quickie

We've arrived at En Gev, where I've legally purchased internet access this time, and we get to settle in for a few days. We spent last night in Nazareth, which was kind of a whirlwind with donkeys and sheep and some nuns. The convent we stayed in was beautiful, I'm sure, had I actually seen it in daylight, and there was a chapel there with acoustics that lent themselves to some great singing last night. Here's me overlooking Nazareth (somewhere in there is a spring -- with a church built on top, see earlier post regarding churches built over holy sites -- so we know that the ancient Nazareth was right down in there, since they would have built around the spring. So I breathed in Jesus air!)

I have eaten McDonald's for lunch the last two days. How did this happen? I usually don't condone eating American food internationally. And I never eat McDonald's. But yesterday we stopped at a mall and I was craving ice cream, so I had a McFlurry. And today's lunch stop was at a McDonald's so I was forced to have another. Incidentally, the Hebrew word for McFlurry is something like "pizzutz" (pitzuts?) which means "explosion."

Today we arrived at the Sea of Galilee. I'll post more pictures in the next couple of days, for now here's from a mountain we climbed around on earlier this afternoon. It's been cold, but still hasn't rained. (I've been told I talk about the weather enough that I might as well be English ... it's only because it's totally unseasonable weather and no one understands why it hasn't rained on us!)

caesarea aquaduct

Lots of driving today, stopping at Shiloh and Mt. Gerizim and Ebal, good solid biblical sites. :) After teaching Joshua last year, I was really interested in seeing how far apart those mountains were, because of the story of half of Israel on one mountain and half on the other (see Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8). They're pretty close: here's Mt. Ebal from the top of Gerizim with Shechem in the middle, now an unstable Arabic village that we couldn't go to... (yes my ears were very warm, thank you)

We're staying tonight at Dor, on the Mediterranean Coast. We arrived at the hotel after dark, but on the way we stopped at Caesarea to see this 2000 year old aquaduct built by Herod the Great.

I got real dirty today

We had great weather again today, although very cold, as we headed out to participate in an archaeological dig that was in progress in a city called Maresha, and then later to Adullam, where David and his 400 followers lived while hiding out from Saul.

The dig was fun; first we went down into the caves and began breaking up the dirt and putting it into buckets. When we found stuff, mostly pottery, we put it in the "finds" bucket. There were several rooms in these huge caves; they said that this city was abandoned and the people who lived there basically threw all their stuff in these caves and destroyed their homes and burned it all before leaving, to escape being captured. The head archaeologist was actually there today and was able to tell us about the pieces we uncovered.

Found one!Afterward we formed a line and got all our buckets out of the caves, then had to sift through the dirt to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Our guide also took us into some newer caves where they have not yet started to dig. You have to crawl in some parts. I'll spare you more cave pictures, at least until later in the post. Actually I whacked my head pretty hard on a big rock that was sticking out of the wall in there and got one of those giant lumps that last about a half hour, so I didn't go all the way through. I guess I've seen plenty of caves and tunnels on this trip, so I didn't feel like I was missing out. :)

After lunch we drove out to Adullam (see 1 Samuel 22:1-2). This is a big hill covered with huge caves. It was cool to imagine David and his men (and probably some women) living here. For all practical purposes, the kingdom of Israel started in these very caves. (Warning: more cave pictures.)

George Bush left Israel today. And it's not supposed to rain for the rest of the week. This is crazy, and not too good for Israeli agriculture. We think our professor Dr. Rigsby ("Big Rig") has a lucky rabbit foot or something that's bringing us all the sunshine. :)

Red Sea

We had a chance to snorkel at in the Red Sea at Eilat the other day. There is a big coral reef there. I didn't snorkel because I was still getting over my cold, but I saw the coral and a big pretty fish and I didn't even have to get wet!

no rain, no president, and no dead sea pictures

Our streak of good weather luck continues; it rained last night and was cold this morning, but it's late afternoon now and the sky is clear blue. So basically we have had no rain, save for a couple of hours last week in Jerusalem the afternoon of our free day (when Kim and I stayed in and ate chocolate). We're going up north to the Galilee region in a couple days, where it is usually colder and there is more rain, so we'll see if our sunny bubble travels with us.

