Part two of private field trip

Our second stop in Jericho was a place called Nabi Musa - Prophet Moses. It was a caravanserai as well as a mosque. The caravanserai is no longer in use, the mosque is. The mosque is built around the tomb of Moses. Kent loves these places and is so excited if he can convince the head guy to let him inside.

Which he obviously did:

 This is looking from inside the mosque out - at our security guy - Mahmud!

As you come out of the mosque you see this lovely little courtyard:

This is the main courtyard in the caravanserai. You can see a couple of wells, the big-sized niches for the animals and then up above are the rooms for the people. You can also see that it is raining really, really hard at this point!



This is looking down at the same courtyard from the second story 

 This is what one of the rooms looks like. There were bigger ones for a bigger traveling group and small ones for just a few people.

 Next to the caravanserai is a little cemetery.

Stop number three was a favorite with all of us - lunch! We ate at the Mount of Temptations' restaurant. Delish - and dry! :)

Having regained our strength we traveled on to St. George's Monastery. When we bring the students here we only take them to the look-out. The six of us actually walked [and walked and walked] down a very steep path to the monastery itself. This is the entry way at the top of the path:

  On our way down we saw this R.O.U.S. - a Hyrax.

There were several of these crosses along the way.

Passing through another gate:

 Looking down at the water system:

Kent on the way down

Catching up with the Ludlows

 Kent took a picture of me taking a picture of Jared and Margaret

What a setting! And you should have heard the birds! Birds and quiet - that's what you could "hear." 

 We are almost to the monastery!

Final arch before the door

At last - the entrance!

After you come through the door you enter this courtyard with tombs in it

 The first chapel we went into was in honor of Saint George himself

 This is called a Chancel Screen - it blocks the altar from the view of the worshippers.

 More views of this chapel:

This is St. George being honored by many at his death

 These are his bones:

This chapel was in honor of the monk who started the monastery - here are HIS bones - all of them:

The long brown box running under the paintings are monks' hearts. We aren't sure the exact story, but apparently there was at some point in the monastery's history, a massacre of many monks - whose hearts are preserved? I'm probably spreading false rumors here! Anyway, eewww.

 Another Chancel Screen:

 

Another chapel honoring Elijah - the mural shows him being fed by a raven:

 More Elijah chapel - this was actually like looking into a dark, dark cave. I didn't investigate how to enter.

 We wandered a bit more of the monastery:

 

 The 3 of us girls:



This is a hermit hut - complete with the straw basket to send up whatever he needs. =)

 

We were very lucky that the rain stopped while we were going to and from the monastery. The pavement is VERY slippery when it is wet and it is also very steep. That was our day and it was fun! That evening we ate dinner in the Oasis and then had our first Friday Night at the Movies. "The Ten Commandments". I didn't watch all of it - I went to bed! :)

I think a good time was had by all - all day!

Private field trip

Yesterday, which was Friday the 13th [huh, I just now realized that it was Friday the 13th!], 2 of the faculty with wives, and Kent and I went on our own field trip to Jericho. Because it is in the West Bank we had to have one of our security guys be our driver and stay with us for the day - hope HE had fun! We also had to have passports to get through the check point.

Our first stop, once we arrived in Jericho, was an archeological site called Hisham's Palace. This is inside the entrance - guard seats.

This was once a window in the palace:

This is the 6 of us: Margaret and Jared Ludlow; Kent and me; Elaine and Eric Huntsman

[Side note - Elaine was sustained today [Sabbath] as our new RS President and I am one of her counselors] 

 A mosaic floor:

 This is the largest, intact mosaic in existance -- The Tree of Life:

Sorry - you'll have to wait for the rest! Love you all   :)

Parking in Jerusalem

When it comes to parking in Jerusalem there are several options:

Double Parking

My personal favorite -- 

Parking on the sidewalk

Buying a parking tag - 1 time use only

[you scrape off the date/time etc. and hang it in your window facing the sidewalk]



Israeli form of meter parking

You find one of these:



You put coins in this and then push the green button:

The machine prints out a receipt, which you hang in your side window:

 OR the all too frequent option -- GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! :)

Sunday and Monday

Yesterday morning, I drove the Snack Bar committee to purchase treats for the snack bar. At one point I turned down the wrong street! Not a street, really, more like an alley with cars parked on both sides and a dead end. :) Since I had 7 or 8 people I was in a van so I couldn't turn around - I had to back all the way down the alley. At one point there was a car in front of me trying to get out and a car behind me trying to get in. STRESSFUL! The students were very kind and patient and gave me directions as I tried to steer my way. Whew - that's a trip none of us will forget in the near future!

