I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience and I realize that it would have never been possible without the help of so many of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving me this wonderful gift that I will always treasure.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Last Days
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have had this experience and I realize that it would have never been possible without the help of so many of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for giving me this wonderful gift that I will always treasure.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
We also saw an amazing Byzantine floor mosaic map of early Christian pilgrimmage sites in the Holy Land. It's very famous and has really helped archeologists (Biblical ones in particular) figure out where traditional sites were for early Christian pilgrims. The first picture on the top right is of my head and the Madaba map on the ground behind me.
The highlight of Jordan by far was Petra. Petra is the famous city that Indiana Jones rides his horse out of in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was a major city built by the Nabateans (who were a pretty well established group of people that I knew nothing about until I got here, unfortunately). They traded in spices and such and basically ran the spice route from Yemmen up to Petra and into Asia. Petra was a major stop for the camel caravans. The Nabatean Empire was eventually dismantled by the Romans and all that's left is some amazing carved architecture and a bunch of bedouins selling cheap jewelry that turns your fingers green even though they assure you it's real bedouin silver.
The first picture is of me with the "treasury" behind me. The "treasury" is a huge building carved directly into the rock. It's amazing! The next picture is of a group of us on a high place with the land of Israel behind (brother Seely is on the far right--he's the semi-balding, older guy).
If walking into a pyramid was one of the funniest things I've done in my life, then riding a donkey in Petra was probably one of the craziest. To get to the "monastery" (another huge rock-carving building (and when I say big, I mean big: like, a house could fit inside it!) you have to climb or ride a donkey up 1000+ stone stairs. Or, you can pay a bedouin boy $7 and he'll take you up on a donkey. Or in my case, the bedouin boy will slap the donkey on the rump, tell you it knows the way, and take off after it as it runs up the mountain. There were times I thought I might die, which is when I yelled out to the kid that he better keep me safe or I wouldn't pay him any money. After that we still went fast (we kept passing people which is scary in a one lane little canyon with cliffs on the sides at times) and for some reason he tried to make it up to me by flirting with me. He kept asking if he could sit with me on the donkey. I kept telling him no (I felt him help me onto the donkey and I wasn't going to make that mistake again) but at one point I asked him a question and he didn't answer and I looked all around and didn't see him until I looked directly behind me and realized he was sitting on the back of my donkey, grinning. I told him to get off but it was pretty funny. The experience alone was worth the $7. Someday I'll have to show you a hilarious video I took while riding.
We stayed in Amman for 3 days (the capital of Jordan) and it was really great! We had a lot of free time in the evenings which meant we could go out exploring, take taxis and see the sites. There wasn't a lot to see that we weren't seeing as a group, but we did have a good adventure going to a shopping mall/bazaar one night. Foreign taxis are really fun, as long as you have a boy with you! I felt safe in Jordan, and much more respected as a woman there than I did in Egypt. However, I also felt a greater need to be modest, just out of respect (not out of safety like I did in Egypt).
Friday, June 13, 2008
The Dead Sea and Me
We started the day with Masada, the fortress solidified by Herod
After going to Masada we went over to swim in the Dead Sea. It was about the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. I picture it to feel a lot like zero gravity. You really do just sit and float. It burns like crazy if you get it in your eyes and tastes horrible if you get some in your mouth. It actually just sort of hurts your skin all around if you stay in for extended periods of time, and after you get out your skin feels like you just bathed in baby oil.
The last place we went on this field trip was to Qumran, which is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. This is a picture of me with one of the caves behind me. It was fascinating to learn more about the Essenes and scrolls. Life would have been interesting as a monastic. I'm glad I'm not doing it and marrying Bryan instead.
Galilee and Beyond
This first picture is of Paul defending himself to Felix and Festus (except that I'm Paul and my friend Catherine is Felix, and Festus) in the city of Caesarea Maritina. This city is one of the few ports in northern Israel and was an important trade city. Because of this, Herod the Great built it up into a fancy schmancy city with all the finest and fanciest adornments. Then he named it after his benefactor (Caesar). It is here that Peter came and taught Cornelius after recieving the dream to take the gospel to the Gentiles. It is also here that Paul spent much time (in prison) and from where he left for his final journey and trial in Rome.
The second picture was also taken in Caesarea Maritina. This is us taking a bath in the Roman baths. We got used to seeing and learning to appreciate Roman ruins while we were in the Galilee region. Caesarea was particularly cool because they had mansions, bath houses, a large theater, and a hippodrome (where they had olympics and chariot races and such), all really well preserved.
