Okay, so as I said, I am back in the United States. I have spent the past couple of days catching up with my family and getting used to being home. I started sorting pictures and uploading them to facebook. I am also working on typing up the journal notes I took while I was gone as well as adding other things that I remember. My current plan right now is to post one of my journal entries about one or two days. Please remember that these are not edited so this is by no means a sample of my best writings. My only goal is that they make enough sense for me to remember what happened.
So here for your reading pleasure is my first day of Travel.
May 29
I began my Israel journey not on an airplane but on a good old fashion train. Around 10 a.m. my mother and I loaded my suitcase into her car and drove to the train station. The weather was breezy and cool, perfect for waiting outside on a bench for a train I assumed would probably be late. (The last time I took the train to St. Louis it was 3 hours late. I could have driven there faster.) Mom did not have anything planned for the day, so at least she would be able to wait until it got there this time. I wouldn’t have to wait by myself.
Shortly after we got there, we saw Dad walking down to where we were. He had taken off work for a little while to come and see me off. We sat for a while discussing the places I would be seeing and talking about what time it was in Israel. I had changed my watch about 2 weeks before hand since I generally used my cell phone for U.S. time. This meant that while I was traveling I had no idea what the local time was. I turned my cell phone off to conserve the battery. I wasn’t going to be using my cell phone while I was gone, but I needed it when I got back so I had to take it along. I didn’t want to cart the charger over there, so I just left my phone off.
Surprisingly enough, the train was on time! It was actually a little early (there was a point were it had to move off the tracks for another train, which did end up putting us a little behind schedule. An Ozark shuffle or something like that. They had to move the train backwards.) I boarded the train and began to look for a seat. I wanted to be able to sit by myself, but that clearly was not going to be an option. The train was crowded, and every seat already had at least one person sitting in it. I found an open aisle seat. A little boy had been sitting there, but he had moved to sit in the lap of one of his grandparents so I thought it was okay to sit there. When the conductor came by to take tickets, however, he skipped me. When I got his attention, he told me the seat was already taken, and that I would need to move. Turns out, everyone has to be in an assigned seat, whether or not they are actually sitting in it. I got up and moved to an empty seat next to a blond woman a few rows back. I remember being slightly intimidated because I was not dressed as nicely as she was. (I did not want to take anything I would be upset about losing to Israel.) That was, of course, very silly. She was very pleasant, and we chatted at various intervals during the trip. If I remember correctly, her name was Jennifer, and she was traveling to St. Louis to meet her husband for an Air Force function (a retirement party, I think). She had recently graduated with an Air History degree and was/is considering going to grad school eventually for Museum Studies. She wasn’t sure exactly when that would happen because her family was moving to Louisiana for her husband’s residency. We discussed some other things, like history (Mayans and Aztecs and Incas) and the economy. We passed by a coal train that had derailed. It was mangled and there was coal everywhere.
We got to St. Louis pretty much on time, despite the short delay for the other train. Grandma was waiting to pick me up. We went out to lunch because she said she did not have much food in the house because she was getting ready for her trip to Maine. After lunch we went to Walgreen’s to pick up pictures and ran into Hajime. Grandma and I had plans to eat dinner with him and his wife Clare that evening. I had a choice between Chinese and Italian and I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted to have. They both sounded super delicious. After picking up pictures at Walgreen’s, we went to the grocery store to pick up an apple and granola bars (for breakfast and a snack for my trip.) Then we stopped by a Border’s and bought a Hebrew phrasebook (had I been thinking more, I would have gotten an Arabic phrasebook as well. We were in Jordan for a couple of days and in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem.)
After running those errands, we went to Grandma’s house. I finally got to see the Sun Room she and Sue had built out of their deck. It was very cool. There was a big chair, a couch, a table and a T.V. I eventually decided on Italian for dinner, and we left around 5:15 to meet Hajime and Clare for dinner. It was very nice to see them, and Clare gave me a little bag for my trip. Hajime and I order the same thing for dinner, but since I ate several slices of bread, a bowl of soup and part of a salad before my meal came, I sent the leftovers home with him. Grandma wouldn’t eat them because it was too hot.
