Cancel That- THIS has been the week of studies

 

Haven't written in forever. Here ya go:

Thurs 11th- School

Fri. 12th- School

Sat. 13th- church and primary dinner

Sun. 14th- RED SEA!! So stinkin fun. We got up real early and drove down to Eilat to spend a day at the beach. One of my favorite days for sure. I could've snorkeled there for days! So I have a new plan- Red Sea: Patch family 2013!! Maybe both Turkey AND Red Sea?? Eh? EH? 

This may be the only picture I got at the red sea. I was a little too busy snorkeling ok?

Mon. 15th- We went on a field trip to Yad Veshem, which is the Holocaust museum here. It was really an incredible experience. It was super interesting to see the historical perspective from Israeli Jews.

Super neat memorial to the Jewish Children killed in the Holocaust. Unfinished pillars stand as a remembrance to unfinished lives.

Tues. 16th- crazy school forever and studying

Wed. 17th- ANE midterm and slacklining

Thurs. 18th- Arab Dinner- Very much fun! Got to learn about the call to prayer and Koran reading in mosques. Ate some yummy food. Danced funny step dances. Studied. 

Don't be alarmed. He's just the only one who takes pictures of me. I am forgetful enough to never bring my camera.

Friday 19^th- studying and class.

Saturday 20^th- primary program! And then… two more glorious hours of trying to control the crazy kids AFTER the primary program. Geeze it was a major test of my patience. But the primary program went really well! So that was good. Of course my sunbeams were the ones everyone was laughing at as the pulled their skirts over their heads, hopped around to each song, did handstands, etc… I gotta be honest, at that point there’s nothing much you can do as a teacher that’s not just as distracting, so I wasn’t as restrictive as I could’ve been. And because I love watching the crazy little ones when I’m in the audience, so I let them have their show.  Man primary programs are the best.

21^st (Sunday) free day!! We got up and went to… guess parents?

Yup! YMCA! 

Look familiar Mom and Dad?

We got to go up in the bell tower and play the carolon (Sp?) Essentially, the bells. We played the bells in West Jerusalem to thousands of people! I played little purple pansies and another one I can’t remember. But man it was fun! I got pretty nervous and pulled some crazy faces that of course were caught on camera…

Oops. But whatever! At least west Jerusalem can’t see your face as you’re playing! Then we went to the Israel Museum, which was really cool as well! They have the dead sea scrolls. So nuts to see. So many other cool things too! But too many to truly appreciate, which is the greatest shame about places like that. But it was sweet! After that- just went home and slacklined I think? Been doin that quite a bit. A super good stress reliever, that’s for sure.

I'm getting better!

22^nd (Monday)-

Neot Kedumim field trip! So this place is kinda like the biblical version of this is the place park or whatever it’s called. We got to heard sheep, make biblical food for lunch, watched a torah scribe do his calligraphy thing- which was incredible. Made his own supplies- ink and everything- from kosher material. Takes them a couple years simply to write one Torah which is the five books of Moses I believe? So nuts how they dedicate their life to that. And finally- we walked through the biblical gardens learning about the plants specifically mentioned in the bible and their significance. We also got to crush some grapes and squish some oil really fast. Not tons- but still really cool! Lots of fun. Then, back to the center to study more! Yay! :P NOT!

23^rd (tues) Studying and tests

24^th(wed) studying

25^th(Thurs) studying and tests

26^th (Friday) LAST test. Hallelujah. It has been so nuts. I am very excited to get in to the second half of this semester so I can relax a bit. Different experience with school here. Family- I already made that pretty clear on the phone as I raged for too long. Thanks for the open ears.

Sabbath was pretty uneventful. Really chill- except for crazy primary of course. Lots of violin playing actually. Be proud parents.

And that brings us to today!! Yipee!! Today was a beautiful day. We went out, went on a rampart walk- which is a walk around the walls of the old city- really fun! Pretty. Then we meandered around the Old City for a bit, bought some schwarma!! (yes- my FIRST schwarma. Wasn’t all that exciting. I’ll give it another try, but I think I like felafal better.) Then- we set up the slickline just outside of the city wall on the grass and had a hayday! Oh it was so fun. Everyone was so intrigued by it. Tons of Arab boys were all trying and laughing and having fun. It was a lot of fun. Lots of interaction with the locals, tons of fun! I need to get pictures from Jed so you can see- but it was a lot of fun! Then came home to our Halloween party! The little kids in the center and from the branch came by and trick-or-treated and we had a fun little costume party. Everyone ended up dressing like everyone else. I was our Palestine teacher- because we have the same plaid wardrobe… weird… and it was just funny! 

