turkey teaser

i'm back from turkey! 

and it was the best week ever. 

ask my dad, though, i am the queen of the "best {blank} ever" statement. i always use it, and he makes fun of me. but i dunno, i have like, 85 other people to back me up on that statement. 

i definitely am officially dubbing turkey the best kept secret ever. i love that i would probably never go to turkey on my own if it weren't for this study abroad. but it was one of the most memorable vacations/beautiful places i've ever experienced. 

the only downside of going to turkey is that i've been back a day and i feel like my life is a little out of control, which is the worst feeling ever. my room is a mess, i have no clean clothes, and i have so much reading to do this week.....some of which i should have done last week....

so i can't really blog for the next few days because i need to get back in the swing of things. you know how it is after a vacation. that first day back hits you hard. especially when you have to read all of leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy for old testament class the next day...but who's keeping track? 

anyway, i'll give you a little teaser of the trip and start at the end....

our flight back to israel was last night at about 1 AM and we were so tired. i slept the whole flight (which never happens) and woke up right when we were descending. it was like, 4 in the morning and i felt like i had been slammed in the head with a ton of brick. let me preface this by telling you that the ben gurion airport is probably the most highly secure public airport in the world. they are psycho about security. and the directors of the program have told us probably 5 times exactly what to say if you get asked at customs what you are doing in israel, because if you say the wrong thing, you are worse off than an egg on jerusalem pavement in august. 

so i am the first one to customs and i hand the lady my passport and she looks at me, and at my passport picture, then back to me, and then the passport picture and says in a suspicious  voice "what are you doing israel?" 

"i'm here as a tourist. i'm a student in america who is here with a program from america." 

she looks at me and tells me i can't be a student here if i don't have a student visa. i tell her that i'm not a student here, i'm a student in america and i'm with a program. she asks me how long i'm staying and i tell her 4 months and then she starts flipping a lid in my face. 

"you cannot enter the country! i don't believe you. you can only stay in the country as a tourist for 3 months. what are you really doing here? woman! hello! answer me!" 

and i am so freaked out at this point because all i have been told is the script that i rehearsed in my head and am totally not prepared for this, partly because i am half asleep. 

and then she starts interrogating me. "what was your flight number?" i tell her i don't know the number, but i give her my ticket stub. she asks me the address of where i am staying, and i don't know that either, but i try to explain to her where it is and she just rolls her eyes at me so rudely. she asks me my exact itinerary and i explain to her what we are doing, but that just makes her more suspicious of me. at this point, pretty much everyone is watching us because she is raising her voice at me and making all these phone calls that i can't understand. seriously lady, can i just go to bed? it is 4 in the morning and i have no idea what to say to you to make you happy! 

she gets off the phone and then takes this other boy in our group into a room to ask him some questions. i walk away and my heart is pounding so fast. you know that scene in how to train your dragon where hiccup walks away from toothless and he falls down because his legs are like jelly? that's how i felt. it turned out fine after the most stressful 10 minutes ever. but i was over it the second i sat down on the bus to drive home and fell asleep again. 

want to read my official guide to having a good time in turkey? stay tuned. 

the pool of bethesda and donny osmond

ok first off, right now i'm in a classroom with everyone else watching joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat. i probably have better things to do (like packing), but it's one of those movies that you sit down to watch 5 minutes of and then you realize that you can't watch just part of it! it's like nicotine for the eyes! 

anyway, it has been a crazy school week! on top of a full load of classes and homework, we are living in this amazing city where there is SO much to do! i am trying to find time to breath and sleep, but when you're in jerusalem, you can sleep when you're dead, am i right?

the other day, we went to a neighborhood mosque that's not a touristy one, so people really go there to worship 5 times a day without visitors coming in and out. i'm glad we got to see something more intimate and down-to-earth. definitely a cool experience!

yesterday, a group of us went to the pool of bethesda, which is where this famous story took place: 

it was really beautiful and so well preserved! the pools themselves were kind of gross haha, but the surrounding garden and church and ruins were really amazing. i know you can't really see in this picture, but i found a way cool door that was a beautiful color (i love blue, if you can't tell from the first picture!)