This third picture is of the Church of the Annuciation in Nazareth.
I had to give a little report at this site, so it's near and dear to my heart. The church is supposedly built over the place where Mary lived and was visited by the angel Gabriel who told her that she would conceive the Savior. Whether or not you want to believe the story, the church was really nice and I liked it better than many of the other churches we've gone to. Intestingly, Nazareth is one of the largest populations of Palestinian Christians. We also ate fresh pizza baked on freshly cooked pita here. It was one of the best lunches yet! Ever since Egypt I've had a hard time stomaching the bologne sandwiches they often pack for us.
One of my all-time favorite places I've seen on this whole trip was the city of Dan. It was absolutely beautiful! The city marked the northern most reaches of the Israelite's control (during Old Testament times) and is also near the source for the Jordan River (which feeds the Sea of Galilee and eventually ends up in the Dead Sea). Behind me in the fourth picture is a metal frame of a pagan alter that was built at Dan. It's huge! You just never think about the fact that the alters were so big. The one on the Temple Mount would have been even bigger than this, because sacrifices would have been burning all the time and the priests would have walked on it and everything. Dan also had remnant of other Old Testament ruins, including a gate that they figure Abraham would have walked through when he was in the area.
The other picture is of a group of us eating lunch at Dan. I'm sitting next to my religion professor and his wife (the Drapers). Actually, I had a really great talk all about Middle Eastern cuisine with Sister Draper while we were walking around this site and I just got hummus and pita recipes from her last night. I can't wait to try them!
Another great place we visited was Nimrod's Fortress, a massive castle that has passed through various hands for millenia. I explored down some dark stairs and ended up crawling out a window to get a cool view of the fortress from outside it. This is me with the Golan Heights (kind of exciting, huh?) behind.
On one of the days we took a day trip to many of the sites of Jesus' ministry. We started it off by taking a boat across the Sea of Galilee and reading the account of Christ calming the waters. We also went to other places like the Mount of Beatitudes or Saint Peter's primacy (where Jesus said Peter was the rock). I really loved this day. It was nice to sit at the sites and read the scriptures and feel the Spirit. We don't always get that with how busy our schedule is here.
Fortunately for us, the professors built a lot of time into this trip to go swimming. This is a picture of my friend Moriah and getting so happy to get to swim in some natural hot springs! We were especially happy because our towels and suits were full of sand from swimming the day before. Life really was sweet in Galilee. We just kept saying that it felt like a vacation from our vacation on a vacation. Most afternoons that we weren't doing fieldtrips I just swam in the Galilee, layed on the beach, or read the New Testament and did homework. It was wonderful!
Another night we went to a famous (at least to BYU students) fish restaurant and ate St. Peter's fish. Afterwards we walked around Tiberias and ate icecream. I thought the fish was pretty good, especially with a lot of lime on the top of it. Most people just thought that it looked so gross that there wasn't any way that they would actually ingest it. Sometimes I just don't get the people that travel but don't want to try any of the culture. For example, the people who don't like hummus, or lamb. How do they survive here? It's a wonder to me.
A lot of people don't know that the church actually has a branch house in the city of Tiberias. The branch is really small, only 4 or 5 people attended when we were there on Shabbat (including a girl who was on leave from the IDF) but it's beautifully situated and really quite a blessing to have it. I've never had such wonderful views during sacrament meeting as I have here. I think more of our church houses ought to consider this. This is a group of us on the back porch with the Sea of Galilee behind us.
After going to church we stopped by one of the traditional baptisimal sites along the River Jordan, not where Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, but where he would have done baptizing. It's been somewhat commercialized by the state of Israel, but people do baptisms there even today: by immersion, self baptism, sprinkling, you name it. Actually, I watched a man perform two baptisms by immersion there. He put his hand to the square, said his little bit and dunked both of his parishioners. Something felt a little bit off to me until it hit me that he doesn't have the authority to do that ordinance. I feel so very grateful for not only my knowledge of the Savior, but also for my knowledge that the authority to act in his name has truly been restored.
