so yesterday (sunday) was our free day as usual. for one of our classes we have to go to the israel museum so i went ahead and got that out of the way. i would've made my way over there at some point for sure, and i think i will definitely be going back. it is a world class museum for sure. it is huge. it reminded me a lot of the british museum in london. a lot of the exhibits were outside which i really liked.
we focused mostly on the exhibits we needed to go to for our class- the archaeology and dead sea scrolls galleries. the museum also had some awesome halls for modern art and jewish fashion that i really want to back to. i will keep you updated. the dead sea scroll exhibit was amazing. it has a whole building to itself, and it's incredibly unique. the building is shaped like the pots the scrolls were found in and is mostly underground. you enter through this hallway that has a lot of the artifacts that were found with the scrolls, then the scrolls themselves are in this cylinder like chamber that's supposed to replicate the pot itself. it is so cool. there is this really long copy of one of the scrolls that wraps around this big column in the middle of the cylinder chamber so it looks like it's on a scroll. this probably sounds really dumb but just picture this: we stepped into the clay pots that they scrolls were found in. it was cool.
mini replica of jerusalem!
top of the dead sea scrolls exhibit! the only part above ground. this is made to look like the lid of the pots.
the van came to get us from the museum and we had him drop us off at dung gate so that we could go check out the temple mount, specifically dome of the rock. it was intense. we went through the same security checkpoint as we did for the western wall except you take a turn up this crappy ramp that takes you above the wall. all over there are signs warning jews that the rabbi of israel has recommended to not entering the temple mount for fear of entering the holy of holies. as we got to the top there were rows and rows of those shields police officers use when things get violent. it was freaky that they had those just waiting around. it freaked me out a ton.
we got out of the tunnel and as soon as we got to the top these arab guys started giving me a hard time because my sleeves were too short. they stopped almost our whole group. they said we had to put on a shawl. at most places they provide complimentary shawls but they said that we had to pay. some europeans that got pulled in with our group refused but these men were really scary and said it was unacceptable. i'm not gonna lie i was scared. i ended up buying a shawl for freaking 25 shekels. it ended up being a total scam and i was so mad. one of my guy friends tried to get me out of it but i figured i would rather just buy an ugly scarf and not get beaten in public than risk it. now i know better but whatever. it made me so mad. it's no wonder that the arab community gets a bad rap. they have good intentions, but they need someone to police that kind of activity better. that makes them look so bad. the worst was the poor european guys they tricked into buying scarves to cover their legs. hahaha. they looked ridiculous wearing scarf-skirts.
the dome of the rock was totally stunning. i dont think you can get a bad angle on that building. part of the reason might be that the colors are so shocking compared to all of jerusalem's chalky stone buildings.. but either way, holy crap. the 'temple mount' that it sits on is pretty big, which is nice. one thing that i have never noticed is this really ornamental arabic script that wraps around the entire top of the building. it is so pretty.
so the dome of the rock sits on where we believe the temple was during the time of jesus. for the muslims, it marks the spot where muhammed made his night ascent and had a vision of the heavens and the earth. jews, christians, and muslims also believe that abraham sacrificed isaac (ishmael for islam) on the 'rock' that is inside. so it's a big deal. it was interesting to compare the spirit/feeling that was here compared to the spirit i felt at a place like the garden tomb. this place felt so dirty to me. maybe that will change and i was just mad because of the scarf thing.. but maybe not. i feel like it was such a holy, holy, place and now it has been desecrated. that sounds bad, but it was very definite for me and i thought it was interesting.
we took some pictures and wandered back through the old city, then up the hill to the center. apparently some kids got ratted out by some muslim worshippers on the mount because when they took a picture a boy put his arm around a girl. it is hard to be aware of the cultural sensitivity all the time and is honestly kind of scary. i am usually a pretty strong willed person and know when to get out of a situation but that scarf thing really freaked me out. oh well. yesterday was super fun and i felt like i did a lot of cool stuff. i had a good time!
