Jerusalem City

Moving onto Jerusalem city…on the way we stopped to have lunch right below the Mount of Olives. This was nice because we had more peace & quiet to take in the experience…afterwards we went to the top, where there is a full panoramic view of Jerusalem and the huge walls built by king david…now that was cool… an entire city enclosed with walls. Here are a few pictures below:

After lunch, just below the Mount of Olives 

(On top of the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem city in the background) 

In this picture you can see what is a huge grave yard on a hill…  back in the old days, you were not allowed to bury people in the city, so all of the bodies were buried on the sides of these mountains just outside…it’s starting to look a tad overcrowded, so I’m not sure what their back up plan is.

Inside Jerusalem city…I found it interesting, because within the city they have 3 quarters (Jewish, Muslim & Christian)…all of these people living side by side as ‘brothers’ as our tour guide described them. In the western world they depict Israel as being the land of Christian, the land of Jesus… when in actuality, the population is split into these 3 religions pretty equally. A short walk away from the western wall was the Muslim quarters, who reside right next to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion & resurrection.  

Kari & Ludovic after lunch 

(No more pictures because this internet is taking way to long to download & I have to go back to work!) 

WILL POST THE REST LATER ALONG WITH DETAILS FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE TRIP. 

The next 9 days we will be at sea on our way to Seychelles… it has been extremely rough today, a lot of people are getting seasick…I just kinda feel drunk and sleeply lol . it should settle down tomorrow because we are crossing the Suez Canal in the morning, then the red sea and gulf of Aden. During this time we’ll have pirate watch 24/7.

Next post should be in about 2 weeks or so since I probably won’t have many stories from these days at sea…but hey who knows ;) 

Bethlehem

Any of you who grew up going to Sunday school…or reading bible stories in Religion class remember the little colorful kids Bibles they used to have to illustrate the stories of Jesus to you. Well… I got to go to two of those places! I think that’s pretty cool…if I do say so myself. Needless to say, they don’t quite look like those colourful illustrations…

All of the crew on the ship had the chance to sign up for a one day tour to Bethlehem & Jerusalem city which was offered on three different days. I’m not sure how it works on other ships, but I thought this was a pretty amazing opportunity. From Haifa (where the ship was docked), it was about a 2 hour drive into Jerusalem and then Bethlehem. We had a personal tour guide who pretty much knew everything about every single rode, field & building we passed along our entire drive! I fell asleep a few times…and every time I opened my eyes, he was still talking. Our original tour guide was Israeli…and apparently they are not allowed to enter Bethlehem because it is located in Palestine, so he had to leave the bus as soon as we got to the gate…and we got a new tour guide.

Our first stop was the nativity church where Jesus was born. Of course everything has been rebuilt to depict, or rather honor to life of Jesus and his followers…with small bits and pieces incorporated into the new building that now stands today. Visiting Bethlehem was almost a little sad for me… because it has been taken over so much by the tourism industry, I just felt like I was exploiting a sacred place that wasn’t meant for thousands of people to stand around and flash their cameras…but hey, that’s just my opinion. Not to mention that the locals try to shove crosses and other figurines made of olive wood down your throat. I just wanted to observe…experience, and imagine what the city must have been like back in the days Jesus was alive…instead I was being pushed and shoved by a bunch of smelly people.

It was still a great experience though, again, pictures do no justice…but here are a few.

View of the nativity church that now stands

Beautiful olive wood cross in the gift shop 

inside the church...in the background is where Jesus was born (underneath the church) The church was actually built on top of the original site because the original church was destroyed..didn't get to go underneath because the wait was 3 hours to get inside! 

Julianne is getting married…

One of my best friends Julianne is getting married this Saturday, and all week I’ve not been able to stop thinking of her and this amazing journey she about to start! I promised a video…which I am still going to try to deliver, but with the weather out here and being at sea, I’m not sure I will be able to upload it. So here goes, a little tribute for you & by proxy-Ty too J

It’s funny how you come to college and think “okay, 4 years later, I’ll just turn around and go back where I came from”…

 I remember when Julianne and I used to talk about our high school boyfriends together… now we’re getting our masters together & probably our PHD together! Imagine that. We’ve come a long way J So this week…when I know you’ll be stressed and feeling a little crazy, remember how much you’ve grown since first arriving in Auburn, and what a great man you will have at your side for the rest of your life. You’ve accomplished so much already as an individual, and now you get to share that everyday with TY! Remember to BE YOU, cuz that’s the Julianne we all love & really enjoy every moment that comes along this week (good or bad), because this is your once in a lifetime…and remember, drink an extra glass of wine for me! Don’t worry-we’ll have your two month anniversary celebration when I am back in January! Haha

I love you sooo much and wish I could be there with you! 

Nov 9th & 10th –AT SEA

Today was the first day at sea… no land, anywhere, just work and my cubby hole to catch up on some sleep & school work. School has been a struggle, for some reason I thought I’d be doing all this great work on my thesis and swim to empower, and every other goal I have up my sleeve…nope, not really. I’m struggling just to keep up with the class I’m taking! I know I will get the work done… I always do, maybe not in the nice steady timeline I created for myself-but who EVER follows a time line? I mean, I grew up swimming at Bahamas nationals-we don’t even know what time line means. So, I’m not stressing... *one thing at a time*

Tonight we had a big Israeli dinner to prepare for our arrival to Haifa. It was set up on an extremely long family style table.

One more night at sea before arriving in Hafia tomorrow morning…work gets better everyday, I’m getting to know the residents more and feeling more comfortable in my positions, that would be great, except that I’m moving to F&B admin tomorrow! I’m excited though, I’ll be getting to work with a former intern, and Auburn grad (war eagle!), who is now the F&B administrator on the ship. During our stay in Haifa all the crew have a chance to go on a day trip to Jerusalem, I am going on the 11^th and am really excited! More pics later…