Ode to My Water Bottle

Traveling in Jordan during this time of year requires one to carry water with them at all times in order to remain hydrated. One may want to be aware that such items may not enhance ones photographic moments. Here are several sad examples of a naive tourist who forgot to remove or set down her water bottle before posing for a picture in Petra, one of the most beautiful places on earth and one of the seven wonders of the world.

I think I was just so excited to come around the corner and see this that I forgot to set down my water bottle! (This place is also seen in the third Indiana Jones movie!)

This was on the hike down from the monastery so I'm probably just too tired here to remember that I had a water bottle in my hands.

I got so excited to see such tall and wonderful columns that I didn't notice my water bottle would block the lower left part of the column and ruin the picture!

I have no excuse for this one. I just can't seem to let go of that water bottle.

Ok on to the non water bottle pictures of Petra. Seriously this place was probably one of my favorite places that I have ever been. It is just amazing to walk around a sudden corner and see the famous treasury of the Nabateans...

And to think it was all created by an ancient civilization...I can't get over how cool it is! Not to mention the famous people you run into there...like Indiana Jones! (a guy in our class has been wearing this hat on all of our trips prepping for our Petra experience!)

Unfortunately he got to the Holy Grail before us. Here we are being sad that we aren't actually allowed to go into the Treasury in Petra to search for the grail.

But then I was happy because I got distracted by the humongous column in front of the treasury. I just couldn't resist hugging it.

The day got even better when I saw this sign near a shop. This place was just welcoming me to buy things on a whim!

That leads me to the part of the day where I spent the best $5 of my life. There was a monastery at the top of a huge mountain so we all rented donkeys so we didn't have to walk up the steep steps. The experience can't be described very well in words but just imagine me jumping on the donkey and then the donkey bolting up the mountainside as soon as the owner let go. I wasn't sure how to make it stop or slow down (it wasn't responding to anything I tried to do) so I just took comfort in the fact that the donkey probably wouldn't run itself off the cliffs (however later I thought that if I was a donkey who had to run up the mountain ten times a day carrying people running off a cliff might start to sound like a better option...) Not to mention my donkey like beating every other donkey to the top so we were literally knocking other people and donkeys out of the way to make it to the top first. I therefore appropriately named him Indy and couldn't stop laughing the entire time because I couldn't believe I was doing what I was doing. Here's a picture of the donkey taking off with me...

This is the monastery at the top...again so beautiful!

The other fun part of the day was shopping at the little stands. I bought necklaces from these adorable little children! I have loved meeting the kids in the Holy Land. They are always so friendly and welcoming. We even got to play soccer with some kids in Jerusalem one evening...it was the best!!Basically Petra has been one of my favorite places ever and our Jordan trip overall was awesome! We also had some cool experiences in Amman. One of the best was going to the mosque in Amman. The girls all needed to cover our heads in order to be respectful. It was neat to be able to visit a place that is so holy to the Muslim people.

We also got to visit a place called Bethany beyond Jordan on our way back to Jerusalem today. It is the place where tradition says that Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. The area was a lot hotter and more desert-y than I imagined. The people that came to listen to John the Baptist because they believed he was a prophet preparing the way for the Savior must have had strong testimonies in order to reside in such a desolate place. And how amazing to have been there when John the Baptist testified to them when he baptized Jesus that this was the Son of God, the Savior that he was preparing them for. I know I say this all the time but I just love seeing these places and having the scriptures come alive!

It is sad to think that this time of my life is quickly coming to an end. We only have 7 days left here and I am trying to savor every minute!

A Post Dedicated to Things I Love (Mostly Capitals and Columns)

These are mostly leftover pictures from the rest of my Galilee trip...along with a few other things I've done since then! Here are the things I love!

I love singing! Here I am fulfilling a dream of mine to perform onstage (and notice how many people there are in the audience!) I love columns! So here I am by more columns...this time in a seaside town called Caesarea. Really loved it there. Mostly because we were looking at ancient castle ruins that were right on the sea. I could have definitely lived there and been okay with it.
I love boat rides on the Galilee! We had a neat experience here as we read the account of the Savior walking on water and calming the storm.
I love Capernaum! We had another wonderful experience as we sat outside the ancient synagogue here and discussed the Bread of Life Sermon.
I love having friends! :) It makes the experience so much better as you share it with those you have come to love!
I love the Jordan River. Especially when recently baptized men and women jump the fence and start swimming around in their see through baptismal garb. Those unfortunately memorable images will forever be with me.

