The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

The city of Amman with a giant size Jordanian flag flying over the city.


Goofing around at the ancient Roman city of Jerash (sometimes known as Antioch)



What do you do in Jordan? Petra of course! This city was built over 2000 years ago by the Nabateans. It is remarkably intact. Think southern Utah, but with massive buildings carved into the cliffs. This is the famous treasury. You may recognize this from Indiana Jones...
We had a wonderful time in Jordan the last four days. I wouldn't hesitate to go back!

I LOVE JC!

I can't help but post a couple of pictures of the beautiful building that I live in. It is inspiring in every aspect. Most of the pictures at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies are taken from the opposite direction with the spectacular view of the city in the background. Thought you might like to see the actual place where I live, go to school, eat meals, go to church, play sardines, and have the most fun ever! You should be envious...

Just enjoying the grass outside the upper auditorium on a Saturday afternoon!

*JC = Jerusalem Center

The best two days yet!

Nothing could be better than a 6 Shekel felafel from the Old City after a full day of walking all over Jerusalem! P.S. That half of the room you can see in this picture is not mine... Mine is cleaner! :)

One of my favorite places in Jerusalem, the Church of All Nations which is adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane.

The most beautiful sunset I've ever seen: it was enough to evoke an involuntary shreak and leaping in the air from me. Seriously!

These pictures really don't do justice to the amazing things I've experienced the last couple of days though. I don't think any picture could. This is just too awesome!

Olive Trees, Olives, and Olive Oil

Oil oozing out of the olives in the press. The Hebrew word for olive press is "gath shemen"

A few days ago we picked olives from the trees here at ther Jerusalem Center and used ancient olive crushers and presses to turn them into olive oil. We learned all about the processes and the symbolism. Now that's something you don't get to do anywhere else in the world!

Egypt!

We were recently in Egypt which was a really fabulous trip! It was a little crazy since that is just how Egypt is. While there we saw ancient temples, the valley of the kings, mummies, treasure from the tomb of Tutankhahmun, we rode camels, visited mosques, rode on falukahs on the Nile at sunset, got pestered by aggressive Egyptian merchants, ate shady food, rode the night train from Luxor to Cairo, and of course saw the great pyramids! On the way back from Egypt we drove to Mt. Sinai and climbed it at 2:00 am in order to be at the top for sunrise. It was really beautiful and something I won't soon forget.