We just returned from our three day trip to the Negev. On Tuesday we saw the Elah Valley, this is the place where David fought Goliath. We then went up to Tel Azekah and talked through the whole battle. Quite amazing to sit there in the shade of a tree and see it happening in the valley below you.
After Azekah we went to Beth Guvrin to this amphitheater. Circular ruins with lots of rocks and ups and downs. Guess who climbed it first? ME! I was all over that thing! It was awesome!
We went through three sets of caves. The first was the tomb of some influential family with funny pictures on the wall and this ridiculous Greek script that I couldn’t read (arg). The second was called ‘The Musicians Cave’ (also a tomb) because there was a mural of a pair of musicians on the wall. Large, really creepy. The last set was called Bell Caves. BEAUTIFUL. Huge, almost bell shaped caves, ups and downs and little hidden nooks and crannies. WAY cool.
We stopped by Lachish (Sennacherib kicked the crap outta the city) and then went to Azhkelon. Look it up on a map and tell me what we did there! Nope, too long. We swam in the Mediterranean! I have never enjoyed ridiculously salty water so much in my life. And it was this perfect teal color. Amazing.
That night we spent at a hostel in Mizpah-Ramon.
Wednesday we started at Makhtesh Ramon. This huge hole in the ground that is not as deep as the Grand Canyon but crazy wide. It literally looks like this gigantic swimming pool with little hills inside. Amazingly beautiful and bright in the early morning sun.
Our next stop was Avedat, or Oboda. This was a Nabatean and then a Byzantine city with MORE fun ruins to climb all over! Only the signs said ‘climbing prohibited’, so I obeyed even though the boys didn’t. I only broke the rules to climb up behind the sign that said ‘climbing prohibited’, couldn’t resist.
The next thing we did might be my favorite yet (except St. Anne’s). We did a ‘wadi walk’ through the Nahal (Hebrew for wadi – a dry riverbed) Zin. I can’t give you elevation or length. But we walked mostly straight up for a hour or more. It was crazy cool amazing. But what made it amazing wasn’t the views, which were beautiful and breath taking, or the ibex which are cute, or being with my new friends which was fun. What made it amazing was the climb. Hard and fast, zigzagging up, up, up, HOT, TANGIBLE. I got to do this, I wasn’t just looking at it, I was doing it. That’s why things like St. Anne’s, the amphitheater and the Mediterranean, and Nahal Zin stick with me, I did it. Mizpah Ramon was sweet, but all I got to do was look at it. I climbed Nahal Zin. And I had a blast.
We also stopped at Beer Sheba (think Abraham etc) and Arad. This night we stayed at a hostel in Arad. Had a little trouble with people coming in late, but all in all a good stay.
Thursday
Our first (and longest) stop today was Masada. We were up there for two full hours. It was this largest Tel we’ve seen and the most impressive. We walked up the rampart the Romans had built to get in and end the siege and then walked through the western palace and what was believed to be the temple room before seeing the triclinium turned synagogue. Then we climbed down to the third tier of the three tiered northern palace, great lookout spot. We climbed back up and walked through a roman bath.
Our next stop was the Dead (Salt Sea). We parked and changed and went down to the water. As soon as you go ‘under’ water the water just takes you and floats you. Jocelyn – I floated!!! Like normal people float I floated!!! All I needed was water that has a ridiculous percentage of minerals and salt in it!!! After lunch we went to Engedi, which is a wadi system that leads back to these prime hidden waterfalls into little pools that we swam in – fresh water. We splashed around a little bit and then walked up to the source and then back down.
Qumran came next, and we made it in with half an hour before closing time. We saw caves one and four from afar (you can’t actually go into them) and got some really sweet pictures.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Random Israel Stuff
·When the War of Israeli Independence ended in late 1948, they true the truce line with a green crayon.
·The Hill of Evil council north of Jerusalem is where the UN currently has its buildings.
·They think they’ve found a tower build by Nehemiah to a retaining wall built by David.
·Hezekiah’s Tunnel gets zigzaggy in the middle because its when the two sides were trying to find each other.
·No one knows why Hezekiah didn’t build the tunnel in a straight line, they had the technology a year earlier.
·Finding the Qumran scrolls brought the oldest original scroll of scripture to 150BC.
·There are 49 cisterns and 43 passages underground on the area called Harem esh Sharif, the Temple Mount.
·The Temple Mount has layers of history: the binding of Isaac, David bought the threshing floor from a Jebusite, Solomon built the temple, the Assyrians destroyed it, they rebuilt the temple and then it was destroyed again by the Romans. The Byzantine Christians left it in ruins and the Moslems built the Dome of the Rock in 691. Since then it has been under Moslem control and the Jews have only had real access to the Western Wall.
·Jerusalem is 2500’ feet above sea level and gets and average of 25” of rain a year.
·There is a park in Israel commemorating the bicentennial of the US and a memorial to the Challenger incident. They also have a park called Canada park.
