Activities within the past two weeks :)

There have been many fun, cool events within the past two weeks.  I have been having so much fun!  This week and next week are finals sooo, good thing I had this much fun because I am headed into complete study zone for a while.  Here are my adventures... :)

Here we are at "The Avengers!"  We got to go see the movie in West Jerusalem!  It was so fun to actually see a movie in a real movie theater.  My favorite thing to do in the summer time (besides swimming.)

The picture above this one is me and Nat in front of the Mary Magdelin church.  
Isn't it beautiful?
This next picture is me inside of the church.  I had to get covered up because I wasn't wearing a dress or a head scarf.  Super pretty!!

 Here I am at the Israel museum.  Here are the two ancient lions that we saw.  






This picture on the right is one of my favorite statues.  This is one that they used in the ancient world... I kind of forgot the reason that they had this statue, but it could be used for religious worship, used in the king's palace, etc.  Super cool!

Here I am with Lane at the Waffle Bar.  We got to eat HUGE waffles in West Jerusalem that were delicious!! SSSSOOOOO good!! haha I am definitely going back later.

Here is what the waffle looked like... Delicious right??

This is the separation wall.  We went here about a week ago.  This is when the Israelis divided Jerusalem and kicked Palestine out of their homes.  The situation is terrible because Palestinians do not have any advantage in Jerusalem.

Here I am at a Jewish synagogue.  We got to attend a reform Jewish service.
The whole service was singing in Hebrew.  It was pretty amazing to see.

   

Here we are on Sunday.  We got to go to the beach and go snorkeling!!!  It was so much fun to be on a beach chillin with friends and not have to worry about school work.  We saw some colorful fish and other cool things.  The water was beautiful!...  The three of us are quite beautiful too right?

















This pic below is just a picture of us chillin on the beach. So fun :)

This special picture is when we took out my awesome braids and I freaking looked like a lion.  It was so funny!  We had a blast with this on the bus! haha I was so hyper I was going crazy!

Here we are on our field trip yesterday.  We were herding sheep!  Awesome right?  I was laughing pretty hard because we did not know what we were doing....

Here is another part of our field trip.  Smashing up a  plant to make spices :)

Here I am in a little garden just relaxing on a tree.

I am having so much fun here in Jerusalem.  The adventures never end.  Even though they will be on hold for a week or two while we finish up our finals week, they will definitely continue after that.  I am learning so much it's incredible.  I love it here!  Best decision of my life :)  
Love you guys!

- Rachelle

Dome of the Rock and Cool Field Trips!!

There have been a lot of fun events lately that have happened here in good old Jerusalem.  We have been on a coupe field trips and also went to my favorite place in Jerusalem... The Dome of the Rock!!!  I was so excited to go there!  It was so beautiful!  Although, when we were there we got in trouble twice for being kind of loud.  Ya we are definitely foreigners... also referred to as "loud Americans."  They came over to us two times and let us know that we were standing in a holy place and we felt really awkward both times. Oops.... Well at least we know not to laugh or talk very loud next time we go!  That might be a struggle for me, but it's so worth it.  It is sooo beautiful!  Anyway, everything else is good here though!  haha just the usual at college.. Not getting enough sleep, having crazy amounts of reading, tests all the time, and freaking awesome friends everywhere!  I am having a blast being able to go out in the city and go to awesome places all the time hanging out with such fun people!  Here are some pics of some of the recent places that I have been...

Here I am in the old city.  This is where we go at least three times a week to look around 

and maybe buy things from people running their little shops.  I love this place.

This is on our field trip a week and a half ago.  If you look closely there is a freaking donkey behind me! hahahaha it was sooo loud while our professor was trying to teach us about Herod's Winter Palace.  He finally gave up after he realized that we couldn't contain ourselves because we were all giggling so hard.  I can't believe that I actually saw a donkey!

Here we are at the top of the palace.  

Melissa (Garry), Alvin, and I are just standing on some pillars. 

Do you see the mountain behind me?... 

That is the Mount of Temptation where Christ was tempted by Satan.  So cool right?? 

Here we are at the city of Jericho.  This is supposedly the oldest city in the world!!! 

Here is the Western Wall.  We went here for the Jewish holiday "Shavuot."  This event is to celebrate when God gave Moses the Torah (the first five books of Moses) on Mt. Sinai.  We went there around 4:30 am because we wanted to watch the sun rise.  Jew's were praying everywhere toward the Western Wall.  It was super cool.  This holiday is celebrated on the same day as passover, so after this we went to a Lutherin passover meeting.  it was really cool.

Here I am standing in front of the Dome of the Rock! 