We are staying in a guest house near Jerusalem, and today we had a free day and took a bus to the Old City to finish up some shopping. You may have noticed George Bush is in town; WE noticed! The security is very high and a few of us actually saw the big convoy of helicopters fly overhead a day or two ago. In Jerusalem today there was an increase in armed soldiers and police, but those are nothing new, and I think George is in Ramallah today anyway. I looked all over for him but to no avail.

.

So, yesterday was quite a big day. We were quite sticky and...aromatic...when we arrived at our hotel last night. In the morning about half of us climbed Masada (the other lazier half took the cable car up), which took 30-40 minutes but was really steep with lots of stairs, which we cursed all the way up. I already mentioned the stairs of Jebul Musa in Sinai, all 750 of them, so to see this many stairs in immediate succession on the side of a mountain so soon afterward was kind of scarring. Starting off the day dripping with sweat knowing you're not getting a shower until the evening was not the most pleasant of circumstances, but that later became the least of our concerns (or, smells) ... Here are some pics from Masada:

The seige ramp built by the Romans

A huge cistern up on top

After exploring for awhile, we took the tram back down and drove straight to the Dead Sea. I gave my camera to someone to take pictures but they didn't really, so I don't have anything to show for it except for this really zoomed in picture of a circle that we were forming as we floated, and I'm not even in the picture. :)

I'm going to check and see if anyone else has better pics and maybe I'll post those. It was so fun! A normal sea or ocean is about 3-5% salt; the Dead Sea is 30%. I can tell you, if you get it in your eyes it hurts like no other. It happened a few times, and I was blinded for a few minutes while I tried desperately to cry to clean out my eyes. You really do just float right on top. I think it was one of my favorite things so far.

From the Dead Sea (after only a quick outdoor rinse-off), we went to En Gedi, to see the caves where David hid out from Saul and cut the corner off his robe (1 Sam. 24), then to lunch and to Qumran. Before the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered there, there was really no reason to stop there; the ruins aren't that spectacular. But since the scrolls were discovered it's a major tourist destination. Our guide took us off the beaten path, up the road to Cave #1, the first cave that scrolls were discovered in, and we climbed halfway up a cliff to get there. It's just a cave, with nothing in in, and with a lot of loose and sharp rocks trying to get there, but hey, the next time I get in a conversation about the Dead Sea scrolls and how valuable they are for the reliablility of Scripture, I can say I've been there. :) Up in the very first cave where a Bedouin guy once threw a rock and heard pottery breaking and found scrolls from the Bible from the first century. In that cave. :)

I have a lot of pictures of myself in caves and tunnels. They all start to look the same after awhile, don't they. :) Anyway, after all that, a shower was fabulous last night, and the bed was even better.

Salt Cave

Near the Dead Sea the mountains are pure salt. The other night we went into a deep cave (there are caves everywhere, I'm telling you!) where the walls were salt; if you held a flashlight up against them, the light shined through it. These lights are pressing against the wall:

Egypt!

I don't have tons of time and I'm two or three days behind, but this will have to hold you over until tomorrow. Our day in Egypt was fun, two days ago now. We walked through the border and were met by an Egyptian bus driver, tour guide, and armed guard (in a suit - like the secret service).

A little stop at the beach overlooking a small island with a castle from the Crusades,

did a little sunbathing,

then off to the desert... We bought things from Bedouins on the side of the road. Then we climbed a 7000 foot mountain, which ended in 750 very steep and high stairs which were totally brutal and I never want to see a stair again (except today we had to climb more...more later). Then we got to the top, which really isn't the real place that Moses climbed probably, but it's still fun:
Saw lots of these and for some reason I kept taking pictures of them:

Today we climbed Masada (MORE STAIRS - I want to die) and then floated in the Dead Sea, and then went to Qumran where we drove around the cliffs and then climbed up one to see Cave 1. I'll post pictures someday...maybe tomorrow, it's our free day and I'll actually have some time. For now, we have another quiz at 8am that I need to study for!

Lots of crawling around in small dark spaces

Hi! We didn't have internet last night, and technically we don't tonight, but we are at the neighboring hotel in the lobby thiefing theirs. Tomorrow we are getting up really early to cross the border into Egypt and climb Mt. Sinai, so this may be kind of short.

I can't even remember what we did yesterday...the days are so long and start to run together. There were lots of underground caves. First was an old huge cistern at the old Israelite city Bet-Shemesh. Lots of spiderwebs and frogs. Eww.

