Looks like Zion, yeah? Maybe Bryce Canyon. Either way, I loved Petra. Partly because it's just amazing, and just because the colors of it all felt just like a hike with the fam in Southern Utah.
The Treasury. Thanks for making me watch Indiana Jones with you before I left, dad.
A Garage? Not pictured: the goats surrounding it.
The Monastery. Worth the hike, but donkeys smell bad.
Mt. Nebo
Tyler found an umbrella in a hidden room we discovered in the Center. His famous words: "I think I'll hang onto this..." I think Sister Brown was glad he did, because he was a gentleman all through Jordan.
No, we did not visit Hogwarts. But we did go to the King Abdullah Mosque, so we had to be sufficiently modest.
Jordan River (I liked the little gold church.)
We're about as low as you can get on earth, on a day that's about as hot as it gets...sweating together is a bonding experience for us all.
Jerash -- the most preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy.
They stole Ramzi from our group and put him in the gladiator show. He was totally in his element.
We stopped for a fireside. And cookies. :)
Dead Sea Scrolls!
We spent a night in Amman hanging out with some seriously talented skaters. We taught them how to play Ninja. Good thing that game knows no language barriers.
Every hotel needs a good roof. Even if it means getting locked out and finding creative ways to get down four floors from the outside when you're done staring at the city.
As much as I love Tells, sometimes I miss London's castles. I got excited when we stopped at Shobak Castle...but it looks mysteriously like the other ruins we frequently explore. Still liked it.
And those are some Jordan highlights! Minus the long list of pirated movies people bought and the high high high temperatures. I loved the trip, except field trips stole July.
This little guy was all alone next to our hotel in Amman. And we fell in love. We made it a home for the night out of box we begged out of the hotel front desk man, with an over-sized pita for a roof. Then we went back to the hotel to plot out how to sneak him across the border.
But we didn't go through with it. Our group has had bad luck at borders, so I guess we chickened out. It was a sad, sad moment. I sized up every hotel worker I saw the morning we left to figure out who would most likely care for our kitten. I settled on the sweet security guard out front.
Hopefully our tears softened him up...we were definitely attached.
I'm going to assume the little thing is thriving and happy...and I still feel guilty for letting Israeli border control intimidate me out of keeping a moral obligation.
Ten days in Galilee did us all some good. We spent half of our days visiting bible sites around the area, and the other half in New Testament class or swimming in the sea. My nights and mornings involved a lot of beach-sitting, life-contemplating, and frog-avoiding. I miss the sunsets. Apartment 309! We were a little nervous to leave for 10 days because Delilah (our pet dove that lives in our light fixture outside our door) is going to have hatching eggs any day. Luckily, we didn't miss the squabs being born (yep, that's what baby doves are called. Google it if you don't believe me, because that's how I learned it too). Sometimes Delilah doesn't move for long periods of time...but I now know that it's ok. And I also know that she doesn't want to be poked if she isn't moving for a while because she flies at your head and doesn't come back the rest of the day, leaving you feeling responsible for her abandoned eggs.
Bonfires. My summer needed to have more of those, but no regrets. It needed more concerts too, but Alison went to more than enough for the both of us. Luckily Israel's delicious strawberry marshmallows inside of my S'more slightly eased my jealous feelings toward her. I caught one a couple of times just to prove I wasn't too scared. But then I would scream, and (unintentionally) throw them when I felt how squishy they were...which sort of just confirmed how scared I was after all. Dang it. This is obviously not my hand because I couldn't hold one that calmly long enough for a picture. President Brown's knowledge never ceases to amaze me. Here he is telling us all about the ruins of Bet She'an.One morning we took a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee and had a devotional. We sang Master the Tempest is Raging and I tried to imagine witnessing all the miracles we are studying in the New Testament.Caesarea Maritima...apart from the bats in a cave and the guard who really hated Americans that climb on aqueducts, it was a good time.We ate fish in Tiberias that looked way too alive. My waitress had to come over and take its head off for me after she witnessed many failed attempts. I think I could have enjoyed it at least a little more if Tyler wasn't examining the anatomy of its brain next to me, and Nick wasn't eating the eyeball across from me. Guess I had to have the experience?Church at the Galilee Branch was amazing. The view of the sea was beautiful, even though I'm still kind of partial to the Dome of the Rock out my window. The hymns are posted in English, Spanish, Hebrew, and Russian.We checked out a Syrian bunker site (Israeli controlled now) in the Golan Heights. No explosions occurred.The few hours we spent in Nazareth on the drive up to Galilee was awesome, Bro. Emmet used to live there so he gave us an expert tour. I love his understanding of all sides of the conflict here, and the stories he tells about when he was a student in Jerusalem.The Mt. of Beatitudes was one of my favorite sites we visited. Go read Mathew 5-7. Adam crashed our girl's picture. He has a knack for that. We took a break in our field trip day to swim at Gan Ha-Shelosha, which would have been more fun without the biting fish. I kept moving the whole time so they never touched me...way too stressful. And I hit a wall in the process, but I'm glad because now I have a Jerusalem scar. Free souvenir. Gamla -- cool hike, sad story. And this post has not left me with enough patience to give you details. Find me in two weeks for a live description.
Overall, Galilee was unlike any other 10 days I'll ever have. No technology, no distractions, no worries (besides stepping on the frogs). All free time went to scriptures or laying on a banana chair/hammock/genius chair thing, or talking to my friends that I love more every day. Abby was my roommate, and she just got her mission call to the Belgium, Netherlands mission! And Erin is going to the Russia, Moscow mission. Life has been exciting here at the JC...now if only it would slow down a little.
Apparently tomorrow is the last day of July. Jerusalem stole my sense of time, and I don't really want it back. But I do want to throw a few catch up posts today while it will still say July at the bottom of them so I can feel slightly better about documenting this month.
I wasn't sure what the Fourth of July was going to be like in Israel, but it was a blast. We decorated the Oasis for a barbecue and carnival, complete with a fishing pond, bobbing for apples, face painting, and sparklers. We thought we would be able to light fireworks since Palestinians do that nightly. False. Sparklers are almost as good though.
We thought this was a very appropriate place to have a picnic that day.
The signatures on the floor of the King David Hotel kept us entertained for a while. I wish I was there when Winston Churchill was.
Brother Whipple played patriotic songs on the YMCA bells for all of Jerusalem to hear that day, too. I decided to stick with Come Follow Me though, because of its non-intimidating key signature. Then we left for Galilee the next morning! To be continued...
Left my home.
Enjoyed 17 hours of flying (thanks to Nyquil).
Eat this,
and wear these,
and hang out with them.
