obviously, i am the worst blogger.....but to be fair...the internet has been a little spotty lately.

This week was a lot of fun, so here are some of the highlights.

What have I been doing? More and more tests. Most of my classes are done at the end of June, so we’re taking all our quizzes and writing papers in preparation for finals. Hooray…

I got a little sick, and by a little I mean I got a stomach virus that ate me from the inside out. Incidentally, when you’re sick the very last thing you want to eat is hummus and herb-y salads made of olives, 2 liters of olive oil, and umm.....yes....olives.
So I literally hadn’t eaten for probably a week.
(I do love the food here, but really, the closest thing to comfort food is lentil soup.)
It was pretty bad, but in a very strange series of events I was quarantined to my room, force-fed a peanut butter sandwich…..and I got better. My friends took care of me and after a fair-at-best night’s sleep….I was back to a solid 79%. (and still climbing)

My friend Tiffany had a birthday and we wanted to celebrate it but we were pretty scheduled with forums and guest speakers to go out. I was able to make it out to the old city in the afternoon though and I went on a quest for some “English” cake. They don’t have cake over here…..their cake is like flan…..which is good….but sometimes….you just want some cake. So I went looking for some……and with much difficulty I found some in a closet-like grocery store. It was Betty Crocker but all in Arabic…and awesome. I had to get the ingredients to add in to it which was kind of funny because I was just walking around the city with the 3 eggs I bought for 1 shekel. It was pretty empowering because although I don’t feel like a tourist, I will always still look like one because I’m white. But carrying around eggs was like a sign to everyone who saw me. Tourists don’t buy eggs! She must live here!


(i think i was in the middle of saying something....hence the awkward expression)

However when I was walking down the street, a man called me out and started saying something…I tried to say in very broken Arabic “I…Make….Dessert…..? I need these (pointing to eggs) but he grabbed them from me and started walking away …“…umm….sir?” so I followed him because he took my stuff and he walked in this really small doorway but it opened up to the sweetest old city Jerusalem grocery store I have ever seen. It was huge but hidden in the twists and turns of the market place. It had everything…it was like the secret garden…of American staples…..still all in Arabic or Hebrew of course. So this nice man wrapped up my eggs for protection and I was able to find everything else I needed for our party.

We made cake and frosting, and ate it while overlooking Jerusalem at night. It was Friday and we live on the East side so all the Arab teenagers were setting off Fireworks to annoy the Jews on the beginning of their Sabbath (there might be another reason they were going off…but….chances are that’s why) so we saw fireworks, had cake, and listened to the Call to Prayer.

I went to West Jerusalem for a change and hung out on the Jewish side. Went to the YMCA, I played Coldplay over the church bells for all of Jerusalem to hear. There was a sweet souk (market place) there and I bought some dates and craisins and some coconut. Yummm…


(sweet market place in West J)

On Monday I went to Bethlehem!!!! There’s a huge wall around the whole city (you know, like that one in Berlin) with only one entrance and exit. This checkpoint is way intense. If you’re in a smaller vehicle you have to get out and they search your car and person (every single vehicle…so yeah, it takes a long time) Since we were on a bus the Israeli soldiers just came on and walked down the aisle…with their automatic weapons…….scary! I understand why Palestinians are upset, I can’t even imagine having to go through that every day. We saw a Jewish settlement just over the 30 foot wall and we went to Bethlehem University and talked to some Palestinians our own age and their perspective on things. I wish I could find one word for “eye opening” but….well…..interestingly enough the next day we had an Israeli political lawyer scheduled to speak to us....i wish this wasn’t already so long otherwise I would explain how contrary everything is….out of control.



I had a really great experience at the Church of the Nativity. There’s a spot there that they have designated as THE spot Christ was born and the grotto where Jerome translated the Vulgate. We sang some Christmas songs and it was just really powerful and nice. There’s really no way of knowing whether that is the actual spot……..but it happened somewhere. Somewhere close to where I was and I could feel that with me the rest of the day. Walking all through Bethlehem I thought about that. I expected the city to be really hectic and touristy and crazy but because of the Israeli checkpoint not as many people come as often. I found it very peaceful and calm and I felt closer to my friends and closer to the Lord. After we got back to Jerusalem I still had “Silent Night” still humming along in my head.


(that's the spot)





It’s been a good couple weeks…time goes by super quickly here and I wish it would stop it because I still have so much I need to see!!!
(also….this next week….i’m totally going to eat some camel….Gross?....probably. Awesome? YES.