Then we drove around a lot looking at hills that used to be cities. Then we drove to another hill that used to be a city, but from this one we could overlook the Elah Valley to the spot where David fought Goliath. So we read that story overlooking the valley:

Then we went to the coolest place EVER and I have no idea where we were. It was a park with these tiny tunnels underground that were used in the 2nd Jewish revolt. The tunnels are pretty tight:

It was pitch black in there. After crawling slightly downhill for awhile, balancing your flashlight and wishing you had knee pads, you are spit out into this weird cave, also pitch black:

Apparently it was used for raising pidgeons! SICK...I would not want to be anywhere near this room if it were full of pidgeons.

To exit, you had the choice of going back the way you came, or scaling this wall:

The thing is, after you've climbed this wall, you have to fit through another tunnel, even tinier. In fact, I wish I had a picture, but I don't, because pretty much only your body fits in the tunnel. You have to lie on your back and shimmy your way through (still pitch black!), and it curves up until it finally opens up, at which point you still have to pull yourself out because you can't bend your knees. Jorge sat in there and coached those of us who attempted to crawl out what is called the "birth canal."

I really like tunnels and caves. :)

I think we saw some more stuff yesterday, but they paled in comparison to this. Today we saw some more hills that used to be cities (I really am more interested than I sound here...slightly), and then went to a factory where they make Dead Sea products. This was the best part of the day. :)

Ok, oh yes, tomorrow is a big day...border crossing, 3 hour drive, 4-5 hour hike, 3 hour drive, border crossing. Kim gets to ride a camel because of a medical condition, but I'm looking forward to the exertion. Good night!

On the road again...

Looking out into the Judean Wilderness from the Herodium

Herodium

It's my third post of the day, can you tell we had a day off today? We spent the morning out, it started drizzling around 2 as we ran home, and spent the afternoon in our room eating Israeli nutella and chocolate biscuit cookies. It's pouring tonight, which is fun, especially since we are inside. :)

I did well on my quiz this morning. :) Ask me anything about regions and routes throughout central Israel.

Tomorrow morning we head out for the Southern region of Israel for a 5 day trip, to places like Beth Shemesh, Eilat, the Negev, Masada, the Dead Sea, En Gedi, and Qumran. We are in a different hotel almost every night so I don't know how internet access will be. (Which is actually nice, since keeping up this thing takes forever!) This next leg of the trip is supposed to be pretty fun and less academic. Lots of fun things to do like crawl through little tunnels (there are lots of tunnels in Israel!) and snorkel. I hate snorkeling. :)


I'm looking at all my stuff spread out all over my hotel room from the last week and realizing I have to have it all back in my suitcase, eat breakfast, and drag all my stuff down 5 floors of stairs by tomorrow morning at 7:30. It's almost 9pm, so I'm going to start doing that. Shalom :)

What exactly does one do when encountering Jesus' birth place?

Smile? Look somber? Sing for joy?

I am a little bit tired of seeing these big cathedrals built over locations that are possibly places that Jesus was born, laid in a manger, wept, preached, crucified, buried, etc. etc. The locations are significant, and I'm excited to be in the vicinity of these events, but personally I would get more out of seeing ruins or even a spot with nothing there than an ornate (almost gawdy) church with altars and shrines. We visited the upper room a couple days ago (or a possible location of it) and when we walked in I was disappointed to see the high arches and marble carvings and stained glass windows. I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't eat with his disciples in this church. Oh well. We still had a meaningful visit. I hope I don't sound ungrateful. :) Here's me yesterday touching the star where people believe Jesus was actually born. The manger location is steps away, marked with a lovely gold, red velvet and bejeweled baby's bed with a creepy porcelain baby inside. The church is huge; 1/3 Catholic, 1/3 Greek Orthodox and 1/3 Armenian. Two of those groups have joint ownership of the birth place and the other one owns the manger. The places are meaningful, the decor is not.

free day in Jerusalem

Druids

Went to a mosque in Hebron this morning; this is a huge Palestinian city now, in the West Bank, but because of the tensions it is very run down and desolate. It looks like a war zone; shops are all closed and boarded up, buildings are in bad shape. Here and there you see people scattering around. Our bus stopped for awhile as we waited for permission from the military to go to a certain location and some kids came out and started a soccer game with some of the guys in our group. Eventually word came back that we could not go ahead, because there was no one available to escort us with weapons, and we did not have any of our own, so we couldn't go (that will teach me to leave my uzi at home). Hebron is only recently open for tourists to come; before it was too dangerous. It is not excavated yet, but it is where the cave of Machpelah is located (read Genesis 23), and there is a huge structure built by Herod that stands over where the cave is supposed to be. Currently one side of that structure is a Jewish synagoge, and the other side is a mosque. Both sides have very heavy security to enter. This pic is the "head coverings" they required the women to wear, that really resemble druid capes, don't you think?

