David & Goliath :)

I'll try to get around to writing on this blog more, but sometimes there isn't much to say, and other times there is just too much going on that I don't really have the time to blog, but here ya go. Every week we go on some sort of field trip. Right after we got back from Egypt, we went to Neot Kedumim, which is a biblical lands reserve thinger. It had plants from biblical times such as pomegranate trees, olive trees, hyssop, and other random things. It also had a cistern, water wheel, an olive press, threshing floor for wheat, and other neat things. I got to play with the olive press thing and push it with some people, but other people took the pictures of it, so I don't have those to put up right now. I also got to grind hyssop to make a spice that they call za'atar and they put it on bread or whatever else. We also made wheat popcorn stuff and pita cake things that we got to eat with date honey. It was really delicious. Later that week a group of us went to the Tower of David Museum of Jerusalem in the citadel. We had to go for a class. It was kind of interesting, but pretty boring too. That week we also went to the temple museum and got to see the clothing that the priests and high priest wore, along with the table for the shew bread, altar of incense, menorah, and other things. They have them all built because they say they will put it all in the 3rd temple when it is built someday. It was pretty neat, but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures in there.

Hyssop plant

Grinding Hyssop

Za'atar I ground

Herding Sheep, haha

Making pitas

Fig-leaf Adam & Eve skirt

Olive Press

The next week for our field trip we went to the Shephelah plains and got to see a bunch of different things. We went to Beth Shemesh and the Sorek Valley where the Ark of the Covenant was for a while and there were Samson was raised and other interesting biblical events happened. We also went to the ruins of Azekah, Gath, and Mareshah which are other Old Testament sites, mostly dealing with the wars and a little bit of the David and Goliath stuff in Azekah. Mostly that happened in the Elah Valley though, which we also went to. We went there and talked about the David and Goliath story and then we each got slings and got to throw stones with them. It was pretty fun and neat to see and do there. We also went to Lachish, which was pretty neat to see. Of course most of it was destroyed, but it was neat to see how the Assyrians conquered it by using a siege ramp and stuff. We also went to these things called the Bell caves which had some amazing acoustics and were super pretty and to Micah's cave as well which was a super tight squeeze to get into and then just had a bunch of places that we could crawl around in. It was really fun, but unfortunately my camera battery died this day, so I'll have to post pictures from this some other time from other people's cameras. We also had a Arab culture night that week where some people came and taught us how to dance, we had authentic Arab food, and got to listen to these really great professional Call to Prayer people. I don't remember if I already talked about that or not, but pretty much 5 times a day the Muslims have a Call to Prayer played over the loud speakers. The one in the morning says something about how prayer is better than sleep, so pretty much they should wake up and pray.

On Sunday we got to go to Eilat and go snorkeling in the Red Sea. It was sooooo much fun!! Again, forgot my camera... so friend's pictures will have to come up later. The snorkeling was great, but not the best just because there weren't a lot of super cool vibrant fish like were in Hawaii, but it was still neat. It was just nice to be at the beach and not have to be in clothing from your collarbone to your toes for once!! I got pretty fried, but it was a great time. Yesterday for our field trip we went to the City of David which is just right south of the temple mount in Jerusalem. It is really sloped, so you can definitely see how the story of David and Bathsheba and him seeing her bathing on her rooftop would be logical. We got to see an excavation site called Area G, and Hezekiah's tunnel that leads to the Pool of Siloam (where Christ healed a blind man). Hezekiah's tunnel is a tunnel that was made when Assyria was trying to attack Jerusalem in 701 BC. They made it so that they could still get water in the city from the Gihon Spring which was located outside of the city. So the tunnel went from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. That was a really fun day because we got to hike in the water (about mid-calf to mid-thigh depth) in this really long tunnel, and we shut off our flashlights so it would be a little more fun. When we got to the Pool of Siloam, we all had a water fight in it, so it was super fun. We also saw ruins from King David's fortress, so that was pretty neat, and a couple of tombs that were likely the tombs of David and Solomon. I actually have pictures of this one, but not many of myself. Like I said, I still have to get those off of other people's cameras.

City of David

Pool of Siloam

Possible tombs of David and Solomon

Anyway, that's a little bit of what I've been up to. I'll try to post some pictures and put some more on later too. I'll also try to post more often and write more e-mails mom :)

Oh, and the homework load here?? Talk about CRAZY!!! So annoying how much homework there is... and also the professors just add extra classes wherever they want because they know that we don't have work or other classes or anything that we have to go to.

And yes, one kid did already get sent home. He had done a few things previous to this, but the straw that finally broke the camel's back is that when we were coming home from Egypt a few weeks ago, and were waiting at the border, the kid stripped down to his G's and hopped in the Red Sea... Yeah, not only is that stripping down to his underwear, but it is disrespectful of his garments and also THEY ARE SEE THROUGH!!! Especially when they get wet... yeah, he got dared to do it, but no one actually thought he would... Anyway, he was on a flight home within 24 hours. I feel bad for him, but it wasn't the first thing he did either, and people warned him that he would get in trouble if he did it.

Oh yeah, and did you all hear about that flotilla thing in the Gaza strip?? If not, you should look it up on the internet. As a result of it, there were a lot of riots and stuff, so we were put on lock down in the center for about three days. Luckily we had a bunch of classes and homework those days anyways, so you didn't really notice. But it was kinda crazy...