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| Friday, December 22, 2006 |
| Shh... I just got older! |
4:00am Lauren falls into bed
5:30am Lauren is asleep
5:45am Lauren is still snoozing
5:50am Lauren wakes up, rolls over, peers at the clock, freaks out.
5:51am Lauren wakes up Courtney then jumps in the shower
5:57am Lauren flies out of the shower and into clothes
5:59am Lauren starts her makeup
6:02am Lauren is still doing makeup
6:04am Okay, this is getting ridiculous. The make up looks fine.
6:05am Lauren blow dries her hair
6:10am Lauren flips her hair back, touches on the lip gloss, grabs her bags and heads for the stairs!
6:12am Lauren and Courtney climb on the bus. Eilat, here we come!!
6:35am Lauren runs back up to her dorm room for a book
7:14am The bus is moving! Oh, just getting out of the way...
7:26am Ah..... We're off. For real.
And that was just the first 3 hours of what was going to be a wonderful weekend!
After a 3 hour drive, we reached the Shehoret canyon (just north of Eilat). Over a hundred students, divided into three groups, made like the Israelites and struck off through the desert! It was an amazing experience even though our hike was relatively short and relatively easy. (Thanks to Lygon, I have a rather skewed perspective of what counts as a morning stroll: "Hey Lauren, let's run up Estes Cone to see the sunrise!") While hiking through the desert, we stopped periodically for our guide (an amazing woman! She frequently backpacks across the various deserts of Israel) to tell us about the canyon as well as a little about the other deserts. She related everything back to the Bible. It was so beautiful. I can see how someone could fall in love with it. We walked, talked, and ate lunch for three hours. (Our gourmet lunches consisted of a roll of bread with a couple slices of cheese in it - unless you wanted tuna, then you got a small glob of tuna in the middle.) Yummy. We made it to Eilat by 3pm. Since that evening was the beginning of Chanuka as well as Shabbat, a joint service was held around 4:30. It was quite the experience. Svenja and I were "honorary Jews" for the weekend. After a late dinner, Courtney, Svenja, Jen, and I went exploring. We walked along the beach and did some shopping on the beachside shops. Since my birthday was at midnight, we found a fun place - apparently the place in Eilat - to hang out. A band from South Africa was playing. I danced the night away! We ran into a few others on our trip and they helped celebrate.
The next morning was spent enjoying the beautiful water. Though a little cold for those used to Eilat temperatures (this is the middle of December after all), for the average warm-blooded non-beach bum, it was warm enough to swim in the Red Sea! It was a bit weirder than the lakes of Colorado: rather easy to float and rather difficult to dive. We had a mandatory lunch, then the four girls hit up the mall! Eilat has a rather large mall with a lot of popular European shops. I was introduced to Mango and a few others. Shopping could not compete with the draw of the beach though. We were back outside for a couple more hours before finding a place for dinner. We ate the Underground, a local pub that was playing a soccer game. Inside, we met three of the most random guys. One from South Africa, one from London, and another from New York. We ate dinner with them and just listened to their banter. They had gone fishing that day - with bread as bait. The amazing part is that they'd actually caught something! Decided it was poisonous though so they threw it back.
After an entertaining dinner, we hooked up with our group, loaded back onto the busses, and struck out for Timna. Up until about a thousand years ago, Timna had been a prolific copper mine (active for approximately 5000 years). It is also well-known for its natural rock formations due to water and wind. Solomon's Pillars are the most famous. It was kind of random to take a gander at nature after dark but the formations are lit with huge spotlights. It creates an amazing sense of beauty and mystery. Again we were divided by busses. Our group was ahead of the other so our guide had us all sit in a circle and - this was harder than it sounds - be quiet. Even though we could faintly hear our other group singing some obnoxious songs, it was so beautiful to be embraced by the pure stillness of the desert. Not such a stretch to understand why one would go to the desert to talk with God.
Just to add to the randomness of the desert evening trip, we walked to a little museam with a small amphitheater that already had a large assortment of students from all over Israel - including a group of Ethiopians who were making ali-al. After lighting the second Chanuka candle, we were treated to a disco. The DJ played popular music from America, Israel, and some Ethiopia. Again, we spent the evening dancing. I could go on and on about these few hours to try and convey the completely randomness of it all but I am not that proficient of a writer. Just trust me. It was weird.
The next morning, we were to have bags packed, keys turned in, and be eating breakfast by 7:30. After rolling out of bed around 7:45, grabbing a quick bite, and again loading onto the busses (only an hour off schedule I think! Who is their right mind thinks they can get 100 college students up and out by 7:30??), we drove to the underwater observatory. There is not really much to say about this place. We looked at fish. A lot of fish. It was amazingly beautiful. I think God enjoyed making fish. The shapes and colors are mind-boggling. I want to pursue scuba-diving. Under the water, we have a completely different and stunning world.
