'cause my mom wanted photos...

arabian princesses


women praying at the western/wailing wall


sea of galilee at sunset...gorgeous


kissing camels is a new pastime...

Happy Thanksgiving from Jerusalem!

So… I’ve been the worst blogger over the past couple weeks. Honestly, I have not had the energy to write more than my personal/class journal. We have been extremely busy nearly everyday. This is my second day-off since I’ve gotten to Israel. Tomorrow is our last class trip around Jerusalem then we have a final exam on Friday.

It has been an incredible experience so far in Israel. It was an extreme contrast coming from Europe to the Middle East. Europe has nearly no religion and the Middle East is saturated with religions. Just by walking around Jerusalem, we encounter Jews, Muslims and Christians. People wear their religion on their sleeve, literally. I have been struck numerous times by how outward religion is here. Orthodox Jews are hard not to notice with their black and white suits, black hats, and long locks of hair. I have been told that the differences among Orthodox Jews include the color of socks (brown or black), type of hat (top hat or furry Russian hat), type of coat, etc. Also, there are the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox and probably everything in between. Five times a day, we hear the Muslim call to prayer but I have yet to see a pious Muslim pray. There are various groups of Christians- the Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Ethiopians, Roman Catholic and others. There are six groups of Christians fighting over who has the right to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher so they each have their own chapels. It is such a bad witness when even Christians are fighting with each other. It’s sad to see believers disagree in such a tangible way.

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is even more profound, however. On the way back from the Western Wall (formerly the Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem, many Bar Mitzphas were being celebrated with music and dancing. As I was walking by one group of joyous Jews, the Muslim call to prayer started to sound. The Jews’ trumpets got louder and tried to compete with the sound of Muslim prayer and Quran reading. At that moment, the conflict was so obvious and it became concrete. While our focus is not on the conflict, we had a Christian Palestinian speaker talk about the issue and what his organization does for reconciliation. Coming from the US, I had only ever heard pro-Israel arguments so it was great to hear an Arab Christian give light to the Palestinian struggle. I wish I could explain everything that I learned but the conflict is so complex that it seems to get more confusing the more I learn. Neither side seems to seek reconciliation; neither will budge. The Arabs feel like they have been pushed out of their home and don’t accept that the Jews are building settlements in the land that should be theirs. The Jews feel like they have no other land while the Palestinians have other Arab countries to go to. They both want the other to leave. While the Israelis call the 1948 war the “Independence War,” the Arabs call it “Naqba” which means “catastrophe.”

I was shopping in the market with a couple friends and we ended up talking to a Palestinian shopkeeper for quite a while about the conflict. We got on the subject because one of us asked if he liked being in Israel and he insisted that we call it Palestine. As Americans, we automatically get pinned as supporters of Israel just like any stereotype. We realized how tourists’ shopping habits can have a huge affect on people forming those stereotypes. He said that people look through the pile of patches and always skip over the one with the Palestinian flag and buy the one with the Israeli flag. Those small actions actually affect people.

I think I’m beginning to understand why the Palestinians are frequent rock throwers and suicide bombers. That may be the only way they can get any attention from the international community. Otherwise, the struggle is often portrayed as one-sided, as only an Israeli struggle. Still, I have more questions than answers.

Our program has been a great way for me to learn about the Holy Land. We are taking a class with Jerusalem University College, an American institute, on the geography of the Holy Land. We’ve been learning about archeology, terrain/geology, cities and ancient/modern routes. Like our professor Carl says, knowing the Holy Land helps you to understand the Bible like having a game board helps you to play the game. It’s really true because I can picture so many places mentioned in the Bible now and I understand how ancient travel worked. We have taken tours in Jerusalem, day trips to nearby regions and 3- and 4-day trips to the south (“Negev”) and to the Galilee area. We have visited countless archeological excavations that have started to run together but that really help to understand what things were like. After two and half weeks of these antiquities, I know that archeology cannot prove the Bible but it gives it so much credibility and validity. If you turn to 1 Kings 9:15, you’ll see three city names where Solomon had building projects. We visited those cities and saw the city gates that the passage refers to. We’ve seen sacrificial altars, synagogues, tombs, and pagan “high places.” Herod the Great was so called because he had so many building projects- mainly palaces for himself and other important Romans to enjoy.

