Alright my friends!

A few random updates:

First, a few people do not know why I am here ... so let me explain!

I am attending Jerusalem University College (JUC) for a masters program in Middle Eastern Cultures and Religions. When (or if) you look up the school it is right on Mount Zion just south(?) of the Old City wall (by Zion Gate and Jaffa Gate). It's a very small school with only two masters programs but its fantastic being here and the program I'm in is great!

Sorry about the ? after south ... I am awful with directions, but I'm pretty sure it's south.

So for the first semester the big class is called Physical Settings ... it's all the geography, climate, settling patterns, etc. of ancient Israel. Lots of work and LOTS of maps. But very cool to learn about.

I'm also taking Palestinian Society and Politics, Intro to the Modern Middle East, Christian Communities in the Middle East, and the History of Israel from the rise of Islam. PLUS I'm auditing a class on the book of Joshua. It's a lot, but I'm excited and I seem to have everything well in hand so far ...

My Tuesdays are almost completely open and there is a local church offering free classes in Hebrew, so I think I'm going to try to attend some of those and start learning the language. (we'll see how well that goes!)

Random interjection -- I have found a new favorite late night/"I'm still doing homework at 11pm" snack ... Peanut Butter and Chocolate sandwiches. They always have the fixings for these set out in the dining room and it is fantastic.

(That wasn't entirely random, I just finished eating one because it is 11:30 here even though it's not yet dinnertime for you guys)

So there appears to be a button for inserting photos at the top of my screen (that wasn't there last time I did this) so I am going to tell you about my two excursions yesterday into the Old City and pictures will be included!

So first, as I said in my last post, Michelle and I got up early and went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (or the Church of Resurrection or the Church of the Tomb -- which is what sepulchre means).  On the way there we noticed the Old City is not awake before 8 am.

This is one of the main streets on the way to the church and normally all of those green stall doors are open and filled with various merchandise with people trying to talk you into buying everything.

Usually, it's hard to just walk down the street, let alone hear or see.

That top part that looks like the glare from a florescent light is actually the sky. The middle of the overhangs is open, but it is difficult to notice when there are normally so many people surrounding you.

SO ... we did make it to the church (after going in a circle and getting lost after we looked at the map ... it was awesome).

For the folks who are unaware, the Church was built by Constantine over the proposed site of Calvary and Jesus' Tomb. There are two places inside which are traditionally considered the actually locations and people come from all over the world to touch them. Sorry ... this time I did not take pictures of these two places. At Calvary, there were monks doing a service and I did not want to interrupt and the line for the Tomb is crazy! Don't worry, it will happen sometime.

OK, so this is the entrance to the Church. As you can see to the right of the doorway was ... also another doorway! But at one point it was walled up so no one could get in. Up at the windows, the monks used to lower down buckets and the people in the city would fill them with food so the monks could eat.

This lovely picture is of the spot right below Calvary where the bedrock is split from the earthquake!

This is my "don't put me in there" face. There is a really old chapel area that still displays damage from a fire that occurred inside of the Church and off the side of that chapel is a little cave entrance that leads to these 1st century tombs. Don't let the light of this photo fool you. We had no idea if the camera was even pointing in the right direction because it was pitch black ... but then the flash goes off and WHAM ... picture success.




Alright ... so I lost internet last night and I have been able to participate in a few extra activities since I started putting together this blog.  For instance ....

This is a view of the Mount of Olives from the Temple Mount!  Yes ... ON the Temple Mount. At 1:30 in the afternoon with no sunscreen ... it was not a good idea in general for my skin, but it was neat!


















So .... Here I am in front of the Dome of the Rock! Neat right?

Tonight (which is Thursday night now ... I know I take a long time to get these things done) ... some of my friends and I wandered down to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) just to check it out at night and there was this huge crowd. Soon discovered that the new recruits for the IDF were being sworn in and receiving their guns (like diplomas only more dangerous!). So we hung out and got to watch the short military assembly (and understood none of it).


Well ... that's it for now but get ready for Sunday's pictures! We're exploring more of the Old City, checking out the City of David (which is no longer inside of the Wall), the Mount of Olives, and Hezekiah's Tunnel!