chelsea

Jerusalem

Aladdin is my life.

20 February 2009

I watched Aladdin today. My life is just like that epic cartoon. I love it.

I make wishes.
I live in a palace.
I wear genie pants like Jasmine and Aladdin.
I ride camels.
I have been in the Cave of Wonders.
I shop in a bazaar with shopkeepers just like in the cartoon.
I had a pet parrot.
I make animal towers like the Sultan.
I change money with a man named Aladdin.
I will marry a prince.
I am in a Whole New World.

Jerusalem

Ye Olde City

19 February 2009

After much sightseeing, we of course we through the Old City. I love the Old City. Just wandering around and shopping there is my most favorite thing to do. There are so many cool things to see.

And look at this wall. Is that not cool or what?

There are some sweet rings around here do. Check out these beastly ones. Aren’t they the coolest?

Here’s Marianne and I in a jewelry shop with a lot a lot of beads. You just tell the guys what you want and they’ll make you sweet earrings and they’d probably do necklaces and bracelets too. Pick whatever beautiful stones you want. I got two pairs of lovely earrings today for 10 sheks each, which is only $2.50. Pretty good prices here in the Holy Land.

Another favorite Old City purchase of mine is nuts. I love them. Yummy yummy. I buy these ones that we call love nuts, but I’ve also heard them be called sycamore nuts. They have other ones just like them that are more peanuty and they are goooood. And some of the almonds are just delightful. I am loving those nuts these days.

Then we went to West Jerusalem today, which is way way more modernized than East Jeru and Old City. But West Jeru is kinda just like a regular city, but cooler, and with cooler stuff in the shops. The Old City is my favorite.

Here’s Kara and I next to a grafitied wall in West Jeru today. I was trying to be one of the Hebrew characters. I think I need more practice.

Shopping here is fun fun fun. Everything is just really cheap. Today I bought cool things too, a new bag being one my favorites. Ok, the ring is lovely too, and the little stuffed camel and funny Jerusalem pen are a crack up. Speaking of crack, I think the nuts were one of my favorite purchases or the day. Hmm, I think I want some now…

Jerusalem

Mary-ing

19 February 2009

After our one hour Old Testament class, I did some serious sightseeing. I went to a lot of places of a lot of Marys. I went to the Church of Mary Magdalene, Old Roman Road, Church of All Nations, Garden of Gethsemane, Mary’s Tomb, Gethsemane Grotto, birthplace of Virgin Mary, St. Anne’s Church, and the Pools of Bethesda. It was quite a productive day. And then after that, I wandered around the Old City, bought some goods, and then went to West Jerusalem for a while too. I was gone for eight hours today, a very long day, but a good one, as always.

walking up to the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene

The church is beautiful. It has I think seven gold onion things on the top. It was beautiful inside too. I’ve never seen such amazing churches.

This guy there had this crazy jacket. I secretly took a picture of it. I am so stealth.

These few steps my feet are on are part of the Old Roman Road. You might notice a cat in the picture as well. They’re all over Jerusalem.

Christ walked on these very steps on his way to Bethany.

I walked on them too.

Next we stopped at the Church of All Nations. These churches are so amazing inside. They would take so much work to build them and make them all beautiful.

a pretty door at the church

This is apparently the Garden of Gethsemane, which I didn’t know. It was just a small little courtyard looking thing. But there’s another place that is privately owned or something that they think is the more likely the place of the atonement.

This was in Mary’s tomb. There were all these chandeliery things all over the ceiling, all over.

Janay and I outside where her tomb is. Beautiful.

Mary’s tomb, though I’m not sure which Mary. And I don’t think they’re positivo that this is the place. There’s a lot of Mary sites around here. I hit them all up today too.

There was a monk from Greece there that we talked to for a while, and we got a picture with him. Yep, it’s pretty cool being here.

This leads into the Gethsemane Grotto, which was pretty cool beans. It’s kinda just like a big cave. But it’s the spot where Jesus came a lot when he was in Jerusalem, and it’s where Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss, and I think Jesus was arrested from here too.

Birthplace of the virgin Mary. Wow, it makes me love hospitals. I don’t think I’d like giving birth in a cave. No wonder Anne became a Saint.