Climbing up the stairs to get closer to it. 

Finally so close to it.  Isn't this pic cool? 

Here's another side of it.  Just some information about this place... This building supposedly has the stone that Abraham almost sacrificed his son on.  Muslims believe that Abraham was sacrificing Ishmael, whereas we believe that Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.  

This building is also located on the temple mount where Solomon's temple was located.  Jew's choose not to go on this temple mount because they do not know where the "Holy of Holies" was located in Solomon's Temple.  They are waiting for when the third temple is rebuilt for them to visit the temple again and perform their rituals and sacrifices.

Here's me and Garry flexing our muscles because this is where Samson was born!

This is where David slew Goliath. We did a reenactment of the story.  

Alvin was Goliath because he is 6'4". It was pretty funny!

We got slings and tried to launch rocks... Didn't really work in anyones favor except for the kid in our class that was teaching us how to use them.  haha but it was cool to watch him! 

Here's Alvin and me in a cold cave after we had been outside in 100 degree weather for like six hours in pants!  I thought I was going to die.  When we got into this cave I thought we were in heaven... 

We also sang a few hymns in the cave and the acoustics were amazing!!  It was pretty cool :) 

One of the caves that we went in had an olive press. Legit right? 

Finally at the end of of our field trip. These were graves that people were buried in.

We had a lot of fun on this field trip, but by the end we were all going crazy because we were in the sun for so long.  I didn't know it was possible for humans to be outside in this weather for so long.  hahaha dang what ev's.  Looking forward to the rest of the summer!!  Bring on the heat baby!!

Sweet Pic

I just have to share this super cool pic that Nat dawg took of me at a mosque.  I almost look legit right?

TURKEY!!!

Our experience in Turkey was sooo great :).  I can't believe that I was able to go to one of the most beautiful countries in the world and see such amazing things there!!  Here are some pics from the trip:

Here is when we first arrived.  There was a party on the street! 

Me and Melissa in the Suleymaniye mosque. 

 Here we are shopping at the Grand Bazzar!  It was ginormous!!

This is the Asain side of Turkey.  

We sailed on a boat and were able to see such beautiful places! 

Here we are at the Hagia Sophia.  It is sssssoooooo amazing inside!  It's beautiful! 

Here we are :) The four best friends sailing on a boat! 

This is in Troy.  We are al trying to look like warriors... Can you tell? :) 

Here's me and Mel in Assos :).  This was really scary.  

I felt like we were going to fall off. 

This is the theater in Assos.  I'm there with Tacey, Alvin, and Nat. 

Fake singing in the theater dudeskeeeee. 

This is Pergamum.  It was so beautiful. 

Here I am reading in front of the library at Ephesus!!! Soooo cool :)

And while we were in Ephasis we found some legit Romans! 

hahaha it was awesome!

I had such a good time in Turkey!  It was amazing :).  Such a fun and beautiful country.  

I definitely want to go back and visit again if I can!

This Past Week

Hello world,

I know it has been a while since I have posted.  No worries I got some great pics on this one!  Everything here in Jerusalem is great :).  Just going to new sites every day and enjoying the rich history behind everything.  Here are some pics from this past week...

Here we are at the place where the pool of Bethesda is.  We are standing a little bit away from the actual pool where Christ healed the lame man who could not walk to the pool before the others people.

Here is one of the pools.

Here is a random wishing well that we found.

Me and Garry at our finest!

Here is the actual pool of Bethesda!!!  The water is really old, so it 

looks like the water could be from Christs time, but could very well not be.

This is my roomie Ashley and Garry at Golgotha right by the Garden Tomb... 

You can see the hill on the right.

Here I am with the city behind me.

We went to Tel Aviv on Sunday and partied on the beach!  

It was so nice to have a fun break :)

This is us eating delicious gelato's in Tel Aviv.

Here is the field trip that we went to on Monday.  

That's me and David standing in front of a true desert.

This is the Valley of Zin.  This is where Moses and his people wandered for forty years before they went to the promised land.  And yes, they made us hike this bad boy.  It was sweaty and awesome!!!

Here's me and Alvin in front of the remains of the first temple that the Jews built to God.  This was also known as the "Temple of Solomon" in the Old Testament.  It dates back to 1000 BC!!! Crazy right??

Last but not least, I had to post this pic because you can only find this shirt in Jerusalem.  

When I saw it I could not stop laughing! haha isn't it so great??

I am having such a fun time here!  We are headed to Turkey on Sunday and will be there for a week!  I am sooooo excited :).  We are going to go to so many cool places.  It's going to be a blast!  I am sure that I will have more pics after that trip :).  Peace from the Middle East dudes!