Claire and Jennilee's Holy Land Adventure

Jordan - Day 4

2008-11-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

For our last day in the land of Jordan we got to visit a number of places. Our first stop was at Kir - the capital of Moab. Here there was a Crusader castle located on the site. It was actually quite impressive, in that much of the castle was still covered having the ceiling intact. Kir is also the city that can connect to the Cisjordan through a land bridge in the Dead Sea when there is a drought. Moab can then get to the city of Masada, by taking this land bridge. From Kir we traveled to a look out spot near the Arnon canyon.

The Arnon canyon is the divider between Moab and the Medeba Plateau. The Medeba Plateau is the contested area between Israel and Moab, and also Ammon. These three kingdoms surround this piece of land and all claim ownership. The King's Highway also passes through the Arnon canyon, which means one has to choose to either zig-zag through the canyon or take the Desert Highway instead. Though the Desert Highway posses its own problems, like lack of ready resources and less protection against marauding 'desert pirates'. The Arnon canyon is really impressive, as any canyon this size would be. As we traveled down into it and up the other side you could get a glimpse of the Dead Sea, which this canyon drains into.

From the Arnon we went to Dibon, a city located just north of the canyon. At this site was found the Mesha Stele, which is a Moabite stone that relates the conflict between Moab and Israel. This city is also important, especially to Moab, because it is one of the few footholds Moab has in the Medeba plateau area. Moab consists of Senonian rock, which is associated with a shepherding lifestyle. You can see this emphasis on shepherding, especially for Moab, in the Bible where specifically states that even the king was a sheep herder (2 Kings 3).

From Dibon we went to see the Medeba Map located inside a very beautifully decorated church. The Medeba Map includes the area from Dan to Beersheba plus Egypt and Asia Minor. It is supposed to cover the major lands mentioned in the Bible. It is also eastern oriented and makes Jerusalem the largest and most detailed city on the map. This is due to the prominence given to Jerusalem in the Bible. It actually was a very interesting map, especially in how they represented different things. Though, it was hard to get a picture of the entire map since it spanned a good deal of the floor.

After we picked up our lunches we went to our last stop for Jordan, and for our Physical Settings class as a whole. We stopped at a nice look-out area on Mount Nebo. This is the mount that is mentioned at the end of Deuteronomy. God brings Moses up on this mount to give him a prophetic view of the land that the Israelites will (or at least were supposed to) possess. However, Moses himself is not allowed to enter the Promised Land due to his sin in the desert. We could get a nice view of the land from here, but no where near the view Moses had. Though, apparently it has been rumored that on really clear days people have thought that they saw the glimmers of the Mediterranean Sea. So who knows, maybe Moses was able to see the entire land or God may have miraculously shown him.

We also discussed here the theme of Deuteronomy being - remember. Remember what God has brought you through and what He has done. The question now is, will I remember what I learned about the land of the Bible when I leave? Will I choose to allow it to shape and deepen the way I read the Bible? Will choose to take what I learned and allow it to change me? I think we all should learn from Deuteronomy and never forget to remember, but also take it that a step further by choosing faith.

~Jennilee~
P.S. I love you all and miss you. I can't believe this experience is almost over. We are all in crunch mode as our papers and finals are soon upon us. But as I realize that I will be leaving here, I think I have come to a better appreciation of this blessing. At first I must admit that I missed my home land rather strongly. However, God has helped me to appreciate Israel and all that Israel has to offer. I also will cherish many a long term friendship that would not have come to be without God directing my steps to this place. Well, Praise be to God, and may He have the glory through all that I have learned both inside and outside the classroom.
I can't wait to see you all.
Love you!

Jordan - Day 3 (Petra)

2008-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

On our third day in Jordan we woke up bright and early so we could head out to Petra as soon as possible and spend the first part of out day there. This city was created by the Nabateans, who were nomadic spice traders. They were the only ones to conquer the desert and mastered the crossing of it from Arabia to the Mediterranean coast (or at least the Negev area). Petra is their most magnificent city carved out of Eocene stone. Eocene is very clay-like and easier to build out of instead of with. As we walked into the city, which was originally thought to be solely a burial place, the beauty of our surroundings was amazing. It takes about 20 minutes to actually get into the city as you walk through a small canyon pathway with high cliffs on both sides. Along the side of the cliff the Nabateans had constructed a pipe line to bring fresh water into the city. This is one of the reasons people now think that the Nabateans lived in Petra, instead of just building tombs here. For why would they need to water the dead, Zafer (our tour guide) poignantly pointed out. Also, as we were walking in we would come to a rectangle carved into the wall with blocks representing the Nabatean gods inside. Apparently, they did not like to picture their gods as human, but instead chose this more geometric shape. We found these representations about four or five times as we walked into the city.

The canyon finally opened up to the remarkable treasury building that is featured in Indian Jones. Though, there was no treasure inside or knight guarding the Holy Grail, the outside was still very impressive. It was highly decorated especially at the top, with large pillars creating a striking entry. And yes, I did get a picture in front of it. From here Nicole and I walked farther into the city and got to visit many interesting Bedouin shops. We walked all the way to the restaurant that is close to the base of the stairs that lead to a monastery. We didn't go up there, but decided instead to head back in the direction of the treasury. On our way back we stopped and talked with a Bedouin shop keeper for over an hour. It was very cool, especially for Nicole who feels called to the Middle East. The hospitality of the people here is definitely unmatched, especially if compared to Americans. We could learn a lesson or two from the Bedouins.

After we quickly walked out of Petra (due to the fact that we were a little late for lunch), we had lunch and moved on to the tell of Bozrah. Bozrah is the capital of Edom; it is very high and elevated. The Bible uses this imagery of Bozrah being high to represent Edom's tendency toward pride. Also, since Bozrah is so high it naturally is hard to attack. Bozrah has other positive points as well. For instance, this city connects to Gaza though an east to west trade route. This is important, because trade and connections are everything - especially for Edom who is the middle man between the desert and the coast. Edom is connected to Arabia which brings a lot of revenue through their spice trade, and when they can get into the Negev they can bring the spices to the Mediterranean Sea. This is why so often Edom is threatening Israel who holds claim to the Negev. Apart from the positive aspects of Edom they also must deal with some negative. For instance, they do not have access to a lot of water. Without water you cannot live, so this is always an issue for them. They also do not have a lot of natural resources, most likely partially due to not having a lot of water. Edom consists of Senonian rock which lends itself to a shepherding lifestyle instead of farming, so this too would be a reason. Finally, they must deal with Israel if they want to expand, because their only direction of expansion is into the Negev. So this can be a problem for them.

~Jennilee~

Jordan - Day 2

2008-11-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

Our first stop of on the second day in Jordan was Rabbah Ammon. This city is considered the "city of waters" because it has powerful springs. The Jabbok wadi even originates from here. Rabbah Ammon is located on a section of Senonian rock that is surrounded on three sides by Cenomanian rock. This orients the land to the east because this is the one open side not touched by Cenomanian. Rabbah Ammon is also the intersection for the King's Highway (that stays closer to the Rift Valley) and the Desert Highway (which, obviously, stays near the desert). Ammon can also connect itself to the west through the Fariah Valley, but only if it can get through the Dome of Gilead. Since connections are always one of the most important things, Ammon naturally will try to reach into the Dome of Gilead and also the Medeba Plateau.

One can also tell that a lot of sharing of ideas took place in this land. This can be seen at Rabbah Ammon in the Israelite style walls. It was common for the Israelites to interchange the blocks on the wall with the long side facing out and then the short side (called "headers and stretchers"). Here this is also the technique used by the Ammonites.

From Rabbah Ammon we traveled to the huge and impressive Decapolis city of Garasa. Believe me, we walked all over this site, and I am sure it took us more than an hour. First, we stopped at the Hippodrome. This is the stadium used for chariot races. Apparently, though unfortunately I didn't personally see it, one of the students from my group got to ride a horse in the Hippodrome. She loves horses, so it definitely was the highlight of her day (and probably entire trip). From here we "pressed on" (our guides favorite phrase) to the temple of Zeus. This temple is literally about fifteen feet from a theater. It would be similar to connecting a church to a movie theater, so one can get some religion in before they are mindlessly entertained.

At this first theater we got to listen to a man on the bagpipe and one on the drums play music. Marcus, a student in my group, actually joined them on the drums during one song. Also, later after they played Amazing Grace (per our request) students got to dance in the theater joined by another tourist. It was really fun and amusing to watch. We next went down the Cardo, or main street. Apparently, when the columns are raised at certain points it is an indicator that this is the entrance to an important building or commerce area. We traveled farther into the site and got to see another temple as well as three different churches. During the Byzantine era Christians would destroy previously pagan temples and build churches over them. One of them at Garasa even had an inscription over the door that said basically that. The mosaics on the floor of the churches are slowly disappearing as being keep walking on them. Zafer, our tour guide, also said that tour guides in the past would take a piece of the mosaic and give it to their tourists, which is another reason why they are slowly disappearing. It is really too bad that such a beautiful piece of history is sometimes not well preserved.

So we continued through the site and came back around to the restaurant located there for lunch. After lunch we left Garasa and stopped near part of the Jabbok River. Here we read Genesis 28:12f, 32:6 where Jacob crosses the Jabbok on his way back to Israel (after he spent his time with Laban acquiring wives). Jacob means "deceiver", which he basically was with his brother and father. However, later Jacob is renamed to Israel, which means "the one who has striven with God". We discussed that Israel chooses to believe God and walk back into the promise and the Promised Land. He doesn't let go and God blesses his faithfulness.

Our last stretch of the night was a four our bus ride to Petra. We got in around 9:30pm. That next morning we were going to get up early and spend our morning in the beautiful site of ancient Petra.

~Jennilee~

Jordan - Our Last Field Study (Day 1)

2008-11-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

Our entrance into Jordan went pretty smoothly. We took our normal Net Buses to the Border station and then switched to Jordanian buses, with Jordanian drivers, a Jordanian tourist police escort, and our Jordanian tour guide - Zafer. These are all just regulations, Jordan is not terribly unsafe or anything.

We first visited the tell of Succoth. This city was located on the Transjordan side of the Rift Valley. One can see a big difference in the way of agriculture when it comes to the east and west sides of the Rift Valley. The Transjordan mountains get a lot of rain because they are very high. This rain is then drained down into the Rift Valley. Now because the east side if the Rift Valley would have more agriculture the majority of travel for trade and what not would pass on this side. Succoth was a very popular city because of this reason. Succoth is located right on the east side of the Rift Valley, which makes it a really good resting point for travelers and traders. Here we also talked about Judges 8 where Gidean pursues his enemies to Succoth and Penuel. These people would not help Gidean and later were punished for their lack of aid.

After Succoth we visited Pella (the Old Testament site here was called Pehel). This Decapolis city is located on the opposite side of the Rift Valley from Scythopolis. From here one can locate Mt. Giboa and the Hills of Moreh if you look across the Rift Valley.

Next, we travelled to Gadara. Gadara was a rather large Decapolis city. It has a very nice theater on the site. Apparently, each Decapolis city would have a theater constructed in their own unique way. Therefore, each Decapolis theater would reflect the character of that specific city. Located at Geddara is also an octagonal church. It is suggested that octagonal churches were used to commemorate different events in Jesus' life. For instance, the one at Geddara commemorated the "pig story" that took place very near here. Geddara is also located just south of the Yarmuk wadi and close enough to the Sea of Galilee that we could view it from the site.

Our final stop was at Ramoth Gilead. Ramoth Gilead is very important because Damascus sees this city as an extension of itself and Israel sees this city as their access to Damascus. Whenever Israel came up against Damascus they went through Ramoth Gilead, as you can see in 1 Kings 23 and 2 Kings 8. Ramoth Gilead also has major connections bringing in much trade. For example, those in Arabia would come up this way to take the route that leads through the Jezreel Valley to the coast. Everyone inland is always trying to get to the coast and everyone on the coast is trying to get inland. Trade is the main source of wealth for this land. This puts those cities connecting the two areas in prime position for making a lot of money.

We finally came to our rest in Ammon, the capital of Jordan. A number of us went out to Star Bucks because there are no Star Bucks in Israel, and therefore this was our only chance to have "real" coffee (or hot chocolate for me) before we get home. It was actually really fun, other than finding out that we took the most expensive taxi to the place. Apparently, you should never take the white ones, but look for the yellow ones (well, we at least learned for our way back). Claire met a Jewish student from Chicago that is here for a semester. I think he is studying in Jordan, but I am not certain. It was fun all the same, and I got to take a few sugar packets with Arabic on them. After that Claire and I watched television in our really nice room; which had a towel warmer, safe, mini-frig, and telephone in the bathroom.

~Jennilee~

I WENT TO JORDAN!

2008-11-16T09:40:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, Jennilee and I just got back from our tour of Jordan. We had a great time and saw tons of wonderful places. We will be updating you all soon, and getting pictures to you as well!

So come back later if you want to hear about:
Impromptu tea with Bedouins!
Haggling our way to a donkey ride up the side of a mountain!
Riding a donkey up the side of a mountain!
Illegally jumping the fence into the treasury at Petra!
What's inside the treasury at Petra!
Rock Climbing up to a tomb!
Riding a horse out of Petra!
Singing in the theater at Gergasa!

All this and more can be yours... but you will have to come back later!

Love you and Miss you, Claire Elizabeth

What a SURPRISE!

2008-11-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

Boy were we surprised this morning. Jennilee and I were sitting side by side in the Library working on our Hebrew skills, when Nicole tells us we should go check our mail. What do you know, if we both didn't have a package from Jennifer! Gosh were we excited as we tore into those packages. It was like Christmas in November! We would like to thank Jennifer from the bottom of our Israeli hearts for her kindness. Jennilee as you can see opened her crafts a.s.a.p. We miss you Jennifer and can't wait to see you again!

Love, Claire

Stick to the Status Quo

2008-11-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

You probably don't know about the status quo. Its a system for the different catholic sects to keep order in the Holy Seplicre. See down to the last rock each sect knows what they own and what they take care of. In fact they have been fighting over who really owns the roof for so long now that its in danger of falling in. It is when they keep this status quo that all of the sects get along. It is when they don't that we see what really happens when we start focusing on works and not on what Christ has done for us.

This took place on Nov. 9th. Supposedly it happens every year, and we should be happy no one is dead.

A Sunday in the Old City

2008-11-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

So despite still be a tad sick, I ventured out this Sunday with some friends. (Gosh have I been sick!) Anyway, we started the day at the Temple Mount. We got there and the line was so long we thought we might have to leave but we waited in line with the tourist groups and ended up making it to the platform eventually. I think I almost got kicked out because they thought my skirt was too short! Did you know your can't bring a Bible onto the platform? I guess Muslims aren't really into the Bible. Let me just say, it was breathtakingly beautiful. My heart began to pound as I pondered the Holy Spirit choosing this place to dwell. Also, the dome is just so beautiful to look at. Someone told me that its considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and I can see why!

We then headed off to the Baptist Church, were we always feel at Home and Welcome.

THEN, we went to have lunch at Tiffany and Nathans apartment in the Old City. It was really a nice place. Plus, we made American breakfast of Pancakes and eggs! It was a wonderful time of fun and fellowship!

Dome of the Rock, The Streets of the Old City, and The Baptist Church

My Best Friend, Francis

2008-11-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

I am writing about Fran so that I never forget him, he is such a good cat. He was abandoned by his cat family and adopted by ours. We have all pitched in to buy his medicine. I have to give him his meds twice a day, but he takes them like a champ. He is such a runt, less than a pound at almost two months, but he is growing fast! I will keep you updated on his health. He has put on weight and his eyes are now completely open! He may stay a yard cat at the school, but I know a few people who are thinking about taking him home! I think he is getting his shots today!

More Franken-Fran Pictures

I WON I WON!

2008-11-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

So we celebrated Halloween here at JUC, and I went dressed as the Rosh Pina Sil, which is the Basalt Rock plug at the top of the sea of Galilee... and I won the best costume! Here is what the school news letter said:
Thanks once again to our Student Activities team for their inspiration of the Fall Festivus. Everyone attending the mystery dinner had fun – even if there were no utensils to eat the spaghetti sauce and the noodles came with the dessert! Congratulations to Claire Regan aka The Rosh Pina Sill (the basalt plug that forms the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee). She was the unanimous winner of the best costume at the Fall Festivus!(Description: Dressed in Black because Basalt is black volcanic rock, the Blue ribbon is the Jordan River, The plugs all over is because I am the Basalt plug, my hair is supposed to look like it got shocked!)

My prize was 5 sheckles in the bookstore, I may put it toward the sweatshirt I have been eyeing...

