'Eilat' of Fun!

I am sitting in one of my very favorite places right now...on the grass on one of the patios overlooking the city. It's so pretty at night...with all the lights...and sometimes you hear cars honking or Palestinians partying with their loud music or call to prayer. I love coming out here to study and think and talk to friends. Ah, I am so blessed. I was just talking to a couple of my buds earlier today about how lucky we are to be having this experience. I don't think I would have the same experience if I were to come here for a few weeks with a tour group or on my own. My favorite part about it is that I actually get to live among the people and experience the culture. We have so much time to spend in the city, see the sites, and interact with the people. It is also such a blessing to be taking the classes we're taking. It's so much easier for me to understand the Old Testament now that I know more about the geography and the history of the land, to learn about the different sects of Judaism and to be able to recognize the various types on the street, and to learn more about the conflict and its background. I really am so grateful for this opportunity. I am learning so much about the people and history here, myself, and my Savior.

Can I just tell you about my friend for a second? Her name is Mickell. Just a second ago, she came out with about a million confessions regarding her BYU-retardness. Like this (keep in mind she is almost a senior): "Whoa, where'd you find that list of minors?" "How do you get a BYU email address?" "I've never been to a devotional..." "I've never been in the Tanner Building. I don't even know where that building is." "I was trying really, really hard to not get an ID card, and it worked for awhile. But then I had a hard time remembering my number...I would go to the testing center and they'd ask for my card and I'd say, 'Nope! I'll just tell you my number.'" "See, I don't blend in here very well because I'm not very BYU-ish." "I like to call BYU students Zoobies...even though I am one." "Can we get this over with?" (In front of our family at FHE. Jokingly, of course. Then we sang "Love at Home."). Oh, how I love her.

Okay, catch-up time!

Last Thursday night, we had a Seder dinner! Our Judaism teacher directed it. The dinner is so structured, I'd never been to anything like it. There are different sections that are symbolic of different parts of the Exodus. This consisted of drinking 4 glasses of grape juice, eating bitter herbs and matza bread, singing lots of songs, reciting lots of prayers, and eating a delicious 5-course meal. The whole thing took about 4 hours...not gonna' lie, I'm glad the meals on our holidays don't usually last that long. No, it was really fun and really interesting. The evening ended with an awesome Jewish rap...you can't even imagine.

On Friday, we had class! Then, a group of us stopped in to Omar's! He is an olive-wood carver and owns a shop in East Jerusalem. He's been working with BYU students and others for years. We had lots of fun there. That night, we watched "Joseph: King of Dreams." Good stuff...

Saturday was good! Church was awesome, we watched the Relief Society Broadcast-loved it! Later that day, I spent some time at the Garden Tomb. So neat. :)

Yesterday, we spent the day in Eilat! Snorkeling! The weather was perfect and it was fun to see all the fishies! Next, I want to go scuba diving! So yeah, we just played around on the beach, snorkeled, ate, chatted, took some underwater pictures, pushed each other off of the buoy island, and had lots of fun.

Then, we left the beach and went to a mall! For the first time this trip, I kind of felt like I was in America. It was weird. No one ran out into the halls to try to sell us stuff...strange. As we walked into Zara in our white v-necks, genie pants, chacos, and other grungy stuff, we realized how bad we miss shopping...and our closets at home...we felt pretty white trash. On our way home, (it was a 4-hour drive), we stopped at Yotvata, (more commonly known as 'The Cow Kibbutz'),  

Today was a little bit different. Field trip Monday...we visited Yad Vashem which is a Holocaust museum over in West Jerusalem. It was pretty intense. I'd never been to one before, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. We had a Jewish tour guide from Poland that took us through and explained a lot of what we saw. I couldn't believe some of the things...the pictures and the video footage and the piles of shoes and the personal testimonies...It's hard to even fathom what those people went through, I feel like I can't even come close to understanding it. It was definitely an eye-opener. I am so grateful for the freedom and security that I have in my life, I really take it for granted sometimes. After this, we walked up a hill next to the museum known as Mt. Herzl. Benjamin Herzl was one of the founders of the Zionist movement, and Mt. Herzl is where he is buried. We learned a lot about him and some of the other leaders and events in the movement.

I think that's about it! Some other highlights from this week including killing a spider, playing lots of volleyball, and picking olives from the trees around the JC! Also, I only have 1.44 GB open space on my hard drive...that's what you call Bad News Bears. Any advice? Maybe I should stop taking so many pictures...Nah. Speaking of pictures, I'll get some up later this week. Love you all!