Sunday evening we attended the first concert of the winter semester. It is the 25th anniversary of the Jerusalem Center and the marvelous organ we have here! Richard Elliot - the Morman Tab organist - was the guest performer. Now, I don't really enjoy straight organ music, but THIS was amazing! He played everything from a Bach fugue to George Gershwin - all of it unbelievable!

Monday, today, was our first field trip. Here was the conversation I had with myself as I was getting ready to go. Me1 - "I don't want to go on this field trip. I've seen these overlooks multiple times before. I'm too tired - blah, blah, blah". Me2 - "What do you mean you don't want to go? You're in Jerusalem for crying out loud! How many other people are getting up today with a Jerusalem field trip on their schedule??"
Long and short - I went and I loved it.

We did Jerusalem overlooks today. Below is at a place called the Haz Promenade. We are looking at the south end of the Old City - where there are steps remaining that Jesus would have walked on.

Below is a close up of the previous view. On the left is the wall of the city - somewhere within Christ and his disciples would have had the Last Supper. Then he would have walked down into the valley and up onto the Mount of Olives, somewhere in or around those 2 churches - into the Garden of Gethsemane. I've seen this sight before but this time I felt a sweet confirmation of my testimony of Jesus' atonement. Not a confirmation because I am here, but because it actually happened -- for me. And for you.





 Another look out was at the Augusta Victoria Hospital. In addition to the hospital, the complex also includes a hospice, a restaurant, a kindergarten and a church. I've shown you pictures of the church before but I took more today because they still had their Christmas decorations up and they had some really interesting paintings on display.

This is the altar

Some of the Christmas decorations

As the sign says the following pictures are of an altar taken from a Syrian orphanage: 

I thought this was a really sweet little nativity scene

Sorry this is way blurry, but I wanted a picture of Kent teaching:

  I wish I knew where these paintings were from. They were all bible stories, but the colors were what I found so interesting:

  

 

Our last stop of the day was at a place called Nabi Samwel - Prophet Samuel. There is a synagogue downstairs and a mosque above. These are some of our girls preparing to go into the synagogue:

 

Students have arrived

Just some reflections on the past week. The students arrived on Wednesday afternoon. All  of us had been busy Monday/Tuesday preparing for their arrival. Amazingly, for the first time in I don't know how long, all of the students were on 1 flight. The worst situation, was probably last semester when there were about 9 flights!!
Anyway, even this time there was a glich - wouldn't be Jerusalem without. :)
For some reason, the airlines had to change planes and the new plane was short 3 seats. Who got put on standby? 3 of our students. Who made the flight? 2 of the 3. One young man had to spend the night in New York and take the same flight the following day. That means he missed all of the orientation that we give the students. It also meant that one of our faculty had to make a second trip to the airport to pick him up. Ah, well - he did arrive safe and sound.

As soon as the students arrived we sent them into the Auditorium for a 30-minute orientation. Then we divided them into small groups and took them on a tour of the building. I think they probably remembered 2 things from that tour - where the cafeteria is and where their apartment is. Jet lag erased anything else!
We had dinner with the students that evening in the Oasis. It was fun to have them here and to be eating Center food again - it is GOOD!

Thursday morning, bright and early, we had another orientation meeting followed by a 4-hour walk from the Center, through the Old City, to West Jerusalem. Vans brought us back to the Center in time for lunch. [The faculty/staff did this same walk on Tuesday so that we would remember the route to take the students. I knew I could do the walk but boy was I TIRED! -- both days]

More orientation in the afternoon, headsets distributed, committee chairs & advisors introduced. I am the advisor over the Snack Bar committee. Should be fun.

The In-Center activities committee held a get-aquainted party in the gym after dinner. We collapsed in our apartment. Thank heavens Friday was very low-key and we could recuperate.