiXDK_dmV6YxFR6rjIaGQT4JMg1SoOcVBUDM0/s320/DSCN0221.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The churches are so beautiful! I love the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we spent 2 hours there going to the different services</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982327674826650825.post-18876873887892290942010-09-02T17:26:00.001+03:002010-09-02T17:37:19.383+03:00We finally made it!!!!After a ridiculously long trip, we finally arrived in Jerusalem! All the traveling went pretty smooth, except for the fact that I had only gotten three hours of sleep the previous night and got a grand total of 30 min of sleep on all of the flights. I didn't know that I could even function on so little of sleep for 3 days. It was really fun getting to know all the different people that will be on the program with me. I am really excited about the group that I am with. It looks like a really fun group of kids. There really were only two things of note with the trip over.<br />
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So we flew into Vienna from the states, which I was really excited about because I thought that we were spending the night there, but turns out that I read the itinerary wrong and we only had an hour layover or so. But that is not what I was not what I was going to say. Anywho, I had a major flashback when I flew into Vienna. We ended up at the very same gate that I flew out of when I was coming home from my mission. It was 11 months to the day when I had been standing there with my mission buddies from the MTC and we met a senior couple that was traveling out to there mission and a bunch of missionaries fresh from the MTC with their bad haircuts and nasty part :) I'm allowed to say that because I was one of those. It was so strange to think that I have been home that long. It made me really homesick for Ukraine. I was tempted to just head over to another gate and catch a ride to Ukraine for a quick detour. I don't think that it would have been much appreciated, so I refrained (just barely though). As we were flying out, the pilot announced that we would be flying over Sophia and the Black Sea, which only threw me further back into flashbacks. We got our Visas renewed in Bulgaria and our mission was right on the Black Sea. I couldn't believe how beautiful the Black Sea is. There are these awesome islands all throughout the Black Sea that look so cool. My new dream is to buy one of those islands and build a mansion on it! The other cool thing is that the guy I was sitting next to. I asked him to let me by when I was sitting down on the plane and I could tel that he didn't understand English but knew what I was asking. He was wearing a Kippa so he was obviously a Jew. I knew that I wasn't going yo be able to talk to him. All of a sudden he whips out of copy of this newspaper and I look over and I could read it! It kind of confused me at first because I knew that he didn't understand me, but then I realized that it was in Russian, so I got to chat it up with him on the airplane. I know that I am going to love it here, I have heard so much Russian already and I have been here only a day!<br />
Anyway, today was really sweet too. We got to go out on the town and see the old city on a little tour. We were in a group with the director of the Jerusalem Center. It was so amazing to see all of the things. I never really associated so many of the stories of the Bible with a place, in my head they were all in this mystical place that got taken up with the City of Enoch, but all of a sudden they materialized in my head. I know that I am going to be spending a lot of time at those sights, so I won't bother trying to describe them all right now.<br />
One thing that blows my mind is that this place, considered holy by 3 religions, has been turned into one huge market. I always imagined the streets to be just the way they were back in the time of Christ's life, but there are vendors selling souvenirs and all that other stuff. That just blows my mind. It is like money changers in the temple!<br />
The best thing, well, maybe not the best, but what topped it all of was the end of our little excursion. We ended up in west Jerusalem on this walking street with shops everywhere. We had gotten 30 shekels to spend. I was walking down the street when I got a glance of my favorite word in any language. GELATO!!!! I was so excited. You probably can't understand what this word does to me. So of course I took a little detour and went with a group of kids to get my first gelato in the Holy Land. What better way to end the trip than with a two scoops of heaven in a bowl? I submit that there isn't! Unfortunately, my spirits were dampened shortly thereafter. One of the girls informed me that some of them were talking and decided that I was going to find my wife while I was here. What is with all this pressure?! That is like the tenth time people have told me that, but I never expected it from the people that are here. Can a man have some peace?! ;b<br />
Anyway, that is a rundown of the excitement so far. I am so excited, and utterly exhausted. I woke up this morning to my roommate going to the bathroom and I have been so excited that if I wake up it is for good, because I am instantly awake. So we all got up at 4 o'clock and listened to the call of prayer for Ramadan. So we were all sitting out on the balcony at 4 in the morning. I'll guarantee that one won't be happening again! So I figured that I better take some pictures of because I won't ever be awake to get similar pictures at that time again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3