my dad is the greatest dad in the whole wide world.

thanks for sending me halfway across the world. and always chasing the sunshine. and feeding my diet coke habit. and putting up with hearing me even when you really only want to see me. i love you daddy. you really are the greatest dad in the whole wide world. happy happy birthday!

i vow,

to never to sit in the wrong seat again.

last sunday, it was cold and rainy; therefore, i refused to leave the center. turns out i still hate the cold, even in jerusalem. we were going to go out for lunch, but then we made friends with security and found out that you can get falafel delivered (jackpot). then we decided, what better way to spend a rainy day than at the movies? so that night we went to west jerusalem and saw the vow. so good. when we got there we found out there are assigned seats in the jerusalem movie theater. well, sorry i'm a stupid american and can't read hebrew. granted there is maybe a grand total of 20 seats in the theater, but heaven forbid we sit in the wrong seats (which all have the exact same view of the screen). sorry there were 13 of us. we all just up and moved about 7 times. can't you just accept the fact that i am from america and let me watch the movie? (did i mention it was so good?) turns out i really am in a different country. and apparently i don't always get my way? weird.

happy birthday kc.

happy birthday to the cutest little girl on the planet. i can't believe you are six sweet kc. i hope you have the greatest day ever. i love you so so much little munchkin.

forbidden love.

last night we had our first dance in the jc. it was supposed to be on valentine's day, but we had a few midterms the day after and the professor's keep telling us this is a study abroad...psh. anyways, we moved the dance to friday, and it was the ultimate party.

dearest wesley did an excellent job dj-ing, and we all danced our little hearts out to miley, jb, backstreet boys, britney, and ended with "i'm sexy and i know it." the girl-to-guy ratio made for real entertainment. as you can see, there was even a mini re-enactment of crazy, stupid, love. not everyone can be ryan gosling. 

oh those ludlow boys, breaking all our hearts.

there's nothing like music and love to bring people together. after the dance, we stole the microphone and ended the night belting out karaoke style and dancing around the room.

happy valentine's day from the jc <3 i hope yours was filled with love.

when i say pass, you say over.

thursday night we had our seder passover meal. don't ask me why we didn't have it on actual passover (actually i think it is because we're not in jerusalem over passover), but nonetheless, it was quite the experience. 

there was wine (grape juice) drinking, leaf eating, hand washing, unleavened bread breaking, lots of rituals, and singing.

and it wouldn't be a jerusalem center activity without rapping.

"when i say hala, you say kah. hala-kah!"

ah, my friends are so funny. 

we've been getting so much judaism culture lately. seder dinner on thursday and jewish synagogue to welcome in shabbat on friday. it's so fun learning about other religions and seeing the similarities between them all. 

shabbat shalom friends!

ya herd?

on monday we took a field trip to the biblical gardens of neot ketuvim.

 all the professors said this was the most fun field trip of the semester,

but i feel like i hear that every week, so i was skeptical.

turns out they were right (at least so far).

i felt like i was i was on an elementary school field trip again.

 we ground hyssop 

(the plant that moses was told to use to spread the lamb's blood around the doors during passover).

it's also quite tasty with olive oil on pita.

 then we herded sheep.

yes, you heard me right. 

(herd, heard, ya herd...punny).

so entertaining. 

running around chasing sheep and goats

and trying to get them to follow us.

luckily i got in a group with kaitlyn who grew up on a farm herding sheep.

obviously we won. my family always taught me to choose my friends wisely :)

 just call me the sheep whisperer.

 then we made homemade pita.

no worries--the recipe is engrained in my head.

and finally, we saw a torah scribe in action.

we all got a feel for the world during biblical times,

and i got a feel for the sun.

life as of late.

lots and lots of hummus and falafel. 

humanitarian projects (aka dance parties while creating hygiene kits). 

baking and blowing bubbles with the ludlow family.

church of the holy sepulchre.

enjoying the city and our favorite falafel man, eddie, at damascus gate.

valentine's packages from the greatest sister and mom of all time.

i love life in the jc.

