Blessed are the butterflies who rise above human borders
14 April 2019 Fresh off our settlement experience, we spent last week in Haifa, a port city on the slopes between Mount Carmel and the Mediterranean. Our days, organized by Oranim College, were filled with lectures, documentaries, and museum visits. That included a preview of this past Tuesday’s election, in which Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party....
Middle East: West Jerusalem, Efrat, observing Shabbat
2 April 2019 I quickly grew fond of the Abraham Hostel after arriving on Sunday afternoon. This place has created a memorable atmosphere for itself. In most of the rooms, each wall is a strikingly different color than those adjacent, and everywhere you look there are fat, slightly cryptic stenciled messages like ABRAHAM – THE....
Middle East: Beit Sahour
24 February 2019 The twenty days that we have been scheduled to stay in Beit Sahour are concluded – we depart this afternoon. This is the longest amount of time that we’ve been headquartered in one spot, and some would say it’s been just long enough to start really digging in and adapting to the....
Middle East: Old City of Jerusalem
24 March 2019 Back in Jerusalem again! After a week of relaxing free travel we returned to what has become a pretty familiar city. We spent our week staying at the Ecce Homo convent in the Old City. The convent itself commemorates and stands at the location where Pontius Pilate scourged Jesus and declared “Ecce....
Middle East: Independent Travels
Independent Travel Last week was one we’ve all been looking forward to for a long time: free travel! After our final exam at JUC, we split up and began a week of exploring on our own. Anisa, Carly, Emily, Erin, Rachael and I went to Turkey. We flew into Istanbul and spent a night there.....
Middle East: Field Studies with JUC
15 March, 2019 This past week was our second and final week at Jerusalem University College. After taking our first test Saturday morning and a free afternoon, we started off strong with field studies again Sunday morning. This past week was quite a bit different from our first week at Jerusalem University College as we spent much of....
Middle East: Jerusalem
This week has found us transitioning to Jerusalem, our next port of call on this journey. Here, we’re staying and working with Jerusalem University College, where we’re focusing more on Biblical geography in and around the Promised Land, right here where we are. Jerusalem itself is only a few miles from Beit Sahour, about a....
Middle East: Bethlehem University, authors, the wall, Herodian
Feb 16, 2019 Hello friends! Since our last post we’ve enjoyed another week in beautiful Beit Sahour. Week 2 in Palestine has included more bonding with our host families, several trips to local sites, and – you guessed it – many more falafel sandwiches. We have continued to enjoy lectures from professors from the local....
Middle East: Beit Sahour, host families, Arabic studies
Feb. 2019 After three weeks of hotel-hopping (and bedouin camp-hopping), we’re glad to be somewhere we can really settle in: Beit Sahour. A Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Beit Sahour is south of Jerusalem and a short walk downhill from Bethlehem. Of its 15,000 people, 75% are Christians, and we’re all staying with....
Middle East: Jordan – desert hikes, refugees, and Biblical story
Greetings friends, Since Graham left off at the Bedouin camp we have seen, heard, smelled and experienced many more new things. After leaving the camp, we as a group rode on the bus to the small village of Dana where we were to begin our adventure on the Jordan trail. The Jordan trail goes from....