Knesset, Shuk, and Dome of the Rock

This morning I had no idea what I was going to do with my free time, I wanted to go out to the city but I had no plans set. At breakfast a group said I should go with them to the Knesset and the shuk.  I agreed to come, then they said, we're leaving in 5 minutes, I had just sat down with my breakfast. So I shoveled down my breakfast, ran downstairs and got my stuff, then ran up the stairs. We didn't all fit in the sherut van so Ashraf our sherut driver called his dad who was a taxi driver. He gave us a really cheap ride to the Knesset. Ashraf's dad was a really nice man. We got to the Knesset and had to rush to make our tour appointment. They asked for our passports and we went through security, they took one picture with each of our cameras to make sure they were legitimate. We then met the other students for the tour. It was interesting learning about the Israeli political arena. We watched a movie on the history of the Knesset, a lot of the things said by the political leaders since 1948 were pretty radical Zionistic ideas...which was chilling. After our tour we walked over to the Shuk, which is a huge outdoor market in West Jerusalem. We walked around, I got a dradle, and we then got some Hanukkah donuts. We then walked to the old city and walked through the city  to the Western Wall, I bought a menorah on the way. The Western Wall was pretty cool today, they have a huge menorah right by the wall. We got in line to see the Dome of the Rock. Last time I went to the Dome it was pouring rain, it was nice and sunny this time. We waited for the girls to take their hundred pictures by the dome, jumping pictures and all. Then we went up on the rooftops in the Jewish quarter. We ran into a bunch of Israeli soldiers and the girls took pictures with them. After the girls got falafel and then we went to slack line up by the mayors office on the seam of the city. I didn't do it today, just watched. Rachel Barker and Sophie walked home with me, we stopped by Omar's wood shop . We did some serious speed walking after in order to get back before the sun set, we had time but the girls were paranoid. It was a beautiful sunset.

The Knesset

Our Tour guide and the Israeli Declaration of Independence 

Me and Sophie, the seats are set up to look like the Menorah

A mural given to the Knesset

Mosaic artwork 

Flags

Love this

Hanukkah Donuts  

The Wall

The Dome

More Dome

Israeli Soldiers 

old city shop restock 

Sunset over Jerusalem 

Burning Sky 

Dead Sea Field Trip Dec 3

Today was an awesome field trip. We started at Masada, one of Herod's fortresses. This is located at the southwestern part of the Dead Sea up on the cliffs. There is a part of the cliff that sits like an Island away from the cliff face where Herod built a fortress and palace. This place was awesome, we took the cable cars up then we had a self guided tour of the place. It is massive! The view was awesome, overlooking the great rift valley and the Dead Sea. There was a picture of Michael Jackson on our self guided tour packet where he took a picture when he visited here, naturally I hunted it down and found the place. A few students ran down the snake path while we all went down the cable cars, it was a long hike and they ran down the whole time, they were super sweaty after that. We then went to the Dead Sea and swam/floated in the water. I was giggling like a little school boy. It was so weird to float so much. The Dead Sea is 1400 feet below sea level and contains around 33% salinity where the ocean is about 3.5%. It was absolutely incredible how salty it was. I got some water in my eyes and I was out for 5 minutes. I was paddling around on my stomach as if I had a surfboard underneath me. It was crazy. We then went to Ein Gedi, a site where two wadis deliver spring water that travels from the Judean hills down the great rift valley. There were a bunch of waterfalls which were very refreshing compared to the Dead Sea. This place was awesome, I lost my LA Kings hat here though which is very unfortunate. I was really impressed with the refreshing waterfalls here in the great rift valley, such a dry and desolate place, then all the sudden a sweet set of waterfalls. After En Gedi we went to Qumran, the site of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and the civilization of the Essenes. I love the Dead Sea Scrolls, I am very interested in them and the things we learn from them. The Essenes were kind of elitist Jews who believed that the Sadducees had corrupted Temple worship and that they were the righteous Jews. They had their own community, rules, practices, and policies. We only got to see Cave 4, there are 11 or so caves. We did get to see the ruins of their settlement.