This was at St. Anne’s Church, another beautiful one. I love all of these amazing churches here, and all of these significant historical sites.

At the Pools of Bethesda, which really aren’t pools anymore, unless it rains a lot. But there are ruins like crazy. Awesome possum.

These pools are where Christ healed the man who had been ill for 38 years. I was here.

Before shopping, Bethesda was the last place we went. I love ruins.

We also tried to go to Dome of the Rock today, but we finally made it to where we were supposed to enter, and the line was really long, and it was closing in a 1/2 hour, so we decided to go a different day. But all of the sightseeing I did today was great. I saw a lot of good Mary stuff. I love being here in this city so much.

Jerusalem

Go Team

18 February 2009

I played volleyball tonight. I miss it. I miss playing with my team even more. We had such good times. Gotta love those Lady Mariners.

Jerusalem

Mount Herzl

18 February 2009

Right after Yad Vashem we went to Mt. Herzl, which is a cemetery and memorial where Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, is buried. Our Judaism teacher, Ophir, came and gave us a tour there for a few hours and told us all about zionism and other stuff. However, the whole time we were there, I had zero desire and zero ability to pay attention to anything. So I just wandered around and took a lot of random pictures.

Anne, Chelsea, and Annie being a human menorah, sort of

Ophir telling us about zionism perhaps

a classic field trip pose

Chris and Annie sitting in the sunshine learning some good stuff

Jeff field trippin’

this is what Heidi looks like after touring all day

Chris on a bench

Moon offering some drugs aka tylenol pm she got from the bus doc

Cate and her pretty purple lips. It got a wee bit chilly.

Random Picture #1: my beautiful bag on the ground

I love trees.

I love ones like this too.

I love little flowers.

I love flowers. I especially love them in my hair.

I love when people where converse, especially Moon.

I love taking pictures of myself in people’s aviators.

See, I really do like it.

I love butterfly kisses.

I think this is the grave or memorial for Hertz, but I’m not sure. I wasn’t listening at all. My attention span was only so long, and it was all used up at the museum.

Instead of listening, I took pictures of the army people that were there. Every person has to do like two years of civil service. We see groups of them quite often around this Israel land.

These two girls had sweet little hats on. And the one had a purple hat and a purple bag. You gotta dress up those drab army clothes somehow.

When we were walking out I saw this sign and how could I not pose like a little puppy dog by it. You know I’m a puppy.

Here’s our bye bye field trip faces. Bye bye.

Jerusalem

Yad Veshem: Holocaust Memorial

18 February 2009

We had a field trip to Yad Vashem today and it was so eye opening. Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem and it was really good going there. By the way, none of the pictures in this post are mine, since we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

The museum is a concrete, triangle shaped hall with rooms weaving off the sides. To get to the other end of the museum, you have to go through all these rooms that go chronologically through the Holocaust. It was really busy today so I couldn’t take as much time as I wanted to in there, looking at everything, at all the possessions of Holocaust victims, at explanations of the ghettos, and the concentration camps. I got to see how all of these people that were murdered, humiliated, and tortured were real people. They were regular humans just like us, who went to school, went to work, had families, had hobbies, and did the same things we did.

There was a lot of anti-semitism during that time and all throughout history really. Many Jews just haven’t had it very good. Hitler had a particular hatred for them and when he was in prison he wrote Mein Kampf, which is both an autobiography and writings explaining his socialist, nazism, political ideologies. In there he wrote how Jews are not even people, that they cannot be considered human beings. Because of those thoughts, they felt it was okay to completely exterminate them.

Six million Jews were exterminated during the Holocaust. These people were brutally murdered. Why? No one really understands. Jews have been persecuted for so long. Some people think that they might have been singled out because they wouldn’t assimilate with all of the other people. They had their own religion and their own practices and it was just easier for them to live together. Also, Jews were powerful and had money. They were just different people. The earlier roots of some of their persecution also is that Jews were responsible for the death of Christ. However, none of these reasons justify what happened to them. Nothing could ever justify for the physical and psychological pain and suffering they were subjected to.