Well I have been pretty sick... THE GALILEE

2008-11-10T05:25:00.001-08:00

Well I did it again, another weekend, another field study. I wish I could say that I was totally thrilled about leaving for four days, but I have to admit I was weary of spending so much time away from work and having the prospect of missing my registration (After some convincing I arranged the registrar to register for me!). So Here I am back at school and praising God for a wonderful weekend. I was in good spirits as we left, mainly because I decided on furthering my education at grad school. Yes that is right, me at grad school. So things were looking up. I need to start writing about my trip now because I don’t want to waste Cindy’s time on my personal life. Here we go…

In General

On this trip we headed north into the Galilee, the Jezreel Valley, and some of the coastal plains. This land is important because of its rich agricultural contributions. As we are learning the rules of rain fall here are north, high, and west… so we should have known that this was going to be a very wet weekend, but more on that later. This was truly a beautiful land, I could believe that if I drove a few hours south I would hit a dessert. I guess that’s due to all of the mountain ranges. Anyway I love it, it was beautiful.

Day #1

Due to recent vitamin taking, I started his day with a lot of energy, however, my first thing in my notes, was that I was feeling nauseous. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a lovely 72 hour stomach virus. No worries, I kept in good spirits. We began the day orienting ourselves around the rift valley. That’s the one that runs the length of the Jordan. Which really isn’t that mighty after all. We got to see the the fence border between Israel and Jordan and I wrote down to tell you that there is a road right next to it for patrol cars. Between the road and the fence there is a dirt space that the soldiers comb out and check for foot prints. I thought that was pretty cool. Warning: I am about to start using City names, and I know I will butcher all of the spelling. Thank you.

Bet She’an/ Skytopolis

This was quite possibly my favorite spot of the weekend. I was hesitant to say so, because it was our first real stop, but the ruins were awesome. This roman city was HUGE. It had everything including a theatre, a bath house, and some sweet ancient public bathrooms. That was the new testament city, the old testament city had a governors house from an Egyptians were that found hieroglyphs carved into a stone. There is also a ton of columns still standing. Supposedly the city was destroyed in the great earthquake of 769 a.d.? This seemed to be a theme among all the ruins we visited. The city lies in the Jezreel Valley. Its sister city is Rahov, which was famous for its honey.

On Top of Mt. Gilboa

Mt. Gilboa is actually in reference to the entire mountain range. The Actual mountain range is at the elbow of the right angle shape of this ridge. We couldn’t see very clearly from the top of the mountain, but we could make out Mt. Carmel and the Hills of Moreh. While on top we talked of how King Saul and his sons came to this mountain to flee the Midianites, and was unsuccessful. We also discussed the story of Gideon, and how he was called to be a judge. His battle took place in the Jezreel Valley, which we were looking over at the time. Gideon’s army was stationed at the base of Mt. Gilboa.

Zippori

Our next stop was Zippori, this huge city was home to a ton of mosaics, so we were happy to finally see some art work. At least I was. There was a roman villa there that had been restored and on the floor was a woman they call the Mona Lisa of the Galilee. Actually I thought that she was much prettier. This city was very much a mixture of Hellenism and Judaism, as is evident but the mosaic on the floor of their synagogue, which displays both a zodiac and the history of the Jews. On our way to the kibbutz that night we tried to climb down the cliffs of Arbel, but they told us it was closed so we had to go on Monday.

The Diggs

I would like to say a few things about the place we stayed. I forgot to take a picture but it was a pleasure. It was this resort kind of thing run by a kibbutz on the shore of the Galilee and we got to stay in these lovely little apartment like house. The food was an absolute pleasure. It’s in En Gev, and I would suggest it to anyone.

Day #2 Approaches to the Sea of Galilee

We set off in the rain and got to see bananas and mango growing on either side of the road. I thought that was pretty neat. I was starting to wonder why Galilee wasn’t the whole chosen land.

Hazor

I couldn’t remember Hazor, and now I know why. It started to rain here. That and my stomach felt like someone was ripping it out. It sits in the Hulah basin, and kinda looked a lot like other tells we had been to. It did have a solomonic gate which I am getting really good at picking out. David, Solomon, and Ahab all rebuilt Hazor at one time or another. Cindy told us this cool story about how a kid found a clay tablet there recently while he kicked around in the dirt. So we all kicked around in the dirt while she was talking. There was a neat olive press there, where we learned that the first press of the olives is going to make your best oil. When Cindy gave us some free time it started to pour and we ran for shelter.

Tel Dan

Jennilee and I both loved Dan because it is one of the only places in Israel that has fall. To get to the tell you have to go on this amazing nature walk along the spring of Dan. It was so beautiful and reminded us all of the states. We really enjoyed our time there. It had stopped raining some and we got to the part of the tel where Jeroboam built his huge alter to idols. We sat on the steps of temple while we discussed what we thought the sin of Jeroboam actually way. Then we headed over to the gate complex and I SAW A REAL LIVE SCORPION. I thought all of these bug like things grew in pet stores, but I guess I was wrong. First a tarantula and now a scorpion. It was really small, and black. But Cindy told us that we should only worry about the yellow ones. Personally I don’t care if its pink, it just needs to stay out of my area. I screamed and almost cussed under my breath. I think I will stick to cats. There was also an old Canaanite mud gate there that we crawled all over. It is the only one of its kind left, because they covered it over for some reason. They are still in the middle of uncovering it.

Banias

I really enjoyed this stop in the trip, but I didn’t take notes or take pictures because I thought it was a stop to just look at something (crazy right? ) Anyway we stopped to have lunch and then we and looked at the sight of all these ancient pagan temples. There was a cave there that they used to throw human sacrifices down and if bold came up they thought that Pan had not accepted the sacrifice. This place was neat in that it was a huge rock face that gave an abundance of water. They used to refer to this at the gates of Hell which is why they think this is where Jesus anointed Peter as the head of the Church. It would be a good place to point at all of the rocks as an illustration to that story. I am starting to think that Jesus taught a lot in object lessons or things really relevant to people in the area that they were in. He was pretty awesome not going to lie.

Golan Heights

I figure I can lump this all in together. The end of the day was so cool. We drove to the top of a huge mountain, which ended up being Nimrod, the site of a crusader castle. Well actually two castles. This site doesn’t really have any biblical connotations, but it was just pretty darn cool. From here we could see a colony of Druze people. These are a strange group of about 500 families that have lived in their own community for hundreds of years. You can only marry other druze people and if you leave the colony they will find you and kill you. As you get older you move up ranks and they let you in on more of their secrets. Their religion is based in Muslim but only part way. They believe that one day the messiah will one day the messiah will be born to a man, and the elders where these low sagging pants in anticipation. I am not lying. Next stop was to the volcano cones in the upper Golan Heights. We were right on the border looking into Lebanon. It was lovely to watch as the sun went down and look into the no-mans land that buffers the borders.

Day #3 Galilee Day!

This is the day I sucked it up and bought an umbrella. Best 23 sheks I ever spent.

Hippus the Decapolis City

Hippus was neat in that it was right neat En Gev where we were staying, and that it was built completely from Basalt, which is black volcanic rock. We piled out in the rain and walked up this long path way all the way to the top of the hill. On our way we passed some very nice barbed wire patches with signs warning us about land mines. Nothing makes my morning like nothing I could blow up at any moment. What struck me when I first entered the city was the length of their Cardo (main road). It was not as wide as others that I had seen, but its wet black pavers gave off a dead feeling. It was like being in Europe, if I had ever been there. It was a wealthy city on a hill. A good example of letting your light shine out. The worst part of this site was me not being to the bus on time because I misunderstood the directions to where we were supposed to meet. I felt like an idiot.

BOAT RIDE!

Ok other awesome part of this day. We drove past the tel of Apphex and Hopped unto a Jesus Boat and road across the Sea of Galilee! Hooray! I do not really remember what we talked about, but I think it had to do with different types of fished. Cindy told us that the sea is as low as it has been in forever, so if you look on the shore you can find net weights and stone anchors. Well I looked everywhere and found nothing. Leah goes and finds a TON of them. Oh well. So we all hung off the side and enjoyed ourselves. It is nice to be in Israel.

Korazim

Korazim was another tel with a pretty sweet synagogue. It still had some of its pillars and again some pagan carving which is always strange. Plenty of theories there I assure you. The whole city is made from basalt. We talked about the homes of New Testament in that you would generally live in a multigenerational home (AKA. in my fathers house there are many rooms).

Out in Some Field Somewhere

So along the shore we walked out into a wheat field in the area were Jesus gave his sermon on the Mount. We lay on the ground and read it aloud. It was quite pleasant. Then we walked down by the water and sat on the rocks that are usually covered by the waves. Another Highlight I thought.

Caesarea Philippi

This next stop was pretty neat. When we got there it seemed fine and we sat under some trees in the midst of the ruins. Then it started to rain. I had left my umbrella on the bus but was hoping it wouldn’t get so bad. It did. It poured cats and dogs, (welcome to Israeli winter) so we ran into this spaceship shaped church that is built over Peter’s house. We waited out the downpour and went exploring. There is the remains of a great white synagogue there, but it is built on the foundations of a basalt synagogue which is the one Jesus would have been in. (I think I am starting to sound lame, I think I need a nap). So we got back on the bus to do our hike!

The Cliffs of Arbel

The idea of this hike terrified me, but I was going to do it anyway. I mean who wouldn’t want to use ropes and staples to hang off of a rock face that drops hundreds of feet to the floor below? I know I didn’t want to miss it. Actually while I was scared out of my wits it was really a nice feeling to get down to the bottom; Another self-confidence booster. And everyone in my group is really supportive and helps me a lot. I am really grateful about that.

Day #4 The Jezreel Valley and the Coast

Four days is too much to write about. I have no more adjectives to describe things, and will probably describe everything with awesome, cool, and neat. Ugh. So we woke up for our last day of the field study. I went out at 5:30 in the morning to look for net weights along the shore, no luck. I was feeling so much better though, and this day ended up being AWESOME.

Megiddo

It rained. I wish that was all that I had to say. It seems to only rain after we are 1,000 feet from the bus or without proper shelter. So we walked through the tel gate and walked to an overlook were you can see the ancient round prayer alter there. There was some shelter here but it was pouring and it didn’t really help. Guess what? My umbrella was on the bus. I spent this whole day with wet and cold feet. I am not complaining it’s just I didn’t want to get sick this week. There was a really AWESOME water system there that we walked down inside. It was like a huge tunnel that ran out of the city down to where the water was. They built it that way so they would be able to survive under siege. Supposedly this city has been leveled a zillion times, so it’s a pretty interesting tel.

My favorite part about this site was talking about Armageddon. The rain was actually pretty fitting when it starting to thunder over head. City went into some Hebrew grammar stuff on the bus and I thought that was pretty COOL.

LUNCH – was AWESOME. We stopped at this Druze restaurant and got to choose between snitzel or falafel. I had the chicken and the hot sauce. It tasted AMAZING. I got some coke to go with it, and decided I really don’t like coke at all anymore. After lunch was supposed to be a stop near a church were Elijah had God pour on the alter. Well it was pouring on us so we went out, looked into the fog, and got right back on the bus.

Caesarea Maritime

So we drove for a good 45 minutes and got to Herod’s unnatural harbor. It started to rain when we got there but thank the Lord it eventually stopped and the sun actually came out for the rest of our day! This city is so beautiful. Just the splendor that it must have been as ships approached it in its glory days is too much to think about. It was home to two theatres, two horse tracks, a huge bath house, and a great temple to Caesarea. Herod built a harbor that stretched out hundreds of feet into the ocean out of this cement that dried underwater. He built his palace on this offshoot of rock so that he would be surrounded on three sides with salt water. Inside his palace was a fresh water pool. The water came in on these huge aqueducts that you can still go and see (which we did, in the rain). We went exploring, first out to the palace where you can still see some of the foundation. The first part of the palace is the praetorian, the exact one where they kept Paul for so long. So that was pretty COOL. My favorite part of the site was at the theatre. I wanted to see how it would sound so I sang a line. Then the tourists about shouted for more, so I sang for them and they all clapped! It was actually kind of embarrassing. It was also impressive to see so many of the marble floors still intact there.

Over all I had a great time on this field study. I really did enjoy myself, even if going meant I had to write this terrible piece of literature and force my teacher to read it. But God is really changing my heart, and I am enjoying it.

PICTURE LINKS COMING SOON!

Galilee Day 4

2008-10-29T12:07:00.002-07:00

On our final day in the Galilee region we first went to a lookout on the Nazareth Ridge. From here we could see into the Jezreel Valley. To the southeast we had a really nice view of Mt. Tabor and then over the Hills of Moreh. We could also see behind them Mt. Gilboa. Between the Hills of Moreh and Mt. Gilboa lies the Herod Valley, we couldn't necessarily see into it, but we could tell where it was. On the other end we could make out, when the clouds moved, Megiddo and the Megiddo pass entering into the Jezreel Valley. This was a good place to see Megiddo since our next stop was Tell-Megiddo.

At Tell-Megiddo we entered through the Solomonic gates. This site has a few interesting features. For instance, there is a really large grain silo with two sets of stairs going down into it; one to go down and one to come out. There is also a complex water storage system with a tunnel going under part of the city. We got to walk through it, which was nice because there was a lot of rain and this was the only dry section. There is also a raised prayer circle on this site.

We discussed the story of Thutmose III's take over of Megiddo. He came up from Egypt and had to decide which of the three passes he would take to enter the Jezreel Valley. The northern most pass comes out near Jokneam, the middle pass comes out near Megiddo, and the southern most pass comes out near Taanach. The middle pass would be most convenient, but it is also the narrowest (which makes it dangerous to bring a whole army through). Therefore, the Canaanites thought Thutmose III would take either the Jokneam pass or the Taanach pass. He, however, surprised them and caught them of guard by taking the more dangerous Megiddo pass. He was able to take Megiddo because of this, and considered this victory to be equivalent to taking a thousand cities.

Our next stop was for lunch, and then we went to Mount Carmel. It was raining pretty hard, which made our view non-existent. We just stopped for a minute to run out and see fog and then run back onto the bus. Though, at least I can say I stood on Mount Carmel, even if only for a minute.

Here we discussed the story of Elijah going up against the prophets of Baal. As you may know, Elijah proved to these priests that there is only One True God that has power. They can pray as hard as they want and try to get the attention of Baal, but since he doesn't actually exist there will be no response. God, however, does answer His children when they call. God definitely demonstrated His power through this event.

Our final stop was at Caesarea maritime. We first stopped at the impressive aqueducts built by Herod. These stretch for a very long ways down the coast, bringing fresh water to Caesarea. Some people climbed on it and saw it from the top. We then visited the city of Caesarea. Here Herod built a theater, a large storage facility, and a pier. There was also a large horse track built in the city for chariot races. I do not believe there were very many of these in Israel, but of course Herod would have one. Herod in his extravagance even had a fresh water pool basically right on the Mediterranean Sea. Why swim in salt water if you can put a pool right next to the sea? Herod was always good at putting up an impressive image.

We ended our day a little earlier than normal, due to the drive back from the coast. I enjoyed our field study, but it was also nice to be heading back to campus. Four days is a long time to spend with that many people all cooped up on a bus. Though, I think we all are still looking forward to our last field study where we get to visit Jordan.

~Jennilee~

Galilee Day 3

2008-10-29T12:07:00.001-07:00

Hippus, on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, was our first stop of the day. This site is positioned east-west, which makes the main road the Decumanos, instead of the Cardo. Here we discussed Matthew 15, the Prodigal Son story. In Judaism there is the idea that one must come back to God through a mediator. The prophets have always been considered the mediators between man and God. One of the interesting aspects of Jesus' story is that there is no mediator between man and God. The Father always represents God, and the son is man. Here the son goes directly to the Father, and the Father runs to the son with forgiveness. Jesus is identified with the Father; therefore, He is identifying Himself as God and saying He is both God and the mediator.

Next, we took a boat ride onto the Sea of Galilee. We looked at different ways people used to fish. Ancient people were not used to interacting with water. Crossing the sea, even Galilee which is relatively small, was not something they did. Most people did not know how to swim, though fishermen probably knew enough to survive. Therefore, even four foot waves would have been terrifying to them. No wonder the Disciples were so afraid when the storm came and surrounded their boat.

From the Sea of Galilee we travelled to Chorazim. Here we viewed an Insula, which is a type of house that is bigger than the four room houses more common to Israelite architecture. The insula would house approximately three generations of a family. It was built so that when the oldest son married and brought back his wife a new room would be added to the house. This is what Jesus is referring to when He says my Father's house has many rooms.

At Chorazim we also looked at a synagogue. No one actually knows when the practice of using synagogues started. Synagogue is much different from the Temple. Synagogues are for the people, where as the Temple is for God. The Synagogue is used to study Torah, and teaching it to the next generation. This is why it would house a school in the building. Synagogues are also used all week long, for different things like school, feasts, and housing people in need. Early synagogues would have their main doors facing Jerusalem, so that the main source of light would come from Jerusalem in a sense.

