Story time!

(Bonus picture here: this is what Jerusalem looked like one day when the wind came up and blew dust all over.)

Well actually, I had been planning to talk about the story of Ruth...but now that may have to wait for another time. Instead, I have a story about my life here at JUC, which I'm sure you all will find fascinating. Well, probably not, but I'll enjoy telling it.


First of all, today has been pretty amazing. We didn't have archaeology this morning which meant that I got to sleep in (which is good because I was up really late last night). I mean, I love Gabi, but a day off is nice too. And THEN I got to play Ultimate Frisbee. And my team (which had all the girls on it) came from behind (like 5 to 1) to win (8 to 6). It was amazing. Yup. And then we had our Shabbat meal which is always nice. Then for vespers we had sort of an international theme with people talking about ministry in Peru, Kenya, Austria, and a couple other places. That was pretty sweet. And then we had game night. With chips. And salsa. (We never get salsa here. Very exciting.)

So it had been a good day so far. Are you following me? Because here's where it really gets interesting.


Some of us ended up playing Mafia for a while, and in the middle of our last game it started pouring. Thunder, lightening, the works. And then apparently a gutter broke or something because the little interior courtyard we have really began to flood - and water seeped from it to the dinning room. And there was enough hail for me to make a pitiful little "snow" ball.


Anyway, we squeegeed out the dinning hall, and then my roommate headed upstairs to our room...to discover that both the stair and our room (and the room next to us) were also flooded. So we brought the squeegees up and William and Dr. Wright helped us get everything drained and cleaned up (my floor needed to be mopped anyway!) Note: by this time, it's well after 12:00am. What a day. Hail, squeegees, and dry mopping. My life is complete. :) (Thankfully nothing too important got wet and we had some help in cleaning up.) Basically, it reminded me of camp and home and made me smile.

(This is Kjetil, helping us squeegee our floor.)

Oh, and I just realized that today is (or was, rather) my half-birthday. Pretty good celebration, all together, I think. :)

(Do you see how reflective the floor is? That's water.)

...and the winner is....

Yesterday was election day in Israel. Which means that by today, most of the results should be tallied and we should have a pretty accurate idea of who will be the new prime minister, right? Well, maybe not.

Before I elaborate any further, I wish to make it known that I make no claim to any great knowledge of Israeli politics. However, a couple people have asked, so I will attempt to explain the little that I've learned in the last couple weeks. (If you have any further questions, you're on your own, but maybe this will help you know where to start looking.)

First of all, when you vote in Israel, you don't vote for a person. You vote for a party. There were somewhere around 30 different political parties vying for votes in this most recent election. While the main ones would probably seem fairly "normal" to us (right, left, stances on the economy, and Gaza being sort of main points of discussion) they range to the utterly bizarre (Holocaust survivors in favor of legalizing marijuana). Each party gets a certain number of seats in the Knesset (120 seats total), depending on what percentage of the vote they get. To get any seats, they have to get at least 2% of the vote. Other than that, if your party gets, say, 20% of the popular vote (which could be enough for that party to "win" the election), then you get 24 of the seats (or possibly more-to make up for the parties getting 1% and no seats), to be filled with the top members of the party. No one party ever wins a majority. The prime minister usually (or maybe always thus far) comes from the party that received the largest percent of the popular vote. He or she then has to form a coalition government. (Obviously, if only 20 percent of the legislative branch agrees with the prime minister, not much will get done. So they make deals and apparently "recruit" other parties to agree with them. They need at least 61 seats in the Knesset to form a coalition government. When the coalition falls apart, they hold new elections.)

This time the two main parties in the running were Likud, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and
Kadima, headed by Tzipi Livni. The Likud party had been leading in the polls, with an ever decreasing margin over the last couple weeks. As of yesterday, however, it appears that Kadima actually won a slightly larger percentage of the popular vote, giving them one more seat. (Though apparently this won't be totally certain for another week or two). Does this mean that Livni will be Prime Minister? Well, maybe.

The thing is, first of all, it's a very narrow win. That gives them less bargaining power with the other parties. Second, Livni already tried and failed to form a coalition government this fall after Ehud Olmert stepped down. There are various other reasons too, but suffice it to say that Netanyahu still has a shot at being Prime Minister.

