This Israel Cool (Get it?)

Today is my second full day in Jerusalem and I thought I should jot down a few things that have happened so far, especially since I'm incredibly jet lagged and hardly remember what my middle name is most of the time. I didn't actually believe jet lag was a real thing; I assure you I'm now a firm believer. I feel like I am in a psychiatric hospital and oriented X zero. (Amy? Ya? [Hopefully she followed: inside joke that actually wasn't an inside joke.]) I am nine hours ahead of Idaho Falls. So now I'm going to stop whining about my mushy brain state and report things that will actually be interesting. Maybe. Any wit or charm I once may have had was left in the states. 

Flight: slept two hours. Sat by other students going to Jerusalem. Did a LOT of people watching. Came out of the ordeal with a few flashcards for a test and a good amount of disorientation. Oh hey, this is cool, we flew over Greece and there weren't any clouds so we could see the city. Maybe Google a picture, three inches of airplane window doesn't permit much creativity.

Everything else: We arrived in Tel Aviv at 2:30 pm, (the capital of Israel if you are a democratic American, or so I'm told by papa brown bear) gathered our luggage, and found our buses. The trip to Jerusalem (the capital of Israel if you are a republican American, or so I'm also told by the oh so wise dad of mine) is 50 miles inland and took about an hour to reach it. The city is not anything like I had expected. Everything is green. The roads signs all look as they would in America but they have Arabic, Hebrew, and English printed on them. The buildings are all built in the same style, a sort of gray/tan rock. It's a beautiful city. My old testament teacher (he'll also be my field trip guide) sat at the front of the bus and told us some of the things we were seeing. There were wrecked planes memorialized on the side of the road. We arrived at the Jerusalem Center (Mormon University as the locals call it) soon after it started raining. January is Jerusalem's rainiest month, but we were expecting snow that night. We sat through a trillion hours of orientation and they shepherded us into classes for another trillion hours. I met my roommates (all three of who I really like) and we crashed. But I woke up about every hour because of the weird time change. Then at five am the call to prayer sounded. To be honest I still don't know much about it except for what I learned in middle school. But that's the reason why I'm here. I already feel like I know so much more than I did a week ago. Anyway, the call to prayer lasted a reallllllly long time. An hour and a half. The center sits on top of a hill overlooking Jerusalem.. as such.

Where's Waldo? (Find the Dome of the Rock)

Anyway, in my half awake stupor I imagined a scene similar to the Who's in Whoville singing around the Christmas tree and the noise drifting up towards the Grinch who was on Mount Krumpet. We hear the call to prayer five times a day and I think I'm starting to actually really enjoy hearing it. So I finally just got up. It had snowed! It hasn't snowed in Jerusalem in ten years so the locals were all not sure what to do. A few of the local employees at the center were "snowed in" and couldn't make it to work. School was all canceled for the city; all day I could hear kids screaming outside. On the hills you could see children having snowball fights. Here's a picture taken from my balcony.

If you're wondering why I look tired... it's because I am.

We went to more orientation in our disorientated state all day. Met a lot of fun people. Froze (The building isn't made for cold weather: the walls are stone and glass windows). I finished a Genesis reading for my class scheduled for the next day and it took me three hours. We only read Genesis 11-17, but according to the syllabus we actually need to know what we read when we come to class. I learned a lot of things about Abraham. Did anyone realize him and Sarah were half siblings? Genesis 20:12. Interesting, right? The next day in Old Testament I realized just how overwhelmingly glad I am to be here. IT'S SO COOL!! Someone mentioned a Book of Mormon prophet, Nephi, who slew Laban, a wicked king, in Jerusalem and the whole class had an aha moment. We're HERE. We're in the land where the world evolved and developed. I'm in the lands where Paul taught, where the apostles walked and taught, where King David and King Solomon ruled, and most importantly where the Savior completed the atonement for us. They all lived here. They are all real people. My old testament class was the best two hours I've spent here so far. I'm absolutely excited beyond belief.

So on a definite less serious note... let's talk about the electricity. Ohhh boy, the electricity. Suddenly "how many Jerusalem students does it take to change a light bulb and figure out the electricity" doesn't seem like such a joking matter anymore. I probably can't even count on both hands how many people have a.) ruined a blow dryer b.) blown a fuse or c.) melted an adaptor. You're wondering how you melt an adaptor I suppose. I mean I've heard of people melting their adaptor... I don't know about it from experience or anything. From what I've... heard... if you leave an adaptor plugged into the wall it will overheat and make the plastic all melty and gooey. I also... heard... that it smells terrible. 

Those melty sinkholes aren't actually supposed to be there. RIP Addy the Adaptor. NOBODY WARNED ME!

I'm safe and sort of on cloud nine as of right now. We have church meetings on Saturday and then we are going to visit the Garden Tomb. At that point we are allowed to go exploring in the Old City. 

I'm freezing.

Unfortunately, I think all of my entries will be about this same length or longer. So I'll just apologize now. I'm glad to be here but when I pause to breath I realize I miss my family and friends. Jordan would sure love this. Kent papa brown bear Oseen could teach this. REMEMBER TO WASH YOUR HANDS! I don't think it's a very good idea for anyone to be contracting the flu right now. Keep America in control.

Imma learnin a lot,
Lindee