I have migrated!

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Goooood neewwws!!! I am back in Andover.

I got here yesterday evening. The travelling went great, with the exception of the three hours I spent dealing with airport security in Tel Aviv. At the time, it was emotionally traumatic, but I am happy to be able to say that now I think it's funny. When I got to Chicago, I got to see Mom and Frances, who came out to the airport to see me. Mom bought me a delicious turkey and cheese croissant (turkey! and cheese! together again!) and it was SO good to get to see them. In OKC, I was greeted at the airport by my boyfriend Cody, and Deah, my friend who has been in Russia since December. Basically, it was a stupendous day, even if it was quite long.

I am now back in Andover, spending some quality time with the cat. At this point we are still on good terms. I've been unpacking and sleeping and doing laundry and being lazy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when my family gets back from Wisconsin. Oh how happy we will be! It will be like the turkey and cheese moment, only better.

I still really want a cheeseburger

I got to Tel Aviv two days ago, with many thanks to Boris, who carried my heavy, chunky, broken suitcase the whole way. I have been relaxing on the beach, hanging out with friends (I've met some people I knew in Jerusalem and Haifa), wandering through markets, and being a lazy bum. I wasn't expecting to like Tel Aviv too much, since I'm not really into hot weather, beaches, or partying, all of which are things this city is famous for. I've really been enjoying it here though! The city is set up for very active people, and there are always people outside taking advantage of it. There's a public beach that stretches the whole length of the city, and a nice promenade with lots of grass, playgrounds, and even these weights machines that people actually use. It's a great city to walk around in (aside from the humidity), and I've been doing a lot of that.

What does the name Tel Aviv mean? I'm so glad you asked! "Tel" is Hebrew for hill, but specifically a mound that has been created from cities built on the ruins of other cities, making a hill with layers of history. "Aviv" means spring. I like the two words together, because one is about having a rich past, and one is about having a hopeful future. Words are great, right? End of linguistics lecture.

Since I got here, I have tried a plethora of interesting foods! Let me tell you about that.

• At a restaurant in Jaffo called Dr. Shokshouka, I had a delicious potato stuffed with lamb or beef or something. It was splendid, and I wish I remembered the actual name of it.
• My friend Shayna brought some watermelon to the beach, and it was orange! So weird! It tasted fine, but a little like flour. I hope it wasn't poisonous.
• Last night I went to Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar, which was as magical as it sounds. I had chocolate souffle that was served with ice cream, a beaker of hot fudge sauce, and little chocolatey pebble things. I may never need to eat chocolate again.
• Frozen yogurt adventure--passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and a strawberry. It's a good combination!
• Pastries I have eaten include 1) something that may have been a donut, and 2) a potato bureka. Imagine mashed potatoes in puff pastry. Mmm food.

I leave tomorrow night from Ben-Gurion airport! I'm pretty excited. Pray for safe and problem-free travel! I can't wait to get home and see you people and complain to you about how bad American hummus is compared to the real thing.

Final day in the northern tundras of Israel

Last day in Haifa! I'm sitting in Shtroudl Cafe, waiting for Russian Boris to get back from the gardens because we are Tel Aviv travel buddies. We are both going to the same hostel, so I'm hoping I can get him to carry my big fat suitcase. It's an hour train ride, and then there is a bus involved, I think.

Yesterday Anika and Sandrine and I went to Caesarea, which is a port city built by King Herod to impress the Roman emperor and the American tourists. Paul was imprisoned there for two years before they shipped him off to Rome. Today there are a lot of ruins and expensive restaurants and a beach. Anika and I fell asleep on the beach for a while, but Sandrine, who has more energy than anyone really needs, swam all over the place and made friends and business connections and even found people she knows from France.



Sandrine in front of some ruins. This spot has been home to a Roman temple, a Christian cathedral, a mosque, another Christian cathedral, a fortress, and now piles of rocks.



In its glory days, this was the freshwater swimming pool in Herod's palace. Now it is a saltwater swimming pool for little Israeli kids who don't want to pay twenty shekels to go to the beach.



This is from two days ago, in Akko. Here we have Boris and Anika in the Crusader tunnels. It might look like they are talking on phones, but actually we all had these audio guides that told us about the history of everything. It was a lot like being on the phone with a longwinded, conceited, boring British woman.



Ollie and Sandrine decided that they needed to stop at a hookah bar and smoke some shisha. No illegal substances were involved, just "double apple" flavored tobacco, that Ollie thought sounded more intriguing than regular apple. We spent forever trying to get an awesome picture of them both blowing smoke, but it still didn't work that great and I ended up with a lot of really hilarious pictures of Sandrine.



Anika and Boris on top of the wall promenade in Akko. This picture makes me happy because I don't see grass very often these days.

Ani ochelet harbe harbe pitot!