here's the entrance of the pool. i always think solo pictures are a little awkward. what are you supposed to do with your hands?? 

this is part of the pool underground. don't you want to take a swim in that?

something that i love about going to see all these ruins in spring is the wildflowers that are blooming. i just think it's so cool that in one picture you get these old ruins that are thousands of years old and also freshly bloomed bright red poppies. 

sorry for the weird zoomed-in photo, but this one is for mom! here's the sweet leather bag i bought in the old city. best purchase ever. i have been wearing it all over the place! 

two of my roommates, rachel and whitney. this was definitely a fun excursion! i'll for sure go back again. 

last but not least, i want to give a shout out to my mom for mother's day! she is literally the most influential person on earth to me. she was a huge part in making my jerusalem dream a reality. i could go on and on about all the sacrifices she's made for me and all of the teenage junk she endured through haha, but i won't. she is so incredible and i hope i can be a mother that's as compassionate and as unconditionally loving as her some day. happy mothers day! 

also, it's my darling eric's birthday...i'm sad i'm not there to celebrate it with him :( he is another person that has been so stinking supportive of me coming to jerusalem. i am so lucky. you could not ask for a sweeter, more loving boy. 

happy may 13th :) i seriously need to go to bed. ah! i'm going to be in istanbul tonight! 

happiest news of my life

this is sarah. i know that i've written about her before, but i have to do it again. sarah is my best friend in the entire world. we have been through every single celebration, milestone, and setback of each other's. i am just so out-of-this-world happy for her. 

sarah got engaged to the sweetest guy ever this week!

his name is zach. 

and he is in love with sarah. 

i don't know who wouldn't be. 

he proposed to her at disneyland in the restaurant in the pirates of the caribbean ride on her birthday. 

sarah loves disneyland more than life. 

it was a magical day. 

i just talked to sarah on the phone and was literally screaming and giggling and jumping up and down while hearing the story.  

i have been running around the center spreading the good news. 

the sad news is that i will be gone for almost the whole engagement. 

but i'll be there for the wedding, luckily. 

i am so happy for her! 

i can't stop smiling! 

i love you, sarah! 

i'm tellin', i'm avivin'

about half of us went to tel aviv this weekend....and it was so fun! i was debating whether i should stay in jerusalem and study or go to tel aviv for the day....but then i remembered that i promised myself i would never say no to a fun opportunity. so we hopped in a couple buses and drove to the beach! it was so gorgeous! tel aviv is so different from jerusalem. it's like a hip, trendy party town. 

so we all brought our swimsuits and beach gear, but five of us saw a bike rental place and ended up just exploring the city on bikes the whole day instead. i died. it was so beautiful. we biked all along the coast, right on the beach, and explored the old port town of jaffa. we ran into some teenager boys breaking a horse bareback on the beach and they offered to let us ride, but i'm pretty sure my insurance here doesn't cover that....i wish. well, atleast i think they were offering to let us ride. the only thing they could say in english was "very much", so that lead to some awkward conversation and a lot of repeated "very much"s. 

overlooking the mediterranean sea. i kept singing that vengaboys song in my head that goes "oh, we're going to ibiza! oh, in the mediterranean sea!"  

it was a great day! kind of like a vacation from a vacation, and i am ok with that! except i came home late at night, opened my backpack and remembered why i almost stayed home... 

the next day, we had a field trip in the negev desert. we went to a really cool bedouin town that is the headquarters of a really awesome nonprofit organization that helps bedouin women make money without breaking their nomadic traditions. they shear sheep, dye and make wool threads, and then the women weave the most beautiful rugs and bags and pillows! all the money goes to the bedouin women and they can make rugs at home. the coolest part about it is that the director of the program is an israeli woman and she started the organization because the israeli government doesn't recognize bedouins and as she puts it "if my government is not going to help out the other people in this country, then i need to." seriously. can i be her? girl power. 