This is the Hall of Names inside the museum. They have named as many victimized, murdered Jews as possible. A large part of Yad Veshem is research and they study all about the Holocaust and about the people. They want to name and recognize as many as they can. It was so much more real to me going to this Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem because this is where all of the Jews are at today. It is such an important part of these people’s history.

More gruesome notes on the Holocaust:

-In some concentration camps, the people were given a slice of bread and some yogurt or something, which is hardly 200 calories. How could you survive? You couldn’t. Many people’s goals was just to survive another day, another minute. So many of them couldn’t do it. The few that did survive were subject to the most intense psychological horrors.

-They had to go on death marches, where they walked around Europe, in snow often times. One blanket was given to four people.

-“A child is orphaned when it loses its parents. A nation is orphaned when it loses its children.”

-There were over 1000 ghettos in Eastern Europe; zero in Western Europe.

-Jews were stripped before they went into gas chambers, so humiliating. Then they would be packed into the gas chambers and annihilated with Cyclone B, which was an insecticide. After they were all dead, officers would go in and take the bodies to the crematoriums. Officers would also get gassed after being there for too long. They had to be cycled through.

Adolf Hitler was only one man, and because of him, six million men, women, and children died.

“Liberated but not free – that was the paradox of the Jews.”

Jerusalem

Churches and Nuts

17 February 2009

After Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies this morning, and after writing a paper about camels, I went to some churches and sights in the Old City. There is so much to do here; it’s slightly overwhelming, but so good. I went to the Dormition Abbey, a lot of places related to King David, the Upper Room, and Christ Church. It was good getting some sightseeing done, as opposed to the usual shopping in the Old City, and I love seeing all these amazing things.

A street we walked down on our way to the abbey. There’s a lot of Mercedes around here, a lot. Even the big buses we cruise around in are Mercedes, and the fire trucks on the corner, and the giant taxi vans. It’s pretty coo coo ca choo.

In front of the Dormition Abbey: “May Peace Prevail On Earth.” Amen.
The Dormition Abbey is the place where they think Mary was buried, or died. I’m not sure. But I think there quite a few different churches that think that is where she died.
The artwork inside was completely amazing. I loved looking at it. There were so many incredible, intricate mosaics.
This is in the crypt of the Abbey, where they have a sculpture of Mary.
Pray for peace for Palestine and Israel. These were the main prayer requests in the church.
outside with some cool JCites
Next we went to this area that was all about King David. There was a little sign that said “the World Peace Center” too, and it wish it was true.
Jerusalem is the coolest city. Check out this sweet door.
A very very pretty sign outside of Christ Church.
more peace plaques. need more peace.
Inside Christ Church, which was the first Protestant church here in Israel. It is used to share the Gospel with Jews. There are many Jewish symbols inside and a lot of the stuff is in Hebrew, so Jews can understand.
Beautiful stained glass window of tree with father, son, and Holy Ghost
Beautiful table outside with this fabulous painting on it. Love it.

After this lovely venture to the city, I stopped at a little spice and nut shop and bought some sweet nuts. They are soooooo delish too! I ate about 500,000 of these nuts today too. They’re hyst so goood. I love being here so so much.

Jerusalem

Bombing

16 February 2009

A night full of excessive laughter, dancing on chairs, doing cartwheels through the halls, drawing camels, leg wrestling, doing animal impressions, and doing very very little studying for this Ophir’s midterm is not a proper way to prepare for an exam. Needless to say, I bombed my Judaism midterm today, big time.

I thought since I was one of the ones that didn’t do any studying last night and all I did partied up a storm, I could use a little something extra with my test. So I drew a lucky camel on top of it. And even though I studied this morning for a little while, the lucky camel didn’t work too well for me. Maybe I need to perfect my drawing. I’m not that good with camels yet.

I passed though! Yay! Maybe the lucky camel did do a little something, but a 13 out of 24 is a 54% and that’s not quite what I was hoping for, but it’s pretty hilarious anyway. I’ve really been cracking up about it all day. Not very many people did very good on this test and we only the study guide yesterday evening, so I wasn’t expecting to do that great, although I was expecting to get a little more than a 54%. Oh well, I suppose you have to bomb your first test sometime. Today was my day of bombing it up and it was a special day indeed.

