Palestine to Israel

The time has come for us to leave our host families behind.  It was sad to think that I may never see the Bannoura family again, but at the same time, I think most of us were ready to move on to our next destination just a few miles down the road -- Jerusalem.  I will miss having warm Hobez (bread) in the morning with  different jams, hummus, cheeses, zeit and zatar (olive oil and spices) and hard boiled eggs.  I will miss Mirvates laugh.  I will miss Anwar's passion for peace and Natalie's giggles at our Arabic or her parent's English.  I will miss the delicious food combination that is rice and noodles.  But, our time in Palestine is up, and it is time to say goodbye. So we said bye to all of our friends at ATG through a long hike and a barbeque in a tent in the middle of a desert, our families, the shop keepers we have come to know and love, the olive and lemon trees, and hello to well kept roads, pricey shops, green grass, and expensive looking houses.  Our time in Palestine was intense in so many ways.  First, three hours of Arabic was a little more that most of us were expecting.  It's cool to see how far we have all come in our Arabic skills.  It would be cool to continue, but I'm not sure how useful Bethlehem Arabic would be back in the states!  I definitely enjoyed the hikes that we went on too.  It makes me excited to come back to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and do a very different kind of hiking!  The terrain here is all rocky with little patches of green occasionally, and random wildflowers popping up between the crevices.  There is never much covering or shade from the scorching sun either.  The terrain is just so very different and beautiful in it's own way.  I've also found that some pretty great conversations happen while people hike!
We just arrived to JUC (Jerusalem University College) where we almost doubled their student body.  I was talking to four girls, and one said that her college roommate had a lot of friends at EMU since she was from Virginia, and I asked who it was, and it turns out that I went to high school and played volleyball with her! It's such a small world! JUC is located in "Old Jerusalem" so all the buildings are obviously... old.  And with that comes a lot of beauty.  It was so refreshing to drop off my bags in our 6 person dorm room (I'm with Rachel Bell, Laura Bowman, Bridgett Brunea, Taylor Harrison, Anna Hershey, Ariel Keiser, and Emily Hodges) and lay in the grass.  I had almost forgotten how good dirt and grass smelled! It is absolutely lovely here! I am excited to see what I will come to love about Jerusalem, and hopefully become friends with local shop keepers like I did in Beit Sahour.  We have the day off tomorrow, but then our schedule is GO-GO-GO for the next two weeks.  Our days start off at 7. We will be tackling our Biblical Archaeology and History class. It will definitely be tiring, but good! We're fitting everything in 2 weeks that most people take a semester of field trips to do.  Hopefully I'll be able to retain most of the information that will be thrown at us! But I'm really glad that we have time to settle into the area and learn about the past some before really learning about the present situation.  I think that we will do more of that after free travel, which is in two weeks! I'm looking forward to that a lot, even though I'm not really sure what my plans are.  Tentatively, I'm looking at going to Eilat, Israel, just to hang out on the beach and have a lot of alone time with God! We'll see if that all works out!
Anyway, I just wanted to give a little quick update and let everyone know that we are all alive and well here in Israel!
Love you guys!

Once again, sorry for the weird punctuation... still haven't quite figured that one out yet

Beit Sahour/Palestine

Sorry ahead of time for the weird punctuation... I can't figure out how get the punctuation to stay where they belong at the end of the sentence!!!