After the Observatory, we went back home with a quick stop at the place that has the most amazing ice cream I have had in Israel (reminded me of ColdStone/Marble Slab). My roommates had decorated the apartment in honor of my birthday and we ordered pizza and had cake.
Now isn't that just a great way to spend your birthday? Amazing friends, beautiful scenery, and enough randomness to keep you on your toes! |
posted by Unknown @ 9:21 PM   |
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| Tuesday, December 19, 2006 |
| Put on your yamikah, it's time for chanukah! |
Since I have a fairly intimidating midterm hanging over my head that is due relatively soon... I decided to take this opportunity to catch ya'll up on the happenings in Jerusalem!
First off:
Hag Semach! (Happy Holiday!)
I hope everyone had an amazingly full and delicious Thanksgiving. I actually had classes. For some reason, Israel is not to keen on giving days off for each country's holidays. :( After I got out of class - around 8:00pm - I met up with two of my roommates, Jenny (who is a British Jew) and Chelsea. We were planning on going to the mall where there was a cinema, watch a movie, then head downtown. When we got to the mall, we discovered our movie wasn't playing. (We have not been able to find an online schedule and none of us have been able to navigate through the Hebrew voicemail system yet.) So we opted for shawarma and shopping - TURKEY shawarma, of course.  When the mall closed, we headed downtown to the well-known American pub. Mike's Place. (Not the one that's been bombed - that's in Tel-Aviv.) They had the TV tuned to the football game - Rock on Cowboys! We spent the rest of the evening watching football and talking to some guys that live on a kibbutz. So not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving but we had the all important turkey (and I had mashed potatos for lunch) and American football.
The next day, as a Thanksgiving "treat," Chelsea and I hit the town with one goal in mind. Find a tattoo parlor! We found one and both got new "bling." I got my nose pierced (thank you everyone for the input! Ken - I went with your suggestion and got a little diamond, it is purplish.) and Chelsea got her belly button pierced.
Other than that, I have been on various outings with my roommates and friends: late night burgers at the "I Love Burgers Bar," a quick coffee at an obscure coffee house/bookstore between classes, exploring as many bookshops as possible, finding a pharmacy that had Listerine! (Still no rubbing alcohol or Peroxide though.) Ect.
(This is Jenny, Alana, Chelsea, and Courtney when we all went to dinner at one of our favorite places: the Focaccia Bar. I do not know why everything is called "bar" when it has nothing to do with a bar.)
That is about the extent of my "fun." Classes take up a large portion of each day. I always have one mid-morning class, then an evening class. Since my dorm is too far away to conveniently walk back for a nap, I usually hit up the library. It is nice and warm with lots of good books and the gentle snores of numerous other diligent students. Classes are still very interesting. Though the more and more that I dig into these subjects and start to understand what is going on, I realize more and more how much I do not know! When I came, I wanted to learn a little more Greek, learn Biblical Hebrew, and maybe a little Akkadian since it was required... but now it just keeps multiplying! Ugraritic is what Akkadian is based on so that would give a deeper understanding to Akkadian (which I am loving and what to know even more) and then all Semitic languages are developed from Akkadian so now I want to go on and learn a little Aramaic since I am already getting a taste of it... and that doesn't even start in on learning the Romance languages which are the best way to enhance Egyptian and etc etc!! Everything is connected. And that is simply for languages! I wish I could just know it ALL - and NOW. :D Oh well, I will just keep my nose to the grindstone and see where life leads me and how much I can learn on the way!
And I think that catches ya'll up to December 13th.
December 14th was Dad's birthday!
        
I miss you and wish I could have been there to celebrate with you! (Or that you could have come here and celebrated with me!)
December 15th and on will have to wait until the next post so this one won't get too long. Thankfully for ya'll, I have another midterm that I'll want to put off so I'll post soon. There will be beaches! |
| posted by Unknown @ 8:34 PM |
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| Thursday, December 14, 2006 |
| Oh yeah... I'm here. :) |
| I am still alive! And so is my computer. I have midterms this week and aparently I do not get inspired to write descriptive blogs about my rather mundane life when I've only had 4 hours of sleep for four nights in a row. So I apologize for not keeping ya'll informed! I have pictures and a few stories to share so I will get ya'll caught up soon! Now I am off to class. :) |
| posted by Unknown @ 4:58 PM |
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| Saturday, December 02, 2006 |
| Ack! I gotta virus!! |
| Hey ya'll! I do apologize for the long silence. I will update everyone soon (with a picture of my newest addition)! In my pursuit of new and varied foreign aquisitions, I have managed to aquire a virus for both me and my computer! My poor computer is sleeping on off its flu right now. Once it is better I will again be posting pictures and stories. Oh... and in the spirit of the holiday season... I MISS YOU!!! |
| posted by Unknown @ 12:32 PM |
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