procrastinating

i am supposed to be writing a paper right now, which makes this the perfect time to let you all (whoever you are, does anyone even read this?) know what i've been up to.

this morning my friends jenna, j.e. and i climbed the mount of olives to watch the muslims pray at the dome of the rock. non-muslims arent allowed in that particular building, but if you go to the top of the mount of olives at midday on fridays, you can see them performing their prayers. it was amazing to watch so many people worship in unison. though we were a good distance away, we could hear the responses of the crowd to whatever it was the muezzin/imam was saying. j.e. commented that in america we would only ever get that excited about a footall game or something. here, this happens every friday at prayers.

afterwards we went to the shuk (jewish food market). this is always fun to do on a friday afternoon, because everyone is scurrying around getting ready for shabbat, which starts at sunset. we got falafels (yum!!) and sat on a step and at them and watched all the people. there was one older lady with her hair dyed in patchwork, parts blond, parts brown, and parts red. the older women here have very interesting taste in hairstyles. and some hippie types with bushy side-curls and dreads. there was a girl, maybe my age, wearing nondescript jeans and a t-shirt holding her large military weapon and looking very natural, in an odd sort of way. and mothers in long skirts and kerchief-covered heads juggling carrying their small children and their groceries at the same time.

last weekend i went to jericho with my history of the church in the east class. we visited three churches, the first was an ethiopian orthodox church, on a compound occupied by 4 ethiopian monks. this church was more of a chapel really. they were building another on the compound, but we were unable to go inside, because it was still under construction. unfortunately i forget the name of the man who showed us around, but he was very sweet and read us a passage from the Bible in Ge'ez (or was it Amharic?)


the next place we went was a coptic church. this church was small as well, but very beautiful, with many lovely icons, and decorated floors and ceilings. this was the front of the church, with tapestries, and pictures of jesus and the twelve disciples above.


this is a picture of the coptic Bible. on the right is Arabic, which is the language most egyptians speak at home. on the left is the coptic language, which looks very much like greek, but i am told it doesnt sound like it at all.


this is a (somewhat blurry) picture of the coptic preist who showed us around. i dont remember his name, either. im bad with names. but he was very nice, and gave us tea and cookies and dates, and later cucumbers from his garden. apparently jericho is famous for its cucumbers. who knew? anyway, here he is standing in what is believed to be zaccheus' house, which has now been turned into a little chapel. it is also, oddly enough, believed to be the tomb of several famous prophets.


this last picture is from the armenian orthodox church. this church was too beautiful to believe. every inch was decorated, every wall, the whole ceiling, the floors, everything. it was gorgeous. when we got there there was a service going on but it got over shortly after we arrived. parts of the church were still under construction, but apparently the armenians were trying to build a place suitable to hold another ecumenical council at some point in the future. ecumenical councils are a big part of this class.


ok, i hope i've written enough to make up for the weeks that have gone by since my last post. comments are always appreciated, since they let me know im not writing for nobody. speaking of writing for nobody, maybe i should start that paper...

so...

apparently im really bad at keeping up with this. maybe i'll have time to post something this weekend.

maybe.

art and life

I have always loved creating and looking at art. I have really loved being able to view the beautiful artwork and architecture these past couple of weeks. This is especially evident in the churches and cathedrals we have visited. Whether it is the deliberate discrepancies of St. Anne’s Church, or the great domes and magnificent paintings of the Holy Sepulchre, or even ancient patterns of the crumbling mosaics on the floors by the old steps of the temple mount; I could stand forever exploring every detail, thinking about the person who created such beauty, wondering if they had any idea how long their creation would last, or how fascinating it might one day be to others. I also think about the immense numbers of such works that have been destroyed, and will never be found.

There was one painting in particular that I saw yesterday that really stood out in my mind. It was in the church in Bethlehem. When I went down into the place where Jesus was sais to have been born, there was a small picture of Mary being visited by the angel Gabriel. It was smaller than some, and darker, dimly portrayed in shades of gold and blue and red.

But despite the obvious royal stylization of the picture, it was not really the art work that moved me. Although it was beautiful, the picture stands out in my memory because of the subject. I was suddenly struck by the realization that she was just a girl, and possibly a very young girl. While I have no doubt that she must have been a spiritually extraordinary person, she must have been terrified. To have a child, and not an ordinary child, but the very son of God, growing inside your own body; I cannot even imagine what must have been going through her head!

The reason I think this has struck me so severely is the fact that I will be an aunt in just a few months. My sister Heather, who is only two years older than me, and who has been one of my best friends since I was born, is now about 20 weeks pregnant. She is due June 16. She keeps sending ultrasound pictures to me every month, and I am completely in awe of this little person. (I attached the most recent one, so you can be, too. It looks like its sucking its thumb). The idea that there is a life growing inside of her is incredible to me. I already love this little one so much, and we have yet to even meet.

Life is truly the most beautiful creation, made even more so by its fragility. How many lives have simply disappeared, to never be known or thought of again? What can a person leave behind? Some have left great tombs in an attempt to be remembered, but what has it truly accomplished? The only things in life that should matter to us are those that will last, those that are eternal, but they can be hard to find, and even harder to focus on.

hebrew passwords

so, my computer has recently discovered a new talent: speaking hebrew. unfortunately, for a chronic password-forgetter like me, trying to reset my password to log onto my blog when all the instructions were in hebrew was a challenge.

anyway, here i am, finally. not much has happened the last few days. on friday me and my roommates karen (whos from gordon, and studied here last semester), jenna, and anna went out to the jewish shuk (market) in the new city. we walked around, tried some foods, got lunch, and then anna and karen went back to campus for class. jenna and i went to the old city and walked around. we've been trying to learn our way, and we're doing pretty well, if i say so myself.

friday night was shabbat. here at juc they have a special shabbat dinner. everyone eats at the same time, and the tables are decorated and people dress up. before eating a short shabbat ceremony was held. candles were lit, blessing were spoken, songs were sung, and challah was eaten (yum!)

on saturday jenna and matt and i went walking through the new city, which was eerily quiet due to shabbat. all the shops and restaurants were closed, and there were very few people around. we wandered for a while, and then returned to campus, where i again pretended to do homework for several hours (i say pretended, because no matter how long i spend, i never seem to get anywhere).

on sunday we went on a field study through the city of david, the western wall, and a couple other places (for pics, check out my facebook). it was a long day, beginning at 7, ending at 5, with an hour in between for lunch. but despite all the walking, it was a really great day!

monday was filled with classes and pretending to do homework. and tuesday (today) was much the same, except it was very sunny and warm, so i did some reading outside on the roof.

so, that gives a small taste of a normal few days for me now. i miss you all and would love to hear from anyone who has questions, or just wants to say 'hi'. talk to you all later!