Life Since Galilee

Now it's time to catch up with what has happened since Galilee! The day after we got home was a free day, so I went out into the city. I went with a couple of friends to the citadel, which is often called David's Tower, but it wasn't actually build by King David. After that we walked over to West Jerusalem, had an amazing bagel sandwich from Holy Bagel on Jaffa Street, and did some shopping at one of our favorite stores. The next day I got to go help with a painting project. One of the teachers here has his wife and two of his children here with him. The son is working on his Eagle Scout project (and he is only 13!) and for it he is doing a mural in the hall of a nearby school. We all got to go contribute. We had a lot of fun painting the walls and each other. On Shabbat I paid another visit with some friends to the Garden Tomb. The weather is a lot warmer so there were a lot more visitors than when I went that very first week I was here. I also went to the Russian Church of the Ascension convent which has a tower that overlooks the city. It is being worked on so we couldn't go up in it.

We have 6 field trips spead out over our last two weeks here. We have already been on three this week! The first one was Sunday to Neot Kedumim, a land preserve dedicated to preserving the land as it would have looked during the time of the Bible. We learned about lots of the plants mentioned in the Bible and gave a lot more meaning in reading those scriptures now! It was a really cool field trip, cooler than everyone expected it to be. We got to herd sheep and goats, make our own zata (a popular spice mix here) and pita too.

The next day was a class day with a free afternoon. I made it a shopping day to get lasts things. I got my nativity set, t-shirts for friends and myself, and other gifts. I think I'll need one more day to get everything I want. Tuesday we had a field trip to Tel Aviv and Jaffa. We learned about ancient history in Jaffa and modern history in Tel Aviv. Jaffa is the port town where the apostle Peter had the vision to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Tel Aviv was the first Hebrew city, established by Jews migrating to the Holy Land in the early 1900s. Yesterday was another class day, but we got confined to the center for the afternoon so I spent it taking a nap and doing homework. Really exciting.

Today was super cool!!! We went to Masada, floated in the Dead Sea, hiked to a waterfall at Ein Gedi, and went to Qumran. It was a really fun day. The Dead Sea was so cool! You just float. No swimming involved. You float so high in the water that people look like they are standing in the water. You can recline and prop your feet up. You can float on your tummy and lift your hands and feet out of the water and still float. Trying doing that in fresh water-- doesn't work! We found a mud pit and slathered Dead Sea mud all over our bodies. It's supposed to be really good for the skin. People pay like $25 an ounce for it. We did it for free! It was a really fun day. Picture from this week were added to the "Second Half of the Middle", album so check 'em out. Only two more weeks before I'm home!