Snow in Jerusalem!

This week has been pretty frantic. I started class on Monday - I'm taking Physical Settings of the Bible, History of Israel in the 2nd Temple Period, History of the Church in the East, Cultural Background of the Bible, and an independent study on 2nd semester Greek. Fortunately, class is only 4 days a week, and one class is a night class. My field studies will be on the weekends, for which I am very excited.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with my school work. I haven't done anything really exciting except for a Wednesday morning journey into the Old City and a Wednesday night snowball fight. I woke up Wednesday to find a whole lot of snow pouring down in the garden of JUC. Craig said that the cook didn't come in for breakfast, so we went to the city to get some grub and take some pictures at 7:00 a.m. I got a fresh bagel from a place in the Jewish Quarter: AMAZING. I got back just in time for class and then spent the day in the books... until Craig decided to provoke me to anger when he threw a snowball at me in our room. I proceeded to get dressed and tackle him, which amounted to me and him having a snowball fight. We were kind of on the same team until he leaped off of (what I call) the alter and tackled me from behind. Good times.

Anyway, Hell froze over today. And me, being the idiot that I am, completely forgot to take a picture of it directly. This shot is overlooking it, but not giving you the full scale of it.. Jesus likened the Hinnom Valley to Hell because it was like the dump of Jerusalem. So, Mom and Dad, good news.. the Phillies are going to win the World Series.

ohhh I said it.

Meat Hooks and Machine Guns

I had my first class this morning (keep in mind, my posts are recorded according to your time, not my own). It was a two hour class and seriously was not long enough. Yesterday was another eye opener. I was given the opportunity to view some of the most famous and historical places in the entire world: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (again), the Dome of the Rock, as well as the Eastern and Western Hills that are covered in buildings and religious icons.

I sit here in the Library, gazing over the Hinnom Valley onto the Water Shed Ridge. The sky is absolutely beautiful right now, though as I am learning, weather is terribly unpredictable. Yesterday around 1:00 p.m. I was outside with shorts and a short sleeve shirt juggling a soccerball around with J.E. Two hours later, as we began our walk around the city, I had a thick, fleece hoodie on with long pants and a hat and I felt underdressed. I think there was a 20 degree drop in temperature within those two hours. Apparently, it will be snowing tomorrow night, hopefully putting a good amount of snow on the ground. The streets are moderately busy right now, but not like it can be. The drivers around here seem to have less regard for you than in American cities. Not so much out of sheer disregard to your safety, but more to the fact that you should know to get the heck out of the way when a vehicle is charging at you. I think its kind of amusing. Horns are also a favorite resource around here. I know that for me, a horn shows some sort of anger, but here, it is just a warning that you will be hit if you do not move.
As some of you know, the military in Israel is pretty intense. But as some of you don't know, they flaunt it with their casual machine guns being carried throughout the city. Should I feel more secure or threatened? haha. I feel more secure actually. Somebody messes around, they get shot real quick... repeatedly and thoroughly.
Street shops are freaking amazing. You walk down the Old City streets finding everything from tourist shops to meat and produce shops. All of the goods that you need are not in Shoprite and Walmart, but at local venders who will bargain prices. Meat hangs from hooks descending from the ceiling right out in the open. As you can see, bones, almost entire body, still in tact. I saw one of the most disturbing things of my life on one display table: a pleasent array of tongues of some sort, jaw still attached. I'm not a fan of making out with animals, so tongues will not be on my "to eat" list... especially while they are still connected to a jaw.
Did I mention earlier that I was boozin' on the plane? Hey, they had free wine, and Craig and I wanted to try it. I've got to say, "boozin'" would not be the word for that crap. It was more along the lines of "inducing nausea." I hate the taste of alcohol, thank God. Anyway, I'm going to start doing some homework and read up on some stuff. I love and miss you all.

JUC Day 2 - Intro to Old City Jerusalem

My first night under the stars was ended by a bit of bad weather that continued on throughout the second day. The city is still amazing, regardless of how gloomy it is.

We walked around the Old City of Jerusalem on a photo-scavenger hunt. A number of times, I found myself standing in awe of the scenery, too distracted to pay attention to how I arrived at any point or how I was to get back. Learning roads is not important to me at this point; I have to get through this surreal feeling of ecstacy. I am in a land that is as old as civilization, a land of biblical heros, a land where my Lord came, lived, and died! To the right is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that supposedly contains the rock behind which Jesus was buried.

Probably the most ridiculous thing I've seen so far has been a sandwich shop that offered probably the most holy sandwich known to man. I know it is hard to believe, but apparently they found the remains of Moses, ground them down, and delectably seasoned a sandwich with them. Talk about ridiculous tourist attractions... Though, I'm not going to lie, by the end of this trip, I may have myself a Moses sandwich!

JUC - Day 1

I woke up this morning to a thick mist splashing
my face at 4:00 a.m. My friend, J.E., and I decided it might be best to head inside in case of a storm potentially pouring on us.

I arrived at Tel Aviv airport in Israel at 3:30 p.m. My first flight was a great experience; British Airways had great food and service. I took a Sherut (shuttle) with 8 fellow students to Jerusalem University College in Old City Jerusalem, traveling through the winding, hilly terrain of Israel. After becoming acquainted with the campus and meeting a few new people, I decided it might be fun to camp out on my first night. Now, it is only 30 degrees at night here, but hey.. I only have one first night here (get used to phrases like that). My roommates Andrew, Joel, and Craig, on the other hand, wanted to sleep off of the jetlag, and none of them have sleeping bags (yet), but a new friend of mine, J.E., gladly joined me for the camp out. I hope to do something absurd every day!

This picture to the left was taken in the plane over the area east of Greece. I'm not sure what mountain range it is, but it was absolutely beautiful. I hope to upload a photo album within the next few days - I already have over 100 pictures for you to see!