Shopping in Jerusalem

Hi guys,

Today we are back in Jerusalem in the beautiful Knight's palace hotel
(which is owned by the same people as the Gloria). We had an exam this
morning which seemed to go pretty well. We'll see what the score is
tonight!

In the afternoon we had some free time. This was basically our last
significant chunk of free time in Jerusalem, so we hit up the market
for some bargaining. I got some pretty good deals. It's very fun to
argue prices out, once you get the hang of it. I think it's going to
be hard to accept set prices when I get home!

Tomorrow we are goig up to Galilee for four days. Once again, I will
be looking for internet access but I can't make any promises. So, if
you don't hear from me before next Thursday, it's because i'm swimming
in the sea of Galilee!

Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Lauren

day three in the Negev and another day off

Hi everyone,

It's Friday and I'm back at the JUC. Yesterday was our final day in the Negev (the desert region in Southern Jerusalem). In the morning we went to Masada, which was amazing and really hot. There are some places in Israel that have been much smaller, and closer together than I expected. Masada is not one of those places. It's huge and very high up. So naturally we hiked all the way up the remains of the Roman siege ramp, and all the way down the "snake path". I slipped on the way down and bruised my hand, but it's a good story worthy wound I think. I was glad I got up there. There is basically a whole city on top of that hill, and there were some first century frescoes and mosaics still intact. The story of the place is very powerful to say the least as well.

After Masada we went to the Dead Sea! I had been anticipating that a lot, but in the moment it didn't feel like a momentus occasion. You just walk into the water pretty normally and when you go to swim your knees kind of shoot up to be parallel with your shoulders. I was able to tread water and then stop treading, basically just standing in the water, with nothing but salty ocean under me, and have my head and shoulders completely above the water. While we were swimming around we happened to notice a sign giving the temperature. It said that it was between 43 and 45 degrees. Celcius. so yeah, When the picture below was taken, it was about 110 F. I guess we worked up to that.

Afterwards we got to swim in the mercifully cool pools of En-Gedi and we got to spend about 10 minutes at Qumran before the park closed. I got some good pictures though.

Today we have a day off to do laundry and study.

I hope you are all doing well, thanks for the comments.

Love,
Lauren

After swimming in the dead sea today (Thursday)

Piece of Phillistine Pottery

Day one in the Negev

Hi guys

I know this is coming to you late, so don't worry about the time
marked on this.

On Tuesday we went to a couple mounds which used to be ancient cities
(tels) namely Beth Shemesh and Lacish. We got to looks around for
pottery shards which was really fun. They are everywhere, just lying
on the ground. Most of the pottery was from the crusade period but I
actually found a piece of pottery from the Phillistine era at Beth
Shemesh! It was just chilling on the ground and I scooped it up.

In the afternoon we got to swim in the Mediteranean. Oh man, it was
the best swim of my life. After a week of climbing hills and treking
around in the heat it was so good to swim. The sand was fine the water
was the perfect warm temperature with very little seaweed and the
waves! They were sometimes big and it kind of beat you around a
little, but it was so fun to just be in the ocean, with all my
classmates.

In the evening we came to the hostel we will be staying at. It is
actually really nice. There are five beds in the room but only three
of us with two sinks, a shower and a mini fridge!

I was dead tired by the end of the day. It was great.

Love
Lauren

Day two in the desert

Hi everyone,

We just completed our second day in the Negev. Man, I thought I was
tired in the city! We've done a lot of hiking around. I had to bust
out my big sun hat today. We were warned it would be hot and sunny
here so I thought I would save the hat for that. It was a big help.

We visited a few more tels (Tel Arad and Beersheba) and I found a few
more cool pot shards. Dr. Phillips says that these are probably only
from the Arabic period which is no big shakes around here, but they
are still around 1500 years old, so I figured showing the to you all
ought to be a priority.

So yeah, lots of hiking. We took a couple hiking trails today
including one trail through part of the Wilderness of Zin. I'm
drinking toms of water and applying SPF 70 at least twice a day.

When we came home there was a three inch bug on my pillow but one of
the boys got him for us. I wanted to take a picture, but it wasn't as
funny when we weren't sure if we would get him or not. Other than that
there are just lot of cute kittens around!

Hope all is good with you all. I'll be back in Jerusalem tomorrow night!

Love,
Lauren

A restful day

Hi everyone,

I reallybshould be asleep right now but I wanted to get a post outto
you because of impending temporary changes. I'll get to that in a
minute.

Today was really nice. The test was good, it was fair. It wasn't too
tough or too easy. I did pretty well on it too. It's good to have that
first marker behind us all.

In the afternoon I went to the Rockefeller Museum with some other
students. It was fun to walk around and enjoy the structure of a
museum in addition to enjoying being able to place the stuff I was
seeing in a wider context pretty easily.

After that I went with a few people and walked about half of the
rampart wall around the Old City. Climbing around the different levels
and getting to see the different fortifications was really fun.

