Almost Finished. Crazy right?

Geeze. So we're a week and a half away from coming home. It is crazy. Really. I can't believe how time goes by so stinkin fast when you're trying to get so much out of life. So anyways, i'll catch up through photos. Between the time I really blogged we've been to Jordan and spent 10 days up in the Galilee. It is so crazy how much we go here. But it is an incredible opportunity.

We'll start out with Jordan:

 Sophie and I at Gerash. Look Familiar Mom and Dad?

 This is Rachel and I at the temple to Hercules in Amman, Jordan. I'm trying my best to look strong. And Greek.

 Ok- THIS is the coolest place in Petra. Mom and Dad, i'm bummed we didn't get to see it last time, but it's crazy. I'll have to show you more pictures when I get home, but due to some restrictions... and a little bit of snooping, I will refrain from posting the actual picture. I'll explain.

 THIS is how cool this rock is down in Petra. This looks like a senior picture. Awful.

 

 This is Katie and I at Philidelphia Theater in Amman, Jordan.

 Then we came back to Israel and continued our awesome adventures down in the West bank.

  We went to The Herodion (as shown above- Yes that is a man made mountain that Herod the great decided to build and put his crazy palace on top. Herod is crazy and I will sing that song till the day I die), Bethlehem, and shepherds fields which were all so incredible.

 Then we went on another field trip learning about the separation wall. This particular part of the wall is kinda for media and propaganda in America. Note: ENGLISH graffiti. They don't speak English here.

 This is Michael Barlow, Will, and Me in front of the Russian Orthodox church of Mary Magdelene on the mount of Olives. So cool! That is the one that looks like golden onions on the Mt. of Olives Mom and Dad. It was cool.

 So this is actually the night of the Jerusalem bomb scare. Notice we look quite shaken... NOT! haha. But this here is the Jerusalem Center Prom. Oh ya. We had prom. But Rachel and I were assigned to go with Michael.

 Here is our funny couples picture. Wow.

We were trying our best to make it awkward. I think we succeeded. 

And NOW.... drum roll.... GALILEE!!

This is a crazy pretty first view of the Sea of Galilee from Mt. Arbal.

 This is Emily Maddox, Amy, and me rafting down the one and only Jordan River! it was stinkin funny.

 This is my top notch crew. We conquered that river! Lo was our capitano, Emily and Amy were our cheer team, Katherine was there to make us more sophisticated, and I of course was the muscle and comic relief. Also happened to nail BOTH amy and Emily in the head with my oar at one time. Not intentional. I just really needed to recover my flip flop. Turns out Jed Jones becomes a hero in these types of situations and jumps in the river to save my poor dollar flip-flop. Thanks Jed.

 This here is our view from the branch building in Tiberius. We had an amazing experience there. During our meeting, we just happened to be watching first hand a tempest raging outside on the sea, and during the closing song (master the Tempest is Raging) it cleared over and became this... 

The most incredible view i've ever seen. 

 Then we had a field trip starting off with a boat ride across the Sea.

This is a boat that was recently discovered during a very dry season on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. They date it back to the time Christ. Pretty incredible!

 This little gem requires a little bit of explaining. We are standing in front of a rock face and some caves near by the Sea. This is the place they traditionally believe to have been legion's cave where he lived before Christ rid him of his devils and sent them in to a heard of swine, which then proceeded to storm into the Sea. Hence- the pig faces. (Kaylin, Sophie, and Me if ya can't tell... hahaha)

 So then, after a good half day field trip, we went on a hike through the Golan Heights. We were only about 3? Km from the Syrian boarder on this hike, which was cool. Also, we just happened to be hiking after some crazy rain storms the previous day. It was super duper muddy! We were packin along a couple good extra pounds on our shoes the whole hike. It's a miracle I didn't eat it hard.

 The crew!

A pretty little water fall near the beginning of the hike. Later on, we were able to swim in a FREEZING waterfall, but I didn't get any pictures of that one. hopefully someone else did!

THIS WAS AMAZING. I loved the sunsets at Ein Gev. Ah man. 

