Midterm Week...

So... it's been a long week.  Took this picture in the library upstairs last night somewhere around 3am.  I really didn't realize how ridiculous it was at the time... and now I love it :) And I guess the fact that I woke up this morning on the carpet in the library means the little devil won this time ;)
After a midterm, a gigantic paper, a quiz, 6 hours of class, skipped lunch (couldn't figure out footnotes!), and 2 hours of Harrison Ford (love my Indy)... I am, miraculously, DONE.  Miraculously :)  And... I'm about out of steam.  Gotta save some for our delayed broadcast of General Conference tomorrow (it's so weird what a 9 hour time difference can do to ya!)

A couple of other random things:

• Today was the official start of the rainy season!  Literally, Israel has 2 seasons: brown and dry, and wet and green.  All I've seen so far is the HOT and BROWN and SWEATY! Not that I haven't loved every minute of it... but it really was refreshing to step outside to wet limestone and a little chill in the air :) 
• The food here is so weird! Not that it's bad--I lot of it I actually really, really love, but that's a different story :)--but just not what I'm used to.  It's just fun to play the "guess what American brand this secretly is" game, a game that would be really easy if I spoke Hebrew or Arabic!  So I have to guess.  And even when I do guess, things taste different--the Cheetos are shaped like hands and are bbq flavored, just as an example. And since when are Cheerios owned by Nestle?? Just sayin'. I do have to mention, though, that the Cheerios have been the most normal-tasting American food I've found thus far.

Last week, one morning before breakfast most of us made the 20-30 minute trek over to the Western Wall to get to see the action on Hoshanna Rabba.  The preceding week had been the Feast of Sukkot in Judaism, and Hoshanna Rabba marked the last day.  They'd been praying for rain all week, and on this day they offered a special prayer (orthodox Jews, at least) at the Wall, each carrying a lulav (a bundle of the 4 symbolic species: heart of palm, myrtle, willow, and etrog--like a cousin of a lemon) which they wave in a special ceremony.  At the conclusion of the prayer they beat the ground with it, which I believe symbolizes the elimination of sin... anyway, I was going to post one of my pictures here, but Dr. Chadwick took a better one that morning and forwarded it to me. So thanks to him for the picture :) I don't know if you can see the lulav... oh well.  It was definitely a neat experience, though--all the pre-breakfast sweating was worth it!

Yeah, this is where I live...   This Center is SO amazing and I am SO lucky to be here! :)

 

Life is good :)