After dinner, Grandma and I went back to her house. I called my parents and then grandma and I watched a movie (Raising Helen). I went to bed after that because I had to get up early to go to the airport to get on a plane to ISRAEL!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Well, I have returned home from Israel. Now the real fun begins :) Over the next few days I will be trying to organize my pictures and flesh out the journal I kept while I was there. Sometime soon, I will put pictures up here and describe each days events with a little more detail than I could while I was gone. I also will be deciding on a paper topic and beginning my research paper. Fun, fun.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Okay, so the other day we went floating down the Jordan River. It was hilarious. So, originally I was going to be in a two person raft with Nate. That really wasn't a good idea on my part since Nate flipped his boat over the last time I saw him in one. It all turned out okay though because we ended up joining Justin, Jordan and Dr. Appold in a 5 person raft. I was pretty cool with that because I didn't have to do too much. I didn't really want to have to row.
Considering I was in a boat with 4 men, I foolishly thought I would be safe on this voyage down the Jordan. These men, however, including the Reverand Doctor Mark Appold, possess an adventurous (and rather mean) streak. Our raft was given two less than steller paddles to use, and Nate noticed that Loren and Richard had been given two very nice paddles for their two person raft. So, our raft snuck up on their raft and Nate jumped in and attacked them and stole on of their paddles. (All this time people are splashing each other as much as possible, with Dr. Appold's encouragement and Nate is trying to act like the captian of our raft.) So we now have three paddles, and they have one. At this point, Jordan turns around and sees that we have another paddle. He says, "oh, when did we get a new paddle?" Dr. Appold responce was, "haha, we're really in shape now."
Needless to say, Loren and Richard were not okay that we stole their paddle so as their creeped closer to ours, Richard jumped out to to try to get it back. This left Loren in their raft by herself. Nate then jumped out of our raft, pulled Loren out of their raft, jumped into it himself and rowed down the river in their boat. (Yep, we commandeered a boat on the river where Jesus was baptized.) Loren and Richard had no raft, so we let them into ours for a while. Eventually Nate came back and Richard joined him in the two person raft.
After this exciting episode, we got into small skirmishes with other rafts. Jordan and Justin jumped out to defend our raft, but took their paddles with them. So Loren, Dr. Appold and I are stuck in a 5 person raft, by ourselves, with only one paddle. We then got stuck by on a rock, and Dr. Appold fell out of the boat. So Loren and I are trying to 1. Get Dr. Appold back into the boat and 2. Get the boat unstuck. While all of this is going on, Jordan, Justin, Nate and Richard are just floating along in the two person raft we stole from Richard and Loren in the first place. Justin and Jordan did return to our boat so we didn't have to stay by ourselves. Or maybe the two person raft was just too crowded with 4 men.
A little while later, our boat hit the bottom of the river. (The Jordan is not very deep. It is only 4-5 ft deep at the most usually.) We all got out of the boat to get it to move and then attempted to jump back in. Loren and Dr. Appold made it back onto the boat in time, but Jordan and I did not. The river suddenly decided to get deeper, and then turned out to be (probably) the only part of the river that was too deep for me to touch the bottom. And I was not on the raft and had no way of pushing myself into the raft... (Jordan tried to tell me that I could touch, but then discovered the river was too deep for him to reach the bottom as well. That shut him up pretty quick :)) Loren tried to help me back into the raft, but the life jacket I had gotten didn't have a back she could grab onto. So she grabbed me by the seat of my shorts and dragged me in. It was not very comfortable, but I did get back into the boat...
Then we got everyone back in the boat, fought a few more battles over people's hats, and then returned to the Kibbutz for lunch. It was pretty cool.
And that was my Jordan River adventure. Pretty much the best thing that has happened to me on this trip.
Except, I bartered yesterday! It was pretty cool. I am ready to get to Jerusalem and practice some more.
Considering I was in a boat with 4 men, I foolishly thought I would be safe on this voyage down the Jordan. These men, however, including the Reverand Doctor Mark Appold, possess an adventurous (and rather mean) streak. Our raft was given two less than steller paddles to use, and Nate noticed that Loren and Richard had been given two very nice paddles for their two person raft. So, our raft snuck up on their raft and Nate jumped in and attacked them and stole on of their paddles. (All this time people are splashing each other as much as possible, with Dr. Appold's encouragement and Nate is trying to act like the captian of our raft.) So we now have three paddles, and they have one. At this point, Jordan turns around and sees that we have another paddle. He says, "oh, when did we get a new paddle?" Dr. Appold responce was, "haha, we're really in shape now."