I'm in Haifa! I got in on Thursday around noon. If you are not aware of your Israel geography, Haifa is a Mediterranean port city in the north of the country. It's built on Mt. Carmel, which made me excited because that's where the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal takes place. (Read it! 1 Kings 18. It's awesome.) It's very hot and humid here, but there is occasionally a breeze.

Yesterday morning, Anika and I went to the Baha'i Gardens with Sara, a Dutch girl who was also staying at our hostel. These gardens are very impressive. It stretches all the way up the side of the mountain, and there's a big shrine with a dome right in the middle. If you find a picture of Haifa, this dome is probably in the picture, since it's basically the only impressive thing in the city. I liked the garden, but it was too symmetrical and didn't have enough trees for my taste.

If you have time, you should research the Baha'i religion and let me know what it's about, because even after the tour and a short documentary, I'm not sure what exactly they believe. They kept throwing around words like "peace" and "love" and "social justice." As far as I know, no religions would say they are opposed to any of those ideas, so I don't know what sets Baha'i apart.

This morning, I went to Akko with Anika and three other people from the hostel. We had Sandrine from France, Boris from Russia, and Ollie from England--it was a very international group. We wandered around the Crusader tunnels and the Old City and ate at an amazing hummus restaurant where everyone got there own giant dish of hummus. Mine had chickpeas, lamb, beef, and pine nuts in it, and it was the most delicious thing I have eaten here. We also found the market and bought pita and knafeh.

Tomorrow we are going to Caesarea, which will be tricky. We have to take two different trains and a cab to get there. But there will be a nice beach! You can expect pictures from all this, but it won't be until I have slightly more reliable internet.

I'm enjoying the hostel experience--there are people here from all over, and we all stay up late chatting and drinking tea we made out of leaves someone found in the garden. Some little Israeli girls have been teaching me more Hebrew vocabulary, and I'm learning the imperative form from listening to their mother yell at them. Of course there are a few people who are not friendly and behave in a socially inappropriate manner. I have some stories about that, which I think are entertaining, but you might not, so I will keep them to myself for now.

I hope all is well in America! I have very sketchy internet, so I don't get to catch up with people on skype. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, especially if you're on your way to Camp Runamuc!

Capernaum Capers! har har har

Today was our bicycle trip to Capernaum! We rented bikes from the hostel for 60 sheklim, which is way cheaper than bus or taxi. It is also way harder, and in hindsight, I can say that I will probably never ever do that again. NEVER. I might complain a lot in this post, so be ready. I am sorry.

We left at six this morning, and pedalled our way to the Mount of Beatitudes. Notice the "Mount" part of that name. It is definitely on a mountain. We eventually made it, right as everything was opening. We saw the Church of the Beatitudes, and a lot of tourists. We were feeling a little poor in spirit, but sat and ate grapes and looked out at the lake and that refreshed us a bit.

Down the mountain was absolutely splendid! Praise God that uphill is downhill when you're going the other direction! We went to the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, then made it to Capernaum and saw the site of Peter's house and the synagogue. It was very pretty. Jesus picked a nice place, with the exception of the weather. We did a little more treading where he hath trod, then started the trip back.

Capernaum is 17 km from Tiberias, which in miles, is a really stinking long way. It's actually not that far, and should have taken us way less time than it did, but I'm a pansy, and it was HOT, and there were HILLS. I think it was the hardest workout I've ever had. Y-Box has nothing on highway 90 through the Galilee. I sweated more than I ever have in my life (possibly total), and drank extreme amounts of water. I was sooo gross when we finally got back. Plus I have a sunburn and my Toms tan got worse. I never want to see a bicycle ever again.

Now I'm done complaining. Thanks for your patience! I feel a lot better now that I took a shower, but I predict a lot of soreness in my future. Tomorrow we are leaving for Haifa, so that should be good. Here are a few pictures for you:

The Church of the Beatitudes, built on a possible site of the Sermon on the Mount.

The synagogue in Capernaum, along with a guy I don't know.

A group of French people listening to The Sermon in the Tourist Trap.

When I was reading my Bible a few minutes ago, a lentil fell out. This makes me happy. I like lentils.

I do like to be beside the seaside

Hello from Tiberias! Anika and I got here in the late afternoon yesterday. Our hostel is nice, and we have a lovely view of the Kinneret from our window.

Tiberias is SO HUMID. I'm not sure how people can live here. The hills and lake are beautiful, so maybe that's why they put up with the heat.

This morning we went to Nazareth and did not enjoy it too much. I always wondered what Nathanael had against Nazareth ("Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?") but now I think maybe the had a bad experience with the bus system. We sure did. We waited for an hour at the Tiberias bus station for the bus to Nazareth, then at the Nazareth bus station FOUR HOURS for the bus to Tiberias. FOUR HOURS. Take a moment and think about what a long long time that is to be sitting on a hot bench, thinking that the next bus around the corner simply must be the 431. Even aside from that terrible experience, Nazareth did not have a whole lot to offer. We saw the possible site of the old synagogue from Jesus' time, and went to the Basilica of the Anunciation and St. Joseph's church. They were pretty, but probably not worth five hours of grief.

