"exciting" goings on in the world of a JUC student

It's been a while since I have written on here just to write. Life gets busy around here real quick. Today I had a class, an exam on the Galilee, and then nothing to do. So instead of sleeping or taking a walk through the city, I decided to take some time updating this and pictures and figuring out the logistics of going to Eilat this weekend. :o) Yes, Eilat. On Thursday after class I am going with 5-7 other people, on a bus, to Eilat on the southern tip of Israel (the northern tip of the Red Sea). We plan on going snorkeling or scuba diving, which I am so excited about. The last time I had the opportunity to do that, I was in Jamaica, and for some reason I passed it up. weird.

I always feel bad when people ask what exciting things have happened recently, and I don't really have an answer. Of course this is all exciting--I'm in Israel, how can it not be? But the semster here pretty much starts feeling like home, like normal life after a while. But here are a few of the things that have gone on. 2 weeks ago, our Jewish Thought and Practice class took a "field trip" to our Professor's (Rabbi's) Synagogue. He showed us around the sanctuary and gave us a demonstration of reading the Torah Portion of the week. They have their own "ark of the covenant" where they store the Torah scrolls. It's amazing and beautiful. Then that Friday evening we attended the synagogue for their Kabbalat Shabbat service. Pretty much the whole service is focused on welcoming the "Sabbath Queen" (i.e. the Sabbath). Almost all of the service consisted of a capella singing, with some blessings and recitation of prayers. It was awesome, how unified they were and how beautiful they sounded. Rabbi Moshe (our Prof) was harmonizing the entire time. :-D

Even further back, I took a day trip with one other girl to En Gedi, where we had gone just the week before with my Physical Settings class. We hiked a different wadi than the class did, and just took in the sites and sounds (literally, of the middle school classes that were there on a field trip). It was raining in Jerusalem when we left that morning. But When we got to En Gedi, we could see a split in the clouds. It was bright and warm where we were. The black clouds joined up again in Transjordan. Now that was a sight to see--walking down a road where to the right is clear and bright, and to the left is dark and overcast. It was a long day, and I had hoped to do more resting than I actually did, but all in all, it was good to get away and not worry about taking notes out in the field or getting work done at school.

I took a walk one morning this week to the Temple Mount with some friends. Just to take pictures and such. It was amaznig how incredibly large that thing is! It has its own parks all around the Dome of the Rock and El Aqsa mosques. The way the light shines off of the dome's gold is beautiful. Everything looks so small in comparison.
Palm Sunday is coming up. I think I am going to find a good spot in the Old City to go up on a roof and watch the huge processional of foreigners coming over the mount of Olives to Jerusalem. Sounds like a pretty cool sight to me.

There are some cats that are always on our campus, walking around outside, and I have grown quite fond of one of them. It's strange, I normally am not a huge cat person--they are cute, and I like to pet them but normally they get bored or distracted and leave, which is no fun for me. This one cat, though, absolutely loves to be petted, and will stay with me for quite a while, as I enjoy his company. I hear also that I have Claire Regan to thank for this cat. Apparently she found it and saved its life... becuase Tim was trying to let it die?!? anyway, all that aside, thank you Claire :o)