This is the picture I drew in class instead of taking notes. None of us did so good, but my score I’m pretty sure is the worst out of everyone. Funny funny. hehehe It really is funny bunny. There are a few people that got 14s though, so that’s cool. But yes, today was a day of complete bombing for me. But last night was so fun and so worth it. It was the best. I love this place.

Jerusalem

The Knesset

15 February 2009

The Knesset is Israel’s legislative branch of government and some of us went there today for a little tour and something to do on a fabulous free day. The prime minister is the main leader, but there is a president too that that prime minister elects, who doesn’t have a lot of political significance. There are quite a few different parties. The Knesset (pronouced kah-ness-it) has 120 different members and is pretty much the main power in Israel.

It was really interesting listening and learning about the government here in Israel. And they just had elections last week, so it’s amazing being here. Now I need to go to DC and check out America’s government. :)

with the street sign that points to the Knesset on a beautiful sunny Jerusalem day

picture of the main building, which had some amazing artwork by Marc Chagall inside

Carly and I and our sweet, camel leather, 50 shekel, 12 dollar Jerusalem cruisers, as we were waiting for the taxi

Jerusalem

My Loves

14 February 2009

Today is the day to celebrate love. I am celebrating.…….

…………….

I love my dearest mother. I love her so so much. I wish I could hug her right now. I wish I was laying in her bed talking to her. I love how funny she is. She always makes me smile and laugh. I love her openness to the world. She never judges. She thinks the best of people. I love her bread. It is the most amazing. I want some right now. I love her house. It is home. I love being with my mamma so much. I love her so so much. She brings so much joy into my life. She wants the best for me. She sacrifices so much for me, and others too, always. I love how she loves me. She always will. I love her too. She is my most favorite person in the world.

I love my cool beans dad. He is one of the coolest dudes on the planet. He has made me life so good. He has taken me on so many grand adventures. He has taught me about what really matters in life. He is always there for me. He is a crazy schlumberger who has brought out the goodness in me. I love how healthy he is. I love his love for flax seed. I love that he is so domestic and such a good dad. He always takes care of me. I love his love for nature and the outdoors. I love how he has passed that love on to me. I have learned so much from him. I have so much fun with him. He sends me the greatest emails. I love this crazy ol’ man. I love my dad.

I love this sister Holly Girl. She is one of the most amazing people on the planet, honestly. I admire her so much. She does so much for everyone around her. She takes care of so much. I love being around her. I love her drop dead gorgeousness. I love the ring she let me take from her. I love how amazing she is. She is such an incredible mother and she impresses me every single day. I watched her give birth and it was the greatest experience ever. I had no idea how incredible she was. She never ceases to amaze me. Amazing and incredible are clearly good words to describe her. I look up to this dear sister of mine so much. I love her. I cannot wait be in her house again, eating vegetable chowder, laughing, talking, being happy.

I love Jordin too. He is such a wonderful person. How can you not like this cool dude? I love being around him because he is always optimistic and cheerful. He looks for the best in people. He doesn’t judge. He is not easily discouraged at all. He is so generous with money, which used to work out really nicely for me when he’d always pay me $20 for a five minute foot massage. Fun times. I love Jordin because he loves my sister so much. He needs Holly and she needs him. They have such a great marriage and they are so good to be around. I love the Keintz family. Jordin is a wonderful dad and a wonderful husband. He does so much good for the world and I don’t know what I would do if he weren’t around. We need his coolness in our family, big time.

I love Stacy Girl. That Silly Sally is one of the world’s greatest sisters. I love how close we are. I love the fun parties we have in her tiny cottage. I love being able to always count on this girl for whatever I want to do. She is always there for me. I love always talking on the phone with her. I love watching her laugh. You know she has a good belly laugh. She cracks me up like crazy. We have such good times together all the time. She tells me what is wrong with me too and it’s funny. I’m glad she’s so honest in that aspect, because sometimes you need to realize where you can improve. I am so excited to be with her again. She is so important to me and I need her so badly in my life. What would I do without my Sally Girl? I just love her so much.

