Yesterday I walked from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.  Part of the route that I walked was even on the patriarchal highway!  It’s so surreal to be living in Jerusalem and walking between these ancient sites.  It is an experience that I am so grateful to have.  I also felt an oddly satisfying awareness of being disconnected from the cellular tether of the iPhone.  There was a sense of freedom and adventure that I haven’t felt in quite a while.  It reminded me of younger days when my brother and I would walk to Blockbuster to browse the video games.  Whenever we would walk Mike would carry his pocket knife for security when we crossed through the forest (it wasn’t really a forest, but when I was young I thought of this grassy area with a couple of trees as a forest…now it’s a Walgreens).  You know, just in case we came upon some bandits or thieves.  Yeah, maybe we had an overactive imagination, but for a six year old it was quite the adventure.  Yesterday, I got that same feeling.  There were hills filled with ancient olive trees and mountains/giant hills all around.  It was like Lord of the Rings, but only if there were modern cities and roads running through Middle Earth.  I could see Herodian far in the distance and every once in a while we would come across a shepherd and some sheep grazing just a few feet from us.

                When we got to Bethlehem, we passed through the checkpoint and had to walk past the multitude of taxi drivers waiting for work to walk through the gates.  They are probably the most persistent people I have ever met in my life.  After getting through and being questioned and interrupted and all of that jazz, I was able to talk with one of the drivers who finally recognized that we weren’t really in need of a ride.  I asked him how business was, but he didn’t respond right away.  He took another drag on his cigarette and told me that life in the West Bank behind the wall was like prison.  He said he went to college and became a teacher, but there isn’t any work so he drives a taxi and makes enough money for gas and a little bit of food to bring home.  He told me that the people there don’t dream of saving up their money and building a nice house or opening a shop; if they don’t get enough business then they can’t afford to bring enough food home for the day.  He said they are just trying to survive.  The situation here in Israel is so complex I couldn’t begin to try and explain what I have learned.  It certainly isn’t black and white.  At times it is easy to see the plight of the Palestinians and at other times it is easy to see the plight of the Israelis.  I’ve had many very good and very honest conversations with other students here, as well as with some locals and I am, again, grateful for the experience.  Things look quite different on location as opposed to what is filtered through the news.  It’s just complex.

                Davis, my roommate, and I stood around for another 20 minutes waiting for the driver from Paidia to take us out to the main complex.  Paidia is an organization that is interested in education in the West Bank.  I volunteer once a week, helping kids learn English in an afterschool program.  Our driver is named Osama (I guess a pretty common name?) and he is a pretty nice guy.  He finally showed up and it was a little bit funny because the situation seemed so sketchy at the moment.  I don’t think I have seen him in the same car twice since I met him a couple of weeks ago.  He drove up with a friend and stopped on the corner and asked if I was Jonathan and then we got in the car.  Osama was having a little bit of a bad day.  His car kept dying and, apparently, a tour group that he had taken around wanted to go out and explore the desert on their own.  He warned them that they would probably get lost and that he should take them out, but they wanted to go.  They were lost for around 12 hours in the desert.  When we were leaving some of them were still lost in the desert, but Osama said he could find them easily once he talked to the local Bedouin. 

The kids there are learning some basic English phrases, but some of the older kids are so smart!  We try and play games with them so that they can learn in an interactive fashion.  They were really good at hangman!  It’s really great to see the volunteers who show up and help out for several weeks at a time at Paidia.  So far I have met volunteers from the U.S., Germany, Norway, and Australia. 

Afterwards, Davis and I took the bus home from the checkpoint instead of walking.  It was getting dark and what was a nice day turned pretty cold.  We made it back to JUC just in time for dinner. 

One of the best things about coming to Israel to study, as opposed to coming as a tourist, is that I get a chance to take my time with the experience and get to know the data behind the sights I’m seeing.  There have been so many amazing sites connected with biblical history.  Even at this slower pace there is so much to process and take in.  The cities here and the geography of the land are a pretty amazing testimony to the historical accuracy of the events depicted in the Bible.  However, there are several locations/spots here that are, for one reason or another, covered in obscurity.  Sometimes the obscurity is the product of misguided traditions and sometimes it is due to a lack of data.  What really strikes me as impressive about the sites here is that there is so much that we have been able to recover in relation to what you might think possible, considering the history of the land.  One of the most interesting locations that I have visited so far was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We saw it pretty early on in the trip, simply because of the proximity of the site to the campus.  This is the church that was built around the spot where, according to tradition, Jesus was buried.  This is one of those places that has been debated in the past for its authenticity.  Today, however, the evidence is quite good for this being the correct site.  The large monumental tomb isn’t exactly the spot, but just behind it there is a 1^st Century rock-cut tomb which is very consistent with the burial practices dating to the time of the New Testament events and carries the tradition of being the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (AKA where Jesus was buried).  I even got to walk inside the tomb!  Even if that wasn’t the exact tomb, although it seems likely that it may have been, it is amazing to think that this is the place where Jesus was placed after he was crucified.  This is the place where people came looking for him days after and found an empty tomb.  It brought an entirely new dimension to my understanding of the resurrection of Jesus and the multitude of witnesses who saw him afterwards.  It was quite a poignant place to ponder the broken relationship between mankind and God, and just how far God was willing to go in order to atone for the sin that created that brokenness.  

So much has happened since arriving here is Jerusalem I don't even know where to start.  This little community here at JUC has already begun to feel like home.  Every time I see Jaffa gate, especially when coming back from a long field study, I think, "ahh, I'm home..."  Still, there is an odd tension at this home of mine seeing as I'm on the other side of the globe in relation to Elise.  

I don't think I am going to have culture shock while I'm here and I'm a little bummed out by that.  It may sound odd, but I was pretty curious about the whole experience and now it seems like it may not happen.  I live in Jerusalem, but in American institute with other students and faculty who are primarily American.  Maybe it’s a good thing that I won’t get to experience it.  I don’t really know. 

Today I have been stuck in the library writing my midterm paper for my History of Israel in the Second Temple Period class.  I have to admit the paper caught me a little off guard because it came up so fast, but here it is and it’s due tomorrow.  Good thing I’m almost done.  I think.

I played Ultimate Frisbee for the first time ever last Friday!  It was pretty great!  And!  To top it off, we play in Gehenna…(AKA hell) Hahaha! 

I have really been enjoying the celebration of Shabbat every Friday evening.  The whole campus gets together for dinner and sings songs and we read some liturgical readings, blessings, and prayers.  It’s a weekly celebration, I mean how great is that!?  Really it’s a great time of reflection, prayer, worship, and gathering together to rest and enjoy each other’s company.  It’s quite a beautiful thing.

The field studies have been amazing as well, but describing that in detail really deserves another, much longer blog, so I will let that be for now.

I have fully adjusted to the time change here, although, for a while, I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to happen.  I’ve also adjusted to the area to some degree.  I know where to grab some food if I want to go out, and I know where the nearest stores are and which ones are open all night if I have any midnight cravings or medical emergencies.  I think it is such a unique privilege to be able to live in Israel.  I wanted to visit for so long, but I knew that two weeks would be just too short (the length of most tourist trips).  I can hardly wait for Elise to come and visit so I can show her around.  I only wish I would have a chance to show the rest of my family around.  It would also be great to have a chance to meet up with the SOBC youth group and show them around too.  I guess I’ll have to do that with words and pictures instead.