Just another day...

Hello again. I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post, but I don't really have much free time here to update. I've now been in Jerusalem for about 10 days, but it feels like much longer. Things have been going great here lately, and I'm learning more and more everyday. We went on a field trip a few days ago and visited the Elah Valley, which was where David and Goliath had their sling battle :) It was pretty neat, and we got to pick up a few rocks and try some slings. We also visited a few ancient cities, and learned a lot about Joshua and his people. It really is incredible to be at a particular site, open your scriptures, and then read about what happened at that exact place. I feel to blessed to be here, and I'm definitely taking advantage of every opportunity I can get. On that same field trip we visited some old caves that are centuries old, and had to crawl through tiny tunnels to get there. I'll admit it was a bit freaky, but thanks to Mom I had a headlamp to lead my way. :) Genius idea, Mom. Thanks.

Yesterday was a pretty neat day. Minus the fact that we had our first midterm here, I loved everything else. My Old Testament class is pretty rough, and everyone was quite surprised with the test, but I survived and hopefully I'll be able to pull out decent grades. After my test we all walked together to the Western (or Wailing) Wall. We got there right when the sun was going down, so the Jews were just beginning to welcome in Shabbat. We got to walk up and touch the wall, and a few of us even wrote down a prayer and stuck it in one of the cracks. It was just really neat to see all the people worshipping and praising their God. Wow. The wall separates the guys and girls, so it was kinda nice to celebrate with all the girls there. We ended up staying on our little side of the wall for almost an hour, joined in hand with the other Jewish girls and women...just dancing around in circles and singing at the top of our lungs. I'm sure it was quite a site to see, because we obviously didn't know what we were saying, let alone how to say it, but we did the best we could. It was really cool how quickly we all bonded together there, and I loved seeing the cultural differences. Definitely a must-see.

After we got back, we all did a bit of homework and then watched good old Aladdin. Movie nights here are unreal, and we discovered a load of movies and dvd's here in the library - even Saturday's Warrior!!! Can you believe it? :) I'll definitely be watching that, along with Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Ha ha. Last night we also hosted our first "J-C Dance party" in the student lounge, and had quite the turnout. It was hilarious, and we all exhausted ourselves with our crazy moves. I'm sure it was the first of many more to come... :)

Other than that, not a whole lot has gone on. Today was Shabbat, so our sunday, and we fasted from 6:00 last night til 4:00 this afternoon. It literally killed me not being able to drink water here. I was so hungry and thirsty in relief society this afternoon that I started craving ketchup! Can you believe that? I know I like it on most foods, but never have I wanted it plain. Then again, any food that isn't three days old sounds really good to me. We had another mysterious meal tonight that was "steak" but ended up being some rubbery nasty stuff. Once again, thank heavens for pitas, lemonade, and occasionally rice. I've moved from the cereal to these foods, because the cereal they have here tastes exactly like pieces of cardboard. Talk about a let-down.

Well...we're officially taking off for Egypt in about 7 and 1/2 hours. I'm incredibly excited, but I know it's going to be super hot there. We've been learning a lot about the pyramids and egyptian art, so I can't wait to actually be there to see it in person. We all watched Prince of Egypt tonight to get in the mood, so I think I'm as best prepared as I can be. :) I promise to take lots of pictures, and hopefully I won't thirst to death or come home with any version of diarrhea (which apparently is hard to do). Just think though...next time I post I will have seen a beautiful light and laser show in front of the pyramids, floated down the Nile, and traveled on a camel. This next week will be great. :) Just pray that I don't get sick or attacked while I'm there!!!

Overlooking the Elah Valley. Can you believe I hang out with these people wearing their Indiana Jones hats? Kinda embarassing. Thank heavens none of us obviously care what we look like.

Me and Kate, gearing up to attempt to "play David" with our rocks and slings.

I'm pretty sure this was an actual legit throw, but my first couple times I practically hit myself with my own rock. :) It's a lot more challenging than you'd think, and I'm surprised we left that place without an accident. And I know you're all thinking how sexy I look with my chaco's, drawstring pants rolled up, t-shirt, hat, and fanny...don't get too jealous. ;) It's the norm here.

I couldn't resist when I saw this platform thing. This was in an ancient city right by an old temple. The view was beautiful...as was my toe-touch.

Call me Ariel...except for the fact that I'm fully-clothed. :)

Don't ask...I just couldn't resist getting this picture when I saw it, and naturally my friend Chris wanted to be the Mona Lisa.

Me and my good friend Greg. (We all call him "dotty" because his middle name's Doty, and when I read it I said it wrong, so the name's kinda stuck). We both showed up at the cave with headlamps though, and wanted to act somewhat cool with them on.

See what I mean by small tunnels??? Kinda creepy...not to mention dirty.

And we found this while in there!!! We think it was dead by the time we found it, but who knows. I hate spiders. Ants, however, don't phase me anymore. We have them all over our room, in the bathroom, and anywhere you sit outside. I also forgot to mention that a prank was played on me and my roommates by someone (the source is still unknown) letting a lizard loose in our room! Naturally my roommates saw it run right into my shirt, so they tried to trap it but never found it. Needless to say I've washed that shirt a few times, and am always a bit frightened to put my feet in my sheets. Hopefully it'll turn up one of these days...

A bunch of us once we made it out of the cave. It was a really fun field trip, but tiring. I'm sure Egypt will be ten times crazier, but I'm stoked. :)