Jetlogged: February 2013

Welcome to another beautiful day in paradise!!!

So on our free day this past Sunday, we organized a trip to Tel Aviv! Almost all 80 of us went, and we had a blast!!! Tel Aviv is on the coast and it is about an hour drive from Jerusalem. We left right after breakfast, and split up during the day. A group of us came home at 4 and then another group stayed out until 8. I chose to come home earlier because I had homework and other stuff to get done. Anyway, I had a BLAST!!!

Our van on the way to Tel Aviv :-)

This is Taylor and myself right when we got off the van--check out that view!!! The Mediterranean Sea and the city of Tel Aviv behind us ;-)

Sarah checking out the tide. Everyone was so excited to be near a big body of water that looked like an ocean ;-)

so gorgeous.

We weren't technically allowed to go swimming because our insurance doesn't cover it here (unless there is a lifeguard present, which there was not). I did stick my feet in the water at the end of the day though ;-)

Walking around Old Jaffa

This was near all of these really cool artists shops and galleries in Old Jaffa, we explored a bit and it was so rad!!!

So in this gallery/shop the "paintings" are all done with fabric. The artist takes some dyed wool/material and places it on the canvas and then pokes a special needle through it to make it stick, and then after the whole thing is done it gets pressed down by a machine with a ton of needles. It looks SO COOL.

Taylor enjoying the art...The picture on the right is an artist's work in progress :-)

Taylor and Sarah (I spent my day with these two)...This is in a woman's shop where she sews all of these clothes and they look pretty cool! It was fun to see her working right there in her shop...

Taylor and I needed a pre-lunch gelato stop ;-)

We went to a flea market that had some pretty random stuff. It was actually a pretty cool flea market. The picture on the right is a bunch of old family photos. I am not kidding, there were boxes of family photos for sale at this flea market.

Hebrew typewriter :-)

Possibly the best souvenir I have ever gotten. I bought this picture at the flea market. I have no idea who the baby on the horse is, but it was pretty rad! haha

I also bought this photo. How cool is it?!!!

possibly my favorite souvenir: a USED postcard of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco :-)

this is the back of my San Fran postcard. haha--so random! I was thinking "Who would buy a used postcard?" but then I bought it... haha...

Another shot of Tel Aviv (taken from Old Jaffa)

It was such a beautiful day!!!

Me and Taylor enjoying the beautiful weather

I thought this sign was funny ;-)

this is the bridge that is about to collapse

Check out this guy and his dog on a motorcycle in Tel Aviv... creative way to travel?

So we happened to be in Tel Aviv during Purim, a Jewish holiday to celebrate Esther. It is tradition to dress up in funny costumes for Purim (it is like a Jewish Halloween) so you can see people dressed up behind Sarah--there were people dressed up and partying all day, which made for a really fun atmosphere :-)

Taylor and I wanted to get some traditional Purim pastries, so we stopped at a bakery :-)

SO GOOD!!!

The Carmel Market

Taylor enjoying a fresh fruit smoothie

Purim costumes--so random! Israel and USA!

We stopped in this soap store and washed our hands with some good smelling stuff! It was so random but cool! haha--This is Sarah washing her hands...

Tel Aviv is famous for Bauhaus Architecture. This is an example of it. The whole city was built in the 50s, so the whole city is pretty uniform as far as construction goes, which is why it is one of the best examples of this particular style of architecture.

We walked back to where the busses were meeting us on the beach :-)

I loved it.

Sarah wasn't wild about the idea, but I think she enjoyed walking on the beach by the end of it ;-)

I think this is the only picture we snapped of all three of us...

love it. It was such a beautiful day and a perfect way to end it!!!

Walking barefoot in Tel Aviv ;-)

Tel Aviv was GREAT!!! I hope we can go back and have a purely "beach day" when we are actually allowed to swim :-)

-E

I'm starting to run out of greetings...

So this past Sabbath a group of us walked to the Garden of Gethsemane after church. It was my first time there (there is a church and a small grove of olive trees to commemorate the place where Jesus Christ preformed the atonement). Across from the church is an actual garden, but you have to have an appointment to go there, and we did not, so we are going to go back sometime...

The entrance :-)

Me, Kate, Rachel, and David

I really love olive trees, and what they symbolize :-)

the word "Gethsemane" means "olive press" so the Garden of the Olive Press where Jesus Christ bled from every pore out of the pain of atoning for the sins of the world would have been an olive grove where olives were crushed into olive oil.

Beautiful.

Roommates! Rachel, Me, Sarah, Sarina :-)

our group :-) (Lindee, Sara, Romeo, Sarah, India, Rachel, Lizzie, Kate, Me, Tess, Michelle, Sarina)

candid ;-)

The beautiful church commemorating the Garden of Gethsemane

Reading the account of the Savior going to pray in Gethsemane found in Matthew 26

On our way back, I saw this graffiti and I thought it was cool--I've been taking a lot of pictures of graffiti lately... I kindof love it.

We walked through the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on our way to and from the center. It is basically this park on the Mount of Olives (just a few minutes walk from the center--between the center and Gethsemane)