I'm combining these two days because, in all technicality, it was all the same field trip. Though, judging by the alertness of my brain, I can definitely separate it into two different days.
Sunday started early morning with breakfast and getting on the bus. Recently, I have had serious problems with getting car sick on all of our bus trips--our last one I actually threw up. I decided to combat this from the very beginning. At 6, I took some Dramamine--one hour before boarding the bus. Just like the directions say to do. I did just fine for the first leg of the trip, and through the first site. Well, I say just fine in relative terms. I wasn't nauseous, and I wasn't... tired... but my brain just wouldn't focus. It was like I was on the verge of wakefulness and sleep. Where you could fall back to sleep at any moment, but yet are awake. But yet, everything just swims in and out, staying long enough to recognize its presence and to be able to react to it but never staying long enough to get a good grasp upon it. Every time I sat down, my eyes would droop, and as soon as my eyes drooped, I was asleep. It was problematic. I felt bad for Bro. Merrill as he was sitting there, teaching us something and I had my head in my arms, fast asleep. I would wake up whenever we got up and moved, but I'll be honest, the first 10 or so minutes were pure sleep hiking. Sadly, that also hindered my picture taking abilities. I haven't looked through my pictures from that first day yet, but I am kind of fearful that they will be sparse.
Let's see... where all did we go? Mt. Carmel. (Where Elijah had the show down with the prophets of Ba'al), Megiddo, and Ahaz's palace. Then we went to Ein Gev—a holiday kibbutz. Basically, their main source of income is tourism. Which is great business when you have beach side property on the Sea of Galilee.
I have never had luck with locks. Keys and I simply are not friends. We got to our little "house" at Ein Gev. They split us into houses alphabetically, so I had all new roommates: Bridget, Kenzie, and Christina. We got to the house and Bridget, keeper of the key (not to be confused with Hagrid, mind you, who is Keeper of the Keys), attempted to unlock the door. No such luck. She twisted, she turned, she pounded, pushed, and kicked. Nothing. She finally gave in and conceded her status to Kenzie. She went through the same ritual, then handed the key to Christina. Lather, rinse, repeat. At the very beginning of this I had told them that I have no luck with keys. I even got locked out of our room in Luxor for awhile. So when Christina was done, they decided to go talk to the management. However, I decided I wanted a shot at it. How ironic would it be if I could open it when no one else could? I prepped myself. I focused on unlocking the door. I focused all of my attention on feeling when the door unlocked so that I could turn the handle and open the door at just the right moment. I just knew I would be the one to do it. I was wrong. I failed. The other three went to see managment while I stayed back and watched all of our luggage. (I was so selfless in volunteering for this position. It had nothing to do with my drugged self really just wanting to sit. In the shade. Promise.)
Management came back. The guy grabbed the key, stuck it in the hole, and unlocked it. He gave us the key and walked away—not telling us how he did it! ~sigh. I promptly lay down and slept for an hour. I would have slept longer, perhaps all night, but they woke me up for dinner. Grabbing the key on my way out, I realized that half of my roommates had disappeared and I was pretty sure they wanted stuff in the house. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to leave it open... I decided they could get whatever they wanted after dinner. You have to use the key to lock the door, and I was a little fearful to lock it since I didn't really want to sleep outside, but I was brave and did it anyway. And paid very close attention to the feel of it as it locked. Two steps later, I found my two lost roommates. "Nooo!!! You didn't lock it, did you?!" I meekly admitted that I had. "We'll never get it open!" Enter weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Being the one that had caused this mourning, I returned to try to fix it. Unlocked the door first try. At that moment, I was crowned hero and officially anointed keeper of the key.
After dinner, the dramamine was starting to wear off, so I decided I needed to do some homework. I grabbed my scriptures and headed down to the beach, then read 1 Samuel until it was so dark that I simply couldn't see the text anymore. (People always think I'm weird for reading at dusk...) Just before I was ready to go, Kenzie came and asked for the key. I gave it to her. 5 minutes later, she reappeared—very frustrated. She had been unable to open it. A wee bit later, after some sunset pictures over the Galilee, I returned to the room. At first, I struggled with the key. It made me a little nervous. But alas, it opened. And there was much rejoicing. So, my first attempt failed. Prideness of my heart, I'm sure. But after I had been sufficiently humbled, I was able to unlock the door. I returned to my scripture reading and when I couldn't stay awake any more, I retired to my bed at the very late hour of 9 pm and slept soundly all night long. 9 hours later, I woke up refreshed and ready for the day.
Yes, I just got out of my Old Testament class. Please forgive the massive amounts of religious phraseology.