Needless to say, Loren and Richard were not okay that we stole their paddle so as their creeped closer to ours, Richard jumped out to to try to get it back. This left Loren in their raft by herself. Nate then jumped out of our raft, pulled Loren out of their raft, jumped into it himself and rowed down the river in their boat. (Yep, we commandeered a boat on the river where Jesus was baptized.) Loren and Richard had no raft, so we let them into ours for a while. Eventually Nate came back and Richard joined him in the two person raft.
After this exciting episode, we got into small skirmishes with other rafts. Jordan and Justin jumped out to defend our raft, but took their paddles with them. So Loren, Dr. Appold and I are stuck in a 5 person raft, by ourselves, with only one paddle. We then got stuck by on a rock, and Dr. Appold fell out of the boat. So Loren and I are trying to 1. Get Dr. Appold back into the boat and 2. Get the boat unstuck. While all of this is going on, Jordan, Justin, Nate and Richard are just floating along in the two person raft we stole from Richard and Loren in the first place. Justin and Jordan did return to our boat so we didn't have to stay by ourselves. Or maybe the two person raft was just too crowded with 4 men.
A little while later, our boat hit the bottom of the river. (The Jordan is not very deep. It is only 4-5 ft deep at the most usually.) We all got out of the boat to get it to move and then attempted to jump back in. Loren and Dr. Appold made it back onto the boat in time, but Jordan and I did not. The river suddenly decided to get deeper, and then turned out to be (probably) the only part of the river that was too deep for me to touch the bottom. And I was not on the raft and had no way of pushing myself into the raft... (Jordan tried to tell me that I could touch, but then discovered the river was too deep for him to reach the bottom as well. That shut him up pretty quick :)) Loren tried to help me back into the raft, but the life jacket I had gotten didn't have a back she could grab onto. So she grabbed me by the seat of my shorts and dragged me in. It was not very comfortable, but I did get back into the boat...
Then we got everyone back in the boat, fought a few more battles over people's hats, and then returned to the Kibbutz for lunch. It was pretty cool.
And that was my Jordan River adventure. Pretty much the best thing that has happened to me on this trip.
Except, I bartered yesterday! It was pretty cool. I am ready to get to Jerusalem and practice some more.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
(I apologize for misspelt words. The spell check isn't working on this computer, and I am terrible at spelling.)
Wow, so intense weekend. We walked and looked at rocks, and then walked and looked at more rocks, and when we were done with that, we walked a looked at more rocks. It was glorious. And exhausting.
To be more specific about the walking and rock admiring, Saturday morning we hiked up Gamla (an ancient Jewish city of Zealots on the side of a mountian. Easily defended against Zombies, but apparently not Romans). It was long and arduious and we did it in two hours. I very nearly did not make it to the top. And I fell on my butt in a pile of weeds on the way back. After Gamla we went to two other places, Baniass (also Ceaseria Phillipi) and Tel Dan. There was more walking involved, and more piles of ancient rocks. Yeah.
Saturday night was a lot of fun though. A bunch of people from the dig went to the pub on the kibbutz. I taught Nic how to waltz. to a rap song. And he taught me how to swing dance, but I don't think it was a rap song at that point. It was fun.
Oh, wait, that was Friday night. Saturday night was the night we had a bible study on the Sea of Galilee. A group of about 9 of us started out talking about our favorite bible passages and why (we had our chairs out in the water). I talked about Joshua 1:9 which is my confirmation verse. I talked about how I get really stressed about things, and how that verse is a good reminder that God is always with me. Other people shared and left to go to bed, but four of us, myself, Lauren, Tony and Nic stayed to talk a little longer. We shared stories of how God has been working in our lives, our struggles and how those have brought us to where we are on our walks with God. It was great because I was able to talk to them about things I have really brought up with anyone else. We were all being vulnerable and no one was judging anyone else. It was beautiful. Then we sang songs including Oh Come all Ye Faithful and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. Then I sang I will Make You Fishers of Men. We left around 1 a.m. and as we were leaving, we saw a star directly above a town accross the lake, and we decided it was Bethlehem. Probably the best evening I have ever had in my life.