I love my most favorite brother in the entire world. Of all of the brothers in the world, this one is my favorite. I love it when he emails or calls me. It completely makes my day. I love his geniusness. What a smart boy that Jakey Bob is. I love fishing with my dear brother. He is one of the greatest captains and I love watching him. I love his Sigler mobile, and how he can pull it off like no one else can. I love going on adventures to haunted houses and taking old bikes from them with my dear brother. Jakey Bob is quite a cool dude. My life would have such a void without him. I love when he beats me up. It is pretty fun stuff. I like to try to do what I can to attack him back, but am usually uneffective. I love when he shoves nasty beef stick salami in my face at New Years. I have fun fun with dearest Jakey boy. I love little N Girl. Natalie Ann Keintz is the cutest little girl. She brings so much joy to my life. My goodness she is so cute. I can’t get over it. I am so happy she is in my life. I am so blessed that I got to see her come into the world. I love her big toe. I love her little haircut. I love how she’s a carnivore. What a crazy cutie patootey little girl. Oh my, I love her so much.
I love Baby Katy. Katy Lynn Keintz is the most precious and sweet soul that I currently know of in the world at this present moment. I love this little baby. I love holding her. I love watching her sleep. I love her little who nose. I love her baby fingers. I love her baby toes. I love my baby niece. I love my Carlita lobster. Carla is the greatest friend in the world. Honestly, she is the best. I love her so much. She makes me so happy. Every single time we are together is pure happiness. We are girl soul mates, bosom friends, best friends. I love how similar we are. I love how good she is to me. I love how we have stayed best friends even though we haven’t been around each other much for a long time. But everytime we are back together, it’s exactly like it was in elementary, and middle school, and a little bit of high school, and it is amazing. You don’t come across good friends like this every day. I love this beautiful girl so so much. I love me some Cala Cala.

I love Lilly. I love that she is the best roomie in the world. I love all that she has taught me. I love her charity, her generosity, her kindness for everyone. I love being around this dear Lilly girl. She is such a wonderful person. You wouldn’t believe how wonderful she is. I realize it more every day that I’m away. I miss being around this girl. I miss staying up late with her. I miss living with her. I love Lilly so much. I love her being my roomie. She is the best. I am so glad she has been in my life, because she has made it so much better.

Of course I love Robby Reeves too! How could you not love this cool kid? I love how happy he is. He is always content with whatever he haves and whatever he gets. He is happy with whatever life gives him. He wants others to be happy to. He always wants everyone to be happy. Rob is so good. I love him. I miss being around him. He makes me happy. I am so happy he is in my life. I love Robby Reeves, that crazy dude.

I love love.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Jerusalem

Friday the 13th!

13 February 2009

I love Friday the 13th! What’s with people saying it’s a bad luck day anyway? It’s the greatest day ever. And in the history of my experiences at the JC, it’s definitely the best night ever.

We had a Friday the 13th dance party/dress up crazy weirdo party. Carly, Lauren, and I did whatever we could to out hair, loaded up on the eye makeup, put on black shirts, and majorly rocked the genie pants. Uno word, fabulous.

What pretty girlies!

Aren’t you absolutely in love with genie pants?

I love dance parties. I love dress up parties. I love eyeliner all over my eyes. I love buns all over my head. Tonight was a good night.

Everyone looked so crazy good. Emilie is definitely included in that bunch of fabulous dressed/make upped people.

…………

After the dance party was over, Nycole, Lauren, Chelsie, and I saw two fine boys with a flashlight on the search for a “cave.” So we foolishly and naively followed them. Clearly we were slightly frightened to be wandering around outside at midnight. This is us in the cave/place under the JC.

AHHH!!! We took a picture of the empty room to get some more light and there was a creepy man just sitting against the wall! We ran screaming up the stairs as fast as our little leggies would go.

Only to found out shortly after that it was Jeff sitting there like a creeper with a pillowcase over his head. Matt, Josh, and Jeff just wanted to scare some helpless girls that evening. They got us goooooood.

……………..

We went back to our room and I took all of my little buns out. This hair was the result.

Lauren and I decided we hadn’t taken enough pictures for the night, so we had a mini photo shoot in the bathroom. Fun fun.

Isn’t Friday the 13th the greatest?

Jerusalem

Bugs. Goliath. Samson. Caves.

