Oscars, Galilee, and other stuff

This is one of my favorite paintings that i've come across. It's housed in the Augusta Victoria chapel atop the mt. of olives. Palm Sunday

Bro Skinner - I had no idea that when i signed up to come to the Jerusalem teacher that I'd get to be taught by the greatest scholars around. Here Bro Skinner is probably teaching us about the significance of the western wall and what the temple mount looked like back in Jesus' day.

A prayer in the western wall - not to brag (but i'm totally going to) but my picture taking abilities are getting pretty good these days.

This is one of the sealed off entrances that the ancient Jews use to use to enter the temple mount. Its also where the Savior healed the blind man with a little mud (thats my version of the story).

Oscar night - Brad Pitt and Johnny Cash w/ our entourage. Beccs, me, Calli, Russ, Kat, Raven.

Brangelina

Kellyn, me, Emily on the sea of Galilee

Rachel, me, Candice - 2000-year-old Ginnosaur Boat

Mt. of Beatitudes

Once again, showcasing some photo skills - i think this is a pic of a girl praying in the church of the loaves and fishes in Tagba.

Mt. of beatitudes from afar. This is a little more like what i imagined it would look like.

Bro Masters and I right before i shaved my moustachio. At its peak there was about 10 dudes growing moustaches. Right about when Masters jumped on board, we shaved them off. He's still rocking it though. I'm not going to lie, I miss the moustache. It is a choice patch of hair. What a sensation it is when the lip hair is gone though - its like sliding in the covers after you shave you legs... but with your lip instead of your legs.

The oldest synagogue in the world. Actually I don't know if it is, but it is pretty old - it is also a synagogue that Christ most likely taught in. A little town called Gamla just above the Galilee. Gamla is the sight where a bunch of Jews jumped off the cliffs above the city in order to escape being captured and/or slaughtered by Roman soldiers.

Chowing down on my St. Peters fish. Chasing it down by eating the eyes.

View from the Tiberias chapel. I don't know why we don't have more sacrament meeting rooms w/ glass backsets like the Jerusalem Center and Tiberias have... except the view from my home ward would be a street w/ cars driving past... I'm still down.

Janer and I at the Church in Nain that commemorates Christ healing the son of the widow of Nain.

Brad and I chilling on the beach and contemplating the good things in life - women.

Banias waterfall: Michael, Kyle, Ian, me

Ceaserea Philipi - a pebble vs the bedrock or Peter vs Christ. This was one of my favorite places of the entire trip so far. It is in the mountains and it has a ton of history. Plus it is the site of one of my favorite scriptural events.

My sweet new camera takes pics that capture only specific hues while leaving the rest black and white.

Jews at the Western Wall

The a** heard round the world!

Separation wall - this big monstrosity is the most ridiculous thing ever (thats as political as i'm going to get). I really like the graffiti on it though. i've only seen pics of the other side... its graffiti is way better on the palestinian side. lots of interesting sayings - mostly anti-bush, anti-american, anti-israeli. Can't blame them.

All the single ladies... kind of. half have significant others. but thats besides the point. this is at the main mosque of ammon, jordan. all the girls had to put on these black gown hoodie things.

Me, Este, Dan, and Cyrus out on the town in Ammon. Cyrus and Este are on the arabic study abroad in jordan. such a fun night. however, i think that we JC students are the nerdy teachers pets while the arabic kids are the battle-tested bad boys. we keep curfew, we have a bajillion rules, and we sound like a bunch of wussys. the arabic students stay out all night, travel alone, and basically live however they want. cyrus has even been officially adopted into a legit jordanian tribe. there was a big US soccer game this night and we had to bail on it to be back at the hotel by curfew. basically they thought we were losers. however, you just have to find the right people out here. later on, a few of us headed out to catch the rest of the game at a little cafe - rebels without a cause, i know.

My little buddy and i out at Petra. Notice the Jazz shirt - what a stud. I'm pretty sure he has no idea who they are. This picture cost me the purchase of a little elephant stone thing. totally worth it.

Tower de Bakshish. This was our tower that we built at the "top of the world" look out in the petra mountains. it may not be the tallest or the most clean looking, but it definitely had the most character. Me, Steph, Eric, Chadwick.

The Monastery of Petra. I had to post this to let yall know that i really was there. Like most really amazing things like this, the pic doesn't do it justice. The colors and details are so much better in real life. I was standing over 50 meters away and i still couldn't get the whole thing in view. Huge.

Michael, Eric, Cary, Jordanian dude, Me, Alex, Russ. At the treasury of petra.