We next went to an area traditionally known as the Mount of Beatitudes. Of course, no one can pin point exactly where Jesus was standing when he gave the Sermon of the Mount. But this general area would fit nicely both with Luke's flat place and Matthew's mountain (because it is sort of a flat place on a mountain). We also got to walk down the hill and see the small cave which is traditionally said to be where Jesus went for solitude. From here walked down to the Sea of Galilee. I was able to find a net weight, which is a stone with a hole drilled into it. I was excited.

Our next to last stop for day three was at Capernaum. This was Jesus' home base, after He left Nazareth. Jesus is putting Himself right in the middle of different cultures and people. This is a city right on the sea; the sea connects three different political areas and therefore connects a wide range of people. Matthew was also from this area. Capernaum is a great place for Jesus to launch His ministry due to its strategic location.

Our last stop was at the cliffs of Arbel. We got to climb down and around them. Some people went and looked into the caves located on the side of the cliffs. Though, I figured I had a good view from where I was. Climbing down and back up was challenging, but really fun.

~Jennilee~

Galilee Day 2

2008-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

For our second day, we started at Tell-Hazor. Hazor is located at the southern end of the Huleh Basin. At this position Hasor guards international travel and trade. When Babylon was the major power, Hazor was the end of the trade to the west. When Egypt was the major power, Hazor was the end of the trade to the north. In both cases Hazor was the end destination to far reaching trade.

Hazor was a major city with an upper city section for the rich and elite community. This section was what Solomon fortified when he took power. There was also a lower city where the common people lived and worked. The lower city was quite large. In all, Hazor reached approximately 200 acres. After the Assyrians destroyed the city, however, it never again was prominent.

From Hazor we travelled to what I now consider my favorite part of Israel, Tell Dan. This beautiful site is also a nature preserve, I believe. What is nice about this area are all the trees (some with turning leaves) and abundant source of water. No wonder the tribe of Dan moved here, though of course they should have taken the land God gave them.

At tell-Dan we sat in front of the area that would have held the four horned alter. Jeroboam was the king who instituted alters both at Dan and Bethel, the northern and southern boundaries of his kingdom. Jeroboam is always connected with a great sin and leading Israel into sin. Later kings are said to have committed the sin of Jeroboam, so obviously it was very bad. The question is then, what exactly was the sin of Jeroboam? My professor suggests that the sin is him choosing his own good instead of what God has said to be good. Jeroboam has a lot of what looked like Judaism in his kingdom, yet it is fashioned in his own way. For example, he does not use Levites for priests, but priests of his own choosing. Jeroboam is veering the people to his own way of doing things, which they run with further and further away from God.

I can definitely identify with often believing that I know what would be good for me. However, God is the only One who is truly all knowing and good. Though, He never promises His way will be easier, but it will lead to life where as my sinful ways lead to death.

At another section of the Dan site we looked at the gate complex. In the inner gate is located a throne area, where either an idol would stand or the king sits to pass judgment. The gate area is also important because commerce takes place there, which means a lot of traffic passes through. The poor would come here to beg, hoping for generous passer bys.

From Tell-Dan we travelled to Caesarea Philippi. At this location the Ptolemais built a temple to Pan, the god often pictured as a dancing goat. This is the place where Jesus asked the disciples who they said He was. Peter makes the important declaration that Jesus is the Son of God, the hoped for Messiah. Here also Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to die. This of course is an outrageous idea to them, because their idea of the Messiah involved a military victory over the empire. However, Jesus shows them that God's ways are higher than our ways. God's leader is to be a servant, coming in humility and not looking like the world's idea of strength. God's good is more far reaching that just taking down the Roman Empire, but in taking down sin and death completely.

Our last stop on this day was at the Golan Heights. From this area we could look out over the Golan area and see the ancient volcanoes. We could also see the border between Israel and Jordan. That was at least until the cloud came upon the mountain and visibility was zero.

~Jennilee~

Galilee Day 1

2008-10-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our first stop was to look out over the Rift Valley toward Adam. This city sits right in the middle of the Rift Valley. It was therefore used as a connector between the Cisjordan and Transjordan sections of Samaria. People could come down the Faria Valley to Adam and then travel north a little ways to the valley that leads to Penuel. Penuel was the Transjordan capital of the Northern Kingdom (along with Shechem on the Cisjordan side) in the time of Jeroboam.

From here we travelled to our first major stop at the tell of Beth Shean. There are two parts to this site because it was used both during the Old Testament and New Testament time periods. In the New Testament it was one of the Decapolis cities called Scythopolis. I spent most of my time walking around Scythopolis because the remains were spectacular.

The Cardo (or main north-south road through the city) has a walkway on ether side, which apparently at Scythopolis is covered in mosaics. From the top of tell-Beth Shean I was able to get some really nice photos of this road. Scythopolis also has a large theater and an impressive bath house. Scythopolis also boasts an innovative public toilet area. No longer will a simple hole in the ground do, but now a seat is available for your bathroom needs. This was definitely an advanced city for its time.

Our next stop was at Mount Gilboa. We were able to look over the Herod Valley to the Hills of Moreh. Also, we had a view of the southeast side of the Jezreel Valley. It was hazy, so our view was not as good as it could have been, but still impressive.

We also discussed Judges 6 about Gideon and his victory over the Midianites. Apparently, the Midianites were "hard-core Bedouins" who would attack cities to get food and supplies and then destroy everything else. So when we meet Gideon he is down in a wine press threshing his grain, as opposed to a threshing floor which would be out in the open. He was obviously hiding his produce from the Midianites. From this place of hiding God comes and tells Gideon that he is a valiant warrior who is going to gain the victory over the Midianites. Gideon basically says, "Who, me?", and as you may know God says "yes" and proves to Gideon and the Israelites that when God is fighting for you victory is inevitable.

Our last stop was at Zippori, which is the home town of Hannah the cousin of Mary and the mother of John the Baptist. There are some very beautiful mosaics still relatively intact found on this site. First, we went to a synagogue that had a basic history Israel and the temple laid out in the mosaic. The interesting part of this mosaic was the large zodiac calendar in the center. It even named the zodiac signs in Hebrew. This would either mean that the Jews were mixing pagan ideas in with their own, or that the zodiac calendar was just a way to show the months of the year without having further meaning to them. One cannot really know for sure either way. At this site is also a mosaic with what is known as the "Mona Lisa of Israel". It is a beautiful portrait of a woman in one small section of a larger mosaic. She has the Mona Lisa half smile, which gives her the name. I was able to get a nice picture of her as well.