As I went to bed, I pled with the Lord. I did not come to the Holy Land to sleep through every site. But I couldn't make it through if I was nauseous the whole time, either. So I pled that I could get through the day, not tired, not nauseous. I was a little nervous getting on the bus, I'll be honest. I sat as close as I could to the front. I held my breath. (But not for long. I didn't want to pass out—seems to defeat the purpose.) God is gracious, that's for sure. My plea was granted—it was the most magnificent day of the entire trip. It may even have topped Egypt. (Though, it would be a close call.) The day comprised of Hazor, Dan, Nimrod, and Banias. I'll spare you the details of each site. (Site reports in coming, or you could simply use Wikipedia. It's a mahvelous site.) But I will give you highlights of my favorite site—Dan. Or rather, Tel Dan.
Ok, we have been to many, many tels already. And when I say many, I mean a lot. A whole lot. At first glance, every tel is the same. It's a really big pile of dirt with some holes and some rocks. It's really hot, and we're all fighting for the front of the line so that we can get the prime spot of shade when we stop. Oh sure, every tel has its unique features and stories. And I will admit that I actually enjoy most of the different tels. But Tel Dan is very, very unique for a tel. Oh wow, oh wow. There is a brook running through the midst of it. There are trees and bushes and brush everywhere. I forgot what green really looks like. I felt like I was walking through a mountain path. It was incredible. hi!! everyone ilove your friend Tianna she is the greatestroommateever! (My roommate just hijacked my computer. Ok, maybe I'm writing this while I should be listening to a forum... ehhhh...) Anyway.... back to Tel Dan. We started up this path surrounded by greenery. We crossed the brook periodically. One time, instead of a bridge, it just flowed through the rocks, and we just stepped upon the (hopefully) dry rock, trying not to slip.
We finally reached a spot at the head of the spring that fed the brook that had rock steps that served as benches and we stopped for a break. We decided to sing until the last of our group got there. We sang. And we sang. And we sang. Then we counted to figure out how many were missing—about 6 or so students as well as our service couple, Bro. and Sis. Heyes, and also Bro. Huntington's wife. (Sis. Huntington... duh.) So we sang. And sang. And sang. Finally, Bro. Huntington called his wife. Turns out, they had taken a wrong fork. We sent a few students down to the fork to meet them and told them to turn and go back. So then we decided to sing some more, hopefully loud enough that they could hear us and find their way back. So we sang. And sang. And sang. I'm pretty sure we sang more there than at any other site. Which, don't you worry, I was perfectly ok with. I like singing hymns. A lot. They finally made it back to us. And can you believe it? As loud as we sang, the greenery was so thick that they hadn't heard us at all until they got right up by where we were. Craziness.
We headed back home that night. I had felt so great all day and on all the bus rides that I forgot to be nervous about it. Turns out it was all good—I still didn't get sick at all. Oh happy day... We got back to the Center, late for dinner. As we sat around eating, I started talking to people about the bus ride back. I didn't think it was all that bad. Bad roads and bad driving equals bad times for Tianna. Since all was good, I just assumed that the roads and driving was good. Turns out, once again, I was very much wrong. Everyone else complained about the windy roads and how everyone had been carsick the whole way back. Wow. I really am blessed. Power of prayer, my friends. Power of prayer...
Let's see... where all did we go? Mt. Carmel. (Where Elijah had the show down with the prophets of Ba'al), Megiddo, and Ahaz's palace. Then we went to Ein Gev—a holiday kibbutz. Basically, their main source of income is tourism. Which is great business when you have beach side property on the Sea of Galilee.
I have never had luck with locks. Keys and I simply are not friends. We got to our little "house" at Ein Gev. They split us into houses alphabetically, so I had all new roommates: Bridget, Kenzie, and Christina. We got to the house and Bridget, keeper of the key (not to be confused with Hagrid, mind you, who is Keeper of the Keys), attempted to unlock the door. No such luck. She twisted, she turned, she pounded, pushed, and kicked. Nothing. She finally gave in and conceded her status to Kenzie. She went through the same ritual, then handed the key to Christina. Lather, rinse, repeat. At the very beginning of this I had told them that I have no luck with keys. I even got locked out of our room in Luxor for awhile. So when Christina was done, they decided to go talk to the management. However, I decided I wanted a shot at it. How ironic would it be if I could open it when no one else could? I prepped myself. I focused on unlocking the door. I focused all of my attention on feeling when the door unlocked so that I could turn the handle and open the door at just the right moment. I just knew I would be the one to do it. I was wrong. I failed. The other three went to see managment while I stayed back and watched all of our luggage. (I was so selfless in volunteering for this position. It had nothing to do with my drugged self really just wanting to sit. In the shade. Promise.)