We're having falafel for dinner tonight in an attempt to redeem this tragic day. Then tomorrow, we are somehow getting to Capernaum, either by bicycle or cab (NOT bus).

My dad told me to always leave the party while you're still having fun

Last day in Jerusalem! I'm a little sad. Just when I get comfortable in this city and start blending in with the locals (ha!), it's time to leave.

The plan for today is to finish packing, turn in my internet modem, meet with a friend for tea or something, clean the apartment, take all my bags to Anika's, and check out of the apartment. That's just this morning. At noon, we will be lugging our luggage to the central bus station and figuring out how to get to Tiberias (a town near the Sea of Galilee), then how to get to our hostel. And after that? Who knows! Maybe we'll paint the town red, if red buildings are allowed in Tiberias.

It's time for me to start being productive. I hope your week is off to a good start!

Ani mechapeset clothes-pins

One exam down, one to go! I had my speaking exam Thursday and I think it went well. It was easier than I expected, which I'm going to take as a good sign. Tomorrow is the written exam, and then no more ulpan! It's a bittersweet feeling.

Yesterday I went to the City of David with Madeleine and Sara. We sloshed through Hezekiah's Tunnel, a long underground water system built by King Hezekiah during the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem (which you can read about in 2 Chronicles 32, the tunnel is mentioned in verses 3, 4, and 30). The water came above my knees at the entrance, but for most of the 40-minute walk, it was less than a foot high. We sang the Indiana Jones theme song going in to make it feel more adventurous. Caves are great! I think I could live in one. However, once I get my first cave home, rowdy Israeli children will not be welcome. There was a family behind us, with what sounded like sixty kids or so, all screeching and singing in Hebrew. The acoustics were excellent. We yelled at them to be quiet in as many languages as we knew, but to no avail. PLUS once we got out to the pool of Siloam, they kept splashing me. The nerve. Other than that, it was a splendid experience! I wish I had pictures, but it was pretty dark in there.

The tunnels spits you out in the middle of a neighborhood, so we had to walk aaalll the way back up to the entrance, then aaalll the way back to the Old City, then aaalll the way around the Old City because no one believed me that our bus stop was there. Sigh. It's ok though, because we ended up having lunch at some kind of Catholic hotel/coffee shop. It was delicious! I haven't felt that full in weeks.

Time to go get my laundry. I realized after I started the washer that I didn't have enough change for the dryer. NOOooo! Thank goodness someone invented the clothesline. Since I have no pictures for you, here's one. It's a good use for a rice paddy.

I had toast and hummus for breakfast this morning

I only have two more days of ulpan, and they're both exam days. One exam is in three hours, and I should be studying for it, but it seemed exciting to add some suspense and uncertainty by not studying! So I'm typing this instead.

Here's a fun story about the day I skipped (the ONLY day I have skipped so far): my class learned colors in my absense. Why is this funny? Because at OU, I also happened to skip the day they learned colors, and it's a hard lesson to catch up on from a black and white textbook. Maybe God is punishing me.

Yesterday my class went to Rechov HaNeviim (Street of the Prophets) for a field trip. We went to the Museum of the Psalms, which is where there's a little old man with a long white beard who paints pictures illustrating the Psalms. He explained some of the paintings to me, but I couldn't keep all of the symbolism straight. We also went to the Ethiopian Church, which was very pretty. Etiquette required us to take our shoes off outside the church, and barefoot = fun. (However, it did give everyone in my class the opportunity to point out my Toms tan.)

Last night I got to hang out with Ruwa (who, as you may remember, is my Palestinian friend I met on the plane). We went to Mamilla, a really nice shopping center near the Old City, and ate pastries at Aroma. We talked for a while about politics and whatnot, since that is a popular topic here. She is in some kind of diplomacy program, and says that the more peace talks she goes to, the more she thinks there will never be peace here. That's a little discouraging. We also went into the Old City and tried some kanafeh, which was an experience. It's melty goat cheese with flour, butter, sugar, and spices on the top. You might think that doesn't sound tasty, but you'd be wrong. It's delicious! I must get a recipe and a goat!

That's enough procrastinating for now I think. Duty calls. Have a great day!

Playing hooky at holy sites

This morning, Mahri and I went to the Temple Mount with our friends Ryan and Elliot. It's only open at times that are inconvenient for us, so it seemed reasonable to sacrifice one morning of class and go see the mosque. We were expecting to have a little bit of trouble getting in, and our plan was apparently to have the blonde (that would be me) start crying if they wouldn't let us in. However, we had no trouble at all. The only glitch was that they wouldn't let Elliot bring in his Hebrew-English Bible, but that was resolved without anyone resorting to tears.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the mosque is pretty and blue and covered with all kinds of calligraphy. I took a lot more pictures, but they all look pretty much the same. There is not a whole lot to do but wander around taking pictures and trying to guess what the smaller buildings are (Elliot thought one was a playpen). We also spent some time gazing off at the distant Hebrew University campus and pointing and laughing and saying, "Haha, that's where we are not!"