·The route Samson took from home to Timnah now has a high speed train following it, that train is now known as the Samson Express by 45 JUCers including myself.
·The tribe of Dan was originally given the coastal lands of the Mediterranean. Most of them chose instead to move northeast to above the Sea of Galilee. What would have happened if Dan had stayed?
·Solomon must have controlled Joppa and Gezer to get cedars from Lebanon to build his house and the temple. He married the Pharaoh’s (who had control of Gezer) daughter and Pharaoh gave him the city as a wedding present.
·Jericho is one of only three cities mentioned in the conquest as having been completely destroyed.
·In the day of our Lord, they would bury people in niches and seal it with rocks, wait about a year, remove the bones from the niche and put them in ossuaries to reuse the niche. Gives a new meaning to ‘let the dead bury their dead’ – doesn’t it?
·During the Passover Feast the population of Jerusalem swells, they may have been people camping out on the Mount of Olives. Maybe the Mount wasn’t as empty as we always portray it.
·Herod the Great was a ridiculously rich, psycho, mean man. He built fortresses everywhere and killed lots of people.
·The Hill of Evil council north of Jerusalem is where the UN currently has its buildings.
·They think they’ve found a tower build by Nehemiah to a retaining wall built by David.
·Hezekiah’s Tunnel gets zigzaggy in the middle because its when the two sides were trying to find each other.
·No one knows why Hezekiah didn’t build the tunnel in a straight line, they had the technology a year earlier.
·Finding the Qumran scrolls brought the oldest original scroll of scripture to 150BC.
·There are 49 cisterns and 43 passages underground on the area called Harem esh Sharif, the Temple Mount.
·The Temple Mount has layers of history: the binding of Isaac, David bought the threshing floor from a Jebusite, Solomon built the temple, the Assyrians destroyed it, they rebuilt the temple and then it was destroyed again by the Romans. The Byzantine Christians left it in ruins and the Moslems built the Dome of the Rock in 691. Since then it has been under Moslem control and the Jews have only had real access to the Western Wall.
·Jerusalem is 2500’ feet above sea level and gets and average of 25” of rain a year.
·There is a park in Israel commemorating the bicentennial of the US and a memorial to the Challenger incident. They also have a park called Canada park.
·The route Samson took from home to Timnah now has a high speed train following it, that train is now known as the Samson Express by 45 JUCers including myself.
·The tribe of Dan was originally given the coastal lands of the Mediterranean. Most of them chose instead to move northeast to above the Sea of Galilee. What would have happened if Dan had stayed?
·Solomon must have controlled Joppa and Gezer to get cedars from Lebanon to build his house and the temple. He married the Pharaoh’s (who had control of Gezer) daughter and Pharaoh gave him the city as a wedding present.
·Jericho is one of only three cities mentioned in the conquest as having been completely destroyed.
·In the day of our Lord, they would bury people in niches and seal it with rocks, wait about a year, remove the bones from the niche and put them in ossuaries to reuse the niche. Gives a new meaning to ‘let the dead bury their dead’ – doesn’t it?
·During the Passover Feast the population of Jerusalem swells, they may have been people camping out on the Mount of Olives. Maybe the Mount wasn’t as empty as we always portray it.
·Herod the Great was a ridiculously rich, psycho, mean man. He built fortresses everywhere and killed lots of people.
Randomness out of my travel journal
Notes about long flights:
Windows are great, except when you have to pee. Sacrifice the ten minute view for 10 hours of free peeing.
Drink of lots of water. Dehydration is too easy and it sucks.
Taking the contacts out was a great idea.
By the end of my first set of travel I will had navigated through three airports, four terminals, two airlines, two planes, two bus stations, two stations and three countries on two continents. Not bad for a days work.
Flying above moving clouds is a trip – flying about stationary clouds is WAY cooler.
In Scotland, roundabouts go left.
In Scotland, across the street from the airport is the perfect picturesque Scottish farmhouse.
In Scotland they have fantastic public transportation with double-decker buses and great drivers.
In Scotland its all green, earthy, beautiful, breath taking.
There is a prayer chapel in the Edinburgh Airport, complete with prayer rugs, books of Mormon, crucifixes and stained glass.
RBS – Make it happen. Hell yes.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Beginning of catch-up...
Sorry, I was gonna post more, but internet cost a pound for 15 minutes at the hostel, and that just gets ridiculous. So, I'm going to start where I am now an work backwards and forwards at the same time!!
I got to the airport last night and caught up on facebook and email and then went and joined the group from Simpson. We boarded and took off at landed in Tel Aviv this morning at 5:30am, got our luggage and traveled into Jerusalem via van. We got here and I unpacked (novel concept, COMPLETELY difficult living out of a backpack, not the living out of something concept, the hiker's backpack part) and took a shower and SLEPT. For longer than I meant to, but whatever. Ate lunch, and now I'm trying to catch up!!!
