O, Jerusalem

Ten years ago I did a semester at the BYU Jerusalem Center. A few weeks ago my group (there were 176 of us) had a ten year reunion in Utah, and since I didn't go I don't have any pictures from that to blog about, so I decided to scan some of my pics from when I was in Jerusalem and take a walk down memory lane.

I was in the last group to attend the "JC" before they closed it down for a long time because of all the violence. Our semester was cut 3 weeks short because of the escalating tensions, which meant we missed Bethlehem and the Egypt trip. I headed over there with a ring on my finger and a wedding date set for 6 dates after my return. I have never regretted the decision leave and go to Israel. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The 3 weeks home before the wedding was a probably a good thing because I'd enjoyed the cuisine a little too much and needed to shed a few pounds to fit into my wedding dress.

This is a picture of my three BFF's while we were there, Ryanne, Jill and Ashlehe. Love these girls! We barely made the visit to the Dome of the Rock, 4 days later we were in "lockdown". This was a cool experience.

After things got bad we took our scheduled trip to Jordan. If visiting Petra isn't on your bucket list, it should be. I'm one of those tiny little people by the doorway.

This is the cardo at Jersash and me climbing on ancient ruins. We did that a lot. Nice, Sheri.

While we were there we swam in the Med., the Red and the Dead seas. These pics are from a beach in Tel Aviv. And yes, you do float in the dead sea but you don't want to do it for long because it STINGS all over!

We visited a lot of ruins, tels and castles. Castle Kerak in Jordan was one of the cooler ones, and this is me with Ryanne. I included this picture to demonstrate how stylish we looked with our headsets on. Our instructors wore microphones on the field trips (which we took every Sunday and Monday - Saturday was the Sabbath) and we'd tune our headsets to hear them. It helped so the teachers didn't have to yell and we didn't all have to cram in together.

Isn't this beautiful - another pic from Castle Kerak.

When we got back from Jordan things were still bad in Jerusalem and after 3 weeks of limited access to the city we headed up to Galilee. We toured all over the coast and small cities in northern Israel. We stayed in Bungaloes on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. One day we took boats across it:

I like this pic from a place called Hamat Gader - which is like Reptile Gardens but with working Roman hot springs (which we swam in) and a Ferris Wheel and other rides. Bizarre, but so much fun, even in the rain. Syria is behind me. Don't I look cute with my braids?

By this time things were really unstable in Jerusalem and the powers that be back in the states were itching to send us home. So we headed back to the JC for 1 crazy day to repack our bags before heading to Egypt to hike Mt. Sinia. I rode a camel named Whiskey on the way up, and Ryanne and I were both proposed to by our camel driver. "I give you good camel ride. You marry me?" We started our hike at 2 am. It was very cold out. It is the most remote location I have ever been to. The sunrise was amazing. AMAZING.

The experience was the highlight of my trip.

When we got back to the JC we were immediately told we were going home. We had 3 days to do a whirlwind final tour of the religious cites in Jerusalem like the Garden Tomb, Gethsemane, the Upper Room etc., and then we flew home. I was so happy to see Derek and so sad to leave Jerusalem. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm so glad I didn't miss it by being short sighted. We are married for eternity, but I only had those 3 1/2 months there to learn, grow and experience everything there was. I am still grateful every day that I was lucky enough to be selected to go, and smart enough not to pass it up.