After this experience, Mahri and I decided that our presence was not THAT necessary at ulpan, and we decided to stay in the Old City. The boys ditched us to go be good students, and we went to the Church of the Dormition, which is supposed to be where Mary fell asleep and was taken up to heaven.

After this we found the room where the Last Supper (maybe) was, and continued on our adventure. Mahri's goal was to get lost, but unfortunately we only experienced moments of mild confusion. We got back up the Jaffa Gate without much trouble and wandered around the market for awhile and I almost got tricked by a treacherous shopkeeper. We popped into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a few minutes and tried to get into the Lutheran Church, but it was closed.

It's been a good day; my conscience is clear. Here's a map of the Old City if that would be helpful for you. I have less than a week of class, then a week and a half of wandering around Israel with my friend Anika.
Homework time!

More of my touristy behavior

You may have figured this out from that last picture, but I finally went to the Dead Sea! This is exciting. I made a bucket list at some point in my elementary school days, and it included floating in the Dead Sea. (If I remember right it also included owning a pair of earmuffs for every day of the week. It wasn't that great of a list.)

I went with a big group of students from HUJI, so we had big air-conditioned buses, a tour guide, and a bodyguard who brought this amazing rifle that he probably used in the 1948 war. We started at Ein Gedi, where we hiked up to the springs and splashed around for awhile. Then they took us to a beach on the Dead Sea where we floated around. It was AWESOME! It's like sitting on a chair in the water. Madeleine, my French friend who is so good for my self-esteem, kept saying, "How are you doing that, Caroline?! You are not sinking! You are so talented!" The water felt really greasy and did not have the delicious taste that water generally has. Also it BURNS if you get it in your eye, which I may have done. We paddled down the beach to a mud pit and slopped black mud all over ourselves. It's supposed to be good for your skin because of all the oils and minerals, but I haven't noticed any dramatic changes yet. I should probably go back and try it again.

In case you have not spent much time researching this salty phenomenon, I will tell you about it. The Dead Sea has 33.7% salinity, which is more than 8 times saltier than the ocean, and it is getting saltier because it's evaporating. (I made a comment about how awesome it's going to be when it gets so salty that the rocks start floating up off the bottom, but it made everyone think I was dumb.) The water level is dropping at a rate of a meter per year, which will probably slow down as the water gets saltier. Basically it was a splendid splendid experience and I heartily recommend it to you. If it's not already on your bucket list, you should consider adding it.

This morning I went with my friend Mahri to Yad vaShem, which is the Holocaust memorial museum. It was also an amazing experience, but in a very different way. It was very emotional and overwhelming. It provided me with a lot of food for thought, which I wasn't planning on writing about here, but I'll give you the cliff notes version. It made me wonder (again) how I would act in an environment like Nazi Germany--I hope that I would do the right thing and not tolerate that kind of evil, but I'm really afraid that I would be too selfish, and would passively stand by and try to ignore it. That seems to be how the Church reacted. There are lots of stories of Christian individuals who risked everything to help people who were being persecuted, but the Church as a whole was conspicuously quiet at a time when we should have been living out the gospel in a very obvious way. The whole time I've been here I keep seeing more and more how Christians are perceived around the world, and it's very jarring. Just for starters, they associate us with the Crusades, antisemitism, and nonstop bickering among denominations. I've heard that Israeli children learning addition learn to use a modified plus sign that doesn't resemble a cross, because of the negative connotations the cross carries. This is horrible! We are not doing too well at being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

I could keep talking for hours on this subject, but I must be going. I hope you aren't too down about being smacked in the face with such a hefty topic, just as your weekend is beginning. Here's a link to some more pictures for you. Have a lovely weekend and I miss yooooouuuu!

It just so happens that this sea here is only MOSTLY dead

Ulai hu meshuga?

Greetings!

I don't have very much to report, even though I've been pretty busy. Ulpan is trying to eat my life, and I am steadfastly resisting. We go for five hours a day (which is at least an hour too much for my attention span), plus there is always homework. This week we had six days of class! Whoa! Too much. It's paying off though--the Hebrew section of my brain is growing. I'm getting better at reading and writing it, and I can understand more of the songs we sing in church. Also it's possible my speaking is getting better. On a recent eventful bus ride, my friend Devon and I explained in Hebrew to the lady next to us that there was a man in a wheelchair sitting in the road in front of the bus and that he didn't want to move. When she asked me why, I was able to say he was probably crazy. Wooo! (Don't worry, some pedestrians forcibly removed him from the road. He threw something at us when we drove away.)

I think the ulpan people know that our Hebrew enthusiasm is waning, because they had a lot of activities for us this week. We went to a play, a lecture on Jerusalem (in Hebrew), and some kind of concert thing, which was awesome. This guy passed out percussion instruments and got a beat going (it was like music class in grade school! Everyone is good at the tambourine!) and suddenly reappeared in a kilt, playing "Scotland the Brave" and "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. The audience kept the beat going, and the guy started yodelling. He also played the theremin. I'm not sure what his exact job title is, but I am thinking of changing my major.