From here we came to out rest at a hostel in En Gev, right on the Sea of Galilee. This was a really nice hostel with basically little apartment sized buildings that could house four or five people. Though, dinner was moved to 7:45pm (which is late for us), we still were able to settle in and do some needed television watching. Hooray for English channels!

~~~~Love you all and sorry for not posting in a long time~~~~

Jennilee

The Rainy Season

2008-10-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Depending on where you are in Israel, you can get anywhere from 1-28 inches of rain a year. Jerusalem sits around 24. The rain starts mid November and then doesn't stop all winter. Welcome to my new life. The rains have started early this year, and right now it is pouring outside. The rain is currently flooding the Hinnom and the bridge that goes along with it. Cars are still driving on it, which is crazy to me. While this is a good example of how a Wadi should work, I kind of feel bad for them. I took a picture for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome to my newer, damper life.

Finishing My Midterm.

2008-10-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished it. After a week of on and off work, I finally conquered the Palestinian Mid Term. I am so relieved. The class (Palestinian Politics and Society) is really interesting but I had no idea that the Midterm would ask so much of my brain. This is coming from a girl who didn't know the West Bank was even in Israel until two months ago, and now I should give the president fake advice? It was stretching but rewarding. If you have a half of an hour give it a read.

Claire's take on the Conflict

MY PACKAGE CAME!

2008-10-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

HI EVERYONE! I need to write to tell you that it is finally here! For three weeks now I have been patiently waiting to recieve the darn thing, and my package finally made it. Granted, it was probably sitting in the post office and being used as a foot stool. So I grabbed Nicole and Kaitlyn who had some buisness and we set off to get the goods. I was so excited! It takes a 15 min. walk to get there and then you have to get in line. Well today the number machine was broken so we had to wait for longer. This was alright because I got to listen to a lot of Hebrew arguing and I didn't have to think about the translation of the question words! Hooray! So we finally got in and picked up my package and the girls picked theirs up and also sent something. Then I got to go home (i just called school home, sorry mom, its were I sleep) and open it! Pictured are some of the wonderful things that I got! I am so grateful to Mom, Gina, Grandpa, and Tim for the things in that Box, I love them all. I tried the tea, labeled the movies, and hung up our pumpkin on the door! I am truely blessed and I thank you!

A Food Review

2008-10-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today some girls and I went out to this great vegetarian restaurant in the New City. See there are two short term groups here so the meal situation is a little crazy. So we decided to skip the overcrowding and get some delish veggie cuisine. AND IT WAS DELISH! The whole idea is quality vegetarian and vegan food. I had the organic split pea soup! Anna had the Cream of Butternut soup, and I tasted it, and it was just awesome. That was a well warranted run-on sentence. Did I mention the Americano I had that was wiped with soy milk? To die for. Best coffee I have tasted in Israel. Jennilee was excited to be able to eat everything on the menu. Our friend Leah came too and she was excited about all of the pasta option! Of course it was all whole wheat and made at the restaurant. I really liked its buffet kind of style. You could even watch the people peel the vegetables if you ate down stairs. So if you are ever in Jerusalem, try the Village Green on Jaffa St.! (Left: Laura and Leah enjoy their meal! )

Check out their Web Page!

Doing the Dead Sea Float!

2008-10-21T07:26:00.001-07:00

I understand that the following is insanely long. Therefore I will give you the photo links first, and you can choose whether or not the reading suits you! Love you, Claire!

Negev Feild Study Day 1

Negev Feild Study Day 2 #1

Negev Feild Study Day 2 #2

Negev Field Study Day 2 #3

Negev Field Study Day 3 #1

Negev Field Study Day 3 #2

Biblical Negev Day #1
This weekend started similar to all the others with one exception. Well perhaps a few. The main change being that I decided that I didn’t have to shower at 5 in the morning because I would be getting sweaty all day. It was very liberating. I can’t remember everything about this first day because it seems like it was a month ago, but hopefully I will be able to give you a good enough version to satisfy all of my adoring fans. (Right) We started our day snaking our way down the Sorek, heading towards the Negev.

SATAF NATIONAL PARK
Our first stop of the day was a national park which receives many visitors that love to hike. I however have no physical endurance and had no idea that this would just be the tip of our hiking iceberg. We were there to see the lovely views and have yet another example of cenomanian limestone. We also learned that the trails that we were taking would have been the typical back roads in ancient times. For some reason I wrote the next page of my notes upside down, so I will take a moment to flip them again. Alright, so we hiked all the way down the side of this wadi to a building that we didn’t actually talk about, so I am assuming it was byzantine. On the way we passed a home build into to a cave like we talked about in class. I would barely call it a home, but more of a one room shelter. The people who lived here would have been part of a very small community who lived by shepherding and terracing the side of the wadi. It was a great example of everyday life. There was a small spring there that would have provided just enough to live on. Basically the good and simple life.

TEL BET SHEMESH
Our next stop was to Tel Bet Shemesh in the Sorek Valley. Again we were in cenomanian territory with tera rosa soil. It was here we discussed the story of Sampson. Dan was given the area of Lod but they didn’t want to fight the people living there for it so they moved up north to the Galilee. However a few danites did stay and tried to live where they were given. One of these families was Sampson’s. It was interesting to hear the story of Sampson in its setting; actually, all the stories are more interesting when you can see the setting. Some of the preaching you here all of a sudden can’t be true anymore. It is really… enlightening.

TEL AZEKAH
Yes we are still on day one and not done yet! We were excited about this stop because it meant lunch, but it ended up being crazy fun. One fun part was we finally drove into Eocein rock territory and left senonian in the chalk dust. (That is pretty funny but the joke takes some explanation, see senonian turns into chalk… ) Anyway, we climbed a short distance to the top of the tel and looked out over the Elah valley down the diagonal road. It was in this valley were David kicked the butt of a Philistine named Goliath. We pointed out where everyone was camped, and it was neat to envision it all. Then before lunch Cindy took us down into some caves and let us crawl around. I finally got to use my head lamp! The neatest part was when this seemingly cute bat went nuts and flew into Melissa. I screamed “It’s going to kill me!” I am such a girl. Lunch was the same old pita and tuna, but we loved it.

LACISH
Next we came to Lacish, the toaster of the Israelites. I still am having trouble figuring out who came up with this analogy, but it makes me laugh so I thought I would mention it. It was a pretty interesting site and huge! This city was well fortified and everyone wanted it, because it was the doorway into the Negev trade routes. There was a really neat Assyrian siege ramp stuck on the side of it. Supposedly they would make their Israelite slaves build it so the isrealites inside would be less likely to kill them. What a terrible job!

ROMAN MILE MARKERS
Sometime during the day Cindy stopped the bus to take a look at some Roman mile markers. They were large stones stood up straight and carved on explaining where the heck you were in the middle of nowhere. I am sure they were very useful. Actually it was pretty neat to see them, as they are pictured in all kinds of books.

Biblical Negev Day #2
THE SUPER BOWL
The youth hostel we stayed at sat on the edge of the largest maktesh in Israel. A maktesh is like a huge crater, or at least I think that is what it is. She took us out to the edge in the morning to see the sun shining on the rocks. It looked like a wide grand canyon. I could not believe how big and beautiful it was. I wish I had the words to describe it. I stood really close to the edge so Jennilee could get a picture and thought I was going to be sick as my knees started to wobble. I decided I would be better to admire it from a distance. Later I could atleast sit by the edge, and that was nice. It was wonderful to admire the beauty of God’s creation and just the vastness of it all. This is what the Israelites would have gone through coming up out of Egypt. Also it was all Jurassic rock, the oldest in Israel.

AVDAT
Avdat was one of my favorite cities thus far. It was in the middle of the Negev desert and was built by the mysterious nabatiens. These are the people who built petra and could cross the desert without dying. Their secrets went with them to the grave. Avdat was just amazing. The dry Negev only gets around an inch of water a year, but they still figured out how to grow things, and had the best pottery of the time period. The ruins where best we will see in Israel. I was excited that I climbed on top of a huge archway, even though we all got in trouble for walking on the walls later. In some ways I am becoming more adventurous, which is scary, but I kind of like it. I am learning to trust myself and my body. Thanks Avdat.

HIKE UP ONE OF WADI ZIN’S FINGERS
I would say that this hike was one of those moments in my life where God showed me that I am stronger than I ever thought I was. The hike started up this beautiful dramatic wadi that had a nice stream down the center. I remember looking down and up the side and seeing a small ladder near the top and thinking about why it was put there. I had no idea at the moment that we were planning on going up the side of this thing. Maybe I could have gone down it, but up? I barely got up the snake like steps carved into the stone. And that was half way. By this time I was hyperventilating and crying. I think I was crying because I felt so defeated. I just couldn’t breathe. I felt like the only one who couldn’t do this on the inside. Half way up was a plateform with a cave where I stopped for some breath and where the ladder was. Megan agreed to go behind me and help me the rest of the way. She really talked me through the whole way up. Despite my tears and climbed out the top of that Wadi! I think around this time I noticed the pain in my legs was not going to leave me for the whole trip. Anyway, Praise be to God I did it!

TEL BEER SHEVA
Beer Sheva is where Hebron and Beer Sheva wadis drain into the Basor Wadi which drains the entire Eastern Basin. Here we find Loess soil which is basically windblown sand that you can grow barley in. There are no remains at Beer Sheva until the Iron Age, which raises a question of where the patriarchs were. However, we need to remember that Abraham was probably living in a tent and not a stone building. Here was a saw a well that went down at least 25 meters, and they haven’t even reached the bottom yet! This could be the actual well that Abraham dug. We also saw yet another good example of the four room house and described what life was like here.

TEL ARAD
Our last official stop of the day was Tel Arad in the eastern basin looking at the hills east of the Transjordan and the hills of ancient Edom. The gate was oriented towards Moab to watch enemies, thus this location anchors the eastern basin. This location was stronger and more strategic than Beer Sheva. They collected water by a system of cisterns. The interesting part about this tel was the to-scale replica of the temple in Jerusalem. We talked a lot about why Solomon would have built something like this. What was interesting was the presence of an a female counterpart to God here. More proof that Solomon, although a wise and worthy king, was giving into the God’s of his wives. He was blending religions.

Biblical Negev Day #3
MASADA
Our last day to me seemed more vacation like. The climb up the roman siege ramp was another example of my new life as a mountain climber. It took me about 15 minutes to get up, but the boys in our group broke the old record of 3 minutes and did it in 2.2 minutes! As for me I just happy to get to the top of the thing. It was for sure a daunting task, but I definitely earned my “I climbed Masada” t-shirt. Herod the great built Masada as a fortress and winter month palace. He probably only stayed there two months out of the year. Later it was used by the Zealots to hide out from the Romans. In the end they ended up committing suicide to escape becoming slaves. I also got to see a one million gallon cistern, and ride a cable car to the bottom. I would have walked down the insane looking snake path, however I didn’t think my leg could take it. I was glad to be on the cable car.

THE DEAD SEA
We stopped at the Dead Sea for lunch for a short float. I say short because you can’t stay in for more than twenty minutes or you will want to rip off your skin. There is no sand really, just sharp rocks. I got about two feet in and my feet hurt so bad. Then Marcus told me just to sit down and float away, and it really worked! The water feels oily to touch. We tasted it, and it was the grossest thing I have ever put into my mouth. You are not supposed to put your head under because if it gets in your eyes you instantly cannot see. The easiest thing to do is float on your back. It is a really neat feeling. Now, the burn. The burning is not so bad at first and seems bearable. That is until five minutes pass, and you start to become uncomfortable any place you may have even the smallest cut. Then the burning of your nether regions begins. I mean it! After about 15 minutes you feel like you are going to die from the burning. It was funny to watch no one mention it but see it on everyone’s faces. For lunch we had a cookout with hotdogs and bags of chips!

THE SPRINGS OF ENGEDI
I really enjoyed the waterfalls at Engedi. You could hike up through the wadi and swim in them. We stopped and read some about them and then set off by ourselves for an hour. We had a blast! We saw Ibex, which are like skinny horned goats that crawl all over the rock walls. We also saw these cute little rodents that looked like big ginea pigs. We walked up to the second water fall and swam and laughed and took pictures. It was nice to get the salt water all cleaned off of me.

QUMRAN
Qumran is thought to be were the Eciens lived. This was an intense Jewish community that John the Baptist may have been a member of. We went and saw the famous Cave #4 where the largest collection of scrolls were found. We were told that the famous opening was actually not there, and that the original hole was on the top! The crazy thing was that the government would pay by the pieces of scrolls handed in, so the Bedouins would rip up the scrolls and hand them in for a bigger reward! When we heard this we all gasped! The government found out and then gave rewards based on the size of the scroll handed in. However now everything is in little pieces. After this we decided to climb a huge rock formation and end the day looking at the Dead Sea while the sun sank in the sky. This was particularly awesome because it was another thing I was scared of and did anything. All of my friends helped me and I made it up! The only casualty was my pants!

Coming Attractions!

2008-10-14T02:36:00.000-07:00

Jennilee and I are BACK! We spent three amazing days in the Negev, and we can't wait to share it with you. Just give us some time to get ourselves together, and we will give you an amazing story!

Yom Kippur was like Halloween... BUT BETTER!

2008-10-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Yom Kippur was pretty darn cool. I wish would have gotten a picture of myself in my Jewish Outfit, but I forgot and cameras were not allowed by the Wall yesterday. So here is the funny story I have to share on why you shouldn't dress just like a Jew.

So I was so excited that I looked so convincing. I got waved right through security and walked down to the Wall with Nicole. I walked to the book shelf and picked up a prayer book. I then went and stood next to Nicole and waited for someone to clear a space in the wall. I read (something) out of the book because the text was pointed and swayed back and forth like a good Jew. Then it happened, this girl sitting in a chair in front of the wall who had probably been there all day turns around and says to me "Did they start the negilla yet?" Or at least thats what I think she said! I didn't no what to do, I was an imposter! I heard myself speak the word "no" in terror. She turned around and I looked to Nicole terrified and mouthed "Nicole I dont know" I put my prayer book to my face (which just made me look more Jewish) and laughed to myself. Had I just ruined her prayers for the day? I moved to a different section of the wall as to not risk standing next to her.

Other than that... It was an awesome prayer time, I read from the prayer time but took most of the time to pray for the salvation of Israel. But come to think of it, that is the first time a Jew has spoken to me in a non shopping/school setting since I have been here... It kinda felt... good.

Well I am off to Shabbat more later!

Catching up!

2008-10-09T01:55:00.000-07:00

Alright so I have to apologize for not writing in sooner. It has been too long, but maybe it's because I have been laying low? I don't even know what to tell you really!

Today is Yom Kippur. And I am dressed like a Jewess for when we go to the wall later. A quick explanation of the holiday. The holiday starts with a 40 day period of forgiveness and prayer. After 30 days starts the new year. Rosh Hashanna starts the New year, and it is now that God writes in the book who is very righteous and who is evil. Those who are either good nor bad have TEN DAYS to get it straight with God. ONLY TEN. So there is a lot of prayer and fasting during this time. Yom Kippur is the day of Atonement when the Priest could go into the Holy of Holies. It is on this day God makes his final decision about which book he writes you into. So today it is so... quiet. I live in a city, and it is always noisy. Today there is not a car on the streets, from the roof you can here the prayers in the Synagogs. Children play in the streets careless of their saftey because of the lack of cars (today is the highest rate of accidents amoung children) Today we will go to the wall where all of the Jews will be wearing white (they usually wear black in mourning for the temple). It is supposedly something to see. Consequently, I dressed as a Jew today, white and all, and I love it. I am a big fan of the tights.

In other news, I am going to try and write more about every day and more often. I understand I dont need to write a novel every day.

This morning I say on the roof and read the Shama, Duet 4. in hebrew. It seemed fitting on the Holiday.

Love you, Claire

Samaria Field Study

2008-09-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Present day Samaria incorporates the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. At the beginning of your Field Study we stopped at a look out in Ephraim that gave us a beautiful view of the Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is the valley created by the Jordan River and the two seas (Galilee and Dead Sea). Here we discussed Israel's initial take over of the Promised Land. Apparently, the tribes of Joseph (bring Ephraim and Manasseh) were the dominant tribes who led the conquest. They were also the largest tribes, which is probably why they were strongest. Interestingly enough, Judah's tribe doesn't come into power until David.

From here we went to a Zionist settlement near Shechem. Apparently, they believe that all the land belongs to them, which is why they will not put up a fence. A fence would represent a boundary line, and since they believe their boundaries include the whole land, a fence would not be appropriate. At the top of this settlement was a wonderful look-out. We could see Mount Gerezim, Mount Ebal, and Shechem. At the North end we could see Manasseh territory and at the South we could see Ephraim territory. One would be surprised how much of the land you can see if you go to the right spot. At this place, there was also a really pretty oak tree, whose leaves were turning and reminding me of Fall.

After lunch time we went to a spot that looked down on Shechem. Therefore, I believe we were standing on Mount Gerezim. Down in the valley is where Joshua gathered all the people of Israel and reminded them of what God had done for them. He challenged the people to choose life and not death. "...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15). He even challenged them again after they said they would follow the Lord, because he wanted to make sure they were going to sincerely submit their lives to the One True God who had brought them thus far.

I found it very applicable to my own life; that I must choose this day and every day to make God the ruler of my life and not my own desires or sinfulness. That is why Jesus spoke of taking up one's cross daily. You can't just affirm your belief in God one time, but every day live out that faith so you can be a light to the world. I really liked this part of the trip.

Our final stop was at Shiloh. Shiloh is the religious capital of the Northern Kingdom. This is the place that housed the Tabernacle at one point. This is also the place where people would come to communicate with God and find direction. Shiloh is similar to Jerusalem, because it too is isolated and located off of the Patriarchal Highway. These two places must be intentional about staying connected to society. Shiloh and Jerusalem also have barriers to the west that aid in their isolation.

Shiloh is also the place where Eli and his sons were priests. Therefore, Samuel was raised in this place. Eli's sons are good examples of those who tried to use God. They would take the sacrifices made to God for themselves and in many ways defile the holy place of God. This theme of people forgetting that they need to be holy for God to be with them is seen in the battle between Israel and the Philistines at this time. They decided to take the ark to battle as a lucky charm. They didn't realize that the physical ark did not hold power, but the God who dwelt on the ark was the one with the power. This is why they lost and why Eli's sons died. I think it is a good reminder that we need to continually strive to be like Christ, and not rely on our cross necklaces and Christian T-shirts to keep us from harm or in good relationship with God.

You Like Her? Samaria!

2008-09-28T23:05:00.000-07:00

The day started like most other field studies here, except this time at five in the morning. I find pride in the fact that I rose before my room mate, and was the first one to turn the light on in the bathroom. I should mention that they decided to fix the showers, and the water pressure and heat were quite the way to start a morning. However, my morning grumpiness lasted most of the day. We were on our way to Samaria, originally the tribal allotment of Manasseh, and on the way stopping in Ephraim, which I am still learning to spell. After the usual hasty breakfast, we stumbled on the bus at seven; the following ensued:

#1 Overlooking Ephraim
Our first stop was a short one. It was a striking look at Ephraim’s cenomanian wilderness. The two buses were together for most of the day because Samaria is a bit of a testy area; at least in the fact that it is behind the “fence.” The sky was clear in the morning, and I might add that it was rather chilly out, because it’s been raining (but more on that later)! We pointed out some aspects of the land before moving on to yet another one of our cultural experiences of the day. This was also around the time I started to have to pee, and yes I went before I left.

