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"My life is a workout Video" -exercises during the 11 hour car trip! WORK IT NATE!
Bridesmaids!


Well, in discovering that I haven't touched this blog since I was in the Holy Land (over a semester ago) I am happy to report that Steph's Wild Adventures have continued! Even though I'm writing this completely for my own benefit, a travel-log of adventures is always good to have.

Winter semester at BYU was stellar: great roommates, fantastic ward, fun boys. I even pulled off a 4.0! Since winter ended however (the semester, not the weather dang it), the real adventures have begun!

My good friend Aubrey Dangerfield has burnt her "single" card and joyously threw the ashes to the wind.She is now Mrs. Brock Tyler and an ADORABLE wife. I was priviledged to be a bridesmaid for her and it was really rewarding to share in her big day!

I Bought a new camera...ah!!!! A canon rebel T1i with HD video and I"M IN LOVE with it. It was a bit of a compulsive buy, but what the heck?! I needed something in my life that found the world as beautiful as I did!

I just got back from a roadtrip through Vegas to Disneyland and Huntington beach. The ocean was too chilly for a refreshing romp, but the weather was perfect for the happiest place on earth!! I'm in love with Disneyland. I'm not a Disneyaddict by any stretch of my extensive imagination, but I am enraptured with the tangible magic of the Magic Kingdom. Call me a wishful romantic, but that place makes me feel any dream can come true! I went with a few best friends and a few new ones and had a ball!

I have had four invitations to go to Disneyland this month....We'll see how many I can make happen! ha!

The Last Day

here is an awesome 360 pan of the students on the balcony of the center on the last day in Jerusalem!!!

http://www.360cities.net/image/byucenterstudentsfall2009

I leave tonight/ tomorrow morning at 2 am and I am 100% excited to go home for Christmas, and 100% traumatized to be leaving this place and these people. We sang " Each Heart that Touches us for Good" and "God be With you Till we Meet Again" yesterday and I totally LOST it both times.
today, however, was the perfect day. It was a free day and we were able to go out in the city. My goal goign into the city today was to make it one to remember for a lifetime, to typify my experience here. And it exceeded all my expectations! I really feel like had Christ gone to the Old City today, he would have done exactly as I had. It is the most amazing feeling!!! Here is the condensed rundown:
Nathan, Alison, Sarah and I went to the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock first thing this morning

Christmas Concert!

A man videotaped our Christmas concert and put it up on Youtube! Here is the link. I haven't been able to watch it, so hopefully it isn't embarassing. HA! it was really fun and an awesome experience to share withthe community. They were so grateful and it was powerful to feel the Christmas spirit with Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

http://www.youtube.com/ramitelaviv#p/u/9/ROEOzERY-8E



http://www.youtube.com/ramitelaviv

The dead sea take two!

Iseriously LOOOVVEEE the dead sea! Here is me, Nathan, and Sarah: two of my best friends. This is legit dead sea mud. it is BLACK!!!! soooo funn!!!!

Man of the Shroud- The Shroud of Turin

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

these pictures are off the internet and not mine- the internet can't upload them. sorry! you will have to hold your breath in anticipation for my own killa shots!

Today we went on a Christian churches field trip in the old city and I had a blast! I have been to most of these places aleady, but going as a group, with a purpose, with a professor who knows everything really made it worth while. (The church of the holy sepluchre is where all other Christian denominations venerate the crucifition, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.) It is one of my favorite places ON EARTH. Ok imagine a small Hogwarts: super old, kinda creepy, dirty, stone, random doors, balconies, pictures, crazy people, people in all sorts of robes and hats speaking all sorts of languages and words and making interesting sounds. It is dark in there with candles and intense incense smells. Golden things are hanging from the vaulted ceilings and there are random nocks, basements, and crypts. Yes it really is that awesome and exciting! It was originally built by Queen Helena in the 390’s, then destroyed in 1009, then rebuilt in 1049, then changed, added to, partly demolished, etc. aka AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOMMMMMMEEee.

Then we went to Herodian- Herod’s summer palace near Jerusalem. He literally built a mountain. It looks like a volcano and there are spiraling tunnels and cisterns throughout the coned mountain. There I bought my first magnum bar of Jerusalem(a DELCIOUS European icecream bar treat that everyone always buys here but I haven’t gotten one here yet-too many calories and sheckels!) it was white chocolatre and strawberry icecream. SSSSSSo good. American white chocolate has never quite done it for me, but Euro/ ME white chocolate is a different breed!

Abu Goush!

On our first day back after the Galilee (which I hope to later report on), a group of 12 of us got a taxi to Abu Goush, a suburb of Jerusalem, which houses an incredible Crusader Chapel, and best of all: the largest Elvis Restaurant outside of Tennessee. WOW i know. haha this place was SPECTACULAR. After passingthe gas station it was ajoined to and 2 epic, larger-than-life scupltures of the king himself, we entered THE Elvis Diner where I treated myself to a mightily delicious milkshake in an Elvis of Jerusalem souvenir mug. The experience was well worth the 25 sheckles! Afterwards, we found the Church of the Resurection, the Crusader chapel built in the 12th century. This place was incredible and we took full advantage of the acoustics as an good mormon would. There is just something about singing silent night in a vaulted, stone cathedral. There are surviving frescoes on the walls and the place felt like all churches should (and how many in this land don't).

Cats and Geckos!

Among other things, the city and center are crawling with cats and Geckos. Some cats are affectionately named, for example Diseasey, and others come and go. Recently, A big black cat gave birth to a liter of 7, all black but one grey. The cat has been learning some tricks lately and today she was the star of the lunch half-time show! She had caught a gecko and ripped off its tail. I have seen lizards' tails twist and twitch for a while after violent removal, but this one was OUT OF CONTROL. it was flipping and spinning, lashing and whipping, and driving the kitty crazy! She had the gecko in her mouth, then would go catch the tail,then chase back after the escaping lizard, then catch both with her paws, then fling one across the balcony. She was having a ball playin with her treat(s). It was NUTS! We watched, cheered, screamed, and gagged for a good ten minutes during this wild display.

Pumpkin Hour!!

this is the outside of Damascus gate, but I have never seen it this abandoned. Multiply the number of people by about 14 and that is the least crowded it gets.


SO we are not allowed in the Old City or West Jerusalem after dark, so come 4:12, you will see groups of mormons sprinting through the city, out Damascus gate, down the hill, and back up the hill! It is rather comical and we are known for it throughout the city; no one is surprised and we are cheered on by the various shopkeepers. To make it even more amusing, and frustrating, there are always thousands of tourists/pilgrims lining the Via Delorosa (the Christ crucifixtion walkway), gathered around a preacher or tourguide. We plow our way through like any good middle easterner (it has taken some time to learn that trick!), but there is also always carts stacked 8 feet high with Pitas, dome of the rock alarm clarks, cinnomon sticks, or hundreds of other things. These carts don't stop either! I bet the death toll by goods-cart exceeds that of any other within the Old city. Welcome to Jerusalem!

Just call me Guru

I have been an exercise buff for years, and I have found my calling! I aspire to be an aerobics instructor of some kind. You think I joke, but nay! I have even started a little following here... Yoga! 6:30 am, every day! I promise you a flawless downdog in 3 days. Bring your smile and tuck in your shirt! It is a blast and even Enya with her Orinoco Flow joined us this morning!