i was pretty good at blogging almost every day in may. then midterms hit and we went to turkey, and everything hit the fan. so... i present to you... updates as of our turkey trip! which was almost 6 weeks ago. i'm the worst. hahah. here goes.
arab culture night
a fun tradition here at the center! shaban, one of the shopkeepers in the old city lets us borrow scarves, dresses and more from his shop for the ultimate cultural experience. he has a good relationship with the kids here at the center and offers us fair fixed prices so we don't have to barter/get ripped off in the old city. he is great.
i used a scarf i bought in bursa, turkey, then got an awesome dress from shaban. we started the night with a visit from two sheiks that do the call to prayer at al aqsa mosque on the temple mount. it was so cool, and they are a big deal. this role is passed down through the family, so we had a father and a son. they performed a passage of the quran for us, and i learned so much. i never realized how musical it is. the men that do the call to prayer are really singers more than anything else. in fact, if you want to become an arab singer, the best way to start is doing prayer calls! there is a very definite art to their voice influction, and there is a right and wrong way to do it. some people are better than others, and they actually have competitions amongst themselves! the son that came and performed for us has won multiple competitions across the middle east. he had an amazing voice. it was also cool because the passage they did is the one about mary (yes, she's in the koran!)
the two men also prayed for us, which was cool. it was also neat to see that they were pretty normal people. they weren't wearing headscarves and were very personable. it was an awesome experience.
an amazing dinner, complete with decorations. the oasis/cafeteria was closed all day for set up. they had all the food beautifully presented outside on a huge circular table with pretty sheets draped from the floor above us. it was so cool. we had a huge schwarma and falafel station that was to die for, tons of hummus, bizarre stuffed vegetables, tons of different baklava type pastries, and my favorite.. the iced watermelon slushy. so good.
after dinner we had a lesson in traditional palestinian/arabic dancing. oh man. we looked like idiots. everyone totally let go of their inhibitions and had a great time, though. it actually reminded me a lot of river dance, sans the tap shoes. there was a lot of heel-toe touching and jumps and leaps. we looked completely ridiculous. the cute tweens that came to teach us are actually the nieces of some of the security guys that work here and live in nearby neighborhoods. it was fun stuff. we were all sweaty and exhausted by the end.
throughout the night we also had a super fun Photo Booth. good stuff! i love my 'harem' here at the JC :)
movies in west jerusalem
so a couple weeks ago we found this amazing movie theatre. it's huge. it's called cinema city. it's incredibly corny... and it's covered in disney paraphernalia. i'm all about it. there are these plastic life-size figures everywhere and it's hilarious. if it was anywhere in the states, i think people would just laugh. it's in a funny mall that mostly exists just because it's there. you have to go through security to get in, and once your in it's almost all just dessert places. it reminds me of something you would find in provo because it's great for a date. i counted last time i was there and there were like 4 ice cream/yogurt places, a pastry shop, a waffle place, a bunch of jewelry places, a juice bar.. you get the idea. they have a big fountain and a light show thing. it's like a funny attempt at trying to be las vegas or something. we have gone twice now, the first time to see x-men, and recently to see the fault in our stars! it's nice to have an american experience and kind of escape everything that has been going on. and not to mention.. the ice cream there is amazing!
shephelah field trip
the geography of israel is divided into 5 areas. coastal plains, the shephelah, judean highlands, jordan river valley, and another one. don't judge me. it's kind of late. on each of our field trips we try to get acquainted with each one, and this one was obviously the shephelah! this is the are responsible for most of israel's agriculture. it's generally green (for israel's standard, at least) there was lots of olives, fig trees, sunflowers, it was pretty!
we actually spent a majority of the day underground. in ancient times, that's where a lot of civilization in this area retreated to because of the heat, and lots of natural caves in the area! we went to about five stops throughout the day and i think almost every one had an underground feature. one of my favorite was the underground pigeon/dove farm kind of thing. they used doves for sacrifice, fertilizer, a food source, and ways to carry messages. the caves are nice and cool, almost a green color, and covered in different sized holes for the birds to nest in.
there were also some cave complexes that were used for residential purposes. it was crazy how intricate and how BIG they were. we were given about an hour to make our way through the biggest one and it was amazing. i would get so lost, and get so sick of stairs if i had to live there! i guess back in the day they'd give the students a whole day to just explore the area and check out all the caves but then someone got hurt. it's too bad. the point i'm trying to get across is the whole system is ginormous and impressive. it was cool!
one of the stops we visited was a national park with an awesome, awesome natural cave. the acoustics were unreal. we have had the opportunity to sing hymns in some pretty cool places, but this was by far my favorite.
the tourists that hear us sing always think we are a traveling choir, and the locals that have become familiar with us visiting love it when we sing and always ask us to, so it is a cool thing to be able to do at various places. when we first got here i remember the staff explaining that while we can't proselyte, we can sing, and that definitely helps people feel the spirit. so that is our missionary work.
we sang the EFY medley, which i love. so beautiful.
there was also a super cool natural hole in the ceiling of the cave, and the sun was beaming down through it just right. i think a bunch of boys got some sweet 'first vision' reenactment shots. there was also a huggeee colony of bats living down there. it was cool stuff.
to wrap the day up, we went to a couple different places that are associated with the story of david and goliath. it was an amazing thing, to be in a place where a story apparently took place that i have heard about since i was a teeny kid. of course, no trip to this area would be complete without... learning how to use a slingshot! the center has a whole bunch of them, made out of this hemp material in various pretty colors. there were two ways to go, the underhand and the overhand. if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to use a slingshot.. i would definitely recommend overhand. it's kind of like pitching a baseball. lots more power. basically i am a pro. i have some great footage care of carley, so if you want a slingshot lesson when i get home, you know who to call!
i am gonna try and get some sleep. i am nowhere NEAR caught up, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step right? haha.
before i head to bed, i will give you another security update. since my last post, we have been in the bomb shelter again twice. although our curfew is much earlier now (4 pm) we can still go out into the city and west jerusalem. we had an informal q&a with our program director, Mr. Hayet a few nights ago and it was very reassuring/ comforting. the security staff here at the JC has everything so figured out it amazes me. they have awesome sources and are always on top of things.
i can't lie to you and say i'm not scared when i first hear the sirens go off, or hear big bangs in the middle of the night. last night i kept waking up, and it's not always easy, but i still haven't ever felt that i was truly unsafe. a little edgy, sure, but how can you not be when you know at any moment you might have to drop everything and run? one thing i have noticed, is that as soon as we get in the shelter, everyone is all smiles. seriously. it's almost fun. i feel so safe in there. i still know there is nothing to worry about. also... what is there to worry about when we have the IRON DOME? seriously that thing is too legit. wow. in your prayers, thank god for the iron dome.
that's all for tonight! i will try to do little blips for the next couple days. i have had lots of downtime and have been reading a lot, but maybe i will redirect to blogging again. again, thank you SO MUCH for the texts, Facebook messages, it is so so nice to hear from people and know that you care. know that we are so safe and honestly in a world of our own here at the Jerusalem Center! love to all!
No comments:
Post a Comment