Getting to Know Jerusalem!

I haven't posted in a few days so I thought I would update everyone! Mostly we've just been having class but yesterday we had a field trip! We didn't have to leave until 10:30am and we already were up for breakfast so me and a few friends decided to walk to the Elvis Inn... the closest food place to the Moshav... to get coffee! It was about a 10 minute walk and we were in for quite a treat once we got there... Elvis pictures and statues were EVERYWHERE! If you want to see pictures of what it looks like inside here is the website... http://www.2eat.co.il/elvis/ ... the pictures aren't great and the site isn't in English but it will give you an idea. When you buy coffee (in our case a cappuccino) for 15 shekles (about 4 dollars) you get a free Elvis mug too! When we got back we basically got on the bus to head for Jerusalem! We went to the Jerusalem Museum first to see a giant model of what the city looked like about 10 years after the time of Jesus and pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls from 100 BC! The scrolls are invaluable because the next oldest copies of Biblical texts are from 1000 AD! From here we walked to a park (with a workout playground... so fun) and had Pizza Hut!! Now, it was still kosher but still, it was pizza! We then spent some time touring around part of West Jerusalem and we tried these delicious pastries in the marketplace...so good! We were then turned split into teams and turned lose to complete a picture scavenger hunt which was fun... and we got some money from Bill to buy some coffee at Aromas (the Israeli equivalent of Starbucks) and it was actually pretty good! It was a fun day but I'm always exhausted after field trips cause you are basically walking around all day! Today I had my four hour Modern Israel class which was pretty good... we talked about the Holocaust so it was pretty disturbing but interesting at the same time. Our professor is Israeli and his grandparents were both in the Holocaust so he told us some of the things they had told him about it.
As we've been having so many field trips in Jerusalem we have also been memorizing verses about Jerusalem and it always reminds me of how special Jerusalem really is. Bill reminded us that its not so much that the city itself is more special than any other place on the earth physically but that God chose it to be special and to be the stage for so many important events in the Bible. Our verses that we memorized this week is:
Psalm 48:8-14
"As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgements! Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever."

Shabbat and Walk

Yesterday was Shabbat (I think I mentioned it in my last blog) and so we went into Jerusalem to go to church. The "assembly" was really cool... after 7 years of looking for a building to meet in they found this old building that they just started renovating. The church body is made up of people from all over the world. From the pulpit they preach in both Hebrew and English and there are headsets available for people who need it translated into Russian or Spanish. The Pastor is so expressive it is entertaining to watch even if you don't understand what he is saying :) After the assembly we were taken to the Old City and dropped off for a free day to do what we wanted there. Me and my friends got some lunch and then explored shops and found a really cool Austrian Hospice that had a little cafe and garden on top of it where you could see much of Jerusalem. From the outside it didn't look like much but inside it was quite a gem! Haha!
It was kinda weird to think we had class on a Sunday but we did... because Sunday is the first day of the week here! But we went on an Old Testament Walk in Jerusalem... so it wasn't too much like class! We got to see The Room of the Last Supper, Oskar Shindlers grave, the most likely place of David's tomb and we got to go through Hezekiah's Tunnel! My favorite part was Hezekiah's tunnel... when you first go in the water is pretty deep... about mid thigh... but then it got a lot lower so it wasn't too bad! We waded through the water, ducking and squeezing through the openings. We stopped a couple times and turned off our lights and sang hymns in the pitch black... well, they started out as hymns then moved on to "Pirates Life for Me" and the song from The Little Mermaid. We saw so many fun things and had so many good times! Pictures will be up shortly!