9 February 2009

Wiiiiicked long field trip today, called the Shephelah FT. We left at 8 am and didn’t get back until 6. But we went to where Samson of Samson and Delilah were, and we went to the spot where David and Goliath happened, and we went to sweet caves, and crawled through caves. Oooh, and I bought little I ♥ Israel colored pencils. But not only that, but I got some excellent pictures of bugs here in the Holy Land.

pretty little baby flower

Marianne and I. I love that amazing girl. Behind us on the hill was where Samson lived, and he would come down to where we were and party it up. This is in Beth Shemesh.

I miss flowers in my hair so badly, but I’ve always got the parrot earrings. They never let me down.

Big ol’ ant carrying something pokey to the green.

another ant carrying the goods

weirdo bug with antlers/pinchers

Millipede! Ah!!!

just chillin’ in some ruins in the Sorek Valley I think, that Samson probably chilled at too

headless

Next stop: Lachish. more ruins. This is me and the most lovely Cate.

Stefanie Tanner, another amazing JC-ite

Feet!

in a chalky cave tomb thing

gotta love those cave photo ops

cool peeps posing it up

So at this place, there were these signs hanging in the trees, and I don’t understand their purpose.

more weirdo freaky bugs

huge creepy beetle… ahhh!!!

heart carved into the chalky cave

I love trees.

At the Bell Caves, where we stood in a circle and sang hymns. I love that hymn singing.

more cave posing… what good looking boys.

There was this random Mona Lisa thing, so I just had to stick my face in there. Cool beans eh?

Next we went to the Valley of Elah, where the David and Goliath story took place. “Now this man was giant.”

I love wrists.

Stefanie building the Goliath statue so that we could fling rocks at it with our little slings, just like David.

At Micah’s cave… crawling through little passages.

Then there were all these pigeon holes after going through the passage way. Thanks to my sista sista for the flashlight by the way. It was a life saver.

Then you we had to climb up the wall with the help of pigeon holes and fine young men… kinda scary.

Here’s Jayne! The last part of our spelunking adventure involved shimmying out on our backs in the tiniest little passage way ever. It was slightly frightening, definitely. It’s called the birth canal.

After I successfully made it out of the birth canal… yay! So happy to see the light of day again.

That spelunking in Micah’s Caves will most definitely make you a wee bit dirty.

Yep, we’ve got some laundry to do.

We have the coolest field trips around here. I loved going to where David and Goliath happened. It was way cool. I loved being where the Philistines came back and returned the Ark of the Covenant. I loved taking pictures of bugs. I loved the I ♥ Israel colored pencils I bought today. I loved Brother Wilson guiding us around and bestowing upon us some of his great wisdom. I loved crawling through the caves. I loved playing with the coolest peeps all day. And of course, as always, I loved coming back to the JC.

Jerusalem

Jericho is ooooollllllddddd

5 February 2009

Another field trip day! Today we went to Jericho, the oldest and lowest city in the world. It’s 11,000ish years old and 850 feet below sea level. We saw a wicked old tree and the oldest manmade stone structure, and we went to a monastery where the rock that Christ was tempted at, and we went to the site of Herod’s Winter Palace.

Kara and I at this wicked old tree that has significance that I don’t remember.

Reading the Jericho story at Jericho. Whoa, these field trips are the coolest.

The oldest man made stone structure that is like 10,000 years old or something.

Moon and Chelsea living it up in Jericho! Yay for Bible stories!

I bought some love nuts too, aka sycamore nuts. But my oh my they were wicked good. I could go for some right this second. Mmmm… yummy!

At the Quruntul Monastery, where we had to dress very conservatively and they told us to cover our heads too, but I don’t know how necessary that one was.

beautiful artwork inside the monastery

They believe this is the stone where Christ was tempted by Satan when he was fasting for 40 days. It’s so cool being here.

view of JERICHO from the monastery on the mountain side

Behind us were a bunch of caves where the people at the monastery would go and seclude themselves and kind of rededicate themselves to the Lord.

Matt 360ing at the site of Herod’s Winter Palace

more desert wilderness

Field trip today was cool. I went to the oldest and lowest city in the world, which is the coolest of cool. And the love nuts I bought today were so exceptionally delish. Love me some love nuts.

Jerusalem

Egyptian Party!

