Tuesday (11/22):
It is fieldtrip day, again! We started going to Hazor first. It's an ancient tel that has 21 occupation levels within the stratum. That's crazy! It was an interesting field trip because we were with the other class, kinda. When I say that, I mean we were at the site at the same time as them, even thought they tried to keep us segregated.
The other funny thing about the site was the fact that we had 7 adult chaperones with us. Normally we have Poppa Hunts and either J. Rowdy (Bro. Ludlow) or MD (Brother Skinner)(And his wife). But on this particular day, we had Poppa Hunts, the Skinners, the Ohmans, Mr. Hayet and Brother Kearl. Out of control. Here is a picture to illustrate this:
Mr. Hayat (on his phone), Brother Kearl (in the blue), Sister Skinner and Sister Ohman in front of them and then Brother Huntsman walking towards them. So many adults.
Fighting this soldier with Maddy.
With Taylor B. under a natural arch.
There wasn't really a whole lot of excitement here at this site, just a bunch of old rocks, a cistern and some statues that we naturally had to pose with. But that's kinda.... it. And it's also so standard.
After Hazor, we went to Tel Dan! Which I had been super excited for because Dan is my name. And I had no idea that it would be so GORGEOUS. It was definitely a surprise. I was expecting a mound of rocks and dirt and dust everywhere but it was lush and green and wet! Lovely change.
Supes excited about it!
Beautiful!
Lush and green and prettyyy. I felt like I was in back in the Bay.
Dan is also the northern most city/area of Israel so directly above it is Lebanon and Syria so there are old tanks and trenches from the various wars. Supes cool.
See those white houses in the back? Yep, hello Lebanon!
Jared, Charlotte, Me and Suzy in a trench! Woo.
Oh you know, hanging out on the tanks. With Taylor B., Suzy and Lottie.
Mud Brick gate... or something like that. It's very archeologically/historically significant, apparently.
We walked through this serene little garden as we exited.
Again, SO prettyy. I love Dan. :)
After that fun-filled stop in lovely Dan, we headed over to Banias (Caesarea Philippi). That was pretty cool. We first stopped at Banias Falls (or something) where we saw this cool waterfall. It was kinda random actually because it just appeared. And we had to hike down to find it. Not normal. But it was cool... and again I felt like I was in Northern California/Oregon. Such a good change from dry, desert-y "normal" Israel.
In front of said waterfall with Maddy.
And then we drove down the road to Banias. For real. It was pretty cool because the water just comes out of the rocks. And it was super pretty. I've realized that I'm in love with water so if it is somewhat good looking, and you add water into the mix, I'm in love. haha
Group picture!: Top to bottom: Kara, Kathryn, Maddy, Suzy, Cameron, Whitney, Kaitlyn, Me, Lauren, Lindsay, Nick, Jared, Kimberly, Sarah, Thomas, Scott, Matty, Katie.
Annaleah, Me, Jessica and Katie.
Typical jumping picture slash Charlotte wanted to take pictures and wanted a model.
Rock/cave where the Jordan River comes out of.
After Banias, we headed to Nimrod's Fortress. It's this huge castle/fortress that is situated on the top of this mountain and it was large. It was super fun though to climb all over it an explore it and it was also such a gorgeous view from the top. We could've spent a lot of time there, had we be allotted it.
With Lottie Dottie.
(Look how high up we are!)
Fortress. It extends all the way over there... and we were on what we thought was the main part. haha we were wrong...
Artsy shot.
What else would we do while up on a huge castle than take some quality shots?
And a shoe picture. :)
And last but not least! A picture with our sweet dolphin bus.
(Elyse, Suzy and me)
Following the field trip, we had a super fun bonfire with both classes where we just sang and hungout. Oh Galilee. What a nonstop party.
Wednesday (11/23):
Field trip; day two. We first headed to Chorazin followed by Sepphoris. We did some teaching in Chorazin and then we just wandered around for a little bit. It was also fun because we were with the other class a little bit more than normal (and by normal, I mean in the past couple of days slash week). We also were feeling a little... unphotographic so we didn't really take any pictures. Actually, we had reached the point where we were kinda done with being on field trips. So we paid attention but I can't tell you what we talked about and we didn't really take pictures. We just wandered around and hung out. Quality.
Group picture in Chorazin: Caleb, Alyse, Carter, Me, Sarah, Kathryn, Kaitlyn, Charlotte, Suzy, Lindsay, Lauren, Brother Ludlow, Elyse, Thomas, Annaleah, Maddy. Front row: Amy, Desiree, Brielle, Devin, Robin, Rachel, Katie. :)
With Suzical.
Once we got to Sepphoris, we might've reached the point where we didn't care. Plus, there wasn't a whole lot to see really. Just a bunch of mosaics and old stuff we've seen before. Infact, the highlight of the stop was getting a new friend, Pascal. :) It was exciting to see the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee" because apparently it's a big deal... even though it wasn't really all that cool. haha But we felt like we had to take some pictures so we obviously took fun ones:
Moustaches.
Our new friend, Pascal!
So so cute! :) Love him! And now I want a pet chameleon.
"Mona Lisa of the Galilee"
After Sepphoris, we headed to Acco/Acre. And at this point, we really got to intermingle with the other class, which was super fun. We just walked around and finally got to spend time with them. It was a pretty chill afternoon which was really nice after all the craziness that we had been having.
Hanging with Nickel. (Notice Brother Ludlow creeping behind us? This is not uncommon....)
Supes cool artsy shot Nicole took.
Roomie Picture! (Nicole, Danielle, Jessica, Catie)
And people thought we were doing a rainbow pic so everyone joined in: Michael-Sean, Asia, Jessica, Me, Nicole, Andrew, Catie.
After exploring the Crusader-built fortress, we went for a little walk through the city, seeing this sad injured camel and finally, the Mediterranean Sea. So pretty! :)
Cutie. But it was a little sad because it was injured. :(
Pretttttyyyyyy.
With Lizzy and Devin. :)
On the drive home, it was nice and relaxing. And this was the view we had for the majority of the ride home. Seriously, Galilee has the PRETTIEST sunsets in the world. I miss them. (And I apologize for the poor quality of the pic, it was taken through a bus window...)
Ahhh. :)
Following the field trip, we had Brother Ludlow's class for a good two hours which was an adventure. It was pretty out of control. Class from 7-9 with 82 best friends is extremely problematic. Especially when we haven't been getting tons of sleep and we've been extremely busy. Bad news bears. But we survived and maybe learned a little bit. But J-Rowdy was a good sport about it and he had fun with it.
After class, we had a really nice bonfire with just our class where we bore testimonies and sang and just had a good last night. It was a good day. :)
