Happy Birthday Beka!!

So this is my friend Beka...

She likes to do magic tricks...

...and dance the night away...

...and it was her birthday a few days ago!!

 

...and we went out to celebrate...

...and she got an AJ Birthday SMOOCH!!

...and the end!

We love you Beks!!!

Happy Birthday!

Passover Seder

So even though it isn't Passover, the JC still likes to show the students a genuine Passover Seder program!

The set up was beautiful (note the beautiful napkin display I helped with yet again...)

I signed up to read a part of the telling of the passover so I sat at the head table. Our Israel teacher Ophir Yarden lead the Seder and recited some of the sections in Hebrew. We filled our glasses with grape juice and blessed Israel again and again and broke the matzot (or unleavened bread) and dipped our leaves in bitter herbs and listened to the many singing groups from the Hebrew class perform their songs...or rap...

And just for the sake of another picture, here are two beautiful people enjoying Passover Seder!

 תודה שלום

 

Old City.... of Lights

The other night, we got permission to venture into the Old City after dark (usually we can only be in West Jerusalem after dark) so that we could attend the 4th Annual Festival of Lights....(as you can clearly discern from the sign)

They had different trails winding in and out of the Old City walls with displays of lights periodically throughout like such...

That face in the middle was the creepiest thing! They had a big screen face hanging over Zion's Gate and projected different facial features making all sorts of faces most of which looked like they belonged in a horror film! Someone please explain to me why this was made a part of the Light Show?

"Goin to the chapel and we're gonna get married..."

Beautiful dome outside Jaffa gate - they had 'festive' music playing and I made friends with some little Muslim boys that agreed to dance with me!

A game of Pinball displayed onto Damascus Gate....it was still kind of early in the evening so its hard to make out....

The Old City at night...

the picture on the right is trying to capture the 30 minutes we spent in a human clog! There were so many people trying to squeeze through the little aisles of the Christian Quarter that we got into a huge traffic jam and were at a stand still - fights started to break out, children were crying, men were yelling in Hebrew...it was one of the scariest experiences of my life!!

But we made it out OK...

Eilat

The Red Sea....

Not so "Red" after all eh? But look at those beautiful, pink mountains of Jordan in the back though!

We rented out a little beach for our free day at Eilat and partied on the beach for the afternoon.

Our little Oasis...

 We rented some snorkeling gear and saw some coral, fish and a lone sting ray... (hopefully I can get some of the underwater pics later)

Note my rockin farmers tan!

And we played plenty of football...

Robin showing us her Tebow stance

Eilat = 'a lot' of fun!!

Dome of the Rock

This beautiful temple deserves its own post!

We got up at 4 in the morning on Sunday to attend Shavu'ot at the Western Wall then got first in line to enter the temple mount...

We had to wait quite a while...and things got kind of weird for Jerica... and the Davids...

Al-Aqsa Mosque which sits just south of the Dome of the Rock - third most holy place in all of Islam (right after Mecca and Muhammad's birth place at Medina)

Isn't it beautiful!? Look at the detail!

The dome that you try and get in every pic you take in Jeru!

Love it! Can't wait to go again! :)

Update

Week after Turkey included the following:

Re-enacting the story of David and Goliath on Tel Azeka

And then going to the Valley of Gath to fling some rocks (a lot harder than it looks!)

Sang in some cisterns at Bet Guvrin with these pretty ladies

Here's Brother Jackson showing us the best preserved olive press in the area (Lara, every time he said 'olive press' you know what got stuck in my head? "Two little pods in a pea pod press. One grew...two grew...and so did the rest!")

And some chalk mines also at Bet Guvrin with an amazing echo! Perfect for singing hymns for hours on end (or what feels like hours...)

Russian-Orthodox Church of the Ascension

Visited Schindler's Grave

Jericho (that pile of rocks on the right is the oldest tower in the world!)

Church of Mary Magdalene

Visited the Israeli Museum (which provided these cool hand-chairs and ample amounts of naked-lady statues)

...which also included the Dead Sea scrolls under this fountain thing (inside was too dark for pictures of the actual scrolls) and no my right arm has not been severed at the elbow...

Took a nap in a park and got pooped on by birds (well Beka did...why is it florescent green? We will never know...)

Went to Ice City at the old train station in West Jeru and slid down some ice slides, sat on some ice sculptures...

They had colored strobe lights going on so every pic had a different light to it...

And enjoyed one of Jon Schmidt's last solo performances (he will only perform with "The Piano Guys" now)

"Waterfall" on the Mt. of Olives! Holla!

Arab Night

One night in the JC where we learn about the call to prayer...

These are members of the family that is in charge of the prayer from the Al-Aqsa Mosque (which is kind of a big deal...their family has been doing it for a LONG time!)

Then we dress up

Mr. Sheik here for SURE won best dressed!

(look who snuck in...a cute little Arabian Princess!)

Go to a banquet

I folded those napkins thank you very much!

and have authentic Arabian cuisine! Ahkmed pulled out all the stops on this one

Then some local youth from the village come and teach us a traditional folk dance...

which then (in true JC style) turned into a full blown American, dance-till-you-drop party!!

These pictures do NOT do it justice! It was hoppin ya'll!!

Yay! We love Arabia!!!