Ein Gedi and Neot Kedumim

The past couple weeks have been extremely busy. Last week and this week were midterms so every moment we had, we spent studying for our classes individually and in study groups. It fun living with 81 people 24/7 because everyone has the same homework and same schedule – therefore everyone studies together and everyone parties together. It is so fun. For our free day, a bunch of us called in a van that drove us to Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. If you come to Israel, it is the prettiest, most fun place to go for people that like to hike and explore. We hiked up several trails, which led to springs waterfalls. It was hot so we basically jumped into any pool of water we saw. The place looked like a desert in some parts and then it was really tropical in others. Ein Gedi is gorgeous.

After, we crossed the street once we got out of Ein Gedi and walked over to the Dead Sea. Note: Do not go into the Dead Sea if you have just shaved or if you have cuts. The sea is so salty that you really will just float. It’s hard to stand up because the salt water is so thick. If it gets in your mouth, you’ll be spitting for minutes and if it gets in your eyes, you won’t be able to open them for like 10 minutes. We were literally jumping on each other and climbing on each other and no one went under water because it’s so dense. Then there was this guy that collected Dead Sea mud and put it on most of the students. My skin felt extremely soft afterwards. It was such a fun day.

We then went to Neot Kedumim on field trip day. It’s a bible nature and animal preserve where they have Bible animals and plants in the Bible. We were taught how to herd sheep and actually had to in a circle and then there pulled water from a 2,000 year old well. After, we grinded a spice and then went into the woods, started a fire, and made pita, tea, and soup with our tour guide. We put our spice that we grinded up on the pita and put seeds along with syrup from the date palm trees. Everything was pretty natural. I love having Old Testament where it’s a hands on environment, learning on the ‘land of milk and honey’ where we can take apart every word and learn a lesson from it.   

Ein Gedi

View from the top looking over the Dead Sea

One of many springs I jumped in along the hike

Cave with waterfall I climbed

Cave

Floating at the Dead Sea

Herding the sheep and goats at Neot Kedumim

Torah scriber

Tunnels, Water, Ancient City, and Roamin’ the Streets

The Shuk is amazing! I went to it on our free day and we got to try many interesting foods. For those that don’t know, the Shuk is basically a Jewish market place on the west side of Jerusalem. The Shuk is composed of multiple streets with shopkeepers on either side. It is crowded, full of unique smells, and full of friendly people. I was in a group of girls that spit 10 freshly baked pitas for 5 shekels. They have haavlaa (I think that’s what it’s called) – which is just like Middle Eastern candy) and samples of food throughout the market. The locals love blonds so this guy gave me a date for free (see picture below). Also, every Sunday night the Jerusalem Center has a musical concert for the locals featuring well-known and well-established artists. Usually the students can’t go unless they’re ushering. Anyways, I just happened to be an usher the night that there was a flute and harp concert. It was fun to hear harp music again since I haven’t in so long. I talked to the harpist after and I can’t remember her name but she plays in the orchestra over here. She told me she started when she was around 7 years old and so she must of played for more than a few decades.   

For our field trip on Monday, we walked to the CITY OF DAVID! It was really cool because throughout growing up, I’ve always read about it in the scriptures but to actually go there was such a cool experience. They are still in the process of uncovering the city of David right now. The logo for the City of David was the harp, so the symbol was everywhere. Also, the land by the City of David has brought up much controversy and has been frequently fought over between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians. Many Palestinians won’t sell their homes, while their on the City of David, so the Israeli’s will excavate tunnels on their properties to uncover much of the ancient city. This causes a lot of problems, such as causing the Palestinians homes’ foundations to fall apart, which forces them to move. All I can say is it’s a never-ending fight.

I think walking through the water system was the funnest part of the trip though… which may sound weird but it’s HEZEKIAH’S TUNNEL! In some parts of the tunnel, the water level almost reached our hips.  The tunnel was very narrow and some parts we had to duck down for a while while walking through the water (that was up to our shins). It’s crazy to think that the people of David chiseled by hand that long of a tunnel system to get water to the city from the spring. It probably took them years and years to do it. Anyways, we were able to see complete darkness when we turned off all of our headlamps too. NOTE TO READER: If you ever want to feel like you’re in the movie Indiana Jones when you’re in Jerusalem, do Hezekiah’s Tunnel. It will make your adventurous dreams come true.