#2 Elan More (Elaun Moray)
Our next stop was a Jewish settlement that the school has been visiting for the last few years. It is on a mountain across the valley from two other famous mountains, Mt. Garazim and Mt. Ebal, and of course the chalk moat that divides the two. This is supposedly the perfect place to over look Shechem and Samaria, and definitely the Wadi Shechem and Wadi Beta, which drains east to the Jordan, I hope. (I have an exam in a few hours) Alright so the only way we can get into the settlement is to be taken around by one of its founders. The settlement is a group of Jews amongst a valley of Arabs, and therefore they keep themselves very protected. (Supposedly they have an infrared fence) So we drive and climb half way up this mountain to have this man explain to us why they deserve to be there. He also gave us a pamphlet stating the Jewish history of the land that ended with a murder and the phrase “May G-d avenge their blood.” We were warned that this guy might be a little… opinionated, and he was, but I thought it was funny. My favorite part being when he thought that the Jews today should learn a lesson from Dina’s brothers. Yes he really said that. It was around this time when we found out that they had torn down the bathrooms on top of this mountain, so a few of us ladies decided to make an expedition to the top of the hill and get away from the group. On top of the hill was a tree and a ruin. So we all just kind of picked a place, be inside of this ruin because of course I would never pee outside. Nicole was nice enough to keep watch for me and talk me through my nerves. However, then we come to find out that we had just desecrated some supposed Muslim Monument, go figure. I am hoping that Muhammad will find it in his heart to forgive me. I might also mention that we found a tortoise on the trail, and my girlish squeals ensued. Gosh I just love them. As we were walking away I told Alex that we threw it over the side of the mountain, and he believed me. Poor guy!

#3 Lunch in Samaria
Now you may not know this but there actually is a town called Samaria, which was the third Capital of the Northern Kingdom, and just happened to be where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called… The Good Samaritan. Go figure. Anyway at least they let us use their nasty bathrooms. I am mentioning this stop because Cindy got on of the high priests from the tribe of Levi to talk to us. Now I didn’t know this, but there is a Samarian religion. I guess that’s where the Jews and the Samarians went wrong. They only believe in the Five books of Moses, and supposedly have the worlds oldest book in their Synagogue. They believe that instead of Jerusalem being where everything happened, it was actually Samaria. We got to stand in a square where one a year all of the families in this religion come with a Lamb and slaughter it. Supposedly if you go in the spring you can watch this BBQ take place. I thought the idea was pretty interesting. We them hiked up to another view of this valley which held the ruins of a byzantine church. On this hill had been an altar to the Lord, a temple to Zeus, and now the church ruins. It was interesting to think about. The wind was really picking up at this point and we struggled to keep out maps open.

#4 Mt. Garazim
We went up to Mt. Garazim to overlook the Tel of Shechem, because you can’t bring a bus into the town. Shechem is built on Eocein limestone and was one of the first Capitals in the New Kingdom thanks to Jeroboam. We read and dicused the story of the woman at the well and pointed out a church that commemorates the event. It was interesting that when the woman mentioned the sacrifices, they were performed on the hill on which we were standing! There are plenty of other stories that include these two mountains, but I will leave you to figure them out!

#5 The Shiloh Tel
Before we got to Shiloh we stopped to over look the valley that it lays in. Unfortunately Cindy took us down someone’s garbage path and we had to walk by a number of dead animal remains. While this was sort of cool, the smell was just to die for, and I really do not remember anything she said about this valley. I then learned you could get Hep from touching that kind of thing, and remembered that I couldn’t afford to get the shot, and walked back to the bus. Their was some pretty terracing going on in that area though. I told Alex that the reason we stopped was to see the Donkey Yard that was on our map, this time he didn’t believe me. Next we went to the Shiloh tel. Now I don’t have to tel you twice that this was the cleanest area I have been to thus far. I could tel that they took care of the place. The coffee shop there was adorable and most of all clean. I just can not stress that enough. So because the tabernacle was at Shiloh, we went to see a small model of it and Cindy described it for us. It wasn’t all that accurate of a model, but we can’t all live in Lancaster can we? By now we were running short on time so we climbed up the tel to the top where there was a nice observation tower… covered in bird poop. It was windy at the top, but the breeze felt nice at the end of the day. As the sun began to set, we explored Shiloh and it’s rich history as a good place to find a wife and to get a glass of wine. (Those were jokes.)

That is were our day ended, and I for sure took at a nap on the bus ride home!

The Wonders of my Redeemer

2008-09-26T11:37:00.001-07:00

I cannot express how awesome and wonderful my Savior Jesus Christ is. I was having a hard time lately, thinking about some things. But this night while we were singing praises to our Lord during Vespers, Jesus really spoke to me. He spoke in my heart, and told me that He was going to use me and use my past. My story and my life will be used to glorify my Savior and my God.

God truly directs our steps and uses both the good and bad that happens in our lives.
He let me understand that, that things had to happen the way they did. I mean, I don't know all the details of how He will use me or His specific plan for my life. However, I do know that He knows. And that gives me excitement and peace.

May the Lord bless you all abundantly, as you find peace in knowing that God has a plan for you...'For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."' -Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I love you and miss you,
Jennilee

Benjamin Feild Study from Claire's Eyes

2008-09-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

MORE PICTURES COMING LATER!

Well everyone, here I am reporting again of another interesting JUC field study. So again Jennilee and I woke at 5:20, because I reset the clock at 4 when I couldn’t sleep. I do not know if it is much help for me to get up this early because I basically stood there in my skivvies for 20 minutes and stared in space while Jennilee went and took a shower. This is when I start thinking that I miss caffeine in my life. I can make coffee when I am still sleeping; I can not get dressed and put on makeup, or in this case sun block. I am definitely a sun block junkie. I am about the same color I was when I left, and I think I may be the only student here who can claim that. I have however developed some adorable freckles which I am sure will take a month to fade. Anyway, about the land of Benjamin:

THE WILDERNESS
We started the day by driving into the wilderness. Now I am not sure what I thought of when I thought of that term, but I will give you some Bible references because I am using this report to study for our exam tomorrow (oh yes, the next day because we are so smart, why wait?) Deut 1:19, Deut 8:15, Isaiah 34:13-15, Jer. 2:6-7, and Hosea 2:3-4. These all basically describe the wilderness as somewhere you wouldn’t want to visit. I really like the Hosea verses because he doesn’t beat around the bush. Anyway if you have time to read Deut 32-33 you can here echos of the creation account! So we got off the bus and headed off the beaten path to walk some of the ancient roman route called the Assent of Adommin. We also got to walk through a Bedowin camp! So what is so cool about this stretch of roadway? Well it’s in the Wadi Kilt (a wadi is a valley). Also, if you read Luke 10:25 about the good Samaritan, this was that road! The road will take you down to Jericho and is the best route from Jerusalem down to the rift valley. We stopped at a highpoint and looked out over the wilderness. When I think about it now it almost brings tears to my eyes. It was so… big. I know that sounds lame, but we all sat in silence and looked at it for a minute, and I just felt so consumed.

HEROD’S PALACE/NEW TESTAMENT JERICHO
The next stop on our list was New Testament Jericho. Basically the city has two cites for two different time periods. This one was Herod’s Palace and it was built in two parts with a bridge connecting the two. The palace was at the mouth of the Wadi kilt which was good because you are right at the Assent so you can keep an eye on the route. The palace had a new building style where you stacked diamond shaped stones together and you could potentially make a curved wall for the first time. I may have taken some mossaic tiles with me that I found on the ground...maybe. Free gifts much?

OLD TESTAMENT JERICHO TELL
The tel was pretty sweet. Yes, we do make tel jokes all of the time! (but it’s hard to tel!) A tel is a city cite where over time a mound has been formed because every few hundred years the city would get leveled for some reason or other and get built on top of. Think of it as a cake with different layer flavors. The city of Jericho has some date issues as far as the history is concerned, but there is some evidence of the story being true if you believe in the early exodus. I really have no idea what I think. Anyway the most recent digging their by Kathleen Keyan, Bible Hater and Archaeologist, (I like her, and I don’t even know why) unearthed this tower structure that dates back to 8,000 BC! WOW! That is the oldest man made building that we have! I could have gone and touched it but I kinda had to pee and the bus was going to be leaving soon…Jericho is called the city of Palms because it’s close proximity to water. It is the backdoor into the Benjamin Plateau because three routes come off of it!

NEVI SAMWEL
We stopped for lunch at a highpoint in the land commemorating the prophet Samuel. Well some people think he’s buried there, but that’s not what the Bible says. It was a great view from the top of the holy place there. We the ruins there are byzantine. From this high point you can see all of the major cities that make up the Benjamin Plateau, so we took the time to figure out the story or the Levite and his...girlfriend. You know the one where he... "breaks up with her" and sends her around to his buddies? Yes that one!

LOOKING OVER MIZPAH
This spot was really cool. We can’t actually get to Mizpah or Geba, because they are in a bad part of the west bank, we drove to a spot where you can look at both of them. We got to see were Jonathan and his armor bearer kicked some Philistine Butt! Maybe here I could mention about the roads in this part of the country. I wish I could get an airial map because they are insane! They twist like nothing I have ever seen before. They built these roads so that Palestinians didnt have to leave Palestine to get from Bethlehem to Jericho.

GEZER
I always assumed you pronounced this geezer, but I guess you don’t! This was my favorite place out of doors so far. Probably because it was so green and reminded me of home. The picture is Jennilee and I in front of an Ebenezer. We talked about how it was important to put reminders of what God has done in our lives as well. I should note that when I saw a picture of this in class I said to Megan, "Look, STONGE HENGE" and I want you to know, that I did not mean to use my accent. The other picture is just a sign for Be'er Sheva, because I thought it was funny.

Love and Miss you! Claire

The Central Benjamin Plateau

2008-09-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today we traveled around the different entrances and areas around the central Benjamin Plateau. First, we started by walking down part of the Roman road. We went to a really cool look-out area where we could see into the desert. When we think of the desert in the States, we think basically flat with cacti. However, in Israel when the say desert, they mean desert.
Think rolling, sandy hills and wadis that go on forever. One would feel very isolated if they traveled it alone. Plus it is very quiet, I could hear a dog barking from somewhere in the distance because sound just carries across this barren land. Anyway, it was interesting to see what the Biblical definition of desert/wilderness looks like.

Then we traveled to Jericho were we got to see another of Herod's palaces. He is definitely all about building palaces on the top of the highest mountain. Though, it makes sense defense-wise. It is also interesting that Herod tends to incorporate new structure design into his palaces. For instance, at this location he stacked the bricks in the edge (in a diamond shape), so he could curve the wall. This was new because usually the buildings here are rectangular, with straight walls on all sides. This palace was also innovative because it had a tiled floor, at least in one room.

So from here we traveled to the tell of Jericho. Jericho is actually quite small when compared to what one would consider a town or city today (though, that should be expected). When you see it for yourself, it does not seem unreasonable to have walked seven times around it in one day (let alone maybe a few hours, if you consider that they were blowing trumpets and carrying things). There is archaeological evidence from this site that points to the destruction of the wall being instantaneous. Though, as usual different archaeologists date this site at different times. So Jericho remains a mystery as to how exactly it fits historically into the Biblical time line.

From Jericho we traveled to Nebi Samwil ("Prophet Samuel"), which is the supposed site of Samuel's burial. From here we could see the four cities that make up the central Benjamin area. These cities would be Gibeah, Ramah, Mizpah, and Gibeon. Ramah, interestingly enough, sits on in an area that basically connects the five different main roads into and out of the Central Benjamin Plateau. From this vantage point, on the roof of Nebi Samwil, it was interesting to see the land where many a military campaign traveled. A great deal of the Biblical stories happened in the Benjamin plateau.

Our final stop was at Gezer. I really loved visiting this part of Israel, because it reminded me most of home. There were areas that one might call a forest, with trees! There was also sections of the land that was blocked off for farming, which reminds me so much of the view from my deck at home. So I definitely took a number of pictures just of this area. Apart, from it's resemblance to home the site at Gezer that we visited was a Solomonic palace. We got to see the section of the tell that was considered "Solomon's Gate". There was also a Canaanite Gate in another section. This is an active tell, so we weren't supposed to walk in certain areas. Though, most areas we have visited have active archaeological work being done.

This field study I would say was very interesting. So much Biblical history took place in this area, because it is the connector to the two main international trade routes. And as we all know, those who can get to the trade routes get the money; and those with money have the power. No wonder Israel and Judah fought so much over this strategic area.

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I hope you all are doing well, and I am sorry that I do not post on here more. I have tried to upload photos directly into my blogs, but it does not seem to work. Therefore, I will try to be more diligent in posting photos on facebook and posting the links to the albums here (for those without facebook).
Love and God Bless,
Jennilee

Has it been three weeks?

2008-09-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Wow, I truly cannot believe that my time here is going so quickly. True, a week was spent in a sick haze, and then another week getting adjusted, but where did this week go? I pray that I am living this time to the fullest, or at least plan of trying harder from now on. I think a lot of me not leaving so often has to do with the fact that it has to be planned, because I can't leave alone, and also the fact that everything in the country costs so much money. I really am trying to be frugal. However when a water bottle that you need costs $15 and you are running low on shampoo... well I should have brought more toiletries I guess. Just keep my finances in prayer.

So this week went by very quickly, though I am not sure why. I need to refocus and get things done! Jennilee and I have both taken to napping, which is really a blessing considering we had such a hard time adjusting to the sleeping situation. I have heard that the going back jet lag is a lot less worse, praise the Lord. I didn't really go out this week, I guess I was feeling a little bummed out about some things. God has definitely given me reminders of the life I thought I was leaving in the states here, and not necessarily ones that I wanted to take with me. However I am using these things to grow in Him. So here is a secret. I am giving up hummus. Its true, there is no way that the amount of hummus I consume here can be good for you! Well maybe, but still it should be a treat. Like Challah bread! They only make this sweet sweet bread for the Shabbat meal, and I look forward to it every week. It looks like a braid and they cover it in this sticky honey sauce. In the summer months the bees will be hovering all over the bread in the market!

So I have another exam on Monday on the Land of Benjamin. I am trying to study more of the historical aspects of the land this time, which is what I struggled with on the last exam, where as usual Jennilee did better than I did.

OH so heres something. Today at dinner Dr. Wright announces to the ladies that George has found a solution to our problem. What problem? I had no idea. Well these luke warm showers we've been getting arn't the norm I guess. WHAT WHAT WHAT. Cold showers arn't normal? I am rather depressed to find out the boys can barely stand the showers because they are so warm. Go figure. I miss hot showers and water pressure.

Other than that things were pretty docile this week. Someone visiting the campus stole some brass pots, so we were advised to be locking our doors. Though I am having trouble seeing how someone would get up to the roof and down all of the steps and then through the locked gate with my computer, but Jennilee figures its possible, so we've become door lockers.

I am excited for Ramadan to be over so we can go out to eat, Jennilee spoted a veggi resturaunt today and we are pretty excited to try the food there. And speaking of food, I have discovered a love for the produce here that I will really miss. This love comes in the form of figs and dates! I don't think I can ever buy a bag of dates like the other students do, because I would surely eat them all. Its harvest time in the land, and the dates are HUGE. Why don't we eat dates and figs in the states? Someone let me know.

I would like to take this time to thank Tim for burning me all of these C.D.'s before I left, because they have really kept my feet tapping when the internet goes out!

Well I think that is it for now, I love you!
Claire

XOXO

2008-09-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

I can't even express the thanks I feel towards all of those you sent me a hug! So I decided to return the favor and give one back to you all the way from the Holy Land. In the right corner you can see the YMCA tower and the King David Hotel, so we have a great view from the roof!

Things are going great here so far, and getting over being homesick is easier with people like you in my life! Keep the hugs coming! I enjoy seeing the pictures so much, I might waste my copy paper and hang them up around our room!

I love you!

Claire!!

Have I not updated in a week? Wow, a longer blog coming later today!

Worth Praying About.

2008-09-15T05:37:00.000-07:00

So if anyone was brave enough to read my entire last post, they will remember me mentioning an inncodent which I believe I can now mention it because both my parents and my school were notified as not to make the situation worth mentioning. But I will relay it to you to ask for prayer and also to make you more aware of the situation in the middle east.

Well there are two Physical settings groups at my college, one is for undergrads and one for grads. Our group went into palestine in the morning, and the other group was headed there after we left in the afternoon. This makes it easier not to trip over one another. So the other group had just come into Palestine and was on their way to the Herodian and went a back way to get there. This way went through some neighbors which we did not go through. While going through one of these neighborhoods a group of young boys ran along side the bus and one of the boys threw a rock at the bus. The rock hit one of the front side windows and broke it, hitting two grad students (Charlene, and older lady, and Ada, a student from Africa) in the forehead. The bus pulled over and the ambulance was called. Before it got there however, a police car which was petroling the area passed and with in minutes there was about five army vehicles there. Charlene and Ada where taken to the hospital and spent the day there. It took a while because it was Shabbat which meant only one emergency room was open in Jerusalem, as they take turns as far as who is open. However, they were given the full treatment, catscans and all. Both got stitches and Ada had glass washed out of her eye. The blessing of the whole situation was that the inncodent was considered terrorism, and all of the medical care was free. Otherwise it would have probably been a few thousand dollars each. Both are home and doing fine, Charlene even went to church the next day! Just please keep them in prayer, because Charlenes eye is swollen shut and Ada's isn't far off.

Unfortunely while that is the end of JUC envolvement of this story, it is not the end of the tale. It is tragic to think that I live in a place where a boy throwing in a rock can lead to a death, but it did. Later in the afternoon the police went into Taekoa to find the group of boys that had been throwing rocks that day, and a restitance riot broke out and a teenage boy was shot and killed.

If you would like to read more on this you can visit this link: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020663.html

It was basically just a bad day to visit Palestine, there were alot of things that happened that day over territory disputes. I am taking it as a reminder to where I am, and that I have to be careful no matter where I am. I mean just the other day I was walking with a huge group when a little boy carrying a bunch of Olive leaves walked by and shoved a the branches into my chest. He also did it to my friend Taryn, and that was in front of people! Life is much different here in the middle east, especially as a woman. I am not saying that I am not enjoying my time here or that I wouldnt suggest visiting, it is just much different than I thought it would.

Anyway I took an exam today, and it only went ok, it was only my first though, and I will know how to study better for the next time.

I love you AND I am safe.

Blessings, Claire

Field Study 3

2008-09-14T11:19:00.001-07:00

Hey all,
So we have had our third field study, and this time we got to take a bus to a number of places. It was kind of nice not having to walk everywhere this time. We started off by heading over toward the Patriarchal highway (on the water shed ridge- think west of Jerusalem) and went to a really nice look-out area. From here we could see most of Jerusalem and even over to the Mount of Olives. It was hazy for the first part of the day, which did affect visibility. From here we could see most of Jerusalem and even over to the Mount of Olives. It was hazy for the first part of the day, which did affect visibility.

