On changes and cool things

On the threshing floor in Bethlehem

Sorry it's been a while since I updated my blog! It's been a crazy week or so... some big changes are going on! So I guess now is as good a time as any to let y'all know about the biggest change: I have decided to stay here for the entire year! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this, it is such an incredible opportunity. All of my classes are so relevant to my major, and some really great classes are offered in the spring, and I just don't think that three months is long enough to really understand the land the way I want to. So there you have it! I will most likely not be coming home for Christmas, and since we have like seven weeks off between semesters, I will be here then for 8 months instead of 3. Have I mentioned how excited I am about this? Details are falling into place with Northwestern; the biggest hurdle I have to jump is reapplying for financial aid. I'm going to fax the forms to them this afternoon, and hopefully the reevaluation will work out all right. I was planning on being in band and going on band tour after commencement, so I had to work that out with Monte, my band director. I'm still not sure how much of a refund I will get, but he's totally supportive of my decision to stay, which was so encouraging. Most of the friends that I've told so far have said things like "I thought this would happen" or "I'm not surprised at all!" I have gotten several warnings to avoid coming home with an Israeli husband--both from people back home and from fellow students here! Don't worry--I have gotten the odd "I like your smile--are you looking for rich husband?" comment, but I'm not really here for my MRS degree. Most of the other changes that have been going on have to do with my schedule--dropping classes, adding other classes--most of which would probably not be very interesting to anyone except me. I did add Modern Hebrew when I decided to stay--I think that taking modern and biblical Hebrew at the same time is an amazing combination. I'm excited to see how much I learn.

As for cool things--I think yesterday I did probably the coolest thing I've ever done. We went to the Yehoudia Nature Preserve, which is basically a big national park about 2 1/2 hours north of Jerusalem (we passed Jericho

and lots of other exciting places!). We went on this amazing hike--through the ruins of this stone village (maybe Byzantine? I can't remember...), basically straight down into a wadi (river valley--very deep!), then along the wadi and straight back up and out. It maybe doesn't sound so exciting, but just wait until I post pictures! It was ridiculously beautiful, and such an exciting hike! I ended up in a group of 4 with my friend Sarah and two guys, Murray and John, and we were trucking! I've never gone downhill so fast in my life. Those guys are machines. But it was so fun! There were places, I think four different places, where we had to climb down a cliff, one time on a long metal ladder and the other times on metal handles drilled into the rock, right into the water and swim a hundred feet or so to the other side. Hiking dripping wet is quite an experience, let me tell you! I managed to keep my camera dry in a Ziploc in the top pocket of my backpack, which I floated in front of me and pushed along. I also kept my shoes dry until the very last swim. The four of us stopped for lunch at a waterfall, and then Sarah and Murray went back to a shortcut to the end, but John and I went the rest of the way around the trail. That part was definitely not used as often as the first part of the trail! We lost the trail a few times, but managed to pick it up again and made it back in plenty of time. John is a second-year MA student here, so he was able to point out all sorts of cool thing we could see from the top that I haven't learned about yet. I really have to get pictures up soon... I'll try to figure that out tonight and see how it goes.

One other thing from the hike! I had this major window into the masculine mind opened for a split second, it was just the strangest thing ever. At our first swim, Murray tried to throw his boots across to the rocks on the other side, and missed completely. Once we got our shoes back on and were headed on the way, John comforted Murray by saying, "If you were Batman, you would have been able to do it." I was truly amazed. I have never been in any situation where something like that would be even close to crossing my mind, much less to actually being spoken. Maybe being one of three girls has something to do with it...


Well folks, I have two tests today, one in an hour and one in three hours--and I haven't really started studying for either of them yet! One is just a quiz that I'm not too worried about, but the other one is an actual exam. I'm still not really worried about it at all--my GPA doesn't transfer! :) It's super nice, but it sure doesn't do much for my motivation! But I suppose I will go hit the books now. I'll have pictures up soon, I promise!

Shalom!