Everyday Happenings

I haven't posted anything for the last couple days so I thought I might just write a little something to let people know what I've been up to! The last few days I've just had classes... so far only The Land and The Bible and Modern Israel. My class yesterday was 4hrs... long class but hopefully it will be interesting! Also, it finishes by the end of February so its kinda nice :) On Wednseday (I think... the days all just kinda blurred together) we took a little walk into Abu Ghosh to the fruit stand. They have so many delicious fruits and snacks! I got some massive clementine oranges... so good! Dan (one of the other Canadians in our group) also found Canadian maple syrup! How cool is that?? On the way back we decided we still had a little time before we had to be back for dinner so we decided to go into this little Jewish community and check out their grocery store... it was a cute little place and the people were really friendly, many spoke english! Anyways, it was fun to get into the community and experience Israeli life, if you could call it that. Other than that I've just been hanging out around the Moshav. We had a game night the other night... it was lots of fun and I feel like I got to know people so much better! We also end up hanging out in the Library a lot... partly for homework and partly because that is where the best internet connection is! Tonight we are going to have our chapel (called Kabbalat Shabbat) and tomorrow we are going to the Jerusalem Assembly (they don't like to call it church here cause then it is associated with either Catholicism or the Orthodox). Saturday is called Shabbat and is the day that they have church... Sunday is just another work day for them. So after the service we will have a free day to spend in the Old City Jerusalem so it should be fun!
I was so glad I got to talk to some friends on skype the other morning (your night) and my mom on facebook and I even got a great email from my grandma the other day too! Its been nice to hear whats happening on the other side of the world! So keep in touch!

The Old City

So today we went on an all day field trip to the Old City Jerusalem... it was amazing! It is so crazy to be at all the places where Jesus was and seeing the places that different events happened at! I didn't realize that so many of these important events happened in such a small area... we walked throughout and around Jerusalem in one day! Not only is the city gorgeous, there is so much significance behind almost everything that is in it! My prof explained how Jerusalem was a special city chosen by God to be the stage for so many significant events... our memory verse for the trip was Psalm 48:1-14. We went to Golgotha, The Pools of Bethesda (where Jesus healed a paralytic), went to the Citadel (the place that my prof believes is where Jesus was condemned by Pilot), explored the city, and walked on the walls of the city! And I'm tired right now so I don't want to try to think of all of the other things that we also did there! So much in one day! Some of the highlights were when we sang hymns in the church at the Pools of Bethesda, when Rachel slipped and fell in the mud, and when Micah fell through the Arabic grave... so many good times! It was hard not to take hundreds of pictures but I did take quite a few! If I don't put any up on here I will for sure put some up on facebook some time soon!

I just remembered I forgot to mention the food in the last note... its been alright so far, even if I don't like something there is enough selection that I should always have something to eat. Although, yesterday at lunch and dinner they served cow tongue... I avoided it and just had chicken instead :P

In the Begining...

So I figure that my family and friends might want to know what I've been up to over here in Israel... if not, you can stop reading now. Anyways, I'm not sure how often I will be able to (or feel like) write on here but we will see how it goes! Once I get my whole computer situation figured out and have some time I'll also put up a couple pictures!

So we left for IBEX from California on Saturday morning... flying 5hrs to New Jersey (first time on the east coast!) then 10hrs to Tel Aviv. Because of the time difference it was really confusing... on Sunday we had breakfast on the airplane then less than 4hrs later we had dinner in Israel at the Moshav (the beautiful place I will be living for the next few months). We were all exhausted when we got here! Also, people had told us about how nice and warm it had been lately but of course less than 3hrs after we got here it began to storm... and its been raining ever since! But the rain didn't stop us today... We had orientation and our first class! Then we went on a little field trip to see the place that the ark of the covenant stayed for 100 years... there is a Catholic Church there now. Then we went into Abu Ghosh and saw a bit of the city. We stopped at another Catholic Church that was built by the Crusaders between 1099-1299AD (considered a "new" church in Israel because there are so many building that are MUCH older) and got to explore around there... such beautiful gardens and such a beautiful church. And now I'm just in the library... I'm going to get started on my first homework assignment... trying not to procrastinate this semester ;) So far I have had a blast! I like the group of people that came, I like the professors, and Israel is so beautiful! But I do miss everyone back in North America so I would love to hear from all of you! If you want to you can send me an email or hit me up on facebook! I can also Skype but it kinda has to be a planned thing because we don't have internet in our rooms so we have to go somewhere else... plus there is a 10hr time difference!

Shalom,
Linde