I don't even know where to begin with this update. So much has happened since the last time that I've blogged!  I have been keeping a diligent journal and sometimes forget that I am the only person who can read what I have written thus far.  So here is a brief synopsis of what has gone on.  Once I get back to the states, I will write new posts that are more in depth and have some photos with them.
So what in the world have I been up to?  Well, I am staying with a host family in Beit Sahour, which is right on the outskirts of Bethlehem.  I am with Bridgett Brunea (for those of you who might know her) who is a great roommate.  We've had some really good conversations about the situation in Palestine and Israel as well as simply how we are dealing with all the information, and what we are struggling with, or trying to figure out.  It's so hard to be in Palestine with a family that I have come to love and not pick sides.  We haven't heard much about the Israeli side outside of a short conversation with an American Jew, Mordecai, who walked us down a street in Hebron that has become famous for once being Palestinian, but now Palestinians who live on the street can no longer walk out their front door, since the road is now Israeli territory.  Hebron has by far been the hardest place we have been.  Israeli setters seem to do everything in their power to make life difficult for Palestinians.  They built houses literally on top of the Palestinian homes, and throw eggs down on their neighbors, urinate out their windows, and some have even gone as far as to drill a hole in their floor to pour acid on the family below them.  I really don’t like the word “injustice” because I feel like everyone uses the word for everything.  It has lost some of its original meaning in my opinion.  So I don’t really know what to classify this as, but I know that it’s not loving, and it’s plain wrong.  I’m sure that Palestinians have their fair share of foul play, so I am trying to keep an open mind and love everyone I come in contact with. 
It’s hard too, seeing the 8 meter concrete wall, which American politicians call a fence, separating families, and men from their work.  It’s hard knowing that farmers have olive trees farms that they can’t get to to plant, or harvest.  I never really understood why foreigners come to Palestine to plant olive trees, but now I get it.  As an American, I can access the land they rightfully own, but they cannot. 
I don’t want it to sound like I’m experiencing nothing but hatred in the Middle East, because it is far from that.  I am with a wonderful family who is more than willing to help us with our struggling Arabic without laughing too much.  I met one of the shop keeper’s husbands who I struck up a conversation with.  He offered to show me his shop, which was a metal window and fence welding shop.  He thought it was so nice that an American girl cared enough to see what he did for a living.  Nearly everyone who I have come in contact with on the street gives a smile.  Shop keepers love having anyone come into their shops, even if they don’t buy anything, just for the conversation.  People are very quick to share their thoughts, views, and insights on anything, always in a loving way. 
Another cool person I have had the opportunity to meet is Joel.  He is staying with Bridgett and I.  He hails for San Francisco and is doing an awesome project called Stories from the Checkpoint. (http://storiesfromthecheckpoint.com/)  He is doing a project of the stories that he hears through music.  I think that it’s going to be awesome, so you should probably check it out!
We have also done some rather touristy things, such as visiting the field the angels appeared to the shepherds.   It’s crazy that the angels spoke of peace to the shepherds, because it was something the Middle East was not experiencing then, and it’s not something they’re experiencing now either.  We also visited the supposed place of the birth of Jesus.  To me, these sights meant close to nothing.  Everything was so overdone with icons everywhere.  It had no meaning to me.  So far, the most meaningful thing we’ve done in Beit Sahour was hiking to Jericho.  This land is virtually untouched since Jesus’ time.  There is even an aqueduct that King Herod put in place that is still in use today.  It is generally accepted that this is the land that David talks about in Psalm 23.  I especially love the first three verses. 
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
This land is rocky and barren, apart from a stream which the aqueduct comes from.  We reached a pool of still water with a small waterfall and patches of grass surrounding it.  It’s amazing how experiencing a place will change your perception of certain verses.  I had always imagined a huge field of wildflowers and tall grass as “green pastures” but now, I realize that these patches of grass are pastures.  It was awesome too, because we were all wading in the water when a little boy came with 25 goats or so, leading them to the still waters.  This was by far the easiest place for animals to access water during the whole hike, and I’m sure it’s a popular spot for shepherds to take their flocks.  Shepherds know all the “sweet spots” and are always looking after and taking care of their animals.  How much more will God take care of us?  I am also learning to step more outside of my comfort zone than I thought I would here.  We had the option of walking down into the valley and back up the next mountain, or we could trust Herod’s architects and have our feet on either side of the aqueduct and balance our way across the “bridge” for a lack of a better word.  I kept telling myself, “If you start to fall, fall in the water…”  Well, I guess I told myself that a lot when walking along the aqueducts with water on one side, and a cliff on the other.  Thankfully, we all returned more or less unscathed :)
Last cool thing that has consistently been happening on the trip…   I’m reading John MacArthur’s 12 Extraordinary Women of the Bible and as I have been reading, we’ve been visiting those sights.  It starts off with Eve, and of course, we don’t know where the Garden of Eden is, but we do know about Sarah and Abraham’s travels, which we visited many of those places, and even her tomb.  I then learned a lot more about Rahab then I ever knew, and soon after, we visited Jericho, where her life was turned completely around.  I just finished reading about Ruth who met Boaz in none other than Bethlehem, which is within sight of Beit Sahour.  Next on the list is Hannah.  We’ll see if she echoes this theme I’m beginning to pick up!
All in all, I am loving this trip.  I have an awesome group to be traveling with, and two amazing leaders.  And I know that some of you would be shocked to know that I even love the food here!  There’s nothing much better than four fresh and hot pieces of hobez (bread) for 1 shekel (about a $.25)!  Also, the fresh oranges and grapefruit are amazing as well!
Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I love and miss you guys!  Just wanted to let you know that I am doing well and having a great time!
--Janelle