Whether this is good or bad, and what all this will mean for Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, well, only time will tell for sure. I'm sure analysts are attempting to predict what might happen, but I will not.

Fortunately, as I was reminded in our own elections, our hope is not built on who our president or prime minister is. Our hope is in the God who created the universe and who is still in control of it. Our hope is in the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son. Our citizenship isn't really here - it's in Heaven. So as you pray for America, please pray for Israel too. And then remember to trust the God who establishes and removes rulers.

The Temple Mount

This morning (or rather, yesterday morning - I've had some issues with uploading pictures) Amy and I took advantage of a canceled class to make another attempt to summit the temple mount. Don't get the wrong impression. It's really not much of a "mount" and not at all difficult to climb. It is, however, difficult to find a time that it's open. I think it's supposed to be open from about 8-11am. But that means very little here.

Today we got there around 9:30 and were in luck! It was open, and up we went.

We spent most of our time on the eastern side of the platform, alternating between looking across at the Mount of Olives and back towards the Dome of the Rock. We even climbed up on the wall encircling the platform for a better view.
It had been rainy and cloudy, but every now and then the clouds would clear and few rays of sunlight would alight on the golden dome, making it shine almost as brightly as the sun itself.(As beautiful as the Dome itself is, with its amazing architecture and mosaics, I think it looks even better surrounded by green trees and a blue, cloudy sky.)

One thing that both Amy and I remarked on was the amount of trash they have even there, on the 3rd holiest Muslim site in the world. Then again, it does seem to be a bit of a construction site, and I have yet to see a completely trashless construction site.

As we were about to get down from the wall some guy started yelling at us to hurry and leave. I think they were closing to tourists. We were quite a ways from the entrance where we came in so we took quite a bit of time in trying to get out (and still ended up going out a different exit) but at least we had a little extra time to snap a few shots - without extraneous tourist blocking the scenery!

After we had exited we came across some sort of tour group, accompanied by none other than my archaeology professor, Gabi Barkai. I'm quite sure he doesn't know my name, but he seemed to recognize me and we talked for a second. (Back home I run into people I know around town all the time...I think this may be the first time it's happened in Jerusalem.)

As we made our way back to the school we passed the Dormition Abbey and decided to stop there too.
It is a beautiful church, built by Kaiser Wilhelm for the German Catholics, I believe. It is one of the traditional sights where Mary supposedly died or "fell asleep." They have some very beautiful mosaics in the main sanctuary (including a floor mosaic with the signs of the Zodiac, the minor prophets, the major prophets, and the trinity), and then some other interesting things in the crypt.
So that was yesterday's adventure. I'm going to have to make an effort have more of my own adventures, since I won't be doing as much group travel as last semester.

The Process Continues

The process of trying to understand the conflict here, that is.

I certainly don't have it figured out yet. However, if you are interested in learning more yourself, here's a link to an article I found to be informative and humorous.

I was also just introduced to the short movie "West Bank Story" which can also be described as rather informative and humorous (especially if you've ever seen "West Side Story" or any other musical). It's about 20 minutes long, and in my opinion, well worth the watch. If the embedded video below doesn't work, try the link above.

As a side note, you may wonder why both the article and movie are humorous. Frankly, the humor helps us avoid utter despair. For people who live with this daily or even think about it daily, it can be very discouraging. You start trying to think of solutions: "If only the Jews would do this, if only the Arabs would do that..." And then you realize that those are concessions that will never be made. And even if they were made, they might just make more problems. And even if they did help, there are still hundreds of other problems. Seeing a little humor in the situation can help lighten the burden.

Humor aside, though, as I examine the situation here and learn more and more about it, I am left with the realization that, as cliched as it sounds, our only real hope for peace in the Middle East is found in Christ. Different people might have different ideas of what this looks like, whether peace will only occur at the second coming of Jesus to the earth or whether it can happen slowly, though one changed heart at a time. Either way Jesus is our only hope. And for now, while we may not be able to solve the entire Middle East Crisis, we can do our part to bring the peace of Christ to individuals. In spite of what look like insurmountable difficulties, let us not give up or despair.

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." ~Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

Things that make me giggle a bit

Geeky jokes, related to...
Biology...Computer Science...

