Hello again. I am locked out of my room right now so I apologize ahead for no new pictures. I have some good ones though, so I'll get them up as soon as I can.
Yesterday was a wonderfully relaxing day. After class we had the whole day to ourselves. I tried to do some homework (through the process of diffusion and osmosis...my head on my textbook, eyes closed, saliva forming a waterway through which the information travels back into my brain, right?) I finally decided that I needed to do SOMETHING active and so accepted the invitation to play a riveting game of soccer with some kids. I don't know if "play" is the right word. It was more like me flitting around, yelping or curling into a wad whenever the ball or anyone else came near me. Now I know why I stopped playing soccer at age 8. Finally my teammates just said, "Heather, why don't you stay back and protect the goal? We need you back there" as if it was a daring a noble contribution I could make for the team. I knew what they were really saying was, "You are the bane of this team's existence. Just go stand out of the way and we will do everything in our power to make sure the ball doesn't come near you." I just comforted myself with the thought that I would kick every one of their behinds in water polo. Ha.
Although I struck out in soccer, I redeemed myself in volleyball later that night. I think I'll be sticking to volleyball from now on. Plus, soccer made me so sore! I'm like an old man today, sitting down slowly, groaning and clenching my eyes shut. I'm such a wimp.
Anyway, Thursday was our very first fieldtrip and it was awesome! It was a geography fieldtrip and so we were never more than 15 miles outside of Jerusalem. But we went all the way around the city and got to see all the different viewpoints and see some cool sites.
We started off at Nabi Samwill. It's the supposed burial site of the Prophet Samuel. Cool. It's now a mosque and a synagogue. Both muslims and jews come and peacefully worship there. What a cool message of peace and hope for resolving this conflict. It was neat.
Next we headed to this place called Deir Mar Elyas...it's a hilly area where supposedly Elijah passed through while being hunted down by Jezebel, the brazen hussie. Anyway, there was a wonderful view there of all the surrounding areas, including the mountains in Jordan. On our way down the hill we heard bells tingling and all of a sudden there was this herd of sheep being led by two shepherd boys. It made me think of Grandpa and his story of the herd of sheep that he saw here in Jerusalem. So cool.
After that we headed to the Haas Promenade. It's basically a lookout point south of the Temple Mount and City of David and supposedly where Abraham stopped to look out at Mt. Moriah and then left his men with the asses to take Isaac up to sacrifice him. It was beautiful. We stood up there with the Typorean and Hinom valleys twisting beneath us and a beautiful view of the Temple Mount and, of course, a great view of Hell. I think you remember me telling you of my expedition to Hell. Anyway, there was a great view of it from Haas. We ate lunch there and then continued on to our second to last stop, the Seven Arches Overlook. This public viewing area is right by the Seven Arches Hotel and provides a great view of Jerusalem and the cemeteries around it, as well as the Golden Gate (supposedly where Christ will ride back into the city on a donkey again). After our lecture there I had another experience that made me famous in the center. Yes, I know, I'm trying to behave myself, but I just couldn't pass up this opportunity.
So after lecture, we were walking back up to the bus and there was this man there with a camel all sattled up and ready to be taken for a ride. Now, our teacher had warned us that the man would probably charge us for even wanting to take a picture with the camel. But I started talking with the man (who told me the camel's name was Kojack) and he said I could take a picture with Kojack if I would like, free of charge. Yes I would like. So by now all the students have come up and are in a semi-circle around us and the camel. So the guy starts showing off and goes over to Kojack and stands in front of him and makes this clicking noise. Sure enough, Kojack lifts his head up and kisses the man! Rad! So I thought, "Hey! I want to kiss a camel! I might never get to again!" So I give my camera to a girl standing nearby and ask her to take a picture of me kissing the camel. I went and stood by Kojack, but he didn't so anything, so I started saying, "Hey, will you kiss me? Hey, will you please kiss me?" Then the owner was at my side making the clicking noise and so I started making the noise and then...HE ATE MY FACE! No joke, this camel knew his stuff. :) Everyone started maoning/screaming/laughing as this camel literally ate my face. (He definitely needed a tic-tac or something cause his breath STUNK!) I was so surprised by this new experience that I kind of just stood there for a good 20 seconds as this camel swallowed my face. It didn't cross my mind to step back. So basically eveyrone in the group has a wonderful picture of me making out with a camel. Mine wasn't the best picture, but everyone said they'd e-mail theirs to me, each claiming that theirs was the best. One guy even got a video. haha.
So now I get people coming up to me and saying, "So, now you've had your first kiss!" Or, "How does it feel to be out of the virgin lip club?" Oh man. And if that wasn't bad enough, the whole elephant experience that I thought would die overnight, caught like wildfire and so I am still the butt of every joke, but now in TWO ways. I have no dignity and cannot feign pride because I get one thrown at me like, "Well at least I make out with my own species!" Yuck yuck. You're so clever!
Anyhow, after that we ended up at the Augusta Victoria Church/Hospice which was awesome! It was built by Wilhelm II and named after his wife, August Victoria. It is now one of the top hospitals in Israel and a beautiful cathedral. We sang hymns in there and it was just chilling how beautiful it was.
I'll post pictures of all this stuff soon...as soon as I get back into my room.
Today has been a really nice Sabbath. The Sabbath is always so needed at the end of the week, even if you're living in the Holy Land. I love the Sabbath, I love the gospel, I love Jesus, I love life.
Conclusion: It's so cool living in a place where it's so EASY to remember Christ all the time. There are three groups of people in this land who dedicate their lives to God and their religion. It permeates every mintue of every day. I love it. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine son.