First walk Through the Old City

I've been super tired due to jetlag but I feel like I am doing a bit better than the one time I went to England and took a week to adjust to the time, although I did miss dinner tonight because I fell asleep and woke up 3 hours later. It has been a good few days, I am getting to know people slowly, I already have some people that I feel will become really good friends. The conversations of "where are you from?" and "oh, do you know_____?" are getting a little redundant, but its a social ice breaker that is an easy resort that makes things less awkward when first meeting someone, and I guess its more naturaly for us to figure out someones geographical background and all the implications that can have to their upbringing and rhetorics. I have been relatively silent, which is a bit out of character for me, but when I am put in situations like this it takes me some time to open up. So the Center here overlooks the City, if the curtain is open I can see the Dome of the Rock from my bed. It's an absolutely breathtaking view. I can see the old city walls, which date back to 1600 AD, so not actually Christs time, but they reuse stones that did come from his time, so pieces of the wall, streets, and buildings date back to Christ's era. We did a 5 mile walk around East Jerusalem and into west Jerusalem, West Jerusalem is very european and modern, but when you go to the old City, things go back a hundred years. There is a lot of bartering that can be done when buying things within the old city that you can't get away with outside the old city. Walking the small crowded streets of the old city, though it is loud, with tons of shop keepers yelling to get your attention to buy their merchandise fashioned to sell to pilgrams who have traveled here (ex: Kippahs of all kinds for Jews and Crosses and carvings of Christ for the Christians), I can still get a sense of reverance and peace, an unreal feeling that the Savior was here. We walked the route to which some Christians believe was the route Christ carried his cross down, and we saw a little memorial for the place where he tripped with the cross which lead to them giving it to simon. Though we are unsure of the exact location, even President Hinckley said of the garden tomb, "it was here, or near here that the savior was risen...", though it isn't completely sure, as I walked past that I felt a feeling of reverance and gratitude. I also got to touch a slab of stone in which many believe Christ was anointed and prepared on before they laid him in the tomb at the Church of the Holy Seplicure, I fell behind in the group and stooped down and rested my hand on the stone, I looked over to see an African lady, Kiss the stone, then place her forehead on it, this she did three times. I observed her worship and admoration for the Savior and wondered what sacrafices and at what costs she traveled here, what a blessing it was to be around people praying and truely touched by the magnificance of the structures, the historical sites, and the events that they glorify. Truely a beatiful thing, though I was sweating and jetlagged, it was special.

Harrah for Israel!

So we landed from our 12 hour flight from JFK at 2:45pm in Tel Aviv on August 29th. We had been traveling for 24 hours. We met our teachers and bussed out of Tel Aviv up into the Hills and up to Jerusalem. I was super tired running on 4 hours of sleep from the past 48 hours. It was such a cool experience driving up and into Jerusalem, I was in a foreign land that I have read about my whole life and now I am seeing it in front of me. Though I was fighting to stay awake, I was enjoying the drive. I looked out the window one time and concentrated on the spirit of the land and felt a great feeling of sacredness and holiness. We got to the center and we were greeted by all the staff and administration, and their children. It was a warm welcoming. We met in the upper Auditorium for an orientation and it was so awesome because there is huge glass windows behind the pulpit and a wonderful view of the City. We got a tour of the Center, had dinner on the patio which was beautiful, with a wonderful sunset over the old city buildings, a cool breeze, and the call to prayer (a muslim prayer chant over the loudspeakers across the valley). There was constant small talk of "what's your name? where you from? do you know_____? where did you serve your mission?" a buzz of new introductions and everyone meeting and figuring each other out. We met in two of our classes, first we met breifly with Professor Judd our Old Testament professor, then we met with Professor Stratford, our Near Eastern Studies 336 professor. After which I went down to my room and passed out! It was a long 3 days of travel with my 10 drive to Utah, 6 hour flight to New York, 5 hour layover, 12 hour flight to Israel, hour drive to Jeruslam, then all the orientation and unpacking, I was completely at the end of my strength. But I looked out my apartment/doorm room window and saw the Dome of the Rock and the lights of the Holy City and it made it all worth it.

Best Layover Ever

So on August 28th I traveled with the rest of my BYUJ group from SLC to JFK New York in which we had a 5 hour layover before departing to Tel Aviv. My old roommate, latin dancing mentor, dawn patorl logging partner, and friend Ian Patton lives in Brooklyn and wanted to see me during my layover. We initially wanted to surf, but I felt that I would somehow miss my flight if I did. So I flew into JFK and while the rest of the BYUJ group gathered together to wait in the airport for 5 hours I went straight out of the airport to meet Ian. We took the air train to the subway A train. We then took that to Rockaway Beach, 67 street. We walked to the boardwalk and enjoyed some mate as we watched the fun looking waves break as they were infested with surfers who left much to be desired of their skill and style. The waves were small and good shape and looked really fun for logging, we both expressed regret in not bringing boards and that I forgot my shorts. I continued to look at my watch and worry about missing my flight, but after a little while Ian talked me down with things like, "look man, calm down, you are with someone who has travelled to 23 countries and have been in worse situations." So we enjoyed our time catching up on life, seeing that we have not seen each other for about 9 months (the whole time our friend Cheka has had her child in her uterus). We walked toward the subway and decided to get some Rockaway stickers from the only surf shop in the whole area. Well, that worked out great because the guy ended up giving us stickers that said, "NY Sea" which I found very clever. Then we walked out to the sound of the subway coming, we book it up the stairs and realize that I still had to buy my Subway ticket. So we calmed down I bought the ticket and we waited 10 minutes for the next train. I was starting to stress a little bit. Once we got to my stop we said our goodbyes and then I ran up the stairs to get to the air train back to the airport. I made it back with plenty of time, but I started stressing because I was selected in the security line for a random check, then I heard the overcom saying that my flight was boarding! Then I realized that I was in the wrong terminal and that my gate was #6 and I was at #28 so I speedwalked for about half of a mile and was stressing the whole time. I show up to a very crowded and very culturally diverse waiting area at gate #6. My hands were trembling, I was sweating, but I had a smile on my face because I just had an adventure instead of sitting in a crowded gate with crying children and now room to sit for5 hours. We then loaded the plane, which was interesting, they made us go through another security check. It was a huge plane that was jammed packed and ready for the Holy Land, my nerves were finally calm and my excitemtent building with each mile.