Jerusalem Week 3:)

It has been quite a week. I think that I wrote last Saturday, so I will give a brief update on what is happening.

On Sunday, (We treat it like Saturday since church is on Saturday here), we went to Tel Aviv. It started as just being a little group, but soon grew to be a pretty good majority of the students here. Tel Aviv is located right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, so we all started out at the Beach. It was really fun, there were really big waves, and the sand was really fine, however, the Sea was really salty, more so than the Pacific, and the Atlantic I believe. I spent a few hours there, we had a really fun Ultimate Frisbee game, and played in the waves for a while, then I went out with a group and we rented some bikes (They had lime green bikes that you could check out electronically and ride around, and drop them off at any other stop) However, because it was electronically, and we didn’t look at the bikes before, I ended up on a bike with a really low tire, it was stuck in the lowest gear, and it had very little break. It was really fun though, we rode around Jaffa, through the stores and around the streets, then we went back to the coast and rode the trail that went along the coast for a while, then went back to where we had to meet. It was really pretty.

After Riding, we went back out to Jaffa, and shopped a little. I didn’t end up buying anything, but we spent a lot of time at this little shop that had all sorts of little instruments – most of which we have at home, but the girls that I was with hadn’t seen. It was pretty cool. We stayed out shopping for about an hour, and then we had to go back to where the vans were picking us up because most of the group was leaving at 4 so they could be back in time to clean up and do homework before dinner at 6. The group that I ended up being with wanted to stay until 8, one of the girls in the group had heard of a really good burger place called “Moses” that we tried to find. We walked around for about 1.5 hours before we found the place, and then even though they were really good, they were a bit expensive so not everyone got one. After we ate, we went back to the beach, taking a long way and shopping a little, and then we swam one more time before we were picked up and brought back to the center.

On Monday, we went on a field trip to the Negev. The Negev is the southern part of Israel, and it is mostly hot desert. We started at a Bedouin women’s weaving factory and got a tour/explanation of what they did there. It was pretty cool, its amazing how the women could start it up and earn money/educate the other women through this factory. It was a really cool experience.

Other places we went include Tel Sheva (Be’er Sheba in Solomon’s time), where we say many things, including their housing, their gate system, storage, and a huge underground water system that we got to walk through. Then we went to Tel Arad, which had 2 parts to it, one was from Israelite time (including a Fortress, from after the time that the Children of Israel came in and concurred) and a section that was from Canaanite time (Before the Children of Israel). On the way back, we drove past the Dead Sea which is 1300+ feet below Sea Level (We sang “Under the Sea” as we dropped below), and we also passed Jericho, we will be going back to both of those places later on. This was also by where Lehi and Nephi were when Nephi and his brothers went back to get the Brass Plates from Laban. It would have been about a 22-day journey to get there, and the Babylonians were around, very dangerous. It was cool to learn about the different places, like we will be doing often these few months:)

The rest of the week we had classes, I went out to the city a few times, but only went shopping. We talked about a lot of interesting things, in all of our classes. We had a lot of interesting discussions, but it is school, you know how it is.

One thing that I did think was interesting was in Palestine class. The class is basically about Islam, and what they believe, their history, etc. Yesterday, (Friday) when we had it we started asking questions because of some things that happened here. Sometime this week, there was a YouTube video that was degrading the Islam religion, and their prophet Muhammad. From what I understand, someone in America posted it, and it was really offensive, and degrading.  I have heard that it might have been an Israelite Jew that lives there, but that was just from one other student, I don’t know if it was true. On the surface, this doesn’t seem to be a big deal, it was one movie, and yes it was offensive, but not big enough to cause a ton of trouble. However, there is more to it. Here in Israel, Jerusalem is divided into two parts, East and West Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is occupied by Palestinians/Palestinian-Israelis, and it includes the JC center, the Mount of Olives, and Old Jerusalem as well as other important places. Both George Bush and Barak Obama have made references to helping make Palestine its own state, but has not only gone past the times that they said it would, but have been working/supporting against it, especially with the election coming up, and with so many Jews in America, they want to be voted in, so they are making almost pro Israeli statements.

In reaction to the movie, there were a few (I think it was 3) Americans that were killed by extremist Palestinians. Not all Palestinians believe or act that way, in fact, all the people that I have met have been really nice, and are very willing to help, or point in the right direction.

Friday is the Muslims prayer day, where they all gather at the Dome of the Rock, so we are never allowed out of the center on Friday’s before 3 O’clock. The Old city is divided into quarters, and things tend to get a little tense between the Israelis and Palestinians on prayer day. We were kept in this week as there were some little conflicts, but nothing big. I know that the news shows violence, and the extreme, but it is not really what we see here in the center.  Right now, you can tell that everything is a little tense with 9/11 a few days ago, the Jewish holidays this week (There is 2 big ones in the next 2 weeks, Their New Year, and the Day of Atonement), and so things do get to be tense anyways, and then adding the movie on top. However, we still went out to the Garden Tomb today, and we were perfectly safe. We will be leaving to go to our Turkey field trip this week, and so we wont even be around this week.

That information was meant to calm any fears that you might have, and to assure you that I am ok. I hope that it will clear up any questions that you might have had if you had watched the news. Everything is good here at the center, and they are paying close attention, but don’t have any reason to keep us in today.

P.S. I will Post Pictures Soon! (Probably in the Morning)