Right after we came out of the tunnel, we saw the step from the pool of Siloam. For those who don’t know, the pool of Siloam is the Biblical story where Christ puts mud on a poor blind man’s eyes and then tells him to go wash at the pool of Siloam. They couldn’t uncover much of the pool since many landowners won’t sell their property but it was really neat to see the steps of the pool. Also, this is a place where we know that the Savior most definitely walked. I believe you can find the story in John 9. There, we had our Old Testament class on the steps of Siloam, learning and reading in the scriptures about where we sat.

My free date :)

The Sunday harp performance

The controversial City of David

Ruins of the City of David

Inside Hezekiah's Tunnel

Steps from the Pool of Siloam

Tels, Tells, Tales

Monday was our Shephelah field trip. The Shephelah is a region of the low hill country. It is in between the coastal plains, and the high hill country. The Shephelah is full of tels which are mounds that are abandoned remains of multiple civilizations built on top of each other over thousands of years. It’s actually really cool to see how each layer is a different civilization. We went to Lachish, Azekah, Elah Valley, a couple other places. The students are split into 2 classes (for Old Testament). So when my class was on the top of Lachish, the other class was on top of Azekah. They flashed a mirror from where they were and we cold see the flashing light, in the distance across the valley. It was foggy so the light looked like it was in the sky, since Azekah was so high up. We also went to Goth and my professor had slings where we slung rocks, where David killed Goliath in the scriptures. On our adventure we saw multiple tombs and found a place underground at Mareshah Valley where people raised pigeons in this dark place underground. All the holes in the walls were for the pigeons. We visited Bell Caves, which are deep caves that look like bells. The acoustics are amazing so we sang three hymns while all 82 students were gathered in a circle. Studying the scriptures while on top of where David killed Goliath, where the Assyrians and Babylonians took the land, where fortresses were built, and where thousands of years of civilization has taken place.

Tels and the Shephelah

 Hiking on top of tels (aka. thousands of years of civilizations)

 Columbarium Cave (where they raised pigeons)

 One of the many tombs

 The Bell Caves

Jordan - The Land of Dreams

This week has been a blast! As a group, we got up early Monday morning and drove to Jordan. Jordan isn’t that far but we spent about 2 hours at the border crossings. We then drove to Mt. Nebo and looked out at the top. Mt. Nebo is significant in the LDS faith because that’s where we believe Moses was translated. Other faiths believe he was buried there. Also, we visited the Madaba Greek Orthodox Church. There is a mosaic map built in the floor of the Holy Land created around the 6^th Century B.C. It was very pretty and accurate (during the Byzantine Period). So after a long day of driving and waiting at the borders, it was nice to finally go to our hotel in Petra. When our bus pulled up, there was a huge line of Jordanian dancers dancing in a line while one of them was playing the bagpipes and throwing their swords around. We had drinks in front of the hotel and then they showed us how they were cooking our dinner across the street in a pit. One of the dishes was lamb (which I think I tried it for the first that night). The food was so different. Haha, it was like everything that didn’t look very appetizing tasted amazing and the food that looked more familiar to me was not that good. So basically, you have to try everything where your in Jordan and Jerusalem because you never know what you’re going to get. That night, around 60 of the students went on a night hike. We walked down the street and walked through the canyons of Petra. There were lanterns on both sides of the pathway and once we reached the treasury, two guys played a traditional song on the recorder and another traditional instrument. It was so fun to see that. There were lanterns all the way up to the treasury. It was probably my favorite night in Jordan – looking up at the stars while surrounded by lanterns at the treasury. If you go to Petra, you need to walk through it at night! It is a MUST DO! It is my dream one day to do that with my parents. It was THE coolest thing.

