I started this blog to share my Jerusalem adventures. So for my 100th post, I decided to continue to share my love for the Holy Land and the Jerusalem Center and my four months over there.100 Loves of Jerusalem, that I miss so much, (and the list is in no order whatsoever, just the first 100 things that popped into me noggin):
100. I loved everything. I miss it so so much. I can’t even tell you. And I can’t get it off my mind and I can’t stop talking about it.
99. seeing the Dome of the Rock from my balcony
98. pitas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
97. waking my roommates up with strange noises
96. changing money at Aladdin’s
95. call to prayer! hearing it five times a day, having it wake you up early in the morning sometimes… oh how I loved it.
94. goods from the Sheqel Shak
93. the most random class hours ever
92. smuggling food out of the Oasis on Shabbat, and on many other days of the week too
91. Triumvirates
90. Brother Wilson, Brother Huff, Brother Skinner, Brother Brown. The most wonderful men ever. Incredible. And amazing teachers. Taught me so much.
89. watching Anastasia and singing Anastasia foreeever
88. playing the sweet nice grand piano in the upper auditorium on my last night in the JC. It was all dark. I was in there all by myself. The only light was coming from the beautiful city lights of beautiful Jerusalem. I was just in there, playing my little fingers away. Cristofori’s Dream. Such a glorious moment.
87. traveling around the Middle East in a bus
86. linen exchange
85. the bathroom door that wasn’t really a door
84. how so many many people were named Muhammad
83. the awesomely crazy traffic, and the violations thereof
82. the crazy study sessions crazy people would have
81. living in the same building with all the other students and with all the professors
80. the Suk
79. finding new pathways in the Old City every day
78. speaking with a British accent
77. Easter morning at the Garden Tomb! Celebrating Christ’s resurrection where he appeared as a resurrected being! (one of my top three moments in J-Ru)
76. the beautiful ancient city of Jerusalem
75. using squatters here and there
74. love nuts
73. the smell of the frankincense burning as you walk to the Dome of the Rock or to the Western Wall
72. halva
71. finding marbles throughout the city that little kids had been playing with
70. the day I walked into a tree in Jordan on our way to Petra. I was talking with Stefanie Tanner (soon to be Hathaway) and then BAM! Walked in to a tree. Brother Skinner was like, “Are you okay?!” I couldn’t stop laughing. Funninest ever. Who walks into trees?
69. stairs stairs stairs
68. Jerusalem cruisers, Bible sandals
67. Adnan Musallam. “Come on! Come on! Listen to me.”
66. doing animal impersonations and cartwheels and backwards somersault races in front of the forum, instead of studying
65. playing the bells at the YMCA tower, for all of Jerusalem to hear, while singing “I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing….”
64. using the men’s bathroom at the JC when we were up late partying
63. having everyone eat falafel when we’d go out to the city
62. the opportunities for service
61. the beautiful children
60. knowing every single article of clothing of all my fellow JCites
59. shekels!
58. learning that there are two sides (or more) to every story
57. kibbutzim
56. parties in the LRC and the white chairs
55. our wonderful security at the Jerusalem Center
54. wandering through the Old City alllll the time
53. calling my fam from J-Ru
52. the party taxi van with sweet music, sweet sound system, and sweet awesome lights
51. reading about Christ teaching on the shores of the Galilee, while I was on the shores of Galilee!
50. Palestinian Costco with awesomely inexpensive produce
49. the awesome shops and shopkeepers we all went to
48. going to all sorts of different churches
47. growing so close to my fellow JCites
46. Sahar, the most courageous woman I have ever met
45. blog nights in the study rooms
44. wearing genie pants without being shunned by society
43. “Shine, Jesus, Shine!” which is the best song ever and I sung it sooo much.
42. how if anything was less than 2000 years old, it really was that old
41. taking the sacrament while looking out at the beautiful city of Jerusalem, seeing Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, all these places where Jesus walked, talked, healed. Wow.
40. attempting to speak Arabic with peeps in the city
39. camels!
38. headsets on field trips
37. getting the spiritual, historical, and political aspect of everything we learned
36. yummy cadbury chocolate from Lina’s
35. the little little babies at the Muslim hospital
34. Shabbat!
33. clapping in unison after amazing performances, especially the Messiah
32. seeing the most ancient tower of all time in Jerusalem
31. going to the Garden of Gethsemane or the Garden Tomb on Shabbat after church to read scriptures or journal. The best Shabbats ever. Shabbat Shalom!
30. the sweet awesome 12/15 shekel t-shirts that we all have waaay too many of
29. seeing ultra Orthodox Jews on bikes, with their ringlet curl sideburns flapping in the wind
28. my roooooomies!
27. Galilee! I loved how green and beautiful it was up there. Another one of my favorite parts of the four months.
26. Ma-es salame!
25. walking up and down those big hills, as I shove love nuts in my mouth
24. Shukran ktiir!
23. wearing scarves all the time
22. going to the pyrmaids
21. bus buddies!
20. the gardens at the JC
19. walking through the Old City, crammed tiny little spaces, making your way through lots and lots of people
18. my birthday. one of the best, happiest days ever! nothing like turning 20 in the Holy Land.
17. goooood hummus
16. singing hymns everywhere we went. we sang hymns alllll over the Holy Land. Love it.
15. the service missionaries
14. severe jet lag
13. the special Jerusalem style we all got while we were there, modifying our regular clothes to be more conservative, wearing lots of scarves, t-shirts galore, and even genie pants. ooh la la!
12. Field trips galore! We’d go eeeeverywhere. It’s the best learning about the Bible and about ancient history on site. Wow wow.
11. the incredible enlightening facts I’d learn in my Old and New Testament classes, and of course in Ancient Near Eastern History. Man oh man I learned so much.
10. learning about Israel-Palestine every day in every way
9. the “gym”/tiny room with eight exercise bikes
8. bartering
7. movie marathons in the lounge
6. becoming a fountain of knowledge :)
5. striving to be more like Christ than ever before, because I learned about him like I never had before
4. taking GQ pictures all over the place
3. pitas pitas pitas!
2. all my fellow JCites, everyone at the JC, incredible people, who I love and miss incredible amounts
1. having the most incredible, spiritual, educational, enriching experiences with the most wonderful people in the world, every single day
7 Comments
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i love this so much. every once in a while I’ll get these distinct feelings all over my body where I wish more than anything that we were back in that incredible, incredible city! Posts like this make it so I don’t forget the small, but powerful details. Thanks chels!
Thank you so much chels for posting this! the whole time i was reading it I was missing it so much. what an amazing experience we had. wow i love this so much! love you girl!
You got me a little teary- eyed there. I had to stop and think about every single thing on your list, and all the good memories. I MISS YOU! AND JERUSALEM!! (and the strange noises in the morning….)
Whoops. That comment was made by Shamra, not anonymous!
[…] post #100, I wrote 100 loves of Jerusalem, but I decided not to do the same for the 300th. Instead I’m sharing some of my all time […]
Wow this is really cool. I don’t know what half that stuff is but makes me really wanna go with Riley. Thanks for helping me love Jews more.