Management came back. The guy grabbed the key, stuck it in the hole, and unlocked it. He gave us the key and walked away—not telling us how he did it! ~sigh. I promptly lay down and slept for an hour. I would have slept longer, perhaps all night, but they woke me up for dinner. Grabbing the key on my way out, I realized that half of my roommates had disappeared and I was pretty sure they wanted stuff in the house. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to leave it open... I decided they could get whatever they wanted after dinner. You have to use the key to lock the door, and I was a little fearful to lock it since I didn't really want to sleep outside, but I was brave and did it anyway. And paid very close attention to the feel of it as it locked. Two steps later, I found my two lost roommates. "Nooo!!! You didn't lock it, did you?!" I meekly admitted that I had. "We'll never get it open!" Enter weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Being the one that had caused this mourning, I returned to try to fix it. Unlocked the door first try. At that moment, I was crowned hero and officially anointed keeper of the key.
After dinner, the dramamine was starting to wear off, so I decided I needed to do some homework. I grabbed my scriptures and headed down to the beach, then read 1 Samuel until it was so dark that I simply couldn't see the text anymore. (People always think I'm weird for reading at dusk...) Just before I was ready to go, Kenzie came and asked for the key. I gave it to her. 5 minutes later, she reappeared—very frustrated. She had been unable to open it. A wee bit later, after some sunset pictures over the Galilee, I returned to the room. At first, I struggled with the key. It made me a little nervous. But alas, it opened. And there was much rejoicing. So, my first attempt failed. Prideness of my heart, I'm sure. But after I had been sufficiently humbled, I was able to unlock the door. I returned to my scripture reading and when I couldn't stay awake any more, I retired to my bed at the very late hour of 9 pm and slept soundly all night long. 9 hours later, I woke up refreshed and ready for the day.
Yes, I just got out of my Old Testament class. Please forgive the massive amounts of religious phraseology.
As I went to bed, I pled with the Lord. I did not come to the Holy Land to sleep through every site. But I couldn't make it through if I was nauseous the whole time, either. So I pled that I could get through the day, not tired, not nauseous. I was a little nervous getting on the bus, I'll be honest. I sat as close as I could to the front. I held my breath. (But not for long. I didn't want to pass out—seems to defeat the purpose.) God is gracious, that's for sure. My plea was granted—it was the most magnificent day of the entire trip. It may even have topped Egypt. (Though, it would be a close call.) The day comprised of Hazor, Dan, Nimrod, and Banias. I'll spare you the details of each site. (Site reports in coming, or you could simply use Wikipedia. It's a mahvelous site.) But I will give you highlights of my favorite site—Dan. Or rather, Tel Dan.
Ok, we have been to many, many tels already. And when I say many, I mean a lot. A whole lot. At first glance, every tel is the same. It's a really big pile of dirt with some holes and some rocks. It's really hot, and we're all fighting for the front of the line so that we can get the prime spot of shade when we stop. Oh sure, every tel has its unique features and stories. And I will admit that I actually enjoy most of the different tels. But Tel Dan is very, very unique for a tel. Oh wow, oh wow. There is a brook running through the midst of it. There are trees and bushes and brush everywhere. I forgot what green really looks like. I felt like I was walking through a mountain path. It was incredible. hi!! everyone ilove your friend Tianna she is the greatestroommateever! (My roommate just hijacked my computer. Ok, maybe I'm writing this while I should be listening to a forum... ehhhh...) Anyway.... back to Tel Dan. We started up this path surrounded by greenery. We crossed the brook periodically. One time, instead of a bridge, it just flowed through the rocks, and we just stepped upon the (hopefully) dry rock, trying not to slip.
We finally reached a spot at the head of the spring that fed the brook that had rock steps that served as benches and we stopped for a break. We decided to sing until the last of our group got there. We sang. And we sang. And we sang. Then we counted to figure out how many were missing—about 6 or so students as well as our service couple, Bro. and Sis. Heyes, and also Bro. Huntington's wife. (Sis. Huntington... duh.) So we sang. And sang. And sang. Finally, Bro. Huntington called his wife. Turns out, they had taken a wrong fork. We sent a few students down to the fork to meet them and told them to turn and go back. So then we decided to sing some more, hopefully loud enough that they could hear us and find their way back. So we sang. And sang. And sang. I'm pretty sure we sang more there than at any other site. Which, don't you worry, I was perfectly ok with. I like singing hymns. A lot. They finally made it back to us. And can you believe it? As loud as we sang, the greenery was so thick that they hadn't heard us at all until they got right up by where we were. Craziness.
We headed back home that night. I had felt so great all day and on all the bus rides that I forgot to be nervous about it. Turns out it was all good—I still didn't get sick at all. Oh happy day... We got back to the Center, late for dinner. As we sat around eating, I started talking to people about the bus ride back. I didn't think it was all that bad. Bad roads and bad driving equals bad times for Tianna. Since all was good, I just assumed that the roads and driving was good. Turns out, once again, I was very much wrong. Everyone else complained about the windy roads and how everyone had been carsick the whole way back. Wow. I really am blessed. Power of prayer, my friends. Power of prayer...
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