JORDAN

I give you... JORDAN! (sorry, my titles aren't very creative)..
This is the funerary tomb in Petra (you've probably seen it in the Indiana Jones movie), it was amazing to see it in real life. You have to walk a couple miles through a canyon/mountain to get to it, but it's well worth the walk. I couldn't believe how well it was preserved after all these years. (Oh and I'm not an angry person, it just went with the theme of the place) This was a little Bedouin family that we got to know. The youngest little boy was tied to his mom's table so he wouldn't run off the mountain. It was so funny because I went to pick him up and didn't realize he was tied on.

hhiiii--yaaa! Yes I had to wear my knee brace to be able to hike up there, attractive, I know.
This little Bedouin girl, Tamam, became our best friend in Petra. She wants to be a doctor, specifically a surgeon, but first I needed to teach her some American hang clapping games
This is Dima, she took me to her little tent and decided to place flowers anywhere she could on my head. I wanted to take her home with me. Her mom made me some Tea and I felt so bad that I couldn't drink it. She didn't speak English so I tried to explain in broken ARabic that it was forbidden ('Haram').. I kept saying (while pointing to the sky) .."Allah says haram for me, tea is haram for me"


'look into the glass, now what do you see?'
Behind us is the Dead Sea, and Rach (the girl next to me) just got her mission call to Chicago North mission, Spanish speaking! We have even more of a bond than just our names now (because I'm from Chicago).
Jordan River, most likely the place where Christ was baptized. It was extremely hot, with the humidity it was even worse than Lake Powell heat..ahh..

Dead Sea scrolls in a museum
Citadel Mosque in Amman., the women had to wear these black robes.
Inside the mosque..
Jerash- an ancient Roman city in Amman.

Bethlehem

Today we took a half day trip to Bethlehem. Because it's in the West Bank and the check points, we were only allowed to go there this one time. We went to Bethlehem University, had lunch at a restaurant called, 'The Tent', and went to Bethlehem square where they believe Christ was born.
Walking into the cave where Christians believe Christ was born.
Christians believe this is the spot where the manger was. I pictured it very differently, but it's been hundreds of years and many churches have been erected in the place they believe He was born.




Inside the church at Bethlehem University

Biblical Zoo

On one of our free days, we went to the Biblical Animal Zoo in West Jerusalem. It was really fun, and the restrictions there are a lot less than that of the U.S., so we got to get up close and personal with the animals, as you will soon see..
Steph and I are always laughing at something
This isn't even close to the size of the actual ark...crazy.
I call these the 'Albert Einstein' monkeys...see the resemblance?

My favorite animal at the zoo was the monkeys



These birds made the oddest sound, it's hard to explain but.. I just don't even know what to say to describe it, so I'm going to stop trying.

Orem High Tigers, class of '08.. Tiger pride baby.

Mediterranean and Red Sea visits!

On a free day, we spent the day in Tel Aviv (about an hour West of Jerusalem) at the beach. BYU-JC 2009!

A picture of some of the girls in front of the Mediterranean Sea
Titanic? haha nah..
Rach and I at the Red Sea snorkeling day trip at Elat.

Alyssa and Rach. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures with the snorkeling gear on but it was great snorkeling. The reefs and fish were everywhere you swam.
This picture was taken on the night we stayed at a Kibbutz, on the way to Egypt. We went and swam in the Red Sea at night and had a little.. fun. We figured we would only be there once so we took advantage of the situation :)

The streets of West Jeru...

It takes quite a bit of time to upload so many pictures for a monthly blog post so therefore, from now on I am going to just do a bunch of smaller posts. This one is a recollection of the nights (and some days) spent in West Jerusalem. It's the only place we are allowed to go once the sun sets. West J-ru (as we call it) is the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. When you walk from the Old City to West Jerusalem, it's as if you got transported in the future a couple hundred years. Here, you can see for yourself...
This is my favorite Jewish Street. HAHA.

Finals finished this night, we had to let out our pent up energy somehow after being inside the center for 7 days straight..
'Gelado by the Bald Man' mmmm...
This is my favorite taxi/van driver who always comes and gets us from West Jeru at night. His name is Amhad, has 4 kids and lives on the Mt. of Olives, great guy.
Western Wall.
This was the Western Wall on Shuv'at, or Pentacost. We got up at 5 a.m. and went to the wall, I have never seen that many Jews at one time in my life. It was incredible to see the little children reading their prayer books that diligently, and that early.
Emily's 22nd Birthday at a Pizza place on Ben Yehuda
Waiting for the van to come pick us up... bored? maybe.. entertaining ourselves? Definitely.

The only restaurant open on Shabbat was 'Meat Burger' (a kosher hamburger restaurant), it was surprisingly pretty good.. probably because it was the first meal I'd had without dill in weeks...
Hebrew McDonalds Menu! I love McDonalds, I never did at home, but here it's the best and only fast food around!

One night we went exploring and found this Greek Orthodox hotel/church, this was on the outside.

We also found a huge windmill, probably equivalent to the bell tower at BYU, but twice as big.
If you couldn't tell, we got in a huge water fight at this fountain
I am assuming this is some form of a play set.. Or maybe a large sea shell? I have no idea to tell you the truth, but it was a fun to slide down. I have to tell the funniest story that happened at this place. One of the guys in our group, Brent, was running up to large rocks and jumping off of them. He jumped on what he thought was a rather long rock and a homeless man in a sleeping bag shot straight up! He looked up and Brent booked it, I have never seen a man sprint so fast. I witnessed the whole thing and was dying laughing, I literally couldn't even stand I was laughing so hard. That poor, poor man. Brent says he luckliy jumped at a place where the man's body wasn't (because he felt the grass), or so he says..
Yad Vashem field trip, which is basically a memorial to the Jews who died in the Holocaust. Pictures weren't allowed inside for good reason. It was a very depressing yet informative museum, especially from the account of a Jewish tour guide.