On the way back to Jerusalem we stopped at a few sites and cities. One of them was Akko, a wonderful crusader city on the coasts of the Mediterranean. This is a picture of Moriah, Catherine, and I with the Mediterranean behind us. Also on this day we stopped at Haifa, which is where the church had a mission home in the 1800's. Several missionaries came here and we heard wonderful stories that just made me get the chills to think about how much the Lord loves all his children. This cemetary was one of my favorite spiritual sites, and an excellent example of how the Lord can see the whole picture, so much more clearly than we can. (It's late or I'd tell it on here. Ask me if you want to know the story and I'd love to get the chills all over again and tell you about it.)
Overall, Galilee was a wonderful highlight of this experience. I felt my testimony grow deeper, but not necessarily because of where I was geographically located. I'm realizing more and more with my time here, that I can feel the Spirit stronger when I'm reading my scriptures on my little bed, than I can when I'm in even the most "sacred" shrine or church. It isn't necessary to come here to draw closer to the Savior. I'm grateful for the chance I've had, but I'm also grateful for the knowledge I have that this experience can keep going, even as I leave the Holy Land.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Schwesties Ahoy!
On the morning she arrived I woke up feeling so excited that I was going to see her. When we finally got in touch with each other we made plans to meet up outside Damascus gate. I always have to be in a group of 3 so I recruited two friends and the three of us headed up to the Old City. I'll never forget seeing Sarah, running through the vendors and people outside Damascus gate, waving her arms and yelling "Schwestie!" It feels so good to be loved.
The next day Sarah (and her two traveling buddies) came with us on our City of David and Hezekiah's tunnel fieldtrip. On this fieldtrip we explored the remains of the Jebusite village that David conquered and made into his capital. It was a really great to learn more about the boundaries of the original city and to see how it continued to expand under David's and Solomon's reign. It was also interesting to think about the growth in terms of Lehi's family and where they would have likely lived when they were here.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Making of My Day
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Walk Like An Egyptian
Telling the men to leave us alone was something we actually had to do a lot. One day, a group of girls and I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up in a local market. No tourists. No white people. Mostly men. We were completely out of place and I was horribly uncomfortable. A young man actually followed us the whole way and wouldn't leave us alone until after 30 minutes of us telling him to go away. It was a third world market in every way you could imagine. Slabs of meat in the sun, flies everywhere, dirt, and people, and poverty. Men with no legs begging in the street. You can't quite imagine. I've never felt quite so vulnerable, particularly because of my gender and my race. Looking back, I think it's good to feel for everyone to feel like the minority at some point in their life, just to help all of us realize that the world is much bigger than the U.S. Caucasian sphere that we pass our lives in.
The treatment of men toward women was not limited to the markets, however. Everywhere we went we got cat calls and comments, men asking provocative questions and offering the guys we were with camels and money to buy their "wives" (referring to us). (My personal favorite was when a guy said to me, "Excuse me, but can I give you a hassle?") It was worse even than Israel and we were all very cautious and aware of our bodies (and money) as girls often get groped in Egypt. It was even more dramatic than here in Jerusalem. You don't really think about the fact that all men in the world don't view women in the same way that American men do. I don't think I saw a single Egyptian woman with her head uncovered, and we had to follow certain rules to help keep us safe. For example: never look a man in the eyes (it's a sexual come-on), always wear loose-fitting and modest clothing, never go out with wet hair (interestingly, this implies that you've just been "intimate"), etc. It was very different, and I'll be happy to return to the states and feel like less of an object.
Egypt really was wonderful, though, in spite of the men. It's just a different world in almost every way imaginable, and it was fun to learn to appreciate it. This next picture to the right, is of me kissing the sphinx (sort of). You can see one of the pyramids in the background. Fortunately, the nose of the Sphinx was shot off during target practice by invaders many years ago so it doesn't get awkwardly in the way when it comes to kissing.
Just beneath and to the side of the Sphinx is a temple where the Egyptians mummified Pharaohs. It took 72 days to do the whole process. I've included a video (not of someone being mummified, sorry, but) of us at the pyramids.
We did go inside one of the pyramids, and it was probably the most bizarre things I've ever done. It was also probably one of the stinkiest, sweatiest, hottest things I've ever done too. It was a good adventure. It took us about 15 minutes, and that was one of the shorter routes. I'm glad I did it. The pyramids really are HUGE!!!
