Today was a pretty good day. We started out in our Old Testament class. I will tell you what, it is an AMAZING class. I want to share a little a funny joke/statement that my teacher made in class today. Brother Harper said "The Jews believe that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem. Meaning, at this point, he will be a Palestinian Arab." You know what, he has got a point. (Would this have been funny to me a week ago? I don't think so. I have clearly already learned loads!)
Next we had our Modern Near East (MNE) class which is focused on Judaism with Dr. Ophir Yarden. It was pretty long, but I have hopes that I will be able to enjoy it more as the semester goes along.
Then I ate lunch. Guess who I sat with? You got it right, people that you don't know. I ate with Dr. Ophir Yarden and Dr. Bashir Bashir who is my MNE for Palestine teacher. I was pretty proud of myself for sitting at a table with them. Also, there were only 4 students that could fit on the table--doesn't that make it even more impressive? It was an interesting conversation but I didn't have any intelligent questions to ask them quite yet. I will work on that. Anything that you want to know that I can ask for you?
Next I headed to the pool of Bethesda with almost all of the students that are taking Arabic. Those who are taking Hebrew had class today and didn't have time to go out. We arrived at the pool around 1:30 but St. Mary's cathedral (which is where the pools are located) didn't open until 2. Luckily we noticed that next door there was a place that claimed to be where the Virgin Mary was born. We went in and climbed down to where ground level would have been in Jerusalem's day to see where Mary's parents, Anne and Joachim, lived. It was pretty cool. Here is time for a slightly embarrassing story.
I was reading in my guide book that it was the place where her parents lived and you could go down into the crypt to see the remains of their house. Within the same sentence it said "it is also known for its great acoustics." I got pretty excited so a few of us in the cave/crypt decided to sing a little bit. Naturally we decided upon Adelweiss from the Sound of Music. Was it the right place? No! Was the cathedral next door? Yes! Perhaps the saddest part was a few of the people I was with had been to the cathedral before, and had sang at it. Yet, they went with me to sing in the cave--not realizing that I had read the book wrong. Pretty hilarious! BUT, the cave had some acoustics because the people on the main level above us could still hear us! :)
The pools were pretty amazing though. I want to go back and see more. It was hard to really explore with such a large group. One of the coolest experiences there was when we were actually in the cathedral. Another group was in there at the same time and we all sang Amazing Grace. It was amazing to see them with their Hallelujah's and praising. The acoustics really were amazing! Very amazing!
I then came back and had class from Dr. Bashir Bashir. We have 430 pages of reading to do this semester. And that is just the required reading. He also gave us some recommended reading. I am pretty lucky!
Well, I have been alone for about an hour right now. This is the longest I have been alone since I got here. Second place? Taking a shower! Usually the most alone I get is walking to meet up with a group. It is unusually nice! Don't get me wrong, I love being with the group. They are awesome. But a break can be very nice as well.
Now break time is over and I will head to dinner. After that it will be study time!
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