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Published: March 10th 2009
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First of all, sorry it's been a while. Not much has happened here since my trip to Jerash (which is actually Greek, as I was made aware of, but it's not my fault the Ministry of Antiquities messed up...). We successfully got internet in our apartment, so I no longer have to fight the sound of the coffee grinder when I Skype my family. We had a Valentine's party, all singles of course, complete with chili, chocolate, strawberries, and cherry tarts. Other than that, my life has just about revolved around school. Oh, and I've finished all the seasons of the Unit, and am caught up to where it is currently in the States (that's 3 and a half seasons...).
Anyways, we had a long weekend this past weekend. Kelsey gave us Saturday off, and Monday was apparently Mohammed's birthday, so we had a 4 day weekend. A few weeks ago, I decided that the best way for me to spend this free time was to travel to Israel and the West Bank with my friend and former classmate, Brenda. So we left early Thursday morning for the Northern Border. We got through pretty much without any issues, took the
bus across the border, then grabbed a taxi to Jerusalem, where we would pick up our rental car. Once in Jerusalem, we only had about half an hour before we needed to get out of the city to avoid crazy weekend traffic, so we took a quick drive through the Old City. Then we headed out of the city to Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank where we would be staying. The weather there was awesome - it was warm and sunny, with beautiful sunsets, a welcome break from the cold and wet of Amman. Brenda had lived in Ariel for a while before coming to Kelsey, so she had an apartment there, and knew a lot of people there as well. I got to meet a bunch of them our first night there. One group of people included some of the Waller family, who are an amazing people. (You can read more about what they do at www.hayovel.com) They were there with 10
or so other people to work in the vineyards for a month.
On Friday, we were going to go to Tel Aviv, but we found out that the Wallers and Co. were headed out past Nablus to see Mt. Geraziim and other Biblical antiquities. So we jumped in the car and followed suit after a breakfast of champions - fresh pastries from a local bakery and some good coffee. It was a clear day, and you could see for miles. Since the past week or so has been full of rain, we got up to the top of the hill, and found it covered with beautiful wildflowers and grass. Put my allergies through the ringer, but I loved it nonetheless. Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat, so we grabbed some wine and headed over to the Wallers and hung out for a couple hours before going to another family's house for Shabbat dinner. It was really cool to see how Shabbat works - the blessing of the wine, bread, people, the Shabbat song, and then there's this big horn that gets played. We had fresh, homemade xhalla bread too. It was delicious. After dinner, we played Dilemma (it's
some intellectual game that I got whomped at...) before heading to bed.
On Saturday, we went into Tel Aviv for church. After church, I met a group of students from a Bible college in Jerusalem that were heading to the beach for the afternoon, so I joined them. It was a beautiful day to be at the beach. I was particularly excited because I finally could wear shorts - they're acceptable in Tel Aviv... The water was pretty warm, so we swam for a bit, listened to music, and played some volleyball. After several relaxing hours, I met up with Brenda again, and we went out to Jaffa for dinner and ice cream. We drove back to Ariel that night, because I was going to have a long day ahead of me. And we got the coolest chocolate ever - it has pop rocks in it! Definitely kept me amused for a while...
Then came Sunday. I got up around 6, and headed over to the Waller's at 730. The girls and one of the families were going to Jerusalem (since it was their last day), but the guys were all going to Shiloh to help plant some
trees and clear out a ton of thorny brier bushes at this guy's farm. And I was going with them to work. Brenda had a bunch of things to do and people to see, so I was perfectly happy to help the Wallers and Co. I was the only girl there, so the guys joked that they'd have to watch their language, and that they would be sitting around drinking coffee while I did the heavy lifting. We got to work around 830, pulling out big bushes and replanting some of the newer trees. We kept at it for more than 6 hours, stopping for brief water/food breaks. We ended up clearing out huge amounts of brier bushes, and I left the field with a bunch of thorny splinters and a farmer's burn. Regardless, it was an awesome way to spend most of the day. We went back to the apartment, had chili, rice, and salad for dinner, and saw off one of the families. We then went to see Ami, a teenager who survived a pipe bomb explosion a year ago, play in a local basketball game. His team lost by ten, but it was still a good game
to watch.
We left for the border early Monday morning, stopping in Jerusalem to meet another of Brenda's friends. One of the guards at the border was actually from Cherry Hill, near where we lived in New Jersey, which was a fun coincidence. We had to wait a while for the bus across the border, but other than that, we got across with ease. We were in a taxi on the way back to Amman by 2, so we only had a few more hours before we would be back. The taxi driver took us up a newly paved road, which was ridiculously steep, and we almost didn't make it up. But it was a beautiful scenic route, the hills covered in new grass and wildflowers. I was sad to leave.
The journey was long and tiring. But it was definitely worth it. I met some of the coolest people, experience traditions from another culture, and got to see some awesome places. I really hope I can go back again soon, because long weekends like this were made for gallivanting.
Coming up - more visitations, movies, vocab, better weather, and my mother gets here in 39 days!!!!!!!!
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