Then we went to the Herodium down toward Bethlehem. This is the sight of one of Herod’s palaces, and we believe his burial place. We were able to go up into it and look out over the amazing view of the surrounding area. You can see Moab, Bethlehem, and the Tekoa valley (which leads east to the Dead Sea). Here our professor talked about the story of Ruth. Naomi and her family were from Bethlehem, and as we all probably know, they moved over to Moab because of the draught. What was really interesting is that from Bethlehem you can basically see Moab. So it wasn’t just a rumor that they heard about Moab not being in a draught, they could actually see the greener pastures. It just makes the story more interesting because God does not want His people to leave the land He promised them, even if they can see abundance in another area. He wants His people to trust Him in both good and bad times. I thought that was interesting.
We then went into the palace area and got to see Herod’s many baths. He had a cold, warm, and hot bath – what extravagance! Especially, for this area and that time having three baths of different temperatures was pretty amazing. He was also the first to build a dome ceiling, incidentally over the warm bath area. His palace was relatively big, though not to today’s standard of big (however, that is to be expected). It was funny that he also put plaster on the walls so he could put a design on the wall that would make it look like he used precisely cut stones. It was too expensive for him to use the nice looking stones in all his palaces, so he just pretended that he did. It’s all about the image.

So from here we went to an ancient threshing floor, and then on to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem we visited the church that houses the (supposed) site of Jesus’ birth. Of course, one cannot say for certain that Jesus was born in that exact spot, but it is still nice to visit a church the memorializes the event. It was a rather large church with really nice decorations inside. We had to go to the front part of the church and then down into the area with the small cave. It was actually pretty hot in there, probably because of all the people. A lot of them were getting down and touching the little spot that was open in the floor to the stone.

After lunch we went to the Mount of Olives at a nice look-out area where we could see over to the Temple Mount area. I got to pet a camel, which was really cool. There were two just resting on the sidewalk area of the look-out. One almost kissed Claire, which was really funny. On the Mount of Olives is another church that claims to be the site of the Garden of Gethsemane. It actually did have a really nice garden with olive trees. We were able to spend about 20 minutes walking around the garden or going into the church. I went in and sat and read Scripture. It just amazes me that Jesus had such an easy out. He could have decided that dieing on the cross and taking all of our sin would be too hard, He could have just left the sleeping disciples and walked up over the hill and into the wilderness. But He did not. What amazing submission, perfect submission. May I be so willing to give of myself entirely. It was humbling just to reflect on that willing sacrifice.

Our last couple stops were to visit a few tombs across from the Temple Mount. A number of agile students were able to actually climb into them. One was said to be for Absalom, though the building type isn’t right for it to be his. Apparently, though, since it is associated with Absalom people used to throw rocks at it because of his rebellion against David. There was also another tomb that people got to climb around. Claire almost got in over the gate, but decided against it due to a nail or two that was poking into her back. We weren’t able to make it to our last stop, because we ran out of time. This was definitely an interesting and fun trip.

I pray you all are doing well. And it was so nice to finally talk with Sam and Mom this morning. This was the first time I had talked with anyone from home. They were good to go to Dunkin Donuts (for wifi, and of course donuts) at midnight and stay until about 1:30am talking to me. After we talked I started to realize how much I miss my family. I love it here, but I also miss home and familiar things. Though, I always thank the Lord for such an opportunity. God has been so good to me, I just have to praise Him for all He is doing.

Love and God Bless,
Jennilee

Jerusalem Approaches: a feild study.

2008-09-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

NEW PICTURES ADDED!!!

I know that this is so long, so I broke it up into peices for you to read throughout your day!

Well I have probably slept for twelve hours last night and this afternoon, and so I feel very ready to tell you all of the things I did and saw yesterday during our field study, “Jerusalem Approaches.” This field study basically took us all over looking at Jerusalem from different cardinal directions, and after an eventful day, we did just that. I would like to mention that another reason I haven’t written as of yet is that I lost all of the pictures that were on my camera from yesterday, and needed sometime to think about that. So where do I begin. Jennilee and I woke at a balmy 5:15 in the morning, that’s still yesterday in your time, and grabbed some quick showers. We threw down breakfast and walked hastily over to the bus which was leaving at seven. Thankfully we weren’t the last one there, which is pretty typical for me because I am too busy putting on foundation to look at a clock, but Jennilee keeps me in line. The following events are broken up to make reading easier for you, any pictures are stolen from other students and Jennilee:

LOOK OUT #1
The bus left firmly at seven, and I don’t think we left anyone behind. We drove to the south of the city to a look out which I believe was up on the Water Shed Ridge, but I can’t be sure because we saw so much and I usually refer to my pictures to see where we were and again they are lost in space somewhere(s). The scene was lovely, it was still cool in the early morning and a haze covered the top of the hills, in the distance the rising sun was reflecting off of the golden dome in the distance. From on these various lookout you can see the whole city, and things that are written in the Bible about its geography just make so much more sense to me now. We pointed out some geography including the fact that you could on a clear day see the dead see, and got back on the bus, where are bus driven Muhammad was ready to take us away. Funny about this bus driver, he was smoking all day, and it’s Ramadan. Well at least he didn’t eat.

THE HERODIAN
So we packed our passports for the next part of the trip and headed for the wall that was put up between Israel and Palestine just a few years ago. I guess it was the best solution for them. I pondered having to go to a check point every time I wanted to leave my town, and then remembered that some people do not have permission to leave Palestine ever and must stay behind said wall until they get permission. Fortunately we just held our passports in the air, a blessing considering some buses are not allowed in the country. Our next stop I believe was the Herodian. Cindy had mentioned it looked like a volcano, but I couldn’t figure out why that would be in this area. As we approached and she explained I started to understand. Alright, basically Herod the Great was a maniac. One of his favorite things to do other than kill his favorite wives and sons out of Paranoia was to build structures that changed the shape of geography, i.e. bring water where there was no water, flatten a hill, etc. In this case he took a hill that was already high and took dirt from the hill next to it and made it even higher, resulting in the highest hill in the area, even higher than the holy of holies. Of course that is what he wanted. So now think of the hill as an actual volcano with the funnel or the volcano in the middle. In the funnel area he builds the castle, and then puts up four huge towers making the mountain even bigger. This resulted in some awesome views of his entire empire. That’s right you could see the dead see, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and even Moab. We were basically in King David’s backyard. (Real shepherds with real bleating sheep!) We also stopped to see King Herods tomb which was just below the top and facing Jerusalem. I think my favorite part was when Cindy was telling us about the story of Ruth, and how they could see that Moab was green from where they lived. We left the hill by this tunnel built by these settlers during one of the wars.

The THRESHING FLOOR
Next we visited a real threshing floor, or at least it used to be. This was cool because Cindy explained the story of Ruth and Boaz and the boys played out the scene. Here you can see the boys uncovering eachothers feet!

BETHLEHEM
My first impression of Bethlehem was that it sure did house a lot of garbage. No one cares about that here though. Even in the churches, if something was put up 1000 years ago, it is still there, no matter what it is. So we drove into Bethlehem and made our way up a hill (go figure) to Nativity Square. We headed into the Church of the Nativity so we could all see and touch the rock where Jesus was born. This like everything in the area probably wasn’t the actual rock, but it was nice to remember the birth. I even bought one of those candles and said quick “thanks for coming Lord.” We did not have much time at the church but it was so beautiful in there. I hope the situation to go back remains open. We then left Palestine through the wall, but this time we all had to get off the bus and physically had to go through the check point. The wall was littered with graffiti protesting the wall. It is so moving to look at it.

RAMAT RAHAL
Our next stop was Ramat Rahal, which has become somewhat of a huge kibbutz for tourists. It has a pretty nice pool which I hope to visit soon. We went to see the remains of a palace there. The coolest thing other then the view was the HUGE pile of pottery shards that we picked through. I hope everyone I know likes pottery shards because they are a rather inexpensive (free) and cool gift from the Holy Land. See they date things with the pottery, but other than that it’s pretty much useless. It was around this time we got a call about the incident, but we will talk about that later in a different blog seeing it will be a careful explanation to keep you from worrying about me. Lunch was good, basically pita and hummus, like always.

HEBREW UNIVERSITY
I think our next stop was Hebrew University to the look out. To go to this school you have to speak fluent Hebrew and know Latin! So lets just say I won’t be heading there anytime soon. Anyway this was my favorite view because we could see the whole platform of the temple mount, which I haven’t seen yet. The other awesome part other then the wind that wouldn’t let up, was the camels that were there that I guess you can ride. We just stopped and gave them camel kisses! Cindy pointed out the Eastern Gate that is sealed up along the wall. She said that in the late 80’s it had just rained and the air was really clear. So a JUC student decided to take pictures in the morning. He walked all the way along the wall to this gate to take some pictures. This gate was probably filled up because of the prophesy of the messiah coming from the east. This current filled up gate is actually a later gate however and not the original gate. So this guy walks up to the gate to look around, but because the ground was wet from the rain he fell through the ground and into a tomb underneath. Once he got over the original shock of falling into a tomb and realized he could get out of the tomb, he took some pictures of what he saw there. Some of these pictures were of the original gate of the wall! He was so excited he ran back to the school to get a friend and his camera, but by the time they got back the hole had been filled in with cement! (This is probably because the gate is touching the wall connected to the Temple Mt, and the Muslims for sure don’t want any proof that this wall ever had anything to do with Christianity. I don’t even want to think of all the things that they know that we do not.) Any this guy took the only pictures we have of this older gate, and they have been published in a few magazines. This place is so shady!

MT. OF OLIVES WALK
I know what you are thinking, all of this in one day? But yes there is more! Thank you for hanging in there with me. So now we started our walk down the Mt. of Olives. Our first stop was a church that housed some old bone boxes, one of which had the foot of someone who had been crucified in it. The garden there was beautiful. Continuing down this route, which is the route people take on Palm Sunday, we eventually hit the Church of the Nations. I think I will mention that this whole mountain is covered in white stone tombs, so that part of the story when Jesus says the rocks will cry out takes on a whole new meaning. So the Church of the nations boasts the traditional Garden of Gethsemane and the church is built over the traditional rock where Jesus cries out to God. This church was my favorite spot in the city thus far. The Olive trees in the garden are some of the oldest on the mountain, and so lovely. The church is called the church of nations because of all of the countries that gave money to see it be built, the U.S. included. The stain glass windows are alabaster in shades of blue and purple from Egypt and Jordan. The glass is barely transparent, leaving the church in a constant state of evening all day long. As you walk through the doors a sign reminds you, “silence.” I sat in the church, so much more beautiful without the gaudy decorations of the older churches, with mosaic covering the floor and the ceiling. I sat and read the account of John 17 and prayed silently to myself. Now we are coming to the end of the day. We walked down the hill into the bottom of the Kidron valley. There we stopped to see Absalom’s monument and some other structures carved right into the bedrock! The fun part about these what that there was a rope hanging from a hole in the monument, and up went ten of the students into the old tomb. It was a lot of fun to watch, but of course I have no upper body strength.

So that was my day, It was a blast, and I hope you enjoyed reading through this.

Love you, Claire

Shabbat Shalom

2008-09-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

" Hear oh Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one."

Blessings dear friends, Love Claire

Breaking Shabbat with good friends: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012241&l=fd528&id=170100936

Stuffy Muffy

2008-09-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

Shabbat Shalom readers! Sorry that it has been a few days since I updated, but I guess it my case it has seemed like a busy week. Mostly in the fact that I am still sick, in fact sicker then I was when I wrote my last blog. This cold is really chewing me up, and I am not getting as much done as I would like to. Plus tomorrow we have a feild study called "Jerusalem approaches" where we take a bus all over so I have been trying to really rest all week to feel better. I even took my name of the hike list for Sunday so I could get some rest before our exam on Tuesday. I thought I was feeling a little better yesturday because I got a good nap, but what ever I have wont kick. Hopefully the Lord will heal me soon. I just want to be able to read a book without falling asleep on it. I am also having trouble reading people because my head is so blurry so I am just assuming everyone is upset with me. I feel bad that I am still sick. So please pray this out of me!

Lets see the other day we went out for my friend Nicoles birthday. She found this resturaunt in her guidebook and it was said to be cheap, so about 20 of us walked into the arab quarter and searched for it. It cost 35 sheckles a person, which is 10 dollars us, and was AWESOME. They were really nice and opened for us even though they were on their way home to eat after the fast. (Its Ramadon!) So as far as the food, you know how at Olive garden, you can get a taste of Italy, we this was like taste of Palestine! Lets see I don't know all of the names of what we ate, but they brought it out and we all shared it! There was Pita, Falofal balls, Hummus, Black Hummus with this avacodo sauce on it, the spicy red paste that I loved, this other eggplant sauce that tasted like butter to me, and maybe some other sauce thing, and also arab salad and this other salad that was basically olives and pickles. All of this I guess went on the Pita. They also brought us out french fries and ketchup! It was a great time and so good!

That was on Tuesday though, and its friday, so where has the time gone. On wednesday I rested to try to get the sick out of me, no such luck, but I went to Christian Communities in the Middle East class at night which was pretty interesting and a lot of information. I decided to drop the class even though I really liked it, because I have to take two semesters of Chruch History at home as well. Yesturday I had three classes which made for a long day but I enjoyed the subject matter! This morning I went to Archeaology class that I am thankfully auditing, and it was THREE STRAIGHT HOURS with no break. Thank goodness I brought tissues because I was barely hanging on! I basically listened and drew pictures and seemingly had a nice time. Tim, our professor is Avi Barkei, and yes he was the man you saw on tv, my friend told me she saw it too! I thought you would want to know!

Tonight is shabbat, which is a nice time to .... well I am really not sure, but its a little nicer of a meal with the other students, and hopefully hummus, because today was grocery day! I have been trying to eat healthy here and thankfully we have a ton of fresh fruit and veggies to eat here. I didn't know you could eat a fig outside of a cookie!

Well I am going to go attempt to read for class, Love You!

Claire

How I feel about Hummus...

Are you Mormon?

2008-09-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on religion in Israel.

As I walk through the Old City with my friends, it seems the most popular question form shop keepers is, "Are you mormons?" or "Bevakesha Ladies this shop is the perfect place for mormons!" Something along those lines. Now my friend Cameron says its because there is a huge influx of Mormon students in the Spring coming from their School on the Mt. of Olives. My Palestinian teacher thought it maight be because they know Mormons are ok with having multiple wives and this could be their chance. He is a pretty funny guy.

How funny it is to hear aside, it opens the issue of the religious undertones that permiate everything in this society. Everyone is put into one of three groups; Christians, Muslims, or Jews. However, being in one of these groups in no way reflects your spiritual realtionship with the Father at all. You just need to be labeled. The church here is rather indifferent to the branching out in faith idea presented in the Bible because the religious issues and hostelness (is that a word) coming from all sides. Everyone is left to their own beliefs, and a dangerous spirit of Universalism has crept over the whole city. Even last night our teacher was expressing that he would never want to openly talk people into converting, and that we should just live by example. People and people groups need to find their own religious beliefs and what is right for them. Can this universalist view have spread even to the Holy Land? I asked myself. It has. Our professor is Roman Catholic, but obviously does not know what it means to live faith out, but I suppose we all get it wrong in some ways. The men who work in our kitchen are "christians" but have no idea what it means to be redeemed by Jesus Christ. But the people here don't really care. Religion is more of what you are then who you are. I am not saying their are not strong christians, muslims, or jews in town, however Christianity in a whole looks more like Muslim or Judism then soley Christian.

The other day I was thinking strongly about how Christ has not abolished the law but instead fufilled it. It got me thinking about if I should be more "jewish" in tradition then I am now. But how then do I still make Christianity its own thing. I am neither Jewish or Muslim, but the Church here (the people group) tries to keep the peace by generalizing. Just as one can be born into Jewish heritage one can also be born into Christian heritage, and it doesnt mean you will adopt the religion as your own. So how does this effect me, how to I begin to respect the aspects of the Law that Jesus acknowledged, and still live out and act out my faith? Maybe it begins in small ways.

Like next time when the waitress at the hookah bar askes why none of us are drinking, I wont just say I dont drink, but tell her why I have chosen not to drink... however that could possibly be a bad example because no one gets drunk here, that is really an american thing.

In todays worlds we are called to come together through our differences and focus on what we have that is the same. The danger in that is forgetting what God has called us to. There is in fact only one way, and that is through the Father and His son Jesus, so I guess this semester will help me to figure out how to balance that in this, a society more extremely seperated that America. (Everything is labeled, Christains supermarkets, Jewish bakerys, etc.) I have taken for granted that I live in a place so big on real faith, and moved to a place where you are what you were.

BUT more on this later.

Please keep me in prayer I have caught a pretty terrible cold. I know, stop getting sick Claire.

Love You and Miss you!

(Picture taken by my good friend Adobe, of the Old City streets at 5 am, when everthing is closed.)

Finally Posting [Part 2]

2008-09-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after lunch (last Sunday) we got to go see the church of the Holy Sepulcher. This apparently is where Jesus' crucifixion and burial took place, but whether that is accurate we don't know. Anyways, we started at the far east side which is where people originally would have started from. Then we walked up a long staircase and to the current entrance where a large mural is. This mural depicts Jesus' crucifixion, taking Him down from the cross to be prepared for burial, and His burial. There is a large flat stone in front of this mural that represents the place where Jesus was prepared for burial. Some people would come and touch the stone and pray over it. Most people know that this stone wasn't the actual stone, but maybe not all of them. So from here we went to the place where Jesus is said to have been buried. They have built a large structure around the spot, so that it is in a free standing room within the church. I don't think your allowed to take pictures in there, but people can go in and see it. We weren't able to spend too much time in the church because we had one more stop and then we had to get back. Though, I'm sure I and others will go back in our free time to see it in more detail. In all, this was my favorite field study as of yet.

I will be able to get picture of our visit to the church up when I get a new cord for my computer...so basically not any time soon, sorry.
I hope everyone is doing well with school and work and life. Just remember all of our efforts for anything that we pursue means nothing if it's detracting from our relationship with Jesus.
I must tell you that I don't think I've ever felt so close to Jesus that I do now. I love going to Him in prayer, and reading about Him, and learning about Him. I don't think it is just because I'm in Jerusalem (or the "Holy Land"), but because I'm in a place where I can't rely on the familiar. I am out here on my own, in a land so very far away form home, and Jesus is using this to show me that He is big enough and strong enough to be everything I need.

You all are in my prayers, and I thank you that I have been in yours.
Love and God Bless,
Jennilee

Chronic Illness and Bliss

2008-09-09T01:33:00.000-07:00

Jet Lag, Heat Stroke, Hyperventaltion, Dieherria, Gas, Bloating, Wasp Stings, Bug Bites, Headaches, exema(AHHHHHH,) and now a cold...