Devon and I spent Thursday evening downtown with her friends, which was an experience. The people-watching was superb, and I tried a little of Devon's arak with grapefruit juice, which was GROSS. It has a licorice taste, which is not ok. Apparently it's pretty popular here, but I'm suspicious people drink it because it's cheap, not because it's tasty.

Yesterday afternoon, Madeleine, Sara, Jakob, and I went to the Garden Tomb, which is another possible site of Jesus' burial. I'm not taking sides on the debate of where the actual site was (it doesn't matter, remember?), but I will say that the Garden Tomb is a much nicer place than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Just as the name suggests, there is a garden and a tomb. It's in the center of Jerusalem, but completely quiet. It is a good place to sit and think about things.

Last night we had a potluck Shabat dinner at Devon's apartment, which was fun and delicious! We had curry potatoes and lentils and rice with zahatar, some kind of salad, and some chocolate eclairim for dessert.

More pictures!

This is the hill that you can see from the Garden Tomb, that is a possible site of Golgotha. Do you see a skull in the side of it? If not, try crossing your eyes. (For what it's worth, I don't really see it. I see two eyes and a nose, and skulls don't have noses.)

And now for kicks and giggles, here is a picture of the Dome of the Rock and a little bit of the Western Wall. Come visit!

A little more whereness

I've finally been to the Old City! I went on Thursday night with some other students from my program, and we wandered through the Armenian, Christian, and Jewish quarters, and ended up at the Western Wall. We went on a tour of the tunnels, which was impressive. I took some pictures, but it was dark enough everywhere that when I looked back through them, I had no idea what they were ("Why do I have a picture of an elbow?!interrobang?!). Oh well, live and learn. Fortunately, I went back the next day with my friend Anika to get some more pictures. We went without a guide, and actually without really knowing what we were doing, but no major calamities befell us. We feel very smug about this.

We wandered around this bazaar for awhile and got only slightly lost. People kept yelling at me in English, like I'm a conspicuous tourist or something. It was so colorful! All the shopkeepers hang up pretty scarves in their doorways to lure you in, and it works.

Here is the Western Wall, around midnight and the next day around noon. I assume you can tell which is which. And now let me tell you what I learned about the Western Wall: When Herod built the Second Temple he built it on a gigantic platform which is called the Temple Mount. The temple was later destroyed and the Dome of the Rock mosque was built on the platform. So the Western Wall that you see Jews praying at today is a tiny section of the huge retaining wall of the platform. The reason it is so important to them is because it is the closest they can get to the site of the original Holy of Holies, not because it's part of the temple itself. People believe that if you write your prayer on a piece of paper and leave it in a crack in the wall, then it has a greater chance of coming true. Since I don't believe that's how the system works, I didn't give it a try.

This is a gigantic menorah up the hill from the Western Wall, built by the Temple Institute. They have been getting all the accessories ready for the third temple, using the specifications found in the Bible. I have a feeling that the Muslims are not ok with this plan and are probably staying alert so nobody starts sneaking golden menorahs onto their turf.

We also went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is supposedly where they buried Jesus. My burning questions: How in the world do they know? And most importantly, why does it matter? The point is that he isn't there anymore!

Last night we had a birthday party for my dear buddy Madeleine. She is a sweet French lady who is in my ulpan and goes to church with me. She fed us crepes and watermelon! So good! It was an international fiesta--we had people from America, France, Holland, and Denmark, and we were joined by Madeleine's Israeli roommate and his friend, who was covered in glitter. I never got the full story there. Anyway, it was splendidly fun. We sat around and talked/argued about school, stereotypes, cheese, etc. and ate more crepes than we should have.

How did your 4th of July go? I celebrated by eating hotdogs, but I missed out on the fireworks.

Yesh po tmunot!

Mahane Yehuda Market - I bought some fruit, pastries, and skirts. It's a good place but very busy and dirty.

I think this is off of Jaffo Street. It's a very cute neighborhood, which also means it's pretty touristy. There are a lot of bars on this street, and my friend Devon showed me which ones are the best. Unfortunately I didn't file that information my long term memory. However, I did have an excellent triple chocolate ice cream cone somewhere in this area, and I shall treasure that glorious memory forever.

Here we have Sara's back, and some vegetables. Sara kind of blends in with the colorful produce.

Jaffo Street again. I was too lazy to put these pictures in order. Also I hope you don't judge Jerusalem by my photography skills. For now, just trust me that it is soo pretty here! Ulpan is going well and keeping me busy, and I have gone on six successful bus rides. Tomorrow night we're going on a tour of the Western Wall tunnels, which is exciting! I wish I could promise you pictures from that, but we're going to be in tunnels. At night. It may be dark. We shall see!