I got to hike through the canyons of Petra the next day. As we walked as a class to the treasury, we stopped under an arch-like side of the rock where we sang a hymn. It brought the spirit into our field trip sight and affected everyone as it echoed through the deserted canyons. In Petra, there are multiple overlooks that show canyons as far as the eye can see. And there are countless tombs. Petra actually reminds me of Zion’s Canyon, except with tombs EVERYWHERE. It’s crazy to think that those beautiful tombs were just carved out of the canyon side. There are massive and on some of them, to go inside, you must climb to get into the doorway.  It looks like these tombs and monasteries were built for giants. There are locals everywhere in Petra. They or their kids will try to sell you stuff non-stop. Some of them actually live in caves in the canyons and then go outside to work that day selling stuff. They have donkeys that many tourists will ride hiking to the top of a mountain. If you ever go to Petra, NEVER RIDE THE DONKEYS! It is so dangerous because there are thousands of narrow stairs and a cliff on one side. Luckily the program director told us we weren’t allowed to ride them. I did so much walking in that day though. But the most fun part was RIDING A CAMEL! It was definitely the highlight. We got this guy to let four of us ride the camels for 5 dinars, which is a bargain (it usually costs 20 dinars). It was a bumpy 10-minute ride while we rode them back to the treasury but it was SO FUN and SO WORTH IT. It didn’t realize how high camels stand and how they bend their legs. Petra is such a unique beauty in the world. Now I get to cross off one of the “7 Wonders of the World.”

Seeing the Amman citadel was really interesting. I played hide-n’-go-seek in the ancient roman ruins there. We also sang a hymn in the citadel, which had amazing acoustics. After, we drove to the Jabbock River, which we believe is where or is at least near where Jacob wrestled with God in the Bible and where God visited him. It was dirty, trash was everywhere, and yet it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. The spirit was strongly present.

Pita bread is a popular thing in the Middle East, especially in the Holy Land and in Jordan. I feel like I have pita bread every meal but each time, it is to die for! We had that for lunch on Wednesday.

One of the coolest parts of this trip is visiting the art I studied in A.P. Art History my senior year in high school. I got to go to the Temple of Artemis. It was amazing! The Roman ruins took me back hundreds of years in time when I was walking through them. I got to walk down one of the roman streets that was still there and their cobble stones were huge and VERY uneven. You could still see where the people drove their carts on the streets though. Also, it blows my mind how the romans built their columns and temples. They were one of the greatest builders in history – very precise and talented. We had running races where the Romans would have competed. Also we had a dance party while the bagpipers were playing the roman theater. It was so cool! Later, we got to go to the Royal Automobile Museum. It had cars that the Jordanian kings have driven all throughout history. It pretty much showed the history behind Jordan and what the country went through. My brothers would have loved it!

We got the chance to go to King Abdullah II's mosque. Women had to wear black robes and cover their hair with scarves. We were covered head to toe but it was the most remarkable experience to be in one of the Islam holy sites - it was like a temple for them. It was beautiful inside! Also, we were the first study abroad group to have the opportunity to go to the Jordanian Archaeological museum. I got to see pottery and arrowheads that was made around 36,000 B.C. Also, I got to see part the copper scrolls and the containers the Dead Sea scrolls were in. 

The last night in Jordan I went exploring with my friends and got gelato off the street. Rainbow street is a popular street in Amman and it’s usually a party street when its warmer. There were a lot of people on it but no stores were open. We found guitarists where they played traditional songs for us and we sang a hymn for them.

Right before we drove back to Jerusalem, we stopped at the Jordan River. Singing hymns and reading scripture where John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ was an unforgettable spiritual experience. I got to dip my feet in the river. The other side of the river is Israel and we were told we couldn't contact the people on the other side, especially since there were soldiers guarding both sides. 

The story line is… Jordan is AMAZING! Everyone needs to add it to their places to see!

Petra at night with candles

Petra

One of many tombs in Petra

The Temple of Artemis 

A sweet motorcycle from the future in the Royal Automobile Museum

Rainbow Street in Amman

The Jordan River