but I am mostly homesick. I miss being with people I know and that Love me. Thank Goodness for Jennilee and her support. This is just harder then I thought it would be. I am not trying to complain, I love it here, but sometimes I go the whole day without a hug! I obviously need to meet a nice Israeli Soldier! (just kidding) Thank you to all of the people who have taken time out of their afternoon to make me laugh, it really Helps. God is just using this to grow me more then I thought he would. Since I last updated I have basically been recovering from the weekend, it is Tuesday right? Alright so last night I went out with some people to get hookah again, Don't worry I didn't have any. I would probably gag my lungs up anyway. It did have a pleasent apple smell though. I was pretty bummed out last night though. I should have stayed home to myself but I am trying to get to know some people better so I won't feel so lonely. So I did not get to sleep until late because I was talking with friends online. That meant a nice nap this morning after I put some laundry on the clothes line (Mrs. Wright called them our air dryers!) So then I got up and did some hebrew homework. We are translating the book of 2 kings, which so far has been cool with all the calling down of fire. It took us 10 verses to figure out what story we were on!

Today is Nicoles birthday so we are going out for dinner! I havent really eatten out at all so this should be good. We are going out after lunch to pick her up a present in the Old City. We tried yesturday but it was getting late and they want us in for dusk during Ramadan, well at least being careful, but the U.S. Embassy makes their people get inside! I guess their is a lot of crime during that time because the men are supposed to provide presents for their families or something. So our school has had people get mugged before or held at knife point. HAHA I just made my mom feel so much better.

SO anyway please be praying for us. I am excited that it feels cooler today, well its 82, but the air feels cooler.

I think I have some new pictures to share!

Israel 3D: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012154&l=c91a2&id=170100936

Temple Mount Museum and Hezekiahs Tunnel: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012172&l=23386&id=170100936

Hezekiahs Tunnel and Tombs and ...: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012173&l=e946c&id=170100936

Love you! Claire

Finally Posting

2008-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Sorry everyone, I know I've slacked off on posting here. But part of it was unavoidable due to our internet being down basically this whole weekend.
So to get you updated:
Shabbat dinner and vespers was really awesome on Friday. We had a BBQ outside and then we all gathered around in the grass to sing and worship God. Claire was one of the leading singers, who was sort of caught off guard because they asked her at dinner if she would sing after. But it went really well and she did an awesome job. After the singing we all stood (or sat) around and chatted until 9pm (when we were going to watch Aladdin). I had a really good time talking with Lila (the cutest little baby of one of the grad students) and her mom. Lila was trying to eat the grass, but we all kept watch on her. It was also really nice to watch Aladdin with a big group of us. The funniest part was when a number of the guys all came in on the part of the song that goes, "I will open your eyes...". Anyways, it was really funny.

Today we had our second field study for Physical Settings. We started at 7am [and you thought 8am classes were bad]. We first went to go look at a part of the wall from Hezekiah's time, I believe. It proved the wall was farther out than previously thought. What was also interesting was watching the city wake up. Little cute children would walk by, probably going to school. Also, there was a playground right across from where we were, which the kids went to as well.
Later we got to see a 3D movie on the City of David. It showed the history of Israel being taken by Assyria, then how Hezekiah made a tunnel to divert the water when the Assyrians tried to attack him. Apparently, we still can't exactly figure out how Hezekiah was able to make this tunnel, because they were tunneling blind from two ends and ended up meeting each other. Even though, it was not a straight shot. However, what was even better than the movie was actually walking through Hezekiah's tunnel.
Now Hezekiah's tunnel was constructed to divert water, so guess what we walked in for most of the tunnel...that's right - water. It was actually really fun, especially since we were forewarned of the water part. The first section of the water was deepest, coming up maybe 6 or 7inches above my knees. However, it was a lot lower for most of the walk. At first you could stand up in the tunnel, then the ceiling got really low. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic. There were also other parts where the ceiling was very high, apr. twice my height. So anyway, it was a lot of fun and for a little while some people were singing as we walked through. The tunnel had pretty good acoustics.
After the tunnel we went to the Pool of Siloam. This is the pool that Jesus sent the blind man to wash the mud off his eyes (that Jesus put on them). Also, another miracle Jesus did on the Sabbath. A cute little kitten decided to join our discussion, probably because he knew that we would all pet him. Though, he was probably also looking for food.
From here we went to look at an ancient burial site. They used to believe the tombs we were near were for the poor, though now they seem far to elaborate for that purpose. Apparently, after the bodies decomposed and all that was left were bones, they would be placed in a whole with the bones of your ancestors. So when it says in the O.T. that so-and-so slept with his fathers, his bones were actually laying on top of his father's bones.
Soon after this we hiked up the hill back toward campus for lunch. I will write about the second half of our day probably tomorrow. It is getting late and I should get to bed.
I hope everyone is well. May God bless you all and keep you.

~Jennilee~

P.S. Check out the new pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060628&l=83bb3&id=43401722

Tunnels and Tantrums.

2008-09-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

Today was definitely physically taxing. I do not remember the last time I have been this tired at the end of the day. I mean it’s only eight and I am ready for bed! We started the day near our campus on the roof of the building that did not house the last supper. Then we moved to the room that actually housed the last supper. See the room is just so wrong for the last supper. There are bits of the Karan on the wall and gothic architecture. Basically it just can not be the room. However, it was nice to go and see it for its tradition. We moved from there to the Jewish quarter to see a part of Hezekiah’s wall that was excavated after the Jewish quarter fell following the war in the 1960’s. I really enjoyed watching the city wake up around us. My favorite part were the little Jewish boys and girls going off to school for the day.
We then headed to the City of David, where we entered the very nice visitor’s center. The first thing that we did there was watch this insane 3D video about the ancient city. I have never been to one of these movies before, but having birds fly out at you was pretty neat. After the fun of 3D glasses was over, we stood up on a platform on which you could view the whole lower section of the City of David, which by the way was rather small. We are getting very good at picking out hills and valleys now. Believe me you feel them with your feet. Then came probably my favorite part of the day, which was when we got to walk through Hezekiah’s tunnel though the belly of the city! It was such fun walking through this small tunnel built to keep the Assyrians from getting to the water supply during the war. We where up to our waist in water some of the time and the worst part was that I forgot my flash light, so I kept taking pictures hoping it would help me see! So let’s just say I took a lot of pictures of Jennilee’s backside, because she was all I could see. Sometimes the tunnel would get so small you would have to bend over just to get through. It was an awesome experience. Then came my least favorite part of the day, which started off fine with us seeing this nice tomb that probably belonged to this priest that I can not remember, and then ended with the worst climb out of the valley up to our school. This walk went first up this rugged “hill” which went straight up and then up this paved 45 degree 600 ft rise up from hell to my room in heaven. I thought I was going to die. I am not being dramatic. You know the point when you want to break down and weep but you can not because you are hyperventilating, yeah I was there. Jennilee talked my up the last staircase. I do not think I can talk about it anymore. It gave a new definition to what they meant by “You must be in excellent physical condition.” By the way I thought they meant like do not have cancer or something! I wanted to roll into the hinnom valley and get eatten by the dogs.
After our one hour of lunch back at school we were back out again. That was outfit number two for me. I can barely remember what we did by then and am looking through my photos. Oh alright we went to the Temple Mount museum, which is right next to the mount, and more importantly air conditioned. It was really interesting to here the history behind the site and see what has been dug up. Other than that we basically spent the rest of the day at the Holy Septlicure (no idea how to spell that), which was pretty cool if you enjoy folklore and Catholic tradition. If you need something rubbed on Calvary or the tomb of Jesus, please just let me know! Well it is good to be back at school and showered. I hope everyone is doing great!

Love Claire

Touch and go internet and the story of a sting.

2008-09-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

Written Yesterday:

Well I guess I got it later than everyone else, but I can nicely say that I need to be 100 ft. from a bathroom at all times. I knew I would drop some weight here, but I didn't think it would be for this reason. HAHA. Well I guess 75% of the student body has been going through this, so I don't feel alone. Nicole was nice enough to let me use her clinical strength meds which I have taken twice and have only sort of helped. I guess it takes your body some time to get used to the water and the food.

Now for the pressing issue of the wasp sting. I was in the computer lab this morning and went to pick up some papers off of a desk and leaned right on this thing. At first it felt like a hot wire was touching my leg, and then... oh the pain. I am rather alright with pain, or at least laughing it off. Well I could not hold this back. I fell to the ground and wept. I could barely speak. Poor Naomi didn't know what was wrong with me. Oh I did see the thing fly off, but only for a second, I think it was black. I tried so hard to laugh it off but I couldn't. Nothing could possibly hurt this bad, and you all know I have body modifications that should hurt worse. No Way. So when I finally got myself into a chair a guy walks in to see my balling and was all "Ok, Bad Time" and I could barely get out that I had been stung. So Naomi went and got Mrs. Wright and they got Ice and some cream. She told me that her husband had gotten stung and that it would hurt all day. Well I would say that would be an understatement. The Ice numbed the wound pretty well for awhile. However, my leg now feels like it is on fire. Sometimes it starts twitching or has some wave of pain. And goodness, I wish it would stop. It is not easy to run down five flights of steps to the bathroom when your leg is on fire. So I have basically bummed around all day because I didn't have class and would like to be able to walk at our field study on Sunday.

Last night I went out with a group of guys for Thursday night which if you think about it is like our Friday night. All the young people hang out in the new city. So we went up Jaffa St. to an outdoor restaurant/hookah bar and talked for a few hours. It really was a good time. The boys got a water pipe which smelled like Apples (No, I didn't have any) and I got a Cappuccino which kept me up ALL NIGHT. That's right, tired, sick, wasp sting. But hey I would rather go through it all at once and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It weird here because the drinking age is lower and we are basically free to do what we want off campus. I guess this freedom is a more European way of looking at education, but I like it. Oh and the hookah, which I still dont quite have figured out, they were everywhere. You could rent one anywhere in that area, and most of the young people where enjoying them. I bet there is no age limit because there is little or no nicotine in them, or so I have been told. Just another chance to pass on things of this world. We left there and went to block buster so the boys could rent something, and I thought it was funny that all the Titles where in Hebrew! All in all a really fun way to spend a night.

So I am going to finish my free diet coke I won from the scavenger hunt (yes it says it in Hebrew) and wait for dinner. We are having a BBQ tonight, but most of the boys went on a man trip to Tel Aviv, I would really like to go sometime to the beach as well. I am also singing for vespers tonight, because no one volunteered to do so and I like singing anyway.

I apologize to all of those who are waiting for me to get in contact with them, the internet here has been up and down all day and last night, In fact I will probably have to save this and post it later, so blessings to all, please be praying for my illness and even more for this sting. I hope everyone is Doing great, and a very Happy Birthday to my sister Kayla! Love you, Claire

Written Today:
The Internet has been down here for the past two days, or touch and go. I havent been able to get on so I apologize to those who are trying to talk to me.

TO Kayla, Happy Birthday...its today right? Anyway I am sorry I have to be away for this special day for you. I love you!

Love Claire

ps. the sting is doing better, but its still swollen.

Nes Cafe

2008-09-04T04:16:00.000-07:00

They don't drink brewed coffee here, and in the moring they drink instant coffee, which I have been getting used to. A nice young man with a french press lets me in on the coffee wealth sometimes and it is much appreciated it. I can walk about a quarter mile to get an americano, but sometimes there isn't time.

We are about to head off to Hebrew 3 at three, and it should be alright. I can still read fairly well and my hebrew tongue is slowly coming back to me. The teacher told me that I read beatifully, but he didnt know that I knew the verse I was reading, so I practiced the verses for today so I wouldnt sound like an idiot. We are going to be parsing verbs IN HEBREW. I didn't think I signed up for that, but I suppose it will be a fun new skill to show off in the Hebrew four class when I get back home. We are translating 2 Kings this semester mostly for Hebrew and also to get the Historical and Geographical names out of the text. Interesting Yes, easy no. Our professor in that class is a Jew from the states, and he cracks me up, and supposidly is very gracious, which is a blessing for my fragil feelings when it comes to hebrew.

Today we are going to the office depot to get the school supplies we forgot! I have heard that they dont have much but they do have a little. It will most likely be expensive. I wish I saw a place to get them in the Arab quarter, because things are cheaper there, but alas that did not happen.

Yesturdays shopping experiance was so funny. If you are a lady I would love to tell you about it sometime, because its a girl appropriate story, but I assure you a laugh from it. We also ended up getting a little away from where we knew, but as long as you know the direction you are in you can find a way out of the wall. So all was well. Some of the girls tried their hand at haggeling and I got a new dress thing to keep cool in. I thought I would be wearing skirts for modesty but really its more comfortable in the heat! Today however I decided to go with more comfy clothing. I have tomorrow off so perhaps we should plan something. Some of the kids went to the beach today but I needed to go to class. I don't mind though because I woke up this morning excited to sit and learn and read and take in. How blessed I feel to be here learning about things I love. Seriously today in class we talked about tells, when will I get to talk about tells at home! (a tell is a hill like mound that is actually layers of ancient cities built up over hundreds of years!)

I can not believe tomorrow is friday and that I have been here for almost a week already. I have been keeping up with the homework so far and it is a ton of reading, but it has been fairly interesting. I also have a class on Society and Politics in Palestine taught by a member of their parliment, and I am eager to learn from his perspective what is going. He is really funny as well. Don't worry Mr. Cooper, I am not being brain washed.

I signed up to do some volunteer work here, hopefully at a Hebrew school or if not there with the gyspies in the old city. I am excited to see what God will do!

New Picture Files!
Getting to Israel:
http//www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012065&l=d0dfe&id=170100936
The Old City, St. Annes, and the Pools of Bethesda:
http://http//www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012084&l=cd4c3&id=170100936
The Western Wall:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012124&l=d4580&id=170100936
Talk to you Soon! Love and Miss you... Claire

First Feild Study.

2008-09-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, this is not so much of a personal post, but really a one paged paper that I wrote reflecting on the tour of the Old City we had. Things are good here, but I will admit to being a little lonely. I am used to knowing everyone and it is just different here. Everything is different here, so just keep Jennilee and I in your prayers. Love you. Claire

ps. the internet has been slow today, so I will have pictures up soon, I promise I have been trying.
“Field Trip One: Walking Tour through the Old City”

Israel is not all what I expected. However, I do not really remember ever giving it much thought. I guess I came into this not knowing what to expect, and I had never thought to research the subject. I know for next time I come to a new place. So I was not expecting what I saw on our walking tour, and I have to say it has become somewhat emotionally taxing on me. Everything is so busy and there is one emotionally driven place after another. I can only say that I am happy to have Jennilee with me to go through this.
The tour started out side of the school gate in the grass along the Old City wall. The students spread out in the shade on an Olive tree, which was only a little cooler than in the sun. As we sat we learned about the different layers of the wall, and how the wall as we have it today is comprised of three different walls. I couldn’t believe that I had walking past so many hundreds of years of history built into just one wall. I have nothing to compare this wall to at home. This wall has protected a city for hundreds of years. We continued through the gate where we passed fresh bread and the place of Herad’s palace. We continued down King David’s street and I started to wonder how this strange crowded place came to be. Again, I have nothing to compare this experience or place to and it reminded me of the Prince of Egypt or something. As we walked the stones turned into huge pavers, which were the original Roman pavers of that road. It is hard to believe that were I grew up with wood that everyone here is used to so much rock. Everything here is made from rock. Even the sidewalks are limestone. Well getting back to the pavers, they are huge, and I guess where built pretty darn well to still be there. We then spent a huge chunk of time walking through the streets around to different Gates around the City. Let’s see, the Jappa Gate, the Damascus Gate, the Lions Gate, the Flower Gate, and Later on the Zion Gate. From the Lions Gate we saw a wonderful view of the Mount of Olives and Cindy said something that really got me thinking. I mean it’s not that big, Jesus could have just fled to the other side of it that night when he was praying and would have been safe in the wilderness. However he made the choice to stay and die for us. It doesn’t get much cooler than that. Things just seem so much more real here, but I guess that is because they are. Our next stop was St. Anne Church, which is the site of the Pools of Bethesda. These pools where used to store water for the dry season, and where quite deep. This was also the site were Christ healed the man who could not walk and could not get down to the waters quick enough to be the first one in. We took pictures and then entered St. Anne’s Church, which is the best example of a crusaders church that we have. It was beautiful. The acoustics were to die for, and we all sat and sang some worship songs together as a group. Our voices rang through the church like a bell. Even when were finished the sounds did not stop for seconds afterward. I have never given thought to what heaven will sound like, but in my heart I know it must be something like that. We finished the Day at the Western wall, which was kind of emotional to see. I have been there twice now and I am still not ready to pray near it. I want to go early in the morning and not with class. It is a sight to behold. So many people all coming to see the Oldest wall and closest that one can get to the Holy of Holies. Can you imagine the spirit of the Lord has lived in this city as well! What an exciting day!

Photos!

2008-08-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

Thank Claire for showing me where the link was to post my facebook albums here.
Enjoy everyone!

"Fast Tour of Athina"
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060009&l=e9d55&id=43401722

"Fast Tour of Athina -Continued-"
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060012&l=114ea&id=43401722

"1st Day in Israel"
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060013&l=e3cbd&id=43401722

Love and God Bless,
Jennilee

[note: click on the pictures to enlarge, though that may have been obvious]

Wonderful, Yet Terrifying.

2008-08-31T02:04:00.000-07:00

This morning we went to Christ's Church in the Old City, built in the 1800's it was the first protestant church in Israel, it was an Anglican service but awesome. Well that was until I was taking communion and drank WINE. AHHHH. Gosh I was terrified as soon as it touched my lips. I just assumed it would be grape juice, in fact I was looking forward to it. I know that it was done in remembrance of Christ but I have made a commitment not to drink and would really need some time in prayer, a lot of prayer, to change my mind on that decision. I guess this is just another thing God is using to grow me. Pray that I will focus on him through this time and not fall into what is comfortable for me.

In Love. Claire.

A Nice View of Hell.

2008-08-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

I know you are probably thinking a few things. One might be why hasn't claire written? And the other is why does claire have a nice view of Hell?

I will answer the second first.

It is six am. I really thought it might be earlier and am happy that I slept so long, considering I didn't think jet lag would hit me so hard and I worked hard not to nap when I was tired yesturday. So after a lot of walking all over today, I went to bed ready to sleep. All that happened was me dreaming about getting lost in the old city which was very unnerving. So this name is fitting because of that, and because off of the roof we have a wonderful veiw of the Hinnon Valley. Jesus compares this Valley to Hell, I am thinking because it was a dump or something that I will probably learn in the next few months. Any, thanks for letting me explain, and let me start from the begining and catch you up. We left off at the layover, and gosh it seems like two weeks ago.

