Highlightin' Highlifin'

I'm not sure if highlifin' is really the proper way to manipulate the english language... but, the bottom line is here: this week has been poppin' with highlights. I'll break them down for you, in order of appearance.

• I achieved record levels of puking and survived. You probably recognize this triumphant sentence as an offspring of my previous post, so I'll move on.

• I finally went to the International House of Prayer. People kept telling me, "Em, there's an IHOP across the road!" And I was like, "Fools, I don't see no pancakes nowhere." I stand (sit, type) corrected. I went with other JUC'ers to watch this documentary. After the film everyone worshipped together and lifted that Korean Film team up in prayer. I tried to include myself in the blessings and edifying etc as much as possible. I figured since they were basically praying for those in the communication field and I upload things on Youtube, it was alright.

• After doing the let's-sync-our-schedules dance, with germs, field studies and distance tripping up our feet, I was finally able to meet with my friend, Matt N. from the Middle East Studies Program. His semester took an unanticipated turn when Egypt decided to depose if its government and he's been relocated to Jerusalem. Always good to meet a friend halfway around the world and hear a first-hand account of history.

• Fridays are great days. No classes for Emily, Shabbat begins, and we play frisbee. Hours of frisbee. This week though my favorite part of hours of frisbee was not, in fact, frisbee. It was my teammate, Matt Traylor. I am not so good at frisbee. I acquired the nickname "shekels" after it was established that, on a field full of dollars, I am the shekel. But Matt Traylor stoutly defended me, "No Emily, you're a reliable player!" I proceeded to botch some throws, miss some passes and feel like a champion the whole time. Meanwhile, there was Matt. Always with his game face, always playing that D, making us look great, making my friday awesome. Thanks Matt.

• Final highlight of the week was going to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church dedication in Jericho. I've been anticipating this day all week. Best day I've had in Israel.

St. Gabriel's church.

I was hoping to creep in and creep out, but there was no blending in. We walked into the church the only and obvious Americans (plus a British and Canadian fellow). Everyone else was Ethiopian and if they weren't, they looked like they belonged. But a few minutes into the ceremony I forgot about feeling like a sore thumb. It's incredible to see the cross-cultural expression of the church. Check out the video! but first let me say, you can't really see anything. It's sideways and over-edited and effected and overall, not much to watch. What's the point then? Press play, turn up your volume and read on while you listen to the drums! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S29-hWZxKNU

Drummin

Kids in the ceremony.

Priests

After the dedication, there was so. much. food. We got a plate of injera loaded with meat and a spicy sauce. I mean, really spicy– says the girl who has a difficult time eating pepperoni. Three bites into this meal I was facing some health and safety issues. But it was so much fun eating with my fingers that, even though my esophagus was on fire, I ate the entire plate of food.

Cleaning off as much as possible, we started to walk towards the direction where we would meet our taxi. The man who invited us last week intercepted asking, "You enjoyed the Ethiopian food?" As we nodded enthusiastically and 'thank you'd' he held out his arm and ushered us into another building. "Good, now it is time to eat Arabic food!"

Lunch #2. It was like Thanksgiving. There was practically half a chicken on the plate, loaded with rice and a plain yogurt with vegetables. It was delicious, and quenched the palate, thank God (I was melting). Unfortunately, I couldn't possibly finish it all, but dangit if I didn't make the effort. As we plowed through that plate of food, we discovered the one of the guests was the Governor of Jericho. We left shortly after he said a few words, but not before we found the priest that we met last week, and thanked him.

That wrapped our visit. We had some drama go down with our taxi-driver on the way back to Jerusalem. It was a crowd-drawing scene– lots of hollering, waving of the arms, and finger pointing between drivers and eventually some police presence. I still don't completely understand what was going on... I think the gist of it was one sherut driver was trying to get our business when the other driver had dibs and it was cramping the other driver's income. There's my confusing explanation. How about: it was exciting. I'll leave it at that.