I love seeing people I know in the Holy Land and I love the McConkie Family! What a surprise when I went to church today at the Jerusalem Center and saw them there. It was so nice to get a "mom hug" from Sister McConkie!

I love capitals (don't know if I mentioned that before...) JK! The obsession continues. This is a capital at the Pool of Bethesaida in Jerusalem.

We went on a field trip this week to the Dead Sea, Masada, Ein Gedi and Qumran (where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls) so I still need to post pictures from that amazing experience! I'm working on it!

Oh Galilee!

Just when I thought life in the Holy Land couldn't get any better we got to go to the Sea of Galilee for ten days. I feel so grateful on many levels for the time we were able to spend there. It was a time of relaxation, meditation and spiritual growth and I feel like I discovered a lot about myself there. So yeah, it was pretty amazing. :) I don't think my blog is the place to open my heart to some of the things I learned and felt there...so I thought I would just post some pictures and my list of the top ten secular things I learned about myself or loved about the Galilee.

1. I love living on the beach. Any beach. We went to a lot of beaches (around the Galilee and the Mediterranean) and I fell in love with the feeling of being by the water. I just might have to live by one someday.

2. I love ancient Roman ruins. Can't explain it, but my heart gets really excited when I walk through them.

3. Along with that, I discovered I love capitals (the tops of columns). Took quite a few random pictures by capitals.

4. I do not like eating a fish that still looks like a fish. It is a necessary activity at the Galilee for many reasons but it still difficult. See picture below.

5. I do not like spiders. Ok that is not a new discovery, just an affirmation of an already vehement decision. I especially do not like it when they decide to use your swim suit shorts as a place to hang out. Especially when the spider is the biggest thing you've ever seen and refuses to be killed easily. Don't worry, I took care of it.

6. I should have brought a better camera with me. I am grateful that I have any camera at all of course, but the pictures are not doing justice to the things I'm seeing!

7. Spending every evening watching the sun set over the Sea of Galilee should be something everyone gets to do before they die.

8. Speaking in the only dedicated chapel in Palestine and in the branch that Elder Holland called "The Savior's Branch" is an amazing and unforgetable experience.

9. Marshmellows in Palestine do not taste the same as marshmellows in America. Thus smores are also uniquely different.

10. I finally had a Tim Tam Slam and my life has forever changed. I kept hearing about these things but never thought I'd get to experience it myself. Kind of like the grasshopper cookie and hot chocolate thing but better. I will be bringing a box of these cookies home so more people can have a similar life changing experience.

Yes, magical things do happen here.

Friends!

I call this....Standing on a rock

See what I mean about falling in love with the beauty of the sea? This one is actually the Mediterranean Sea...amazing!

This picture really has nothing to do with anything except it reminded me of a movie quote and I wanted to take a picture of it for my family. "Agh! I'm like the crypt keeper!!"

A.N.T.M.!

One of my capital pictures. You have to admit...that thing is pretty spectacular.

More capitals. Even though they're smaller they still have a special place in my heart.

This starts the series of Fish eating pictures. Here we are...very unsuspecting and innocent.

Then they bring out the fish. I fondly named mine "Finny." Probably not a good thing to name your fish if you're already having a hard time eating it. I am trying to look concerned in this picture.

Ok this picture is dedicated to my mom and dad and to Garret and Adam because I think they would be the most proud of me for having a good attitude about the whole fishing eating thing.

I did it! Ok...I kind of did it! The fish skeleton in the picture is not mine...I'm faking history here. I ate a lot of my fish but not all of it. Seriously!

More photo ops on the Galilee at sunset.

Who wouldn't love these Roman ruins?!

This is post "slam" of the the Tim Tam Slam experience. I just wish my face showed more of the joy I was feeling at this moment.

Outside of the chapel in Tiberius.

I've got a few more pictures to post of my other favorite place on the trip...Caesaria...but I'll end for now. I can't believe how fast time is flying. We leave for Jordan in 4 days and we get home in 15 days! Yikes! Much love to all!

The City of David

Not too much time so I'm just going to post some pictures and quick descriptions!

Standing in an area where King David's palace might have been and looking to the north and imagining Solomon's glorious temple being right there!

Looking down into the Kidron Valley from the high place where David's palace might have been and realizing how easy it would have been to see someone on their roof. Not to mention someone bathing on their roof. :) Standing in front of some ancient ruins that date back to the time of the prophet Jeremiah...just before 586 BC...that is a LONG time ago! So cool!

