I've Arrived!

I' finally here! I cannot believe it took 25 hours to get here! We flew from Salt Lake to Chicago, then to Washington D.C. then to Vienna and finally to Tel Aviv! In D.C. we switched to Austrian air and I know I am easily amused but I got quite a kick out of that airline. First of all, the flight attendants wear all bright read! Red tights, slacks, coat, shirt and shoes. Then they have a baby blue scarf around their necks. The carpet on the plane is puke green, straight from the 70's, the seats are teak, the seats are bright red and the cloths on the back of each chair is a different bright color. No wonder I couldn't sleep... However, the food was great! We got 3 meals, all delicious!

ANyways, once we arrived in Tel Aviv we got on a bus to Jerusalem, about an hour away. As we drove the bus up to Jerusalem, Brother Chadwick (a proffesor from the center who picked us up) reminded us that we were doing just what all the prophets in the Bible had done. As we drove into Jerusalem the streets got windier and more steep and all at once we had a fantastic view of the city. My eyes were misty, I have never seen anything like it! At perched up on Mt. Scopus we could see the BYU Jerusalem center. Directly across from the Hebrew University on top of the Kedron valley. Immediately after arriving we got a tour of the building. It is unbelievable. Every room is so beautiful. Then we were shown our rooms. The entrance to our rooms is actually from outside. I have 2 roomates and straight out our back door is a balcony that overlooks the entire city! To me, it seems magical. There is no other way to describe it! It's surreal. All the views from the Jerusalem Center are spectacular since we are perched on a hill. Then around 7 o'clock the entire city rang with verses of the Koran from a Muslim Ayatollah for their call to prayer. It lasts for about 20 minutes. And right now is the Islam holiday, Ramadan, were Muslims do not eat or drink while the sun is up. So a cannon is shot to begin and end each day of fasting. However, I was not so impressed with the call to prayer when it woke me up at 4:30 this morning, reminding all Muslims to eat before their day of fasting started.

This morning we got to walk through the city to acquaint ourselves so that we can explore it on our own. We went through the Old City, then we went through Damasus Gate into East Jerusalem then into West Jerusalem. This city is unbelievably rich with history! One wall that was introduced to us as one of the newer walls was built in the 1500's! Everything is so old and historic. We saw one place that had been a place for raising sheep from Christ's time till the 1980's. There are so many incredible monuments that I'm worried I'll stop realizing their importance! Because there are so many significant spots! We walked down the Via Dolores which is believed to be the path Christ walked before he was crucified. And there are markers saying things like where Peter took the Cross from Christ, etc. Like it's telling a story. All of Via Dolores is occupied with shops and markets. It's very exciting and busy.

One sad thing about Jerusalem is that the palces that are not habited by either the Palestianians or the Israelites are completely trashed. Since it's a war torn country no one feels any obligation to take care of land that isn't their own. So a lot of Jerusalem is very dirty.

I'm sure I won't be able to write this much very often but I wanted to make sure to write about my first impression of the Holy Land. I'm so thrilled to be here! My only concern is that 4 months won't be enough to do all the things there is to do (and eat all the delicious things being sold on the streets!). I have been so impressed by everything. I love the mix of cultures. The president of BYU Jerusalem is actually a Jewish Man and a couple of the professors and other staff memebers here are Jewish or Muslim as well. Even though this area is filled with all sorts of contention it's wodnerful to see how many people of all the major religions respect each other. Im so excited to learn more about them.