After spending a day in Cairo, we flew down to Luxor, which is where many of the pharaohs are buried. It's really dry and hot in Luxor and we heard it hit 109 degrees when we were there. Yikes! No wonder we were all so tired! Add to that the fact that we were touring all day and getting up around 4 or 5 each morning to start the tours, and it's no surprise that so many of us got sick. I'd estimate that about 1/4 of us got sick, with either a cold or stomach thing. We weren't allowed to drink the water or eat any uncooked veggies or fruit, and even some of the meat looked questionable (at least to me). I felt good until the second day in Luxor and then Pharaoh's Revenge struck. I'm still feeling it, I don't know that I've ever been sick quite like this. The good news is that it should leave by the time I'm 30. (My friend Moriah knows someone who's brother who suffered from Egypt stomach problems until he was 30, so there's hope!)
This is a picture of my friend Moriah and I at the Luxor Temple (which was incredible, as was the Karnak Temple). There's a hieroglyphic behind us of 4000 year old belly-dancers. Our tour guide was an Egyptian and gave us a long spiel about how belly dancers are some of the highest paying jobs in the country. I figured that if something happened and I got stranded in Egypt then I'd take up the profession. Belly dancing outfits are fairly cheap and they're all over the place for sale in the markets. I'm glad I didn't have to carry out the plan. In case you wonder about Moriah's and my strange postures, we're imitating the posture of the belly dancers in the hieroglyphic (except that they were definitely more limber than us, we'll have to work on this before we take up the profession).
One fun tidbit: The Muslim Brotherhood (supporters of Islamic militant jihadist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas) has a pretty strong hold in Egypt. For this reason, attacking tourists to hold for ransom from the Egyptian government is something that could easily (and has in the past) occur. To combat this (since tourism is such a major source of income for Egypt) the Egyptian government requires all tours to have an Egyptian tour guide and an Egyptian security guard with them at all times. We learned a lot of interesting things from them. Usually the guards wore suits, so it was hard to see their guns (we call them "pieces" because it's fun to say to each other that we saw someone "packing a piece" in the bathroom, etc) but one day one of the guards was wearing regular clothing and he jumped on our carriage with us. I turned around and what did I see? His piece, glaring back at me. Of course I thought it was pretty funny and took a picture. (This is me and Jason (he's engaged too)).
One of the funnest things we did in Luxor was go on a faluka (sail boat) ride on the nile. This is a picture of me on the boat. Don't worry, I didn't actually touch the Nile, I didn't want my foot to become diseased and fall off. (The Nile is really diseased. We heard all sorts of stories about people who drink the Nile and go blind and stuff. Horrible stories.)
After the faluka ride we went on an hour long camel safari through little towns along the west bank of the Nile, and through fields and groves of banana trees and other plants. It was really beautiful and I had fun talking to my guide, who was 25 and in school to be a teacher. He was actually nice and was married with a 6 month old daughter. My camel was named Casablanca (very romantic, huh?) and I was the last one. My guide, Makhmoud, taught me how to ride it like an Egyptian and then had us slow down behind the rest of the group and gave me the chance to "gallop" a camel. Talk about awkward. It was very fun. The girl in front of me is the only black girl in our group, and all the Egyptians we passed loved her. She looked like a princess as she waved at all the men and children and they yelled things like, "Oh, sister. We love you. You're our color, I want to marry you," etc.
After our three days in Luxor we took a night train back to Cairo. That was good adventure too. They call it the "new train", but it's actually the same age as me. (That should give you some idea about Egypt.) We spent the last day in Cairo at the Cairo Museum (where I gazed on the faces of Ramses and Seti, the postulated Pharaoh's of the Exodus, and looked at King Tut's treasures). It was very cool.
We woke up early the next day to drive back and stopped in Eilot (just across the border in Israel) to go snorkeling in the Red Sea. The Red Sea!!! The one Moses parted! The snorkeling was great (I'd never really been before) and the water was such a beautiful blue green color. I don't know if the picture to the left really captures it and does it justice, but it was gorgeous. The mountains behind me are in Jordan, but just a few miles to the south is Saudi Arabia. Kind of cool to be so close to all these countries you only hear about in history books.
I was feeling pretty lousy during the last few days in Egypt, and the bus ride back was rough on me (I actually spent the last hour or so of it sitting in the guide seat next to the driver because I felt so sick). I was happy to get back. And in spite of hurting stomach and achy body, I had beautiful Jerusalem awaiting me. I took this picture of a Jerusalem sunset last night from my balcony. The prayer call was singing, the Dome of the Rock shining, and I was happy to be back. This world really is an amazing place!