Egypt --> Jordan --> Palestine

Hi all!

Sorry for my very delayed first official blog post!  Internet has been sporadic and expensive.  I will try to give you a brief update on my adventures thus far! (It will probably turn into a book though, knowing me!)

Linford, Janet, and a group of 30 students (including me, obviously) left EMU on January 13, and arrived in Cairo, Egypt on the 14th.  Our time in Egypt was packed with everything -- food, culture, history, people, cars, sand, and stray cats.  We did many things on the more touristy side, such as seeing the pyramids, tombs, mosques, museums, temples, and monasteries. It's amazing how much the history of Egypt has to do with Biblical History.  For instance, Moses married a daughter of a priest.  I just naively assumed that he was some sort of Jewish priest.  Highly doubtful.  He probably worshiped Ra.  Also, it was not unusual for people to worship cows, so Aaron making a golden calf makes a lot of sense.  It was just the Israelites returning to their old habits.  We had a great tour guide, Samer, to lead us.  He was so full of information and knowledge and we are all blessed to have had such an amazing Christian guide. We celebrated my birthday our last day in Egypt, even though it wasn't for a week.  The hotel loves our group, and so when it comes to the last night for an EMU group to be there, they make a cake from scratch, sing happy birthday in Arabic, and make you dance with the chef.  He even fed me the cake! Ellen said, "Little do you know, but you just got married..." I'm just hoping that's not the case :)

We then traveled by boat to Aqaba, Jordan.  The town was much cleaner and relaxing than anywhere we have been in Egypt.  It was nice just to putz around the town for a while before going to the Bedoin camp at Wadi Rum.  Wadi Rum was yet another nice change of pace.  We stayed in tents made of animal hair which were surprisingly wind and rain resistant.  Our first morning there, we went on a four hour camel ride.  It's true. After about an hour, it gets really painful, but then after another hour or so, you become numb, so what difference does it make? :)  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The sky was so incredibly blue!! I spent most of my time reflecting on where I've been, the stories that these lands hold, and my relationship with Christ. After our time with the Bedoins, we visited Petra, and Amman, where I spent my real birthday.  Somehow, word got out that I love ice cream, so some strings were pulled for all of us to have ice cream! They brought out a "cake" of chocolate puddingish stuff with sparklers.  I naturally tried to blow them out, since that's what you do on your birthday... nope. I just looked silly :)  Overall, Jordan was very welcoming, beautiful, and less stressful than the traffic and sheer amounts of people in Egypt.  I definitely enjoyed my stay!

So now here I am, in Palestine.  I'm staying for 3.5 weeks with a host family with Bridgett Brunea.  I'm looking forward to getting to know my family and Brigett better, and to learn Arabic! I'm overall excited for a lot of things.  I'll hopefully be able to update you all a little more consistently (but I make no promises) while I'm here.  And I'll be adding even more stories (especially from Egypt and Jordan) once I'm back in the states and have processed everything, or some things :)

I love you all!!
Janelle