Friday, February 20, 2009

Another week has flown by once again which is totally crazy!! It has been really cold and rainy this week so I have stayed inside more than usual. I know that's wimpy of me since I'm not even in snowy Provo but I'm a California girl through and through. Tuesday was a fun day of shopping in the Old City since I haven't done that for a while. I got some sweet t-shirts which I was super excited about so I would say it was a successful outing. On Wednesday, we took a group field trip to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, which was a very sobering experience. Yad Vashem was built in 2005 as a memorial for those who suffered beyond belief and told the tragic story of the hatred exhibited toward the Jewish people. My eyes were opened this time to a new perpective as the tour focused on the positive attitude of the Jews during the darkest age in their history. The most influencial part for me had to be the Childrens Memorial. As I walked into the pitch black building where thousands of candles illuminated the entire room and every single name of the one million children who died were named, I was so overwhelmed as I thought about each innocent child who was killed by the brutal Nazi regime. It was definitely a life-changing experience. We then met our Jewish professor Ophir Yarden at Mt. Hertzel. This mountain commemorates the prophet of Zionism and the return of the Jews to Israel. That's pretty much the only point of this mountain so, honestly, not very exciting. Yesterday I went to the Knesset which is the legislative branch of the Israeli government. The tour was short and sweet but very informative. Last night was the Diner's Club in West Jerusalem. We found this hole in the wall pasta restaurant which was so ridiculously amazing! It was fun to get out on the town and feel like a normal college student just out to dinner with a group of friends. Today we had Old Testament and Ancient Near East for two hours each and took up our entire morning so it was quite draining if you ask me. I was supposed to have Arabic tonight as well but my teacher got sick so class was postponed! Even though Arabic is super fun with our hilarious teacher, I was not in the mood for more classes. Today we played another intense game of soccer which was absolutely amazing!! It was so crazy that I now have a swollen ankle from getting hacked at, a bruised left arm from being rammed into the door and an extremely sensitive coccyx so I'm feeling mighty fine. Shabbat Shalom!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet Nike shirt...perfect find for you! Settle down little missy on that soccer field/court. Don't want to deal with any major injuries or medical stuff over there. That would be a bummer. It does sound like it was way fun though.

Brooke and Aaron said...

The Holocaust stories really get me to me too. That must have been an emotional experience. Sounds like its been a busy, but fun couple of days.