One Month

Looking at the calendar, tomorrow would be a month since I arrived back in the United States. Is that so?! I can't believe it! I miss Jerusalem so much!

I miss being able to walk to the Old City and tour the holy and ancient sites.I also miss the culture, people, and especially the food. I haven't had a great plate of hummus and falafel since my time in Israel. Although at one point of the trip, I wanted to go home desperately, now that I am in the U.S., I wish I was still in Jerusalem, the place where I left my heart.

As of right now, I am still working on my project. Originally I was going to create a photo book with research and text; however I was having some difficulties with my computer so I ended up writing a reflection paper. I am not happy about it as I wanted to do something outside the box, something unique. Nevertheless, I just had to get it done. I am still looking for a job. I didn't know how hard it would be. If only I was in law school or getting my masters. But I am optimistic about what the future holds.

OMG! Our Last Day!

Today's our last day here in Jerusalem and in Israel. I can't believe how fast time flies. It feels like yesterday when I was packing and getting ready to go for the trip of a lifetime and now I have to leave paradise for the US!?

I have to admit that although I do not want to leave, in a way, I am ready to head back home. I signed a lease two months ago for an apartment and I can't wait to finally move into it. Thank goodness my two friends have already done so and one of them is picking me up from the airport when I arrive into BWI on Monday.

Also, I need to follow up on some job offers I had. Traveling is expensive and I am totally broke--I need to start making some money. I might be working at CUA and if not, I will apply for other jobs in the DC area. However, I am so lucky and grateful that I had the unique opportunity to travel the world and hopefully this won't be my last trip.

Free Day!

Since it was our second to last day here in the wonderful city of Jerusalem, we had a free day. Patrick and I went to Dormition Abbey. As mentioned previously in another blog entry, this is the place where Mary, the Mother of Jesus, supposedly fell asleep and ascended into Heaven.

After walking around the entire chapel and going down into the crypt, we came back to PBI for lunch. Since it was the hottest part of the day, we decided to stay in for a bit and I had the opportunity to take a nap! Around 4pm, we went back into the Old City where we stopped at some shops to buy last minute gifts for friends and family. We had a lovely afternoon and we spent the rest of the day walking to other sites in the Old City such as the Wailing Wall before going back for dinner.

I can't believe I'm leaving in two days!! AHHH!!!

BYU Center

Today was a very low-key day as we left for the BYU Center in Jerusalem. We had a lovely tour of the facilities and even had the opportunity to look at one of the dorm rooms, even though it's usually closed to the public (David Resnick, the architect of the building, pulled some strings for us to see the room).

The BYU Center is on the Mount of Olives, which provides a picturesque view of the entire city of Jerusalem. My favorite area of the BYU Center was the auditorium with the massive organ. This room offers a fully 120 degree view of the city and some landmarks could be clearly seen from this distance: the Dome of the Rock, YMCA, and etc. It simply took my breath away.

My friend Ashley, was a student here at the BYU Center in Jerusalem for an entire semester and spoke all about her experience here in the Holy Land. After touring the facilities, I could see now why she loved it here so much.

Roadtrip to the South of Israel!!!

From July 29-July 31, we drove down to the Negev (the desert) to see the southern parts of Israel. We stayed in Kibbutz Eilot, in Eliat, Israel. The city is located on the Red Sea and borders the countries: Jordan and Egypt. You can even see Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea.

July 29: On our way to Eliat, we stopped at Masada, an ancient site of palaces and fortresses. The place became famous after the First Jewish-Roman War when the siege of the area by the troops of the Roman Empire led to a mass suicide of the Jewish people living there when defeat became imminent. After touring the entire city, we drove further to the Dead Sea where we swam/floated for nearly an hour. It was definitely quite an experience. The salt content of the water was so high that the water does not go above your neck when floating and any open cuts/wounds would burn. We didn't find the mud that was synonymous with the Dead Sea, as we were further south, but we did notice that below the water were golf ball sized salt "balls/crystals" that made it difficult to walk. We found that amusing. After our fun in the Dead Sea, we drove to our Kibbutz and we grabbed dinner at the local shopping mall.

July 30: We woke up at about 6am so we could eat breakfast at about 7am. We had to get up early because we were leaving for Petra, which is in Jordan. Petra is known for its rock-cut architecture, which were done by the Nabateans, an Aramaic-speaking Semites. We entered the site through the modern visitors, which approached the ancient site from the east. The impressive eastern entrance leads steeply down through a dark, narrow gorge (in places only 3–4 meters wide) called the Siq ("the shaft"), a natural geological feature formed from a deep split in the sandstone rocks and serving as a waterway flowing into Wadi Musa. At the end of the narrow gorge stands Petra's most elaborate ruin, which we know as "the Treasury". It blew my mind because it was impressive how they were able to do this during a time without any machines. On our way back, Patrick and I rode horses through the Siq to get back to our group in time for lunch. Then we headed back for Eilat, Israel.