4 February 2009

Egyptian Night at the JC, which basically means wearing anything you bought in Egypt and wearing more eyeliner that you ever have before. It was fabulous of course.

This is the Chelsea and the most beautiful Heidi. As you can see, I didn’t buy anything in Egypt but scarves pretty much, ok, and a couple bags of course. But for my Egyptian Night fashion, I created an outfit out SEVEN BEAUTIFUL EGYPTIAN PASHMINAS.

four lovely ladies showing sweet Egyptian dance moves

the mighty pharaoh… wearing his JC linens

moi and Allison, notice the eyeliner, love it

The most fabulous residents of room 410!

Lauren and Nycole in their grand mumus of Egypt. You know I love a good mumu every now and then.

Pharaoh and one of his lovely concubines

the Egyptian party crew!

Jerusalem

Bible Zoos and Dead Sea Scrolls

4 February 2009

We had a free day all day today! Hooray! So we went to the Biblical Zoo today, which is really just a regular zoo, with Bible scriptures on all the little plaques. Then we went to the Israel Museum, where Brother Skinner told us all about the Jerusalem model of 66 AD and Jerusalem in Jesus time, and we also saw the Dead Sea Scrolls there. What a fabulous free day today!

chillin’ at the zoo with the cool kids

monkey!

11:11 at the zoo… MAKE A WISH!

girlies being tigers with the tigers

By the way, I don’t know how I feel about zoos… that poor tiger in the tiny little caged area, with people just looking at it through windows. It is cool being able to see all of these amazing animals though.

Dearest Marianne and I, being fishies with the fishies!!!

The bears were so teeny tiny, nothing like the big beastly Alaskan ones.

cool kids with the bear sculpture

There was a map showing where the animals lived and look at what Alaska looks like. It looks like a little nothing piece of land, when AK is really this huge beastly area of amazingness.

Rafikis! Yahoo! I love these fun animals.

Lemur Land/Zoboo Land: “I was leaping along. Leap… leap… leap… leap… leap…” Who remembers the Kratt Brothers and Zoboomafoo?

Ryan and I in the bird house! I wish little Natalie were here in the birdie house with me.

Blue skies… sunshine… blossoms! A happy day here in the Holy Land.

Shelby crawled through this little tunnel and then his head popped out in this little dome so that he could get a better look at those meerkats.

Guess what these are… NAKED MOLE RATS! One of the world’s most interesting little creatures.

And this little number is a capybara, another incredibly interesting creature, and not the prettiest one.

here’s me and the funny funny flamingoes

This is for you favorite twins…

This is the gift shop at the Biblical Zoo… shaped just like Noah’s Ark. Gotta love this place.

We left the zoo and there was my favorite car, a 1991 Subaru Loyale!

ISRAEL MUSEUM

There is incredible replica of Jerusalem in 66 AD. It is the best one ever, and it is on a scale of 1 to 50, and Bro. Skinner told us all about it. He is just so full of knowledge and he told and showed us everything about the last few days of the life of Jesus. It was amazing to see and to understand more about.

This is the SHRINE OF THE BOOK. Inside is the Dead Sea Scrolls. I saw them. Wow. Oh my goodness there is just oodles of history over here.

I love free days.

Jerusalem

Mail Party

2 February 2009

Speaking of being back at the JC, I would’ve loved to have had a package waiting for me upon my arrival. But sadly, no one knew my address, because I didn’t tell anyone. But I shall do that now…

For love letters and fun envelopey type things, and perhaps small boxes and the like:

BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

Chelsea Owens

PO Box 19604

Jerusalem, 91196

Israel

For packages that do not contain things too incredibly expensive, like electronics, since we have to pay duties:

Chelsea Owens

BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies

Located on Mt. Scopus

Near Augusta Victoria Hospital

Jerusalem, 91196

Israel

Keep in mind that my birthday is coming up on March 15th, so you should think about sending things sometime in the near future. Oh I am so excited to receive mail. Many mahalos peeps.

Jerusalem

Home Sweet Jerusalem

2 February 2009

I am so happy to be back at the Jerusalem Center! Yay for the JC! Oh my goodness I am just so happy to be “home!”