(I'll be 1C in August!)

Electronics...Math...Statistics...
Egyptology...

"Bad" puns...

Characters who don't like pink...

I have to agree with this. Actually, I'm voting for orange. Maybe with green stripes.

And in real life...
Drinking coffee (or tea) with friends while random men attempt to run electrical wires above your heads...
Oddly decorated olive trees...

Happy Monday! :)

Roses and Lizards

Although I am, of course, an exceedingly normal person, I will admit to one or two minor quirks. For example, I like to walk while I read, especially if I'm reading anything that tends to put me to sleep. Especially if I've just spend the rest of the day in class sitting. So today, in the beautiful 70-degree weather, I went outside, A History of Israel in hand, camera slung over my back, and began to stroll around our garden. While I did eventually finish my reading (about Cyrus and Ezra and the return from exile), I must confess that I was distracted once or twice.

One of the first things I noticed was some strange wildlife that seemed to be building a home in one of our trees.

Actually, there was quite a bit of life - a variety of birds and bugs, and even one cute little lizard I caught crawling around on a rock.

Tangent: I've decided that I like lizards. And since we don't have them in MT, I have to enjoy them whenever possible. For example, I was sitting in my Second Temple history class tonight, studiously taking notes, when I happened to see movement by the front upper left corner. Yes, it was another lizard (two in one day!!) Unfortunately, I was so enamored with it that my teacher was distracted by my adoring gaze and I was forced to explain what I found so fascinating about the wall behind him. Yeah, I'm kind of a dork. Oh well.

But back to the garden, most of the more interesting wildlife wandered off to more promising locals as the sun continued its downward journey. This enabled me to spend more time concentrating on my book.

Speaking of which, can I take a moment to say that it bothers me when people automatically assume that any supernatural explanation for an event is clearly wrong? The author of my book (who, by the way, at least claims to be a Christian) assumes that the second part of Isaiah was written by someone other than Isaiah during (or maybe after?) the Babylonian captivity. And why does he assume this? As far as I can determine, because Isaiah mentions Cyrus by name. Clearly the original Isaiah would have never been able to predict something this precise. (Though oddly, the author accepts Isaiah's prophecies about the Messiah). Perhaps the author has other reasons for making this assumption. Perhaps the grammatical structure is clearly different in the second half. Whatever his reasons, I wish he would at least explain them. Anyway...I have many other thoughts on this subject, which I will probably save for another time.

That delay can, perhaps, be blamed on some of the distracting flora of the garden. We still have one or two roses blooming. The picture just doesn't catch the incandescent glimmer when the sun hits the petal.

I like flowers.
Probably even more than lizards.
If a flower had suddenly started crawling across the wall in my class, I probably would have been even more distracted.

Eventually a few more fauna specimens showed up, the rare picturus colorerus. (Yeah, I know, I should learn real Latin sometime.) That's Tom, one of the grad students, with the daughters of the man who makes the campus run. :)

With all that said, I've nearly survived the first week of class here! And the two make-up classes! (Yeah, we have to make up the classes before we even miss them this semester...which has made this week especially long.) I just have archaeology tomorrow (3 hours, no break... yeah, it's a doozie). And then a weekend! So I can catch up on all my reading! Perhaps I'll go for another walk...

First Impression, Second Impressions

This new semester has been sort of an odd juxtaposition of new things and old things. I spent a full semester in this room, (sorry, it's rather poorly stitched together, but you get the idea)
at this school, in this city,
in this country. Some things are wonderfully familiar. On the other hand, that semester was in the fall, with an entirely different group of people and classes. Some things are amazingly different. I will try to sort my thoughts into those two categories, and probably fail miserably, but hey.