July 31: Our last day in Eliat was very relaxed and free-flowing. We decided to go snorkeling in the coral reefs of the Red Sea. OMG! It was amazing. The water was so clear that we could see all the tropical fishes swim around and all the reefs. It was my favorite activity (besides Petra). We spent the entire morning just swimming and enjoying the sun until we had to leave at noon to head back to Jerusalem. It was four hour drive but we made stops along the way. At one of our stops we went to look at a gigantic natural crater that was formed nearly 4 million years ago. It was as impressive as the Grand Canyon in Nevada. With all of the traffic and stops, we made it to Jerusalem in perfect timing and came in around 6pm, in time for the PBI festival for St. Ignatius of Loyola.

I'm Really "Digging" This... Really.

Today we went on an archaelogical dig in Maresha. Maresha was one of the cities of Judea mentioned in the Bible (Joshua, Chronicles 2) and was one of the cities fortified by Rehoboam against the Babylonians.


We were with other families and with members of the Archaeological Seminars Institute. We had to climb down inside a hole where the excavation was occurring. For some reason, I was afraid going down because I have a fear of falling and at first I decided not to participate; however, after everyone went down, I decided to go. There I saw my group digging away and I really didn't feeling like doing so, so I took the task of taking photos. It was going slowly but it wasn't until Patrick and David uncovered something was that was hard and curved. At first we thought it was another building block of the city but as they continued to dig even further, they found out that it was a fully intact water jug. Just imagine their faces when they were finally able to pull it out of the earth and to see it was intact! Unbelievable... a 2,000 year old jug found by college students and not by archaeologists.

We then got out of the cave and we started to sift through the stuff we all discovered. Although it was mainly rocks and clay, we found bits and pieces of pottery and bones. It was pretty cool.. Next we went through a cave tunnel that hasn't been fully excavated. It was pretty dark as all we had to guides us were a path of lit candles. There was a part where we had to go through a small hole and just slowly go through it and I was scared because I was unsure how deep it was but I did it! Also, there were a lot of other passageways where we had to crawl on our backs and it was quite interesting. I have never gotten so dirty in my life. By the end, I was quite proud of myself for going through that as I would have never done it.

Lastly, we saw a fully excavated cave that was opened to the public and we saw the pigeon stoop and the olive press. The people of Maresha carved openings in the wall for the pigeons so they could either eat them or use their feces for fertilizer, which was used for the olive trees. Also they used the olive press to make olive oil which was used for making soap, for consumption, for trade and for burning lamps.

After we got our certificates, we grabbed lunch at the gas station and Davidal gave us a tour of the Bell Caves. Originally there were 800 bell caves and 80 of them were connected by passageways that became a vast underground networks. Most of these caves were used as quarries, which supplied the materials to the cities of Bet-Guvrin and other cities in the coastal plain. After a full day in the heat, we drove back to Jerusalem to rest.

Tomorrow we will be heading for Eliat and the Red Sea where we will go to Masada and other places of interest. I'm really excited about this upcoming trip but we won't have internet access where we are staying so I just wanted to let all of you know that we'll be back hopefully by Thursday. Ciao.

Visit to Hebrew University and to All of the Churches

Since Paul and David were ill and Patrick had an appointment in the city for his thesis research, it was only Blanca and I who went on an excursion in Jerusalem with Julie and Davidal. We first went to Hebrew University.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem is the oldest university in Israel and was established in 1918. However, construction of the Mount Scopus campus did not begin until 1925. By 1947, the university became a large research and teaching institution but the campus was under the attack of the Arabs in 1948. In 1949, the Israelis were not allowed to have access to Mount Scopus by the Jordanians and the Israelis were forced to build another campus in Givat Ram. It wasn't until 1967 when the Israelis were finally able to move back to the campus on Mount Scopus.

When we were walking around, it was interesting to see how different each building were. The outside seem very modern yet when you walk inside, it is very dated, 1960s. School was in session, even though it was a Sunday (because Saturday is a holy day--Shabbat), so it was nice to see the school buzzing with activity. I think the best part of the university was the outdoor amphitheater as it offered the best views of the desert and the forest. I stood there literally for 20 minutes because it was simply breathtaking.

We later stopped by the Church of All Nations, where olive trees that are over 2,000 years old can be found. When inside the church, the first thing that catches your eyes are the windows. It looks like stained glass but it isn't--it's alabaster. When the sunlight reflects into the windows, it gives off a purplish hue giving the church a subdue feeling. The purple represents the color of suffering. Also, another cool thing was when you look at the ceiling, you can find the seal of the United States and other countries. These 16 nations help support the construction of the church, hence they were memorialized.

Next we went to the Church of Mary Madaglene. This is the place where she was supposedly buried and can see her tomb. It reminded me of the Church of the Nativity as it is run by the Greek Orthodox. Everywhere you look, you can see light fixtures and religious icons hanging everywhere. I found it to be interesting but kinda over-empowering.

We then also went to the place where the Last Supper occurred. It was in this tiny room in a church and sadly, it was overcrowed with people. Lastly, we went to see the grave of King David. It was interesting because the men and women were separated into different sides of the room, like the Western/Wailing Wall. But that too was overcrowded and people kept pushing us from the back so it was difficult to truly enjoy it. After a full day of touring, we headed back to PBI for lunch.