Masada

The Ride Up, notice the Snake Path 

Herod's Palace on the edge of the cliff

The Dead Sea

Michael at Masada

Float

Nothing under me accept salty water

Waterfalls

En Gedi

The Dead Sea 

Cave 4 where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

East Jerusalem Day

Today Quinn, Michael Barlow, and I cruised all over east Jerusalem, it was super nice because we were just cruising at our own pace without an agenda to keep, just exploring. We started by going to the Separation wall (our only destination for the day). The whole time we were walking we were talking with Michael Barlow about things he was struggling with. On the way to the wall we stopped by a house that was Israeli built then destroyed by Palestinians, super heavy. We got to the wall and took pictures and talked about it with each other. We then followed the wall back up the hill, as we did we bumped into a little pack of Palestinian kids. I thought they were going to a little soccer field we had just past, so I asked if they were playing soccer. They said no, but they said we can play. So we went to a small cement court in front of their apartment building. It had spray painted goals with the word "Goooool" painted inside the goal. We played soccer with them for about half an hour. It was a lot of fun. One of the kids, Carlos, knew enough English to communicate with us. After a short game, we said goodbye to our little friends and kept walking up the hill back to the west side of the mount of Olives. We walked over to the Tomb of the Prophets which was the burial site of the Old Testament prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.The guy there was super nice, he gave us candles to use as we walked around of the old tombs. We then walked down the hill to the Church called Dominus Flevit, which means the Lord Wept. There was a great view from this church of the temple mount and the old city. We then walked down to the Church of all Nations which is where the Garden of Gethsemane is. After a short time spent there we walked through the olive trees in the Kidron Valley which had turned green from the recent rain.  

Israeli home illegally built and rightfully destroyed by Palestinians 

East Jerusalem (east side of the Mount of Olives)

Separation Wall

Israeli Separation Wall Patrol Car

Some powerful Graffiti

Muhammad, Carlos, Ahmed, Muhammad, Barak, and I

The Wall snakes across the hills

Means "The Lord Wept"

View looking out of the Chapel window

Kidron Valley

Kidron Valley

This was put up the day after the UN recognized Palestine

Dome of the Rock

Today was a free day and my only goal was to go see the Dome of the Rock. I got a good group together. Me, Quinn, Liddy, and Rachel Hughes. We walked straight to the line for the Dome of the Rock. It was like 9:45 am when we got there and the line was super long and it was going to shut down for a few hours soon, so we cruised the city for a bit while we waited. We went through the Jewish quarter and I got to see the golden Manora for the first time, it was purchased and is ready to be put into the third Temple when the time comes, which is really intense to think about. We then cruised around of the rooftops and played with some local Palestinian kids. We then got some pita and hummus. We made our way back to the Dome of the Rock and waited in line for a while. It was starting to rain while we were in line. We finally got up to the temple mount and it started pouring rain. We got some pictures then sought refuge from the rain in the cover of part of the Dome of the Rock. We then exited out of the Northern part of the temple mount. Liddy was wearing these shoes that were really slippery on the wet stone so I gave her my arm for the rest of the time in the city, I caught her like 6 times from falling hard. There was a sweet rainbow that was bending right over the BYU Center which was pretty rad. It was a wet and cold experience at the Dome of the Rock for me today, but it was cool.

Couldn't help myself, Aloha!

Third Temple Manora

I let this little guy box my stomach 

Rachel and our new little friend

Liddy on the rooftops with the Dome of the Rock in the background

Quinn and Rachel in the restaurant were we had Pitas and Hummas

Western Wall from the ramp up to the Temple Mount

Al-Aqsa Mosque 

Dome of the Rock

Beautiful Tile on the Dome of the Rock

Dome, Reflection, Rainbow

Rainbow over the BYU Center