Getting ready to enter Hezekiah's tunnel...built in the early 700s BC! It was a miliatary tactic to keep their water safe from the Assyrians. Brilliant.Me walking through Hezekiah's tunnel! There is still water running through the tunnel so we got kinda wet. Not a good idea to wear jeans when you're doing this. Just a hint if you ever decide to go. But they do dry surprisingly fast in the Jerusalem heat. SO FUN!

One grecian urn....two grecian urn....(name that play!)Pool of Siloam - where Hezekiah's tunnel ends - story of blind man in John 9 takes place here. It was really neat to read the scriptures in the area they took place. That is one of the best things about being here!
We are leaving for Bethlehem in just a few minutes...I am so excited!

Egypt.

(sorry this might be a long post but we were in Egypt for a week! :))

Wow. I don't even know where to start. Egypt was basically amazing but I was so glad to get back to my Jerusalem home! Going to Egypt was a dream come true because it is a place I've been fascinated with since elementary school. It was amazing to actually see the places I'd come to know so well!

Driving into Cairo was shocking - the place is HUGE. And dirty. And the bathrooms are gross. Oh, and you can't use the water for anything if you want to avoid intense sickness. Our tour guide said that Cairo has millions and millions of people living there, and 3 million more commute each day to work there. Most people are extremely poor and live in dirty government housing. Those types of apartment slums seemed to go on forever in every direction. None of the apartment complexes were finished either because they just keep having to add new stories to accomodate the growing population. I can't imagine living like that. The guide also said that many people can't hold steady jobs - they have to go into town each day and find temporary work as a day laborer. So crazy to think about.

The next days we spent touring the pyramids and the sphinx in Giza and then we went and saw one of the first pyramids ever built. Climbing the pyramids was surreal...I mean this is the stuff we've seen in history books our whole lives. They really are a wonder to behold...they are so immense and I am in awe that an ancient people could have created something like that without modern technology. The sphinx was also cool to see! I took a picture of me kissing it but my camera battery died so its on someone else's camera and I've got to find it.

So happy to be there!! Aubrey and I on the great pyramid of Giza!Trying (and failing) to get a picture of me looking like I'm leaning on the pyramids

That night we flew to Luxor in southern Egypt and spent the next few days touring the Karnak and Luxor temples, walking through the Valley of the Kings, sailing the nile on a falouka, going on a camel safari (basically one of the most amazing moments of my life) and bargaining at the bazaars! I loved bargaining. The shopkeepers were a little creepy because they have this image of American women being really loose (thank you American media). Nothing big, but they would just make some crazy comments and cat call to us. But stuff is so cheap there and I loved tried to get the price down even further. I always thought I was getting a good deal but then I'd go back and find someone else who had gotten the same thing for even cheaper. I decided it was okay though because I was doing my humanitarian work for the people of Egypt by pumping my money into their economy. :)

Yes that is a pirate flag on my falouka. Made the journey ten times better. Also I didn't have hairspray this week so my hair is scary. Deal with it. :) Valley of the Kings pic with my roommate Rebecca!

After Luxor we went back to Cairo after an 8 hour overnight train ride. I could go into a lot of detail about how miserable that trip was and how disgusting and dirty the train was and how I'm not even sure if they change the sheets on the beds and how I was afraid to touch anything or how going to the bathroom was an adventure because you get slammed against the wall as the train jerks along. But I won't. However, I will share with you one bit of humor from the train ride. The picture below is of a sign that was posted on our train room wall. All I can say is that I think every overnight train should have a belly dancing contest after dinner. It makes everything else worthwhile.

Our last day in Cairo was spent at the Khan al Kalili bazaar (again so fun), the Egyptian museum (I loved the mummies and king tut's treasure!!) and at Cairo's Citadel.

I came to one huge conclusion after being in Egypt. That my mother should never go there. I don't think she could handle how dirty it is (really mom this is for your own good). Since we can't drink the water or eat anything that was washed in the water so we had to avoid eating fruits and veggies, brush our teeth with water bottles and use hand sanitizer at the bathrooms which looked like they hadn't been cleaned in ages even though you had to tip the little lady at each restroom for handing you toilet paper. That brings me to my other conclusion about Egypt...nothing is free there. You tip for everything and anything and they may even ask you for more of a tip if they're not satisfied (in that case you avoid eye contact and leave quickly). Also if shopkeepers tell you they have free things for you it is a lie. They just want to get you in the store to buy something. I don't think they know what free means because they throw that word out there a lot. And when you take it they expect you to then pay for it (I have experience with this).

Overall, Egypt was a life-changing experience. It was fascinating to learn about the culture and see the ancient ruins. Each day here just keeps getting better and better!