Geography Field Trip

The geography field trip was so cool! Literally. We almost froze to death. We went to several of the highest places in the area so that we could see really far in all directions in order to get a handle on where different places are with relation to others. The higher the elevation, the colder it is and the worse the wind. But I made it... with 5 layers. For two of the sites we were actually in the West Bank, which is exciting. We could see the partition wall not far away. The neatest part for me was to look out from the top of the Augusta Victoria Tower and see the Dead Sea and Jordan in the distance. This country really is not very wide. It is only about as wide as the panhandle of Idaho. We'll get to go to the Dead Sea later this semester. It's a mile lower in elevation than the place we were viewing it from. It is difficult to download photos to the blog because the internet is slow with those sorts of things here, but I did upload a lot of photos to an album on my Facebook profile. I created a link to it on the left and anyone can view it.

Today I went to the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens and the Garden of Gethsemane. They are beautiful places, even in the winter. It was so fun for me to go to the Hyde Park; I felt like I was coming full circle with my Church History studies in Nauvoo, IL. The Park sits in the area that Orson Hyde, a missionary that we studied about in Nauvoo, came in 1841 and dedicated the land for the return of the Jews. Now I feel like these two special semesters are connected and part of one extraordinary, continuous experience. I haven't downloaded those pictures yet, but I will soon.

Tomorrow a lot of kids are going to Tel Aviv after classes to play. The brave ones will try to go swimming! I am determined to join them in the attempt. I'm excited because Tel Aviv is at least 10 degrees warmer than Jerusalem since it is 3000 ft lower in elevation and right on the Mediterranean Sea. Plus there are lots of cool things to do around there too. It is a very modern city and heavily influenced by Europe.

We leave for Egypt in a week! I am so excited, you wouldn't believe.