The third day started with me completely throwing up everything that i had ate for breakfast in the bathroom of the hotel lobby. I didnt make it to the tiolet in the bathroom and it ended up on the floor. The joys of living in another country- sometimes the food you eat is totally rejected by your stomach. The third day of the trip was mostly spent in a place called Timnah Park. Timnah is also a city in the Negev, but it has been perserved as a national park because of some of the natural wonders that are there. The [View Full Entry]

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The first stop on the second day was to this place called the Red Canyon. Our bus stopped on the way there in this place where you can see Jordan and Egypt. So we took some pictures there. Red Canyon is in the desert and is a place where you can hike around. It really sceneic and the rocks there are that reddish color, hence the name Red Canyon. By far the best part of the entire trip was our time spent in Eilat. Eliat is a beautiful desert city where the Red Sea is located. We got there around lunch [View Full Entry]

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That night we stayed at a hostel in Mizpah Ramon. This modern day town is on the edge of Machtesh Ramon, which is a naturally formed crater in the earth. It was amazing and reminded me of what the Grand Canyon probably look likes- i havent been there so i dont know actually what it looks like-. It was really cool. A bunch of people from the group got up for the sunrise over the crater..i didnt. But i have some pictures of it from cories camera because she got up early for it. I slept. The hostel that we stayed [View Full Entry]

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Our next stop was pretty cool. It is a place called Avdat and was a nabetean city. The nabeteans were a people group who were traders and were able to live in the wilderness because they knew where all the natural spings and water sources were located. Since they were the only people group who were able to survive for a long period of time in the wilderness, they held a monopoly on the spice trade. The Nebeteans traded spices along the spice route which run up from Gaza. This site was really well perserved with remains from the nebetean settlement [View Full Entry]

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I just wrote up an entry about Arad and for some reason it was erased. I dont know why. so this is will be short. Arad was the next stop for the first day. Arad is in the eastern basin of the Negev which is above Beersheba. Arad also had remains from a civilization that lived there. there was also a temple on the site which was built by the people there. This temple was much better perserved than the one at Beersheba. You were able to see the holy of holies, and the sacrifical altar. we had fun with the [View Full Entry]

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Last week our class went on our first extended field trip to the Negev. The Negev is an area in the south of Israel which are the dry lands or the wilderness. This is where the Israelites wandered for forty years while waiting for the Promise Land. We left on Tuesday the 6th and came back on friday the 9th. The Negev is composed of many different regions and cities- basically there is a eastern basin, central basin, and western basin which make up the Negev. The central basin is the main location of the Bibical Negev and that is where [View Full Entry]

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Purim is a jewish feast which is celebrated in March. This year it fell on march 4th. It celebrates the victory and existence of the Jewish people despite the evil plottings of Haman, in the book of Esther in the Bible. It is tradition for the people to dress up and then they read the story of Esther. You boo for whenever the name Haman is read and cheer for Esther. We did this on saturday the 4th, and everyone dressed up. I have some pictures attached of some of the costumes people had. The real fun however was in Jerusalem. [View Full Entry]

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Here are some picture updates from the last blog that i posted and things that have happened in the last couple of weeks! [View Full Entry]

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i know, i know. I am lame. I havent updated this thing in probably over a month. I dont even know where to begin. We have been on probably three or four different trips since i last wrote. I guess that i will just post some highlights since i am so behind. It has been over a month since i have been here and the time is going so fast. I look forward to and yet fear the day that i will have to leave Israel. I know that i will look back on this experience with jealousy, wanting to always [View Full Entry]

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Today after church, which is the longest hour and half of my life, we went into the old city to hang out until 4pm when the bus came and picked us back up. We got Flaffel at the best place in the Christian quarter. I dont know what kind of special stuff they lace their flaffel with, but they are so stinkin good. After that we went to trade some more money with Shaaban and had tea with him. It was really good tea, with mint in it and everything. I dont know where they make the tea but these guys [View Full Entry]

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