I love the beach!

The day after we got back from our trip to Jordan we were off to Tel Aviv which is about an hour from Jerusalem and on the mediterranean sea. While we were there we started out with a tour of the Diaspora Museum, which features the stories and history of Jews spread out all over the world. We learned about the different kinds of synagogues established around the world as Jews began to flee Israel and the lands of Europe to escape the brutality of the various nations that had ruled their land over the course of its existence. The diaspora or dispersal of the Jewish people to America has caused many to establish their own way of life in the different corners of the world.
We then moved on to Independence Hall, the building where Israel was granted its independence from Britain on May 14, 1948. It was really cool learning how quickly the decision was made to make Israel a soverign country; only 2 days before the event were invitations sent out. It was supposed to be a well-kept secret with only the few hundred invitees in attendance but over a thousand people showed up. At the end of our tour they played the exact recording of David Ben Gurion pronouncing the status of the new country- so cool.

After an exciting morning we were let free to roam around the city so a couple of girls and I headed towards a shopping area and then went straight to the ocean!

Our shoes were off and we went straight to the water. The day was so sunny and the water was beautiful. Perfect beach day and it was in March. I love it!
Chels and I jumping for joy because we were so excited to be at the beach
We then met up with our teachers again and we went to the exact spot where Jonah tried to escape his calling from the Lord and was swallowed by a whale. This is just a little whale to represent it.
Marianne, Cate and I chillin in the sun! The beach makes me so happy! :)

PETRA, Jordan!

Indiana Jones! Last week we were in Jordan a Petra is most famous for being in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom so the whole time we were in Petra we could not stop singing the Indiana Jones theme song.

Yes the snack show was Indiana Jones and Matt tried to act like he was Indiana Jones the whole day with his sweet hat and murse!

Marianne, Miriam, Moon, and I posing in the caves of Petra!
Our first view of the Indiana Jones temple...

In front of the temple.. haha
Had to get a little shopping in.... we found ginormous rings and couldnt resist trying them on. After the temple we hiked 852 stairs up to the Monestary which was pretty killer but def worth the hike
Some people took donkey's instead... haha I cant get over how hilarious Jeff looked on his donkey
Taking a picture break during the hike up. Loved the beautiful views

Finally made it! Yay! We are spelling out JORDAN if you couldnt tell!
Next we were off to the view of the end of the world!
GORGEOUS view! Petra Jordan was such a blast!

Jordan!

Last Week we went on a field trip to Jordan where we got to see many great places. We first started out driving and made two different stops along our drive to Petra, Jordan. Our first stop was to Mt. Nebo which was where Moses looked out and saw the promised land. Chelsea and I in front of some rock that was on top of Mt Nebo and overlooking the city.
Some girls and I overlooking the city
Our next stop on our trip to Petra was to a church that had the oldest map of Jerusalem on it. This is Aleni and I in front of it!

Aleni, Miriam, and I in some random chairs in the same church. After driving all day we finally got to Jordan and as we were driving we looked out the window and saw snow all over the ground and we were all a little bit shocked. We finally got to our hotel and were ready to check out the city.
Me in front of the ice cream shop we went to that night, I was excited because it was called caravan which is similar to my name karavan! haha I'm so weird

Mary Magdalene Church and More...

A couple of days ago we decided to finally go to the Church of Mary Magdalene which we have been anticipating to see since we have been here because it is the big church with the 7 great onion-topped gold domes that we can see from the center it is one of Jerusalem's best known sacred landmarks and was built in 1865. We also went to an Old Roman Road, Church of All Nations, Garden of Gethsemane, Mary's Tomb, Gethsemane Grotto, birthplace of Virgin Mary, St. Anne's Church, and the Pools of Bethesda. Mary Magdalene church. dont they look like onions? haha
Marianne, Krista, Chelsea and I in front of one of them

These steps were steps that they know that christ walked on
Marianne and I at the place where they think that virgin mary was buried. This is a mural for Mary
A group of us in the same building with one of the men that worked there. He was a greek catholic man that had been working there for about three years

In front of the pools of bethesda where christ healed the man

The birthplace of the virgin mary
After visiting those sites we decided to do a little bit of shopping and we found a jewlery place where you pick whatever stones you want and they will make earings, braclets, necklaces for you. We had a little to much fun there.