We have done a lot of fun things on our trips like: riding camels, swimming/floating in the Dead Sea, hiking to waterfalls, spotting animals like ibexes, staying in a Kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee and swimming there… We also had baptisms in the Jordan River. Eight students were baptized where our Savior was baptized by John.

Our group is collectively exhausted because after three months in Europe, we have had to get up early everyday and move from hotel to hostel to the next hostel the next day. We are truly nomads and savor even three days in the same place. I’m looking forward to live somewhere- Santa Barbara- for a few months in a row.

I forgot to tell a really funny story…well it’s funny in retrospect at least. We were at Caesarea Maritima touring the site on the Mediterranean when all of sudden it started to rain. It didn’t only rain but it poured down on us. The heavens opened up and a flash flood fell from the sky. We were supposed to meet our whole group at a certain building in about an hour. Not having any idea how long the rain would last, we ran for cover and the rain kept getting heavier and heavier. Somehow, many of us students ended up under the same covering and we moved from one shelter to the next to get closer to the meeting spot. I have never been so soaked through in my life. All of us were completely drenched and none of us knew where our leaders were. After an hour of sending out reconnaissance missions from our little awning, the rain died down and we found Carl. The rain had done some serious damage in about an hour- swimming pools were created in no time. While it was kind of fun playing around in the rain, it was no loner funny once we got the bus and were soaked and cold. We tried to change into dry clothes but many of us were still uncomfortably damp and cold. We just wanted to climb into a warm bed or a sauna. Things looked up after a couple hours and we got back on track. Now the flash flood story is funny but it was a major test of our group’s character. We made it and are stronger because of it! Haha…

Our group was also greatly affected by the fires in Santa Barbara. We found out that Westmont was burning one morning, when it was evening there. Apparently some students from the City College didn’t put out their bonfire very well and Westmont lost seven buildings and faculty members lost 14 homes. Our leaders and professors on this trip lost their home. Ken and Kim Khilstrom and their son Kevin have lost everything. They literally have nothing to go home to in December. God has been gracious in providing peace and a place for them to live in Montecito. Please pray for Westmont and the Montecito community.

Well, Europe semester 2008 is coming to a close quickly and I am about to graduate college. I’m about to graduate college!! Madness. What’s next? Spain. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here. At least one thing is sure: God is in control. That’s all.

If you made it this far (sorry about the 1500 word essay), send me a message or an email to say hi! Love you!

Roma, Athina and off to Jerusalem

I am in the airport in Athens waiting for our red-eye to Tel-Aviv... Three weeks in Israel is next!

Rome was really hard and good at the same time. We had finals for the three classes with Westmont professors (we taking a JUC class in Jerusalem) and I tried to squeeze in seeing all the main sights. The Colosseum was really cool. It's right in front of you when you get out of the metro and you can tour all around it. I think that was my favorite sight in the city. Yesterday, we took a day trip to Pompei near Naples.

Pompay was a flourishing Roman city in the 1st century but it was covered in 36 feet of ash when a volcano erupted in 79 AD. In the 18th century, some people found the city by chance. Over the next couple centuries, there were a lot of excavations of Pompay. They found an almost perfectly preserved Roman city. It was so cool to see. We walked down the same streets Romans did 2000 years ago, at the time of Jesus. Some of the frescoes were even intact. The funniest part was the brothel with scandalous frescoes inside. We also saw plaster casts of people that were killed instantly by the ash. Creepy. We took a tour of the nearly the whole city and went into one of those famous Roman baths and saw homes, bars, and the temple. That was a definite highlight!

