lots of studying; studying.
there was one epic day in there where we didn’t have class. i rented a car (it was soooo cathartic to drive that thing, i miss driving so much), enlisted some good friends, and we embarked at 4:30 am to watch the sunrise from the top of masada. it is a huge mountain with a plateau on top that has become a symbol of jewish pride and spirit of independence. it was where, not long after the time of Christ, the zealots made their last stand and ultimately opted to take their own lives before submitting to the romans, who had been spending years building a ramp out of rock to the top of the mountain. some remarkable history. also, before that, king herod built a summer palace there that is perched on the edge of a precipice with tremendous views of the dead sea. after exploring and taking a number of photos involving planking and, a preferred alternative, owling, we descended the mountain and drove further north along the edge of the dead sea, the lowest point on earth! we soon found ourselves in the west bank (retrospectively in violation of the rental car agreement, but whatever), and found a place to go swimming/floating! half the mass of dead sea water is salt! most everyone there was arab, so i got to practice the five arabic words i remember. also, there is therapeutic mud that one can rub all over oneself! in fact, all those annoying israeli salespeople at the kiosks in the malls in north america are selling beauty products derived from the contents of the dead sea. apparently all the bromine in the air is supposed to relax you by deadening nervous synapses; indeed it was relaxing!
after that, we decided to head to jerusalem! we stepped into the church of the holy sepulchre and went into the tomb where Christ is traditionally believed to have been buried. the complexities of belief and the politics of religion and their ramifications just relating to that church alone are mindblowing. you can read about it. we also went to the western wall and had dinner at the armenian tavern in the armenian quarter of the old city, called such despite the fact that there aren’t really armenians to speak of left in jerusalem any more. on the drive home, at about midnight, we decided “why don’t we go swimming in the mediterranean sea today too!” so we made a detour to ashkelon and did just that! when we got home it had pretty much been 24 hours since we left. a great day with wonderful people!
since then more studying. one of our classmates was hit by a car and broke her leg :(. various birthday parties. oh and last night there was an event called wine sheva, where wineries from all over israel came to offer samples and there was jazz music and cheese and fruit on skewers. it was really nice. never would have imagined such a glamorous event happening in this town! beer sheva is generally pretty worn down, and all about the dust and stray cats. but i still like it.
i better get back to studying now.
