I’m not sure how to even begin this entry, but I’ll tell you upfront that it will only touch the surface of what I’ve experienced in the last few weeks. We arrived in Jerusalem March 31st and stayed the first five nights at Jerusalem University College. It was BEAUTIFUL ! There were other American students that we could talk to, gardens to read in, and even a piano that I was able to play. We all loved staying there, but we moved to the Austrian Hospice after Easter Sunday which is more inside the city and closer to everything. Here’s a list of some things I’ve done since being here:
*Heard from a variety of speakers covering different perspectives on the Arab-Israel conflict. Among them was Archbishop Elias Chacour-author of one of my favorite books Blood Brothers.
*Toured Jerusalem and saw many many sites including the Garden of Gethsemane, the Tear-Drop church, the Temple Mount/City of David, etc.
*Walked the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday. This was almost the death of me. It was literally the most dangerous thing I’ve done this semester.
*Went to the Sunrise Easter Service and the Garden Tomb. It was also the first English church service I’ve been to this semester.
*Walked through Hezekiah’s Tunnel!
*Visited Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum)
*Shabbat Observance at the Western/Wailing Wall
*Saw the Golan Heights and spent the rest of the day in Galilee/Nazareth. This included seeing ruins of a synagogue Jesus taught in, the supposed house of Peter’s mother-in-law, the church of the Enunciation, the Mount of the Beatitudes, etc. We also took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee!
*Spent a day in Tel Aviv walking along the beach, playing on an amazing big-kid playground, and flying a kite!
*Spent a day in Bethlehem. It doesn't look like the Christmas Carol. For there in the little town of Bethlehem is a huge wall dividing the West Bank from Israel. The wall was covered in graffiti--phrases like “This is the wall at which you should weep” remaining in my mind. We also met/had lunch with students from Bethlehem University.
*Visited/had discussions with students from Hebrew University
Today we hiked up Masada! If you don't know the story behind it, you should look it up. I was excited because I can remember my dad enthusiastically telling me all about the fortress and the story behind it. And today I got to see it for real! It was quite the hike! In my opinion, it was harder than Mt. Sinai because it was so steep! Afterward we went to En Gedi-the place where David hid from Saul. It was BEAUTIFUL and we swam in some springs/waterfalls. What a day! We have our last speaker tonight and then we have a final free day in Jerusalem before we return "home" to Cairo.
It has been a great two weeks, but mentally challenging as I expected. We've all been overloaded with opinions and information and our final 2 weeks in Cairo will be spent trying to spill it all back out into FOUR different papers. We have a lot of processing to do. It's hard to believe that the semester is almost over!
Until Cairo!...
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