Which is good, because I had to be up and on the bus by 7:30 the next morning for another full day of touring. First thing in the morning we went to Akko, a port city on the Mediteranian Sea. Several important people have been asociated with that place including Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Nepolian, and Marco Polo (not in chronological order). I touched the Mediteranian!!!! It was glorious. We had a short worship service overlooking the sea before we left. Some kid also threw a tennis ball at my leg.
After that we went to a few more places, but I don't remember what they were. They were cool :). But I am going to wrap this up now. Bye.
Wow, so intense weekend. We walked and looked at rocks, and then walked and looked at more rocks, and when we were done with that, we walked a looked at more rocks. It was glorious. And exhausting.
To be more specific about the walking and rock admiring, Saturday morning we hiked up Gamla (an ancient Jewish city of Zealots on the side of a mountian. Easily defended against Zombies, but apparently not Romans). It was long and arduious and we did it in two hours. I very nearly did not make it to the top. And I fell on my butt in a pile of weeds on the way back. After Gamla we went to two other places, Baniass (also Ceaseria Phillipi) and Tel Dan. There was more walking involved, and more piles of ancient rocks. Yeah.
Saturday night was a lot of fun though. A bunch of people from the dig went to the pub on the kibbutz. I taught Nic how to waltz. to a rap song. And he taught me how to swing dance, but I don't think it was a rap song at that point. It was fun.
Oh, wait, that was Friday night. Saturday night was the night we had a bible study on the Sea of Galilee. A group of about 9 of us started out talking about our favorite bible passages and why (we had our chairs out in the water). I talked about Joshua 1:9 which is my confirmation verse. I talked about how I get really stressed about things, and how that verse is a good reminder that God is always with me. Other people shared and left to go to bed, but four of us, myself, Lauren, Tony and Nic stayed to talk a little longer. We shared stories of how God has been working in our lives, our struggles and how those have brought us to where we are on our walks with God. It was great because I was able to talk to them about things I have really brought up with anyone else. We were all being vulnerable and no one was judging anyone else. It was beautiful. Then we sang songs including Oh Come all Ye Faithful and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. Then I sang I will Make You Fishers of Men. We left around 1 a.m. and as we were leaving, we saw a star directly above a town accross the lake, and we decided it was Bethlehem. Probably the best evening I have ever had in my life.
Which is good, because I had to be up and on the bus by 7:30 the next morning for another full day of touring. First thing in the morning we went to Akko, a port city on the Mediteranian Sea. Several important people have been asociated with that place including Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Nepolian, and Marco Polo (not in chronological order). I touched the Mediteranian!!!! It was glorious. We had a short worship service overlooking the sea before we left. Some kid also threw a tennis ball at my leg.
After that we went to a few more places, but I don't remember what they were. They were cool :). But I am going to wrap this up now. Bye.
Friday, June 5, 2009
So, I forgot my notebook again. I think most of my stories will come after I get back from Israel.
But I do have a couple of fun stories. The second day of actual digging, I met the photographer for the dig. At lunch we were next to each other in line, and he asked me if I was Hawaiian. I told him that I was part Japanese. It turns out that he is teaching himself Japanese because he has been there before, his son lives there and he is returning to ride around the island following the path of a famous hiku (spelling?) poet and take pictures. He insisted that I need to learn Japanese and has been trying to teach me different phrases ever since then. There are times when I am not sure which language I am trying to learn. It gets kind of confusing, but it is fun. He told me I have two years to learn Japanese so I can go with him on his trip.
The dig is still dirty, and there are lots of rocks. We are finding lots and lots of pottery pieces. Most of them are shards and aren't good for much, but we did find an intact cosmetic bottle. That was really cool. The things we are most looking out for are handles, rims and coins. We find a fair number of those as well as some small animal bones. We have also found sardine cans. The Syrian army apparently ate lots of sardines. Digging isn't as boring now since I have gotten to know the other people who are digging with me a little better. Lauren and I are still on the look out for the Q-source. (I will explain what that is sometime later. Just know that it is important. If you absolutely can't wait for my scintillating description you can read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_document)
I went swimming in the Sea of Galilee again today. It was pretty fun. We're going floating down the Jordan next Wednesday.
But I need to go. I will update again when I can.