So let me tell you a little bit about this picture. This was actually one of my favorite moments of all Galilee. This picture is a picture of all of the prayers written and dropped down the grate of a church up on Mt. Tabor, one of the supposed sites of the mount of Transfiguration. We were lucky enough to get a very rare tour ( not even the other class got it- our teacher, Bro. Schade, Speaks Polish and made friends with a priest there.) He led us down to this Byzantine foundation of the church, Which if you've been to one of these churches, where everyone kisses the pretty shrine on the floor because it's closest to what's underneath? We got lucky enough to actually GO underneath. So these are the written prayers people slip through the grate along with money and such. The priest said- go ahead! Read some if you'd like! I felt a little weird about it, because if I was that person who's letter some random college student was reading, I may feel a bit weird about it; but it ended up to be an incredible experience. I read some of these prayers and tried to imagine this person who was writing this. You can tell so much about what a person really values and thinks about when you read a prayer from them. People are incredible. It made me think a lot about what my prayer would say? What is important to me? If I had to write a letter asking God about things, what things would I put at the top of my list? It was a wonderful experience.

This is actually an authentic mud-brick gate that dates back to the time of Abraham. This is the city of Dan, which makes up the northern boarder of Biblical Israel. This is the place Lot would've been captured and taken into captivity, and near where Abraham made his rescue mission. Cool story.

Behind me is the Syrian boarder. Pretty incredible!

Me and Niel! See? Demascus was only 60 km away!

Jordan, Sophie, and I overlooking the Jezreel Valley from the top of Mt. Carmel

Sophie and I. Our last dip in the Mediterranean for a while. I'm gonna miss it for sure.

But here we were at Caesarea Maratima on our way back to Jerusalem. Crazy how fast 10 days goes when you're in Galilee! Oh Galilee, sweet Galilee, where Jesus loved so much to be! :)

Here's a group picture with the one and only Shaban. Hahah. Funny.

Here we are at Rachel's tomb... with Rachel. This place was super interesting. So the dividing wall's boarders were actually changed to wrap Rachel's tomb into a middle ground so that Israeli Jewish women could come here to worship. They regard Rachel very highly, and go there to pray for fertility. It was a very emotional place to say the least. I have to assume because of the suffering of those women who are there praying for a solution to their problem, but not sure. It was a neat place though. 

So I guess that's a super quick catch up of my going on's of the past month. I'm sorry I have been so terrible. It's just so fast here, and I hardly squeeze in sleep sometimes. But i'm loving every crazy minute! 

I love you family, and I am so stinking excited for Patch Family Christmas 2012! I mean, we do have to live it up before the world ends right? According to the Mayan calendar that is... hahah. Love you guys! I'll see you in 10 short days!

Safe and sound

No stress fam. All is well! Just a couple bombs to keep us all on our toes! Haha. Apparently it's a fist here in Jerusalem. Had to try out the bomb sirens and shelters some time! Might as well make that time today!
But I and a group of 15 others were in a little town on the outskirts of Jerusalem called Ein Kerem (beautiful little town by the way) and heard the bomb sirens. We weren't really sure what to do, and there was a serious lack of people around because shabbat had already begun. So we casually walked back to where our bus dropped us off and called the JC. ON our way back, we hear a faint bomb-like sound (turns out... it was just that! Funny how that happens) But long story short, we got the all clear to jump on the bus back to the center. On our way we had to grab Jordan, Jed, and Rachel cause they were stuck by the U.S. consolate with no taxi. But got back, had an emergency meeting just letting us know what was up, what our plan was, etc... So all is well! No stress. Plans to head to Galilee come Mon. morning are still a go, so i'm happy! But just wanted you all to quit worrying. [ya right. Like you are! Mom and Dad didn't even know! hahah.]
But if this is my last post... I love you all!
Bahaha. Just jokin. But I do love ya!
Lizzie

Funny things Bashir Said

So I can share all of these weird things with you and mostly so I can remember them in the future- Imagine these sayings said far too often accompanied with air quotes all in a funny Arabic accent.
-Vis-a-vis
-i.e.
-part and parcel
-These DUDES
-my friends
-eh??
-Does this makes sense?
-It is not that complicated
-We will go to the party...
And many more. I'm sure i'll be editing as I remember others.

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!