today was our weekly field trip! today we went to the negev- the desert area that makes up the southern third of the country. the locations we went to actually weren't that far away from jerusalem, but to avoid traveling through the west bank we had to go a pretty roundabout way. the staff here acts like it's such a hassle and it wouldn't be a big deal to drive through the west bank, but i am so glad the first presidency has put restrictions on us. haha. i'm a wimp but whatever. better safe than sorry right?
the first sight we went to was a weaving center that israel and the UN has set up for the women of a nomadic culture that israel has displaced. these people, the bedouin, are a nomadic people that used to specialize in escorting peoples across the desert. since highways now dominate israel, they have recently become very poor and frankly, quite out of place. luckily it seems like the government has done a decent job giving them school and helping them make money via other channels. our professor, dr. belnap, compared it to the displacement of native americans and i could definitely see parallels. at this weaving center we had a little tour from a very articulate young woman, she couldn't have been much older then me. she spoke really good english, was very clean, and dressed very nicely. we went through a building than into a back courtyard that had a huge tent. this tent was the coolest thing ever. it was lined with weavings and tassels and all the seating was made up of these big cushions with cool oriental patterns. the colors were deep purples and blues and camel tones.. it was so tight, straight out of a movie. as she taught us about the culture and the weaving center itself, one of the older women brought out a tray of hot tea for us all. it was in little glass shot glasses and you could see all the floaty herbs and stuff at the bottom. although it was already hot outside, it was easily the best tea i've ever had. (dont worry, dr. belnap said this tea met word of wisdom requirements ;)) it was such a cool experience.. she showed us how to weave and dye the wool. afterwards she took us into a little shop where you could purchase things the women had made. it was cool and really high quality. apparently it is not unusual for them to get hired out by designers to make things. i got a pillow and a tassel thing for my grandma's ranch in wyoming. it is really cool and i am excited to give it to her!
our next two stops were two different 'tells.' these are giant mounds where little cities used to be and have been excavated. some of them have up to 15 layers of different civilizations and date all the way back to caananite civilization- that's pre-abraham! almost 5000 years ago. it was crazy. the first one we went to, arad, had an israelite temple and that was really neat. it is a similar layout to what would have been here in jerusalem at the time of jesus except a lot smaller. i couldn't help but laugh as we all stood in the holy of holies and snapped pictures.
our next sight was beer-sheba (pronounced bare-shay-ba), which is a world heritage site and is mentioned multiple times in the bible. i forgot to mention, both of these sights were really close to an air force base, and there we literally heard the sound of jets the whole time we were outside, which was probably about 4 hours total. it was nuts. okay anyways, beer sheba was cool. we read a lot of scriptures and the weather was so so pleasant. if anything it was a little chilly today because it was so windy. usually this is the hottest field trip of the year because we are out in the desert! we got so lucky. my favorite part of beer sheba was going underneath the city. they had this really intense tunnel thing down to the water table, where they dug their well. it was DEEP. we must have gone done eight flight of stairs. once we got underground it was awesome. the walls are really white and chalky and super tall. it was stunning. it was also lit up really cool, they did a good job. it felt like we were in a chalk mine. so tight.
we had to wear hard hats to go into the well! this is daniela my roommate from colombia. she is SO funny. i love her latina sassiness
after our beer sheba excursion it was back to the center! it took about and hour and forty to get back but it wasn't bad at all, i slept most of the way. we had a great dinner then fhe. fhe was so fun, we played this game called zombies. it's kind of like a mix of tag and sardines-- totally zoobie and totally great for a place like the center that has so much space and great hiding places. since then i have been studying!
i hope everyone is doing well. i just wanted to give another shout-out to my MOM. i love her so much and i am so lucky she lets me/pushes me to go do cool things instead of convincing me to live in her basement for the rest of my life. i dont know where or who i would be without her. i look up to her more than anyone and would be so happy if i was half the person she is when i grow up. i love you mom!
have a great day everyone! xo
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