But I do have a couple of fun stories. The second day of actual digging, I met the photographer for the dig. At lunch we were next to each other in line, and he asked me if I was Hawaiian. I told him that I was part Japanese. It turns out that he is teaching himself Japanese because he has been there before, his son lives there and he is returning to ride around the island following the path of a famous hiku (spelling?) poet and take pictures. He insisted that I need to learn Japanese and has been trying to teach me different phrases ever since then. There are times when I am not sure which language I am trying to learn. It gets kind of confusing, but it is fun. He told me I have two years to learn Japanese so I can go with him on his trip.
The dig is still dirty, and there are lots of rocks. We are finding lots and lots of pottery pieces. Most of them are shards and aren't good for much, but we did find an intact cosmetic bottle. That was really cool. The things we are most looking out for are handles, rims and coins. We find a fair number of those as well as some small animal bones. We have also found sardine cans. The Syrian army apparently ate lots of sardines. Digging isn't as boring now since I have gotten to know the other people who are digging with me a little better. Lauren and I are still on the look out for the Q-source. (I will explain what that is sometime later. Just know that it is important. If you absolutely can't wait for my scintillating description you can read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_document)
I went swimming in the Sea of Galilee again today. It was pretty fun. We're going floating down the Jordan next Wednesday.
But I need to go. I will update again when I can.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
okay, so being the brillant person i am, i left my notebook in my room so everything i tell you here will be from memory. But I did just figure out the shift key so at least I can use capital letters :) And make smilies.
So, I am in Israel working on a dig. I am working with a group of people digging up stuff from the Roman period. That is when Jesus would have been there. I have now stood on the only place where it is known for certian that Jesus walked. Like on the actual stones he touched. Pretty awesome. I keep thinking about how the pottery shards I have been finding could have been used by Jesus. Kind of mind boogling.
Speaking of mind boogling, yesterday I went swimming in the Sea of Galilee. That was amazing. A group of us, Lauren and Nate from Truman and Nick, a cowboy from Montana who is working on the dig for two weeks talked to the life guard. His name is Israel, and he is trying to learn English. We had some funny miscommunications as we were trying to teach each other the words of our languages. We had an especially fun time trying to figure out how to describe the word "silly" so he could teach it to us in Hebrew. I do not think we were successful.
Going back to the dig, it is pretty hard work. We had to pull weeds when we first got there and clean up leaves. Then we set up tarps for shade and finally started digging. It was very dirty, and I didn't like it very much. It got better today after we got some rocks moved and started a finding a few more things. I have found some pottery shards, some bones (animal), and some glass. And lots of dirt and rocks. We dig only a few inches at a time; something to do with the layers and striation. I'll explain later. Then we put pieces of pottery we find into to buckets and put the dirt into buckets so it can be sifted if we miss anything. It is pretty tedious to tell the truth.
In the evenings we have a lecture series, and I don't really stay awake very well during those. They are right after dinner.
I think that is all I have for right now. I will have better things to report when I have my notebook with me.
Shalom!
So, I am in Israel working on a dig. I am working with a group of people digging up stuff from the Roman period. That is when Jesus would have been there. I have now stood on the only place where it is known for certian that Jesus walked. Like on the actual stones he touched. Pretty awesome. I keep thinking about how the pottery shards I have been finding could have been used by Jesus. Kind of mind boogling.
Speaking of mind boogling, yesterday I went swimming in the Sea of Galilee. That was amazing. A group of us, Lauren and Nate from Truman and Nick, a cowboy from Montana who is working on the dig for two weeks talked to the life guard. His name is Israel, and he is trying to learn English. We had some funny miscommunications as we were trying to teach each other the words of our languages. We had an especially fun time trying to figure out how to describe the word "silly" so he could teach it to us in Hebrew. I do not think we were successful.
Going back to the dig, it is pretty hard work. We had to pull weeds when we first got there and clean up leaves. Then we set up tarps for shade and finally started digging. It was very dirty, and I didn't like it very much. It got better today after we got some rocks moved and started a finding a few more things. I have found some pottery shards, some bones (animal), and some glass. And lots of dirt and rocks. We dig only a few inches at a time; something to do with the layers and striation. I'll explain later. Then we put pieces of pottery we find into to buckets and put the dirt into buckets so it can be sifted if we miss anything. It is pretty tedious to tell the truth.
In the evenings we have a lecture series, and I don't really stay awake very well during those. They are right after dinner.
I think that is all I have for right now. I will have better things to report when I have my notebook with me.
Shalom!
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