This is me and my Palestine teacher Bashir Bashir. Yup. All my clothes. Sad truth that I have the wardrobe of a middle-aged Arab man.
Paul and I being our director. Of waaay too funny.

This is my main man Michael Barlow. I thought his costume was way funny! He ruffled some feathers at dinner with the security guards though. hahah

These are my awesome roommates!! Sara is a G. Liz is a safari girl! Too cute. I am doing air quotes. Bashir does that far too often.

Then- went to the concert that was tonight for the community held here. The auditorium is FINALLY finished! But it was a mandolin quartet, and it was amazing. Just so much fun to be here overlooking the night lights of the beautiful city listening to such incredible music. It was just a fun experience! Life is looking up now that finals are over! Also- headed to Jordan in a mere five hours. Still got packing to do. Still haven’t slept at all. Oops. But I told ya I would blog- even if it blew. So… here it is! I will add pictures later so it is more fun. But I love you family! Thank you for your support and prayers and tolerance of me. I know I’m a pill sometimes. Hope everything is going well back home. Happy Halloween!! 

 Random Pictures:

Hey! Look! The Old school romans wore chacos too!

Rampart walk. Really fun!

Hezekiahs tunnel from a bit ago.

In the city of David overlooking East Jerusalem. I thought it was really cool!

Love ya family!

Week of Studies

Well, I feel like this past week has been kinda boring compared to my last post. All I did was study! We've been having midterms and it's been crazy. Not in a rock-my-world-hard kinda way, but crazy in that everyone here is all preparing and taking these tests all at the same time and we all just amplify our stress and anxiety, and basically everyone ends up freaking out over a 20 question quiz! That's pretty much what it comes down to. Being that person who doesn't get involved in group study too often anyways, I felt a little out of place. But don't worry parents! I did fine. We did go on a field trip to the Shephelah- which is the lower hills that parallel the coast line through most of Israel. We went to the valley which is known to be where David slew Goliath. This valley is almost surely the place of this biblical story because of such good documentation on the location. So naturally we went and flung some rocks! I literally almost killed the kid next to me. On my first swing, my rock went directly sideways and flew past his head. He was pretty nervous after that to say the least. Oopsies! But I got betta!

See? Like David.

This is a bell cave. Look them up on google- cause they're cool!

This is Madison, Lindsay, Me, and Sophie overlooking the valley where David and Goliath went the rounds. (or round. whatever.)

We also went to these amazing caves called bell caves which we explored for a bit and sang in. [see above] Ah the acoustics were a lot of fun! I really can't remember the significance of them... but it was sweet! After the whole group sang hymns and everything, as we were just messin around, Paul, Jed, Jordan, and I started singing amazing grace just to play around and it was really really cool! This group is so stinkin talented here guys! I can't even tell you. But I really loved it!
But Tues, Wed, and Thurs. were basically filled with school and studying. 2 midterms and a paper. But really not as bad as everyone was making it to be. We had our informal talent show on Thursday night and I think I can honestly say that it was the best talent show I have ever been to. Honestly! It was so stinkin awesome. I did represent. I may be ruining a suprise- but I bought Dad a sweet crappy slide flute from the bell caves and I may or may not have played Lord of the Rings song until I couldn't continue due to laughing. Ya- good call on not having me learn the flute or something when I was little Mom. I woulda sucked. Spontaneously cracking up doesn't work so well with wind instruments... Now violin on the other hand- totally fine!
Thursday after classes and everything was over (Oh man Mom and Dad- I was so tempted to skip Hebrew and go in to the city to see the Jews celebrating Sukkot, but I DIDN'T! You would've been so proud.) I went with a group down to West Jerusalem to see all of the Jews celebrating. They were full on having a parade through the streets of all the Jews who traveled to Jerusalem for Sukkot. It was really fun! Fun environment. Also- got my first loaf of Challah bread!! Yummo!