Marianne and I with our sweet new earings!
Ms. Owens (chelsea) and I in front of a cool grafiti wall

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem is the holocaust museum here in Israel and it was a very humbling experience. The building is shaped in a triangular shape which is significant because it is half of the star of David. During the time of the holocaust half of the jewish population was killed. You could tell that we were all touched by the experience throughout the whole tour. My favorite part was the part of the museum that was dedicated to the children that were killed. Before you walked in there were pictures of some of the children and then as you kept walking there was a room that had a few candles with mirrors all over the room so it looked like there were hundreds of candles in the room and as we walked around the room there was a voice saying the names of the children, where they were from, and how old they were. It made me so sad. As we went through the triangular prism building seeing the most graphic pictures of the victims and reading the stories of heartache, losing family and friends, and children just fighting to stay alive my heart was broken. It made me so sad that one man’s rise to power had crushed such a huge population. The buildings shape is so significant because it is half of the Star of David. At the time, half of the Jewish population was killed. Our entire group was so touched by this experience and you could see it in everyone’s eyes as we passed each other throughout the tour.


After our tour of the museum we met up Ophir Yardin, who is our Jewish professor and he took us on our tour around Mt. Hertzl which is the mountain above Yad Vashem which commemorates the prophet of zionism and the return of the jews to Israel.

Our teacher talking to the group

Lynds and I on top of Mt. Hertzl
Me, JJ, Eliza, Ryan Money, Lynds, and Bryan

Mt. Sinai

I know that this should have been posted weeks ago but I have been slacking on my posting. On our way back from Egypt we stopped at hotel a little bit right at the bottom of Mt. Sinai. We stayed at the hotel for the night and were woken up at 2 am the next morning but men pounding on our door. We grabbed sack breakfasts consisting of two rolls, chips, cheese, and juice. (interesting! Ha) We were then on to the bus to head to the start of the hike. We finally started the hike at around 3 wearing jeans, a long sleav shirt, a t-shirt over that, two sweatshirts, a windbreaker, two pairs of socks, a scarf and a beanie and gloves that I bought the night before to be prepared. Even with all of that on I was still feeling pretty cold. We finally started the hike and I was feeling good but pretty tired.

We then continued on the hike and I was starting to get pretty worn out and I was shedding layers. It kept continuing to get harder and I wasnt sure if I was going to make it especially since it was pitch black out and I had no idea where and how far the final destination was. We finally made it to the top after many breaks and words of encouragement. Once we got to the top those layers that had been shed came back on immedietly. It was honestly freezing at the top of the mountain. Probably the coldest I have ever been in my entire life and I just didnt know what to do with myself. We all just layed up there getting as close to each other as possible and keeping body heat waiting for the sun to rise. It seemed like hours before the sun rose but once it did it was gorgeous. The whole time I was thinking about Moses and how many times he had to hike it and what a great man he was. After being on the mountain for a while and almost freezing to death we finally started hiking down. By thise time the sun was starting to come out and it was starting to warm up. It felt so nice. I have never loved the sun more. As I was hiking down it was really rocky and uneven and somehow I tripped over a rock and fell straight forward. My knees were super bruised up and scraped but oh well thats what makes the story even better. I am such a clutz. haha! The hike was such an amazing experience and I felt like a learned a lot of life lessons from it and definetly a lot of memories. This last picture is of some of us at the bottom of the mountain relaxing in the nice warm sun right before going back to sleep from the lack of sleep the night before.

Princess Basma Center

A few days ago three girls and I went to the Princess Basma Center here in Jerusalem which is a center where children with disabilities and a parent go to from around 1 week to 3 months for professional assessment of their disabilities and help with basic needs. The parents go with them to learn how to teach and help their children. They stay for a little period of time and then 3 months later go back to see the childs progess. We stayed there for about an hour and played with the children. It was an interesting experience because none of the children speak English nor do they really know how to communicate in the first place so it was really hard to play with them. Some had down syndrome, some couldn’t see, and others couldn’t hear. We had a good time trying to talk to some of the parents of the children and learning a little bit more about their culture and their families. It made me realize how amazing the parents of children with disabilities are becau

se it is such a hard thing to teach and get these children to listen to you. The top picture is me, Stefanie, and Rachel, The second picture is of me and two of the ladies with their babies. We spent a lot of time talking to them because they understood a little bit of english, and then the bottom picture is of a few of the boy playing.