Climbing Olive Trees

In the Garden of Gethsemane

An Email to Home...

Marhaba/Shalom Mom!

Another week has gone by way too fast. I think my week may have gone to wherever my shekels keep disappearing to (darn those shopkeepers...). Sometimes, it feels like I have been here for 2 years ... not because I am bored! It is not possible to be bored here. I just have done so much in the past month and a half.

On Monday, we went snorkeling at Eilat. The Red Sea looks like God spilled aqua, turquoise and emerald paints on Earth ... when I stepped into the water at the seashore, I felt like I was stepping into blue kool-aid. Do you remember Dad's crocodile fish Garth Vader? The one whose eyeball unfortunately bulged out of his head? (another pet tragedy in the Michels' home...) Welp, I found his relatives in the Red Sea. The water was not so, so warm like the Mediterranean but I didn't even notice the cold. The lifeguards acted like Jaws would come up and sample each one of our heads if we didn't follow regulations so we stayed within the boundaries and out of the coral reefs. There were schools of those tiny little fish and I tried to swim within them. I felt like the whale from Finding Nemo about to eat all the krill. At parts, it was almost eerie because there was no fish around, no coral, no life ... I was just waiting for that shark to come up and sample my behind.

We also had two other field trips this week. My favorite was probably Hezekiah's Tunnels. We stepped into dark, dank tunnels filled with water that went past our knees (it was at this time I realized I wore pants that are see-through when wet...oops. But it's ok, it is the closest I will get to skinny dipping here in Israel.) When our group turned off all our flashlights, you couldn't see anything ahead of you. We just held onto each other's shoulders and shuffled through the cramped tunnels.

We also went to the barrier wall. It was the first time I felt a little, tiny bit scared. The entire school went together. I am just beginning to understand the Palestine vs. Israel problems. Then, I saw the graffiti scribbled on the walls. But I feel like I have walked in on a conversation that has lasted a thousand years. The graffiti we saw was new, too. Two journalists came to talk to us about the conflict and I wanted, so bad to ask some wise, profound question that would prove I should be a journalist. Yup, that didn't really happen. I can ask, "how many shekels?" or "will you take it for 20?" But I am learning about this thousand year conversation.

Now that we are on the topic of my ignorance ... I failed a test. I studied! I tried! But I failed. Are you still proud of me?

We were all, all 82 of us here in the JC center, absolute stress cases before the ANE midterm. We spent days cooped up in the center, but we were so busy with meetings, lectures and more packed-full activities we couldn't even sit down for a moment to ponder the eternal questions of life (which is what I came to Jerusalem to do...). So, while I did study ... I failed. And don't even tell me that I didn't and you are sure I did just fine. I failed. I just know I did.

We went over the test right after handing it in. The people around me kept muttering a chorus of "yesss-es" after each question. I wanted to shove my notebook down their throats. I was counting how many I got wrong on one hand, then the next hand, and then I lost count... all the while people were chanting "yessss" in my ear.

I was about to burst into tears, throw my notebook up in the air, let all the note pages flutter on my teacher's head, and then break the projector with my fists ... but I managed to sniffle in this breakdown.

The nutella filled pitas and hot milk did help some.

Going to the Garden of Gethsemane helped, too.

And knowing that in just two days, I will be in Jordan, helped, too.

So life is still so, so wonderful here in the Holy Land.

Miss you and Love you!!

Love,

Kimberly

Me and Kaylie at Olive Pressing

Our homemade, pressed olive oil

Just one way to squish olives

My teacher's child looks like a little angel. I know that is cliche to say, but seriously--look at those gold locks.

Olive oil trickling into the vats.

At the barrier.

Kaylie saw this picture and said we look distorted. I swear my head isn't usually that large. Or so perfectly round. Oh well, I will just embrace my big round, basketball head. In Kaylie's words, "At least we have beautiful diamond eyes." That is, according to our friends in the Old City.