Shabat Shalom

Shabat (that's the Sabbath, for anyone wanting the English version) started at sundown yesterday, so things are pretty quiet. All the businesses are closed and the buses don't run.

Here's a condensed summary of my Shabat so far, further details available upon request. This morning Sara and I met some classmates (Meindert and Madeleine) and walked to a church with them. It's in the city center, which is about 40 minutes away, and we didn't know when it started, so we were an hour early and wandered around the neighborhood for a while. I really liked the church. It was actually a Messianic Jewish Congregation so I don't know if it's ok to call it a church. Anyone know? Everything was in Hebrew, but they had headphones with an English translation, which was very thoughtful of them. The people were friendly and invited us to stay for a tasty lunch. It was pretty awesome to get to worship God in Hebrew alongside Israeli Christians! I am going back next week for sure.

I have officially started my ulpan classes at the Universita ha'Ivrit! So far so good. The teachers are extremely nice and the other people in the class are ok too. I'm still getting used to sitting in one class for 4 hours at a time--aaghh! It's draining. The class is pretty easy so far. It's completely in Hebrew, which sounds more intimidating than it actually is. The teacher acts out sentences she thinks we may not understand. (For example, the way I found out about the death of Michael Jackson was through one of her particularly inspired pantomimes.)

Thursday night, Anika and Sara and I went to a burger bar called Burgers Bar. It's kosher, which means you cannot get a cheeseburger. You may think this would be a devastating fact to discover (and it was at first), but it was DELICIOUS! So were the fries.

Also, yesterday I had a conversation with an Israeli, in Hebrew! She was not really an enthusiastic or even willing participant in this conversation, but I introduced myself and asked her a few questions about herself. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being utter hatred and 5 perhaps being mild irritation, her mood could be put at about a 6.5. Not too shabby!

You've probably realized by now that I get excited by some pretty lame milestones, so I'll go ahead and tell you that another highlight of my day yesterday was cooking some rice. I did not burn down Jerusalem, and I'm pretty sure the kitchen is still kosher. The reason this is an accomplishment is not because rice is hard to cook (it's not) but because I used a giant stewpot and had no utensils or hotpads or measuring cups and didn't know what the knobs on the stove meant. Ok, well I guess you had to be there.

And now here are some pictures of things completely unrelated to anything I talked about in this post.

This is the British cemetery, which I pass on my way to campus everyday. The other day, we saw some workers digging, so we thought they had found some more British people to bury, but I think it's just for soldiers from WWI.

Naemiiiii! She is my favorite German ever. It was great to get to see her face, and I'm sure that if you know Naemi you're pretty jealous of me. It was so nice of her to drive to the airport to sit with me for a few hours and bring me foooood.

I just remembered that I promised to show off my spectacular view. It doesn't look that spectacular in pictures, so just trust me, ok?

This is to the right. There is a grocery store and several restaurants and a bank up that street, and a lot of stray cats. I can bring you one if you want.

And this is to the left. The yellow shiny round thing in the middle-ish is the Dome of the Rock. I hope you can see it ok. It's even yellower, shinier, and rounder in real life! I'm going to go visit it up close someday soon. And since I know you're curious, the writing on the side of the building says "Hebrew University in Jerusalem - Student Village." And that is where I live.

P.S. Hi family! Drive safe and keep track of your suitcases, they're easy to lose track of. And don't forget to pick up Anne!

The prodigal suitcase has returned!

Good news! My luggage came! A full three days late, but I think it had a fun-filled romp around the globe without me. Thanks for all your prayers in this department, they worked!

Also I have reliable internet in my room now. You know what that means: we can skype!

You'll be happy to know that I haven't been taking advantage of my relative anonymity to wreak havoc. Actually none of the things I've been doing are very interesting, but I'll make you a list of some of the more noteworthy occurances:

• New roommate moved in! Her name is Sara Owen and she's in my Hebrew class at OU. We got the same scholarship to be here. I wasn't sure if we'd be put in the same apartment, so it is definitely a huge blessing to have a friend here.
• Speaking of friends, I have some more now. The two I've spent the most time with are Stephanie (an American) and Anika (a German). I don't have Israeli friends yet but I'm working on it.
• Falafel! My roommate Nadia told us where a good place was, so Sara and I walked there the other night. If you are unaware of the glory that is falafel, let me tell you: it is fried balls of ground chickpeas and spices that are served in a pita with tahini and various toppings (I got cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and french fries in mine). It's GREAT! Next time I will go by myself though so I don't feel awkward about making dinosaur noises as I devour it.
• Various orientation meetings and tours. After we got ourselves orientated, Sara and Stephanie and I went exploring in a park on campus. We found some caves with tombs in them. HMM I wish I knew the story there...
• I have a sweet view out my window. To the right, I can see one of the main roads of the French Hill (where I'm living). And to the left I can see the Temple mount! Don't panic, there will be pictures.
• I'm getting better at getting around. I went grocery shopping yesterday and went to a big scary mall today. Also I can get to and around campus with minimal disorientation.

