First Fieldtrip!

Yesterday we went on our first field trip titled the "Jerusalem Overlook." It was amazing! We hit up the Seven Arches Overlook and saw an amazing close up view of the Temple Mount. It is so beautiful from every angle, which we got. There was a camel chillin there. The cemetery right in the foreground is a Jewish cemetery. If you can see the little square holes on the right hand bottom corner, it is for the spirit to be able to leave the grave when its time has come. Love that!

view of the Temple Mount, the city wall, and a Jewish cemetery

We also went to the Tower of the Church of Augusta Victoria and got a 360 view of Israel. It had beautiful mosaics and art inside. We climbed the bell tower, which is one of the highest points in all of Jerusalem, perhaps the highest, I'm not sure. 

Then we went to Hebrew University and went up their communications tower and got another great view.

 We also got to go to the West Bank (sketchy!) to see Nabi Samwil, which means Prophet Samuel. This is where they believe Samuel was buried. We, however, believe that his body is not still on earth and that he was resurrected when Christ was resurrected. We got to go into the tomb and it was....interesting. Not exactly what I expected. The church was really run down and not decorated at all and looked like an unfinished basement and the tomb was like wrapped in fabric with plastic over like an old person's plastic couch cover. Anyway..

Me, Rachel, and Sarah at the tomb of Samuel

The boys went to the men side and us girls went on the women side, with our kippas and scarfs covering our cute little heads. We could hear the men praying really loudly on the other side, but couldn't see them. Outside of the mosque of Nabi Samwil, we got a good view of the West Bank. 

my best friend SareBear and I at view of West Bank

 We also went to just a general lookout point on top of a mountain (hill in Utah terms) and overlooked Bethlehem. It was a great way to get oriented and get the feel of the land we're studying.

A shepherd with his flock of sheep in Bethlehem. Couldn't resist.

my home for now!

Today we had our first day of our Modern Politics Judaism class. It's taught by Ophir Yarden and he is a Jewish man who was born in Boston but has lived in Israel for 20 plus years. He's bald, wears his kippa, and is a great guy. Also today we had our first Hebrew class. We're divided into small classes and I have a fun class. We learned the first two letters aleph and bet. If you say them together, it's alphabet. Hebrew. Great. We already learned how to read it and the class is going to be super easy but still informing. Our teacher is an American Jewish woman and she is very mellow and calm. She is going to teach us about Jewish culture as we learn Hebrew, like the Shabbat (Sabbath) table set up, and other stuff like that. SO excited to be SO cultured.


Loving life.




p.s. when I type something into google, it has switched to read right to left and is all in Hebrew. #jeruproblems