Feeling Itchy?

Yay! Look at me! I'm holding a baby goat and it's sooo cute!

 Wait a minute...These things have fleas??

(Not actual dialogue, but probably true.)

Stay tuned. More to come shortly.

Much love.

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Song of the week: Let That Be Enough by Switchfoot

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Hi everyone. I'm finally posting again!

Everything is great here. I'm currently sitting in a study room digesting the unhealthy amount of mash potato pastries I just ate for lunch. Yeah. They're a thing.

Every Sunday morning I go to Sunrise Yoga. It's really peaceful to look out at the city while folding your body in ways it's not meant to bend and flexing every single muscle possible... :) I seriously do love it.

The group in Amman right before we left Jordan. It was raining hard!

We got ice cream on Rainbow street in Amman. It was the best snickers ice cream I've ever had. I think all chocolate items are better around these parts than they are in America. 

Last week we went on a field trip to the Shephelah (the Judaean foothills.) We went to a lot of pretty sites, but as usual, I can't completely remember their significance.    

First we went to the place with lots of pretty wild flowers. I think it was called Beth Shemesh, and it had something to do with the story of Samson. 

I love this picture of Kari with all my heart. I feel like she should have a bunch of drugs in her hand. 

Next we went to the Elah Valley in Azekah where David killed Goliath (it's the valley on the upper right of this picture.) 

This is a great picture for many reasons, but I want to point out how green and pretty it is here. Our teacher showed us pictures from others semesters at this same place (and others) and it's so dry and completely brown. I'm glad I got to come here for winter semester, because the weather is pretty much perfect and everything is so beautiful!  

I want to take a selfy at every site. Here it is for Azekah. 

We have a role play committee that acted out the story of David and Goliath. It was phenomenal. 

We went this place underground that was used thousands of years ago to keep pigeons in. 

Me and Mikkel

Ok... I really have no clue where we are in this picture, so I'm not even going to try to sound smart. I do remember looking at an olive press at some point... 

After we took pictures in the green field, we went into these underground tunnels and walked all though them until we popped out half an hour later at the bottom of the hill. There was an ice cream shop and some tombs to look at. If you look closely, you can see that I ate my ice cream bar while in the tomb. You don't get to do that everyday. 

At Lachish

I didn't take my camera off the bus at a lot of the sites, but we went to a lot of cool places that day. One of them was a bunch a caves people dug into these rocks and used to live in. I was picturing little tiny caves, but they were BIG. So big that they hold concerts inside of them because the acoustics are so good. We got to sing a few hymns and it was amazing.

This field trip made for a loooonng day. But it was a good one. I've never heard the bus be so quiet as it was on the way home that night. 

Mikkel with the women. 

Arab Culture Night! On Thursday, we all dressed up in our arabic attire and learned about the arab culture. We had two men come who do the call to prayer. They did it for us and it was very interesting. Then they showed us how they pray each day (5 times a day.) It baffles me how committed these people are to their religion. It's not just like a little prayer that they get down and say real quick. It's a process, and they do it wherever they may be. It's amazing! We had a big dinner and then went to the gym where we were taught how to do some Arabic dances had a dance party :)

On friday we had midterms and the JC was full of stressed out students. After class was out and our tests were over, it felt like summer time! The weather was perfect and we didn't have a care in the world (kind of.) We all geared up and ran into the city where we promptly realized that we were too exhausted from studying the night before. We went home after probably half an hour of wandering aimlessly. 

I was so excited to go crash on my bed. I walked in my apartment and immediately say my roommate, Camilla, dragging her mattress across the floor and onto our balcony. BEST IDEA EVER! I quickly joined her and Tori came over. Soon after that Meg and Emily joined as well. Camilla's great idea turned into a relaxing night of reading, enjoying the sunset, napping, and talking while lying on our backs and looking at the stars. That night, I realized for the hundredth time that I am surrounded by amazing people here at the Jerusalem Center. 

Camilla and Tori

Reading What is the What... it doesn't get better than that. 

So peaceful and cozy! I love these girls!

On Sunday, we went into the City. Our main destination point were the Pools of Bethesda, but we stopped for shwarma on the way.

Tori and Nikki taking their first bites of shwarma. Yum. 

The Pools of Bethesda were very pretty and picturesque. I have a hard time posting pictures because they never do the real thing justice. Everything here is so beautiful! 