After that there was dinner, some organizing, and desert with the
president of JUC which was casual and too short!

So things changing: for the next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday,) we will be on a field trip covering all sorts of things
south of here. I hear that we are going to get to swim in the
Mediterranean and the Dead Sea(!) and see the Jezreel Valley where
David is said to have fought Goliath. I'm really excited about all of
it. However, we will be stayig in a hostel and I don't know how the
Internet access is going to be. It hasn't been hard to get wifi here
in the city, but I dot know what it will be like out in the Hill
Country. So this is the heads up. I'll try to be in touch but if I'm
not look forward to pictures of students encrusted in salt on Thursday.

Things are great in general, I'm glad to be with a group that gets
along together so well and I'm ready to get on the road and off to
more sites and adventures after two days of rest (relatively speaking).

I hope you all are well. I'm thinking of you often.

Love,
Lauren

Week 1 completed

Hi everyone

Today we have our first of three exams in Israel, showing we've gotten
through the first third of the material here. We've been assured the
test will be managable, but Phillips isn't one to give out easy As.

Yesterday I got up early with some people (as you saw) and went to the
Church ofthe Hily Sepucher again for their Sunday morning services.
There were services going on everywhere. Catholic Latin mass, an
Arabic Coptic service, then a Catholic mass in English and what we
think was an Armenian orthodox procession and Mass. All of them going
on one on top of the other in different chapels and venues. You could
walk around and take your pick.

After that I did feel like going to one standard English speaking
service so I joined the group going to St. Andrews Church of
Scottland, where the Phillips' went regularly when they lived here. It
was lovely especially since this Sunday was Pentecost (makes sense
after Shavuot) and we were in the city where it happened, keenly aware
of the language barriers here.

After that I caught some lovely filafel and generally spent the
afternoon taking it easy with my classmates and studying.

Oh! In the evening we did get to take a tour of some Jewish
excavations around Temple Mount. That was great, all of the things
regarding Temple Mount have been my favorite so far.

I'm happy to report that so far I have not been sick at all and barely
sunburnt at all. People have been impressed with how well I have
retained my pasty-ness. After a whole week I did have a moment of
missing movies, tv (and the Glee finale!) and YouTube, but with so
much going on around us, it's hardto look back and miss that stuff for
long.

That said, I do miss you guys, and I'm thinking about you all the time.

Love,
Lauren

Walking to Church before the market opens

Jericho and beyond

Hi everyone,

Today we went to the ruins of Geba and Jericho which were really cool.
Actually it was very hot and sunny.

We also got to spend a little time out in the Judaen Wilderness having
a moment of quiet time. There are some important people who have spent
time fasting in the wilderness, and it was awesome to get a tiny
picture of what that would be like. The parable of the Good Samaritan
was also said to take place on the route between Jericho and
Jerusalem, which we got to drive down.

In general week one has been incredible. I can already tell that it is
changing some of my perceptions of the Biblical narratives in the Old
and New Testament and I can't wait to share that all with you.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we have a free day. I think that I'm going to go to
a few church services and walk around the city with people. I'm hoping
to go back to the church of the Holy Sepulcher for an early service.
We will see how it goes. Jetlag is my friend.

Well, I miss you all and will write again soon.

Love,
Lauren

Oh large tourist driven town of Bethlehem...

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, Friday, we toured the beautiful mountains around Jerusalem
and got to spend some good time on the Mount of Olives. We visited a
church that commemorates the spot where Jesus prayed.

We then went to Herodian, the recently discovered ruin of the Palace
Herod built for himself. It was complete with a sauna and theater back
in the day and was one of his major fortresses.

Bethlehem was tough. We went there later in the day and there were a
lot of tourists apparently with tour buses people aren't really buying
souvenirs anymore and the economy is suffering. It seems like people,
and in this case my group included, just run in, take pictures and run
out. It's sort of a shame.

Still, I'm learning a lot. Today we are going out to the Central
Benjamin Plateau and maybe Jericho.

Thinking of you all, talk to you all soon.

Lauren

At the Temple steps

Hi everyone,

A few quick things here. First off, sorry the times are weird on
these. In addition to the time change my emails don't always send
right away, so there is some weirdness there. Also, I apologize for
typos, I try to re-read, but I am sending all of this from my phone!

Today (thursday) we went to Hezekiah's tunnel and got to walk through
it. It was awesome. You could see (and touch) the chiseling in the
walls from the 700s BC. It was awesome and fun. It was also great to
be short. Some passages were just the perfect size for me and no more.

In the afternoon we went to the Southern side of the Temple Mount
(around the corner from the Western Wall) in the first century there
were 5 entrance ways to the temple area and 2 of them were on the
south side. That side of the Temple rampart wall was almost completely
destroyed but the steps are still there. As Dr. Phillips said if there
is anywhere that we really seriously know that Jesus walked it is
right there. That was really exhilerating. There were a couple neat
pieces of archaeology pointed out, which I can go into tons of detail
about at home.