The layover got longer at night. We walked around a lot after we freshened up in the less popular bathroom while we one of us watched eachothers stuff. Next time I go hiking up the side of a mountain I will bring more clothing. Gosh I need to google the countries I go to before I get there, more on that later. Lets see I spent my euro trying different coffee, mostly because I didnt know how to order and kept getting strange things. Nothing tasted like I thought it would and I never did get filtered coffee. Atleast I know for next time. Then we found something to eat. I tried my luck at sushi and Jennilee got pizza, I guess both were pretty good but looking back I shouldnt have tested my luck. We then tried napping on some chairs, well I layed accross the table part, for a few mins, and then went through customes and finally a darn security point. We hadn't been through one all day, and where wondering why. In the terminal, we met Josh, another JUC student, who kept walking past us trying to figure out if we were JUC! We finally talked to him and spent the rest of our journey together.

We took the red eye from Athena to Yeshrael at 2 am. The food was terrible on this flight and I have no idea why they bothered anyway. Who eats so late anyway? Alright I should keep moving. The flight seemed to go by quickly after a short nap, and we finally landed at our destination! Now the airport in Tel Aviv was huge, but the three of us somehow mananged to meet up with Ian and Billy, two more students, and then took a sherut (a group taxi) to JUC at 6 am. Alright... so we walked outside for the first time, all I thought was, it is so humid. It was like wearing a sweater of air! I think I am starting to get used to it. I tried to take pictures of this trip, but I was tired out of my mind, and also feeling sick, another feeling that hasn't quite left yet.

We arrived at JUC in one peice, which is a miracle consider there is barely a traffic pattern here. Everyone drives so aggresively! I would never be able to for sure. First thing that happened was room appointments. We told them our name and they said we had room 400B, and then laughed and said something about being all the way up there. I didn't know that this would mean about six to ten flights of winding stairs all the way to roof level! I am going to have the best legs of my life. Can I say that? Anyway I will. So we got settled and took a crazy cold shower. They only heat their water twice daily here in the morning and at night, supposedly during lunch as well sometimes. I will have to figure that out. But the cold water was welcome and felt good on my skin. We took a short nap before heading out to the Old city with Nada from Nigera and her friend whose name I can never remember. They have been here before so that was a blessing. The Old City is very close to us, only a less then ten min walk away along the way. We walk right through the Jaffa gate and into a World I wasn't expecting... more different then anything I had ever seen. Think a small network of alleys (well a large one) making the biggest flea market on the planet, sometimes covered and sometimes enclosed, all split off into different sections but definately not clearly marked...gosh its so different! Oh and then out of no were, we were at the Western wall. There it was, right in front of me! I didn't know how to react, I almost cried, but I am really on sensory overload here, so much has been thrown in front of my eyes in such a short time! It looks like arabian nights, but I guess I keep forgetting I am in the Middle east. So after changing some money we came back and took another shower, ate dinner, and tried with more fail to sleep through the night.

The breeze amazes me here. It comes at night and cools everything off, it is wonderful. You definately wait for it after being hot for so long. By the way, I feel so pale here, 10x of normal. I just want to tan and ruin my skin forever! Maybe I will work up to something! So this morning we had breakfast of hot hard boiled eggs and some other things... I WILL do a blog on the food later. Then had a day of orientation, ending in a picture scavenger hunt and a walking tour of the modern new city, which is only four hundred years old lol.

I will try to get pictures up soon, and go into more detail about my day later, my computer is about to die.

Maybe it hasnt hit me yet that I am in the Holy Land. But it is starting to. I thought it would feel different, but how do I say it feel just like another place. But it does feel different in that everything other then its a place is different. We had orientation today and were warned about all the dangers of living here, and I can feel that tension around, but I also feel so much peace here. It is so beautiful in the sence of its...age? I can't explain it, but I am praying that the Lord is going to use this time to grow me, and I know that he will.

ps. you can't flush the toilet paper here. It just feels wrong.

Loving It!

2008-08-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

So it is really hot [note to Dad: you wouldn't make it here, haha]. We don't have air-conditioning in the university so we basically leave the window open at night and then close it in the morning, and have the fan running 24/7. It hasn't been too terribly bad, but it helps that I have accepted the fact that I will be in a constant state of sweating. Ok, not all the time, the nights are refreshingly cool. [note to Mom: Yes I have been drinking lots of water, believe me you have to here].

It was so nice today. We woke up, had breakfast, then had an information meeting on the academic aspect, then registered for classes. Later we had our student life information meeting, which was interesting. The thing they stressed the most was not, "look out for terrorists" (because Jerusalem is pretty safe, in that respect), but "dress to cover your knees and shoulders, and ladies do NOT walk anywhere alone" (with an emphasis on a group of three or four girls being better, and walking with a guy being the best). Apparently, in this culture the men around you prove that you are connected to a community. So it's not so much just because they think your a weak woman, but community gives a woman respect.

In the afternoon, we were split up into smaller groups and had to go on a scavenger hunt in the Old City. We had to take pictures of things like store keepers playing backgammon, us holding a soldiers gun (we actually did get that one, some groups couldn't find a soldier who was willing), us eating a falafel, different historic buildings, and what not. Our group had a good time and actually got a majority of the list crossed off.

Finally, this evening we split into two groups of like 20 and got a tour through the New City. It was so nice to be walking outside after the sun went down. Plus the New City seems like an awesome place to hang out and shop. It was also really cool that I got to talk to a lot of different people on the walk. I think I'm getting better at small talk :).
Anyways, I really should go to bed soon (though I'm really awake right now), because Claire and I plan to go to church tomorrow. It will be neat to see how different the church services are here. Then we have a five hour walk through the Old City tomorrow as part of our Physical Settings class. So that should be fun. And hot, of course...but that basically describes Israel right now.

I hope you all in The States are doing well. Enjoy your Fall weather, and just know that God is keeping us safe here and really excited for this semester. I really like the group of students here, so that makes it all the more enjoyable.

Love and God Bless,
Jennilee

P.S. I will be posting the links for my facebook photo albums here tomorrow, when I figure out how.
P.P.S. [note to Sam: Guess what! They have a basketball hoop here. but sadly the basketball is not well inflated. Though soon I will find a basketball that works and play! You better keep up on practicing or I will totally dribble circles around you when I get back ;)]

In Israel

2008-08-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, WE MADE IT! We are getting settled in, and I promise to have this updated later on today!

Love you, Claire

Two Greecian Urns

2008-08-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well after a long flight to Athens we are here and safe! I mean we are here in Athens and I still had some internet credit left I guess, I am using it to share my photos with you. If you feel like there are none of me, their arnt, I took of Jennilee and she took of me! She will post them when she gets to Israel.

The Flight was long but I think going at night kept things broken up and less boring. We watched movies on our personal tv screens and they served dinner and then we tried with much fail to sleep, but we mostly dozed. those pictures can be found here: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012005&l=5c2c6&id=170100936

I will put in explanations of the photos when I have more internet power and I am not so tired. And sun burnt. And watching Jennilee sleep. Right now we are stolen away in a quiet corner of the airport, we figure we have some time before we take the red eye. We are going to go through securtiy at 10, so that we can just sleep when we get through...

oh so we got here and then we went over to the hotel, guess what no room, just so bogus discount which left us still paying 180 euros, so we went for the nice bathrooms instead, jennilee took pictures of those, they had hand towels! it was nice to wash up... then we took the bus into the city and started our journey: those photos are here...
album one: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012006&l=f39a2&id=170100936
album two: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012007&l=2af5f&id=170100936
album three: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012010&l=353b1&id=170100936

so the day was awesome we did alot of running everywhere trying to see it all in one day. the only problem was we only had this dinky map with nothing on it, so went solo, we shopped had these awesome yogurt things at a cafe, took pictures, hiked up the side of a mountain, and then ate grapes from a street vendor for dinner. oh this morning i had greek coffee, which i am assuming is what i have to drink now, its sweet and thick, its strange but its not so bad when its hot. but everyone is carrying around good looking coffee but i dont think i can find it and i am sure i couldnt order it. for sure.

so jennilee is passed out over her suitcase, i know she is bummed that she wont be able to shower until we get there, but when we come home i am going to have to show her how to pack a carry on, and sunscreen! well i am going to hunt down some coffee...they took visa here so i didnt really have to spend that much euro...

thank you for praying for my safety, i love you, claire

Terminal Thoughts

2008-08-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

Things have gone fairly smooth thus far. This morning I woke up at 5:30 and took a long shower. Enjoying the warm water I will no longer be garenteed. I ate breakfast with my family, and then sat by the door in anticipation.

Things went off without a hitch right after my mother stopped hugging me long enough to let me leave with my father. The trip didn't take that long except for the traffic we hit at the GW Bridge all the way to the airport!

Dad dropped me at the airport near 11, and I sat and stared at the Olymic Sign for an hour and a half untill the gate opened! I also got asked if I had any room for more luggage by this greek woman. I am writing about her so I will always remember her son, who would be cute except for the fact that his unibrow eats his whole face! HOLY COW. I hope all the greeks have unibrows like I did when I was 10. Also, I feel like all the other travelers are dressed very international, I choose pajamas! We are going to be on the flight for almost 10 hours!

Then thank the Lord, Jennilee called to tell me she was here, and we went through security together. It wasnt as scary as I thought, but really really crowded and very very fast paced. So I am happy that it is over and now we can sit in the terminal and wait for our flight, which I guess leaves at 4:30 and not 2 like I had thought, Oh well. As long as we are here and ready to go. Oh and did I mention everything is expensive. 3 dollars for a cart, four dollars for rancid coffee and a rubber scone, and eight dollars to use the internet! Jennilee just went to get food and I can only guess that it as well is expensive and terrible for you.

So here we sit, as the kids in front of me, which are obviously underage sip margaritas with there mother and Jennilee leaves me alone to stare out the window. I am still wondering how my computer has no battery, but hopefully it will charge before we leave. We still have a little under two hours before bording. I think I am going to get some music I want from itunes or something. I may up date if anything interesting happens, like the fact that I am suprised that they let me through with my hideous passport photo, I mean it, they stretched my face so huge I look like I have elephantitus of the face! Alright, well I am feeling rather calm now, its good to be with Jennilee.

Until later, Love, Claire

To JFK and Onward

2008-08-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

So we are currently waiting in JFK, and yes still very excited and also very happy to see each other. Thank the Lord for wireless internet in the terminal, it will help the time go by.

I must say that God is awesome and He does answer prayers. Usually my natural reaction to new situations is anxiety, but when I got to Rochester airport and said "goodbye" to by Mom I felt at peace. I knew God was with me the whole way and I didn't have to be afraid of anything. His awesome peace has stayed with me and I know will continue as we proceed. Thank You Lord Jesus. :D
--------
I can't wait to get to Athens! It will be so fun to run around and see the sites. We only have a 9hr. flight before then, but really what is that compared to the adventure that is to come.

I thank you all for your prayers and just ask for your continued prayers as we still have farther to go.

God Bless,
Jennilee

Over Coffee.

2008-08-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

Wow. I guess that is how to describe this feeling. Here I am sitting on my couch, getting ready to leave my home for three months. I think I have everything ready, and even if I dont, I can always get it when I get there, so I have no reason to be nervous, everything will come to pass whether it goes my way or not... right?

Jennilee's plane gets in at 12:30, I am hoping to be around before then so I can be there where she arrives. However, I know how airports and nyc traffic can be. I think everything is starting to hit me, but not all of it yet. My mother has started acting weird and hugging me a lot, but I haven't stopped her. I understand her concern. Throughout this whole preparation people have pounded her with questions concerning my welfare. It is almost as if they think that I am being forced to go and eventually get blown up. I have to admit when I decided to go I had to face the reality that Israel has been at war for basically forever, and that my personal safety may be questioned at some point. However, the same is true for going to school in philly, and Jerusalem is much safer than philly. I guess I just know that this is where God wants me. He has put it all in his plan and I am very excited to see where he is going.

My dad just said something about crazy flight delays today... great...

anyway...

Hannah Stange, tomorrow I will be in Athens, Greece! Isn't that exciting!

I should be writing shortly,
Peace be with you,
Claire

Almost Time...

2008-08-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

I am a simple enough person, I enjoy simple and classic style, I try to keep my life stress free... but that wouldn't explain why I have felt that nervous feeling in my stomach all day. It's true, I am really nervous about what is about to happen to me. I am not really that nervous about staying in Israel, just about getting there, just about getting in and out of Athens. OH about that, we get a free hotel room in Athens...how SWEET is that! maybe we can get a shower which would be awesome and a few hours of a nap would be cool too. I figure we wont be in Athens at night, well def. not. WAIT did I tell you were are going to Athens! yeah we are for 17 hours. Only 17. but we are going to milk those 17 hours like crazzzzy! Thats right parthanon here we come....and what ever there else in there... gyros? anyway I picked up some euro today for before we arrive there. then i went to the mall at steamtown and starbucks. ahhh yeah then home to pack pack pack. then to get my nails done with my mom. and let me tell you that lady rubbing my feet was the perfect thing! it was awesome.

so tomorrow we leave for the airport at eight. i had better get back to working on getting ready. if you comment today, leave some advice for me!

I hope to write during the trip! Love You, Claire

Crap, I'm Going to Israel

2008-08-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

A note from Jennilee:

So, you know that whole feeling where you will be doing something big soon, but it's just not soon enough to enter the realm of your conscious reality. It stays in its little world of hazy eventualities and "some day"s. However, now it seems as the hours and minutes tick by, and Friday becomes Saturday and Saturday becomes Sunday that soon, oh very soon, it will be Wednesday. On Wednesday I'm leaving for Israel. Wow, I'm actually leaving. The world will no longer consist solely of a few small towns in New York and one small campus in Langhorne, PA.
How exciting...how scary...how... weird.

...

But, I'm ok with that.

Panera Bread Pondering

2008-08-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Jerusalem University College

A note from Claire:

Well T Minus three days here in PA. I can barely believe that its almost time to go on this adventure. Things have strangely started to slow down, which I guess is good because I still have a lot to do before we leave, AND yes that includes homework. But really I am going to work on it today and I am not doing anything for the next few days, though I do have to find some more things that cover my elbows. I had no idea how immodest I was until I met the Jews! I have decided that I don't care that I am going to have to change everything about fashion wise and just blend in the Israeli crowd. I am looking forward to how this experience is going to change my world view.

So here I sit in Panera Bread in Dickson City, wondering about what life is going to be like away from this place. I know that God is changing things all over the place and I am happy to be a part of it, however there has been a lot of pain coming the way of my friends and family lately. How can so much expected good come from such terrible situations that this summer has brought us? I know if we keep trusting we will find out.

I would like to definitely write a thank you to all the support that I have gotten financially from my Church family. I can not believe the support that they have given me, and it is good to know that I am so loved and cared about, this blog is definitely written with you in mind. So thank you very much to Hannah Thomas, The Towers family, Bob, Cookie, Gina, Muriel, the Garms Family, and The Coopers. Without you I do not know how I would have been able to stretch my summer pay over three months. I mean even today after such a terrible night, and angel came to my door with a 500 dollar check! Can you believe it! I definitely cried about that one, what a huge blessing. But it isn't only the checks but the prayers as well. How blessed am I to have such loving people in my life.

We are leaving on Wednesday in the afternoon, but I have to leave the house at 8am to make sure I get to the airport (JFK) in time for all the baggage stuff we have to get through. From there we fly out to Athens, where we plan to spend the day which should be so fun. It only costs around 6 dollars to take the bus into down town Athens, and I want to get my picture taken with the Parthenon!

I think that is it for now, more to come later!

Love you, Claire.

Pre-departure Ramblings

2008-08-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

A note from Jennilee:

So I too am very excited (and yes a little nervous) about our awesome adventure in the Holy Land. I finally got the map project done last Wednesday, which was a huge relief. I haven't started packing, but will do that Monday.

I really can't wait to walk the roads that Jesus walked and Abraham and David, etc. Though, I think my mental image of a desert land where the greats roamed will be interrupted by all of the apartment buildings and other modern developments. So after I get over that disappointment it will be very cool.

Everyone keeps telling me to "be safe" and "be careful", and other similar sentiments just because it is Israel that I'm going to. However, I pray you all remember that no matter where I go God is with me. He will never leave me or forsake me, and I truly believe this. Therefore, let this truth also calm your spirits for I am in no danger when God is near.

Finally, to my friends and family I will miss you so very much! I probably won't even realize how much until I get there. But I'm still excited because this is an awesome opportunity. I hope you all will enjoy this blog and our inevitable adventures and misadventures.

Yours Truly,
Jennilee

Becoming Aware of Impending Change

2008-08-21T20:02:00.001-07:00

A note from Claire:

I suppose I should be writing this to myself, considering the fact that it will be me reading this first collection of thoughts after this impending experience becomes another part of my past. So I will say this, Claire, I am completely terrified. You have put off a mountain of homework that is only 60% finished, and you have no idea what to pack. You have taken to crying over silly things like saying Hello to your mother over the phone and the idea of not moving in along with your other room mates back at PBU. Ten percent of you wants to pack it in and go home to PBU were you are comfortable, loved, and popular among your peers. But the other 90 percent is so excited to finally just do this so you should probably get a hold of yourself. That felt good to get out.

We are six days out from our trip, and there couldn't be more to get done. I mean not only the pile of homework, but also the packing, day trip planning, and endless errands to get things like facewash and travelers checks. Things are quickly changing, I am finished with Curves Gym, and tomorrow is my last day of work. Last Day. Maybe forever, at cartridge world. I will actually kinda miss it, and I am wondering if they will do anything for my last day, like make a cake or something that people do when someone is leaving them on good terms.

Perhaps more about how I am feeling... I am excited. I feel like I have had to make so many choices that started with "well I am going to Israel in .... months." This includes my slower than dirt love life, and also trips and fine prizes. Now when I get back I can start planning my next big thing, most likely my cruise with Jenny Rogers, which happens to be a pipe dream created to keep our sanity intact during finals week. It will however happen. I will also be able to focus on my future career and maybe get a car and/or a man in my life. I would enjoy the car a little more I think! Why am I talking about the after math of Israel? Because I get these feelings when things are about to change, and let me tell you something big is coming around! This could be good or bad, but I have learned to accept God's will for my life no matter what.

Perhaps I should say that I have no idea about what Israel will be like, I am guessing something like Fiddler on the Roof meets that flop musical the American Mall. I panicked today when I realized I dont really own that many pairs of pants, and am wondering if capries count. I will just take them and see. If I get stoned Rachel, know that its not a good fashion move on your part.

I gave in today and bought sneakers while I was hanging out with Tim. It so happened that I bought an expensive pair or sensible walking new balances. I dont mind them, but spending money pains me inside. Unless its for coffee or a scone. Or maybe a blouse I can't live without. The coffee is everyday, the blouse every few weeks. Any, I love the sneakers, and I am happy I decided to go for them. I havent bought a decent pair...ever. I just was thinking if I was going to walk all over Greece in Six days, I should be wearing comfortable shoes, and if you didnt know, Taylors dont cut it in the walking issue.

I will continue to be posting more about the trip in the days to come, I hope you continue to read and share this with Jennilee and I, she will be posting as well, so there will be plenty of updates.

Love Always,
Claire