Me and Lindsay

Love this picture. This girl is hilarious! 

The girls

And the camera man :) He was fantastic. 

After we had walked around for a while, we went inside St. Anne's Church and sang with/for some people there. It was a fun experience. There was just a group of about 10 of us standing in a circle at the font of this gigantic church.  The acoustics were crazy! People were walking in and taking pictures and sitting on the benches to listen. We sang I Believe in Christ and I Know That My Redeemer Lives as well as a few others. It's cool to see that even though we can't openly talk about the church, we can have small influences on people through the spirit of music. We always try to find opportunities to sing at all the places we go.

The door to St. Anne's Church at the Pools of Bethesda. Like I said, I have a thing for the doors here.

St. Anne's Church

Tori lookin' fine

Me and Jacob

On our way out, we passed these pretty doors, so I awkwardly stood in front of one of them and had someone snap a pic. I'm working on the stance.

On the way back to the center we stopped for a trip to the roof of the Austrian Hospice

From the rooftops you can see everything! 

Like roosters on roofs

And the Dome of the Rock

I just liked this little window

After the hospice, we all went back to the center just in time to go to a conditioning class taught by one of the security guards here. The workouts he made us do were killer! I'm still sore, but at the same time it felt so good to run again! I'm going to another one tonight. I also signed up to run the Jerusalem Marathon 10K in March. That should be a good time.  

This is my teacher, Brother Judd. He is really good and I love his Old Testament class, even though he probably thinks I don't take it seriously because I'm not very good at it. Anyway, this is him teaching us earlier this week at the City of David. It was easy to imagine how David would have seen Bathsheba on her roof because the houses are on such a steep hill and so close together.

This is about what we all look like after so many hours on a field trip. 

Tori and Emily walking through Hezekiah's Tunnel (an underground water system from the time of David.) At some points the water was up to the tops of our legs. I was super nervous because this tunnel was 1/3 of a mile long and you had to squeeze and crouch to get through it and I sometimes get claustrophobic, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be at all. It was cool.  

After we got out of the tunnel. 

I have a lot of really fun videos, but I can't upload them here :( Oh well. 

Yesterday I got to teach English to four year olds at a local elementary school. I'll get to go again tomorrow. I enjoyed it.

We have a forum tonight where a 97 year old man who survived 9 concentration camps is going to speak to us. I cannot wait! 

Thanks for reading (or looking.) Check back next week for another post! 

Love you all.

Good, Clean, Jordanian Fun

Song of the week: Diplomat's Son by Vampire Weekend (I sat by the diplomat's little daughter at lunch the other day and this song has been running through my mind ever since.)

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Brace yourself, because once again this week has been jam packed with fun. Get ready for lots of pictures. LOTS of pictures. That is if the internet here can get its act together and download them successfully.

Here we go. Into the thoughts of Courtney.

I am in love with the assortment of doors in the Old City. 

West Jerusalem 

The wall by Jaffa Gate

This past week has been great for so many reasons: 

First on the list: I seem to have dodged the nasty case of pink eye that has been sweeping the JC. Probably because I wash my hands 19 times a day, NBD. Looking at the people who have been unlucky enough to get it reminds me of my childhood when I would regularly wake up and not be able to open my eyes due to all the nasty gunk that was caked onto them. Pretty picture, right? I'm praying I don't get it. 

Second: We left on Monday for our four day field trip to Jordan. I sat next to Tess on the bus and successfully french braided her hair. I felt pretty good about it. 

Third: I crossed the border without any problems. One guy did question if the girl in my passport picture was really me, but I think he did it mostly for his own entertainment. That job seems pretty boring. 

Fourth: I went to Petra! There are so many cool things to see there that blew my mind. I don't really know what else to say about it because my words can't do it justice. But I will tell you this-- I rode a camel... I say that, but in reality I sat on it for thirty seconds while the camel stood still. I got some pictures snapped and then I got off. I'm glad I booked it down 789 steps so I could have that experience for "only three dolla just for me." How nice. (I'm seriously not complaining. I had a dream fulfilled as I sat on that camel.)  

This path is the only way into Petra. It reminded me of Zion's. 

Me in front one of the tombs.

I thought this as super cool. They suspect that they carved this  elephant into the rock. Do you see it?

My first glance of the Treasury in Petra

Tess in front of the Treasury. This girl is fuuunnny. 

