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!