I promise I’m out here on an internship (at Dead Sea)
Back to 720 AD (at Amman Citadel)
chasing birds
top of the YMCA tower, where I played the bells for Jerusalem
There is nothing like a sunset overlooking the Old City.
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
Today I toured the politically disputed city of Bethlehem. I saw the exact place where Jesus was born (maybe) and the fields where shepherds tended their flocks when they had their angelic visitation.
Citadel of Amman
@lovemissmae
I walked all around Petra today, even to the place called “The End of the World.”
The Treasury at Petra
We shared a bike and saw the coast of Tel Aviv today
#sunsetclub
stories, games, friends
His backpack swung back and forth as he wandered to class. He kicked a piece of limestone as he walked. I shouted to him, “Hey buddy!” He turned around and looked at me. I snapped a picture. Then I made a motion for him to kick me the rock. Energetically, he gave it a kick. We played a small game of soccer before his professor walked out and motioned for him to get to class. He ran off and I picked up the rock.
He didn’t know or care that I was from a different culture, or had a different name for my God. He was friendly and naive, untainted by the cultural prejudices that surrounded him.
Some friends and I visited three sites that same morning: The Western Wall (Judaism), the Dome of the Rock (Islam), and a Lutheran Church (Christianity). Each bears a dark history of religious violence.
The future of the Middle East weighs on the shoulders of my new friend and his classmates.
For our free day we got a group together to go to Ein Gedi, a park just west of the Dead Sea, for hiking and swimming in waterfalls and pools. This was definitely one of the highlights of my time here in Israel so far. And only about an hour’s drive from Jerusalem, who knew there would be waterfalls and an oasis in the middle of the hottest, dry desert.
