Playing Catch-up

Wow, if you think I haven’t written in my blog for awhile, you should see my journal. I have precisely one month and a day unchronicled. Honestly, this will probably be my last post. Most of the Jerusalem Center students leave for home early Thursday morning. I’ll be traveling around Israel and Jordan with my parents for about a week and a half, but I doubt I’ll have internet access. That puts me arriving in Tucson on May 4, and man am I excited to set foot on American soil again. So here are some of the things that I’ve been up to lately… PS I finally saw Masada, which had been a life goal for me! The pictures weren't that exciting though, so I thought I'd save you the pain. Now for my next life goal...I'm thinking that I want to do grape stomping at a vineyard. Anyone have any other suggestions?

This is at a Franciscan cloister in the middle of the Old City. It's perfectly quiet and peaceful, and noticeably cooler than the rest of the city. It was so pretty. I decided that I want a cloister at my house!

These are the stones that the Romans pushed off the Temple Mount in the destruction of 70 AD to fulfill Jesus' prophecy that one stone will not be left upon another.

A desert oasis at Ein Gedi. We couldn't swim here unfortunately, but a little to the right of the picture there was a school of orthodox Jewish boys swimming complete with their kippas.

Me posing with a Dead Sea monster...

I got to float in the Dead Sea! It seriously makes you so buoyant it's ridiculous; it was actually hard to swim! We were told not to shave the day before because the water is so harsh. People who had cuts definitely felt the pain while we were in there.

I finally got to touch the Mediterranean again! It's been 4 years!

A view of the Mediterranean from Jaffa. Jaffa is cute city that kinds of reminds me of Vernazza, Italy.

This is at a place called Neot Kedumim. It's a biblical garden, meaning they have all sorts of stuff that they had during biblical times. I got to do all sorts of cool stuff, like herd sheep and goats, draw water from a well, and grind my own zitar (which is a spice that's put on ring bread and it's really good!)

Even though I didn't have a kitchen, for Conference Weekend some friends and I usurped a teacher's kitchen to make pancakes. They were delicious!

Galilee!

Ok, I know I got back from Galilee awhile ago. I've just been lazy, and well....I still am. So here are the pictures with a little caption as to what they're about, but you'll have to stay tuned for the actual text. You'll take what you can get, right? ;)This is at Megiddo. It's actually called Har Megiddo in Hebrew, which is how we get our word Armageddon. Therefore, the impending doom pose.

On the Sea of Galilee!

Mt. of the Beatitudes. Mussolini built this church, which I thought was kind of ironic.

This is a synagogue in Capernaum. Jesus probably taught at this exact synagogue! And Peter's house is literally right next door.

At church in Tiberias! The branch building was dedicated about a year ago. Also, notice the skirt...it's from a shop in Tiberias. I haven't had new clothes in 3 months!

This is at a baptismal site on the Jordan. There were tons of pilgrims getting baptized, some even two at a time!

This was in the church on Mt. Tabor, which is the traditional site of the Mt. of Transfiguration.

At a bonfire our last night staying in Galilee!

This was a mosaic at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Countries from all over the world sent in art depicting Mary talking to the angel. This one's from Paraguay (for Lane, naturally)

At the Bahai Gardens. The Bahai religion is a sect of Islam. The grounds were beautiful!

At Caesarea. That's the Mediterranean behind me!