India, Tori, Saywer, Jacob, and Camilla

Me and Tess

SUN!

Tori workin the fanny pack,  

The view about half way up.

Me and Hunter

Ann and Tess

At the top. Yay!!

One of the Royal Tombs. This one was called the Garden Tomb...

That's a good look for me, no? 

After lunch, we hiked up 789 steps to get to this gigantic monastery. 

Sadly, I'm not in this picture, but it's still pretty cool... They are still working on their timing. 

Instead of being in the super cool jumping picture above, I got my very own solo pic. (That's how it goes sometimes... someone has to take the super cool jumping pictures.)

The outlook. Shortly after this was taken I booked it down the mountain so I could sit on the camel.

and...

Ladies and gents, here I be on the camel. 

Yeehaw!

One the way out of Petra, we stopped at the rock that Moses smote to bring forth water. It was so exciting... kind of. Not.

Fifth: I went to Jerash. This place was also gorgeous and it was so fun to walk around and see all the beauty and take endless pictures for hours on end followed by a full on sprint to the bus.

When we first got there, our teacher was telling about the site and this cute little boy wove in between all the students asking if we would like to buy anything. ("One dinar?") Poor guy. He got turned down 82 times in a matter of minutes. 

This place was absolutely beautiful

Hunter and Chaille

There was a really cool amphitheater in Jerash. First some guys played the bagpipes for us, and then they invited some of us down to sing a hymn. It was pretty cool.

The amphitheater from the top 

. 

Me and Lindsay from the top

Jacob and Kari

Go Nikki!

Oh, you didn't hear?? We're engaged!

Don't ask me exactly what we were doing in these pictures. Acting out some sort of scene... It made for a good time.

Once again... I don't know.

I loved Jerash

This child's father was suspiciously watching as I took this picture. I felt like a big creep, but I couldn't resist. 

On the way back to the hotel, we randomly stopped at some car museum where all the cars belonged to the King. I was pretty worn out by this point, so I took some pictures to entertain myself. Awesome. 

Sixth: The omelet maker in the hotel fancied me and asked for my email address "so we could chat." Even though you can bet I find older men attractive, I declined. I feared that once I finished telling him how I like my omelet, there would be nothing else to talk about. And that would be awkward. 

Seventh: The bus ride home from Jordan was great. At the border crossing, we were stuck on the bus for a while, so of course, I whipped out my famous dime trick. It totally took me back to sixth grade when I would do the same thing on the bus rides home from middle school to charm people and make them want to be my friend. You know I was doing the exact same thing in this situation. It seemed to work for the most part. 

Eighth: Even after not showering, walking around in the rain, wearing dirty clothes, and traveling for extended amounts of time while sitting a little too close for comfort, people seem to be relatively accepting of my grossness. You get close fast here. 

Ninth: We had four mission calls come yesterday (in addition to the two we have already had)! So far we have had people called to Minneapolis, Japan, Taiwan, Romania, The Baltics, and Fiji! Go missionaries! When people open their calls the spirit here is so strong. The feeling of unity as we sing together (there's lots of singing here) and cheer each other on after each mission call is read is amazing. I'm excited for everyone who has gotten their call so far, and can't wait for the others who are still anxiously awaiting. They will all be fantastic missionaries.     

Tenth: Tonight was ice cream night. And we all know how much I love friday night ice cream. However, I feel the need to clarify a rumor that I have started. It spread like wild fire since the second it came out of my mouth on our first Friday night here. "This is homemade ice cream..." I said. And of course, everyone believed me because I'm a together person and I know what I'm talking about (to clarify, i really did think I knew was I was talking about.) It went from one table to the next until eventually people were telling me as if I didn't already know. Things were great. Except then I learned that the ice cream was not homemade at all, rather it was Ben and Jerry's. Whoops! Have you ever heard that unspreading a rumor is like unspreading butter? True statement right there. True statement. (In my opinion, the maker of the ice cream is still up in the air. There is no way that it's Ben and Jerry's. Many others agree.)

Overall this week has been great. I have tried to keep this post light hearted and quick to read, but just so it's clear-- the places I am seeing are beautiful, the people I am growing close to are amazing, and the experiences I am having are life changing.

Until next time,

Haatirkum! 

(Apparently that means goodbye in Arabic... Good thing my study guide is right next to me so I can cheat off of it.)  

Love you all.