More tomorrow; I'm tired, kinda sick, and we have a quiz in the morning that I need to study for. (Don't get me started on my opinion of having quizzes in Israel.)

P.S. It still hasn't rained! Blue skies and pleasant temps today. :)

Wednesday

If you can't tell from the pictures, we have had GREAT weather. It's really unseasonable, as January is the rainiest month of the year here! We've been really thankful. I heard a rumor that it's supposed to start raining tomorrow afternoon, but I'm praying it will hold out a little longer.

Today was a good day. We started up on the Mount of Olives (I took the picture in the post below at the church Dominus Flevit (The Lord wept) over Jerusalem. It's been really significant to read the passages about Jesus' laments over this city who did not recognize him while looking over it as it is now: Jewish and Muslim, most of whom still do not recognize him. We visited an Anglican site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection later today (the Garden Tomb; probably not the true location) and there were signs that said "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem." The tensions in this city are so palpable, in a city that is one of the most significant holy places for multiple religions.

Thousands of tombs dating over centuries face the East Gate where many believe the Messiah will return through.

Later on this afternoon we were able to visit the Holocaust Museum here, Yad VeShem. It takes hours to go through it; we had less than 2. I could have easily taken another hour, although it becomes exhausting to watch the videos, see the pictures, and read. The thing that struck me most was a model of the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Also went to the Archaelogical Museum of Jerusalem, on the SW corner of the temple mount. You can see the original market street stones that date back to the 1st century, and things from all different periods: some Byzantine houses (pic below) with huge cisterns below them, Ottoman walls, a Crusader fortress, and Arabic palaces.

We ran into this little Arab man and his donkey, which he pretty much shoved in our faces and made us kiss (please note Kim's stylin' '80s headband)...

On a completely shallow note, my flat iron fried despite our converter and when I see pictures of me with straight hair I mourn my loss. :(

I prefer this view :)

it's the new year...and most of us slept through it

We all said happy new year to each other this morning at 10am, when it was midnight in L.A. I think we were somewhere out in the middle of nowhere looking at the ruins of some wall that some king built after defeating some city. Really memorable. :)

Last night a few of us went up on the roof of our hotel to see (if there were any) fireworks. There were a few here and there, enough for us to believe something important was happening. And then someone started lighting some on the street right below us, that was exciting! We managed to dodge all the sparks, and took in a great evening view of Jerusalem. Turns out most of our group slept through it from sheer exhaustion; I fell asleep at 8 and woke up after 11. I was planning on going back to bed but we figured we'd see what was going on up there.

Yesterday we visited the Temple Mount, had our lectures and firehose of information, and as soon as we began walking around the guards came and kicked us out; they were closed. (They close at 10 in the morning!) It's really interesting up there; the Jews controlled access at the Western Wall, which is the only place we were allowed to enter. But up on top, the Muslims are in control. It is 35 acres, 1/6 of the entire Old City. Herod extended the walls to their current measurements in 20 BC. The Dome of the Rock was built in 691 AD. The whole Temple Mount is wide open, like a huge central park; it's not unusual to see kids kicking a soccer ball around or a family picnicking there.

Everyone keeps trying to speak to me in Hebrew; they think I'm from Israel. (I guess that happens wherever I go...maybe it wouldn't in Africa.) Also, this is fabulous...everyone always wishes us "Merry Christmas" everywhere--maybe because that is just an English phrase they know? Today as we crossed a checkpoint into the West Bank we were wished a "Merry Christmas" by the Palestinian police. Excellent! Does this happen in July too?

All for now; bed for me. Feels like we went all over Israel today in our bus (not so much; only a bit to the west and back to the east, to Jericho). Tomorrow we are going to the Mount of Olives and around the area, so lots more walking. A guy with a pedometer said we have been walking up to 10 miles some days. Thank goodness for good shoes.