I had a somewhat profound thought this morning. The sun was just rising as we landed and left the airport. As it got above the horizon I thought to myself, "wow, this is the sun Jesus saw ever morning, especially those mornings He went out early to pray." This of course brought to mind movie lines (because what in my world doesn't?) from Newsies: "You know, you should see Santa Fe, everything’s different there. It’s all bigger. The desert, the sky, the sun..." She replies, "It’s the same sun as here." And he answers, "Yeah, it just looks different." And he's right - it does:it's bigger and closer and somewhat clouded but more radiant. But the point is that whether the sun looks different or not, the sun I saw come up this morning is the same sun Jocelyn will see when she drives to Orland to work this morning and it is the same sun Doug saw in Thailand when he got up at the ridiculously early hours he does. And rather than that commonality belittling it, this magnifies it all the more for me. Not only is the sun the same here, it will be the same sun when I get back to the states. And that will be the real test, can I live for the Son under the same sun He saw when I'm not where He walked?
I got to the airport last night and caught up on facebook and email and then went and joined the group from Simpson. We boarded and took off at landed in Tel Aviv this morning at 5:30am, got our luggage and traveled into Jerusalem via van. We got here and I unpacked (novel concept, COMPLETELY difficult living out of a backpack, not the living out of something concept, the hiker's backpack part) and took a shower and SLEPT. For longer than I meant to, but whatever. Ate lunch, and now I'm trying to catch up!!!
I had a somewhat profound thought this morning. The sun was just rising as we landed and left the airport. As it got above the horizon I thought to myself, "wow, this is the sun Jesus saw ever morning, especially those mornings He went out early to pray." This of course brought to mind movie lines (because what in my world doesn't?) from Newsies: "You know, you should see Santa Fe, everything’s different there. It’s all bigger. The desert, the sky, the sun..." She replies, "It’s the same sun as here." And he answers, "Yeah, it just looks different." And he's right - it does:it's bigger and closer and somewhat clouded but more radiant. But the point is that whether the sun looks different or not, the sun I saw come up this morning is the same sun Jocelyn will see when she drives to Orland to work this morning and it is the same sun Doug saw in Thailand when he got up at the ridiculously early hours he does. And rather than that commonality belittling it, this magnifies it all the more for me. Not only is the sun the same here, it will be the same sun when I get back to the states. And that will be the real test, can I live for the Son under the same sun He saw when I'm not where He walked?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Chocolate...
For the past seven years of my life that has been a word I hated. When I could eat it chocolate was the greatest thing on the planet - especially when combined with peanut butter. And then I couldn't eat it anymore...and it became worse than a swear word or lemon juice in a paper cut. When we discovered I was allergy to sugar and I was told to cut it out, I did it. No more chocolate, or cookies or cake or soda or fruit juice or fruit or spaghetti sauce a zillion other things, including splenda. Most days when I see 'sugar free' chocolate it just has splenda in it. This chocolate doesn't.
I was just about to start a big blab about how this chocolate that doesn't have sugar in it and that I can finally eat and won't kill me. Then I looked up the first ingredient - maltitol. A sugar alcohol. According to Wikipedia maltitol has 90% of the sweetness of sugar and all the same properties. What was I thinking?
It was SO good! I saw it and left it, and then we came back and I got it. And then we walked some more and then when we were waiting for the bus I ate some - and didn't die, didn't even get a headache. And then when we got back to the house I ate some more - and I'm still not dead. I'm probably two and a half inches into probably a nine inch bar. I'm not dead yet, I can't even really feel it. I'm just tired. Jesse pointed out that all the walking today (all over three coastal cities) probably helped work it through my system. It melted in my mouth. I could feel it melt and then spread all over my tongue. It was glorious. And now its gone. Only I still have six inches of chocolate sitting in front of me.
Sometimes, its better never to try something than to try it and like it and lose it. Whoever said 'it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at' probably never loved anyone. And probably was never told she couldn't eat chocolate ever again.
I was just about to start a big blab about how this chocolate that doesn't have sugar in it and that I can finally eat and won't kill me. Then I looked up the first ingredient - maltitol. A sugar alcohol. According to Wikipedia maltitol has 90% of the sweetness of sugar and all the same properties. What was I thinking?
It was SO good! I saw it and left it, and then we came back and I got it. And then we walked some more and then when we were waiting for the bus I ate some - and didn't die, didn't even get a headache. And then when we got back to the house I ate some more - and I'm still not dead. I'm probably two and a half inches into probably a nine inch bar. I'm not dead yet, I can't even really feel it. I'm just tired. Jesse pointed out that all the walking today (all over three coastal cities) probably helped work it through my system. It melted in my mouth. I could feel it melt and then spread all over my tongue. It was glorious. And now its gone. Only I still have six inches of chocolate sitting in front of me.
Sometimes, its better never to try something than to try it and like it and lose it. Whoever said 'it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at' probably never loved anyone. And probably was never told she couldn't eat chocolate ever again.
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