My cute roommate, Liz, and I in West Jerusalem. Those little plywood huts are what they ate in for the entire week. During Sukkot- you can't eat a meal inside. (maybe I needed to use the bathroom- cause I look goofy in this picture.)

 Friday we had class and just played in the center. There was a bit of guff goin on at the Temple Mount- so they didn't let us go out. So we did some slacklining!

Tada! Da da dadadada da CIRCUS! Afro circus afro circus, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot AFRO!!

Sabbath we didn't have our normal meetings because of general conference, so we went out to the Garden of Gethsemane pretty early. We actually got in to the private grove with the better trees that you can go up to and they only allow special permission groups in. It was a really interesting experience. Similar to Mom's experience in the sacred grove I think. I just wasn't feeling anything in such an important and serene place, but I learned a wonderful lesson from it. I wrote in my thoughts journal (shout out to Kamille- thank you for enabling me to record my thoughts in your cute journal! I love it!) trying to figure out why I wasn't able to feel the spirit at all in this sacred place, and I had the thought that this may be what Christ was feeling when he was performing the Atonement in this exact place. God removed his spirit from him so Christ was completely alone. I don't know if Christ had ever felt that alone before in his life, because he had lived a perfect life worthy of the companionship of the spirit at all times. But because of his Atonement- he had to feel what we feel. He had to know what it feels like to sin and to suffer without the support of the Spirit. It was an interesting thought to me. Later on in the day though, while watching General Conference I had such an amazing experience where the spirit just filled me to the brim, and I recognized that there has to be those times that i'm alone in order to appreciate the times when I feel the spirit. General Conference here was a wonderful experience for sure. When Pres. Monson announced the change of age for missionaries- so many girls just burst in to tears. The whole room was just an emotional/spiritual wreck. Hahhaa. Seriously- girls sniffing and crying throughout the ENTIRE first session. But it really was a sweet session. In between sessions we did a bit of slacklining on the grass in front of the center. It's a fun little get away from things in the center for sure! Then went back in to watch the second session and went straight to bed!
Sunday felt like one of the longest days of my life! We got up at sunrise to get to the Western Wall to see the Jews celebrating the end of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles) They take palm, Willow, and other plants along with a lemon thing and shake them in all directions (N, S, E, W, up, and down) where God is and pray for a good rain season to bring good crops. Then on the last day- Sunday, they forcefully whack the leaves on the ground. My Judaism teacher explained this as one of the weirder traditions of the Jews and an interesting thing to see. He was right! We aren't able to go out of the center before 6 so we got there a bit after the whole big thing went down- but it was still going on when we got there about 6:15. It was the most crowded I have ever seen! Pretty crazy! TONS of guys and not too many girls though. I asked one woman and she said it's kind of a guys thing. I can see that... haha. "Hey! Lets go whack each other with weeds!" Sounds familiar. But then we met up with our class at the City of David at 8 and toured there. We also went through Hezakiah's tunnel again. It is always fun to me! Course- I have always found entertainment in trudging through tunnels in my clothes. After all that- we came back to the center and had a chill nap day until general conference again. Ah man this general conference has been awesome! Hopefully we get the conference Ensign here so I can study it. Probably not gonna happen though. Bummer.
Anywho- that brings us to today! Since we had our fieldtrip yesterday we had free day today. So a group of us went to the rockafeller Museum. It is a fun little museum with crazy cool things! Not to mention it's awesome courtyard in the middle. The weather today was stinkin beautiful. Down a couple degrees and it will be amazing! I'm getting fall fever. I really wish we had pretty fall leaves here. I hear it's beautiful back there- i'm jealous. Do some good biking in Park City for me. Also, I was able to go to dinner with one of the shop owners family today- which was awesome! Jed knows a girl he knows and he invited Jed and Jordan and Sophie and he told them to bring a fourth. It was fun to get to sit down and visit with a family here! He (Jimmy) lives about three miles from the Old City, so he came and picked us up and took us to his house and all that. Cool stuff. But that's about it for me! I heard Boston was a raging success. I can just imagine- four perfect little angels all playing peacefully painting replica's of Monet. A beautiful image. Bahahah. Hope all is going well! Love you all family! Thanks for the prayers. I am having the most incredible experience of my life and I know your prayers help me daily. Love you thiiiiis much!
Lizzie