Lesson: when you give JC students a night out in a small town, things get wierd real fast.
Story: wadi mousa is the small town outside of petra. we got there late at night and had a few hours to kill before curfew. Scenario: either spend the time eating ice cream or try out the "turkish bathe experiment." Guess what we chose. All we knew going into this was that there was a communal steam room and a massage - only $12. How can you pass that up? What we didn't know was that the steam room quickly became a hazy, sweaty, steamy toga party (that sounds a little dirty), and that the massage was actually a very thorough bathing by another man. After spending a while soaking up the steam room, a huge jordanian bruise of a man leads you back to his massage lair. You can barely see through the fog as he leads you to this hidden room. Without notice he grabs off your toga and tells you to lay down on this marble table - at this point apprehension floods your mind. "what the heck is going to happen to me?" Then, all the sudden, the hands of zeus reach down from heaven to give you a thorough cleansing - yeah, kind of like a car wash - full body rinse, full body scrub, full body wash/massage, full body rinse and rerapping of the toga... all with emphasis of "full body." This beastly massuse isn't shy - very few inhibitions. There were numerous brushes, if you know what i mean. with that said, best 12 bucks i've spent all trip. fyi - i didn't know how to make this experience sound not gay. trust me, it wasn't... i think. go try it someday... AMAZING!

The coveted photo from the trip - probably one that should have been kept secret... unfortunately word leaked out just after the incident so anonymity is no longer necessary. Chadwick's Y-tatoo. Allow me to explain: what started out as an innocent contest between the matt and mark bus turned into a competition of shock value. Preceding this scene was blowfishes on the windows, short road shows, awkward poses, and eventually a hot make-out scene by the Allens - one of the senior couples. we on the mark bus had no other choice than to pull out our hidden weapon and well kept secret from the JC - Chadwick's A**. Needless to say, we won... but not without major consequences. Chadwick is now confined to the JC for the next 3 weeks until we go to the sea of galilee. Bro Brown - "please let Chadwick go!"

Mud bath at the dead sea. cary, esther, kat, becca, me, russ, brit. The dead sea is crazy. its like playing in oil - or atleast what i imagine playing in oil is like. the water is all swirly and rainbowish looking - and it hurts like haides when it enters an orfice of the body. if you've ever had a oil spill on your skin while filling up the jetskis... its kind of like that - but the pain goes to every crevice of your body. the mud bathe is the only relief. feels amazing, smells like shiz. and what it does to your skin is heavenly. we had our dead sea mud bathe the day before the greek god gave me a turkish bathe. my bed felt like a waterslide for the next few nights - thats a good thing.

The crew in a cave at En-gedi. russ, kat, erin, brittany, didi, becca. En-gedi waterfalls is sweet. basically its a series of pools and waterfalls leading from the judean wilderness down to the dead sea. it kind of reminds me of hiking the narrows in zions.

Trying to slide down a waterfall at En-gedi... got to protect the crown jewels

This old fellow is showing us the method for writing the Torah. Its an amazing process - everything has to be kosher (from a kosher animal) - the leather scroll itself, the ink formulation, and the tools used to inscribe the writings.

making some pita from scratch

On top of sinai. i have no idea who this is, but its a cool pic

Beccs inside a mosque. i don't know where this takes place either but i like the pic.

Pist off camel - judean wilderness. This is probably a good time to tell you how much i love camels. they are the best animal ever. they are basically a mangy looking horse. you can't appreciate the animal until you see it, and ride it, in real life.

Chadwick and I playing "adam and steve."

Praying at the western wall with tallit. for clarification, this isn't me. Really cool pic huh

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringin

Shalom again. time for the weekly update from jeru. this week has been super busy - like always - but amazing all the same. once again the pics will take you through some of the stories from my life. soon i will get more creative and start writing the showing pics of unique things, but this photo journal is all i can handle at the moment. anyway, the only bumber about this week is that i have been informally diagnosed with mono (didi), strep throat (steph), tonsilitis (me), and throat herpes (kat). nasty huh. it grosses me out too. thankfully this information is coming from 20-year old students instead of from the doc - who wont tell me what is going on. its really not much of a set back at all - hardly worth mentioning actually, except for the diagnoses are kind of funny to me. enough about my ailments. life is great! see for yourself:

ophir yardin, his son - shemmai, and i after seder. pictures below have better explanations of the evening. ophir is our judaism teacher here at the jc - and a total stud at that. we spent quite a bit of time with him this week. classes, fieldtrips to yad voshem (explained later) and mt. hertzl, passover seder, etc.. he knows a ton... i guess thats his job, but hes really good at it. he really is one of the most articulate, intelligent, creative, and kindest people i know. i always imagined what it would be like for him to stand up in front of a bunch of mormon kids that know next to nothing about your religion and then gradually unfold to them your beliefs in a comprehensible manner. i guess thats exactly what i did as a missionary... or atleast tried to do. but i wasn't teaching a people that were as ignorant about christianity and mormonism as i am about judaism. anyway i have tons of respect for the guy.

