After hearing and talking with these two men we then adjourned to the cafeteria where we had a very special dinner prepared for us. They had all TONS of food all that were traditional food that is found here in Israel. They had things like stuffed carrots, this type of rice that was wrapped in grape skin, all kinds of salads, hummus, Babaganush (so yucky by the way), rice, pitas, vegetables and these chicken wraps that were so delicious. They had so much food it took two separate plates to get just a little taste of everything. For the majority everything was very tasty. However, there were some things that I don’t think I will ever eat again. It was a great experience though. After dinner they had a special treat for us where we learned to do an Israeli Folk dance. It was SO fun! We got in four groups after watching some of the dancers and then they taught us how to dance. After we had learned the dance we all got in a huge circle of 82 students and danced. After awhile of doing the dance they taught us we all started doing our own thing and had such a fun dance party with Israeli music to dance to. It was a blast!(our dance instructors)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Arabian Night!
After hearing and talking with these two men we then adjourned to the cafeteria where we had a very special dinner prepared for us. They had all TONS of food all that were traditional food that is found here in Israel. They had things like stuffed carrots, this type of rice that was wrapped in grape skin, all kinds of salads, hummus, Babaganush (so yucky by the way), rice, pitas, vegetables and these chicken wraps that were so delicious. They had so much food it took two separate plates to get just a little taste of everything. For the majority everything was very tasty. However, there were some things that I don’t think I will ever eat again. It was a great experience though. After dinner they had a special treat for us where we learned to do an Israeli Folk dance. It was SO fun! We got in four groups after watching some of the dancers and then they taught us how to dance. After we had learned the dance we all got in a huge circle of 82 students and danced. After awhile of doing the dance they taught us we all started doing our own thing and had such a fun dance party with Israeli music to dance to. It was a blast!(our dance instructors)
Shabbat Shalom!
DEAD SEA!!! Yippee!
The Dead Sea was incredible. I did not know really what to expect but I was shocked by the amount of Salt that was there. We were told to only go in the Dead Sea for 20 minutes because there was so much salt that it would soak up all the water in our body and we would get extremely dehydrated without even knowing. As soon as I stepped in, it felt so weird. It still felt like water but it also had a slimy feel to it. As soon as I lied down in the water my feet literally went up. As soon as I got into the water and lied down on my back, my feet went directly in the air. It did not take any control on my part whatsoever. We swam out farther where there was a drop off and I tried to put my feet down in the water and I literally could not put my feet down. It was so crazy! After I had been in the water for while I got out and then we all started putting mud all over our body! It sounds weird but it was so much fun to put mud all over our bodies. We took a lot of pictures and then got back in the water to wash it off. Oh my goodness, my skin was SO soft! We washed ourselves off and then went shopping for a bit and then left to go back to the center. It was seriously such a fun day! I am so glad that we went!
visit to Jericho
catching up!
Friday, September 25, 2009
EGYPT!!!!
To begin, the pyramids were absolutely incredible. I just stood in front of them with my mouth wide open. It was something I had only ever dreamed about seeing and was so amazed to be there. We were also able, the night before we went to the pyramids, watched a light show and heard the stories of the pyramids. (these last two pictures are of the syhinx. My two friends Lizzy(left) and Molly(in the middle) are next to me!
The temples and tombs were also so amazing. To be standing in front of ancient temples that had been built thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago was so amazing. I kept thinking that the temples that I was looking Christ might have thought that they were old as well. Many of them had been built hundreds and even a thousand years before Christ. WOW!!!! The same thing with the pyramids. Everything was so OLD! Ha ha! The tombs were remarkable. The ones that we went to on our tour were incredibly detailed with old ancient writings and drawing. Many of them also had the color on them still after all these years. I loved looking at them and I stood really close to my teacher who was telling a small group of us students what the symbols meant.
(the first five pictures are at the Karnak Temple. The most incredible ancient temple there is in the world and the last five picture are at Queen Hatshepsut temple. I dont have any pictures of the tombs because the tombs that we went to at the Valley of the Kings did not allow you to take pictures there. Its such a shame because it was so amazing. Maybe look online for pictures.=)
The camel ride was so much fun. We left just about two hours before the sun went down and we sailed across the Nile River to our camels. The view was incredible. It was literally beyond any expectations I had for a camel ride. A big group of us then got on the camels and took a 30 minute camel Ride right on the Nile and started going into a little bit of a small country village with beautiful mountains in the background. I also had a lot of fun talking to my guide Abraham. And my camel (George Cloney took good care of me)!(these are little girls that were trying to sell us some flowers. They were adorable. It amazes me how poor some of the world is. Being here has opened up my eyes in so many different ways.)
The bargaining in Egypt was CRAZY!!! Whenever we decided to go shopping we were mobbed by all the merchants. I cannot even count how many times I was told I was beautiful and so many men asked me to marry them. I even got offered a million camels. I have got to tell you, even though they were just trying to sell me their stuff and get my attention, they sure know how to boost my self-esteem. I was very flattered, most of the time. The other times it got quite annoying and I kind of got irritated. By the end of Egypt however I got really good at bargaining. At least I think I did. A lot of my friends would ask me to go buy stuff for them. It felt great to bargain! I really loved it!
Mount Sinai was my very last stop in Egypt and is was one of my favorite! We all woke up at 2 in the morning, yes am and got on the bus. We then took a short drive over to the mountain and started climbing. This mountain was a tough one. It was straight up the mountain and it had quite the obstacles to dodge. Hundreds of camels! Everywhere we were hiking we heard “want to ride a camel, long way up.” It was crazy. There was one point where I literally got smashed in-between two camels. It was a little scary. I walked next to one of our leaders who I love to death. Her name is Sue Allen. I get excited every time I talk to her because she reminds me of my wonderful friend Janette Allen. I do miss her but am grateful that I have this Sister Allen to love in the mean time! Anyways, we made it up the mountain and then had the option to climb up on the very tippy tippy top of the mountain. It was 700 more stairs up and many of the girls legs were already shaking and did not want to walk further. However, I was determined and I made it all the way up to the top. We arrived on the top just as the sun was about to come up. It was so beautiful! We were higher than the sun at the time so we were able to see the sun coming out. It was so incredible. f We also sang some songs on the top and it was truly a beautiful and wonderful experience. After the sun came up and we finished singing we climbed back down the stairs and had a testimony meeting. People shared their thoughts and feelings and I have never been so uplifted by others and the spirit in my life. It was wonderful. I feel like I am constantly growing spiritually as well as mentally. We then had the decision to climb down the camel way or the stair way. Now previously in this trip I rolled my ankle on the very first day of going to Egypt. By the week’s end and I was climbing Sinai it was still a little soar but incredibly better. Anyways, no one wanted to go down the camel way because they wanted to go faster and wanted to see the new scenery so I decided to go with them as well and just suck up the pain. NOT A GOOD IDEA! My ankles were still weak and not as strong and I actually twisted my ankles a few more time on the way down. It turns out it is a pretty bad sprain. However that is not the important thing. My experience there will never be forgotten, and not just because of my ankles but because of the beauty and the things which I experienced on top of Mount Sinai.
Overall, Egypt was incredible! I actually just looked up the word incredible in the thesaurus because I feel I have been using it a lot and the word I like the best to describe Egypt is far-fetched! So, Egypt was absolutely far-fetched! Ha ha!