Street in Jericho

Tomorrow, we go north! We're going on a field study to Samaria. Keep your eyes out for that post!

Thanks for reading,

-Em

emily vs. bugs

JUC is a cozy campus. In less than a month, I’ve gotten to know everyone, with the exception of a couple off-campus grad students. We all spend time together at meals, exploring the city, playing games, studying. We have shared a lot of laughs, stories, jokes, books... water bottles, candy, coffee, fruit. It follows that the most recent bout of generosity came in the form of bugs. Stomach bugs.

In my life, I only remember being visited by these critters twice. Both times I knew I was going to die. Sunday night/ Monday morning falls in the same category, but with the distinction that I have never, ever puked so much in my life. Might I add: there is very little that’s worse than heaving yourself inside out and being thousands of miles away from your mom.

I slept all day and woke up at 6PM feeling so sorry for myself. I shambled into my cafeteria for toast and was welcomed with “Oh, you look like crap, sit here!” and took my place at the Quarantined Sick Kids’ Table. Aesop told it straight, Misery (Hi, that was me) really does love company. Swapping puking stories with the other afflicted fellows, I have never laughed so much with such a sad stomach. The poor boys stuck up on the roof, two flights of stairs away from the bathroom, gave me a great sense of perspective. And the places they puked... flower beds, gutters, trash cans... I understand why our cleaning lady has been grumpy.

Meanwhile, a sweet woman here on campus braved the plague and made the Quarantine Table lots of tea and tried to nudge some marmite stuff in our direction. Just the sort of thing my mom does; tea and then some interesting concoction that I politely (well, alright, adamantly) turn down. One movie later, I was able to go to sleep a happier, less-sick, sick kid than when I’d woken.

Looking back in the aftermath, I’m really thankful. Usually my emotional fortitude dissolves when I see dinner again. I weep, I gnash my teeth, I pray for swift death... I really lose it. But I was able to sleep it off (I hit a record 24 hours of sleep, with puking, then toast-movie intermissions). I’ve been able to bounce back pretty well!

So, here are some of the details of life, pre-bug visitation. Last week-end, on Saturday, we had a field study around outskirts of Jerusalem, in Judah.

Eastern Judah

Russian Orthodox Church near Mt. of Olives

Eating Lunch at the Herodian, this was my view.

My new favorite stop in Bethlehem? I think, yes.

Then Sunday we went to the coast! Here are some photos from Akko:

The Port City of Akko

I'm not sure what's going on in this photo... Best explanation: Jory is chilling in the belly of the whale and I am in Free Willy mode

The storms sweep in fast from the sea. We watched this one roll in, then nearly drowned standing. My friends and I were hustling back to the bus in the downpour and I tried to leap out of the street, over a small torrent and onto the safety of the sidewalk. Suddenly, my feet were gone and in the presence of many witnesses, I hit the ground. Oh well, never hurts to put the ego on a diet.

This week-end I spent a lot of time in Jericho. On Saturday I went monastery hopping, getting a taste for the different styles of the churches in the East.

Climbing up the Mount of Temptation

Ceiling of a church in a Russian Monastery. Hands down, the most beautiful church I have ever seen. The paintings, the woodwork, the mosaics... very beautiful building.

On Sunday I explored the territory of Benjamin with my Physical Settings class. The boundaries of Benjamin are approximately 27 miles East-West and 10 miles North-South. In this cramped space, I saw the most diverse landscapes. Think, from the heaps of sand and dust in the New Mexico desert to the summer-green farm land in Wilton, New York.

Wilderness

High Hills of Benjamin

Plains of Gezer

More Rain.

Alright, I know... my pictures are not so good. I have such a hard time with photos! They never look right for me. I get so frustrated, I end up just trying to internalize as much as I can rather than exercising my point-click eyes. But, I promise, I will step up my game.