demonstrating the rug making process. you have to have tough hands for weaving!

we went to a bunch of different sites, including be'er sheva, where abraham and isaac went to build a well and commune with god. we had a way neat devotional up there. i seriously LOVE my old testament professor. 

our last stop was the wilderness of zin, which is the wilderness that moses and the children of israel wandered around for 40 years. we took a hike there, and after a couple miles, we decided it would pretty much be the worst to wander there for 40 years. but it was actually a really pretty hike, and i love hiking!  

i don't even feel like i'm in school. i mean, i have lots of homework and classes every day, but i'm living with my professors, hanging out with their kids, and going on trips with them. aka, we're going to turkey in 5 days! ever since i read about bridget going to turkey on an archeological dig in the sisterhood of the traveling pants, i've wanted to go so badly. ya, i know, not the greatest inspiration, but i love those books more than snape loves lilly potter, so let's roll with it.

in the orson hyde park right next to the garden of gethsemane. 

garden of gethsemane and the garden tomb

ahhh! i have not blogged this week because so much has happened and i don't know which parts to blog about. another reason i haven't blogged is because i haven't been able to get over to hebrew university to upload pictures and i feel like i need to post pictures with every blog post. but you know what, i'm not going to stress about it! i can do whatever i want on my blog!

this week has been amazing! it feels so good to be in school. i feel like i have a purpose for the first time in a few months.

i already feel like i'm becoming such good friends with the kids here. i can't imagine how close we'll be in three months! i love my teachers and their kids and the rest of the staff here.

i love the city. i can't get enough of it.

i still love the call to prayer. i am obsessed with it. it gives me chills to hear it while i am looking out at this amazing city that has so much history behind it. sometimes i imagine that jerusalem has a soul. i think weird things sometimes. but i really feel like it's alive! it's so old and has so many stories to tell. man, if walls could talk...

on monday, we went on a field trip and one of our stops was bethlehem. we sat in a little field and sang christmas hymns. there was even a shepherd that brought his sheep to us so we could take pictures of him! (obviously it was staged so he could get some shekels out of it, but still!)

yesterday we had a service project where we stood in assembly lines and made school kits for local elementary schools. aka it was a backstreet boy sing-a-long. it happens to the best of us.

last night, we had the really neat opportunity to go to the western wall and celebrate the beginning of the sabbath at sundown with the jews. i LOVE the western wall. it is so special to so many jews and they are so sincere in their worship there. i can learn a thing or two from them even if we don't share the same beliefs! some people were dancing and singing in the square, some were touching the wall and reading the torah and praying. it was very cool to experience. the coolest part about it is that i was at the wall, touching it, and looking at the people around me and guess who was standing right next to me? JULIE B. BECK! the last general relief society president! we talked to her for a bit but when i first saw her, it took my mind a second to compute who i was seeing. in jerusalem.

today was by far the best day i've had here so far. we went to church (the sabbath is always on saturday here), then a group of us went to the garden of gethsemane. it was really cool. we were talking to a gardener there who said some of the olive trees have been there since before Christ was born. the garden used to be a lot bigger, but they have only preserved a few smaller gardens and used the other land to build churches and stuff. we went into the church of all nations, which is right by the garden. there is a slab of rock which is supposedly the rock that Christ knelt on during the atonement. i didn't know this, but you can ask a priest or whoever is presiding over a church if you can sing hymns and usually they'll let you sing in their church if you ask. so we asked and sang "be still my soul." the sound was so beautiful and it was such a great song to be singing in gethsemane. a bunch of people gathered around to listen to us sing and took pictures of us haha! but it was a memorable experience.

