That's Life: JuST AnOTheR TWo DaYS

September 2, 2012

Well today was the first full free day and I am happy to say that I packed a lot in today. My group left for the old city after having done some homework and such and went and got some money from the money exchangers. Once we had our small fortunes, we crossed the street, dodging the crazy drivers, and taking pictures at the same time (brilliant I know) and entered the old city. For the next two, two and a half(ish) hours we just explored. We tried getting to the Dome of the Rock but for some reason the way we went didn't open for a few more hours. We made it to the Western Wall however, and was pretty cool. It is amazing to think that, that wall is like 2000 years old. From there we just walked around looking at the shops, had cool photo moments and smelling good food. I hope that I can get to the point of being comfortable enough to just go to one of the cafes and sit, eat and chill for a while. They are these small little cafes that remind me of Italy and makes me want to go back to Europe for a round two excursion. But first I want to finish this one out because it is just amazing over here. Every evening I get to go out on a back porch and just sit and soak in all that I can from/about this beautiful city. Well it got pretty hot and so we decided to go back to the center. Once back in our room we just kind of crashed. I am still getting used to the time change. I didn't sleep but just sat on my bed listening to music and doing a sudoku (awesome) and downloaded my pictures and played with them for a bit. Next it was dinner and once dinner was over I was going to study but got “persuaded” to go play soccer and volleyball and have been doing that for the last two hours. It was great. I really miss organized sports and really want to start playing again. I am now writing this. A fun filled day.

September 3, 2012

Holy moly, this has been such a jam packed day! It was our first field trip day and boy was it a field trip. We did the Jerusalem overlook and basically saw Jerusalem from every direction possible which was actually kind of cool. We talked about the Bible stories that happened around the places we were and the importance of them. The rest was a just site seeing really. It is definitely a hilly countryside and it still surprises me how close everything is. As cool as the Jerusalem part was, I want to write about the Bethlehem overlook that we went to. We climbed this small hill that gave a vantage point of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. When we got to the top it was about 100 degrees, I swear, and there was no shade. I definitely got burned. Anyway we talked about David and how he came from Bethlehem and how important he was. But then we talked about the birth of Jesus. We talked about how the angels appeared and the wisemen came and the other events surrounding that one. Once we had our discussion we sang 'Far Far Away on Judea's Plain' (wasn't so far at that point) and 'Angels We Have Heard on High'. It wasn't like a huge, make you cry, spiritual experience but it was tender and I will never hear those songs the same way. Especially 'Angels...' It was so peaceful and just gave me this feeling in my heart, confirming once again my testimony of the birth of Christ. It also gave me one of those reality checks, that I have gotten so many times since I have been here, that I was really here. Here and looking at similar sites to those in the Bible. I just can't get enough of it. It is so amazing. After the songs we had a couple of minutes by ourselves which is always nice. I just sat there and thought about what I was looking and trying to grasp the concept. (Side note, there was a dust devil which was cool.) I hope we have more time to just sit and think on the next Field trip but other than that it was exactly how I thought it was going to be. Awesome.