Classes start today! I'm in the Aleph level, which I guess is where they put the dumb kids. I'm ok with that. I hope the teacher is more like a grape than a sabra.

And here are some more pictures just for giggles...

A vending machine on campus that sells kosher frozen dinners! This is Stephanie, demonstrating how cool we think this is. Once I heard of a vending machine that you can put your dog in, and it washes it. This is almost that cool!

The beautiful campus of HUJI! I haven't found any ugly places yet. It's sooo hilly though! It is the Mt. Scopus campus, so I should have been expecting that.

I walk to class in front of ya, spill kefir on your keffiyah...

Pictures take forrreevveerr! I'll put up more when I have the time and the patience. Right now it is unpack and eat lunch time. YES! Leave comments! I want to know what all is going on America.

My dream last night, which may amuse you if your last name is Piersall

Oscar the hedgehog somehow became evidence in a murder trial, and was supposed to appear in court sometime in the fall. For this reason, he was returned to my care. (The reason Keri claimed she returned Oscar was that a girl in the group she was going to prom with also had a hedgehog, and so she didn't think it was cool to have a hedgehog anymore.) A mysterious man who my parents seemed to know showed up and kept telling me he would feed Oscar. I was convinced that he was trying to kill Oscar, and that my mom's sudden desire to have an all-new set of pots and pans was somehow related to this sinister plot.

Meanwhile, one of Cody's new friends had said something to me in a text that I took as some kind of creepy innuendo. I freaked out and even dropped my plans to go clubbing that evening, and ransacked the entire house, looking under all the beds and in all the closets, to make sure he wasn't hiding anywhere. Later I went to Cody's house, and discovered that he felt at fault for the whole ordeal. I heard him announcing to his father that the only way to fix his mistake was to study abroad. I remember thinking this was all connected to the Oscar debacle.

Then I woke up.

I have been trying to put the clues together, but I haven't come up with anything. Also I think there are a few red herrings in there.

I am HERE! (A statement that is both vague and true)

The flight stuff went relatively well, I suppose. I got here. In OKC and Chicago, everything went very smoothly, but the Philadelphia airport is on my bad list though. My plane arriving there sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half, then the one leaving for Frankfurt was a full 4 hours behind schedule. They turned off the air conditioning for a few hours while we sat in the plane, and there were stinky boys next to me. Ew. It was a little bit miserable. (Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue) I think I slept through dinner, but I'm not sure. I vaguely remember hearing someone say, "If they offer you chicken or beef, don't take the beef," and also I smelled food, so it could have just been a really vivid dream. Anyway, we made it to Germany safely.
When I finally got to the Frankfurt airport, poor Naemi had been waiting for four hours! It was so good to see her. We didn't have time to drive into the city, but she brought delicious breakfast food and we sat on benches and ate bread, scones, croissants, jam, cherries, and grapes. It was GREAT. People kept staring at us, probably because they were jealous of our carbs.
Then Naemi abandoned me to go back to school, and, through a sequence of awkward events, I found my next gate. The only part of this adventure that you may find remotely interesting was when I was seeking someone to give me a boarding pass and kept going to the wrong desks. When I thought I finally found it, it turned out that it was some medical place with lots of elderly Germans sitting around. The lady at the desk said, "You don't need a wheelchair, do you," but I looked pitiful and stupid enough that she somehow printed it off for me anyway.
The Frankfurt-Tel Aviv flight was actually quite fun. I made friends with the girl sitting next to me, a Palestinian named Ruwa. She gave me some Jerusalem pointers and showed me a lot of pictures of her cat. She lives five minutes away from the university where I will be studying, so hopefully we'll hang out.
The highlight of the Tel Aviv airport was not finding my luggage. Apparently it stayed in Frankfurt. BUT it should be here soon. I met some nice people on the sherut who offered me socks when they found out my luggage vanished, but I declined. They were some pretty ugly socks. Meanwhile, I have pretty much everything I need, especially the things that are absolutely essential. But I can't wait to be reunited with my luggage.
So anyway, Israel is beautiful. I rode the sherut from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so we were driving through the mountains while the sun was coming up. I was surprised at how green everything is. The highways are lined with flowers and palm trees, which is a nice idea. I got lost wandering around Hebrew University, so I can assure you that campus is also beautiful.
The Israelis that I have encountered have not been completely friendly. The most extreme example of this phenomenon might be the one who screamed at me for showing up a day too early for registration (oops). I already got the sabra speech and was told to yell back when someone yells at me. In case you don't know the sabra thing, a sabra is a kind of desert fruit that is prickly on the outside and sweet and soft on the inside. This is a metaphor that Israelis like to make about themselves, which to me means that they are fully aware of their manners issue and should do something about it (like be nice). But hey, now I know better what to expect, right?
Welll, this was pretty long and you are now dismissed. I'll tell you more about my living arrangements next time and hopefully get some pictures up. Oh the suspense!