Last photo I'll share: the Bedouin kids that showed up during our lecture on the Herodian Architecture on the site of one of Herod's pleasure palaces. There are quite a few of these hooligans running around, but these kids stood out because they had a baby, bleating goat that is probably going to be dinner in the future, but it was an excellent ploy for attention now. I fell for it.

Poor goat.

Thanks for reading!

Em

syncing...syncing...

What did the iPod say when it fell in the pool?

I'M SYNCINGGGG.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be that person who put the jokes on the sides of popsicle sticks. Those really bad ones that you hear and then groan.

Personally, I have been trying to link up with that writing zone– tune in to the flow and just let the words spill... but I'm not syncing.

I know: a true writer sweats and grunts and hauls through those times. I weep, whine and complain. And finally, a week later, I post this. And then I continue to weep because Blogspot is cantankerous [or I'm an idiot] and the pictures I want to share aren't jiving with my words. Captions aren't lining up, photos aren't settling the way I'd like them to, I found a baby seal floundering in a puddle of oil, etc. Though, it may not be Blogspot's fault. Formatting is not my forte.

Looking back, it's been a great week. Sunday was a highlight– 11 hours of class time. Sounds awful yeah? But really, it was my favorite day. When Jerusalem is my classroom, class is awesome.

We crept through Roman sewer systems, sat on the 1st century steps of the temple, climbed through the ruins of the pool of Bethesda... my favorite part of the day was standing on a rooftop in the City of David.

With this view, we read "I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth..." in the very center of those hills in Psalms 121.

The walls of the Old City

The Herodian Temple

Field studies are awesome. If you're interested in seeing more photos, I volunteer my facebook page. Some folks have tagged several photos of me (thank you to all those wielding cameras that day) and you can see a bit more of the day. [in other words: go ahead, Facebook stalk me.]

My favorite 'classroom' class is Arabic 101. It's twice a week, in Bethlehem. It's neat learning phrases and words that I can wield on the general public. My professor really encourages it "In this country we like to say this! And here is how you can use this phrase! Use it! Speak this!" and, of all the people in the city: the shopkeepers, the cleaning ladies, the cashiers– her target audience is!!

The bus driver.

The bus driver whose face is like a dark storm cloud. His teeth are like lightning bolts and his thundering brow rolls over and over with powerful glowerings.

I will not talk to the bus driver. But our arabic-speaking cleaning lady seems really sweet! Also, I've volunteered to work at Domari- a gypsy after school program, or something of that nature. Apparently the kids are "naughty" but they speak arabic! Fair trade. They can be obnoxious and I will bludgeon them with my fresh vocabulary.

Anyway, in the midst of figuring out how to phrase it, I have had a great week. So much so that I have made the commitment move– the one I didn't do for SUNY Adirondack, and only reluctantly for Gordon.

Reppin' the academy through my clothes.

I'll put this out there: I have high expectations for this semester. Let's see what happens!

Emily

Kicks and Giggles

It’s the end of my first week of classes. As I’ve met the people here– the bible scholars- history majors- ministers-in-training– there have been the ”whatsyournamewhereareyoufromlifestorygo!” questions. Then there has been the question: “What are you studying?”

Communications!

Cue the eyebrows. “What are you doing here.”

Kicks and giggles my friends.

Well, that’s what I thought. Then I saw all the homework. Papers, reading... you know, real homework. Slaughterhouse for the giggles.

It’s worth it though. The first week of classes has me excited for the rest of the semester. That never, ever happens. And, when classes are over for the day, great things happen. Like walking (gasping.. trudging..wheezing) up the Mount of Olives.

Stopping into a Roman prison along the way and standing in the courtyard where [it's said] Jesus was whipped.

Checking out the Garden of Gethsemane.

All in time to catch the sunset over Jerusalem.

You’re right– none of that was homework. It’s tough having an incredible backyard.

Much love to home, I hope you are taking extra time to play in the snow for me,

Emily

P.S. This little gem is hanging up in our library.

No dance parties? How do they expect me to survive finals?