First Impressions?
1. New students started arriving on Friday. I think I've met most of them, though certainly not all, and I don't remember all of their names. There are a lot of Steve's, Matt's, Mark's, and Jo(h)n's. (Feeling Biblical, parents, weren't we?) Good recipe for confusion.
2. It's a much smaller group than last semester, which is sort of nice. At least in some ways. There are a total of 34 students living on campus.
3. There are two new girls here for the grad program - yay! More long-termers.
4. There are actually more guys than girls on campus this semester, though most are undergraduates, for you wannabe matchmakers out there. :) Nonetheless, that's a rather unique situation from most Christian contexts I've been in.
5. There is one Canadian, one Norwegian, one from Hong Kong, and a couple MKs from Kenya. I guess that adds a bit to our cultural diversity. :)
5b. I think I'm still the only Montanan on campus. (One student's wife grew up in MT.)
6. It's kind of different to be one of the "returners." Perhaps a little like it is at Clydehurst? One wants to be helpful and welcoming, and still avoid being a know-it-all. It's so great to see the other returners - it's comfortable being with them. But on the other hand, one wants to avoid any semblence of a new-people-excluding clique.
7. I ate my first whole kumquat the other day. It was a bit weird, but tasty.
8. I went to Jerusalem Baptist Church on Sunday with a few other students. It was interesting, but I don't think I'll make it my "home." I do need to work on finding/deciding on a home church, though.
9. I discovered today that there is a Mechanical Engineering major here. Yay! Someone who will get some of my geeky jokes!
10. I finally brough my first JUC shirt today.
11. I finally went shopping at Shabban's and got a couple skirts. His "new" remodled shop is now open.

Second Impressions?
1. I've been pondering how different it feels to arrive here in the winter (spring semester) as opposed to the summer (fall semester). While it's not terribly cold (it reminds me of spring in Montana, or the the weather during staff training) it's also not terribly warm. Jackets, coats, sweatshirts, hats, scarves, and gloves are all rather welcome.
2. This contrast was especially apparent as some of us returning students accompanied the new geography students on their first "field study" around the Old City. On our first tour I remember distinctly being very warm and sweaty. Especially when we went and saw the tomb of Joseph of Aramathea inside the Church of the Holy Sepluchre. This time, I have to admit that it was really nice to go inside that rather tight and enclosed area of the church to soak up a little extra warmth.
3. Speaking of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I finally got to go inside the actual "tomb" of Jesus for the first time. (Since we had heard most of Dr. Wright's teaching on these things before, some of us we a bit less attentive to him and a bit more attentive to other details).4. I also love listening to the different groups chanting in the church.
5. I'm getting more used to the smell of insense.6. I feel fairly comfortable in my ability to avoid getting helplessly lost in the Old City, but I'm not entirely certain of being able to find anything on the first try. :)
7. I've been here nearly a week and have yet to be bitten by a mosquito or see a lizard. Cats, however, are still quite common. In fact, I seem to be seeing cats everywhere today. There was a cat outside my window when I got up this morning (my window looks out on a 3-story-high roof) and there was one peering over the stairs at me just now.
8. I saw my Hebrew teacher today. After he told me that he forgot I was coming back but he was very good to see me, he told me I did very well on my final last semester. Well, that's encouraging. :)
9. It's a little greener than it was in the fall, but we are still in desperate need of rain.
10. Pretty sure all the warm weather last semester has turned me into a wimp. :)
11. People in Jerusalem are still crazy. I mean, well, I guess different cultures react different ways to their "holy" city. I, for one, have no desire to parade around the town with drums, dancing and singing. Apparently some people do. Whatever makes your socks go up and down.12. I've come to have a higher opinion of the value of tradition than I had at the beginning of last semester.
13. I still have much to learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...but I rather dislike it when people pick a side and cling to it tenaciously. Biblically speaking, there are clearly right and wrong aspects of both sides.

Random thoughts:
1. I found out yesterday that some people are not familiar with the phrase "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," not to mention "Don't sniff a gift fish." ;) I suppose they also would be confused by "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" and, of course, "Beware of bears greeking gifts" would be a total mystery. (If you get the reference in that last one, major kudos.)
2. I learned that about 30,000 people live in the old city. In has an area of about 220 acres. My parent's house is situated "on" about 80 acres. Multiply that area by three and the crowd the population of Bozeman into it. That's crazy.
3. I'm looking forward to having a falafel. :)
4. I got to sit in a hammock!
5. This is one of the driest winters in Israel since...I don't know when, but apparently quite a while. And they're already in a drought.
6. It did rain the other night, and I went up on the roof with Amy to see the lightening.
7. I'm going to quit trying to think of other things that have struck me since returning and just publish this post.