Leeeeaviing on a jet plane

I am ALMOST all packed up. I have not packed my computer yet because I need it to write blogs and whatnot. (You're welcome!)

I hope you're ok with another bullet list, it's so convenient. Here is what the next few days looks like, starting now:

• Go meet Dad for lunch at the Old Mill Tasty Shop
• Finish packing
• Drive down to Norman, OK, and hang out with wonderful people
• Tomorrow morning go to the airport. From OKC I fly to Chicago, then Philadelphia, then Frankfurt, Germany
• In that magical land I will see my friend NAEMI! This is extremely exciting for me.
• After a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, I continue on my merry way to Tel Aviv, where I will arrive at 3:20 Monday morning.
• Getting to Jerusalem shouldn't be too tricky. It's under an hour away, and I can go straight to the university and get myself registered.

I'll fill you in on the details later and tell you how splendid everything went. Meanwhile, if you have the time and the inclination, I would really appreciate your prayers for safe travel and that everything goes smoothly. And now I am off to lunch.

Happy Friday!

Hello!

I kind of forgot I had this blog thing. I don't really have many new things to say, but to keep the hecklers happy (cough cough NATE cough), I will tell you some of the things I have been doing and not doing this summer.

Things I've been doing, in no particular order:

• I got a job! I work at a daycare in the afternoons and I love it. It reeeally beats waiting tables. There's still a lot of people-pleasing, but the people I have to please are tiny and think that "Because Miss Caroline said so" is a good reason to do something. I come home everyday ten pounds heavier because of all the sand in my hair.
• I talk on the phone with people I miss.
• I hang out with people I used to miss before I came back to Kansas.
• There have been a lot of good conversations with God and with other people about God.
• On Tuesday nights I go to Downtown Christian Fellowship, which is basically a lot of college-age Christians fellowshiping downtown. And I love it!
• A few weeks ago, Frances and I drew faces on a bunch of potatoes. It was totally her idea.
• I'm really good at bringing the history of the English language into conversation whether other people want to hear about it or not (they don't).
• I've been reading my Lonely Planet guidebook to Israel and the Palestinian territories and getting excited for my trip. I'm still trying to plan out how I'm going to spend the last 2 weeks of being there, during which I will be a wandering vagabond.
• Sometimes I go to the Y.

Things I have not been doing:

• Reading, unfortunately. Mostly what I read these days is my guidebook. I haven't finished a single book in the month since I've been home. I'm in the process of reading some real winners though.
• Making much money.
• Spelunking. Ever.
• I definitely haven't been studying Hebrew as much as I should be. Sometimes I do flashcards I found on the internet, but then later I can only remember half of the phrase, or I can remember the whole phrase but not what it means.
• Drugs

Hmm. I think this was a good list to make. I'm having a pretty good summer. If there's something in there that you are jonesin' to hear more about, let me know and I would love to tell you. Another thing: do you have Skype? Maybe you should look into it so we can chat. Also here's a wikipedia article that you may or may not enjoy. I thought it was a little bit hilarious. I will probably get sued for posting that.

myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com

The world is my oyster!

Hey look, I have a blog! This is to keep the folks back home updated while I'm off in Israel. I was already considering starting a blog, and Mom informed me that it was a requirement. Originally I was thinking about just starting up good old Xanga again, but Blogspot is just so much more sophisticated.

Here are the things YOU need to know about the Israel adventure:

I bought my ticket this morning! I'm leaving June 20th from OKC and coming back August 7th. This involves a 12 hour layover in Germany and arriving in Tel Aviv at 3:20 am. I'm pretty sure it involves other things too, but currently they escape me.

I'm going with my friend Sara Owen, who got the same scholarship as I did (we each won $5000! woohoo!). We're not travelling together, but we're doing the same program at the same university. We are both studying Hebrew at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . I'm enrolled in an ulpan, which is your Hebrew word for the day. Ulpanim are intensive Hebrew courses for immigrants and tourists. I will take Hebrew classes for about 6 hours a day for about a month. Mine is called the Jerusalem Ulpan, and it includes fieldtrips! This is such a good thing.

After the ulpan finishes, in late July, Sara will head back to Oklahoma and I will stay for about a week and a half to do some exploring and hit all the tourist attractions.

Of course I am aware of the fact that this is not the safest summer trip ever, but Israel is relatively a very safe country for an American. Most Israelis like us. Israel's tourism website says that of the 3 million tourists that went to Israel in 2008, all 3 million went home again safe and sound. I plan to do a lot of research beforehand and be as wise and cautious as possible while I'm there. I don't plan on dying or starting any wars or any of that nonsense.

Basically: I am pretty excited. If you have any questions, concerns, advice, eloquent prose, smart remarks, extra money, etc., please let me know!

Also if you have extra time on your hands, watch this! It's such a weird little creature. It looks like a cross between a mouse and a baby chicken? I'm putting it on my Christmas list.

A Good Use for Lettuce