This morning, we left Roma bright and early for the airport. We flew to Athens for a long layover so we could see the city. We barely made it to the Parthenon in time. It was closing as we reached the entrance so we hustled to the top to snap tons of pictures. The lighting was absolutely perfect! The sun was setting over the Greek beach and the buildings were glowing. The Acropolis was built in the 9th or 10th centuries BC! That is amazing to me. Then, we enjoyed a Greek dinner with live music. Opa! Now we are back at the airport and I feel delirious because it is late here and I'm coming down with something. It's the worst time to get sick because we aren't really sleeping tonight. We will arrive to Tel-Aviv at 3:30 AM and then take a coach to Jerusalem where we will wait for our hotel rooms to be ready at 10 AM... maybe I can sleep then ;)

Please pray for our journeys and time in Jerusalem! It is very exciting to be going to the Holy Land... I can't believe it!

Italia... ciao bella!

We’ve been to Venezia (Venice) and Firenze (Florence)… we’re leaving for Roma tomorrow!

Venezia was really fun because it’s how I imagined Italia more or less. There are canals, gondolas, gelato, souvenirs of Murano glass, etc. It didn’t seem like there was much to do there besides see the cathedral and palace (which I didn’t even do). I was working a lot on a WWII paper so I mainly just hung out in Venice, went shopping, and went on a gondola with friends. We got to “drive” the gondola… which means that we climbed back there with the gondolier and held the paddle. We had fun walking through all the alley ways and over the many bridges of Venezia. We stayed on Lido, meaning “beach,” and actually got to go put our feet in the Adriatic Sea at the beach.

When we left Venice there was some protesting going on because the government wants to privatize education. All the high school kids ditched school to protest… good reason to get out of class. Anyway, the transportation was all backed up and we got out of Venice 10 minutes before they closed the road for four hours. When we got to Florence, we were parked and sitting in the bus trying to figure out where our hotel was (for an hour!) and protesters were marching by us. It’s kind of funny that we go to a private school while they are protesting the privatization of education. Well, we finally found out where our hotel was and had to walk all of our suitcases and carry-ons about 8 blocks through the center of Florence because we are on the main street.

Now we are in Florence. Ahh…Tuscany… Florence is a bigger city than Venice but it is still very walk-able. I went to the Uffizi museum and saw lots of Renaissance art. I liked Botticelli’s Primavera and the Birth of Venus. There were a lot of paintings of the Madonna and child and it was interesting to see how they changed throughout the centuries. One of Michelangelo’s Madonnas looked pretty buff. 

After the Uffizi, I went to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David. I was so blown away by it. I really didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. First, I was impressed with how huge it is. It’s gotta be twice as big as the average guy. How did Michelangelo even carve it? And it was sculpted from one slab of marble. The proportions are really impressive. His hands might be just a little big. But I love it! David was such a symbol for Florence because he also fought bigger and stronger opposition like the Florentines. Michelangelo decided not to do David like others had with his foot on Goliath’s head. Instead, David is in thought and maybe reflecting on his victory to show that he won the battle with his intelligence and innocence. (credits go to the museum plaque)

Yesterday, I went up to San Mitiato Church on the hill to listen to the monks sing in Latin and get a great view of the city. Today, I climbed Il Duomo for another view. The bummer about the latter view is that you can’t see the dome when you are in it. I went to market earlier today and wanted to practice Spanish… so I just tried it out and all the venders spoke good Spanish. I kinda lied and said I was from Chile… I guess they have no idea that I don’t really look Chilean at all. It’s a small enough country that I figured I could play it off… then I felt bad about lying. Later, I went to a bigger market with friends and got a leather jacket!

Now I am preparing for finals (well, procrastinating by writing this) and our trip to Rome before we head to Jerusalem!

Creative Project

Check out the last video I posted on the video bar! It's about 8 minutes long... For my narrative in the arts class, I had to present a creative project to our group. My friends, Tara and Christina, and I got together to reflect on war. We were really struck by a quote that we saw in a peace museum in Normandy: "All war is civil war, for it is always man against man, spilling his own blood, tearing out his own entrails." We wanted to creatively express the quote through physical theater. It took a lot of work to put together the music and choreograph the fighting! But it was really rewarding when we finished and got great feedback from the group. Let me know what you think! Oh... one last thing: During one of the scenes, I got to smear paint on the audience including my professor! Too bad you can't see that on the video... Enjoy!