Now I'm back at the hotel ready for dinner.

Don't worry mum, I'm wearing sunscreen. :P

Love,
Lauren

At the Temple steps (on the south side)

Thursday morning

Hi everyone,

So it's thursday mornig here. Yesterday, after going to the Western
Wall for Shavuot I took a nap then we went to the church of the Holy
Sepulcher, the place where Jesus traditionally was crucified, and 70
feet away buried and rose from the dead. Heavy begins to describe it.
There are a lot of church traditions clashing in that spot, which is
sad.

After that we had class most of the day. We couldn't really travel
around the city because it was mobbed with Hassidic and Orthodox and
some Reformed Jewish people going to the Western Wall.

To answer some of Mom's questions: the food is great. We've eaten
almost all our meals at the Gloria hotel or JUC. I think we have sort
of American/middle eastern cuisine going at both locations. I had
French toast this morning. Anyway, it's been really good and I've been
really hungry.

I'd love to say more about clothing, but I'm running out of time. I
will say I seem to have hit a good medium-conservative position. I
could have pushed it, but it's better not too.

Got to go, love you all,
Lauren

What I did this morning

So it's 7:45 am here and I've already had an awesome morning. Today
(and last night) is the Feast of Weeks or Shavu'ot. It celebrates God
giving the Law to the People, and also the sacrificing of the first
fruits of harvest. Here people celebrate by going to the Western Wall
and reading the Torah through out the night and day.

The Western Wall was part of the parameter wall around the Temple
built by Herod from 20BC to 20AD. The stones building it range from 4
tons to 40, and as the Romans were tearing down the Temple they
basically got to this part and decided it wasn't worth it. It's been
cleaned up since then. Apparently people don't really call it the
Wailing Wall anymore because times have changed and Israel possesses
more of the city. There is still some crying there, but there isn't
the rising and falling moanig that I heard about.

We got to go up to the wall yesterday, which was really very powerful
for me. We heard that people would be gathering there for the festival
and that if we wanted to get in we'd have to go around 4 in the
morning. So I basically didn't question question if I was going or not
I was just going. A group of about 6 of us got up at 3 (jet lag helped
take the edge off) and walked over. It wasn't crazy when we got there
but by 5:30 it was getting really busy. There were a lot of men in
different complicated traditional dress, little kids running around,
and women in long skirts. People were singing and talking, mostly in
Hebrew and English, chatting, reading, and praying. It was chilly that
early. We could have worked our way up to the wall, but we had been
there the day before and we didn't want to impose, so we just sat back
and watched people move around.

It's incredible and unreal to be here. I want to remember this forever.

The wailing wall at Shavuot

Morning in Jerusalem

Good mining everyone,

Today is the first day of classes in the old city. Yesterday, after
checking in to our very nice rooms we ventured out and wandered around
the city with the Dr. Phillipses. We visited some street shops owned
by old friends of theirs and did have the best filafel around. I guess
I like pickels.

We also got to see the Western Wall or wailing wall, from a distance.
It was fairly quiet there at the time. Apparently tonight (Tuesday
night) into Wednesday is a festival, Shabbuot or Pentecost. So a ton
of people will be pouring in there soon.

By the afternoon we were all hot an tired and went back to the hotel
for an ice cream and some rest. We struggled through to dinner at the
hotel, which was wonderful, and then I zinked out from 8pm to 6:45.

Time for class. I'm thinking of you all. More adventures to follow.

Love,
Lauren

The update here

Israel is awesome. It's everything I might have dreamed it would be.
It's dust and warm like a smokey tea and there are lots of limestone
buildings. Apparently there is a lot of wifi around, and there
definitely is in the hotel lobby.

The flights went really well. The food was good, I slept sufficiently,
and got to watch several free movies. Basically I was in my element.

Now we are waiting for the hotel rooms to open (though no one is
sleeping on the couches yet!) then we will explore the city and
Jerusalem University college (JUC) where we will be holding our
classes. Then it's dinner, bed and class at 8 am tomorrow!

I'm just in awe of everything here. It's an amazing place to be, and I
hear it only gets better. I'm excited that you will get to here about
it!

Talk to you soon,
Lauren

Live in the Gloria hotel Jerusalem!

In London!

Well, I've successfully made it to London and I've never been so
tempted to deviate from the group plan. We are in a three hour lay
over and we have had some time to shop around a little. Aparently
there are rumor that there will be delays due to stikes later in the
week we got here too early! I want to see some theater!

All the same, the trip is going really well so far. The group is
really awesome, we get along really well. The flight here went pretty
smoothly and I slept a lot. I'm a little concerned now because my seat
number for the next flight is 22K! I'm pretty sure I'm in baggage. We
will see.

That's all for now. I'm glad to be traveling again. Talk to you soon!

Lauren

Test 1

Hopefully this the way I will do all of my blogging. I really should
be asleep right now. Really really.

hey!

So, I'm heading out in 5 hours, I hope this works!!

love,

Lauren