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| Friday, November 10, 2006 |
| We have reached normality. Therefore, anything you still cannot deal with is your own problem. |
The last three weeks of classes have been good. Life is starting to fall into a bit of a routine. I have Hebrew Ulpan in the "morning" (noon!), then a three to four hour break until my evening class. Since my dorm is too far away to want to go home between classes, I hang out in the library. This is proving to be a very handy study time. Two of my courses, Archaeology and Jeremiah, are simply lecture courses so I mostly have no homework. It is a very different style from undergrad work. Yet, I feel as though I cannot keep up with them nearly as well as my language courses because the only instructions are to "read as much about Jerusalem Archaeology as you can." So there are all these articles that I want to read and now I feel like I'm supposed to! The wealth of knowledge that my professors are holding out to me show me how little I really know. I am trying to absorb as much as possible. I know I am missing so much though! There is just so much! My favorite class is Jerusalem Archaeology. The professor takes us out in the morning before class for a tour. The first time he took us to the East Talpiyot Promenade which is on one of the southern hills overlooking all of Ancient Jerusalem to the north. Looking to the south you can see down towards Bethlehem and the Judean Desert. He spent a couple hours describing what the topography looks like now and what it would have looked like then. Amazing. Next tour took us to the eastern slope of the Western Hill. Again we looked over the topography and walked along the Old City Wall for a bit. It is so easy to see how King David come up with his imagery. "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore." (Ps 125:2) "You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners." (So 6:4)
Sunday nights I have been going to a church called King of Kings. My home church has had a lot of connections with it, supported it for years, so it does not feel too weird. My pastor from CO even stopped in for a bit last Sunday while he was on tour through Israel. So far I am enjoying it. It is so good to be surrounded by people with whom I can relate! Joel Rosenberg even showed up last week. There is another church that meets early Saturday morning and so far I have not gotten up early enough to go but I think I'd like to try it out. It is a bit more conservative.
Here's us heading to church:
I was finally able to get a cell phone last week. It took way too long to actually get the stupid sim card, then I found that I could not unlock my US cell phone, so I hopped a bus for downtown. My roommate and I rode it until we saw a cellphone shop. I bought a cute, little, silver flip-phone! (I know! I said I'd never own a flip-phone! But it still wasn't a razor!) I had it for a few days, then I went out Friday night and lost it in a cab. Figures!! The worst part about is that when we'd call it, a guy would answer but hang up when I started talking! How blatant is that!?! It was not that fancy of a phone. Common decency - just give it back. Grrrrr. So about the time I was feeling like things were under control, that happens. Oh well. It's all part and parcel of this thing called "adventure." I got another cell phone a couple days later so once again, I am connected to the world! This one is actually kinda nice because all incoming calls are free! (*hint hint*)
I have been downtown a few times, but I have still not been to the Old City! Very annoying!! I cannot wait to go! My roommate and I are going this weekend. I think we're going to go on Saturday. We were going to go downtown tomorrow to watch the Gay Pride Parade but since it's been cancelled, I think we're going to take it easy.
Today was awesome! In between Hebrew and Akkadian, I have about a three hour break, so Sarah, Alana, Chelsea, and I decided to hit up this burger joint that Sarah knew about. She told me about this place last week and I have been dying for a good, American hamburger! It was a cute little hole-in-the-wall place. And *drumroll* not only did they have cheeseburgers, they even had bacon and bbq. Probably the most un-kosher place in the whole city. And it was amazing. I never realized how wonderful it could be to simply have meat and cheese together. Oh yum. Then we walked over to Ben Yahuda Street for some ice cream cones. Could the day get any better?? I was so full. I think we are going to make it a tradition.
I could keep going but this is definitely getting long enough! I'll ramble more latas.
Here's a picture from when Alana and I went downtown one evening.
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posted by Unknown @ 2:37 AM   |
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