Bathseba.

last monday we had our field trip to the city of david,

where we journeyed through hezekiah's tunnel

and learned about the life of king david.

 we were all the epitome of fashion with our water shoes,  

but they actually came in handy as we marched through the tunnel. 

and of course there was dancing and singing of mulan's 

"let's get down to business, to defeat the huns"

(you can tell we don't like disney movies at all)
as we made our way through.

as we stood at this look out,

our professor informed us that this is probably where david was standing 

when he looked out and saw bathseba bathing.

i could hardly contain myself with laughter.

i won't go into detail about this story,

but this picture is for you sisters. 

here i am. bathing. just like bathseba.

(we just have so much in common.)

because there has been so much destruction and reconstruction in jerusalem,

there are few places still around where it is even possible that jesus would have walked;

however, these steps are at just the right level--at the pool of siloam.

Here is a poem Cassidy, one of the girls in our group, wrote about this spot.

Forever At His Feet
St. John 9:1-12

–He stopped for me.
On the corner of the street I lie with no sight-–
At His feet I plea.

“Who did sin?” ask the three
When they see my eyes clouded by forever night.
–He stopped for me.

Astounded that I was chosen when you didn’t leave;
My hands search for Him in my delight.
At His feet I plea.

Spittle made from clay, and I believe;
His thumbs anoint mine eyes, my wretchedness despite.
–He stopped for me.

“Go wash in the pool of Siloam,” directs He.
As I washed, came colors to my vision bright:
At His feet I plea

Through His love He has made me free
Never will I forget the man in White who showed me light.
–He stopped for me.
At His feet I will plea.

10 cow wife.

yesterday, my obsession with pita and hummus got the best of me...(again).

after seven hours of class on wednesday, i had to get out. 

so right after class on thursday, sarah, mere, cam, and i 

went to abu shukri.

(supposedly the best hummus place in the city--that's still up for debate)

and as we were about to leave, i turned around to get up 

and this man says to cam, "i'll give you 20 camels for her. you can have my brother too."

don't worry. it didn't bother me at all that i was considered cam's property.

no no. of course not. obviously my first thoughts were,

"20 camels. woah. that's gotta be better than 10 cows right?"

take that mahana. 

tel aviv.

on sunday,

a group of ten of us spent the day in tel aviv!

as we arrived, we literally squealed at the sight of the mediterranean sea. 

it was a perfect day.

perfect weather. perfect people. perfect destination.

there's something about the sunshine on my face,

 the sand between my toes,

and the sweet smell of salt water

that makes me one ridiculously happy girl. 

we went to the old jaffa city,

made wishes from the wishing bridge

and saw the statue of faith.

then we ate our way through the carmel shuk.

donuts, juice, dried fruit, pita, chocolate, literally everything.

so delicious.

then we spent the night walking the boardwalk,

watching the most beautiful sunset of my life,

and meeting up with the ludlow family for dinner.

oh and we hit up mcdonalds for ice cream 

(and thank goodness-fountain dc.)

 highlights of the day:

playing in the ocean.

lunch on the beach.

whatevs, yolo. 

(you only live once)

engagement photos.

and too many european men with too little clothing.

i needed the sun for my sanity.
luckily now i have a little color,
and i'm no longer mistaken for a vampire.

tel aviv, see you next week. 

gethsemane.

arabian nights.

wednesday night was arab night!

right after arabic class,

 everyone put on their best arab outfit

(channeled our inner jasmine and aladdin)

and met in the forum for the call to prayer and reading of the koran.

 the men from the al-asqa mosque

(the 3rd most sacred mosque to the muslims)

came and performed it for us.

afterward, we had a huge feast

(aka i had hummus and pita) 

 and then we went to dance!

these kids from our arab teacher's school came 

and taught us an arab folk dance

with moves like "taxi" and "airplane" 

(and jagger).

obviously it just turned into a big dance party,

and i couldn't resist just standing in one place and shaking my hips 

(the coins on my skirt make a real fun noise.

yes i realize i'm a five-year-old)

megan had a matching on and her goal was to become shakia by the end of the night.
(hispanic...arabic...gypsy? we're all a little confused with our nationalities)