18,000 steps

Today we took over 18,000 steps walking to, around, and back from the Israel museum (Bailey brought her pedometer--that number is real). This museum contains a very special exhibit: the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was fascinating to go through and read about the discovery and restoration of these scrolls, which have been essential to restoring the Hebrew Bible. It was a wonderful day with friends, lots of walking, and Magnum ice cream bars :)

 Those parking meters really sneak up on you...

 Bailey, Vladi, Courtney, Meg=best buds.

1.7.2012

Last week after our church services on the Sabbath (which is observed from sunset on Friday until Saturday evening here), a group of us went on a walk to some nearby gardens. It was nice to have some quiet time for introspection and pondering of this beautiful and conflicted city which is now my home. As I sat and read and pondered, I could hear the Islamic call to prayer being sung through the loudspeakers from three different mosques, the voices all overlapping. That is one of the most noticeable differences about being here...when you close your eyes and listen to the city noises, you might easily think you were in any other city. But when you close your eyes and hear the call to prayer filling the air, you realize this is a very different world.

 Cute kids playing soccer outside the JC gates

 Roomie love! These girls are the greatest!

SHALOM!

First of all, greetings from Jerusalem! I love it here so much and have had some amazing experiences already...but more on that later. :)

The departure: Bailey and I were in the group planning to be at the airport at 5:45 am on Tuesday. We were staying at our uncle and aunt’s house about 40 minutes north of the airport, and our uncle woke up at the crack of dawn with us to be our chauffeur. Thanks Don and Gayla!! After we got through security, we had about 2 1/2 hours until show time. There are 83 people in our group, so we pretty much filled the terminal. I met lots of new people and friends, including a guy from California who had vacationed in Winthrop (my very small hometown) every summer for most of his life--so random! Our first flight went from SLC to JFK, and then we had a 5 1/2 hour layover there until our 10-hour flight to Tel Aviv. It was a looong day. But totally worth it when we rounded the bend on our bus ride and got our first view of the city:











(You can just barely see the shimmering gold roof of the Dome of the Rock in the distance...)

And voila, this is the BYU Jerusalem Center, my home for the next 4 months:




Much love from Jerusalem.

Another new year, another new adventure...

2012 is off to a fabulous start already: in approximately 30 hours, I will be boarding a plane destined for Israel. I will be living in Jerusalem for 3 1/2 months, and couldn't be happier about it! During that time I will be living in the BYU Jerusalem Center and taking classes there, including a Hebrew language course, Arab & Islamic Civilization, Jewish Civilization, the Old and New Testaments, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and a field trips class. This is pretty fantastic in and of itself, but what makes it even better is the fact that my little sister Bailey is joining me! We are going to have the time of our lives exploring the beautiful Old City, eating fresh pitas and falafel every day, wearing holes into the soles of our Toms shoes, and living in one of the most culturally, religiously, and politically diverse nations in the world. Now if only I could survive the stress of packing and just BE there already...:)

For those of you who need a quick geography refresher...

The BYU Jerusalem Center, my home for the next 4-ish months. 

Jerusalem, are you ready for us??

summa dat summa time

I love summer. Quite a lot.

This summer has been wonderful, with the majority of my time spent doing these lovely things:

 

rainboots and adventures and everything green

giggling with this happy baby

 building Lego towers and houses and zoos

being somewhat crafty and productive in the DIY department

art projects with my little buddy

 laughing bunches and loving this lady

 admiring the beauty of motherhood

having my happiness cup filled to the brim each day from these two heart-stealers.

Oh how I love sunny Seattle in the summer. 

♥

One Year Later...

Like most projects in my life, this blog has been condemned to a state of incompleteness. Maybe one day I'll give it another serious try...but for now, I'll just use it once more to reminisce.

Just over a year ago, I stepped off an airplane into the biggest adventure of my life: Spain. I spent four glorious months exploring Spain, attending Universidad de Alcalá, living with a Spanish family, eating churros con chocolate and shawarmas, learning to love the other 10 wonderful girls in our group, and becoming all sorts of cultured. It was the best time of my life, and a dream come true. I cannot believe it has already been a year...

I feel so blessed to have been able to make this journey and have all of these experiences. I am so grateful for my parents and all their help and support that made this possible. I am grateful for my amazing director, Landes, and his beautiful family--they became a second family and were so good to all of us wild, hormonal girls. We were so lucky to have Landes--he was honestly the best director. He was just as happy and excited to be there as we were, and had so much knowledge and wisdom to share with us. He especially loved showing us "the best examples of Romanesque architecture" :)

Blanca Vera Flores will forever hold a special place in my heart. She is truly a remarkable soul. I loved hearing all of her stories, pieces of wisdom, and laughter. She spoiled me and Katie--2 meals of delicious food per day, doing our laundry, even folding our underwear...:) It is so funny to think back on the first night I met her, speaking in broken Spanish and understanding nothing (exhaustion and shock will do that to you), compared to our last few weeks with her, when we could have complete conversations and share jokes. I miss the time spent with her, watching "Vuélveme Loca" on TV, her scolding me for going outside with damp hair, watching her play with her granddaughter, teaching me to make tortilla de patata, the list goes on and on. I love you Blanca!

Oh dearest Katí. I don't know what I would have done without you. We probably felt every emotion under the sun towards one another...there were times when we were pretty grumpy (always from lack of food--after a good meal, we were back to being best friends :)) with each other. Of course, we laugh and joke about that now. Other than a handful of times, we got along perfectly. She was a wonderful roommate and traveling companion, and we had some really amazing experiences together. Lots of laughter (we are easily amused). And Rebuenos. :) I love all of our inside jokes we share from España. Thanks for sticking it out with me, Kate. You are the absolute best, and I love you para siempre.

 Meredít, Riley, Megan Niña, Hayley (said with lots of phlegm), Angela, Nikki, Adri, Rrrrebecca, y Haley: Todos ustedes son fenomenal. Thank you for all of the great times we shared together. I love you all. We will always have Spain...:)
Also..."es como un cárcel, pero mas mejor...para los niños edades 12-18..." Good times, amigas, good times.

Spain was the most incredible time of my life. It is so difficult to explain exactly how amazing those months were in just a few sentences...when people ask about it, I never feel like I give it justice. But it truly was the best experience of my life thus far. I cherish all of the memories, the good friends, and personal growth and enlightenment that occurred during those four months. It was sheer bliss, and sometimes I still think it was all a dream.
¡Viva España!

El Norte continued.

Alrighty tighties, this completes the series of el Norte. Enjoy!
Day 3: BURGOS
El Cid statue
tour of monasterio de las huelgas
huddle for warmth in the bookstore for a solid hour
la catedral
second visit to our favorite Ali-Babba joint where the owner, McDreamy, treated us to a plate of fries and sauce.
explore
find a lookout over the city
beautiful path through the woods, very Washingtonesque
what’s this? ANOTHER playground??? they never get old.
board the bus

Lerma:
explore
too much laughter makes old men think we are drunk.
watch Sandlot on the busride home
.....you’re killing me smalls.....

 soooo this is a very different blogging approach, but I'm on a serious time crunch and there are more new adventures happening every day that I need to catch up on as well... so if you want more details I guess we'll just have to talk in person algún día.
El Norte era maravilloso. I loved this trip, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not as frigidly cold as I had been told (más o menos...). Between the cathedrals, playgrounds, bonding time with the girls, and dreamy restaurant owners, the North left me quite satisfied. ¡Hasta luego amigos!