me and my "hillel sandwhich" during our passover seder meal. we had a fake but real passover meal a couple of days ago. our teacher, ophir yardin, pictured above put it on for us so we could get the experience of what one is like. it was fun... and very long - prob 4 hours. i loved every sec of it and i'd do it again. a hillel sandwhich is a mixture of this sweet rice stuff, bitter herbs, and leaf, and matza - so good!
so heres the deal, that is some matza (unleavened bread) topped with bitter herbs and the beginnings of a moustachio. actually its hardly the beginnings. i've been hard at work on that thing for about a month. i've been busted for wearing thongs (flip-flops for the dirty minded peeps out there) and my hats. perhaps this is my way to rebel and still stay within the official guidelines of byu. stay tuned for more pics in the future - i'm keeping this guy for while. despite many contrary opinions (mainly by girls) i think it looks amazing.

mandy, erin, kristy, and i at our passover seder. using a little bubbly for our toast to la chaim - hebrew for "life." if you look closely you can see the beginnings of what is called my "lovestache." its been growing for quite some time now. i just realized that i posted all my pics in reverse order again, so what you're viewing is the reverse order of the way things have happened in the past week. plus i'm filling in the information of the pics from bottom to top on my blog. if you're reading this in what would appear to be chronological order then you've likely read about my 'stache.

just a cool pic of an israeli paratrooper remembering the late theodore hertzl - the man who was responsible for creating the zionist community and was so instrumental in the creation of a jewish national state.

i had to post this one. allow me to introduce to those of you who don't know... bro brown. this pic is so quintessential bro brown. he's prob one of my favorite people alive. he's the associate director here at the jc and he's a total stud. heres a few of his jobs here - world renown archeologist, documentary film director (check out "journey of faith), district president of the isreali church system, ultimate bad a. some people might be curious about this last one, but there is an evergrowing crowd of people who believe there is a wild side of bro brown that is itching to get out... or is being forcefully supressed. spend a few minutes in the oasis with him and you'll see what i'm talking about. as a side note, notice the ear muff earphones with the sunhat over them. love him
oh yeah, this pic was taken at yad voshem - "a name and a memorial" - the jewish holocaust memorial museum. i've been to the dc holocaust museum and this one was way different. good (if you can actually call a holocaust museum "good" - perhaps interesting and informative would be the more operative words) but different. if you're curious how i'll tell you in person cuz thats a topic thats way too long.

hezekiahs tunnel - you cant really tell from this pic, but the cave is actually pitch black... hence the head lamp. this was a great field trip day because we went over to muhammads house afterward for jello, watermelon, and tea... which we had to respectfully decline. muhammad is one of our cooks here at the jc. the bad part is walking around in pant that are soaked up to your crotch area. it full on looks like i peed my pants - and i must have been a camel to be able to hold that much fluid.

sexy plexy pretty little thing... michael showing some leg... some beautiful leg at that. those tree stems deserve to be shown off. notice the difference between him and me. i couldn't get my pants over my thunder thighs to save myself from getting soaked. he reminds me of one of those trees on lord of the rings that can walk through the floods.

What a day! what started out as a day of mindless meandering turned into the best of days ever. rach, jenna, and i randomly walked into this ceramic store in the middle of west j only to find these little flutes. you play them by blowing into their butts. jenna and i are playing pheasants or peacocks or something and rach is playing an old jewish fellow. definitely a great moment of my life. i was about to by one since i have a surprise flute solo coming up for our talent show. however this new flute would have sent me back about 50 bones. i'm too stingy. oh yeah, there is probably a few things i've learned that should be known about our free days when we find cool stuff like this: 1)travel in small packs. if you bring 6+ people you carrying far too much baggage and its way too hard to please everyone. 2) girls are great to roll with... but they shop so freaking much. you think i would have realized this over the past 25 years of living with tons of girls in the fam. 3) shopping, as painful as it can be, can occasionally (and i do mean only occasionally) lead to wierd ceramic flutes, meetings with guys named "joseph smith" (this christian shopkeeper that is going to let me box with him), and other great experiences that i can't think of because they will never happen - lesson: shopping is no bueno.

coldplay. viva la vida. "hear the jerusalem bells a ringin...". yeah, that was me. i played those bells. except i didn't play coldplay. i played "high on a mountain top" without making a mistake... in the first verse. i botched up the second verse pretty good though. bro whip had to play double time for me, but i got back on track. so heres the story. these is at the bell tower at the ymca building just outside the walls of the old city. the jc music ambassador (walter whipple - aka whip - pictured below) is the only authorized bell player for the tower. so happens that this tower houses the only set of caroline bells (i think that means bells that can actually be played by this piano-looking ringer system) in the entire middle east. in short, i am one of a very select few who have played bells that ring across the holy land - this is basically my new claim to fame. i lived on cloud 9 for the rest of the day, week, and probably for the rest of this year because of this moment in my life.

walter whip and isaac jamming out to "beethovens 9th" (i actually don't know if thats really what it was, but it was a crazy piece of music) on the caroline bells. it was an amazing number - almost as difficult and complex as my performance of "high on a mountain top."