we came back for dinner and then our whole group went to the garden tomb, which is just right in the city. there is just a sign on this busy street that says garden tomb and you walk in this gate and there is the most stunning garden that is so quite and peaceful! you would not believe that there is a modern, busy city right outside. it is so gorgeous. by far my favorite place we've been to so far. there are these hilarious old british men that have come to volunteer that took us around the garden and told us the history behind it. they made it very clear that there is no way to know for sure that Christ was crucified and buried here. but they showed us all these parallels from the scriptures that strongly suggest it. at the very end, they stressed that it didn't matter where he was buried. as the volunteers shout, "HE IS RISEN! AMEN! HALLELUJAH!"  as funny as they were, it was a very peaceful experience. we walked around the garden, saw the spot where they think golgotha might be, and then went into the tomb at the very end. i loved it so much! when you are walking out of the tomb, there is a sign that says "he is not here--for he is risen." we sang a few easter hymns. we sing a lot, haha. but the point is....it was a really good day and i am in LOVE with the garden tomb!

i love this experience so far. but i had a hard time transitioning the first week. i wanted to call home a lot. i felt a little lonely. but i'm over it, and feeling so happy right now. i know i am so lucky to have this experience. i am so grateful to everyone who has supported me in coming here. my parents especially. i would not be here without them!

ok, sorry for my ramblings! i can 90% guarantee that there will pictures later this week! right now we're going to watch "prince of egypt" in the student lounge. i love that movie...does anyone else wonder why the egyptians have british accents?

first week

I'm here! I'm finally in Jerusalem! It has been a crazy week. I am barely getting over jet lag and every day has been go go go! We have had non stop orientation meetings and other random stuff. This is a pretty crazy adjustment....I still feel a little overwhelmed to be honest! Anyway, we had a long day of flying on Tuesday and got into the BYU Jerusalem center on Wednesday afternoon. The Center is GORGEOUS. I can't even explain to you. It's on the Mount of Olives overlooking the whole city and there are so many huge glass windows...everywhere you go in the Center, you can see the most stunning view of Jerusalem. I haven't been here long, but my favorite thing about Jerusalem so far is the call to prayer at sunset. It comes on 4 or 5 times a day, but my favorite is at night, when I can see the whole city from my balcony, the call to prayer echoing everywhere, and sun setting. It is so surreal. I love it! We've been doing a little bit of exploring so far, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

With the BYU Center in the back and to the right of us. 

Chacos, fanny pack, and backpack while exploring the city today. I don't want to talk about it.  

Two of my roommates, Rachel and Susan. (There are like, 7 Rachels here. Go figure with a group of Mormons in the Holy Land...)

Conquerors on top of the Old City wall. 

The Western Wall. It's a sign of respect to walk backward when leaving so you're always facing the wall. That's what everyone in this picture is doing. 

We were asked to wear shawls at the Wall because our sleeves were too short. 

Pictures do NOT do it justice...the sunsets here are stunning!

I really swear I'll write more later, but I have to run! We are at the Hebrew University right next door, which is the closest place we can upload pictures. We're not allowed to walk back to the Center at night, so the security guards called a van to pick us up. P.S. the security guards are SO great. One who I ran into earlier today just walked up to me and said "You again! What's your name?" I said "Rachael, what's yours?"

"....James Bond."

i'm off!

so i'm at the salt lake airport waiting for my first flight to new york, then from there to tel aviv. this is so crazy! i'm feeling a broad spectrum of emotions. maybe it's a lack of sleep, but i'm feeling everything from fear to giddiness to bittersweetness. i can't believe i am finally going to jerusalem! i know that when i get there, i'm going to feel at home really fast, but for now, all i see is a long day of plane rides, strangers, and my family back at home. i went to orientation yesterday and for the first time, i got actually REALLY excited....I AM GOING TO JERUSALEM! AHHHH!

this morning at like, 3:30 or 4:00, i was packing and my mom pointed out the sound of a ukulele being played somewhere. i wandered around the house until i realized the sound was coming from outside, so i walked outside and found the best surprise ever waiting for me on the trampoline playing my ukulele, who had driven down from rexburg at midnight to say goodbye one more time and then left 4 hours later to get back for work. seriously. i don't think anyone has done anything so sweet for me. 

wish me luck!

see ya in august!