Reasons why I am so happy to be back at the JC:

~drinking out of the water fountains

~brushing my teeth in the sink

~having clean clothes

~not living out of a backpack

~shopping in the Old City with normal shopkeepers

~eating the delicious food of the Oasis

~having internet

~being in my bed

~calling my wonderful family

~having my genie pants back

~wearing my slippers

~not feeling like death

~being on my computer

~sleeping with Simba again

~partying with my roomies

~having less garbage all around

~using better toilets

~not having to pay for toilets

~having access to all of my earrings

~again, just talking to my fam

Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing being in Egypt and being able to see everything and learn all about it, but it is always so nice to be home. Oh how I love the JC.

Favorites, Jerusalem

Mt. Sinai

1 February 2009

What do you do at 2 am? Well, when you’re on the Sinai Peninsula, apparently 2 am is when you wake up, so that you can go hike Mt. Sinai for the sunrise. That’s just what we did.

After 3.5 hours of sleep, we had a little 2 am wake up call and got ready to hike the mountain. We started at about 3 am, when it was so incredibly beautifully starry. I love the stars so so so much. So it was quite magical, except for the fact that I was still sick and coughing up a storm. Needless to say, I was one of the last few people to make it to the top, along with the other sickies and cripples. But I started feeling better the farther we’d go, which is weird. I guess I just needed a goooooood dose of the great, beautiful outdoors. Being sick, I still had a bit of a difficult time hiking up to the top, but then to realize that Moses hiked up that mountain eight times or something, and as an ooooold man, I couldn’t complain much. And there were other people much sicker than me hiking that day. Either way, hiking is the greatest.

A pile of people huddled together at the top of Mt. Sinai, trying to stay warm. It was soooooo cooooooold, mainly because it was so windy, and you can’t escape from that wind.

The sun starting to rise….

Another pile of us people. I was a human blanket for Matt and Lisa. Oh my goodness it was soooooo cold.

The sun has risen!

You know I love a good sunrise here and there, especially on top of Mt. Sinai.

just chillin’ (for real) at the top

YAY FIJI! There were some rocks where people had written their names and stuff, and this person was from Fiji. Gotta love those Fijians, yes you do.

Hiking down… long hike.

Along the way there are all these Bedouins offering camel rides, and Marianne and I decided we’d take their offer. WE RODE CAMELS DOWN MT. SINAI!

beautiful nature

Marianne and Mohammed and an extra camel. By the way, I had no camel guide. My camel was just cruising along down the mountain. He knew the trail fabulously of course, by it was a wee bit scary at times because the camel would get so close to the edge and the cliff and I’d be like, “Whoa, Camel, scoot over.” It wouldn’t. But thankfully I didn’t fall off the cliff.

Do you see the 10 Commandments? Yeah, me neither, but they’ve gotta be here somewhere.

Here’s the 16 year old guy named Mohammed that was helping another guy named Mohammed take Marianne and I down the mountain. He was pretty cool. He told me to take a picture of him.

He took a picture of me too, and my little camel! I love camels so much. They are the crazies animals. As you can maybe tell too, my pants had ridden up excessively to my belly button and were super high. My jeans turned into high waters big time during this amazing camel ride and it was slightly uncomfortable, but so amazing. I LOVE RIDING CAMELS!

Marianne and I paid $15 each, with tip, for our camel rides down Mt. Sinai and it was so worth it. It was definitely my most favorite part of the entire Egypt trip and such. We were just having so so much fun. And it was good to give the Mohammed’s some money, because people here do not have opportunities like we do to make money. It’s so crazy. But Mt. Sinai was amazing and the camel riding was simply marvelous!

We left our hotel near Mt. Sinai at about noon and got back on the bus. We drove a few hours to the border and after we got through the intense border crossing back into blessed Israel, we were just hanging out at the Red Sea waiting for the other people.

This was my second favorite part of the trip: taking my shoes off, rolling up my pants, and stepping into the Red Sea, which was unexpectedly warm. I just miss the ocean so so so much, so my little toesies were so happy playing in the Red Sea. I loved it. I love the ocean. I love the Red Sea. And I love being back in Israel!

Sunset on Mt. Sinai, sunset on the Red Sea. I am living the good life.

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