the dark knight RISES!

so many galilee pictures to post. i'm not even going to try tonight. but believe me, i have a lot to say about it. 

so the night we got back from galilee, we watched batman begins and the dark knight, and the next day, we went to see the dark knight rises. you guys. i love the batman movies. and christopher nolan. seriously. i was jaw dropped the entire movie. 

aaaanyway....i have less than two weeks left in jerusalem! i've been thinking a lot about what i've learned this summer, so you're not done hearing from me yet. 

out at sea

in galilee

picture dump

here are some random pictures of stuff we've been up to!

these first ones actually aren't too recent, but i just found them. they are from when we went to jericho a while ago!

this is shaban. i probably go to his shop 9 out of 10 times i go into the city, just to say hi. he always feeds us juice and  invited us over for hummus a couple weeks ago. my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. 

another shop owner here invited us over for falafels. his name is jimmy and he sells the most beautiful hand-carved olive wood nativity sets. you would not believe where he is right now. in rexburg. speaking at a fireside about islam and mormonism. are you kidding? he has probably spent more time in rexburg than i have! he goes every year to teach seminars. he was telling me all about how him and president clark are buddies and i couldn't believe i was having this conversation with an olive wood carver from jerusalem. this world is so strange and small. 

walking on the herodian high street in the old city where christ would have walked. there are not many preserved spots here that we are positive he would have been, but this is one of them. 

taking a field trip underneath the western wall in the kotel tunnels. so fun! 

...and after, we got to spend a few minutes at the western wall. which never happens since we are usually not allowed to go there at night. this is melissa, and i love her! she is so cute and i'm so happy she's at byu-i too!

just dancing at the talent show. we're missing josh, natalie, and brooke in this picture.

so i'm leaving for galilee tomorrow for two weeks and i am so excited! or at least i think i would be if i wasn't pulling an all-nighter right now. it's going to be a blast. i probably won't have internet, so don't look for blog posts, mom! i just finished two big papers that are due tomorrow before we leave and now I have to write another small paper. it's 1 AM and i'm just waiting for that second burst of energy to kick in...any minute now...

on another note, guess who stayed in the jerusalem center this week? elder holland. yeah, i was dying when they told us he was coming. it was the first time in 40 years that he came as a tourist instead of on business. he came with his wife and kids and it was so exciting. i had never met an apostle before! notice that i said had. meaning that i now have. the encounter went like this: 

i was walking down the hall when him and his wife happened to be coming home from the old city. so i went up to say hi and shake his hand. after that, he grabbed my hair and said (and i quote), "where did this hair come from? i love it!" and then i died. because if an apostle compliments your hair, that means it's concrete doctrine. 

he left after church on saturday, but he definitely spoke and it was an amazing sacrament meeting. he was supposed to give some closing remarks at the end of the meeting, and he got up at five minutes till the end, but he spoke all the way though sunday school....and i was so happy he did! i looked at my watch when he finished and thought it had been maybe 15 minutes, but it had been 45. he spoke mainly to the students and the things he said were so cool. it gave me a better appreciation of him, this incredible place, and this experience that very few people get to have. hie is so powerful when he speaks. there is no way to not believe what he says. i love everything about him. it wasn't great just because an apostle was speaking; it was really cool because he loves israel so much and i loved hearing his testimony of it. 

tel aviv, round two

a few weeks ago, most of us took another trip to tel aviv! i really like tel aviv. there's a good energy there. i was going to hang out at the beach all day, but a few of us rented bikes last time and had so much fun that i decided to do it again. 

this time we biked more in the city and found a fun park that had a little zoo in it. we biked along a river until we got lost and barely made it back to the rental shop in time....

we spent the rest of the day at the beach! karen, amy, geoff, nathan, alvin and i swam out to some rocks in the ocean and talked for a while. it was so great. i've made some awesome friends here. then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing beach volleyball and getting burnt baaad (except me...my mom would be proud of how much sunscreen i wear here!)

the day ended with falafels and gelato. that's a good meal right there. i'm going to soak up my last month here because when i get home, i have to start thinking about serious life stuff!

the hashemite kingdom of jordan

we spent last week in jordan and it was a blast! to be honest, the only expectation i had about jordan is that it would be a lot like israel. it's definitely not! my expectations were exceeded, a lot. here are a few pictures from our week. 

we spent one day in the ancient city of petra! yes, the one of indiana jones fame. it was great, i kind of felt back at home. it's like southern utah, but with massive ancient buildings carved in the rock. in the middle of the desert. how cool is that? it was so beautiful.

this was so funny. one day, we went to an ancient roman city called jerash, and we were standing in this roman theater when all of a sudden, this arab man came out of nowhere with a bagpipe and started playing scottish folk songs. we were filming him and two other bagpipe players and a drummer came out and we all started dancing around the theater together. if you know me, you know i love the bagpipes so much, so i was laughing so hard the entire time, i was so happy! and then they just left, it was so random. 

we went to the royal automobile museum in amman, it was super cool, but one of the administrators admitted we were going just because he likes cars and it has no historical value haha. i'm not a car person, but even i can appreciate a room full of beautiful, expensive cars. 

that night, a few of us wandered around amman, trying to find a bar to watch the eurocup semifinals. blake served his mission in portugal, so for the past few weeks, whenever they played, blake would run around the center with his portugal jersey and flag and try to get people to watch with him. so we got permission to stay out past curfew to watch the game and the only place we could find that had room to watch was a hookah cafe haha. it was definitely the best night of the trip. we don't spend very many nights out in israel because the places we can go are very limited, so it was fun to go out. we sat next to a bunch of americans while watching the game and found out they are all byu students! after the game, we all smelled so badly of hookah.

geoff and i took pictures of blake during the shootout. he was so nervous. 

on our last day, we went to the jordan river, near a site where christ might have been baptized. a group of spaniards came to get baptized, that was cool to watch. we sat under the shade as a class and read about john the baptist. it was a highlight of the trip. 

after that, we went back to home sweet home! going to jordan was so good. i have a new teacher now that we are studying the new testament for the last block of the summer, and the more i learn, the more i realize i don't know, secularly and spiritually. it has been a huge humbling experience. i don't know anything. beginning to comprehend the scope of the scriptures and things like politics in the middle east can be overwhelming. i've never realized so much how little my knowledge is. 

4th of july in israel

i love the 4th of july so so so much. it's so festive. and full of great traditions. i love america. we have a great country and i'm so proud of it. and i love having a day to celebrate it because it's probably the only day of the year where i consciously realize how lucky i am to have the rights i do. 

this was my first 4th of july away from home and i was worried it would be an uneventful day. but jerusalem did not disappoint! our cooks made us a full-out american meal with hamburgers that they grilled outside, corn on the cob, apple pie, and ice cream. i. was. dying. and to top it off, we ate on the grass, which just adds to the 4th of july celebration, not sure why, but it does. our cooks did such a good job at recreating a traditional 4th of july meal! and they even brought speakers out and played a patriotic playlist for us. we played games all night long and finished it off with an american flag cake made by sister ludlow (my professor's wife), sparklers, and some dancing. i really missed being home with my family because i love spending the 4th with them, but i had a great holiday. i love america! 

and i have been the worst at blogging lately. i have a lot to catch up on! we were in jordan last week. i'll post about that soon.